On the Fast Track? Move on..

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Posted by Radhika

"Job-Hunting." This is a phrase that brings a lot of thoughts in my mind but mostly it brings back Exhaustion. I read a lot of blogs, understandably a lot on HR, and one striking subject across is the way a candidate should conduct him/herself during the "job-hunting" phase. There is a lot of advise on how one should treat it like a full-time project, dedicate his/her fullest time, have goals and deadlines and mediums assigned, get on to the Linkedins, Twitters, and Facebooks to network etc.

Reading all this always takes me back to the time when I was looking for that job where I would get the right industry, profile, pay and environment but at the back of my mind was still exploring everything well enough to know that I had to make compromises somewhere! It would be double standards for me to now advise candidates not to be desperate, not to do the entire 360 degree cycle of searching, applying, mailing, calling and following-up, not going all out to network.. because I did every aspect of that for the simple reason that among all the excess banter (both offline and online) it is a huge task to be heard and eventually noticed. And, I also agree that the more aggressive your approach is, the more rejections or disappointments you face, and the more you end up fighting your self-worth and self-esteem. You have to accept it as part of that process, you have to accept that it is important to believe, you have to realize that it will happen, in some time, but it will.

What worked for me? It was a bit of everything, but the two primary aspects that stood out was networking and a distinct identity (through my blog). Have you ever been asked during an interview to state something outside your resume? Have you been asked about your views on headhunting and the subsequent morality attached (if you are in HR)? Your political opinions (if any)? Well, your website or blog will help do that for you, and if your not so high on writing, your LinkedIn or Professional Networking profile should do it for you. Whether you like it or not, it is important to market yourself in a way that half of what you want to express can be heard by your recruiter outside the "interview arena."

Apart from this I strongly believe in luck, by being there at the right place at the right time. But then again, you have to be all over the place to land up at the right one! There is no shortcut, atleast not on this one, not as far as I know!