Show the Work That Makes Your Case Credible

Nicholas Stamos needed a new job and had something concrete to offer. He had been doing desktop publishing for his school newspaper.

In his Fireside Chat conversation, he recalled using a computer to prepare newspaper material and getting to know the owner of a local printing business. When he approached that owner about work, he connected his existing experience with a change he saw coming in the business: desktop publishing.

The owner had seen his work. Stamos described proposing that he be hired to do more of it, and receiving an opportunity to try.

Connect your experience to a real need

The story is memorable for its urgency, but the substance of the proposal matters. He was not relying only on enthusiasm. He could point to work he had already done and explain why he thought it would be useful to the business.

An editorial application for a cyber professional is to make a career proposal similarly concrete. A completed exercise, an explanation of a problem or an example of work performed can give someone else a clearer basis for understanding a contribution.

Evidence alone does not guarantee an opportunity, and an early-career story should not be turned into a promise about hiring. The useful connection is between demonstrated work and the needs of the person being approached.

Stamos went on to describe learning more about design through the job. The opportunity both used an existing skill and gave him room to develop it. His account shows how a specific contribution can become the beginning of a larger learning experience.

Listen to the original conversation with Nicholas Stamos · Read the transcript

From the Fireside Chat archive: original episode published 2022-09-08. This is an editorial reflection on that conversation, not a new interview or an update on the guest’s current role.