Job Preparation Wishes
So I'm sitting on a bus stop with someone I know. He's pulling his life back together and looking for more permanent work. After inquiring about the type of work he does, I turned to him and asked, "If you could get some type of class to help you get a job and keep a job, what type of class would it be?"
He didn't think long. "To get a job, I'd want a class on writing my resume and how to present myself."
"Okay," I responded, "What would you want to know about how to keep a job?"
"Well, I'll just keep it simple," he replied. "I'd be diligent."
"So you'd want someone to teach you how to be diligent?"
"No," he answered in stammered English. "I'd just be diligent."
"But you'd want someone to teach you how to be diligent?" It was hard to understand how someone would want to be taught something you're already supposed to know.
"No," he stammered again, "I'll just keep it simple. I already know how to be diligent. I'll just be diligent in order to keep the job."
Now that's a good point. But it takes more than just diligence to be a valued person on the job and one the employer wants to keep. And it takes more than just having a good resume and knowing how to present oneself in order to get a job.
Had he considered researching the company or even the industry? Does industry even matter to him (or to anyone who's a job seeker)? Had he considered learning something about himself in order to know what his strengths are? Had he considered his posture, his attire, the handshake, or eye contact? There wasn't time to ask. The bus arrived at the end of his last sentence and the experience with it.
But as I boarded my bus, I wondered whether he had considered that mere diligence is many times not sufficient for being retained. It does accomplish a lot. But it isn't the bottom line. There's still a lot more.
Leave a comment