Caption

Feeling stuck in your job can make your options feel a lot smaller than they actually are. Especially when the standard advice is: “Just network.” Okay…but with who? You might immediately think of your “network” as the impressive people you already know professionally. And if that list feels short, networking can seem useless. But your potential network is probably much bigger. Think about your high school, college, graduate program, previous jobs, organizations you’ve joined, former coworkers, professors, friends of friends—the list keeps going. The important part isn’t messaging everyone asking if they know of an open job. It’s finding the people where you already have some reason to connect. An alum from your school isn’t a close connection, but they’re also not quite the same as a completely random person on LinkedIn. That small amount of shared identity gives you somewhere to start. Then make the request easy to say yes to. Instead of: “Can you help me get into your industry?” Try: “Would you have 15 minutes to tell me about how you got into your current role?” You’re not asking them to solve your career. You’re asking for one conversation. And sometimes that conversation leads to another person, another idea, an opportunity you hadn’t considered—or simply a clearer picture of what you want to do next. Networking isn’t a magic solution to being unhappy at work. Sometimes feeling stuck has much deeper causes. But when you don’t know what your next move is, your existing network can be one place to start looking for possibilities you can’t see from where you’re currently sitting. Who’s one person in your extended network you’ve been meaning to reach out to? #CareerAdvice #networking #LinkedIn #jobsearch #careerchange