How to have a healthy relationship with your job applications

You know those people that get carried away by relationships? They go on a few dates with somebody and suddenly they’re building castles in the sky – planning their wedding, doodling names on their notebook and mentally planning out their life for the next thirty or forty years. Next thing you know they’re sobbing on your shoulder because the other person got freaked out by the intensity and broke it off.

Photo by Mendhak via flickr

Well, it turns out that when it comes to jobs that’s exactly the kind of person I am: as soon as I know I’ve got an interview (arguably the first date of the job hunting process) I get carried away imagining my life if I got the job; I look at possible places to live, think about how I’d get to work and work out where I’d meet up with my friends. I even plan holidays I could take on the salary available. Just like the over-keen person in a relationship I go too far, too fast when there’s no guarantee that the outcome of the situation will be the one I want. As a result, I leave myself completely emotionally vulnerable for the (seemingly) inevitable rejection that ensues.

It’s an easy trap to fall into, particularly if your job hunt is just beginning or not going well: in the former situation every application seems like a dazzling pathway to a better future and you get carried away by the fantasy and in the latter each opportunity provides a glimmer of hope that this time the search might be over and you’ll finally get your life sorted. Either way, you get attached to the vision of the future rather than the job itself, meaning that when you’re unsuccessful you don’t just lose the job, you lose all the plans and dreams that go along with it.

While this may not seem like the worst thing in the world, I’ve learned the hard way that if you keep repeating this pattern with each application you get extremely disheartened about the job hunt and depressed about your future opportunities.

Instead of focusing completely on one role at a time therefore, make sure you have a number of applications on the go at any one time – put the same amount of effort in but don’t dwell on the possibilities inherent in each position. The more positions you apply for, the more possible futures there are, making it less likely you’ll get overly invested in any of them. In addition to this, when you come back from an interview get straight on with the next application – it can be tempting to give yourself a break but resist: taking a break often means you are subconsciously relying on getting the job whereas continuing the process prevents you becoming too emotionally involved with the future that success could provide.

Are you a needy job hunter? Do you get too attached to the possibilities each job provides? Let me know in the comments. For more job hunting information click here.

Go North: leave London and live better

I'm not as southern as some people, coming as I do from good Yorkshire stock, but it is seldom these days that I have reason to venture past Oxford, let alone Birmingham. It was with some trepidation then last week that I boarded train to Leeds to visit a friend. Upon my arrival however I saw that all my fears were unjustified - Leeds is an amazing city with excellent transport links to surrounding towns set in picture postcard rurality.

Saltaire

I had been told that Leeds was a superior shopping destination and it more than lived up to its reputation: apart from John Lewis (which my friend assures me is arriving next year) it has all the major chains as well as some fun and quirky independents and boasts a truly superior waterstones as well as that increasingly chimeric creature: a well-stocked HMV. There is also some beautiful architecture, an excellent museum and a wide selection of bars and restaurants. All in all I had a delightful weekend (so delightful that it caused me to miss an update last week - sorry about that) and had my perceptions about Northern loving thoroughly challenged. Why though am I taking the time to tell you all about it?

Well, among the other manifest attractions of Leeds my friend happened to mention how much she paid for a two bedroom apartment with a balcony, covered parking and access to a tennis court. I could only stare dumbly at her as she rattled off the numerous benefits she got alongside her apartment, thinking that you wouldn't even get a room in a dodgy flat share for that in London. I had a similar shock when we walked past an estate agents and I saw how little it cost to buy an apartment in the city centre.

I suddenly realised how affordable grown up life could be if you moved out of London - renting would no longer be a pointless money sink but a reasonable expenditure and getting on the property ladder could be more than a hopeless dream. Additionally, in areas like Leeds you're not really sacrificing anything: it's about two hours by train or driving to reach London (it has taken me this long to travel across London some weekends) and there is more than enough to keep you busy and social. There's even an airport for quick Europe-based getaways.

The only downside is,of course, the comparative scarcity of jobs, making it a life choice that is not possible for everybody. However if you are in a profession - particularly one that pays well - you will be amazed at how much further your money can go outside of the M25. You can love the lifestyle you want and still be capable of paying off your student

loans and saving for the future.

So my advice this week? Go north - if you can. It will be well worth it. And now if you'll excuse me I'm off to do some location based job hunting....

Want more life advice? Check out my post on regaining control or adjusting after uni.

Experience: the Catch 22 of job hunting

When it comes to job hunting there’s one element that frustrates and angers me the most – to the extent that I sometimes feel like jeopardising the occasional interview just to get it off my chest – and that’s the issue of experience.

Photo by amenclincsphotos via Flickr

In the current economic climate experience is prized for two reasons: one, it means that the company doesn't have to train you, nurture you or invest any more money and time in you than is absolutely necessary to make sure you understand the role and two, with the amount of redundancies being instituted across the spectrum of industries, there are an awful lot of experienced candidates out there. Now, in all fairness, you can’t blame companies for this, however it leaves new arrivals to the job market with their very own catch 22: can’t get a job without experience, can’t get experience without a job. 

This is less of a problem if you’re going down the corporate graduate scheme route (although you may still be surprised by the weighting that is given to summer jobs and internships and the expectation that you will have experience of one or the other). If you want to get into any kind of less mainstream career however, the job hunter’s catch 22 can leave you feeling like you’re staring through a glass door that you can’t get through because you don’t have a key – you can see where you want to be, you just don’t have the means to get there.

The unspoken message that companies are sending of course is that you need to get the experience you need in some other way than formalised employment – usually by working for free. It’s unfair, unfeasible for many and ultimately doesn’t do businesses any favours in the long run but these days most graduates without vocational career pathways are resigned to either doing the unpaid legwork, approaching their desired career in an extremely roundabout manner or giving up on it completely.

Unfortunately there isn't a never before heard solution or lifehack for dealing with this problem – if there was, believe me, I would spread the love. However, I do have some ways of dealing with this conundrum that might make the application process a bit easier.

Do the internship but minimise the damage.

Obviously not everybody is able to work for free or has guaranteed parental accommodation but there are strategies for handling the internship to minimise its negative impact on your life. A short-term internship that pays expenses is one option – it doesn’t cost you anything and it can get you on to the next step of your career journey. Alternatively you may be able to work out a part-time internship alongside another, less ideal, job. If you can’t manage a long term internship, at the very least try to get a few days work experience or shadowing in the industry of your choice – anything you can do to inch your CV up the pile makes a difference.

Give them something else they want

Although experience is prized by employers there are other skills and qualifications that you can develop that they may find sufficiently valuable to make up the difference on your CV. Languages are a good example – Spanish, German, Arabic, Chinese and Italian are frequently sought after by employers and there are often adult education classes run by your local authority that are discounted for those not in employment.  Another option is to develop your computer skills – but in a specific area. Everyone is good at MS Office but if you can demonstrate database management skills, knowledge of coding, web design expertise or graphic design abilities you can increase your on paper value to the companies you’re applying to.

Use the power of networking

The adage that it’s not what you know it’s who you know remains true even in 2014 so it’s worth examining your contacts for common ground with your interviewer or the company you’re applying to. If you can manage an informal introduction or meeting with someone before you present yourself formally they will have a face to put with the application – and it’s much harder to reject someone out of hand if they’ve already bought you coffee. Similarly, if you’ve been to the same university as the person in charge of the recruiting or you used to work at the same company or you even support the same football team then you are presenting yourself as someone familiar rather than a complete stranger and they are less likely to focus on your lack of experience if you have a common ground to discuss. Most positions are won or lost face to face, so if you get to that stage, any advantage is crucial. Attending industry events or conferences is another way to build up these connections – even if you don’t manage to meet the people you want to, just being able to talk about the event in cover letters and interviews will put you further up the shortlist.

Obviously, there’s no guarantee that following these paths with guarantee you success but your chances will increase and – most importantly – you will be actively involved in improving your changes rather than feeling increasingly impotent and resentful with every rejection and sometimes attitude is half the battle. Read here for more tips on dealing with rejection proactively.

Interview danger zones: where does it all go wrong?

Photo by openDemocracy via Flickr

So you’re a veteran of the job hunt: you’ve mastered the CV and got your cover letters primed to perfection. Invitations to interview are coming thick and fast but for some reason you’re just not managing to seal the deal. Even when you think it’s gone well things don’t work out and you start to ask yourself where am I going wrong? Feedback from the interviewers is seldom revealing: unsurprisingly they’d have you believe that you were perfect but somebody else was just a bit more perfect – nobody likes to be the bearer of bad news, after all. In reality, few interviews go without a hitch and all we can do is focus on smoothing out as many of the hitches as possible. One of the ways to do this is to identify your interview danger zones.

BEFORE THE INTERVIEW

How do you prepare for an interview? If you are an under-preparer then this could be a potential danger zone. Doing your research is an expected part of the interview process these days – you need to know your stuff not only when it comes to the company and your interviewer but also the field in which they work and current market trends. You don’t have to become an expert overnight but you need to sound confident and familiar with the business if you want to work for them!

During a skype interview once, for which I had done fairly cursory research, the interviewer said “if you read the profile on me…” I was forced to admit that I hadn’t and it was clear that that didn’t go over well.

Alternatively you might be an over-preparer, which can be an equally problematic danger zone. While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with doing your research, keep in mind that the information you’re busy memorising is stuff that they already know. You’re not going to impress if you simply recite information about their company – if you have a chance to mention any of it at all. A better technique is to read up on some of the more recent developments in the company or one or two areas you find particularly interesting and think of a way to link it to your personal interests or experience. That way not only is it easier to bring up in the interview, you will come across as much more analytical and prepared than you would do simply reciting facts.

DURING THE INTERVIEW

Although you can never predict the direction an interview will take, there are certain questions that are the bedrock upon which such meetings are built. These are the big questions, the broad questions and for many people (myself included) these are where you fall down. Even though it seems like you can prepare for these questions, when they arrive it’s always an unpleasant shock. A lot of interview preparation guides provide ‘slick, professional’ techniques for dealing with this situation but I find that in such moments I can barely remember what I wrote on my CV let alone what I read in a book three days before. My advice would be to recap the progression of your CV (people assume this is redundant but you’d be surprised how little attention it receives from the interviewer once they’ve made the decision to ask you in) and give clear reasons for your decisions in each situation. If you’re feeling brave you can also give some details about your duties in each post and how it contributed to the skill set you’re presenting to them.

More than once I have had an interviewer recapping my CV to me and have had to correct them because they have gotten the timeline completely wrong, despite my helpful dating alongside each position or have failed to take in how my education and experience overlap. It is up to you to direct them to the information you want them to remember.

If broad questions don’t faze you and you are happy to chatter on about yourself ad nauseam then it may be the more specific questions that trip you up. After all, if the worst comes to the worst you can always say something about yourself but if you don’t know how you would deal with a specific situation or the answer to a technical question then you’re in trouble. The important thing to remember in these situatio

ns is that you need to give some kind of answer – any answer – rather than remaining silent. If you think you have an inkling it’s perfectly acceptable to ask for further clarification which may then help you answer the question but if you genuinely have no idea pull a classic politicians move and deliberately misinterpret the question into one you can answer – then talk at length and hope they’ll move on. It might not fool them but it will show them that you can think on your feet and have a good knowledge of topics relating to the one they’re interested in.

AT THE END OF THE INTERVIEW

The final question in every interview – and I do mean every – is the one that strikes dread into the hearts of many “do you have any questions?” The answer by the way is yes you do if you want to have any chance of getting this job. Think of some questions – preferably intelligent and preferably prepared in advance. I intend to write more about developing good stock interview questions in a later post but for now will just content myself with two pieces of advice – make them relevant or interesting and capable of stimulating discussion but don’t overdo. When they ask “is that everything?” they are not questioning the brevity of your inquiries they are simply making sure you have the time to say everything you want to. Do not get sucked into the black hole of trailing out increasingly weaker questions every time that sentence is uttered. Decide on your questions and stick to them.

Hopefully this will be helpful to anybody heading off to interview this week – let me know in the comments if you have any different danger zones or advice to offer for this situation. You can also check out our general tips for interview success here.

The Truth about TEFL: Debunking the misconceptions

Having just returned from a year in Spain teaching English as a foreign language I've decided to let the rest of you benefit from my experience in order that you make the most informed decision possible about this major career choice. Don't get me wrong, there were many things I loved about my year abroad and I will cover the positives as well as the negatives over the coming months, however to start with I want to dispel some misconceptions that people might have about the industry.

 

First of all, You can’t go wherever you want – certainly not if this is your first job in the field. You will be at the mercy of the market in terms of location and you may find that there is a small market for EFL in the area you have your heart set on. I wanted to find a position in Germany, but ended up in Spain because that’s where all the jobs were.

As a result of this, It’s not a good way to fund your travelling – unless your idea of travelling is to stay in one place for nine months at a time. A TEFL contract is the same as any other contract and schools are looking to recruit staff for classes that take place throughout the school year. This means you will likely work five days a week, 6 or 7 hours a day. It is very difficult to fit travelling around this, even at the weekends and due to the long summer holidays, you receive very little time off during the year. 

That’s because It’s not a paid holiday – in any way. Contrary to popular belief, TEFL teachers actually work pretty hard and usually in residential areas. Forget beaches and big cities, you’re far more likely to be living in a small town with minimal entertainment and transportation. The fun and excitement of living in another country wears off after about three months and then it becomes just another job, only one in a country where you don’t speak the language.

Speaking of language, You don’t automatically become fluent in a language just because you live abroad. This misconception is a biggie but in actuality, it takes very little knowledge of a language to get by day-to-day. If you want to become fluent, you need to make friends, take classes and talk for extended periods of time as often as possible. You won’t learn a language by magic osmosis unless you have an audiographic memory.

However it’s not all bad because many of these things lead to my last point which is that You can save money as a TEFL teacher – even though the salary is often very low. I saved about a third of my money overall simply because I lived in a very small town with low rent and nothing to do.

I hope that this has helped dispel any misconceptions for those of you thinking about going into TEFL. Stay tuned for the second part of my TEFL series, on job applications, next month. Let me know in the comments if you have any further questions or suggestions to add.

Homing Pigeon Syndrome

Photo by ZeroOne via Flickr

The A level results are in and the next batch of Britain’s bright eyed young hopefuls are off to university, leaving behind the nest, their parents and- in the case of my sister- me.

Around this time people start talking about 'empty nest' syndrome- parents having to deal with the absence of their offspring but increasingly I've been feeling the effects of a syndrome of my own that I have dubbed homing pigeon syndrome.

Increasingly as a result of the current economic climate students are graduating from university and heading straight back home. There is nothing wrong with this: many people have no other option (myself included) and for those who manage to obtain a decent starting salary it still makes sound fiscal policy to stay at home and save for a bit but it can leave you feeling disillusioned and stuck in a rut.

You feel that university was a bubble life that has now popped, leaving you right back where you started. This feeling is exacerbated if you have a sibling or cousin leaving for university this year, setting off to do all the fun things you've just left behind. For you life seems to be going nowhere- separated from your closest friends and no longer truly independent, it feels like you have to go back to being the person you were before you went away and grew up.

It's all too easy to get depressed about this situation but once you fall into the doldrums- as readers of the phantom toll-booth will know- it can be surprisingly hard to pull yourself out. Don't wallow in self pity- this will only make you feel worse, leading to a downward spiral into lethargy. Instead, why not take steps to combat this situation?

Get some Perpective
First get out of the house and, if possible, out of your neighbourhood completely. You need to gain some detachment before you can look at your situation with a clear head. If you can, visit or meet up with a friend in a similar situation- guaranteed sympathy and a connection to the life you're missing will give you the space you need to gain perspective.

Be Pro-active

Second, and I can’t stress this enough, BE PRO-ACTIVE. Sure, life hasn’t been as easy for you as it maybe has for other people but compared to a lot of people you’re still very, very lucky to even have the option of going home. At the end of the day no-one is going to organise your life for you (if you have parents that do please tell them politely to STOP- they’re not doing you any favours) and you’re just going to have to man up and deal with the hand you’ve been dealt; that’s what being an adult is about. So get back on the job search websites (using our handy guide provided here to maximise your efforts) but at the same time be preparing back up options in case it takes longer than you think.

If jobs are elusive, try and get non-paid experience in the fields you are interested in. If money’s an issue you can always combine this with shift work in the evenings or at weekends to pay for travel expenses and fun things. If even this doesn’t seem to be panning out volunteer for a charity in some capacity- employers are going to prefer this to you sitting on your butt and whining because life hasn’t worked out exactly how you planned it. This may sound harsh but I assure you this pep talk is for me as much as for anyone reading!

Change Your Environment

If living back at home feels like you’re regressing then put a new stamp on your living space: ask your parents if you can re-model your room or if you can convert some unused space- an attic, the cellar, a spare bedroom- into your own space. Chances are the last time your bedroom was decorated you didn’t have much say in the matter and taking the design into your own hands should hopefully make you feel that you are moving forwards and not just back where you started.

Stay In Touch

Lastly, remember out of sight doesn’t have to mean out of mind: ok so your best friends are no longer a corridor away, that doesn’t mean you’ll never see them again. Make plans regularly with as many people as possible, take full advantage of the social networking resources and electronic communication methods that are fully at our disposal. We are possibly the first generation that has no excuse for losing touch with old friends- we can interact with people all over the world at the touch of a keyboard; ten miles up the M1 really shouldn’t make that much of a difference.

So don’t be despondent over the future- it will sort itself out- but make every effort to help yourself in the present and the chances are it will all work out better than you hoped. Remember homing pigeons always come home to roost but its never long before they’re off again, and some of them have done pretty amazing things!