What they don’t tell you about finding jobs – Human Resources Talk by Miyanda

When embarking on the process of finding a job there are three questions that you must ask yourself. These questions are: where am I today? where do I want to go? How will get there? These questions are very critical as they will give answers that will help you start your job search process. Asking yourself were you are today gives you an opportunity to assess your strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats in the job or employment environment. In addition ask yourself, does your CV sell you well? remember that it is the only tool you have that will determine whether you are called for an interview or not. I can safely say the quality of CV’s used by many job seekers in Zambia are not designed well enough to attract any attention from the employer. Do you have the experience and qualifications that will sell you to the potential employer? Do you have the right attitude and personality that employers are looking for?

Take a look at your image; I am not talking about buying expensive clothes. Whether you like it or not potential employers make decisions to invite for an interview based on limited information, this revolves around the first 90 seconds of contact with you. You only have the first 30 seconds of the contact me to make the right impression and just short of 60 seconds from the time you open your mouth to sound credible. I have met job seekers with excellent experience and qualifications but when they open their mouths to speak, I start to wonder whether the CV they have presented belongs to them, they fail to express themselves. You must understand that there is so much involved to trying to find a job, it takes me less than 10 minutes with a job seeker to know that they will either struggle to find a job or they will find it easily.

You need a great deal of information before you start sending out hundreds of application letters. What do you know about the companies you have applied to other than their names? Do you know how many people work there? do you know if they are hiring or retrenching?, have you ever made an effort to meet with the Managing Director or the Human Resource Manager? I can see you shaking you heads, jobs will not come while you are sitting at home or just sending out application letters. The concept is simple if you build bridges; you have to go where the rivers are. If you are looking for a job you must collect enough intelligence that will tell you where to look.

Start to think outside the box, stop worrying and feeling sorry for yourself or, remember that worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but does not get you anywhere, you need a strategy.

Do you know what threats are making job search difficult for you? which companies are closing down, which companies are opening? Are there a large number of people just as qualified as you? As a recruiting company our eyes and ears are always looking out for companies coming into the market, expanding or hiring so that we can assist them in the recruitment process, we need this information and therefore we go out and find it, it is the same when looking for the job. Instead of being negative that this does not work, take advantage of this free information because while you are complaining, someone is using it to their advantage, I am a recruiter, I know what I am talking about. I know the job trends in the market, I know where the jobs are, I know who is hiring and who is not, I know who is a potential employer of choice and who is not, I know what the market pays for various positions in terms of salary and perks, I do my homework and research. This information allows me to provide guidance to job seekers at no cost.

You must understand the recruitment process, this explanation will shed light into the reasons why job seekers make numerous applications and cannot understand why they never receive any response, even a letter of regret. When a company decides to recruit they develop two documents, one is a job description which details the key duties and responsibilities that the job holder will perform and the next a job specification which will detail the experience, qualifications and key competencies expected of the job holder. These details that are forwarded to a recruiting company or placed on an advert. Job seekers do not read the full advert and its requirements, what job seekers see is the title of the position for example ‘Accounts Assistant’ and they push in an application. They do not take note of the experience, qualifications required or key competencies required.

A recruitment company or organization cannot compromise on quality of the people they recommend for employment. It is for this reason that one job seeker may register their CV, wait two years and receive no interview invitation while another will drop their CV in the morning and by afternoon they have received an interview invitation. Many times clients request us to assist in the short listing process once they receive applications letter. My first step is to read the role profile to allow me to match the applications with the role profile. More often than not out of as many as 200 applications less than 10 will meet or come close to the client’s specifications.

One of my most recent experiences is an Accountant responding to an advert for a position requiring someone with Sales and Marketing background. The Accountant sent me an email demanding to know why they were not called for an interview, he clearly did not read the job advert. I understand that the job market is not as open as it should be but you will just frustrate yourself if you apply where you don’t qualify. I write these articles because it breaks my heart to see so many people unemployed, use this information and you will move closer to finding a job.

I offered to speak for Free to the first 20 people to send me an sms with their name on the subject of managing your image, I received over 725 sms. We had a fantastic time with the 20 participants. If you would like to receive Vacancies when we receive them from our clients or our weekly newsletter with information on human resource management, send me an email and I will I include you on my mailing list. Our Sales workshop facilitated by Richard Mulvey, Sales Guru based in South Africa is scheduled for 2 September 2009. Please contact our offices for bookings.

The Author is a consultant for Prosoft Human Resources Solutions. For any suggestions and comments please email miyandak@prosofthumanresource.com 0979472850 visit www.prosofthumanresource.com