I’m Sick of Common Sense

Let’s imagine something together, shall we?

Imagine a coach spending hours with a client explaining the ins and outs of a proactive job search. He shares the same strategic steps that have worked for hundreds of his clients.

During the coaching, there is a lot of interaction…a lot of questions…a lot of explaining.

Now, as this particular coaching session comes to a close, imagine the client complaining:  Is that it?  That’s the Proactive Job Search strategy?  I’m not too impressed.  I mean, I’ve heard this all before.

Imagine the coach, who is a bit confused, digging a little deeper.   He asks for clarification and discovers that his client has heard some of the strategies being suggested, but he has never heard of them being applied in this particular way in order to create a Proactive Job Search strategy.

Now imagine this coach digging even deeper and asking several more questions….

• “How long have you been out of work?”  Answer:  5-6 months.
• “How many resumes have you sent out?”  Answer:  Hundreds.
• “How many interviews have you had?”  Answer:  Zero.
• “Even though you’ve heard of several of these strategies before, have you tried using any of them in your job search?”  Answer:  No.
• “So why do you have a problem with the Proactive Job Search strategy I just taught you?”  Answer:  Like I said, I’ve heard it all before. It’s common sense.

The client isn’t too happy with his coach.

But as you can imagine, the coach isn’t too happy with his client either.

I’m not sure, but I imagine the client was looking for something more than “common sense.”  Something more dynamic; perhaps something more magical.

But I don’t have to imagine what the coach wanted.  He wanted something that every coach wants from a client.  He wanted his client to follow through with what was learned and take some “common sense action.”

Why?

Well, I imagine this coach has worked with a lot of people who have “heard it all before.”  Of course, some of these people haven’t taken the step of actually applying what they heard, so not much has happened in their lives.  But others did apply the “common sense training” and took “common sense actions.” These are the individuals who achieved the best results!

Imagine that.