By Kevin Sutton
I looked up the definition for advice and training in two different dictionaries. I used the Google Dictionary and Dictionary.com.
Advice:
1. If you give someone advice, you tell them what you think they should do in a particular situation.
2. An opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct, etc.
Training:
1. The process of learning the skills that you need for a particular job or activity.
2. The education, instruction, or discipline of a person or thing that is being trained.
Everyone that has held a job, regardless of the type of job, had some type of skill training.
It could have simply been being shown how to perform specific tasks up to years of formal education and intensive skill-based training. The point is; the profession or position you chose required some training in order to perform very well.
Companies have increasingly added different types of training for their employees at all levels. The idea is to provide the employee with additional skills to perform better, safer, more efficiently, skillfully, etc. It may help them create new products and services, improve existing products and services, and provide customers with better service overall. Some training is designed to increase the skills of employees, so they can be promoted to engage in even higher value tasks. Some seek training and education outside their employer on their own knowing it will be of great value to them and their career.
Finding a new career opportunity is really a job. It takes specific skills and effort to effectively find that next opportunity. So, where do most people get the skills needed? We are not born with them. We do not inherently have the skills necessary. No, most find them through the advice of family, friends, co-workers, former co-workers, in the local newspaper, outplacement services, career coaches, free online webinars, and of course, on Oprah.
Would anyone who is focused on their chosen profession when take advice from those around them who do not know what they do? Would anyone take advice from someone and apply the advice from someone that does not know the first thing about what you do? How can they know the education you have acquired, the skills you have learned, the training you have added and the experiences you have? Of greater importance, where did they get their training and skills to be able to impart advice that is effective?
For example, say you are an engineer in a nuclear power plant responsible for the cooling system. If your favorite aunt who has never studied the operational needs of a nuclear reactor system gave you some advice on solving a specific critical issue; how would you respond? On the outside, you might smile politely and thank her for her thoughtfulness in offering her insights. On the inside, you might be feeling very uncomfortable with implementing her suggestion even though she meant well.
Of course, that is an extreme example, although people are usually willing to give advice for all the right reasons. They mean well and want to help with the best of intentions, even if the advice is not sound.
Back to searching for the next career opportunity. Perhaps it is not as extreme as ensuring that a nuclear reactor operates as designed but, I think most people feel very strongly about their job and finding the next one.
Why do so many seeking their next career opportunity lean on advice for such a critical process? Why are not they seeking skill-based training as tenaciously as they have sought the training that prepared them so well for their chosen profession or the job they like?
Going back to the two different definitions at the top; I think there is a distinct difference. Seeking advice is not necessarily going to carry the day in searching for the next opportunity. It might sound good and give you a good feeling inside, but is it effective? Who knows? Or, maybe you do know, because it has not worked.
On the other hand, seeking training that will provide education and skills resulting in the desired end results might have more merit. Learning effective job search skills that will:
• Teach you to research the kind of companies where you want to be employed
• Teach how to approach them so they will want to talk to you
• Learn the skills of how to present your credentials so hiring managers notice you
• Teach you how to present yourself in a manner that tells the prospective employer you are qualified and they see you fitting their organization
• Gaining the skills to follow through in a way to gain additional insight and to seize the next interview opportunity
• Learning how to gain the offer you deserve
• Learning how to follow through so the start is a great one for you and for your new employer, setting the tone for advancing your career long term
These are key components to finding your next career opportunity that take specific skills. Some may possess some of the skills or pieces of the skills from other experiences, but the complete set is needed for success.
My suggestion is seek out sound, high quality training to find your next opportunity. You will not be sorry if you get gain the skills from highly qualified individuals with track records of success. Like most of the training you have had throughout your career, you will not be sorry. It will more likely lead to the success you seek than does well intended advice.
