Job Searching For The Average Worker

Would you say that you're just working for a paycheck right now? Are you not sure where your career is going or what path you want to take? Maybe you've had ideas about what you want to do, but you haven't found the right opportunity to kick start your career. One thing is certain: You're looking for a new job but don't think you'll stand out from the competition.

What do you do if you haven't yet excelled in your career and don't have huge successes to highlight in a résumé? Here are some tips on job searching for the average worker.

Look for positions in which you can gain experience
If you're new to the working world or are changing fields, look for an entry-level position or a job in which you can gain experience. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook is a great tool for exploring your next job move. You can select occupations to learn more about them and narrow down your search by salary, education level required, on-the-job training provided and projected growth rate. Honestly assess where you are in your career, and decide where you'd like to be.

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Average Is a Dead End

Remember average?

It's the brand marketer at a packaged-goods company refusing to sell whole-wheat bread, because the average person doesn't like it. Or the dietitian at the airline who says it should serve only peanuts, because the average person won't eat a corn chip.

Average made America great. Average was the mass market, the sweet spot, the high-volume, high-profit, churn-'em-out-and-move-on middle.

Average is dead.

America's best-selling beer isn't Budweiser or Miller. It's other. Salsa now outsells ketchup. There are so many alternatives, so many distribution channels and so many different kinds of consumers that average just isn't interesting anymore.

Are You Average?

Is your company average? Are you an average person doing an above-average job for an average company selling an average product to the average consumer?

Uh-oh.

This is the hard part. In crazy times, the animals with the greatest chance to survive are the outliers -- the super-fast cheetah or the mammoth with the extra-thick wooly coat. Of course, being an outlier is risky. If the world gets warm fast, that mammoth will be awfully unhappy.

All your life you've been trained to keep your head down, fit in, stick with it, and be quiet. And in stable times, that's a fine -- though boring -- strategy.

But now the rules have changed. Change is the new normal: Anything could happen; instability is a constant. And the best strategy is not to hunker down and fit in. It's to stand up and stand out.

How can you make your company's products more exceptional? How can you take astounding risks with your career? With your cover letter? With your resume?

You Can't Have It Both Ways

You cannot simultaneously be invisible and stand out. If you're invisible, one thing is certain: You're going to become extinct. Maybe not instantly and maybe not violently, but there's less and less room for someone who doesn't make a difference. In my humble opinion, it's a lot safer and a lot more interesting to make a point.

Start slow, that's fine. But start. Take some risks. Be exceptional. Be salsa, not ketchup.