Last week I was introduced to Simon Sinek by a friend and I have been watching his videos daily since then. Simon is a strong propagator of “Start with why”. If you haven’t heard of him, I highly recommend that you watch his first video here. Simon brings to attention a simple yet powerful mindset shift which can determine our success in all our endeavors.

In 2014 when I was working as a full time recruiter, one of my ex-clients (let’s call him Steve) approached for help in his job search. He was retrenched from the previous role when the company moved his role outside of Singapore and he struggled to find a job for almost 2 years. For a senior person who had accomplished a lot in his career so far, the experience of not getting a job for that long can take a toll on confidence. Having placed people reporting to him and hearing positive feedback on his work as well as management style, I knew that competency was not issue for getting the role. Steve had worked in his last role for almost a decade. While he was busy pushing mountains for his employer, the recruitment landscape had changed altogether. Finding a job was no longer as simple as applying online to a few advertisements and attending interviews to get the job.

After coaching and consulting him in his job search techniques, we were able to get him a new job within 3 months. Steve just needed some tweaks in his approach and knowledge of how things work now but he didn’t know what needed to change and how. Steve’s success encouraged me to spend some time with more job seekers and help them in finding a job. The result was a success in each scenario and made me obsessed with helping job seekers in getting their next job fast.

Throughout my recruitment career I have met good professionals who needed help in their job search as they were not abreast with how the recruitment landscape had changed in the recent past or just didn’t have the time. When good professionals don’t get a job after trying for some time, their pride and self confidence takes a hit. I wanted to work not only on their job search strategies but also on the mindset of the job seekers. This led to the launch of JobS-ME to help professionals in Singapore get their next job fast.

The ‘Why’ of JobS-ME spurred me to march forward during the initial tough days and still keeps me motivated when things don’t look well. I understand that by helping them to find jobs, I help people to get their career back on track and take off a major stress from all other aspects of their lives.

What is your ‘Why’ of doing what you are doing now? Does it keep you motivated through the tough days? If money is the only ‘Why’ for you to go to work then you might just be shortchanging yourself.

JobS-ME: Job Search Made Easy
JobS-ME is a training, coaching and consulting company helping professionals get their next ideal job fast. True to its name, JobS-ME was launched to make job search easy and effective.

Image credits: Flickr