When an opportunity knocks at your door, do you welcome it or tell it to revisit after a few months?

One of my friends always picks the second option!

Every week, I write an article to share my learning or discovery during my startup journey. Here is the link to my reasons for penning these articles for myself and many others like me.

In this big world, there are so many people (including myself) who are waiting for an opportunity, a light in the dark tunnel to support us in our startup journey. To help us move closer to our dream, gain some confidence as well as cash to our depleting bank account so we can sustain some more time on this long and lonely journey of entrepreneurship. Please do not get me wrong, I did not want to make it look so sad or pessimistic. I just wanted to share with you how I see an opportunity.

I have a friend who is different in this respect. We have known each other for the past 8 years. She is a stay-at-home mom, who is desperately looking to restart her professional journey. She had decided to leave her corporate job when her first child was born. She is the kind of person who will always find a place in the first 3 top achievers in any task/project she participates in. She has a multi-faceted personality and is often approached by her peers to help them in their personal and professional matters.

There is one trait of her personality that usually drives me nuts. Whenever an opportunity comes her way, for a job or some assignment, she always turns it down. I witnessed this reaction from her in so many cases in the last few years. I feel when an opportunity knocks at her door, she immediately knocks down the opportunity. Her number 1 reason is — she is not ready yet for that opportunity. I will try to explain this more with an incident that happened yesterday. She has been learning python for some time now, as she wanted to get a job as a data analyst. I wanted to refer her to an opportunity where she needs to prepare case studies in python for job aspirants. I know that she is learning python and not a 100% fit, but she has 10+ years of corporate experience and understands what is generally asked or sought in an interview. According to me, she could complete this assignment by doing some home (and hard) work and by taking some expert help. But she did not want to take this assignment and said that she will only be able to take it after 4 months. By that time, she will complete all the Udemy training that she has enrolled herself into. BUT this opportunity will be gone by then.

In my career of 20+ years, I never got a project with 100% fitment to my knowledge and skill set. At most, it used to be about 60% matching my skillset and, the rest 40% I used to cover up by learning on the job or by taking help from my seniors.

We need to understand that opportunity never waits for anyone. If I miss it then it will go to another person who is smart enough to learn and grow with this opportunity. There are so many people in this market who are aggressively hunting for jobs. If someone in your known circle sees you as a potential fit for a particular assignment, I feel this itself is a huge compliment to you. So please return the favor to that person and most importantly to yourself by checking more details about that work. There will never be a time when you would feel 100% fit for a job. There must be some reason that we hear this term “On the job learning” so often in our office environment.

Therefore, I would urge everyone not to miss an opportunity. If you feel that a particular job is a good fit for you in your career roadmap, then just grab it with both your hands. Regarding the skill set gap between you and the opportunity, just fill it by showing the attitude to learn and being open to ask for help from experts.

Wishing everyone a week full of wonderful opportunities. To all those who celebrate the Diwali festival this week. May this festival of lights brighten everyone’s world with peace and prosperity!

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