How to get career/business support from others
The older I get, the more I appreciate that phrase, “No man is an Island”. I am not even sure the origin but I’m sure it’s a wise source. Looking at my career and business journey so far, I can confidently share I couldn’t have done anything by myself. People have always been a huge factor in my journey so far, and I am referring to direct/indirect support from family, friends, mentors and fellow entrepreneurs who were just glad to offer a helping hand. But I’ve discovered something, it can feel awkward sometimes asking for help. Nobody likes to feel like a liability, neither does anyone want to hear the word ‘No’ when they ask for help. To set the context, I am referring to support you may need on your career/business journey, especially when you find yourself in situations where you’re stuck! Looking back at the last few years, I’ve learnt a few things which can help position us to get the support we need on our business/career journey. 1 – Don’t isolate yourself, connect with community My Alumni community has lots of WhatsApp groups, and I mean a very large number of WhatsApp groups. When I served as Vice President a few years ago, I found myself in 40 WhatsApp groups at some point. A lot, I know. You don’t have to join many WhatsApp groups, but you know what, a lot of people join groups so they can be a part of community. The benefits are uncountable. I’ve seen so many situations where job applicants and recruiters have met in the same group. In fact, I recruited recently from one of my Alumni WhatsApp groups. The candidate heard about the opportunity, reached out to me, got interviewed and landed the role. Imagine they were not in that group? Who knows! In another group I was in the other day, someone was looking for a flat to rent, and a couple of others had referrals. Can you imagine how many opportunities you miss by isolating yourself? One of the first things you should do is to connect with community. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a WhatsApp group. Whatever you do, don’t isolate yourself. 2 – Find someone who can help Help won’t always find you first, sometimes you need to take a step to find someone who can help you. A couple of years ago, I hit a huge roadblock with my business. We craved some ambitious business growth and it was clear we couldn’t go further without getting the right support. What did I do? I started looking everywhere to find someone who could coach/guide me. All effort to find the right person started looking impossible. I looked online, asked a few friends, and started to think I had hit a dead-end. Eventually, I stumbled across the website for Be the Business and discovered I could get a business mentor for FREE. For FREE? I applied, filled all the forms, and weeks later I was matched with a business mentor who turned out to be the exact person I needed, someone to challenge my thoughts and help steer our activities towards business growth. Finding someone who can help comes with a lot of determination though. You just keep searching without feeling discouraged, and hopefully you find the right person to support you on your journey. 3 – Be clear and vocal when you need support You have to be direct when you’re asking for support. If you’re not clear, you’re not going to get the support you need. If you’re not vocal, nobody knows. Even the closest people around you may be completely unaware of your needs because you’ve not vocalised your needs. I experienced this recently when I found out a cousin has been looking for his first job since graduating almost a year ago. I had no clue until recently. Hearing this, I quickly turned to my network to find who could support his career aspirations as he belonged to a very niche industry. And guess what? That same day, I was able to connect him with two people who may be able to guide him in landing his first job. One last example. I once worked on a project in a team of five contractors whose contracts ended when the project was delivered. We all kept in contact via a LinkedIn group and I recall mentioning I was looking for my next opportunity. One of the other guys brought my attention to a role she had seen on a LinkedIn page and I applied for it. Weeks later I was interviewed and got the role. Dear friends, there’s no need to be embarrassed if you’re looking for a job. Tell your immediate networks so they can also be on the look out for you. I’ve attracted recruiters and landed roles in the past by setting my LinkedIn profile/status to ‘Open to Work’. This is an example of being clear and vocal when you need support. It works! 4 – Be ready to invest time & resources Unless you are completely broke and financially incapable to pay for the support you need, sometimes you have to pay for the support you need. It may not always be available for FREE. Over the last few years, I have supported many people in their careers by helping them optimise their CV and prepping them for job interviews. This is simply part of my service to community. But guess what? I also know a few people who offer CV optimisation on a larger scale, and at a premium. They’ve built businesses on these services and do not offer it for FREE. As a candidate who may need support, you may find yourself on the doorstep of someone who will only support you as a paid service. Sometimes, you have no choice, especially if you have no one to offer it to you as a FREE service. The point is, don’t limit your quest for for FREE
