Until recently I was a busy office-goer who loved her job and enjoyed being independent. Life was good with its usual ups and downs with sprinklings of office politics and generous dose of good old girly gossips. And then life somehow took a turn. I had to move to a foreign country. It was exciting initially, starting a new life with your husband and settling in. Then came the need to work – to use my hard-earned skills & knowledge for the growth of the organisation, the economy & the country.
For starters, I thought it will be a cake-walk. After all, I am a well qualified, smart and experienced professional. How hard can it be to land a job?
Three months later, “Why did I even think job hunt will be easy? It never was, or was it?”
I have revamped my resume umpteen times, written millions of cover letters and continue to cold-call potential employers. The job hunt has not yet ended. My calls usually end on notes of being over-qualified, higher expected salary (even though I am willing to negotiate), and non availability of transportation (I can arrange my own, if need be).
It gets frustrating most of the time. Thing is, I don’t understand where I am going wrong or should I just blame it on the current economy. I have impeccable communication skills, excellent academic background, a determined hard-worker and can adapt to situations fast. I am absolutely sure that the mean computer generated algorithms used by job portals reject my resume way before recruiters can actually go through it!!!
I have only this to say, resumes can only give a glimpse of what the person has achieved so far. The values and knowledge that the person has, can be learnt only by meeting him in person. Diversity, in education and experience, can only benefit the organisation. Weren’t we taught this in schools?
One can never recruit the “perfect candidate”. Reach out to the imperfect individual who is passionate enough and constantly seeks to master his skills, eventually helping the organisation grow.
Figments of my paradise 