It Doesn’t Have to Be So Hard
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
An interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar about his time trying to coach Michael Olowokandi is the basis for this video. It really doesn’t have to be so hard.
I was watching ESPN yesterday at one point, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the former great Laker and Bucks center, got into a conversation that I think stemmed from the fact that Celtics basketball player, Isaiah Thomas, was getting some advice and support from Kobe Bryant, another great retired Laker. I think part of the premise of the show was “Lakers-Celtics. These 2 teams hated one another. Why is Kobe helping a Celtic?” Then it evolved into something much more pertinent.
Kareem, who if you is not the best was certainly 1 of the best Centers in the history of professional basketball, told the story about how at one point he was asked to coach the number 1 draft pick Of the San Diego Clippers Whose name was, “Michael Olowokandi.” Olowokandi was a talented individual, 23 years old, and had been playing basketball for about 3 years. He was “a project.” They knew he would need help when they drafted him and thought that Kareem would be a great person to help him. After all, you would have 1 of the greats teaching all the little tricks To help make him into a great player.
Olowokandi didn’t want to hear it.
What consistently happened was that Olowokandi would consistently get into foul trouble and sit on the bench. You might commit turnovers and wind up being taken out of games. Instead of having a long career as Abdul-Jabbar had, He was out of the lake in 5 years. He was a colossal bust.
What’s the point of all this?
Most of you are trying to figure it out as you go along. I don’t care if it is in a job search, in your career, I don’t care whatever part of your life it is, I want if you to try to figure things out through trial and error.
It doesn’t have to be that hard.
You don’t have to do it that way. What you can do is get some help, Someone to coach you in order to perform at a better level. Whether it’s in a job search in your work, in your career, sometimes the best way to facilitate the change that you need in order to become whom you want to become, Is with a coach, you can watch yourself, listen to you, observe you, and notice you. Is someone whom you can speak to regularly about your “stuff” and help you sort through so that they can accelerate your development, offer extra eyes and ears on your situation, and advance your life in advance of your career.
The choice is yours. You can keep hitting your head against the wall and, yes, it does hurt and you become numb to the pain. There’s no reason to have to do that. Among the goals in life is to be as successful as possible and as happy as possible in as easy a way as possible.
Get some coaching. Get some help. Get some advice. It doesn’t have to be so hard. Don’t allow yourself to be washed out of the league.
[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBsLZEo7Fgc[/svp]
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 2400 episodes. He also hosts Job Search TV on YouTube, and Amazon, as well as on BingeNetworks.tv for Apple TV and 90+ smart sets.
I do a livestream on LinkedIn, YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) and on Facebook (on the Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter page) Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me through LinkedIn’s messaging .You can also message me through chat during the approximately 30 minute show.
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Good points made in this video. However, it’s not always a matter of the jobseeker having defective job-search skills. If someone can afford a coach, that’s great. However, unless you are applying for a job that requires an *extremely rare* skill, you will be competing with hundreds of other people for the job. Some of those people might be internal referrals. Some of those people might have done the EXACT same job down to the letter. Some of those people might be younger, more fresh-faced and able to work for peanuts because they still live at home with their parents. I think that job seekers should take advantage of every possible resource they can to help tip the scales in their favor, including coaching. However, once they have done that, they need not wonder… _”What’s wrong with me?”_ ; because most of the time, the rejection wasn’t about them at all. The company that posted the job is in the catbird seat among an ocean of job candidates. And they can pluck whomever they wish for the job and reject the others based on God knows what. It’s unfortunate that a job seeker has to twist and contort themselves to fit into whatever image they think will get them selected for the job. Then when they don’t get the job, they untwist themselves and retwist themselves for the next interview. It’s an exhausting process that can leave a person unaware of who they are anymore. That’s why simple, cheap, off-grid living is so attractive to people right now. Myself included.
This video is broader than about job search. So often, when people are on the job, there are people they can listen and learn from that they shut out like the example I gave. They make it harder on themselves than they need to. Why? Yes, in job search, a person can be beaten for a job by someone younger or older, more experienced or less experienced . . . on and on. And they learn from trial and error and commit far more errors than need to.
Good points made in this video. However, it’s not always a matter of the jobseeker having defective job-search skills. If someone can afford a coach, that’s great. However, unless you are applying for a job that requires an *extremely rare* skill, you will be competing with hundreds of other people for the job. Some of those people might be internal referrals. Some of those people might have done the EXACT same job down to the letter. Some of those people might be younger, more fresh-faced and able to work for peanuts because they still live at home with their parents. I think that job seekers should take advantage of every possible resource they can to help tip the scales in their favor, including coaching. However, once they have done that, they need not wonder… _”What’s wrong with me?”_ ; because most of the time, the rejection wasn’t about them at all. The company that posted the job is in the catbird seat among an ocean of job candidates. And they can pluck whomever they wish for the job and reject the others based on God knows what. It’s unfortunate that a job seeker has to twist and contort themselves to fit into whatever image they think will get them selected for the job. Then when they don’t get the job, they untwist themselves and retwist themselves for the next interview. It’s an exhausting process that can leave a person unaware of who they are anymore. That’s why simple, cheap, off-grid living is so attractive to people right now. Myself included.
This video is broader than about job search. So often, when people are on the job, there are people they can listen and learn from that they shut out like the example I gave. They make it harder on themselves than they need to. Why? Yes, in job search, a person can be beaten for a job by someone younger or older, more experienced or less experienced . . . on and on. And they learn from trial and error and commit far more errors than need to.