Career Path: The Narrow Net Strategy

A common dilemma that companies face is whether to focus their products and services as broadly as possible, and thereby target the largest possible addressable market, or focus narrowly to target a win-able beachhead.

So too, is the dilemma that people face when positioning themselves from a career marketing perspective. Focus broadly or position narrowly? Conventional wisdom is to look at the myriad of opportunities in the marketplace, your breadth of skills and target the largest bucket. Why close the door on potential opportunities that you could be a fit for?

 I would argue that this is the wrong approach in that it leads to looking generic, a viable candidate for the all takers but a bulls-eye for none. In a crowded market, where everyone is employing the same strategy, it is a surefire way to NOT stand out.

The argument here is to position yourself as narrowly as possible, the bulls-eye for "three percent of the market," knowing full well that in the process you will rule yourself out for the other 97 percent of the market opportunities out there.

Think of this approach as the "narrow net" strategy, whereby the target buyer for what you are selling is thrilled to find that there is actually someone out there offering your unique combination of attributes.

Put another way, if the "Groucho axiom" was that Groucho would never want to be a member of a club that would be willing to have him as a member, in this model you only target companies that are completely thrilled to have you as a member.

Does the approach work? Absolutely, and I make this assertion from two different points of reference. One is having guided many job seekers across industries as diverse as technology, real estate and retail, I have seen how aligning specific skills and/or a specific passion with a specific "hire me" message tilted towards the narrow net target has translated to a great outcome for the seeker and a great hire for the company.

Two is that having interviewed literally thousands (and hired hundreds) over the past 18 years, I can tell you that the broad folks never stand out except in the strongest job markets.

More to the point, the bulls-eyes (every job has a bulls-eye hire) literally bring tears to your eyes. You are thrilled that someone's career path so tightly vectors with the position that you are looking to fill and can't wait to connect with these people.

Not only is such a strategy great for getting hired but it is great for thinking about what your unfair advantage is, what career path you aspire to and equally important, what does not fit into this bucket. It's the distinction between marketing yourself as a finely tailored suit and shopping yourself as "off the rack."

Related Posts:

1. Are You Working with Chickens or Pigs? On finding workers and co-workers who have real 'skin in the game.'
2. The Five Keys to Business Success: Simple truths learned in doing eight startups.

Comments

[Garrett French]

One thing I'd add, from here in the 5th year of my professional career, is the value I've found in staying focused (and flexible) on getting to positions in companies where I can:

a)have the most fun
b)kick the most ass
c)work with the most interesting people

This was true when I worked in a restaurant and it's true now that I'm driving product development and thought leadership marketing for MarketSmart Interactive.

This was the exact advice I gave my sister, who just got her masters degree in sociology: gravitate to the position - no matter where you work - in which you will be the most engaged.

If you've got a crap job, focus on the thing there you enjoy the most and develop your approach so that the folks who come after you can benefit from your legacy.

When I talk with folks who say they hate their jobs and can't find a single thing they're willing to invest in at work I tell them to quit.

That attitude is poisonous anyways, and really really boring to me.

for the record: My perspective and advice probably applies more to folks just getting started in their careers.

Though I wholeheartedly believe that by following my practices I will successfully target that bullseye you're talking about.

At the very least I know that I'll enjoy going to work, and to me, that's the true meaning of professionalism.

[Mark Sigal]

Great points, Garrett, and completely agree with your perspective. Side comment is that it boggles the mind how many people hate what they are doing, yet fail to see their part in the equation and/or devote themselves to fixing the situation or getting into a different body of water.

Cheers,

Mark

[Albin LE GUYADER]

My sales manager, when I left my last job, told me that I will miss to the company because there are two kind of people. 80% are breaking stones and 20% are cutting stones. I am in the 20% that consider that it is better not to do a thing than doing it approximately ! I rode something similar few weeks ago on a very brilliant blog, it was about chickens and pigs... But I havent any response from this blogger... :-)

Albin

PS: As I am still ready to sell parts of my body to work for vSocial I decided to stop a bit my uploads and focus on tools to promote the videos and obviously vSocial in the same time (digg.com, exotic forums,...)

[John "Z-Bo" Zabroski]

I think there are a lot of times when employers just plain luck-into good employees. And employees luck-into the perfect job.

I know at my current job, I am not sure what it was that got me in the door, but my supervisors always seem to be really happy to talk to me. (I think it's just that I catch them off-guard with how fast I think of a solution to their problem).

I don't really know about having the perfect skill set for the job, either. If I told you what I was doing, you'd probably blink... and... blink... and ponder. 99% of the people I work with ask me, "How the hell did you end up in this department?" My background knowledge is a complete 180 from the people I work with.

I think the important things that allow me to function in an (unfamiliar) environment and be successful at my job are:
(a) problem solving
(b) DOING

Some people are problem solvers, but not all of them are also do-ers. This is not my original idea. I think I stole it from Joel Spolsky (joelonsoftware.com). =)