How to find a job
It seems there has been a continuous parade of people who visit my home, which is the only way I would have it. It comes from my parents who also had an endless stream of people who visited the Roberts household.
This week, Bruno (who has been a BackDrop member since the Hayward days) and his nephew, Eric, (who was not yet born when we were in Hayward). Eric was saying that he was looking to join the military because he has been unable to find work. When I said that I usually hold several jobs concurrently, he asked me "my secret".
I told him that as part of my military training I had to learn three simple rules:
- To compete, you must recognize that everything has a system
- To survive, you must learn how the system works, and
- To win, you must get the system to work for you.
In looking for work, I have never applied for a job that I didn't get.
Find out about the company, its history, financials, and its products.
I always 'interviewed' the company. I would find out where the people from my new department eat lunch and surreptitiously slip into a nearby table and listen to them talking. If they talked about work or the project, it was a positive point. If they were derisive of divisive, negative points.
I would drive by the parking lot and look at how the employees parked their cars:
- If most cars were parked pointed out, that indicates the employees were getting to work early enough to plan for a quick getaway after work
- If most cars were parked nose in and between the lines, they weren't in a hurry, but got to work on time
- if most cars were parked nose in and not between the lines, they weren't particularly interested in being early, and they got there "just barely in time" to avoid being late for work.
I learned quite some time ago, that one of the primary tasks of the HR interview process is to screen out anyone that would be a problem to fire. If you hire someone and later find out they can't do their job, would you really want to fire them knowing that if they had a problem with workmates they go postal? Or how about a person who has psychological problems and liked to start fires or blow up things on alternate Tuesdays?
I would arrange two interviews, one with the HR department, the other with my new department head or supervisor.
- So for the HR interview, I would dress in soft brown and yellows to show how "earthy" I am. When asked about sports, it was always volleyball: outdoors, sunshine, playfulness, and a team player; a team captain but no individual stars. I drank tea, one sugar: low caffeine and health-conscious. Stress family and family values. It's all about being part of the group.
- For the techies, I would dress in a white shirt dark blue or black trousers, and black shoes and socks. When asked about sports it was all about baseball: we were all part of a team, each with specific skills and tasks. It was about sunshine, non-aggressive (unlike football), and events that follow schedules even if you had to travel to a foreign city. I drink coffee my black: basic and unpretentious and gives a little boost if needed. Stress career and company loyalty. It's all about getting the job done.
I never applied for a job that I didn't want, or that felt I wasn't qualified to do. There were some that I applied for based on the theory that if I did get the job, it would take a month for my new boss to find out if I could do the job, but that it would only take me four weeks to learn how to do the job! <g>
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