Looking For Work?

Not long ago a friend told me that she keeps twenty-one resumes on file in case there’s an opening at her place of business. Suppose opportunity arose. If I told her, "Hire Bubba.  He's good and you won't be sorry," she'd never even look at those resumes.

I got an e-mail from another friend.  A mutual acquaintance just got laid off.  The man has a family, needs work. Everyone will help; this chap will be back on some kind of job before he has time to wonder what hit him.

What to do when you need a job...and there are no jobs? Polish up your resume?  No. Forget the resume.  It's all about WHO you know.

Someone the other day made fun of a woman dragging her son around to various places of employment.  I didn't laugh.  The lady is known and respected.  That boy will have a job in no time. Way to go, Mom.

Here's how it works...find your first job through friends and/or family. Once hired, work like your life depends on it. This is where things go wrong for many. They tell themselves it's a dead end job, a dumb job, a worthless job not deserving of their best effort.  Wrongo bongo. Whatever the work, it's important to build a reputation as a person who does better than everyone else who ever held that position. This serves two purposes. The job's more interesting if you treat it as a chance to beat down everyone else in your category of employment. Also, you become known as a fearfully competent individual, one the company can't live without. At layoff time, you're the last to go.

I've never applied for a job; work always came looking for me. Family and friends recommended me to employers who later came to know that  I could run the whole place if no one else showed up. For a long time I was a teacher and I survived lots of situations where the district had to downsize. When half the staff disappeared, my job was secure.

Lots of teachers sat in the faculty lounge, bad-mouthing everything about the place...tpay was terrible, conditions were outrageous, kids had almost no brain, administration was corrupt, parents didn't care, supplies never showed up on time. These folks worked as little as possible, and in a downsize situation, they were the first to go, complaining bitterly of unfairness. Meanwhile I kept the place humming.

The other day it occurred to me...I have never actually prepared a resume. Family arranged my first job and after that I depended on a hard-earned reputation.

America is nearly 10% unemployed. Tough times.  Should you give up and try for welfare?  Absolutely not. Work your friends and relatives. Make them help you. Still no job? I'd identify something for which I was surely competent and then   I'd say to the boss, "I'm so certain I'll be the best employee you ever hired, that I'll work two weeks for free. At the end of that time, you won't be able to live without me." Then I'd live up to my boast.

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