When we talk about people struggling to find a job, we tend to default to the image of an unreliable, unqualified or unmotivated person, who ‘just isn’t trying hard enough’.
Interestingly, there is another group of unemployed job seekers who are motivated, professional and skilled – but keep getting turned down. This article is on Steve’s story and his experience in the doldrums of ‘no-job-land’.
Steve’s journey to find Work
Everything was going well for Steve; a nice healthy 6 figure salary, the head operations for a large manufacturing firm, talented with plenty of opportunities – or so he thought. After 7 years it was time for a change, Steve was gunning for a GM role and pretty soon he found one available. Things were on the up and up for Steve.
I remember having coffee with Steve and thinking the world was his oyster. 12 months later though, quite a different story unfolded. The GM role hadn’t worked out – not quite what he expected. Soon Steve found himself without a job, but still positive and upbeat he could find something relatively quickly. He got some contract work back at his old company but it was clear this was just a stop gap. The contract work ran out and now the serious job hunt was on.
He finally got around to setting up his LinkedIn profile, and then busily started applying for GM and Operations roles. Seven months of applying followed, not always hearing back and with little or no feedback. With his qualifications he thought he would have been snapped up? The job market was harder than he initially expected – job hunting was turning into a job in itself.
Still early on in the job hunting process there was no need to panic. He had money in the bank and he could finally get around to those house renovation projects he had been promising his wife. The kids were all grown up and either at university or working, so he had time on his hands. Still though, in the back of his mind was the niggling feeling that the job hunt wasn’t going all that well.
Now months into the job hunting process he was finally getting to the interview stage; and in some cases he was getting down to the final two candidates. Somehow always never quite making it – the feedback was he was over qualified, even though he had revisited his career goals and was quite prepared to accept a lesser role. The concern for his would be employers were; would he stick around?
Strangely enough, climbing the career ladder wasn’t so much of a priority for Steve anymore, but how does a good candidate convey that in a positive light, when applying for work? After all he was talented and quite prepared to work hard for any company. He still had game to bring to the table and in fact if he had accepted a lesser role the company would be getting a bargain!
Things were looking grim. Steve was in ‘no job land’. It was beginning to look more and more obvious that he wasn’t going to be accepted for a lesser role, but his background in Operations wasn’t going to necessarily land him a GM level job either.
Time to sell the boat, sell the caravan on the beach, and free up some cash. For Steve came that sinking feeling that goes with a job search – landing the dream job isn’t going to be easy, he was in for the long haul. He was even considering selling up, moving out of town and buying a cheap house somewhere where he could find a job.
Seeing things from the other side
Now months had passed and things were getting a little more positive. Steve was landing a few job interviews, but funny enough not in his industry. He had some specific skill sets that he thought employers in his sector would have been jumping at. After all the industry is in a growth phase right now. But no, not even a bite. Weird, just so ridiculously weird.
The interviews were going well now albeit not in his area of expertise. Steve was getting to the second interview stage, but something was not quite right. He still wasn’t hitting a home run and landing any jobs. Always piped at the post by another ‘stronger’ or ‘more suitable’ candidate.
Doubt was creeping in. Either his interviewing ability sucked or his skills were just not that transferable or that appealing. Steve had never imagined the job hunt would be so hard – it was tough, really tough.
Steve he had been on the other side of the fence for quite some time employing his own staff – in fact he had hired and fired many people, at all sorts of levels from the factory floor to management level. Now he was on the other side and it wasn’t easy. Steve said, next time around when he hires, it will bring a new appreciation to how hard it can be for a job seeker.
“As an employer you get so busy doing the doing that you forget about the person on the other end. It’s not easy to be a saint and acknowledge everyone, but I think it’s important to appreciate the struggles an applicant is going through to just get an interview.”
Landing the Job
After 7 months of struggling to stay motivated and positive, Steve was hired as GM for another company within the manufacturing industry. The feel good story here is that it all worked in the end. Not without a bunch of effort and heartache though. Seven months later from the time he finished his contract role and he was saying the job process had been way harder than expected.
Ask him if he is happy now and the answer would be an emphatic and relieved “yes.”
So after hearing Steve’s story and I’m sure there are so many other stories like this, of talented people in no job land. The Abyss between having the skills and talent, but not necessarily fitting in the square box of a company’s ‘must have’ job requirements.
As a recruiter or hirer for any business, it is always easy to go for the easy win. It’s easy for us as recruiters to say there is no one for the job; the job market is dry – ‘there’s simply no one with the right skill sets that we need.’
However, I think the lesson here is as recruiters if we are really prepared to listen and not be put off by a job seekers struggle to find gainful employment; we can identify what potential skills a job applicant can bring to the table, and we can truly unlock our supposed talent shortage.
Perhaps stories like Steve’s might be a rarity. The starting point, as any good recruiter should know, is to simply listen.
This article was kindly supplied by Haystack Jobs.