What are my options?

Once the first step is complete, and we have an inventory of all of the ingredients and kitchen utensils and tools at our disposal, we can get ready to start cooking.  Hopefully we have replenished our pantry and refrigerator and are ready to jump in and make something delicious.  This is the time to pull out the recipe book and see what yummy dish we can make from our ingredients. 

• In terms of career paths, this is the time to see what’s out there that matches the skills, strengths and abilities we have identified as being important to us. 
• Instead of a recipe book, we can reference tools such as job aggregators and LinkedIn to identify the opportunities in the market place and people we can approach to learn more about them.

*Please note that it is also possible to start with a recipe and work backwards and sometimes that is the way to go (for example when we know exactly what we want to make, or we have a special request for a particular dish).  However, I would caution against always taking this approach, as we may end up wasting perfectly good ingredients that we already have in the house, or never think of something super-delicious because it didn't happen to be in the recipe book we pulled of the shelf.

Some recipe books... ones for foods and those that may help to identify the 'ingredients' that make up your personality.

let's cook!

Otherwise called the job search...

When making your chosen dish, reading and following the instructions is recommended (at least the first time we are attempting the dish).  Talking to someone who has successfully made that dish in the past can be particularly useful and can increase the chances of the food turning out well the first time.

• In terms o the job search, talking to people who are doing the thing you're interested in is especially helpful.  They may be able to give you some valuable hints as to the approach you should take to enter their field.  Another word for talking to people is networking, which also happens to be the second most successful job search strategy (right after knowing what you want and why- the self-assessment stage). 

And what if you do mess up the dish when you first make it?  So what?  At least you will now know what not to do and you can always try it again.  However, if you’re going in completely blind – no recipe, no understanding of the principles and process involved, no hints from others who have done it before – don’t be surprised if it doesn’t work.

• When conducting a job search, sending out online application after online application is not a very successful strategy.  If it works, great, but if you find that you are sending out applications and not getting a response, it's probably time to try doing something differently.

Cooking and the job search are a bit of a journey.  We need to take a few steps before reaching our destination.