Tuesday, February 24, 2015

How to locate "your" job - phase two

OK, so now you have a stack of cards or a list of names - your choice, and we need to evaluate what you have at hand.  You may be surprised.  

The first cards of importance are those that have the names of your immediate family.  They are the loved ones who were going to head you in the right direction and for years they would not even think about a vocation for you.  However, they will probably think of "jobs" for you.  As you started school, you probably noticed that they were now asking you to make up your bed, put your dirty clothes in the proper hamper and get dressed by yourself.  Up until then, unless you have a lot of others in the house, Mother (or Dad) have been cleaning up after you.  Now, it was your job,   Your first job and now was the time you started thinking about how you might like being "bossed" for a living.  Much like your parents, probably, your first supervisors expected you to listen carefully and to do what you are told to do.  That is why, if your parents recall their own experiences, they reminded you of why it was important to carry out your assignments - at home and later, as you start working for a living,

You may have had siblings to consider.  The older ones may even have given you a hard time when you started on your new routine and the younger ones may even have thought they are being left out. The more opportunities you had to learn about your responsibilities as a "fellow" worker, the better off you will become in the future.  Sometimes, depending on the environment, it wasn't easy but you began to realize, it wasn't going to be any easier. You were learning how to think seriously how to work. When your "bosses" were your parents, they probably made it easier for you, but the sooner you learn how to carry out your responsibilities in the home, the easier it becomes in the future.

Those are some of the foundation moments in our lives that we often overlook in establishing a career, but they are important if you really care about your future.  The fact that you may have resented helping your parents often carries over in attitudes towards a new employer and other employees.  Examining how they started out makes it easier for all of us to correct our personality flaws. And cheaper.  If you ever have an employer suggest you see a Psychiatrist to help you become a more productive employee, those are some of your earlier experiences they will want to investigate.

We all have certain personality traits and most of them started in the home or one's early educational experiences.  Examining them early on eliminates the embarrassment of having them exposed in the workplace.  For example, my own earlier experiences in marketing revealed traits that I had developed as a child where I tended to be afraid to make decisions on my own because I had no one in my family to teach me.  We all tend to have them and experienced interviewers look for specific instances as he or she is searching for the best possible candidate to recommend for a job.

That is why it is important to look into the lives of our families, friends and associates so that we understand where our own personal tendencies started and wherever appropriate, to correct them.

It is also important to know the names of previous co-workers and supervisors so that in referring to previous employment experiences, you make it known that you are willing to give credit to others for your success.  When you are leaving one employer in search of a greater opportunity for personal advancement in your career, you really do need to know such names as they will confirm your best intentions.  The problem that we face in growing older is that we tend to forget names and experiences that, if known, often solidify the chances of being hired by others. 

The key to getting hired by any company can be traced to the Boy Scout's motto, be prepared.

Your next step in finding employment opportunities will be found in the cards you have prepared for the adults and older school friends you have known.  As soon as you are prepared to actively search for employment, you need to be renewing such friendships.  You call them up to remind them of your previous relationship and let them know you are actively looking for opportunities, by first, asking them about their own.  Don't specifically ask about possible job openings.  Inquire about the potential for advancement with their employer or others they might know about.  If they suggest that there are real possibilities where they are employed, ask for the appropriate person in Human Resources for you to contact.

If you are successful in obtaining a name, make certain your cover letter transmitting your resume refers to your friend's name by letting then know how pleased  your friend is in his/her job.

So now, let's talk about resumes, tomorrow.

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