Job Hunters. Want a job? Start showing up at a higher level - here's what I mean...

The amount people are willing to help you is in direct determinant of what level you show up as.

Let that sink in for a second.

Ok, now that you took a second…

Get ready as I drop a huge paradigm shifter on you – ready?

So, the other day I was attending a webinar. It was a job-hunting webinar where this dude named Austin was showing us how to land our dream job in just 10 days.

He was breaking down his exact job-hunting system that’s helped him along with his clients land dream jobs in companies like Twitter, Microsoft, and Google.

And, can you guess what the best part was?

It was free!

So, heck, you already know I had to submit my email and name to register.

Anyways, I’m veering off track but during the webinar he was talking about how to properly host a coffee chat that leads to an amazing impression.

As he was explaining things, he ended up dropping a deep 1 liner quote that’s guaranteed to get the neurons in your brains wiggling in awkward ways.

 He said (keep in mind this isn’t the exact word for word phrasing he used, just a general gist)…

“The level someone is willing to help you is in direct determinant of what level you show up as”.

At first when I heard this, I thought to myself, “lol, what?”

Then he went on to explain (roughly)…

When you’re in a coffee chat with another person hoping that they’ll be willing to refer you into a job – how much they’ll help you is determined by how you show up in the coffee chat.

Meaning, if you show up to the coffee chat and ask general high level questions like “so tell me about you” or “what does your day to day look like?”…

… then you’re not operating on a high level.

Those are just generic questions that anyone can Google.

BUT, if you showed up to the coffee chat and said anything along the lines of…

“Hey Michael, so, I heard in a recent podcast episode from your CEO that you guys are currently (insert something pretty wild) can you tell me how that’s effected you and your team?”

Whoa, right?

The second question clearly showcases that you did your research. You’re someone who’s committed to learning about the company, but most importantly, you show up as a higher level.

Let me tell you a quick story here.

You see, I always get asked to get on networking phone calls – usually starts off with a LinkedIn message saying “omg Alif, I see you’re working in digital marketing and I was wondering if I can get on a phone call with you to learn some industry insights”

Code for: hopefully if I pull through with this 30-minute surface level conversation to talk about the latest marketing trends, which I don’t really care about, I can get a referral into a job.

But hey, me being a nice guy and a recovering people pleaser due to a childhood of not feeling good enough I usually reply with “Hey Martin, sure thing” - with a forced smiley emoji.

Then I get on these phone calls.

But little do these people know, when they’re on a phone call with me, I’m treating it like a science experiment.

Yup, you read that right, I treat my networking phone calls like a rat in a science experiment.

(Just in case you didn’t catch on, I’m being sarcastic here)

But during these numerous phone calls I would always ask myself why… WHY am I not willing to refer this person into a job and WHY am I willing to refer THIS person into a job?

What is the secret code, Alif? What could it be?

Well, I did figure out a couple of reasons but that’s not what I want to focus on…

But, in the event you’re curious about what my findings were:

• They’re fun to talk with and I feel like we can be friends
• They did their research about me and I can tell they are invested in me
• We talk about more than just industry-level trends that we read about in a Forbes blog 10 months ago
• They’re actually qualified for the job hehe

With that said, here’s the REAL deeper most important reason why I’m willing to refer them into a role…

They show up at their highest level.

All the bullet points I mentioned a couple of sentences above… it can all be boiled down to exactly that.

So, I want you to ask yourself.

How are you showing up during your job hunt?

Are you going on networking phone calls halfass-ing a conversation?

Are you genuinely excited to attend the virtual networking event you signed up for and clearly prepared for the event by fueling up on your energy by eating the right foods and doing research on who will attend?

Did you leave your LinkedIn profile “sorta done”, telling yourself you’ll get back to optimizing it when you feel like it?

If you said yes to any of the points above.

It might be time for you to think…

“If I’m not embodying what it means to be successful, then do I really deserve to get the success I’m looking for?”