Looking to the Horizon...

At one point in my life, I thought I had really made it.

I landed a job with an INC5000 company that was growing by 40% year over year and I got in on the ground floor.

I was going to be set for the long haul.

Doing something I loved, with people I loved, and just being happy for the rest of my days with work.

I pulled myself into a nice warm niche, and sat there for years.

It was great.

The pay was good, the benefits were incredible, and I was going to retire from that business in 45 years or however long I decided to work.

Boy, was I wrong...

What I had found for myself was a place where I could stop growing. I found a place where even though I learned so many new things, I had gotten comfortable with the way things were being run.

This is a problem for anyone who holds a job or is looking for a new one.

Complacency.

Settling into the New Normal.

The habit we get into at our jobs when we've been there a while is generally one of stability and uneventfulness.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's this stagnation and lack of movement that can really weigh on us and make it so that if we're ever out of that position, getting into something new can be exceptionally challenging.

When we sit in roles for a time, we lose sight of what's ahead, we don't look to the horizon.

We're too focused on the things that come to us day in and day out.

We go on autopilot.

Breaking autopilot for your career can come in a number of ways:

Maybe you want to try a new role in your organization.

Move toward that.

Maybe you want to try a whole new aspect of your career.

Move toward that.

You want to become something new and different.

Move toward that.

Why?!

Because it's the best thing you can do to become a better and more marketable person in today's job hunt.

Look to the future. Make plans to build big things.

Make plans like I made for this show over a year ago.

I didn't have it all assembled from Day 1, but I started with the building blocks that let me look to the horizon.

Write down your goals.

Write down what you want to do with your career.

It starts to pay off when you make the plans to get to where you want to be.

Look toward the Horizon...

That interview question of "Where do you see yourself in 5 years" isn't just a BS interview question. It's something to get you thinking and looking out further than next week.

Developing an answer to this that is not only true to who you are and what you want to do is important, but also gets you thinking strategically about your career.

What DO you want to be doing in 5 years.

Is it sitting at the same desk?

Is it working with the same clients, colleagues, or the public?

Is it flipping burgers?

I don't know, but you do.

Look to the horizon and make a list of goals with dates and steps to take to reach them.

There are greater things in the future for you. They take work to come across and even though the here and now is sometimes painful and a slog to get through, your goal should be to eventually leave the slog for something that you've been working toward.

Is it a hobby that becomes a business?

Sure can be.

Is it a position you never thought you could achieve.

Sure can be.

Is it what you'd like to do that would make you happy?

In this case, the answer should most definitely be... Yes.

Reflecting Back...

40 whole episodes of Recruiting Hell have gone by.

If we add it up, it's something on the order of 600-800 hours of time have gone into this show over the past 8 months.

By the time this is published, we'll be at 3/4 of a year of this show and we're looking to the horizon.

The show itself has been a rousing success.

Across all platforms, thousands of people have downloaded and listened to my efforts to help get the world back to work.

The message needs to spread farther and wider. We need to help get the world back to work.

Dispelling notions that we are worth only what we do for a living is the first step, the second is to get this show into the hands of as many folks as possible.

The methods described in this show work. And they've worked for person after person.

And they need to keep working, be improved, and made more widely available to everyone looking for work in 2021 and beyond.

Looking for a job effectively is something that isn't taught in school, nor is there a definitive resource that anyone can access to help improve their odds of finding a job, regardless of who they are.

Recruiting Hell is looking to fix that further in Season 3.

There are so many more folks out there who are unhappy with the way life had handed work to them. There is a better way and there is a way to making sure that the tragedy of not feeling like we are worth enough because of lack of work is avoided.

With my own job hunt concluded, I've decided to give more back to the world.

So what does this look like?

Well, you'll have to Listen to the Season 2 Finale to find out, but it looks like more downloadable resources for listeners, easier to consume content, a community to interact within, and more.

I am looking to the horizon more than ever both professionally and in this side hustle because things don't last forever; they are always changing. We need to change with them, and ensure that our happiness is always being pursued to the fullest, while continuing to learn and grow.

I hope you'll join me for season 3 when it releases in Spring of 2021.

~RH