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ADAPT #38 - 🤘 You are hired, now start looking for a job!

ADAPT #38 - 🤘 You are hired, now start looking for a job!

Gus Balbontin
June 06, 2024

By Gus Balbontin

Hey Rebels!

Back to the unstructured newsletter ways! Ha!
It’s like I even reject my own systems… don’t worry I have learnt to live with me!

Lets go!

Imagine this:
You just got hired and on your first day at work the boss comes and tells you:
“You should probably start looking for a job!”

WTF!?

If you’ve been following me, you’ve heard me say before that when I hire someone I always ask them to start looking for a job so they stay independent, autonomous and nimble.

Yes I know, it is a weird thing to say to someone after accepting a role.

It’s like I always say: “Welcome, make yourself uncomfortable”. ha!

You probably wonder how this counterintuitive approach works, and if it actually increases risk or reduces it?

Ok let me break it down and provoke your thinking!

Career Rebellion Workshop

In this email, you’re about to learn why it’s important to always stay independent and have options beyond your current job.

But I can only go so far in an email.

For the past few years, I’ve worked with top-level leaders, C-suite executives, and entrepreneurs from some of the best companies in the world.

I realised that many people struggle to give space to “life” and end up with a work/life balance where “Work” always wins. Even worse, they start outsourcing their careers (to HR, partners, the market, etc.) instead of OWNING them.

Your work/life balance should be simply “life balance”… a portfolio of activities pointing toward your desires and purpose.

That’s why I created the Portfolio Career Model, my unorthodox approach to setting your goals and designing your career. I teach and coach you through all of this in the Career Rebellion Workshop, which will kick off next week.

This workshop is designed to help CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs, but honestly, it works for anyone, even students, to build their Portfolio Careers and OWN their future.

DON’T - OUTSOURCE - YOUR - CAREER!

My system is backed by amazing feedback and testimonials from past participants and clients.

So if you feel it’s time to start pulling your future toward you, rather than waiting for it to happen... Or if you feel you have hit a plateau and need to feel the fire within you again... All while being supported and coached by me... make sure to grab a spot at the link below:

>>> Join the Career Rebellion Workshop

But now, back to why as soon as you get a job, you should be looking for a new one…

This is how this approach helps:

Staying independent

Dependency creates many behaviours that are incredibly harmful to the business and to yourself. You start doing all sorts of mental gymnastics to justify actions even though common sense suggests otherwise.

Keep your autonomy

Staying self-reliant is critical when it comes to negotiating your way into or out of a position. You will indeed dare to get rid of the problem you are the solution to and move on to greater challenges that await. You can let go more and grow!

Truth teller

Autonomy and independence give you the ability to call a spade a spade. You don’t have any need to drink the cool aid, providing instead valuable insights and staying truer to common sense. As a leader, it pays to be surrounded by unbiased people than to build an echo chamber of yeses.

Retention Strategy

Turns out that helping people stay independent and taking care of themselves is the best retention strategy. When we think of retention we think of ways to do exactly the opposite… how can I make this person depend on us so much that they never leave (or only when I chose to make them leave). This is not only unfair but dangerous. Working on people’s self-sufficiency means they will stay with you for the right amount of time, no more, no less.

Personal Growth

Applying for jobs is an amazing way to learn what other businesses are looking for and what are the areas that you may need to continue to develop. It is also an incredible way to increase your tolerance to judgment.

Insights

As a leader having open discussions with employees who are applying for jobs across the sector gives you incredible insights into the rest of the industry. Sounds like a peculiar way of gathering intel but it is certainly effective.

As you can probably tell, I genuinely believe asking people to look for jobs or start side hustles or always keep an eye on options, actually de-risks your business. And it enables mature conversations to take place, adults treating people like adults.

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK:
Try it! Send this message on to your staff and tell them to find a job in the next few weeks and apply for it! Or do it yourself!
Even if you are an entrepreneur, what would it look like to start another hustle? To keep options open?

If you don’t know where to start, consider joining my next Career Rebellion Workshop. Join me and us in cohort number two and let me help you unlock new value in your career and de-risk it in the process.

Yew!

Love

My recommendations:

I’ll use this space to share some of the Career Rebellion program testimonials.

Jag - Head of Strategy and Transformation at Bluescope Steel

Thank you for the energy you brought to the Career Workshop. I've gained from it in more ways than just my career, and I'm grateful for the thought and care that went into the programme.

The Career Portfolio workshop has provided clear actions to change course and build the career (and lifestyle) I would like. It has given me the confidence to believe that I can make the needed change. Since the workshop ended, I have taken three small actions and feel comfortable that the Simple, Small, Now approach will get me to where I want to be while stopping to smell the roses.

— Heidi

Gus, thank you for your passion, time, wisdom and authenticity.
Participating in a group forum added a tremendous amount of value and education. It's impact at this early stage can only be measured by means of the workshop sessions and learnings attained - the real work starts now in applying those learnings (which has begun).
The younger me could have benefited doing this course in my late 20's or early 30's. I genuinely feel that I missed the boat and now I'm correcting the steer with what I can do now both professionally and in personal like.

— Nick

Useful framework, easy to follow and makes total sense.
It’s for anyone who feel stuck / plateau or in my case when I didn’t feel fire in my belt.

— Ching

Would absolutely recommend. It's been a great help. I think the principles can be applied at any stage of a career. It teaches you how to set pathways and make decisions based on goals, desires, and needs. The vague goals actually turned out to be the clarifier for me. It made me sit down and actually think about what I want in my career stage.

— Craig

The next group kicks off in next week this is the calendar:

Session 1 (Kick Off) - Tuesday 11^th June

Session 2 - Friday 14^th June

Session 3 - Friday 21^st June

Session 4 - Friday 28^th June

PLUS a 1 HOUR 1-on-1 coaching session with me (booked later based on your availability)!

GET YOUR SPOT HERE!

Oh… and more testimonials: