by JH 31 Replies latest jw friends
Often, I speak to people who seem to have good jobs. When I ask how they got that job, then they tell me that finally it came down to good contacts.
Many jobs I had were also because of good contacts. Naturally, having a college or university degree is what it takes, but having contacts seems to be what opens doors.
So, how did you find your job, with help from an influencial person, or all by yourself?
About 9 years ago I took a not-so-good job with an IT company. I was basically working part-time in the office. Now I'm marketing manager, so I guess it was due to 9 years of hard work trying to get here. Even now I'm not in a "great" job because its a smallish company and I'd prefer to be doing something else....shhh just don't tell my boss.
Sirona
It's not who you know, it's how you know them.
I was asked for
Honestly though, JH, as an 81 year old israeli I think you're going to find it a little difficult to break into a new career.
What exactly about job hunting were you wondering about? I mean there are many things to consider - e.g. sourcing the jobs, travel to job, qualifications and whether you're prepared to take time out to study, salary, etc.
Is it finding the jobs or just actually applying that is the problem? (if indeed there is a problem...)
Sirona
My job came just as soon as the labour pains were over, I am a stay at home mum!
It really does come down to contacts.
I've been in the IT field for about 9 years and I've been doing contract software development for about 5 years. Over the years, especially in the contract work, I have come in contact with many different people. All of these people remember my work and me, so when it is time for me to find another contract I can turn to these people to point me in the direction of work.
Even now that I am trying to settle into a contract job as a perm employee, I still get phone calls from people looking for developers who do the kind of work I do. I don't even have my resume posted on the internet on any of the job search web sites... people just remember me from past work I did and call. Others who I don't know have been referred to me by those who do know me.
I'm not going to pretend that getting to this point is easy... it is NOT. It requires years of good work to develop a good reputation.
It's a small world and everyone in a given field of work knows each other and they all talk to each other. If you do good work, everyone will know about it... if you do poor work, everyone will know about.
When I applied for my current contract position there were about six candidates submitted by a recruiting company. The supervisor of the company who needed a developer was going to interview all of the candidates until he saw my name on the list... at that point he called the recruiting company and told them to call off all the interviews because they want me.
Contacts and reputation... that is what got me my current job.
I recently found a job by searching the "want ads" in my local paper on the internet.
It was an "open interview" for one day. I decided to go for the interview.... They recently called and offered me the job based on my "personality"...which besides my customer service skills, noted on my resume, is what got me my new job.
I relocated to this area 1.5 years ago...so nobody up here knows me...
Codeblue
Every job I got, I got the old fashioned way. Resumes, phone calls and interviews. I never had anyone that got me a job or helped me get a job.
LABD
I got hooked up with a work/study program. I ended up going to school for free (well, almost free, I had to buy my books). After graduation, I had to give the company 2 years...but I got a 15% raise at graduation and now make something around 35K/year.
TB
