The best part of my job is hanging out with high performing creatives.
People who do the kinds of jobs, and get the kinds of offers, that everyone else wants.
Four observations on these types:
They’re resourceful.
Most interview questions are just indirect attempts at gauging your resourcefulness. "Can I be sure that you're going to get this thing done with excellence, once I hire you to do it?" is the main thing hiring managers care about. There are many ways to flex resourcefulness. Having a large network of people who would genuinely do anything for you one of those ways.
They’ve got a lot going on.
Day job, freelancing, projects, hobbies... the lines are blurred. When experience and confidence gets layered on top of talent, opportunities come in ever-increasing numbers. When the majority of them pay well, it stops being about the money. Passion projects sneak in.
They have leverage.
Emergency funds, relationships, backup offers, consulting jobs, semi-passive investment income. These are the things that make it possible to say no to an uninspiring job, a bad boss, a horrific commute, a lowball offer.
They also have a different kind of leverage: the ability to achieve compound outputs with fewer inputs. This comes through delegation, quick decision making, go-to systems and thought patterns built over years. Why is this type of leverage so important? Employers care about what you get done; they don’t care how hard it was for you to do it. Most of the current arguments happening around WFH vs. office hours are really about output. Get leverage.
They don’t apply online.
I can't tell you how many times I get this text message from top-tier creatives: "Hey I saw this job posting online, but I'm not going to send my resume into that abyss. Do you know anyone there?" There are exceptions of course, but generally, top tier talent finds more surgical ways to get noticed, or, simply lets opportunities find them.
I was emailing with a founder friend recently, who had just hired a VP of Marketing. Me: "wow, 738 applications! Who got the job?" Her: "Personal referral."
Ask your 5 most talented friends how their 5 best career moves came about. All 5 answers will be: "I knew somebody."
*These 4 observations are meant to paint a picture of something to aspire to, not insult anyone who isn't there yet. Excellent people create great roadmaps to excellence. Use them.
