5 uncomfortable facts about looking for a job

Talking with jobseekers or reading their statements on Internet forums gives a rather bleak picture of the current labor market. There is no work, the bosses want to hire the employee as cheap as possible, you cannot find a job without knowing them, half of the CV lands in the basket and nobody covers the letters . Is this all true? Yes of course! But only partially. Just like every stick has two ends, these five facts also have a second face. If you understand them, it may be easier for you to find a job.

1. There is no work

It is true that we have high unemployment. It is even 25% among graduates. Some have been looking for work for over a year (and record holders for several years). However, this is data resulting from the registration of the unemployed in labor offices – some of these people work in the gray economy and artificially high statistics.

To be fair, it should be added that some never register, so they do not appear in statistics. Who is more? There is no such (reliable) data. There are areas and occupations in which employees are sought (IT, some engineering areas, skilled workers, specialist trade or people with managerial experience).

There are also professions for which there is almost no demand – e.g. people with humanities education or teachers whose demand results from the baby boom or the demographic low. The problem is that people who decide what direction to study are not predicting what the market will look like in a few years, when they graduate and what they might really need. Decisions about choosing a course of study are made ad hoc on the basis of interests or at the instigation of the family, without thinking about whether another political scientist or psychologist will be needed or not.

Another issue is the issue of the momentum for education, which is shown by almost all Poles. It is not surprising that the master wants to manage. It’s just that you still need someone to manage , and there are always less subordinates than managers. However, even among those who finished without taking up the labor market, there are people who study well on the labor market. Why? Because during their studies they did internships, looked for volunteer options and met other people and now – thanks to the network of friends they have contacts thanks to which it is easier for them to find a job. Those who had fun through the studies or engaged in initiatives that do not give a job, still do not have this job. Therefore, the blame for the lack of work for individual people is not only the economic situation, but also own life choices made by potential employees.

2. Employers want to hire the employee as cheap as possible

It is so and it is probably not surprising – look at what happens in the store when there is some interesting promotion. Do we avoid it with a wide arc or maybe we throw ourselves on the goods, because it is cheap? The employer also wants to buy the cheapest job service. At the same time, he cannot afford to buy faulty goods. Therefore, he is looking for such a possibility to buy the best quality service for the lowest possible money. It’s exactly like every service sector – if your washing machine breaks down, do you prefer to pay 3000 naira for the repair to a person who has not repaired the washing machine, 3900 naira to the person who will repair it or maybe 5000 naira  to the person who will fix it and will she sing beautifully? That’s right – you choose the second option. Just like an employer who focuses on the competences he needs and is looking for a person who has those competences (and not necessarily has a lot of others that cannot be used and which is more expensive). The employer also does not want a very cheaper person who will not do his job because he will not be able to.

If you look at the labor market in these categories, you will understand that the key to getting a job is to accurately determine your own competences, find those places that they match 100% and such a price offer that will be attractive to the employer (i.e. you’ll be better than the cheapest because you know how to do something and better than the most expensive one, because it is cheaper).

3. It is more difficult to find without knowing the job

How many times have you described your job finding history without any knowledge of the online forum? I suppose that it is never – this is where the myths like “work without knowing cannot be found”. Nepotism has been functioning and is still functioning – it always has been and will be (only the scale is different).

However, if we take into account the fact that the employer, however, wants the employee to do his job well (because thanks to this he earns on the company), it turns out that not always the most profitable decision of the employer will be to employ nothing skillful and uninvolved brother-in-law. Why does he need such a brother-in-law if the company starts to lose money through it? On the other hand, contacts in finding a job help – thanks to them we know about job offers faster .

An employer who has to pay for placing a recruitment ad or hire a personal consulting company to find an employee will first ask friends and employees if they don’t know someone who will suit. Thanks to this, the boss saves money and time. This is not a difficult philosophy to understand. In addition, employing people you know (e.g. a person from a company) gives you greater confidence that your employer has not come across a fraudster or a thief, for example – someone recommended that person. If you were to entrust someone with the care of your apartment, would you give an advertisement to the press or would you first ask among trusted people or can’t you watch it over your holidays?

It is therefore worth taking care of the widest possible social contacts. Maintain them and thus have access to knowledge about job offers and have a chance that someone will recommend us.

4. Half of the CV ends up in the trash

I think even more – although it depends on the position. Why? Because we also send CVs for jobs that we are not suitable for. As a result, the employer gets hundreds of applications. And there is no time to review them all – he chooses a part and if he finds the right person, he still does not look. No CV that meets the criteria described in the advertisement 100% lands in the basket. Unfortunately, few CVs meet these criteria. We believe that “we can do it” and send it. The employer will say “well, it failed” and press the “delete” button.

If you want to be more effective, stand out with your CV and send it to offers for which you are qualified – the remaining action is a waste of time.

5. Nobody reads the Cover Letter

It is true that they are read rarely – at least in full. As a rule, it looks like the recruiter (recruiter or manager) opens the Cover Letter and if in the first three sentences he sees that it is sent everywhere , he erases it and focuses on the CV. The vast majority of Cover Letters look the same. It starts with the words “in connection with your announcement, I wanted to present my candidacy for the position X”.

In some of the Letters, the position does not even match the announcement, because the candidate forgot to change his name. In this situation, the entire application lands in the trash. Cover letters written for the offer, in which the employer can actually learn more about the candidate than from the CV, and which are not a pleading request for employment are extremely rare. That is why hardly anyone reads these cover letters.

Write a dedicated Cover Letter. If you do not send the CV in bulk, you will not have so many letters to create. Include in the e-mail content a “teaser” regarding your competences to get a job and encourage you to read more about you in the Cover Letter.

Unfortunately – although most of us have to work, looking for a job is not an easy process. Accept these inconvenient facts and try to convince them to your advantage.

 

 

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