Stop Saying “I Can Do Anything,” with Shannon Bloom
Share
When someone asks what you want in your next job, it can feel safer to say, “I can do anything.” But that answer can make it harder for employers and people in your network to understand where you fit. Career and leadership coach Shannon Bloom explains why a broad message can slow your search and make it harder to stand out compared to candidates with a clear goal. She shares how to identify your strengths, values, and impact so you can show what makes you distinct and back it up with clear examples.
She recommends writing down your accomplishments, asking colleagues for feedback, and looking into roles that fit your skills and interests. Relationships play a big part in the job search, since many positions come through referrals and conversations. When you’re clear about what you want and what you offer, it’s much easier for people to point you toward opportunities that match your goals.
About Our Guest:
- Shannon Bloom is a certified leadership, career, and executive coach. Shannon’s company – Radiant Firefly – helps you shift your mindset, get clear on what you want, and bring it to life.
Resources in This Episode:
- Connect with Shannon on LinkedIn.
Transcript
Find Your Dream Job, Episode 542:
Stop Saying “I Can Do Anything,” with Shannon Bloom
Airdate: March 11, 2026
Mac Prichard:
This is Find Your Dream Job, the podcast that helps you get hired, have the career you want, and make a difference in life.
I’m your host, Mac Prichard. I’m also the founder of Mac’s List. It’s a job board in the Pacific Northwest that helps you find a fulfilling career.
Every Wednesday, I talk to a different expert about the tools you need to get the work you want.
You may want to show employers that you’re flexible. Or perhaps you’re not sure what to do next.
So when someone asks what you want in your next job, you say, I can do anything.
Shannon Bloom is here to talk about why you need to stop saying this.
She’s a certified leadership, career, and executive coach. Shannon’s company, Radiant Firefly, helps you shift your mindset, get clear about what you want, and bring it to life.
She joins us from Washougal, Washington. Well, let’s get going, Shannon.
Why do you think it feels so natural for many of us to say, I can do anything when we talk about our job searches?
Shannon Bloom
For sure. I’m going to start by saying that a couple of things around what I believe, and that is that I think that every single person listening right now is creative, resourceful, and whole.
And they come to this moment right now with loads of experience, achievements, and leadership skills.
And I say that regardless of what position, industry, or title that you’ve held. I believe that with my whole heart. And I also believe that everybody has innate superpowers and values. Those superpowers are those that are unique to you, how you approach different problems and problems solve.
If we don’t take the time to know what they are for ourselves, how can anybody else possibly know what they are, whether it’s our networking environment, interviewing, and so forth. This podcast is about finding your dream job.
If you go on the “I can do anything approach, I believe that there are three things that could potentially happen. One is that if you’re open to anything, that’s probably what you’re going to get. And sometimes doing the strategy can be just a bandaid, where you kind of end up in another job where you’re not full or you’re not in something that’s really making you happy.
The second thing is, I think people believe that in this really tough job market we’re in right now, saying ‘I can do anything’ is a really good strategy. It seems right. I’ll do whatever job comes along.
But I really believe that it’s gonna make your job search longer because you’re too broad that nobody can really understand what you really want, which leads me to my third point, is other people are gonna be laser focused, targeted, and you’re not gonna shine as brightly as the competition if you’re just gonna be broad and open to anything.
I hear people for years saying, “I just need a job,” and I get it, it’s real. We have bills to pay, we need to thrive, and so on and so forth, but for the reasons I just stated, I think that I can do anything is a really poor strategy.
Mac Prichard:
Well, thanks for that broad picture. Let’s unpack it. What do employers hear? What kind of message are they getting when, in your experience, a candidate says, I could do anything?
Shannon Bloom:
Yeah, whether it’s employers, our friends, or our colleagues, I believe that people truly want to help you, and they want to connect you to where you want to go. But people are really, really busy. You know, people are full with their own jobs, family, friends.
There are so many things vying for people’s attention, the news, social media, you name it. We are very full these days. And not being targeted or specific about what you want to do, people just don’t know how to help you.
And I have two short examples to share here. For instance, on LinkedIn, a person would get laid off, then say: “Unfortunately, I lost my job after a fun stint at XYZ company, and I’m on to my next adventure.”
When I see those messages come up, and I’m like, what’s your what title? What are you looking for? What kind of impact did you bring to the table from your last job that can maybe give some value that people understand, and finally, where do you want to go.
That leads me to the second example, which is how I operate. I’ve been networking and community building for years. So I’m constantly looking at LinkedIn. I want to connect people, but if you don’t tell me that you want a job, I can never help you.
Just recently, I was able to connect two women to software engineering jobs with an engineering manager that I adore. Love that I was able to get some more women jobs in tech.
And honestly, Mac, there is a woman that I talked to at your last event, where I was able to connect her to a role just from her getting to know me, but that took vulnerability and bravery for telling some stranger at the event what she’s looking for.
It is 100% up to us as job seekers to make sure that nobody has to work hard to infer our value or all the cool stuff that we bring to the table.
Mac Prichard:
Okay, so if you don’t tell people what you want, where you want to go, and what you offer, you’re making it difficult for them to help you. And in your experience, people do want to help others, don’t they?
So you talked at the start about why people will say this. They’ve got bills to pay. They’re eager to get going on their next opportunity.
And you talked about some of the points that people should take instead, the steps they should take. Let’s talk about those. You mentioned the importance of understanding your values and your superpowers, Shannon.
Tell us more about this. What do you mean by your superpowers and your values, and how can getting clear about them help you figure out what to do next?
Shannon Bloom:
So it kind of stems from that last bit that I just said about we’re really responsible for making sure that people don’t have to work hard to look for our value. And I really try to get people to think about, as job seekers, we are our own marketing and sales team, where our marketing is our assets.
It’s our resume, our LinkedIn profile, our portfolio site for the engineers in the room. There are the GitHub profiles, writing samples, you name it. And your sales are how you talk about yourself.
Like the words that you could have the most incredible resume, but once you’re in a room and you get to tell people how good you are and what your value is, and you can’t do that, that’s going to be hard.
Industry statistics have been out there. Hiring managers will only look at a resume for about 10 seconds before they decide if they’re going to move on to look at the resume or not. And we need to think about the title on our headline on LinkedIn and our resume summaries, like headlines.
What are the things that you’re clicking on in the news and social media that are getting you to read and engage in? We need to think about ourselves in the exact same way. And when we talk about ourselves, what are the things that light you up?
Like if I ask a software engineer if they like to code, sometimes their facial expression will tell me everything without them saying a word. And so what is that for you?
And so the closer that we could get to that, the more important it is. And you had asked about the importance of your values and your superpowers. It’s doing that deep excavation about what makes you unique and special, and not just a lather, rinse, repeat of every other resume and stuff that’s out there.
The things that make you impactful, the achievements that you’ve done. What naturally makes you thrive in different environments?
Mac Prichard:
So those are the questions you might ask yourself. What have you seen work well for a process for someone who’s trying to identify their superpowers and the values? What has worked well for your clients?
Shannon Bloom:
Before you do a job search and you just put out a resume, stop. Take some undivided time and start to do a little bit of a download of all those cool things that I was talking about that you’ve done.
Do a deep dive before you do anything else. Sit down and get really clear on what you accomplished. If you have stats that you improved ROI, retention, or increased presence, or something like that, I wanna know about that.
What do people remember you for? Can you talk to former colleagues or clients? Do they have something that they can say to you? I encourage people, and I have been for years, to take assessments, something like StrengthsFinder or the 16 Personalities.
People are seen in them all the time, and the results give people a download of some really cool information to highlight those soft skills and those innate superpowers that I was talking about, so that you could stand out in that area.
Mac Prichard:
When you do that, Shannon, you identify your superpowers, you get clear about your strengths, and you understand what your accomplishments were. How does that help you narrow your focus and not be open to anything but focus on getting your next job?
Shannon Bloom:
It takes you from having a resume that looks like a lather-rinse-repeat. And let me back up for a second. Most resumes, when I look at them, kind of resemble a job description. I did this, I did that, I did this.
Like, we can take into account a teacher because it’s really interesting. It’s really easy for people to infer a lot of things. They teach classes, they create curriculum, and they grade things.
But what are the cool stories behind how they’re able to increase test scores and get people into college, and what are the percentages of that, or what did they do to make engagement better?
There are so many cool stories that people have, and those are the things that are missing from so many resumes that I see, and it’s what makes you unique, interesting, and special, and it’s gonna be what makes you stand out from the crowd.
Mac Prichard:
Well, let’s pause there. We’re going to take a break. When we come back, Shannon Bloom will continue to share her advice on why you need to stop saying, I can do anything.
We’re back in the Mac’s List Studio. I’m talking with Shannon Bloom.
She’s a certified leadership, career, and executive coach. Shannon’s company, Radiant Firefly, helps you shift your mindset, get clear on what you want, and bring it to life.
She joins us from Washougal, Washington.
Now, Shannon, before the break, we were talking about why you need to stop saying, “I can do anything.”
And in the first segment, we talked about why many of us will say this when we look for work, and what happens when you do, how it can make it much harder for your network, your friends, and family to help you, especially to compete against people who know exactly what they want.
We started to talk about how to figure out what to do next. And you talked about the importance of knowing your superpowers and your values. Another tip you share with your clients for figuring out what you want to do next is to use AI to brainstorm what you want.
Tell us more about that, Shannon. How can AI tools help you get clearer about your next step?
Shannon Bloom:
Sure, the downloading of all of your accomplishments and achievements, taking assessments, and reflecting on the work that you really love to do and you don’t like to do as much are great foundations for what you want to do.
But now, where your target is going is, what do I want to target this all to? And this is where the fun part can be, because it’s kind of like the design your life. We’re going to search out the options and see what feels best to us and see what’s exciting.
And so I have clients go to AI, I’ve been using Claude as the AI agent these days, and put this information in, your assessments, your current resume, all these things that you accomplished and that you’re excited, the things that you want to do more of, and ask it, what kind of jobs or maybe what industries would you recommend me seeking out based on where I want to go next?
And I find even people who have years of experience in the same thing still struggle with this question of where to target themselves. The results are really, really cool, that give people some options to think about.
Mac Prichard:
So you’re plugging in your strengths, the results of assessments, and you get a list. How does that list help you get clarity? Are you getting a list of industries and job titles? What exactly is the result in your experience?
Shannon Bloom:
Well, depends on what you ask it. You can ask for certain industries, and you can ask it jobs. Or you can ask it both. I’d ask, what are the things that are most important for you that you’re seeking out?
Do you want to stay in the same industry? Do you want to stay in a different job title? And a quick example that I have is I was working with a gentleman the other day. And I just put in this information surface-ly. I didn’t have a lot of deep information on him.
And he has about 10 years left in his career, and he’s so bored at his current job, but he has no idea where he wants to go. And I did this surface-ly for him. It gave me a list of options, and I looked at them, and I said, these are really, really extroverted-facing jobs. And this man just told me that he is a self-proclaimed introvert.
So I asked the same chat, what about if this person was introverted? And it gave me a list that actually energized this man quite a bit. And he’s like, “Maybe I will take that brave, scary step and try something new based on some of these things. So it kind of really helps the brainstorming process when you feel stuck.”
Mac Prichard:
What’s your best advice for creating prompts when using Claude or other AI tools to get the results that are going to be practical and help you get clarity about what you want to do next?
Shannon Bloom:
Well, some of the ones that I mentioned already, know, what are, where are you at in your career? What is most important to you? Are you looking to take on a role that’s going to challenge you more than your previous role? Are you looking for a different industry?
And so getting clear about some of the things that you want to entertain and asking prompts like that is going to be super helpful.
Mac Prichard:
You’re a big fan of networking, and tell us why networking is so important when you want to figure out what to do other than anything. You want to get that clarity in your next move.
Shannon Bloom:
Yes, and you’re right, networking and community building have been paramount and I believe in it with my whole heart. But unfortunately, I think that most people face it with dread because they feel like they have to go and ask somebody for something.
But the stats have never lied in this area of the world. Seventy to 80% of jobs are gotten through networking. About 70% of jobs are never listed.
And I’m reading a lot of reporting right now that with AI right now, and there just being a flood of resumes coming in and fake resumes and misinformation coming in, that people are really saying that networking is more important than it ever was because people are looking for trust and less transactional relationships and somewhere they can lean into.
So if you’re not doing this relationship-building piece, you’re missing out on a lot of that.
Mac Prichard:
Okay. And this comes after you’ve gotten clear about what your strengths are, the first tip we talked about. Second is figuring out what you want so you know what you offer, what you want.
Now you’ve got to go out and find it. And you’ve talked about the importance of networking to do that. Why do employers care so much about referrals?
Shannon Bloom:
Because they generally come from people that they trust, and they’re going to take that seriously.
Mac Prichard:
And you also talked about jobs that go unadvertised. The estimates range from anywhere from 25 to, you mentioned, 70%. Why are these jobs not posted on places like Indeed, LinkedIn, or even Mac’s List?
Shannon Bloom:
Well, it costs money sometimes to list these jobs in places. And some companies have enough brand awareness. Like, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen Apple post a job on LinkedIn before because everybody knows that company, and they’re going to go to their website and they’re going to go look that up.
So seeking out other job lists, such as Mac’s List over LinkedIn, or talking to people, is going to be paramount because you’ll never know that those opportunities exist unless you start building relationships and getting curious about what people are hiring for.
Mac Prichard:
Your final tip is to tell the world what you want to do. So you’re clear about your strengths. You have figured out what you want. You’re going out and talking to people. Why is it important to tell others the specific job you want instead of saying, I can do anything?
Shannon Bloom:
If nobody knows that you exist, if nobody knows what cool stuff that you’ve done and all that you bring to the world and what you want, sometimes that question, what do you want in this life, is one of the hardest things for people to answer.
But being specific in how you talk about yourself is going to make it a bazillion times easier for people to make it easy to help you. And so I encourage people to be vulnerable, be brave and courageous, and go out there and tell people what you’re looking for specifically.
Don’t be afraid of it. Own it.
Mac Prichard:
How would you suggest somebody do that? Say you and I met at a coffee or a networking event. What’s the best way for me to tell you in one or two minutes what it is I want to do, where I want to go, and what I offer?
Shannon Bloom:
I would start with getting curious and talking to the person that you’re talking to. What do you do? If I were to meet you, you would be a gem, Mac. You have a job board, and you connect people with this networking event.
I’m looking for a job in what industry, kind of like what I was saying about those LinkedIn advertisements. I’m in this industry. Here’s some cool impact that I’ve had. I’m really excited about this and finding those gems that are going to light you up inside to connect with people.
Mac Prichard:
And what happens in your experience when you deliver that message? You say what you want, where you want to go, and what you offer. What is the person who hears that? What are they going to think, and what might they do next?
Shannon Bloom:
Sometimes they might be like, my brother’s friend is hiring for this really cool job because you’re really specific about what you’re doing and what you need.
Mac Prichard:
So that’s very different from saying, hey, I’m doing a job search and I could do anything, isn’t it?
Well, it’s been a great conversation. Shannon, tell us what’s next for you.
Shannon Bloom:
Yes, I offer coaching packages where I actually walk people through this from the nuts and bolts through building a resume, doing mock interviews, and having value statements because I truly believe that being able to talk about yourself is important.
I have an ebook and a self-guided course where you can do this work as well to kickstart your job search. And I am launching a community called Momentum Lab, where people can come in and do this stuff in community because doing it alone is much harder doom-scrolling than having support and people around you, and I find people flourish in that.
Mac Prichard:
Terrific. Well, I know that our audience could learn more about you and your work by visiting your company’s website. That URL is radiantfirefly.com, and you also invite people to connect with you on LinkedIn.
When you do reach out to Shannon, please tell her that you saw or heard her on Find Your Dream Job.
Now, Shannon, given all the great advice you’ve shared today, what’s the one thing you want our audience to remember about why you need to stop saying, I can do anything?
Shannon Bloom:
You know, Mac, we have this one precious life that we get to live, and you are so worth having your dream job.
And so put in the hard work, do the effort to build the thing, and most importantly, take care of yourself along the way. But never forget that you’re worth doing this and you’re worth advocating for and for people to know about.
Mac Prichard:
Thank you for listening to Find Your Dream Job.
You can support our show and help others find it by leaving a review and rating on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Have a question or a suggestion? Email me at mac@macslist.org, or connect with me on LinkedIn.
To make sure you never miss an episode, sign up for our free weekly newsletter at macslist.org/podcasts.
This show is produced by Mac’s List.
Susan Thornton-Hough schedules our guests and writes our newsletter. Lisa Kislingbury Anderson manages our social media and creates our transcripts.
Our sound engineer and editor is Anna McClain. And our music is by Freddy Trujillo.
This is Mac Prichard. See you next week.
###