Job Search Questions
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: What is it that the job market have against people over 50 [...]
Burning Question Answered
Zak asks:
Is any job better than no job when things are begining to get tight?
Of course it is. Well, it depends on whether you can take the consequences or not – like being thrown out of your home, or losing your car, having your kids starve to death?
It could be a complicated question – but if things are tight then one has to do what one has to do. And there’s no shame in it. None at all. But you do have to be smart about it. And this is critical.
You’re NOT just throwing yourself into a position without a plan. You’re going to do the following:
- View it as it is: an interim situation.
- Make the best of it: view it as a learning experience, put your all into it.
- Build confidence with it: do such a great job that you make yourself proud.
- Be happy in it: you’re going to make friends, you’re gonna smile and be cheerful.
- See who you can teach: you’re going to happily share what you know with others.
- Build a record of achievement: you’re going to keep a log of things you got done – well – deadlines you reached, things you improved, you’re going to measure your performance.
- Build a great couple of references – people who’ll rave about you.
And all the while – you’re going to be gathering your skills, confidence and determination to get back to the position you really want. You’re going to be making the contacts, building the skills – or getting/keeping up to date. You’ll be writing letters directly to people (decision makers) who hire people like you. You’ll be applying for jobs – but NOT just any job – the jobs you really want. And you’ll be learning to market your skills better than ever – by for eg. joining the Career&Success Community where you’ll find the best advice, and a support group of smart, like minded people to help you. Go to www.careerandsuccess.info for that. It’s, like, R30 pm.
Hope this helps Zak.
Burning Question Answered
This from Nana:
Hi I have been looking for a job for almost 10 months with no luck. I have lost myself i don’t know what to do anymore. For the past years i have been doing temp assignments and i can not find a permanent job. I have a grade 11, Call centre diploma and a NQF4 Post Matric in business management. Can u help me out i dnt want to spend another year at home.
Hard to answer this one Nana. There could be a number of things at work here. Like:
- Your English may not be that great – so English Call Centre jobs may be out
- Your CV may not be up to scratch
- Your basic business skills may be poor – typing, computer skills and communication
Now the encouraging thing here is that none of these things takes terribly much to improve. All you’ll need is focussed effort – and maybe someone to loan you some time behind their computer.
Try the following:
Improve your English: join a library, read as many books in English as you can. Take books out on English usage. Listen to the radio – English stations. Read English aloud to yourself. When you watch TV – copy the way people speak English. Look up the word “enunciate” in the dictionary. Practice saying words slowly and clearly. Make a fool of yourself improving your English. People will laugh – but when you land a great job because of it, they’ll be quiet.
Improve your computer skills: really what you need is time in front of a computer. Start with what you learned about computers in college. Go over what you learned. Do the exercises. Again, take a book out of the library on computer literacy. Practice especially on software like Excel and Word or event the fantastic free OpenOffice alternatives. Do the tutorials. If you have some cash go to your local computer guy and offer to buy an old computer. Doesn’t have to have much at all. Just very, very basic. All you need it for is to practice. Not for games, etc. I’m sure if you go in with a few hundred Rand you can pick something up.
Improve your typing skills: make it a mission to get to at least 40 words per minute. Be determined. Be totally comfortable on the keyboard. And we’re talking “touch typing” here – none of this one finger stuff, tap … tap … tap.
Now regarding getting work. You just have to figure out what value you can provide. What can you do for an employer that will help them in some way? Even if there is only one single thing … that’s ok. Then you start visiting every business in your area, once a week. Make a nuisance of yourself. Get to know the names of local business men and women. Meet them anyway you can. Offer to help them with what you have. Offer to work part time or casually.
For example:
If you can type really well: then go there every day – “any typing, any filing – I work per hour”
You WILL get lucky. Persistence is like magic. Dress professionally for work every day. Go out there. be bold. And it’ll happen soon.
Maybe you have in your mind a nice comfortable ‘big company’ job. Ok. But if that’s what you’re aiming for know this: you have lots of competition. And that competition is likely just as good if not better than you. But if you take a more ‘guerrilla’ style approach – you have almost no competition. Just a little discomfort in the beginning. But then again, it’s pretty uncomfortable sitting along, unemployed at home.
Hope this helps a little!
Do You Watch “The Apprentice”? [Jan 29 e-column]
So last week I was watching “The Apprentice”. The challenge was, which of the two teams could sell the most steak/food at a football game. The one team had hundreds of people crowded round, cheerleaders, an eating competition, a money grabbing game tent – lots of fanfare, lots of people. The other team didn’t. But they won by a big margin.
Why? How? What made the difference?
The answer is a big business lesson. And good for job hunters too. Team 2 stumbled on to something. They made an almost accidental discovery that just made all the difference. And here it is:
They discovered that people in the football crowd would buy food if it was delivered to them. The food had to come to them. They didn’t want the hassle of queuing, leaving their seats and friends. And they’d pay a premium for it.
And isn’t that a key to success in business? Give people what they want. Help them get what they want. It’s a guaranteed success formula. In your job too – want a promotion? Solve your employer’s problems. Want a job? Find a problem and come up with a way to solve it.
If you develop that kind of mindset, y’know …
“how can I make things better, faster, more profitable – or whatever”
… then you’ll always be sought after (as long as you’re also smart about marketing yourself). Sometimes the answers will be obvious. Sometimes you’ll have to search long and hard. Sometimes you’ll ‘stumble across’ what it is that is needed. Sometimes it’ll be the strangest things – people get hired for all sorts of reasons – from having good legs (hey, girls!) to being able to create space and peace for your boss (like a PA for eg.) It’ll be hard skills – like being able to develop a new software program – or soft skills – like being able to sell and persuade – or just having the kind of personality that ‘fits’ in the team.
Some of these things you can do something about, others you can’t. That’s the job market. But if you’re always looking to see how you can make things better, looking for a need to fill, a problem to solve – as opposed to looking just to sit in your chair, do your job and collect your pay cheque – then you’ll find you’re in much more demand.
And think deeper, ok? Don’t just think, “well a business needs an Accountant/whatever”. It’s true but it’s not all. What kind of Accountant does it need? What style? What’s that something extra that could make the difference? Does THIS Accountant just balance the books, OR does she ALSO discover where money can be saved, inefficiencies in how much stock is being held, or expensive but non-profitable areas of the business?
See the difference?
Going back to The Apprentice: both teams had it right – the crowd wanted food. But only one team discovered that they wanted food more, if it came in a certain style. Delivered to them. The team adapted their offering – and they won. In every other way the other team was better. But they didn’t have that something extra – what the crowd really wanted.
So like them, you may also ‘stumble’ across an idea that just rockets you to new heights: earnings, job offers, promotions, even ideas for a new business you can start. Make sure you keep looking.
And Now, Check This Quote:
“You must begin to understand that the present state of your bank account, your position at work, etc is nothing more than the physical manifestation of your previous thinking. If you sincerely wish to change or improve your results in your physical world, you must change your thoughts and you must change them immediately.”
- Bob Proctor, “You Were Born Rich”
This is not smoke and mirrors advice. It’s as real and true as the blood rushing through your heart right now. Unforeseen events happen. True. Bad things happen – quite by chance – to good people – that also true. But for most of us, the quote above says it all. Are you ready to make a change?
The entire book “You Were Born Rich” is available to Members of the Career & Success community. Wanna join at R30 pm? It’s easy. Go here and get the mindset – www.careerandsuccess.info now.
Launching into 2009
Ok, so maybe this is a personal post – but at least you know you’re dealing with a real person here – who had a fantastic December. After ‘burning out’ toward the end of 2008 was great to spend a little time getting something back … here: www.eightbells.co.za, www.fairyknowe.co.za and www.countryclub.co.za.
Something interesting: never saw myself as a hotel person. But man, when you have kids like us – Zoe and Ethan, 6 and 3 – hotels with all their facilities and food laid on are cool, cool, cool!
So what are your goals for 2009? I never achieve mine. So I don’t have any. BUT … what I do have is an overall philosophy or approach that I know, if I put it to work, it’ll result in big benefits. The approach is based on 3 things:
- Knowing what’s really important to me – what I value most, what I really want for my family and me, what I want my business to be about, what I want for my health and wellbeing, etc – this underpins any decision making I have to make regarding what to do with my time/resources/energy.
- Drawing up a basic schedule of activity – booking blocks of time for things that are of real importance, whether personal – like exercise – or family – like doing something like walking in the woods every Tuesday late afternoon – or work – like writing CVs, marketing, or writing blog posts, etc.
- Being ruthless. “ruthless: hard hearted, showing no mercy”. I won’t always feel like doing stuff. But I know that if I don’t do ‘stuff’ I can expect a frustrating year of little or no progress. I’m excited by what I could achieve. But discipline has to keep me on track, when all hell is breaking loose.
So, that approach is nothing new, but it helps to have something in place, huh?
Please share your ideas and approaches below.
Welcome!
Hi - I'm Gerard le Roux - CV writer & guerrilla job search coach. You may have seen me quoted in newspapers or heard me on radio. I'm here to help job hunters. Enjoy your visit.