Thurs 6 Feb. Emailed to say I was going to be in the area – is it OK to drop by for chat?
Fri 7 Feb. Secretary called to say Mr Stintflone v. busy. Maybe in a couple of weeks’ time
You get the picture. But clock this. You’re sitting there one day in March flicking through your notes and you see that while you may well have been fobbed off back on 7 February, the secretary definitely said, ‘Maybe in a couple of weeks’ time,’ which gives you the perfect excuse to ring up and say something like, ‘Hello, your secretary rang me a couple of weeks ago and asked me call back about this time to arrange an appointment.’
Some people do all of this day book, diary scheduling, task listing, or whatever you want to call it on a computer. In fact most computers even have a special program that allows you to do that very thing. It’s up to you. If you feel happier doing it on a machine, go ahead. It’s just that personally I find it a whole lot more satisfying drawing a line through a completed task than hitting the delete key.
What you can’t do on your computer is maintain your job file. For this you’re going to need a good old-fashioned ring binder, hole puncher and some cardboard dividers. Into the folder you are going to put the following sections:
ADVERTISEMENTSBecause if you’re applying for a lot of jobs an application form might turn up at some point with no job description and you’ll have no idea what the job was. Or at least you may forget something vital. It’s also a good way of building up information on which companies are hiring people like you.
CLIPPINGSWe’ll see in a later chapter the value of trawling though other sections of the press to identify vacancies before they’re advertised. This is where you keep your research information.
JOB APPLICATIONS Photocopy each completed application you send in and file it here. That way if you do get an interview you can refer back to it and work out exactly what it was that you said. Make no mistake, the interviewer will have a copy laid out in front of them as they talk to you.
JOB DESCRIPTIONS For the same reasons as above, remind yourself what the job’s all about before you go to an interview.
RESPONSESEven the ones that just say ‘thanks but no thanks’ will carry a name, position and contact details. These could be useful to you if you hear that company might be hiring again.
TIP Experts say our brains are better at admin and organisation in the mornings.
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Research skills
www.
Once you’ve put your system in place then you need to set a time aside each day, free from other distractions, when you can beaver away at the job of getting a job. Remember to keep all your files and records updated. Try to get into a routine, maybe even breaking your day book into time slots that dictate when you buy the papers, go to the library, make your calls, write your letters, etc. That way you’ll get into a natural working rhythm and when you do start work, fitting back into the work environment won’t be such a big deal.
If you’ve never done anything like this before then you’ll also have picked up what the jargon mongers call a ‘transferable skill’, in other words something you can do in one place – home – that is useful in another place – work. You can confidently claim it as part of your repertoire when applying for jobs. You can say, ‘I’m an administrator, me. You should see how I organised my job search.’
HOW I GOT THE JOB: When I first qualified as a nurse the National Health Service paid for me to go and see a careers consultant and we ended up with this five-year plan to become a community nurse. And that’s what I did. But when I actually got to do it I found it wasn’t as good as it’s cracked up to be and I didn’t want to do it any more. So I went for the job I’ve got now which is junior sister in a group home. I didn’t get it because I didn’t prepare very well, so I wasn’t really anticipating the questions they were likely to ask. And I was quite nervous, I clammed up and gave three- word answers to questions. I asked for feedback after the interview, and what they actually said was that they wondered if I might be too soft when it came to managing staff. But then I didn’t give them any reason to think otherwise because I didn’t sell myself. So two years later I went for the job again and this time I’d prepared very thoroughly, I’d rehearsed what I was going to say and I’d spent a lot of time thinking about the kinds of questions they were going to ask me.
Lucy, psychiatric nurse
Go to www.mindtools.comand scroll down until you get to the section on ‘Stress’. There you’ll find a very concise and plain- speaking guide to exactly what stress is, how it affects you, how to spot it and what you can do to alleviate it. We’d recommend
R e a l L I F E
WEB TIP
this site generally as a way of tuning up your thinking processes, but the stress stuff is specifically excellent. It’s completely free of jargon and highly practical.
READ THIS
What Color is your Parachute?Richard Nelson Bolles. Ten Speed Press In the course of researching this book I have read some terrible stuff about jobseeking. Please do have a flick through any book and check it for yourself before buying. Better still, don’t buy any.
There’s loads in the library. That way you can have your intelligence insulted for free. Richard Bolles however is something else. He’s an elderly, born-again Christian Yank. Which at face value probably isn’t going to motivate you to read his book. But it’s well worth studying. Accepted, there may be a little bit too much God in it at the back, but you can skip those bits if you’re not religiously inclined. The rest of it is a well-written, positive and radical approach to the business of choosing and planning a career, then tracking down the job you’ve chosen. Be warned, Mr Bolles is not what you would you call conventional. He admits that his approach is ‘iconoclastic’. But he does talk a lot of sense and he will make you look at your career prospects in a wholly different way.
NO WAY!
DON’T ever believe that the job you do is what makes you the person you are
DON’T hang around your former workplace with ex-colleagues – it’s not healthy
DON’T stop using your brain, you could be in this situation for a while
DON’T be unrealistic about your abilities and obligations DON’T throw anything away until you’ve got your job. File all contacts and correspondence
WAY TO GO!
DO take signs of stress or depression seriously and get help DO get your family to help you through a bad patch DO keep your problems and troubles in perspective
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DO make flexible but detailed career plans, including a fall- back plan
DO organise and administer your job search
GO YOUR OWN WAY!
●If you know exactly what you want to do, make a five-year career plan
●It’s up to you whether or not you fill out career tests: just exercise a modicum of caution
●Immediate money problems may mean you have to compromise your main plan for a while
●Devise your own system for administering your job search
TEN TASKS TICKED OFF
Had a long hard think about what I want to do ❏
Discussed it with my family ❏
Listed things I can/can’t do and will/won’t do ❏
Made a big plan detailing what I want to do ❏
Made a back-up plan, just in case ❏
Made sure that the job I want is in my area ❏
Made my daily planner ❏
Started my job file ❏
Made my contact and action list ❏
Ate fish and chips out of the wrapper with loads of ketchup.
I deserve it. And it’s good for my brain ❏
When you’re tall, thin, blonde and have big boobs, you can have any job you want.– Nora Ephron
Looking for a job shouldn’t really be a high-overhead activity.
Which is a good thing, because you’re obviously going to be in maximum scrimping mode. If anyone tells you otherwise then approach them with extreme caution. In fact it’s probably best not to approach them at all. Walk firmly away in the opposite direction.
We’re specifically talking here about anyone who can offer you an expensively produced CV, a top of the range ‘psychometric’
test or an exclusive careers counselling service for a fat fee up front. As we saw in the last chapter, testing can be an arbitrary and unreliable process. We’ll be showing you how simple it is to produce a top-notch CV for a couple of pence later on.
✷ S PA C E
✷ C O M P U T E R
✷ T E L E P H O N E A N S W E R I N G S E RV I C E
✷ L I B R A RY C A R D
✷ C L O T H E S A N D A P P E A R A N C E E
E S S S S E E N N T T II A A L L