Here is a tip that puts the saying “two heads are better than one” to good use.
Gather your career management team, friends, or colleagues to conduct a structured
brainstorming session. Here’s how it works:
You address the group with a specific issue, such as “I would like to work for Microsoft
but don’t know how to get my foot in the door.” You allot yourself five minutes
to explain everything you have done up to this point. While you are talking, everyone
in your group remains quiet and takes notes to respond to you later.
When your five minutes is up, the group then takes 15 minutes to offer their ideas.
Each person in the group contributes one idea at a time, without discussion, such
as “Who do you know who works for Microsoft?” or “Have you attended any job fairs
at Microsoft?” and so on. After each person has contributed, the cycle repeats to
that each person contributes a second or third idea until 15 minutes has gone by.
During this time, you are writing down the ideas and the person who contributed
each idea.
After this exercise, you should have 20 to 50 ideas. Pick three to five that you
can do immediately and commit to implementing them in the next few days or weeks.
The person who gave you that idea will be your support. Repeat this brainstorming
throughout your job search to generate ideas whenever you are stuck.
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