A Day in the Life of a Job Hunter: The Verdict on the Job Hunting Experience

I wrote yesterday about an old-fashioned approach I used in my job searching process. This is basically a report on the outcome of what I did today. And just a recap, I called up an employer who are based closer to where I lived in London and asked randomly whether they were recruiting at the moment. This is after almost 7 months of frantic job hunting without any success. Actually, I managed during this period to reflect on the dirty side of the whole job search sector and the sort of hassle one has to endure in order to get his dream job. This comes on the back of massive unemployment across the United Kingdom and also across the world as the economic crisis continues to bite hard. But anyway, this is the preamble to the the whole experience.

The Follow-Up

From the experience I have had so far, it is very important that you persist in your efforts to getting your foot in the door. Your persistence will prove to the prospective employer that you are really looking for the job and that you Will do a good job with such attitude. You need to show through your persistence that you have a ‘can-do’ attitude when it comes to work. Well, back to my experience…

I rang up Mr. Pearson, the manager of the company I want to work for to find out what his verdict was on my initial enquiry. Remember, I had gotten through to Mr. Pearson through a random phone call and he had asked me to send in my CV to him. The news I heard from Mr. Pearson was not very damaging to say the least, but it was also not thumps up for the job. In particular, he said something which was very positive as it served to provide a ’constructive criticism of the way things had gone. This I will share with you in a moment through a few pointers that I believe will help you get the needed interview:

The CV 

My CV came under the spotlight. The first point here is that if you want to stand the chance of attracting your prospective employer giving you a call and inviting you over for the all important interview, then your CV better be good. And here is the issue… on the CV I presented to Mr. Pearson, I had had 14 jobs within the last 2 years; all through a recruitment agency. Yes, you read right… I have been temping at 14 different companies and organisations for the last 2 years which is good in terms of gaining experience and skills needed to breakthrough the job market. However, the impression this carried to Mr. Pearson, who at this time, had come to represent all that prospective employers look up for in their prospective employees was someone who had no difficulty in getting jobs; some of which had been reputable organisations but cannot hold on to job for that long. 6 months here and 4 months there. This did not register well with Mr. Pearson.

To him, I came across as someone who was restless, who could no handle the ‘heat in the kitchen’ and therefore could not employ someone like that. Although this is excatly what he told me but I gather that this is the way he saw me. I then had the opportunity to explain to him that the jobs I had done in those years had been through a recruitment agency and did not represent someone who could not hold down a job. Quite to the contrary, I explained to him that I had to work in those roles in the past 2 years in order to brighten up  my chance of getting a full time job as many employers wanted a minimum of 2 years experience.

The issue was that I did not indicate on my CV that this was the case and so here is what happened… he gave me advice to indicate that these roles I have done through an agency and that is why it comes across that way. Two things happened here… I was able to allay his fears that I was a reliable and solid person who can hold down a permanent job. Secondly, with this explanation, he was grateful that this had been clarified. Had I not persisted and called him, that would have ended a perfect opportunity to make a difference.

So, the CV is very important. Through the CV, you are basically selling yourself without selling your soul; indicating to potential employers out there that you are a reliable person and this will come with the way the CV is structured. Like me, if you have done a lot of temping or contract work through recruitment agencies, it is very important that you assure potential employers that this is the case rather than you coming across as an unstable person. I immediately, upon the completion of the conversation sat down and indicated through my personal statement column in the CV that I had done these jobs through recruitment agencies thus assuring potential employers there.

The Verdict

So here is the verdict. I am still in the game. Mr. Pearson told me he had shortlisted 3 candidates included the member of staff for interview in the coming days. But still insisted that he still has my CV and that he will call me very shortly for interview. Now, I am not quite sure whether he is being polite to me but one thing is certain – I have managed to persuade this manager that I have the potential to contribute significantly to his organisation that he is keeping my CV in his files. This is the verdict. Perhaps, in the coming days, I will receive the phone call from him inviting over for interview. And that happens, you will definitely hear about my success.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I will like to reiterate my belief that I am actually closer to getting a job than I think. This is partly because of what I have learnt these few days of trying another old-fashioned way of job hunting. I have learn as a result a few lessons which is worth sharing:

• As always, persistence pays. My experience has taught me to persist in calling employers as I have done with Mr. Pearson this week. Although I do not what the outcome will be, I am feeling confident that through good old fashion persistence, I will be able to get my foot at the door. Try it and you will be surprise at what you can discover.
• The organisation and structure of your CV or resume is vital. This will determine to a large extent whether you will get calls from prospective employers or not. It is important that you write out your CV well. Some of us will never get the opportunity to explain to a prospective employer that like me, most of the work experience had come through recruitment agencies. They conclude that although you have worked in some reputable organisations, you are very unstable and would not like to have you in his company. If possible, seek advice from someone who can write a cutting-edge CV for you. I cannot stress this any more than I have right now.
• And lastly, just pray. I know this is not very relevant but prayer sometimes helps.