You read it right! My sole intention of blogging is to give a vent to my feelings, opinions and outrage in daily life, something not possible for me in the non-virtual world - hence the title Vocally Fierce!
Rant for today - Job hunting is the most difficult job of all!
In my career spanning almost 6 years (minus 2 -for a Masters degree), I have repeatedly had to hone my job hunting skills ' cos every time I hit the market, something fundamentally has changed. For example in 2004, people just hit 'Apply' at any of the job sites and were assured that yes, your application has reached. In 2007, one had to ensure one's cover letter was extremely articulate in order to be noticed. Now in 2011, one needs to ensure one hits 'Apply', includes a very promising cover letter, forwards the application on the email address provided alongside the job listing AND also calls the respective recruiter to say 'Hi, I've just dropped you an email with my CV, could you look into it please?'
Now its true that my career hasn't followed the smoothest of journeys but hey, its a journey well travelled. Why don't people show some perspective? So what if its not one industry? So what if its got a break? Can one not live a little? Why do people have to put so much importance on following, what I call a 'HERD' mentality? You have to go to school, then college - get fabulous grades, then do your masters, make sure you get into a good company, follow the field you got into, stick to it and work your way up. Bingo! You have just been classified as an outstanding candidate.
I am an outstanding candidate as well - though they haven't yet found a classification for me. After all you see, I am outstanding but I stand out from the A-list HERD.
I went to school, then college -got fabulous grades, got myself a great job, then another job -because I wanted to help a friend, now here comes the twist - I took a break, started my own thing, succeeded, then went abroad, got a masters, got fabulous grades again, DID NOT get into a good company but instead got into a so-so company, then got a good company but could not stick to it because the government stuck its foot in and asked me to go back to my country and thanks to the government sticking its foot in, I am stuck once again in the 'job-hunting' rut :( Bear in mind here that along my adventurous journey, I actually got experience in the hospitality, retail, gem and jewellery, recruitment, market research sectors and was an entrepreneur as well. Plus I enjoyed my life, travelled, picked up new hobbies and got good at them too! Now how many of those in the A-list HERD can boast of that, huh? Sadly not many see it my way!
If I was a recruiter I'd look at a jack of all trades (such as me) and hone the best trade of the jack and use it to my advantage -thats what recruiters are for - to identify good people and what they are best at and see if the organisation can benefit from it. But alas, you are only so good as your last job, so if you don't have a great 'past experience' on your CV, you don't qualify as a good candidate.
So what do you do? You try all the tricks of the trade, sniff around for some 'contacts' - even if they happen to be your friend's mom's sisters' aunt-in-law's nephew's friend or just your dear old dad or maybe your boyfriend's boss! Whatever! Just somehow, anyhow, somebody who might just give you a job. Now ain't that a job in itself? Only there's no money in it.
Rant for today - Job hunting is the most difficult job of all!
In my career spanning almost 6 years (minus 2 -for a Masters degree), I have repeatedly had to hone my job hunting skills ' cos every time I hit the market, something fundamentally has changed. For example in 2004, people just hit 'Apply' at any of the job sites and were assured that yes, your application has reached. In 2007, one had to ensure one's cover letter was extremely articulate in order to be noticed. Now in 2011, one needs to ensure one hits 'Apply', includes a very promising cover letter, forwards the application on the email address provided alongside the job listing AND also calls the respective recruiter to say 'Hi, I've just dropped you an email with my CV, could you look into it please?'
Now its true that my career hasn't followed the smoothest of journeys but hey, its a journey well travelled. Why don't people show some perspective? So what if its not one industry? So what if its got a break? Can one not live a little? Why do people have to put so much importance on following, what I call a 'HERD' mentality? You have to go to school, then college - get fabulous grades, then do your masters, make sure you get into a good company, follow the field you got into, stick to it and work your way up. Bingo! You have just been classified as an outstanding candidate.
I am an outstanding candidate as well - though they haven't yet found a classification for me. After all you see, I am outstanding but I stand out from the A-list HERD.
I went to school, then college -got fabulous grades, got myself a great job, then another job -because I wanted to help a friend, now here comes the twist - I took a break, started my own thing, succeeded, then went abroad, got a masters, got fabulous grades again, DID NOT get into a good company but instead got into a so-so company, then got a good company but could not stick to it because the government stuck its foot in and asked me to go back to my country and thanks to the government sticking its foot in, I am stuck once again in the 'job-hunting' rut :( Bear in mind here that along my adventurous journey, I actually got experience in the hospitality, retail, gem and jewellery, recruitment, market research sectors and was an entrepreneur as well. Plus I enjoyed my life, travelled, picked up new hobbies and got good at them too! Now how many of those in the A-list HERD can boast of that, huh? Sadly not many see it my way!
If I was a recruiter I'd look at a jack of all trades (such as me) and hone the best trade of the jack and use it to my advantage -thats what recruiters are for - to identify good people and what they are best at and see if the organisation can benefit from it. But alas, you are only so good as your last job, so if you don't have a great 'past experience' on your CV, you don't qualify as a good candidate.
So what do you do? You try all the tricks of the trade, sniff around for some 'contacts' - even if they happen to be your friend's mom's sisters' aunt-in-law's nephew's friend or just your dear old dad or maybe your boyfriend's boss! Whatever! Just somehow, anyhow, somebody who might just give you a job. Now ain't that a job in itself? Only there's no money in it.
Well, here's some words of advice from a fellow angry kid.
ReplyDelete#Firstly Recruiters DO go through your 'social' behaviour, this includes your online presence, and so YOUR blog and your rants in this scenario.
#Your last job doesn't really have a major impact on whether or not you can get through a job you 'want'
If you don't believe this, walk through my linkedin profile ;)
#Do not belittle what you have done so far with/in life.
#Do not bother wasting time explaining your actions, or choices or reasons for those choices. YOU chose them. Live with it. Good or bad.
Pick up some thing good from each of them and 'link' them together. Its 'THE' experience if nothing else.
#THE experience is also something that validates and reinforces your 'Jack of all' trait... And that 'link' is the trait of being 'Master of some'.. Something that the recruiters look for, especially if its relevant to the job.
#Avoid flooding the market with your resume. That's a BIG mistake :)
#Cover letter is that tiny paragh that says why the restaurant, and not what all is in the menu. :)
Cheers! Hang in there!
Super agree with all. Just got to be careful with the second last. Its too tempting, especially with my 'non-working' break getting extended with each passing day :(
ReplyDelete