Sincere Interest Can Take You Far in Your Career

Remember the last time you met someone with whom you wound up having a great deal in common? Remember that "aha" moment when you learned the other person shared one of your strong passions? You probably ended up talking to each other about that common interest for the next hour or two, completely losing track of time along the way.

You didn't even have to try to connect with the other person. It just happened, simply because you were both enthusiastic about a certain something.

The same thing goes on all the time in the world of work, and you can cultivate it in your career exploration or search for an internship or entry-level job. By simply sharing with people what you're sincerely interested in and asking them for their advice and ideas, you can uncover or even create all sorts of opportunities that will help your career development.

Let's look at an example. Suppose you're a college sophomore majoring in environmental studies, because you have deep-seated feelings and beliefs about environmental protection. If you could find some people who are currently working in environmental protection and tell them about your strong interest in the field, you would almost certainly connect with some similar-thinking professionals (and other students) who would gladly open your eyes to career-related opportunities.

How could you find such people? Several ways:

Join a Professional Organization

Hundreds of professional organizations target people who have an interest in environmental issues, and several of these groups are aimed specifically at students. They offers conservation service opportunities, outdoor education and career training for students interested in the field. As importantly, though, it can expose you to a significant network of people to share your passion with.

Meanwhile, professional organizations have dozens of state chapters. Find the chapter in your state, join it and attend meetings and conferences to find hundreds of people in the field with whom you can discuss your common concerns -- and uncover employment opportunities.

Go on Informational Interviews

Informational interviewing is just a fancy term for talking to people about their jobs. In the vast majority of cases, if you ask someone whose job interests you to talk to you about that job, the person will happily do so. Why? Because you've shown interest in something he feels strongly about and people love talking about themselves and what they do.

With the explosion of the Internet, you don't even need to live in the same area as the person you want to talk to. Instead of or in addition to an in-person interview, you can contact people by email and speak to them that way at their convenience. (Often, you can email people who seem too famous or too inaccessible to talk to you and be surprised when they respond, sometimes with much more information and advice than you would have expected, solely because you've shown sincere interest in them and what they do.)

Volunteer

There is perhaps no better way to prove your strong interest in a certain field than to volunteer with an organization in that field. After all, you won't be getting paid for your efforts, so the people you're working for and with have to conclude you're contributing simply because you enjoy the field so much.

In many cities, the local chapter of the United Way serves as a clearinghouse for hundreds of volunteer opportunities in the area. So if you were interested in volunteering in an environmental capacity, you could check with the nearest United Way chapter and see what possibilities exist.

Just as you might hit it off with someone at a party, you can also hit it off with someone in the world of work. And that someone, seeing your sincere interest, will more often than not be flattered to introduce you to the many career-related opportunities that await you. All you have to do is ask.