The Real Reason Your Career Isn’t Progressing (And How to Fix It)

7 years ago, I did something bold to kickstart my career.

After graduating, I was struggling to find work through conventional job applications. The pressure was on, and I needed a job fast. ?I knew I wanted to break into medical sales, but after receiving my 20th, or maybe it was the 30th rejection email, I realised I had to try something different.

So I took a bold step.

I found a directory of every medical device and pharmaceutical company in the UK and decided to target the medium and smaller companies. I started calling them up. ?One by one and pitching myself and asking if they had any roles available.

I got a lot of rejections.

Just as I was starting to feel sorry for myself, I got my chance. I connected with a sales director who happened to be visiting a hospital near me the following week. We met for a coffee, and I spent a couple of hours discussing the industry, my goals, and how I could add value to his team.

2 weeks later, we met again at a sales exhibition.

I continued to build relationships with the sales director and another manager in the team. I took the opportunity to engage with suppliers and potential customers whilst the team observed me in the shadows. They saw my potential and the conversation started to move towards potential jobs.

Fast forward a couple of months, and I landed my first job in medical sales.

It wasn’t the conventional route, but taking unconventional action paid off in a big way. Reaching out to people I never met before pushed me way out of my comfort zone. Looking back, I've realised that learning to network was one of the best skills I have ever learned.

?And you can too.

The Biggest Mistakes People Make

The secret to creating new career opportunities isn’t to sit around and waiting for something to happen – it’s to ask.

Yet most people don’t. They update their CV, update their LinkedIn profile and apply for jobs hoping for the best. The mistake, and the reason that so many professionals don’t land the jobs that they want, is leaving it down to luck.

Which leaves them lingering in careers they don’t want for way longer than they have to.

This mistake leads to the following outcomes:

• Stagnated Career: ‘Quite quitting’ AKA declining performance at work. You are no longer invested in the company or the job. You stop going the extra mile which means you stop learning and stop achieving.
• Unfulfilled Life: ?The frustration bleeds into your personal life. You find yourself complaining about work to friends and family. Weekends are no longer enjoyable because you are already dreading going into work on Monday morning.
• Wasted Time: Sitting in a job you don’t like when you could be advancing your career. Every wasted day compounds and when you eventually make your next move, you regret not taking action sooner.

The Reason This Happens

The reason this happens is that most people are scared of rejection.

It’s true for people early on in their career, but it’s even more true for driven and highly successful professionals who have already established themselves on a career path. And they think their achievements that get rewarded, not effort.

And that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Here are some even more specific reasons why high-achieving professionals tend to be scared to ask:

• Taking Rejection Personally: They think that it’s a reflection of their personality or identity. One bad experience with a rejection in the past has created a belief that hearing no or being ghosted means they are not good enough.
• Thinking Outcome vs Output: Holding on to a belief that if they work hard and hit their targets, opportunities will come flying their way. The problem is, there is so much competition and other people are excelling AND creating new opportunities for themselves.
• Unsubstantiated Fears: Creating scenarios in your head where people will mock you or think that you are desperate. It’s more likely to be the opposite. The more authentic you are, the more people will want to help you.
• Feeling Sleazy: It feels weird reaching out to people and asking for something – especially people you know. But it’s not. Remember, you are not asking a favour. You are asking for help, and most people will be willing to help you if approached in the right way.

How to Fix It

Authentic asks come from authentic relationships.

It all comes down to shifting your mindset from reaching out to get something to reaching out to genuinely connecting with people. People want to help others with who they have built some sort of relationship with. A relationship implies trust.

• Focus on Building Relationships: The difference between a transactional interaction and an authentic relationship is genuine curiosity. Get to know the person, put yourself in their shoes and focus on learning more about them. People love sharing advice and helping others.
• Prove Your Fear Wrong: Instead of ignoring your biggest insecurities, give them attention. Write them down. And THEN make it your goal to gather enough evidence to prove yourself right (or wrong). Otherwise, you’re leaving an open loop in your mind that never gets addressed. ?
• Speak to More People: What are the chances of turning a message into a conversation if you only reach out to one person? Pretty slim. But if you reach out to 10 people, the chances are a lot higher. And if you reach out to 30 people….

Steps You Can Take

1. Make It Easy: Don’t begin with people you have zero connection with. Instead, make a list of 5 people with something in common. It could be friends, current colleagues or former colleagues who have moved on to different companies. Get a couple of practice reps who can build your confidence in reaching out.
2. Start Small: Don’t go straight into a big request that requires a lot of effort on their part. Instead, focus on asking for advice or a potential introduction to someone else in their network. Or even better, find a way to help them.
3. Build a Habit: Do this consistently so that you get used to reaching out, forming meaningful connections and making a request. Once you form this pattern, it’s easier to make contacts and conversations organically, and you will find a way that works for you.
4. Make Marginal Gains: ?Over time, you can build the confidence to make bolder requests. Once people trust and understand you, they are more likely to want to go out of their way to help you. THEN focus your attention on people you have never met before,

The irony is, that when you connect with people authentically, they will often be the first to ask how they can help you.

Every Problem is a Skill Issue

Networking and building relationships are nothing more than skills you need to learn.

Like all other new skills, don’t expect to be great when you begin.

You will make mistakes.

You will have people ignore you.

You will have conversations that feel awkward and lead nowhere.

And that’s ok.

Because your proficiency will increase over time.

What once felt difficult will soon feel effortless.

You will look back and be amazed at the network you built and the opportunities you created.

All of my best opportunities in my career and now business have come from building relationships and asking for help where previously I would have shied away,

Sometimes you have to take extraordinary steps to achieve extraordinary results. What unusual step can you take to advance your career?

I can help you advance your career.

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