When I was a rookie headhunter in Tokyo I often made the mistake of limiting my questions to a candidate’s interest in changing jobs. What I failed to realize, however, was that these candidates, even if they weren’t interested in my opportunities, were invaluable storehouses of information, information that could help me find a candidate who was interested in changing their job. Eventually, I shifted my focus from determining a candidate’s interest, to downloading as much potentially valuable information from them as I could.  When I realized how valuable the information was, “downloading people” became my number one priority.

When meeting a candidate, I’d usually spend the first ten minutes asking questions like:

• How many people are in your department? What are their names? (Find more potential candidates)
• Is everybody happy at work? (Is this company a good target? Are people willing to move?)
• I know you that aren’t interested in changing companies right now, but if you were interested in the future what kind of job will be ideal for you? (Make a note, and call the candidate if such a job pops up)
• I’m looking to know more people in your industry. Do you know anyone who is well connected and would be willing to meet with me for a cup of coffee? (Almost everybody knows a well connected person. A ten minute meeting with someone like that can be pure gold).

I could think of plenty more questions off the top of my head, but you get the idea.
Another example of how asking lots of questions helped me was the last time I went on the job hunt. I sent a job inquiry email to a web startup company that I guessed had little funding and probably wouldn’t hire anyone for a long time. I didn’t want to prejudge, so I asked if they had any open positions just to be sure.

It was a small company, so the president got back to me right away. He told me that there weren’t any positions and that they didn’t plan to hire in the near future. I thanked him for his time and asked if he knew anyone I could talk to who might be hiring, and he let me know of a networking event where startup entrepreneurs often met. That networking event turned out to be a very good place to find new job leads.

If I only asked if the company was hiring, I probably would have had a very short conversation. Instead, I asked as many questions as I could, and ended up with valuable information. I’m sure I could have found out about the networking event through Google, but it probably would have taken me a lot more time, and I wouldn’t have known if that event was worth going to or not.

It’s important not to get into the trap of focusing on narrow objectives. Doing so will blind you to all the great opportunities that you hadn’t thought of. Download as much as you can from everyone you meet and sort it all out later. When it comes to downloading people, it doesn’t matter if the person you talk to is a CEO or the intern who waters the office plants. Everyone has valuable information. All you have to do, is ask.

Kenji Crosland is a web entrepreneur who does SEO/Blog Outreach work for Teachstreet.com, a website that provides course listings on many subjects, including small business skills classes.  In his free time he blogs about entrepreneurship  and career development at Unready and Willing.

Karen recently wrote a post about 3 top –female, A-list bloggers who have earned a high-level of traffic and readership. Interestingly, the theme of “truth” is integral to each one of their blogs. I read a few entries by each author and the overarching take away message was that whether in your business or personal life, you need to be authentic. The articles made me think of a few business questions that you should ask yourself and answer truthfully. Really. No fibbing.

We all know the rule, “honesty is the best policy.” And, we’ve all probably fought the truth a time or two in our lives only to learn that the old cliché rings true.  So don’t fight it. Here are four questions to ask yourself in business to set you free and help you avoid business mistakes and work-life misery.

1) Why am I doing this job?
Tell the truth. Is it to impress your friends? Are you living up to someone else’s expectations? Is it to use a degree you spent a lot of time and money earning? Is it for the salary? Is it for the hours? Does it allow you flexibility? Does the compensation allow you to enjoy a capital intensive hobby? Does it allow you to provide for a family? Is it a stepping stone to something better? The reason is not as important as you knowing the real answer. When you know why you are toiling away at your given job, you should be able to maintain a level of satisfaction in your work life. If after answering this question and finding that your reason leaves you wanting to break out of your cubicle and go out on your own, proceed to question two.

2) Why do I want to start my own business?
Is it because you simply hate your job? Is it because you don’t know what else to do? Those aren’t the right reasons. Ideally, you should be starting a business because it is solving a problem, improving some corner of the world, but in either case it should be self-sufficient (non-profit) or turning a profit. Otherwise, keep it as a hobby. The value proposition you put in your business plan should not differ from what is in your heart.

3) Am I tapping into my natural strengths to do my job?
Believe me, if you can tap into what comes naturally to you in your career, do it. You will still encounter challenges and you will have to put in effort to succeed, but it won’t feel like rolling a boulder uphill every day. Don’t fight nature. I tried to, and each time failed miserably. Here’s a case where I had to embrace reality and realize that I couldn’t be anything I wanted to. I have been obsessed with horses since the first time I laid my eyes on one. In fact, it has become part of my identity. On more than one occasion, I have been referred to as “that tall horse girl.” When I was six years old, I wanted to be a jockey. This dream began after watching the Black Stallion, reading International Velvet and watching Triple Crown Races. Unfortunately, I surpassed the height and weight requirements for the job by the fifth grade. Jockeys are typically 5’ to 5’7” and weigh in at 108 to 118 pounds. No amount of hard work or determination could make me that size. Did I give up on horses completely? No. I discovered show jumping. No height or weight restrictions and you get to go fast while clearing obstacles. In this case, the restrictions were physical, but the same thing can happen with other aptitudes. Do you struggle with math and hate rules? Finance and accounting probably aren’t good fits for you. Think about things that you enjoy doing. What aspects of your work do you enjoy? What things do you like to do outside of work? It is possible to focus on using these attributes in your career. If you’re not quite sure what your natural strengths are, you can tap into these resources.

Online tools
Personal SWOT analysis

Schein’s Career analysis

Or, check out this book,

Do What You Are:
Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type

Should you decide, you need to make some significant changes, maybe even a reinvention brand that is better aligned with your authentic you, Oddpodz Reinvention TA-DO list is a very concise action plan to get the process going

4) Why am I taking XYZ initiative?
You’ve seen that everyone and their grandmother is on Twitter, or that Old Spice had success with a viral YouTube video campaign. You decide to dedicate your efforts to a multi-faceted social media strategy. Stop. Why are you doing this? Will you really reach customers with this? Will you be building your online brand presence? Will you be able to measure and track your results to obtain some sort of ROI? Or, are you taking these actions because they worked for so and so? While it is good to keep abreast of the latest marketing tools, make sure that you spend your time and money on the ones that will produce results for you based on your business and its goals.

Can you think of any other questions that are important to answer? Please share.