come friendly bombs…
Having spent a lifetime in recruitment (reincarnation intones I must have been one helluva bad boy in a previous life) people often feel free to vent their spleen at me with regards to recruiters not acknowledging their application, never calling them back, providing feedback and/or not doing much of value in the first place. In many instances they’re probably right and the whole industry does seem to lack the most basic regard for courtesy and manners, with the general consensus being recruitment agents occupy a space on the evolutionary scale somewhere between mould and arthropod. However, they don’t have a monopoly on finding that next position and there is another way. In fact, on the basis that insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different outcome, it does make me question their approach a little.
Relying solely on a third-party to solve your employment woes is abdicating personal responsibility for sorting it out yourself. Being told ‘no’ time and time again is going to hurt but job hunting is hard work and rejection is part & parcel of the whole process. Which is why you need to apply yourself in the best, and most appropriate, manner. Perhaps naively, I do genuinely believe that you will find the perfect job at the right time, in the right place, but it’s up to you to find it. The key is research and preparation.
Decide what it is you want exactly to do, research the niche, identify the key players and make the direct approach yourself. In a slightly novel and unique way identify who exactly would be the manger for such a position within the company, find out their name and direct contact details (in today’s digital world it’s much easier than you’d initially think) and make the approach, tout suite and in the most professional manner you can muster. Explaining clearly and precisely how you would be of great value to them will be music to their collective ears and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how often this pays-off. Crikey, and all without a fee.
Sadly, if it’s a relatively small business or perhaps a start-up organisation, the bad news is, irrespective of your novel approach, it’s crucial that you already have some relevant experience. In today’s tight economic environment, smaller organisations, without either the training resources or budget, are far less likely to take a punt of an un-qualified or inexperienced individual.
Nevertheless, if you’re feeling determined and have the bit between your teeth, you could try and combat their reticence by getting some of the extra/additional training completed beforehand, and under your own steam, thereby ensuring they see you are a dedicated, focussed, self-aware, quick-learning and committed employee. Furthermore, having selected that company, research the hell out of it and ace the interview by blowing them away with detailed and intimate knowledge of their business. If it’s going well and you’re confident enough why not even suggest some of your ideas and solutions for a couple of problems they’re either facing, or going to face! Hand-on heart, you might not get the job but the plan is to make it a lot more difficult for them to say no.
And if all else fails, you can always follow the Chingford Skinhead’s heartfelt advice and ‘get on your bike’. With twenty jobs per jobseeker the highest number of vacancies are in Cambridge, then Guildford and Swindon. The most affluent wages are to be had in Reading, Edinburgh and Oxford. Job security rates highly in London as robots can’t afford the house prices. However, according to the Glassdoor survey of 2017, there’s only one place to head for that combines the very best of wage, job satisfaction, quality of life and vacancy numbers, and poor Sir John Betjemen obviously had it all wrong: come friendly jobs and fall on Slough!
