New Year Job Quest:
Remembering What You’ve Forgotten

There’s a moment in film director Sam Mendes’s remarkable debut American Beauty when the lead character reflects that: “It’s a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself.  Makes you wonder what else you can do that you’ve forgotten about.”

Well, here we are at the start of a New Year.  And it’s that period when all of us find it just a little therapeutic and more than a little helpful to hit the Reset Button; take a deep breath; sum up the previous year; and look at what we hope to accomplish in the coming months.
Those who have been out of work for a time may be feeling bruised.  Or maybe the mind has become somewhat untidy or ‘all over the place’; but that’s OK.  Look at the obstacles that even some of the most successful people have had to overcome and you quickly realise that you’re not the only one in the world who has let objectives slip away for a while.

“Sure”, you say.  “But I’m the only one in my world; and that’s the one I’m living in.”

So what better time than the demarcation line from one old year to a fresh and new one to make a change?

It’s time to get that battered sense of self-worth back again.  And it is a better time than it has been for a long while to put yourself out there – either again, or for the first time — or even if you are just looking to change your current situation.

Most of those who will be interviewing and hiring have returned from their holidays having hit their own personal Reset Buttons.  And that’s a good thing for you.

With the drain of emigration having finally dropped off, employers are particularly keen to attract job seekers or candidates in search of a career change back to Ireland — and this is certainly true of the West of Ireland.

Arcon Recruitment considers itself to be a responsible agency and so the first thing that we would urge, if you are in the process of changing a job, is to do a little self-examination and satisfy yourself that you are changing for the right reasons.

Perhaps you aren’t feeling that same enthusiasm as you had when you first started?  Ask yourself why that is.  And if you are moving, then make sure it’s in the right direction.  If you are simply going to take existing personal problems with you, then you may be causing yourself a lot of difficulty for little return.

Proper Preparation
With that out of the way, and happy that you are changing jobs for the correct reasons, then have some preparation done before that first interview — something that naturally applies to the first-time or unemployed job seeker equally.
Make sure that you have done a thorough check on the background of the company that you wish to hire you.

  Indeed, as you research the background to what you may hope will become a career (or ease into a career change) it’s likely that you will become genuinely enthusiastic in a way that directly impresses the interviewer/s.

Remember that those interviewers are as keen for you to turn out to be the right person for the job as you are to get it!

When they ask you – and they will – if you have any questions for them, then be prepared for that, also; and make those questions interesting to them.

Remember, you might be the tenth person that they have seen that day.  You want them to remember you as vividly as they do the very first interviewee.

But make sure that they are the right questions.  It’s possibly not a great idea to start off by enquiring how many sick days you’re entitled to, for example!

Just remember the six P’s:  ‘Proper Preparation Prevents Pretty Poor Performance’.

And remember those words at the top:  because it really is a great feeling when you discover that you can still surprise yourself.

Sylvester Jennings ..Arcon Recruitment