All about persistence
By Lynda Gray
Paul Smith walked into my office, having just been made redundant from a position that he had held for twelve years, since leaving high school. He had absolutely no idea about how to find a job or what jobs were available. To make matters tougher for him, he had taken five months off and traveled overseas, believing that getting a job on his return would be a ‘piece of cake’.
After twelve months without successfully finding employment he was getting very worried. He did not know the first thing about being interviewed. He had been assisted greatly by Centrelink, who had given him a list of employment websites to search for employment. On many of these he could list his résumé details for employers to scout around and find him. Afraid, apprehensive and unsure of the new job market he was about to enter, Paul did what a lot of other job seekers don’t do, and immediately took something that was on the books. He went out and picked strawberries the very next day, and continued this for two weeks, and each day after his shift ended at 3.00pm, he looked for other more suitable employment. Paul had been in sales and marketing management for four years, having worked his way up from a part-time position, into management. After two weeks he found a retail position on the Australian JobSearch website, and worked there for five weeks temporarily in a maternity leave vacancy. As soon as this finished he came back and saw me again, and I helped him to find another position selling websites for a real estate company part-time while he searched for full-time employment. Within one year he had found a secure, full-time job in banking. He has now been in secure employment for 6 months and is looking at being promoted in three months.
Paul’s job search journey was very challenging, as he was petrified at the beginning. But he was persistent. Through job search training, résumé upgrading, intensive one to one coaching in job interview techniques, grooming, body language training and personal development coaching, Paul now understands the process of finding employment. He overcame his fear by trying different positions, and now, after 6 months in his new role, he is not afraid. The hardest part for Paul was coming across as confident in an interview, despite feeling scared. Sometimes, if an interviewee is scared in an interview situation, they will overcompensate by acting casual, not meeting eye contact, or appearing vague. The most successful people in interviews have planned and practised.
It is fundamentally important to be enthusiastic. After many rejections, how did Paul retain his enthusiasm? What he found is that just when he thought he could not do it again, something positive happened and he found a job. It felt like he was trying to get blood out of a stone, but eventually his persistence paid off.
This quote, written by ex-American President Calvin Coolidge, sums up the journey to finding full-time work: “Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
A website for finding employment: www.jobsearch.gov.au