Excuses and Answers to Your TrueFit

I know that the True Fit process is possible from my professional experience, as a manager who has hired hundreds of people, and as a coach of many individuals across diverse industries. And these are not just stories of a career that’s successful in terms of a position or money. People tell me that working through all the concepts in my book, True Fit: How to Find the Right Job by Being You made them believe in themselves again and gave them a reason to get up in the morning.

And yet I do sometimes hear objections, like these:

YES BUT IT SOUNDS TOO EASY

The objection I hear most often is: “What you’re talking about is for dreamers.” True, on the surface, the questions seem simple. But the process is hard, very hard. The issue of wrong fit in corporations and the misery people face every   day in their jobs can’t be solved just by going through a few questions. Digging down takes time and courage, especially when you’ve spent most of your life not knowing who you are or what you want. It’s worth it, says this former politician: “Humans tend not to have self-awareness built into their psyches. We are much less self-aware than we think we are…. By knowing yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, you emerge in the end much stronger, with more confidence and a better understanding of what you like and what you want to do.”

YES … BUT I JUST NEED TO WIN THE INTERVIEW TO GET THE JOB

An interview is never about winning the job or winning over the interviewer. It’s a conversation to see whether you can see yourself fitting into   a particular work environment and whether the hiring committee understands what they will get if they hire you. If they don’t need or want you, that’s great. You both can walk away. Imagine what would have happened if they’d hired you!

YES … BUT WHAT IF I’M OFFERED A JOB THAT USES PART OF WHAT I REALLY ENJOY DOING?

Often things get off track during the job interview when you get your chance to say, “Here are the three things I’m really good at” and the inter- viewer replies to the effect of “Well, I’m not inter- ested in one, or two, or three, but this little part over here, I can use a bit of that.” And because you want the job, you give in. Don’t let this happen. Don’t let anyone sell you into a job—and don’t sell yourself into a job. You should be able to clearly articulate what an employer should pay you for. And you should be looking for someone who says, “I need all of it, not just 20 percent!” If this is not the case, walk away.

YES … BUT I’M ON THEIR SUCCESSION PLAN!

You’re smart. Maybe you were at the top of your class in school. Or you’ve been recruited to a position because the company is in awe of where you worked before or what they’ve heard you accomplished. And now you’re trapped because you realize it is a wrong fit, but the company is trying to woo you with all sorts of promises if you stay. But do you even want to move up? Listen to what my friend the derivatives player told me: “They thought that moving up in the hierarchy in the company was going to be something that made me happy. But when I took a good look at what mattered to me, hierarchy was irrelevant. It was low down on the list of things I consider to be rewarding.” If you do want to move up, ask yourself, Are you really on the succession plan? Most likely not. Instead, you’ll probably spend only a small part of your time doing what you are really good at doing, and your dissatisfaction and frustration will grow. You won’t feel valued because you are not excelling where your skills are strong. Your performance will suffer, you will become disengaged. It is at this point, typically, that your boss will say, “Let’s get rid of her,” not “Let’s find the right fit for her.”

YES … BUT THE MONEY IS GOOD

Measuring success and personal value goes far beyond monetary aspects. I’ve never been happier with the work I do now, despite the fact that I make significantly less money than in my previous careers. And I’m not alone; I hear this from people all the time. “I had one of the top twenty jobs in the country,” said my friend in derivatives. “I made a seven- figure income. I liked the people I was working with, and the job came with lots of prestige. But I still walked away from it. Every day I could feel the stress in my stomach, sitting in my office not doing what I thought I should be doing.  I was a Tasmanian devil, and the institution where I worked just didn’t want that much disturbance.” Research is clear about one thing: we all get better at the things we enjoy doing, our productivity jumps by leaps and bounds, our  expertise increases, and, above all, we’re happier.

The same principle applies to our work life.

YES … BUT I CAN CHANGE—I CAN LEARN TO DO THAT

Your life should be focused on working every day on your strengths. You should find a job or career that requires as little as possible from that side of your balance sheet where you’ve listed “things I suck at.” When you lack strengths in one area, why would you spend your time trying to improve your weakness when you could improve what you’re really good at doing? Instead of promising to change, get others to see you through the right lens and say, “Here’s why you should be interested in me. Here’s what you should not try to change.” Steve, the guy who walked into a food fight in his new job, put it this way: “People tend to look at their weaknesses, want to take a course, and get more information on things they’re not so good at. In the limited time you have in your working career, I learned you really need to focus on things you are really good at doing.”

YES … BUT IN MY POSITION I CAN’T AFFORD TO BE THAT FUSSY

New graduates often tell me that they just need to get their foot in the door somewhere. I say back to them, “Shouldn’t it be the right door?” Of course you can afford to be fussy. We all deserve to be fussy when it comes to our working lives. Falling into a career just because you got hired somewhere shouldn’t be the basis for how you spend the rest of your working life.

YES … BUT IT SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF WORK

I am not denying that it is a lot of work. And it’s difficult. It can take time to put together an infomercial, define your target-rich environment, figure out your conflict-resolution style, and assess just how much capacity you need to use in order to be happy at your job. It’s also tough to sit down with a boss and say you don’t have the personality bandwidth to do sales, even though the job represents a promotion. It’s even more difficult to turn down a job offer when you know they may need your skills, but they do not want you or the way you work.

But for those who’ve gone through the process, it’s worth it. If it leads to a no, or a change of careers, you’ve been spared from a job where you’ll eventually be miserable. And if it leads  to a yes, you’ll have what most people only dream about—a job you love every hour of the day, doing exactly what you like to do. Here’s what one of my clients said: “I came out with a higher level of self awareness. This is who I am and this is what I’m good at. It was an empowering experience. I know who I am, and what I’m really, really good at doing. And because I’ve now accepted this, my business is a success, and every day I spend at work is as close to my perfect day as I ever imagined it could be.”

The Power to Choose

When I was growing up, no one would have dared utter the words “I want to be happy in my job.” I can only imagine the scornful response from parents and teachers: “What are you talking about? A job’s a job’s a job. Shut up and do your homework.” That was then. 

I want to be happy in my job.

We  were  not expected to be happy at work. We just went out and got a job. These days, you can make a choice. Do you want to be happy at work? Or do you want to settle for a job that’s “good enough,” even though it’s not a good fit for you?

If you are unhappy at work, there’s a natural tendency to complain about your job and do nothing about it. If this is the case, you aren’t willing to do what it takes to change the situation. And that’s okay. But if you decide to do nothing, at least stop banging your head against the wall. Stop moaning about your job. And be aware that staying in a job you dislike, or working around people who constantly make you feel uncomfortable, can make your work suffer. You can waste years of your life not realizing the reputational damage that you’re doing to yourself on a daily basis. It just chips away until everyone can see that you’re totally disengaged.

THE POWER TO CHOOSE

You don’t have to live and work like that, though. You have the power to make a choice, and an infomercial can help. By looking at what’s revealed in your infomercial—what do you genuinely love to do, for instance, and how much of your capacity is being used—you’ll be forced to look in the mirror and come to terms with where you are at in your working life. Then you can choose to stay or to go. 

The Wrong Job Will Tempt You

You  are going to be tempted  to stray from your infomercial when a job comes along that’s partly right for you. Maybe it uses some of your skills but not all of them. Maybe the people in the organization are not exactly the kind you like to work with. But the job sounds good. It pays well. It comes with a nice title.

This is when you’ll be tempted to shelve your infomercial. Don’t. You can’t make it right. It will only be a partial fit. How happy do you think you’ll be?

Most people consider a job or an opportunity for all sorts of reasons, most of them wrong: it’s a promotion, which comes with more money, more prestige, or both. Some might be swayed by simple things. A feeling of “I deserve it,” of “It’s my turn,” of “I’ve been here a long time” or “I’m better than the person who’s currently doing it.” I’ve even known individuals who would rather get picked for the wrong job, just to have the option of turning it down.

Thoughts like these can easily pull people away from their true fit. The job looks good, so they grab it, if only to make sure the person next door doesn’t get it and move ahead. Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with pouncing on an opportunity. But it has got to be a true fit. Otherwise, you’re headed for a disaster that will waste your time and undermine your brand in the process.

Why do people find it so hard to resist the urge to compete for the wrong job? I think it’s because they’re afraid to stand up for themselves—for who they really are. I see this in my coaching practice almost every day. They are afraid that if they are themselves, and if they say who they are, they will miss opportunities. And they think that if they miss opportunities, they won’t get any more. No more jobs, no more clients, no more business offers.

That’s the fear I sense lurking under the surface when I ask my clients why they felt the need to take the wrong job or pick the wrong client. Does it make sense? Of course not! These people    are successful. But they’re still scared they’ll miss the boat unless they say yes. That’s why they are willing to try to turn themselves into someone else.

Your Personal Bandwidth

Before you start looking for work, it’s important that you understand your personality bandwidth. Personality bandwidth is a little different from the “Who do you like to work with?” question we explored in the previous chapter. It measures your tolerance of different personalities. The range of personalities you can work with helps determine your personality bandwidth. If someone gets along with everyone and everyone loves them back, then they have a wide personality bandwidth. If someone is only comfortable with certain kinds of personalities, and only certain kinds of people are comfortable with them, then they have a narrow personality bandwidth.

I was interviewing an individual for a marketing job in Canada. He was anxious to get the job and told me all the reasons he would be suited to the role based on his CV and past experience. So I asked him, “What’s the worst thing anyone has ever said about you?” He replied without hesitation, “I don’t suffer fools very well. Most people piss me off.”

The candidate’s answer told me that he might have a very narrow personality bandwidth—and therefore be entirely unsuited for this particular job. Like others with a narrow personality band- width, he had strong sense of the personalities he wanted to be around and those he wanted   to avoid. This gave him an approach that could rub others the wrong way. It’s okay for him to be bespoken in this way, but he needed to under- stand how narrow his world was. He would work best in a place where his work spoke for itself and he didn’t have to interact a lot with people. As a marketer for products, he would have to work with every level in the organization; in this kind of sales-generation role, he’d be a disaster.

A broad personality bandwidth, on the other hand, is like being able to speak numerous lan- guages. Typically, people with a broad bandwidth have jobs in customer service, client relationships, and sales. They don’t care if someone is difficult or overbearing because by their very nature—their personality bandwidth—they get along with everyone. They can communicate with a wider variety of personalities; clients and friends are one and the same. They find it easy to be empathetic and can almost instantly connect on some level with everyone.

Those with broad personality bandwidths can tolerate a diverse range of personality types, and they see the best in all they meet. Those with narrow bandwidths have to choose their clients or employer more carefully. For that marketing job, I knew the company needed someone who loves everyone because that’s what makes for a great salesperson, not someone who finds most personalities difficult to deal with.

Your Target-Rich Environment

Let’s start with your target-rich environment. It’s where you should be looking for a job, given everything—your skills, experience, character, working style, and personality—you have to offer. All our lives, people say give me your CV, tell me where you worked before—because it’s all about “the job.”

But the concept that one’s skills are only applicable to a particular type of job, in a single industry or sector, is ridiculous. Once you’ve written your infomercial, you can find great opportunities in a lot of different places. A computer programmer who likes to sell doesn’t have to resign himself to days at the office looking at a screen. His target-rich environment could include sales, consumer testing, even teaching at a college.

You need to do your homework to figure out your target-rich environment. This takes some research online and talking with others to make sure. Keep asking yourself, “Am I looking in the right places?” Look again at the list you made of who you work best with. Where do people like that work? Is it in a quiet office or a rambunctious, wide- open space—or in a country house? What would work for you? That’s your target-rich environment.

It took my good friend Rick almost thirty years to realize that his target-rich environment was bigger than he thought. During high school, Rick played drums with a bunch of guys who ended up becoming the well-known rock band The Tragically Hip. Rick put his drums aside, pursued mining engineering, completed a master’s degree, and then worked in international mining companies. Even though he had landed in an industry that appeared to be the right fit for his qualifications, it didn’t feel right. “All those years, it was always about the job,” Rick told me. “It was never about who I am or about finding a place where I’d really fit in.”

Rick left mining and came to me. He was being recruited by Canadian banks, and he didn’t want to make the same mistake as before. Rick was finally ready to figure out where to find a true fit. It wasn’t easy; in fact, you’ll remember that he was the one who told me that the idea of finding the right fit initially scared him. “My God, I thought as I started to answer the four questions,” he recalled. “I should have continued to play drums in a rock and roll band.… It honestly freaked me out a bit.”

After his infomercial was complete, Rick knew that he needed to find a fit where he could more fully use his strengths in dealing with people and developing relationships. He made the choice to accept a job in investment banking. “I used to think I was a miner who happens to do investment banking; now I know I’m an investment banker who likes mining but is much happier at the relationship side of things. I love dealing with the clients and help- ing them out,” said Rick. “I’m telling you, I have never been happier in my life or more at peace with myself.”

Rick’s narrow view of who he was restricted his choices of where to look for job opportunities. It meant that he had ended up working as an engineer in the mining industry because that was his “title.” He admitted that he kept learning in his job to add value so he could get the next mining job. After Rick developed his infomercial, he finally understood his target-rich environment—which for him extended beyond mining. And now, working with people who understand him, Rick is happy and finally feels, after thirty years, that he fits in.

Answering “What I Need” is Critical to Career Success

A friend of mine is a brilliant derivatives player. He had a very successful career at a bank where they gave him total freedom to do what he wanted, hire who he wanted, and fully exercise all his ideas and plans. Then, after a change in management, he and his team were out. So he started interviewing with everybody. He was looking for a company that would give him the same freedom that had made him so successful at his previous job. Sure enough, he landed a seven-figure-a-year job. I called him the first day of his new job: “Congratulations, but you’ve made a big mistake. I bet you $1,000 you won’t be there at the end of year one.” He swore and hung up on me. I was sure I had made the right call. I knew the executives, I knew the organization he had just joined, and I knew he would never be given the bandwidth he needed to use all his skills. I knew because I had been in the exact same situation. 

When we met a few months later, he admitted that my comments were prophetic. “I’m trying to make these changes and they’re not letting me,” he said. “When I presented a plan for business growth, I didn’t even get a yes or no; it just went from committee meeting to committee meeting, and eventually just sat there.”

Soon after he arrived, one of the senior guys in the company asked if he had everything he needed. “What I need,” my friend responded, “is six thousand square feet. Let me hire about two hundred people and give me $1 billion in capital. Then leave me alone.” “Very funny,” the senior executive said. “That’s never going to happen.” But that is exactly what was needed for my friend to be able to maximize his skill set. Both parties had made a huge mistake: the company for hiring him and not understanding how to utilize him, and my friend for thinking that they understood what it meant to hire him. It was a wrong fit, and unfortunately, it happens all the time. 

According to a 2016 study from the Hay Group, the world’s top recruitment firm, half of Canadians are unhappy at work because they’re stuck in a wrong fit. Wrong fit is expensive for employers. On average, the cost of termination for any employee in any organization can range from three to five times their annual salary. But the non-monetary cost is even higher, both for employees and employers. Wrong fit sucks the energy out of the company, the employee, and everyone around that employee. Working together becomes a grind because of the constant waste of energy from trying to make something work when there’s no possibility of that happening. Individuals put forth the effort to try to change themselves, but it just doesn’t succeed—and the result is disengagement. 

People show up every day, attend their meetings, prepare their reports, complete their sales calls, but they are simply going through the motions. A recent Gallup study concluded that only 30 percent of North American employees feel engaged or inspired at their jobs and the vast majority of North American workers —70 percent—are not reaching their full potential.

Unhappy at work?

Recently I read an article highlighting seven key signs that you are unhappy at work. I had to pause and wonder why it would take anyone seven signs to realize that they were unhappy at work. Perhaps the clearest sign is that you hate getting up and heading to work every day and just in case you need a second, you cannot wait for your work day to end so you can leave your job. To my way of thinking the first sign is enough of a reason, but if you needed a little more reinforcement for those who just want to be extra sure go to the second sign. But dear lord anyone who is unhappy at their job doesn't need seven signs. Perhaps a shrink but not seven signs!

The more important question to ask yourself is whether there is a job that you can find where you will be happy every day and if there is how do you go about finding it? Before you can find all this out you have to figure out what this job must look like for you.

You see happiness or unhappiness always leads back to yourself and understanding the basics about yourself. Whether it be in work or in love, first we must understand who we are before we can go and find a job or a person who is compatible with us. When it comes to love many of us understand the things we like and don't like, what we will and won't do and usually have a clear understanding of the partner we are looking for and how we want to share our life. We've been brought up, taught and had numerous role models to follow in our understanding of finding the right partner. 

However, when it comes to finding the perfect job, that is our perfect fit we are most often completely unprepared.  Other than those lucky few who always knew what they wanted to be; a Doctor, Lawyer, Accountant or Engineers, I suspect like most people you had no clue what you were going to ending doing for employment let alone how to go about figuring that out. Does anyone ever remember discussing with their parents what they love about their job or whether they love it at all? My parents would have looked at me like I had grown a third head if I asked that question. 'What are you asking?, they would say, I work what does loving work have to do with work, work is work"

So you see, I thought exactly the same way for years until I came to a point in time after a very successful career in finance staring at the fact that I could not get a job anywhere let alone something that I thought I was a fit for. What I realized was that nobody out there had any idea of what I brought to the table, hell neither did I, I thought of myself in terms of what job titles I had held over my work life, not what I was a good fit for. So when faced with the prospect of unemployment with six kids I realized the old adage, "necessity is the mother of invention" 

So I quickly had to figure out what I was good at who out there needed what I was good at doing and who hopefully wanted me to work with them both in skills and personality. So before I could figure out who needed and wanted me, I had to figure who ‘me’ was and would anyone pay for me?. What kind of people would I work best with?

What I find truly remarkable is how long people will tolerate their own unhappiness at work. Even more incredible is that fact that they show absolutely no interest and take no initiative to change that. It's almost as if we have all been raised to believe that work and happiness are mutually exclusive terms.

NEWS FLASH folks, you don't need to be unhappy at work. But you do need to do some work to find that perfect situation for you and it starts with figuring out yourself so that when you are doing your job search you are searching in your target rich environment (TRE). You TRE is the place that needs you and your skills.

So, unhappy at work folks , it’s not going to change by sitting miserable at your desk. Last I checked life is not a dress rehearsal so get up off your duffs, make it your New Year’s resolution to put some serious effort into finding the right fit for you and as they say " Figure out what you love and get paid for doing it"

All that stands in the way of a happy job is "YOU and some hard WORK"

Tell Me About Yourself

"So tell me about yourself" These five simple words that have the capability of messing up your interview right from the start. This one question strikes fear, dry mouth, increased heart palpitations and not to mention unsightly sweat in all the wrong places in even the most capable applicants.

Where do you start? Do you go back to the early days? Are they really interested in “…it all started in a small town just outside of Waco Texas” or the more boring “I don't think you can read my resume so let me repeat everything that is written on it”. Which is akin to reading every slide in a presentation in case people can’t see or read. The third alternative is to just rattle on and on about how “I am the greatest thing since sliced bread and any company would be lucky to have me” speech. 

Well I know there is a much better alternative to the painful suggestions made by most recruiters. You see, when someone asks you tell them about yourself what they are really trying to do is answer a very simple set of questions in their mind:"What's in it for me to hire you?’ ‘What should I pay you for that will make me more money?’ And lastly, ‘Do I need your skills and if I so, do I like you enough to believe that you will be a good fit with everyone else that works here?" 

You see I believe that before you can answer any of these questions you need to be comfortable enough to understand exactly what are you good at, and what skills you possess that someone should pay you for. As you prepare for an interview ask yourself what kind of people you work best with and do they exist where you are applying? Secondly, is your conflict resolution style compatible with the firm you are hoping to be hired by? And lastly, if you could describe the perfect day of activities that you will be required to do does it match the job description? Seems simple enough, yes? Write it down, it will provide clarity. I have received countless feedback from those that I mentor despite how simple these questions seem they provide great clarity.  

Far too many people fall into the trap of describing themselves in terms of their CV or Resume, which in my opinion is nothing more than a trip itinerary of jobs. Seriously I always ask my clients and those I mentor, "Is that the single best document to describe who you are, what you are good at and why someone should hire you?" I sincerely doubt it and in all my years of asking the question nobody has ever said yes it is! But we still use the conventional resume...well I have a different I idea for you in how to revamp your resume and how to answer the dreaded question.  

In my book, "How to hire the perfect Employer", I outline how you can go about building your own infomercial so that when asked the question "Tell me about yourself" you will have rock solid pitch that will ensure that the employer will be able to figure out whether they need your skills and want you as in your personality and character.  So, for those that have not read the book, what does an infomercial look like? Let me share my infomercial with you, the one that I use every time I go on a pitch for new business. 

When asked the dreaded questions, I start by saying; "I am trusted advisor to CEOs, Department heads and managers of financial services organizations. I work with them in helping execute their plans by doing recruiting, consulting and coaching"I then continue to tell them that throughout my career I have hired over 900 people while I was at CIBC and BMO. I was responsible for numerous strategic initiatives both in their creation and execution. Lastly, I have mentored and coached numerous people that have gone on to great heights. I am collaborative in my conflict resolution style and the perfect day for me is doing all three of the above mentioned in my infomercial, working on finding good people, advising clients on how to improve their businesses and lastly but most importantly coaching people into finding the perfect fit in employment for them. 

The perfect employer for me is someone who is first and foremost seeking a trusted advisor with my background and experience. IF they are just looking for a Head Hunter to show them CV's then I direct them to the many other firms that do that for a living the way the client wants it done.With this clear understanding of my strengths and what I offer to each client I work with, I approach the dreaded ‘Tell me about yourself’ question with ease…. 
‘Let me tell you about myself, I am a trusted advisor to CEOs….”

Finding Your Fit

I recently read a study that said over 70% of the people working in Great Britain were unhappy with their jobs. What a sad state of affairs, imagine getting up every morning with nothing to look forward to except for the end of the day. OMG, I would shoot myself yet I do understand how you can end up in that trap. If this is you and you are reading this get up on your feet and say to yourself “I deserve to be happy, I deserve to have work that utilizes my skill set and finally I deserve to enjoy going to work every day because I get to do the things I am good at.”

In order to make any significant changes in your life it begins with a realistic assessment of where you are at the time. Determine your skills and what interests you. Then read my book, How to Hire the Perfect Employer, and follow the process that will lead to your powerful infomercial that will allow you to look and opportunities and see if they are right for you.

You have the power to make the changes happen. I believe that people are often afraid to look for work where their passion is due to the belief that they won’t be able to make enough money. As I always say to people;

“Do you know that?”
“Have you actually done the work and research to find that out?”

Don’t you think you will be far more valuable to a company or yourself if you are doing the things that you are good at every day and watching your productivity jump by leaps and bounds instead of spending time on the things that you suck at and have really no interest in doing?

Throughout my coaching practice I am amazed at how unmotivated people are at finding the right fit at work for them. Behind family and health, their job, where they spend 40% of their time every day is the most important aspect of their life happiness. When I started my business, I quickly realized that I could make money from my passion. By understanding who I was and what I am good at I could target myself to the clients that needed me most and wanted me to do the work utilizing my strengths. I never wasted my time pitching people that either didn’t need my type of service or want my personality and process. I stayed and continue to stay within my target rich environment, focusing on those clients that need and want me.

Your life should be focused on working everyday on your strengths. The things you suck at you will always suck and should seek a job or career that requires as little as possible from that side of your personal balance sheet. Balance is for investment portfolio, work to your strengths every day and you cannot help but be successful and a success by any measure you wish to judge. You have the power to make it happen…so DO IT!

Why Finding Your Target Rich Environment Will Land You the Right Job

“Do not labor with bigger nets, fish where the fish are.” -- Greek fisherman’s proverb.


A key component in my approach to helping people to find careers that fit them is showing them that rather than looking in more places, they need to start looking in the right places.

I call those places you should be looking for career fit your Target Rich Environment™. I introduced you to the concept of a Target Rich Environment in this post, but now I want to take that introduction a bit deeper.

So what is a Target Rich Environment, and how does it apply to your job search?

Well, your Target Rich Environment is made up of the type of work, people, company, and industry where you fit. Your TRE is the environment in which you have the highest probability of finding an employer that fits you. To refer back to the Greek fisherman’s proverb -- it’s where all the fish are waiting to be caught.

How do you find your Target Rich Environment?

The key is first to acquire a thorough knowledge of yourself – that is, your own commercial value, your skills, what you can offer an employer, who you work best with, and what kind of work culture you thrive in. This is a process I take my clients through at length. Once they are there, they use their newly gathered knowledge of themselves to pinpoint companies that fit them. My book takes readers through this same process, one step at a time (click here to read an excerpt).

What might your Target Rich Environment look like?

One defining characteristic of companies and organizations in your TRE is that they both need you and your skills and want you and your skills.

They will be companies that:

• -- have the same philosophy, and culture as you
• -- are staffed by people likely to be compatible with you
• -- have a conflict resolution process that fits your natural conflict resolution style
• -- meet your criteria regarding size, growth, and opportunity

It’s time for you to start work on mapping out your own Target Rich Environment.

If you don’t know where you stand on these criteria, now’s the time to figure it out -- you can’t expect anyone else to give you the answers.

Sure, it takes a bit of introspection and some hard work, but once you have a clear grasp of who you are, and which companies are in your Target Rich Environment, you’ll be in a much stronger position to start applying for the right jobs the right way.

For more detailed information on how to find Career Fit check out my book How to Hire the Perfect Employer.




Photo credit: viZZZual.com

How to Hire the Perfect Employer featured on CBC

A couple of weeks ago I had a lot of fun being interviewed on The Lang & O’Leary Exchange on CBC Newsworld. Here is a sampler from my interview with Kevin O’Leary and Dianne Buckner, who was filling in for Amanda Lang:

DB: So you begged for a job, did you?

JB: Begged for a job

DB: And did that work?

JB: No. Didn’t work.

DB: And what was the problem? What is your theory about hiring an employer?

JB: My theory about hiring the perfect employer is that you need to have two things. First of all you need to be looking in the right place for the right employer. And [second] you need to find someone who needs you and someone who wants you.

What I found was that there were a lot of people that needed me but there weren’t a lot of people who wanted me. One of the bank CEOs at the time said I’d love to hire you but I’d have a difficult time explaining to my board that I hired someone who had been fired by Canadian banks twice.

KO: So isn’t the whole game in the banking business not what you can get from them, it’s what you can give to them in terms of driving cash flow into whatever unit you’re involved in?

JB: That’s probably the case if you work for a private enterprise, but within a banking culture or conglomerate or multi-national organization at the end of the day it’s about fit. You have to fit the corporate culture.

DB: So this idea of how to hire the perfect employer ... I mean, generally speaking we don’t think of the job hunter as being in the driver’s seat. How are you turning it around that somehow we are hiring the employer?

JB: Well, one of the first things I talk to people about when they come to see me and I’m helping them find a job is that you have to understand what you’re really good at. You’d be amazed how many times I say to someone, “So what is it you’re good at?” And they say, “Oh, I’m a vice president” or “I’m good at sales.” I say, “No, no, what should I pay you for? What should I pay you to do for me?”

So in my particular case when I make my infomercial I tell people that I’m very good at hiring people. I’ve hired over 900 people in my career. I’m a good judge of fit, talent, person. I’m good at looking at businesses strategically, and lastly I’m very good at coaching and mentoring people. So if you’re interested in any one of those three items, I’m very good at that and you should pay me to do those things. So in the same way I say to people, “Figure out what you’re really, really good at.”

The second thing I tell people to do is figure out which kind of people you work best with. Make a list over your lifetime of all the people you’ve worked with and you’ve worked with some more efficiently and happily than others. Look for those [kinds of] people at the organizations you’re going to interview for a job.

All organizations resolve conflict in different manners. Some of them have a benevolent dictator, some of them are accommodative, some are compromising, some are competitive. You have to understand what yours is and [whether] it fit[s] within an organization, because if it doesn’t it carries over to how people see you. So if you’re competitive and in an organization that’s accommodative or avoidance, you not only don’t get anything done, but people say, “You know what? He’s not a team player.”

This last point I made about conflict resolution is key when it comes to finding an organization that wants you. A person with the right skill set might get fired by one organization because their direct communication style rubbed people the wrong way. But that same person, with the same personality and skill set, can end up in a new organization where their communication style is effective and is considered a strength, not a weakness. I’ve seen this dynamic at work many times – nothing changes except how good the fit is.

If you’d like to watch the interview in full, here it is on CBC’s website.

Look for a Career that Fits in Your Target Rich Environment

“Target Rich Environment™.”

What the hell is that? That's a very good question. The first time I remember ever hearing that expression was in the movie Top Gun. Maverick and Goose are standing outside a bar filled with women and Maverick says "Now Goose, this I what I call a target rich environment." ... I digress!

No, I’m not talking about a bar full of good-looking women, or men for that matter.

I’m talking about career fit.

I’m talking about a concept that defines the type of work, people, company, and industry where you fit. Your Target Rich Environment™ consists of a grouping of jobs and companies where you have the highest probability of success in finding the right fit for you.

These are workplaces where they need the skills that you possess -- workplaces populated by the types of people that you work best with, and where you can be doing what you enjoy doing every day. These are companies and organizations that are the right FIT.

So my question to you today is “are you guilty of looking outside your TRE (Target Rich Environment)?” If so, I suggest you take a step back and start doing your homework on which of the companies out there need the skills and qualities you possess.

Stop pointlessly sending your resume all over town, asking people to set you up for “a chat.” (You know what I mean, those meetings where they really know very little about you, or you about them, and that always starts with the over-worked "So what are you looking to do", which is code for “I have know idea of who you are, what you are good at or how and why you would fit here.”)

Don’t waste your precious time on random networking – be targeted.

In order to successfully find your TRE you must first understand what you have to offer, so you need to put together what I call your own "Personal Infomercial". In my new book "How to Hire the Perfect Employer" I help you understand how to build your infomercial and, once you’ve found your TRE, how to use it to find a job that represents your perfect FIT.

Changing Jobs in 2011? Think About Career Fit Before Making a Career Move

I mentioned a couple of weeks back that 84% of North Americans interviewed in a recent survey said they will be looking for a new position in 2011.

The fact is that in North America there is a high level of job dissatisfaction and that means it’s likely that you are, or soon will be, looking for new opportunities yourself.

But before you update that resume and start applying for jobs, let me ask you an important question.

Are you thinking about career fit?

An astounding number of people let their past job titles direct their career paths rather than factors that really matter. Maybe you’ve been reasonably successful in sales, or marketing, or accounts -- but that doesn’t mean those job titles should define you.

So what criteria should you use to direct your career path? Well, there are a number of important factors that I explore with my clients. Here are some questions you can start with:

-- Why are you unhappy or unsatisfied in your current position?
-- What is it about your work that gives you satisfaction and what makes you unhappy?
-- What are things you really enjoy and what do you dread doing each day?
-- Who do you work well with and who do you dislike working with and why?

Make a note of your answers now and start to create your Personal Balance Sheet™ as you consider what your next career move might be.

At the risk of over-simplifying things, you need to find a job that involves doing the things you enjoy (by the way these are almost invariably the things you are good at) and does not involve doing the things you dislike.

It makes sense to take the time to know how you are wired. This might seem like a no-brainer but I can’t tell you how many people I’ve encountered who have allowed other factors to direct their career paths without questioning them.

If you’ve been unhappy in a previous position it’s vital to work out exactly why you were unhappy. Was it the people you worked with? Were you in the wrong field? Were you in the right field but the wrong company?

Figure these things out and you’re in a much better position to start looking for a job and employer that will fit. And you’ll be in a much better position to find happiness at work.

Employed, Unhappy and Looking for a New Job in 2011?

If so, you have a lot of company. CNN recently reported that 84% of people who are employed plan to look for new job this year. A survey of 1400 workers in the United States asked the question “do you plan to pursue new job opportunities in 2011”? An amazing 84% answered yes, an increase of 24% from 2009.

It’s clear that there are a lot of people who are employed but are unhappy in their work and think they can do better. But will they just jump at the first opportunity that comes along, or will they look for a job that really fits?

One thing I've realized since my own career changed direction is that you have to take responsibility for your own happiness and, as the above figures show, simply having a job is not the way to happiness. Real happiness and true career success come when you find career fit, a job and employer that really are a match for you. And that requires some work before you start applying for new jobs.

In my book, How to Hire the Perfect Employer, I show you how to start with a good look at yourself and ask: “what you are good at? Who do you work well with? What employers are right for you?”

If you’re concerned with real career success, simply landing a new job should not be your goal.

You need to land the right job -- the job that fits you.

Defining Career Success: Making Money or Finding Fit?

I always highlight the importance of taking a non-traditional approach to finding a new job or career. My advice is that you should not waste time playing the “résumé lottery” (passively sending résumés to multiple companies, then waiting by the mailbox with your fingers crossed). Here’s why.

Sure, the résumé lottery approach could land you a job. Eventually. But my experience tells me that it’s highly unlikely to give you career success because there’s every chance you’ll end up in the wrong place.

If you do end up in a job that’s not a good fit, you may find that you do well -- you may even make a lot of money. But if the job isn’t the right fit, your working life will be uncomfortable, uninspiring, even painful. You’ll dread certain parts of your day and you’ll hate working with certain people. You’ll come home frustrated, drained, stifled. Tell me -- is that really your definition of career success?

Here’s a definition I like much better:

“There is only one success—to be able to spend your life in your own way”

— Christopher Morley

It took me a long time to realize that a career in investment banking was not the right fit for me and the process of coming to this realization was extremely painful. If I had known then what I know now about the importance of career fit, I could have avoided that pain. It’s my aim to share my experience and to help you find your right fit now by taking you on a journey that will help you determine:

• -- What you enjoy doing most (this will reveal what you’re good at)
• -- Who you work best with, and why (this will reveal your wiring, or personality type)
• -- Your preferred method of resolving conflicts
• -- Your Target Rich Environment™ (TRE™)—the types of employers who fit you and your goals—companies where you should therefore concentrate your search

The result? You will find a job that you love doing and you’ll wake up every morning looking forward to the day ahead. Now that’s true career success.

Convinced? What needs to change for you to find success in your career?

Do You Really Want the Jobs You’re Interviewing For?

There is a standard approach to searching for and interviewing for a new job. It goes something like this:

You browse a number of job listings, selecting several on the basis of a short blurb and/or the advertised salary. You then passively send out a résumé to selected companies. You proceed to wait by your mailbox for an unlikely acceptance letter.

Let’s say you get an interview and you find yourself sitting there under the microscope trying to convince your interviewer that you are perfect for a company you know almost nothing about. Even if you get the job, the question is do you really want it?

It may be a couple of years or (as in my case) decades before it becomes apparent to you that you’re in entirely the wrong job. Only then will you realize that what you did in your interview was convince yourself and your employer that you (a square peg) were a perfect fit for the position (a round hole.)

I have news for you -- there is a much much better way.

Imagine a different scenario. You’re considering interviewing for a list of companies, but this time, as you’re looking at each company on your list, you’re thinking:

• Why should I apply for this job?


• Will it give me the opportunity to use and add value with my skill set?


• Will this organization’s work environment fit with my personality type?


• Will this employer fit me and my goals?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then -- let me be clear -- you shouldn’t be interviewing for the job. Square peg. Round hole. It’s time to reconfigure and begin looking for a job that fits who you are.

That’s what my approach (and this blog) is all about -- understanding the importance of the Fit Factor™. It’s about knowing who you are and what you have to offer. It’s about understanding why you and a particular company are a good fit.

Thinking of a career change? Does your thinking need to change first?