Do You Know the Secret?

 

Everyone wants to know the secret, as can be seen by the massive success of the film of the same name. However, have you ever stopped to think exactly what a secret is? It’s only something you know that other people don’t - or vice versa!

How does this relate to your career? First of all, one of the biggest growth industries at the moment is Personal Development. Everyone wants to know the secret that will make them rich, thin, attractive, more intelligent, healthier and so on. Of course, there isn’t just one secret, there are many ways in which people can make lots of money or shed unwanted pounds, but if you have the knowledge and someone else wants it, your “secret” is valuable.

A couple of examples for you: a chef from mainland China told me the secret ingredient which makes sweet and sour sauce taste so good. One of the biggest secrets I know is how to fill in a supporting statement on a job application form.Of course, neither of these are secrets at all, but if you don’t know the “secret”, you won’t get the great dinner or the interview.

It’s easy to see how this can be applied to self-employment – you can create a product, such as an e-book or a video which teaches your target niche your particular secret and how to apply it in their lives. It could be a practical secret, like how to build a deck, or create a particular hairstyle or it could be how to fill in a tax return. Or how to set up a blog like this one!;

But can you also apply this technique to getting a job?

Yes - and here is an exercise which will help you. Take half an hour or so when you’ll be undisturbed and sit down with pen and paper or keyboard and screen. Write a list of everything that you can do really well and which could be useful in a job. Go through a typical day at work/school in your mind and look at the things you do well. This might take some thought, because you probably do most of them automatically. You might come up with: organizing meetings, using a particular computer programme, speaking or writing in another language, managing spreadsheets, setting up travel arrangements, getting assignments done on time.

Apply this process to your spare time activities as well. Do you have the gift of keeping children happily occupied for an entire afternoon? Do you learn things really quickly? Are you good at explaining how to do things? Do you really listen when people talk? Can you calm people down during an argument?

These are all transferable skills and you may not even know how you do them – so in one sense they are secrets.

Take a look at all your secret skills and knowledge and draw up a list of transferable skills which employers will pay for. For example, not many people know how to write grammatically correct English, or give an interesting presentation - so your skills don’t necessarily need to be exotic.

If you want to make your list longer, ask friends to help you out – they will often be more aware of your strengths than you are.

Matching your skills with the skills the employer is looking for is the “secret” to getting an interview.

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