In fact, this habit of asking for help is so powerful that I will even recommend you ask for help in asking for help.

So, that’s a viable strategy, but it does require a willingness to go through a bad experience of running a failing company first. That takes an emotional toll that most cannot handle. It drains the emotional balance sheet.

In the meantime, Tanisha took a job in the healthcare industry, doing a job in PR that she didn’t like much, but which paid the bills and allowed her to continue at night and weekends to try to break into the recording industry. Over time, one label sent warmer responses, though they had no openings.

There’s an important caveat, however, that I must warn you about. Not every conversation will go well. Some may be demoralizing and hit your emotional balance sheet hard.

Also, consider including 1 or 2 whom you do not know well.

Can you describe your culture? Ask the hiring manager to describe the culture — and why they like working at the company. What qualities do you look for in every employee? How do people work/collaborate with each other? When two teams disagree on priorities, how does the disagreement get resolved? Ask for examples of the culture in action (work hou

This first step allows you to articulate your strengths and weaknesses, what you enjoy doing, as well as your “must haves” and “must nots.” Once you have that done, then prepare for your Listening Tour with an exercise and some tips (Chapter 5).

you do, then get the latest advice on best practices in making your resume search bot readable (go to sites like TheLadders.com for good advice).

She would never have gotten this insight if she had skipped the Listening Tour and gone right to doing interviews. So, the Never Search Alone method took several short weeks and led her directly to a career she would never have pursued because she didn’t even know it existed.