There is a brilliant saying that goes something like this:
“If you always do things the way you have always done them, you will continue to get the same results you always get.”
This is great if you’re Warren Buffet or anyone else onto a good thing. But for those like me who have been trying to reach a goal without success, perhaps its time to tackle it in a different way.
I don’t really have a New Years resolution, but I do have a New Years goal. And that is to find a wonderful new job that I can grow into for a few years. So how do I achieve this?
Well for starters, the strategies I went with last year obviously didn’t work.
Here’s what I did. I went online and looked for ads in various job seeking sites.
www.careers.com.au
www.seek.com.au
www.ethicaljobs.com.au
Most of the jobs had been listed for some time and for each job there were a million applicants. (well perhaps a large percentage of the 40,000 unemployed in Australia who are out searching for jobs).
For each job I wrote award winning cover letters. I read the job description and broke it down into key elements which I addressed in my letter as being able to meet. I was articulate and succinct.
I started a spreadsheet of all the jobs I applied for and kept a record of my success. Of the 486 jobs I applied for over a six month period, I received 75 identical rejection emails, 3 phone calls and 1 interview. I’m not a gambling woman despite a few wins on the Ladies Day Races but even I could see the odds were against me using this method.
I registered with two leading recruitment agencies in Sydney. Both shall remain nameless for fear of defamation because I have nothing nice to say on either.
In the first agency I was interviewed by a woman barely out of training bras who was sweetly condescending about how wonderful I was. After an hour of honeyed promises to find me the best job because I was such an amazing candidate, I was whisked out of the swish offices to the elevators and felt only slightly optimistic.
The next agency was only a phone call with a promise of getting me in for a formal interview to get to know me better so I could be placed appropriately. The Parramatta Road car salesman technique of this English man was impressive if I were in the market for a new Honda. I am not. He gave it to me straight though which I liked. He worked off commission and with my skills I should be landing a high paying job and therefore his commission could see him spending a few months in South East Asia surfing. I had more faith in this approach than that of the blue eyed 12 year old at the recruitment agency I met a few days prior.
Neither have amounted to anything and I have since learnt a thing or two about most recruitment agencies. They are sharks. They skim the job ads and re-advertise to get candidates in without having any contract with the company in the first place. They earn up to 20% of the salary in commission if they are successful in getting a candidate in front of the hiring manager and employed. Again with the betting scenario, the odds are great. They only really have to place 3 executives a year and they’ve made enough commission to live comfortable on $100k+.
Networking is said to be the best chance at landing the next role and I’m good at this. I only dipped my toe in the water with networking last year so my immediate focus right now is writing a strategy on networking.
Tips welcome, I am free for coffee.
“If you always do things the way you have always done them, you will continue to get the same results you always get.”
This is great if you’re Warren Buffet or anyone else onto a good thing. But for those like me who have been trying to reach a goal without success, perhaps its time to tackle it in a different way.
I don’t really have a New Years resolution, but I do have a New Years goal. And that is to find a wonderful new job that I can grow into for a few years. So how do I achieve this?
Well for starters, the strategies I went with last year obviously didn’t work.
Here’s what I did. I went online and looked for ads in various job seeking sites.
www.careers.com.au
www.seek.com.au
www.ethicaljobs.com.au
Most of the jobs had been listed for some time and for each job there were a million applicants. (well perhaps a large percentage of the 40,000 unemployed in Australia who are out searching for jobs).
For each job I wrote award winning cover letters. I read the job description and broke it down into key elements which I addressed in my letter as being able to meet. I was articulate and succinct.
I started a spreadsheet of all the jobs I applied for and kept a record of my success. Of the 486 jobs I applied for over a six month period, I received 75 identical rejection emails, 3 phone calls and 1 interview. I’m not a gambling woman despite a few wins on the Ladies Day Races but even I could see the odds were against me using this method.
I registered with two leading recruitment agencies in Sydney. Both shall remain nameless for fear of defamation because I have nothing nice to say on either.
In the first agency I was interviewed by a woman barely out of training bras who was sweetly condescending about how wonderful I was. After an hour of honeyed promises to find me the best job because I was such an amazing candidate, I was whisked out of the swish offices to the elevators and felt only slightly optimistic.
The next agency was only a phone call with a promise of getting me in for a formal interview to get to know me better so I could be placed appropriately. The Parramatta Road car salesman technique of this English man was impressive if I were in the market for a new Honda. I am not. He gave it to me straight though which I liked. He worked off commission and with my skills I should be landing a high paying job and therefore his commission could see him spending a few months in South East Asia surfing. I had more faith in this approach than that of the blue eyed 12 year old at the recruitment agency I met a few days prior.
Neither have amounted to anything and I have since learnt a thing or two about most recruitment agencies. They are sharks. They skim the job ads and re-advertise to get candidates in without having any contract with the company in the first place. They earn up to 20% of the salary in commission if they are successful in getting a candidate in front of the hiring manager and employed. Again with the betting scenario, the odds are great. They only really have to place 3 executives a year and they’ve made enough commission to live comfortable on $100k+.
Networking is said to be the best chance at landing the next role and I’m good at this. I only dipped my toe in the water with networking last year so my immediate focus right now is writing a strategy on networking.
Tips welcome, I am free for coffee.
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