Read time: 6 minutes

I have a theory that the happier you are in your full-time job, the more creative you can be outside of it. Most people don’t build their career on purpose. We stumble into our first job until one day, someone with more power tells us we will be doing a different job. Then we jump. If you are going to get paid in full, you need to find a job that pays you well, gives you a sense of purpose and just enough freedom to build your own project. Here’s a guiding principle to help:

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Guiding Principle:

How long should you keep trying for? The answer: Until.

One of the great lessons I learned from a speaker called Jim Rohn is persistence. This guiding principle is all about staying the path until you get what you are looking for. Some of us try two or three times to break into the role, promotion or company we genuinely believe will accelerate our careers. And then we give up and think it wasn’t meant to be. Keep trying until something happens. The fruit is in the follow-up.

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Work smarter, not harder

People have plenty to say about artificial intelligence taking over jobs, but AI can also be used for your good. Any tool that saves you time should be on your radar. You know the phrase, “time is money.” Well, time is also freedom. If you can spend 20 minutes on a task instead of two hours, that is time you have back for friends and family, your passion project, side hustle, or even rest. One of the reasons I’m constantly able to build new streams of income outside of work is that I keep finding tools that save me time and help me conserve my energy. Here are a few great tools I’ve come across recently:

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​Ramped​

Ramped is a great AI tool that can help you find a job that’s perfect for you. It gives you personal job recommendations based on your work history and goals. It also puts you on the radar of potential employers. With Ramped, you can stand out among other jobseekers. There’s a likelihood that your “ideal” role exists in a company you’ve never heard of. One of my favourite parts of Ramped is that it increases your likelihood of finding a role you actually love because it applies to jobs for you.
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​Canva​

First impressions matter. These days, your recruiter or hiring manager is seeing your LinkedIn profile picture before they even get to speak to you. But not everyone has a tripod or a photo studio ready to deliver that professional headshot. Well, Canva can. They’ve launched a new AI-powered editing tool that can make a regular photo of you into a professional headshot. Here’s how: choose a photo, select edit, choose Magic Edit, brush over the area you want to change, type a prompt explaining how you want it to change and you’re done.

Here’s a photo of me on vacation. After watching this TikTok, I made it look like a conference (in a cave).

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Remove a background, choose a new outfit or any change you think will help you elevate your LinkedIn profile.

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​Gamma.app​

You know when you have to come up with slides for a final case study interview and you have no idea where to start? This tool helps you solve that problem. With Gamma, you can write a prompt about the kind of slide deck you want to create and it will give you a complete outline to build your presentation on. You can include videos, pictures, animation and anything else to blow your audience away.

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​Simplify.jobs​

Filling out job applications over and over again is time consuming. This Chrome extension gives your personalized career recommendations and also autofills job applications for you based on your information. This is a game changer. You can now apply to relevant roles in less time and discover other roles you never heard of before.
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​Teal​

I once got a call from a recruiter about a role I had applied for but there was only one problem: I didn’t remember applying for the role. It’s important to track your applications in one place so that you can come prepared for every single opportunity. Teal has built an incredible platform to allow you to do this and build relevant resumes for each application.

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Recommendation of the week:

Apply to 3 new jobs

There is no such thing as job security. You must go through your career with your head on the swivel, constantly looking for new opportunities inside and outside your organization. My recommendation this week is for you to use one of the tools above to see what’s out there – this could be a promotion within your company or a better role in other companies. Keep interviewing and keep looking so that you always have options.
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See you next week!

Tobi

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