How To Make Work Find You

During a conversation with a former student, I asked her “How old are the videos on your personal site”?

She thought for a moment, then said “I think 2012…?”

“You want to create video content for a career, right?”

“Absolutely.”

“Looks like we’ve pinned down the problem.”

“What’s that?”

“You need to make new videos. You told me you like travel, food and drink content.”

“Yep.”

“Okay. At the end of the day, after you leave your stable decent paying job with insurance benefits – the one you don’t like – walk your neighborhood and discover some spots. Discover a killer dive bar, an interesting store. Shoot a 90 second video about that spot. Do voiceover, maybe a standup in front of the place. Perhaps you could ask the owner if you could grab a couple of soundbites from her/him.”

“Oh yeah…”

“Propagate your online world with fresh video content. These are short hits; quick fresh bursts of stuff. The content is not too long , you can edit it very quickly, and a funny thing will happen.”

“What’s that?”

“You will have a fresh YouTube channel, a fresh LinkedIn update, a new piece of content to put on your personal site. Maybe someone will like your work and share it. Maybe someone will ask to connect with you because they are doing the same thing. Recruiters might stumble upon your video, which might be the kind of storytelling they are interested in. Maybe you’ll apply for a freelance gig and you’ll have a pile of stuff created not last year, not last month – but this week!”

“I can do that!” She smiled.

“Yeah, you can. Do the work you know you love and can do well. Do it and keep doing it. The work will find you. It’s not a magic formula – it’s an inevitability!”

“I have got to get out of (her current job).”

“I just gave you a way out. Oh, by the way…don’t forget to make a ‘hire me’ video too.”

John Scott is a media studies instructor and the career services manager at the School of Multimedia Communications, Academy of Art University San Francisco. Check out John’s book, “Destination: Reinvention”, on sale in the Amazon bookstore.