Career Basics Course: Week 6, Day 29

“The main stumbling block in the way of any progress is and always has been unimpeachable tradition. (Chien-Shiung Wu)”

• as quoted in?Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachel Ignotofsky

Interview Someone

SOMETIMES YOU WILL FEEL ALONE during the job search. You will feel that your particular circumstance, the things you've learned, your specific time pressures, and your experiences have no parallel. You are right. They don't. And yet there is comfort in understanding someone else's unique path. ...

Your job is to interview someone with the goal of uncovering their real story. This is as much an act of reassurance as it is an act of discovery. You will uncover choices you may be able to apply to your own career, ...

People appreciate being given permission to be honest and tell their story. This is not an informational interview. You are not trying to learn about their job. You are trying to complicate their linear narrative -- to uncover the nonlinear. ...

... Even the most linear paths rely on chance meetings, the right conversation at the right time, and competing life circumstance that are rarely shared -- it is your responsibility to be open to see it.

The Exercise

• (background) It’s a myth that stable careers follow linear paths. In fact, even the most seemingly ‘straightforward’ career trajectories likely happened due to chance meetings, unforeseeable circumstances or by trusting a hunch. Recognizing this makes pursuing a non-linear career path feel much more safe and secure, and normalizes the path you are already walking.

1. Choose someone that you know well?who you imagine has had a linear career trajectory or simply a ‘regular job’.
2. Ask to interview them?about their career path.
3. Seek to complicate that linearity.?Explore what chances, occurrences, run-ins or meetings led them to towards this particular path instead of another.
4. Ask them how they dealt with these unexpected turns.?What did this lead to next? Add color to their story by finding out the details of their twists and turns.

Note: This is either ...

• Way 8, if you reference the 2018 version of the book, which I have, or,
• I'm going to recommend that you look at?Way 16 ?in?50 Ways to Get a Job: An Unconventional Guide to Finding Work on Your Terms

For me, ... I live in a 12-unit Condo building; over the remaining several weeks of this course, I will interview ten of these individuals and share back some of my learnings. And, while I've lived in the building for 17+ years, and know each reasonable well, Dev's invitation here is a reminder to me that we can live so close to individuals without really listening to, understanding, or inviting them to share their stories, that is, what anchors their choices and what has guided their pathways and the ways in which serendipity and chance have played a role in how their lived have unfolded.

For me, ... I'm also going to interview with women in science at Wolcott College Preparatory High School including Marisa German , Mackenzie Pryor (whose book is featured in the photo above; Ms. Pryor has been kind enough to allow me to share her classroom/Biology Lab for my Applied Economics class, and Clare Nolan.

Let me know how your interviews unfold; I will do the same.

Much peace.

Gerald Doyle

P.S. Let me highly recommend that you take a look at Rachel Ignotofsky's work ; inspiring and elegantly designed and listen to her TedTalk -- it's an "interview" worth listening to...

A Happy Thursday (on Friday) ... Week 6, Day 29.?

We have welcomed two individuals who will continue throughout the remaining 5 weeks of Career Basics Course as Contributing Respondents. They are:

• Caila Howell ?... a business/digital marketing professional and education advocate. We're delighted that Caila has joined us in this journey.
• Kathleen O'Brien 欧凯林 ?... a mission-motivated, people-oriented and a collaborator between and among cultures. We're delighted that Kathleen has joined us in this journey.

I'm very delighted to share that a colleague and good friend,?Lap Gong Leong , has agreed to join us as a Contributing Respondent. Lap shares his thinking and writing regularly, most recently authoring,?Uncovering Sensibilities: rethinking axioms in the world of work for autistic people :

In my opinion, the cause of the chronic unemployment among disabled people in America and Britain can be attributed to unintentional “soft” discrimination and employers focusing on stereotypical super skills rather than the real-life talents.

Autistic people, (un) intentionally are still visualized with their stereotypical skills and oddities in mind. They are assumed to hold super skills and great limitations that can be a boon or burden to free enterprise. Rather than pass more legislation that won’t be enforced or followed, employers and corporations must start seeing autistic people as unique individuals with bespoke drawbacks and talents like everyone else.

A graduate of?the?Borough of Manhattan Community College? in Liberal Arts,?"I am in the process?of transferring to a four-year university. However, the lack of Autistic aids for many individuals, including myself has incentivized me to work for myself."?A resident of NYC, Lap also divides his time between Hong Kong and Singapore. Among Lap's current projects, he is writing a political commentary and critique of US cities.

Thanks for accompanying us on this journey. All the best to the you and your family as we begin the weekend.

All the very best to everyone. Much peace.

Gerald and?Al Nunez

P.S. Ramadan Mubarak, Happy Easter and a Happy Passover to all who celebrate.