The recipe for finding work
The recipe for finding work The recipe for finding work
Asking for a recipe for finding a job is like asking for a diet to make you lose weight quickly!
For a successful job search, every case must be examined on its own merits.
The internet is full of advice, articles, tweets, posts, blogs about how to look for a job, but in order to be successful in a job search you have to examine your own personal situation.
Looking for a recipe to find a job is like trying to lose weight and searching the internet to find out why people put weight on and how they can lose it quickly. Even as a mature and rational woman, I often make the mistake of searching the internet to understand more about menopause, antidepressants or some hormonal imbalance that makes me put on weight. I might even believe there’s a product that can help me lose weight and therefore want to try it (e.g. green coffee to name a recent fad).
Producing CVs in colour or video Cvs and requesting random Linkedin contacts is the job search equivalent of the above search for a miracle weight-loss solution.
The problem is these techniques just doesn’t work like that. A good career coach is like a good doctor in the broadest sense of the word (e.g. a GP, dietician, nutritionist) and can provide general information on your metabolism, inform you about how certain drugs work or interact with each other and how your body might react to certain situations on the basis of your age and fitness. We can also provide anonymous examples of people we have helped in the past, but that’s it!
The virtual world and the real world
Manuals, posts and the likes should be seen for what they are: forms of requests and marketing for the sole purpose of attracting attention. Real, in-depth knowledge requires books, experts, schools and specific experience.
It’s important to bear this in mind in a world where people seem to think information only exists on social networks. People of my generation using social networks are generally more aware that tweets and posts are like the tip of an iceberg, just like press statements or newspaper articles.
To embark on serious issues such as health or employment, be it our of interest or to improve your lot (you may want to lose weight even though you don’t strictly need to, you may want to change jobs even though this is not a financial requirement) there are books, ebooks (ones used to communicate content and not just promote the author’s brand), consultants, courses, consultations, opinions and experts.
There might even be different and conflicting opinions, but these should always be based on a case history, which in the case of a career coach is a preliminary interview and then a competence assessment.
A friend and colleague recently wrote a post on the content of social media, which was spot on:
If methods of personal development are absolutized and simplified, if they no longer investigate individuals, their impact becomes very limiting, and although they might work in the short-term, their validity is only partial and they can therefore become frustrating. Behind every personal and relational action is a biography (who is the person, what makes them tick?) and a vision of the world and relationships. It is only by examining these dimensions that we can make a serious attempt at developing the body of knowledge regarding self-mastery and what individuals have to do to succeed in the world.
– Cesare Caterisano
In other words, it is possible to find work, but a couple of clicks or posts here and there will not suffice … just like a pill is not enough for you to lose weight!
Sure, there are some jobs that appear simple and wishy-washy so it may seem easy to get away with pretending you’re a coach or a trainer.
That may have been the case in the ’70s and ’80s, when this type of advisory service first appeared in Italy, but things are very different now.
So certifications, CVs, references, word of mouth and demonstrable success stories can actually be of enormous benefit of the clients of professionals, rather than the professionals themselves.
