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When thumbing through the newspaper this weekend, an article caught my eye. “The Accidental Cartoonist,” provides some insight into the career development of Robert Trussell. A writer and reporter for the Kansas City Star for decades, Trussell writes that his beginnings in cartooning — an addition to his writing — started as office doodles turned photocopied-in-house distributions turned published pieces. When approached to try his hand at political cartooning, he writes that he “took a leap.”

Now, that’s a notion to which I know many of us can relate – taking that leap we never saw coming. It happens when someone takes notice of something we can offer, approaches us with a, “Have you ever considered …” and we find ourselves where we never could have or would have imagined! And, as an extra bonus, I’ve often found that when this happens, we tend to land in a position that actually means something to us. We’ve been noticed for something we weren’t trying to sell; there was something authentic coming out. And, it turns out, we might even find we can translate this discovery into a part of our livelihood and have fun doing it. Fabulous!

While I immediately related to the notion of finding my way onto my career path “by accident,” it was the second half of the article that struck the really strong chord for me. Trussell writes about involving his wife in his beginning efforts. He solicited her input and incorporated her valued ideas. It took no time for it to come clear that the cartooning pursuit was to be a team effort. He was originally approached because he had the talent; more obvious (to me) is that he also had the smarts to (continue to) turn to someone he knew was in his corner and would make certain he was being the best he could be.

There is hardly a time more important to have someone unconditionally in your corner as when you engage in a new undertaking. That person might share similar interests or have some expertise in your field; look at such a match as huge, informed support and not as competition! Or, you and your biggest support person may not have much professionally in common (believe when I say my husband’s field of scientific research is much better off with me far, far away from it), but, remember, support comes in a multitude of forms. While putting together your resume and research for a job search, let your support person(s) know when you need emotional support. When new responsibilities are given to you at work (solicited or not), communicate with your support system, and disclose what may change in terms of your schedule and the new demands you are facing. Let others know how to best support you. Solicit advice from the people who know you best and who can put your new challenges in the context of who you are and what is important to you.

It is when we find ourselves in a new life situation that we might forget to take the time to make sure a support system is in place. We don’t want to burden others, we assume they don’t understand or they don’t care, or we want to make it on our own with the intention of sharing the big reveal of our end product. Sound familiar? Does it have to be that way?

During the last few weeks, we were delivered more economic bad news which only translates into further bad news on most job-related fronts. Is there a more important time than right now to make sure you, too, have someone behind you with your best interests in mind?

Nancy Stoker is a Senior Client Services Representative and Research Associate with ExecSearches.com. She can be reached at nancys@execsearches.com.

ExecSearches.com is a job board for nonprofit job seekers interested in fundraising, management and executive nonprofit jobs.

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Last updated on September 18th, 2012 at 05:08 pm

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