Know what you don't want & don't know

I think this is post #5 of The Job Hunt within my 'Building in Public - Career' series, for earlier posts check #thejobhunt. The objective of these posts are to inform job hunters of what a practical process looks like (externally) and act as mental notes for me (inform internally) to remember what to focus on. All information that matters lives here.

Before I begin with this post, I thought I'd share an anecdote I had with a friend about this series, it went like this:

Me: Yeah so I started writing about the job hunt process publicly on Linkedin, I figure I'll either get called out on horrendous mistakes and improve, or do a couple of things well which others can pick up on.

Him: You're making a mistake. You're going to come off as desperate, you should stop immediately before potential recruiters see your terrible idea.

Me: Interesting, I didn't think it would trigger that reaction. What else do you think will go wrong?

Him: You're sharing your game plan with the competition, so basically someone can copy your CV letter for letter, and submit it to the exact same employers, and get the job instead of you.

Me: That's a serious offense, what else do I need to know?

Him: Just stop quickly and work your network discreetly.

(That's clearly an abbreviated version of the full conversation which also contained swaths of profanity - interjections of his cousin & a couple of dirty jokes)

So let's break this down: We got seeming desperate (social acceptance), and helping the competition (paranoia) at play. I must say I probably have higher than normal anxieties in these two domains, so let me break down the mental mode I'm adopting to counter their effects.

As far as seeming desperate is, I agree, I will come off as desperate. To many of my close friends, and potential employers. But let me make one thing straight, I wouldn't work a single day with 70% of my friends. We're at odds on too many ethical, cultural, and business points that would render our friendship closer to cheddar cheese. Which leaves me with risking the negative opinion of total strangers who are superficial enough to think this is a desperate cry for help. Hmmm. Yeah I'll pass on working for them too.

So the way I see it, this is a pre-emptive filter of highly neurotic individuals with fear & disgust of different ways of working & thinking. Or simply a repellent of social acceptance slaves who wouldn't dare think outside of any imaginary box they've been placated in.

Which brings us to paranoia. I'll concede here, someone who's looking to get hired by an edtech company with outstanding skill in Arabic UX and a charismatic demeanor which comes in handy in a spectrum of business transactions spanning product/project management, partnerships, and recruitment will have a ball copying my game plan and applying it every place I apply to verbatim. Whoever believes that load of baloney hasn't done a startup, nor has read any book on market differentiation, written in the past 100 years.

I'm a unique professional with a background that spans that of my life, and lives of every individual close to me, my parents, and their life spans, reaching as far back as 6 generations. Embracing that uniqueness and developing it has been my ethos for more than a decade (I wish I was that aware a decade ago but it was reflected in decision if not consciously).

So yeah, someone can copy my play book. Good luck with getting past the company you're aiming to get hired by's HR department, hiring manager, and colleagues for the first 3 months impersonating yours truly. And if they can pull it off, they're either a genius who really deserved it to begin with, or work for absolute idiots who will eventually add nothing to his career, and crash, and burn. I'll pass on that flock any day of the week.

I'm looking for Lions. Unapologetically sharing, in public for the greater good. Gift me my flaws, and I'll be grateful. But to be god's good grace (inshaaAllah) and let paranoia & social conformity dictate how you live your life, is much worse than not living it at all.

Which brings me to 'Know what you don't want & don't know', so I figured I need to filter our the weeds. And that begins with image recognition, we need to avoid the weeds and focus on the fruitful plants out there.

So my list is short:

1. I don't want to work for a company that isn't leaving a real measurable obvious positive impact on the world. There a million ways to spin a Vegas Casino into a contributor to local wellbeing of the good residents of the City of Sin. I'll settle for good old fashioned, well good. That translates into a handful of areas to work in such as Healthcare, Education, FnB, and a subset of Logistics. So social impact is a must.
2. I don't want unmanageable stress. So no C-Level positions in the near future, even if it comes with shares. Even if it's paid. Even if it's prestigious. Sorry to any of my absolutely wonderful friends who've already offered, I won't be starting or co-founding a company in the next 24 months.
3. I know what I don't know. I don't know how to code full time. I don't how to be a full time graphics designer. I don't know to do professional accounting. I don't know how to do many things adjacent to what I know, but knowing what I don't know will make it that much easier to focus on the opportunities I can have a solid measurable impact on the organization I work for.
4. What DO I know: I know how to build a Product from scratch. And by Product, I mean Product Marketing, Product Management, and enough about everything that goes into building, growing, and maintaining a Product.

So that's it for today. I'll be off to find my next 5 opportunities to target for today. I came across a list of all Education Technology companies the UN shared with Arab Ministries of Education to help them through COVID. That's going to be a new frontier, I'm keeping it simple, I'm filtering the list based on the companies I've heard of (I'm also proud that 4 of Intajy.com's customers will actually on that list!).

Once the shortlist is done, it's the lumberjack's approach to:

1. Go to site
2. Access Careers Page
3. Look for suitable position
4. Apply customer Cover Letter and Edtech version of CV

As usual, share at will, and do let me know if you see something in Product Management you think I'll be able to contribute to (preferably within the region or for an organization that wants to enter the region soon).