I was laying in bed perusing food blogs on my laptop—two of my favorites are The Food in My Beard and Pioneer Woman (boy, that lady can make use of three sticks of softened butter)—and then I meandered to a site about heirloom beans: Rancho Gordo. I stopped on a chili recipe and it didn’t take long before I was gettin’ out my credit card and ordering some Vaquero beans that look like Holstein cows.
Of course, then, I had to scribble out a shopping list so’s I could make Carne en su Jugo. Which is what I want you to do, if you’re looking for a new job.
Check it out: when you start musing about what you want to eat for dinner you mentally inventory what’s in your frig. And then you think, but I need plantains. And so you stop on the way home for one of them weird bananas. Our subconscious mind reminds us that in order to eat what we want, we need to pick up a key ingredient. But the beauty of the subconscious mind (yes, you can start referring to me as Dr. Aronoff, sure) is that it doesn’t do our critical thinking for us. That is, it doesn’t care what you put into it and every bit of knowledge gets equal billing.
Stay with me here, people. You write it down, say it out loud to yourself and then your mind reminds you to do it. Then it gets done. If you are telling your subconscious mind I would love to work at Pixar but no way will I get hired there, it goes to work and makes sure that is the end result. I don’t mean to get all Stuart Smalley on you but your subconscious mind carries out its marching orders, amigos.
If you want to work at Pixar, get in line. Kidding. I mean, plant that command in your mind. I’m going to work at Pixar.
Make out your grocery list:
1. Learn everything I can about the company
2. Talk to everyone I know to find out if they know anyone who works there
3. Check out which of my LinkedIn contacts is connected to Pixar in any way
4. Ask for an informational interview from that someone and ask what does it take to get hired here?
5. Learn how to do the required skills to get hired
6. Tailor my resume and portfolio to Pixar’s needs
7. Scour their job listings
8. Check out any volunteer or internships they have
9. Be flexible so I can get hired even if it isn’t my dream job
10. Be patient
11. Take a job in the meantime that will give me experience that is valued at Pixar
12. Rinse. Repeat. Over and over.
13. Get job at Pixar
14. Enjoy bridge traffic
Trust me: you’re going to get a job just as surely as you’re going to eat what you want for dinner. It’s that simple.
