Want a New Job? How to Land, Lead, and Leave a Role
Somewhat ironically, I have received more requests for career advice in the past four months than ever before.
I even briefly contemplated a different title for this article: “Career Advice from a Recently Fired CEO,” since demand seemed curiously high.
Each conversation was a bit different, but generally we would discuss three specific job phases: landing a great job, successfully leading in their present role, or leaving a position to discover what comes next.
I would often remind folks to appreciate everything they can see and learn from their current seat as well.
On my last official day with my soon-to-be former employer, I thought I would post a summary of the advice I have recently shared, in hopes it could prove useful to others with whom I have not had the privilege of connecting live.
TL;DR: Stop networking and start helping. Care more about doing your job than keeping it. Run to what excites you, not away from what disappoints you. And take a moment to take in the view.
To Land a Job, Stop Networking and Start Helping
Look everywhere for opportunities to be helpful. Seriously, everywhere.
In a meeting, on the train, or in a coffee shop, if you find someone who seems excited or concerned about something (even if it has nothing to do with you), ask about it, actively listen, and offer to help.
Sure, maybe it will freak people out — most people are suspicious of helpful strangers and even curious coworkers — but that reaction quickly fades in the face of sincerity.
Whether you want something new in your current role, a different job in your company, or a fresh start, stop “networking” and start helping.
Connect people who could benefit from knowing one another. Solve problems that are easy for you and hard for others. Learn something new — maybe something important to someone in your life — and then pitch in.
For most people, staying curious and engaged comes pretty naturally once they get in the swing of it. That’s especially true in the real estate sales industry.
A fun fact I learned from my time with Coldwell Banker is that real estate disproportionately attracts naturally helpful people.
Successful agents and broker-owners sense needs and offer solutions almost as second nature. Personally and professionally, that is who they are. They have a service mentality through and through.
Yet when it comes to finding clients or recruiting agents, sometimes they think they need to be someone else.
Rather than lean into their natural strengths, they turn to “scalable digital solutions,” “social media strategists,” or “lead generation firms.”
While these tools can be very useful, they work best in service of the most efficient, authentic, and effective strategy: helpfulness.
Newly licensed agent? Take a break from your eighteenth round of website bio section edits and call ten people to ask if they have any real estate questions that you can answer or get answered.
Tell them you are part of a terrific brokerage/brand with incredible community experience, and you will happily tap into it all to answer any question they have.
Then actually do it.
Meet with your broker or invite some agents for coffee and ask for advice. What, you think they are too busy? Maybe, but on the other hand, maybe you will find that many people love to be called an expert and will pause whatever they’re doing to share insights with you.
As little as five minutes with an experienced professional in real estate or any field can offer a treasure trove of information and insight.
Then return to the person with the question. Provide a professionally composed answer and ask if they have any other real estate or community questions or if they know anyone who does.
Rinse. Repeat. And watch your understanding of the market, your sphere of influence, and eventually, your business grow exponentially.
Are you a broker looking to recruit agents? Don’t sell. Offer help. To the agents in your brokerage now. To agents you respect in your market. To new agents looking for advice.
Answer questions. Offer suggestions. Discuss interest rates and market trends. Build relationships by doing what you do best: helping people do their jobs better.
Not in real estate and wondering how you were suckered into reading an article about real estate sales? The strategy of helpfulness applies to you too.
Reach out to people you know and then to people you do not yet know. Tell them what you are doing: you are eager to learn and grow, and you thought the best way to do so would be to help others with whatever is important to them.
What does this have to do with landing a job or a client? Everything.
Would you want to hire the most helpful person you know? Would you be inclined to help them find a job if they asked? Or, more likely, would you go out of your way to recommend them to everyone you know, even without them asking?
I would. And I do. And every great opportunity that I ever had came from simply being helpful. It works.
To Lead and Succeed in a Role, Care More About Doing It Than Keeping It
I’ll say that again: care more about doing your job than keeping your job.
Easier said than done, I realize. And it may seem like a luxury reserved for the independently wealthy. But it’s not. It’s a philosophy rooted in respect for your work, your abilities, and your team; and I believe in it so strongly that it has governed my hiring decisions for more than a decade.
I sought out, encouraged, and promoted people who prioritized the work, not the politics; those who did the hard, meaningful things with a service mindset. I did not always get it right, but this was always the goal.
I wanted people who placed a premium on the value of their insights and risked something — even if it was just the embarrassment of having an idea shot down — to contribute to the success of the team.
At some point, everyone is faced with the choice between doing good and looking good. Two roads diverging.
An agent can share meaningless platitudes or explain painful price feedback; they can chase listings or build a career. A manager learning tough news can bury or confront it, choosing between self-preservation and true leadership.
Organizationally, inspiring and supporting employees to do the right thing regardless of consequences can be the difference between success and failure… or worse.
When something unwise, uninformed, unethical, or even illegal arises, only someone who cares more about doing their job than keeping it will step up to stop the bus, at the risk of finding themselves under it.
Others may rationalize that they were not aware, not entirely in the loop to know all the facts, or not senior enough to be heard. In reality, there are times when we all have moral choices to make, sometimes deciding between keeping our job or our integrity.
And it’s not just finding people who can tackle ethical questions or hard conversations. Leaders who care more about doing their jobs drive the most critical aspect of a company’s success: innovation.
Who asks the bold questions, risking looking foolish in the process? Who asks why something works the way it does — and whether it should? Who challenges convention to make us better? Not someone keeping their head down, going along to get along.
Many leaders are not willing to take these kinds of risks. Truly great leaders would have it no other way. And the best companies gather their unfair share of such leaders to accomplish what other firms cannot imagine.
You can be such a leader, no matter how junior or senior, whether flying solo or working among the Fortune 500. It’s simply a matter of setting the right priorities.
When Deciding Whether to Leave, Run To… Not Away
I have lost track of the number of people to whom I have given this advice recently. Unless there is extreme mental, emotional, or physical hardship, do not abandon your current role (not even “quiet quitting”) unless and until you find another position that inspires and excites you.
I have had lots of people explain that they need to invest 100% of their time in looking for a new job, so they need to quit their current position. Unless you are on a nuclear submarine for a six-month dive, I call B.S. on this.
Or, people tell me they need the pressure of no income to force them to look harder for something that makes their hearts sing. Um… no. (And uncheck “self-starter” on LinkedIn.)
Putting aside the obvious financial and emotional pressures that not having a job creates, it also makes you less desirable as a candidate. And the further you get from your last position, the more the desirability gap grows.
Recruiters like to see active applicants, people with jobs. Hiring managers like to hear what you’re currently doing every day, not six months ago.
That doesn’t mean that people who lose or quit their jobs can’t find new ones, but it does mean that no one should voluntarily put themselves at this disadvantage, potentially foreclosing new opportunities and options, without very compelling reasons.
The best way to find the new inspiring thing is to be the most attractive candidate — and that generally means staying employed.
Again, I want to reiterate a critical caveat to this advice to “push through” (as my kids call my life philosophy): if your work (or any relationship) is doing you psychological or physical harm, quit. Life is too short.
In a clear moment, draw a line and do not cross it. Tell someone you trust where that line is, and allow them to hold you accountable when you try to rationalize your way across it.
And Don’t Forget to Take in the View, Wherever You Are
Early in my career, I was fortunate to be in rooms with highly experienced leaders as they discussed very challenging topics.
I was carrying binders not conversations. I was a fly on the wall, with no speaking part. But on breaks, during elevator rides, or while waiting for taxis, I was proximate to people who knew what I did not and I was genuinely curious.
I did not ask obsequies questions. I did not try to ingratiate myself or “network” with them. I was legitimately interested in how they came to the views they did, what deal had burned them to make them feel so strongly about that contract provision we just discussed for an hour, or what potential upside excited them enough to take the risk of the deal we were making.
So I would ask. And they would answer.
Sure, sometimes I would be written off or ignored. (Like the time I sat in silence for 20 minutes in a room with Jeff Bezos, just the two of us, when I was acting as a conference handler and before he was a household name. I had expected enlightening advice leading to a life-altering epiphany. He had expected a Diet Coke and time to check email before his next investor meeting.) But more often than not I learned something.
And in recent years I have learned the most from those who call me for advice or show up for a mentoring or coaching appointment.
In the first few minutes of every such conversation I am fully convinced I have no value to add; and then they say something that leads me to ask a question — a legitimate, intrigued, I-want-to-know-the-answer question.
Their answer leads to another question, and another… and I actively listen to every word of every answer… while they slowly unlock their own future, with me watching in awe and appreciation.
It sounds crazy. But try it. Try to pause, to listen, to be interested in every person you encounter throughout the day.
First of all, you should, because people are awesome, and you should know them better.
Second, their experience is different from your experience — even if they grew up in the same town and do the same job, still their lived experience is unique and that can be instructive, even enlightening. (Pro tip: in a truly diverse workplace, enlightenment is more likely.)
Lift your head up. Do your job, yes, but also look around. Regardless of your position, you are on top of a mountain. The view is incredible.
No matter how junior or senior, new or experienced, from Lyft driver to lieutenant, you can see for miles and miles if you just look, listen, and learn. And it’s a blast to do so!
