Looking for a job can be an extremely frustrating process.First you need a good resume and there is a lot of information out there on the web that can assist you. My resume looks good now but took a year to evolve. I had to get out of the mode of writing my accomplishments and the work I did versus showing how that work actually helped the company.
Employers don't really care about your accomplishments. What they care about is how you can help the bottomline. What can you do for the business? This is the question on their minds when they read your resume or interview you. For example, you may be proud of a months long project you worked on, procuring and setting up a state-of-the-art tester. If you put that on your resume, it is not going to make an impression. You should really state why procuring the equipment was good for the business. Did it reduce cycle time? Did it reduce test time? Did it save money? That is what needs to go on your resume. For each bullet point on the resume, rephrase it so it shows you in the best light.
At last you have a really excellent resume and you start using that to apply for jobs and you apply, you wait. You apply to another job, you wait. You call the company only to have them tell you: Don't call us, we'll call you. Meanwhile time passes by and you are worried your skills are becoming ancient. So, you take courses, pick up new skills etc. to keep up with the employers requirements. You network, join a professional organization, do some volunteer work. Each passing day symbolizes a growing time gap in your resume and employers don't like to see gaps. You start wondering if you can pass yourself off as a free-lance consultant to fill that gap.
Finally, you land an interview. You start preparing days before, How do I answer that dreaded question: What are your weaknesses?.......You go back and revise all the information and text books that are relevant for the job. You watch you-tube videos of gurus giving advice on how to handle interviews. Finally, you are done, you just can't read another book. The time has come.
Now for the interview. Interviews are extreme stress-inducers, especially those that last half a day or more. First, you are going to a strange, new place. You are meeting strangers for the first time whose main purpose is to take you into a room and fire questions at you. Once exhausted of questions, they pass you on to the next person on the agenda who will fire yet another barrage of "rounds". It never occurs to any of them to ask if you need to use the restroom or need some water etc. Actually, some interviewers are pretty considerate and actually spend more time talking than asking questions but that also makes me uncomfortable. If they don't ask questions, how do they know I'm right for the job? You think you did alright. There is always a nagging thought or two on how you could have better answered a couple of the questions but you did your best and you're done.
Then you wait. Again. They say they will call you back and never do and you go into this "standstill" time period where nothing is moving and you are getting anxious. Finally you call only to be told that, Oh we've been so busy. We will call you next week. And it drags on........and on.................
Meanwhile you start looking for more jobs and the process starts yet again.
No comments:
Post a Comment