The Search

Over the past months you have been reading about my journey through social networking, social media and creating an Online Presence to find that job. But how did I get that job using this medium that everybody is talking about, social networking. Is there anything to all this hype?  Believe the hype, social networking does work. I was a non-believer but now a true believer of social networking. This is my story of finding that job, which includes the “real world crap” as quoted in the thread, My Personal Brand, by my friend, Ken. Be warned, some of it does get ugly but in the real world, nothing is ever as pretty as it seems .

There I was unemployed with GFC in full flight. I had no choice but to social network as I had been told it was the only way to find work through these tough economic times.  I have to tell everybody I know that I am looking for work so people can help me. I join LinkedIn, The Story Begins… and win my personal brand advertisement at JobCAMP.  

I received one direct interview, with a recruitment agency, from the ad. This was extremely disappointing especially after all the hype at JobCAMP. The recruiter, who interviewed me was “let go” a week after, due to the GFC. He has since called and met with me again with another opportunity but did not eventuate.

The response could have been due to a couple of factors. The ad placement, it was great that I got such a high profile spot in the newspaper and the job boards but don’t believe they were the right places as these are places where job seekers are looking and not potential employees. I was looking for work, I believe placement in the Business section of the newspaper or the Executive Style section of the website would have been a better choice. An Australian connection, living overseas, had trouble recalling the ad then the posting of My Personal Brand he recalled it but thought it had been misplaced and ignored it . The other reason of course was that we were in the middle of the GFC.

It was really quiet for weeks. I was forced to start blogging, I had my hands tired behind my back, I had no choice as there was nothing else to do. It was a real struggle starting and continuing the blog during this time. I was also talking to a lot of recruiters who were not allowed to use social networks to find candidates or even knew what a blog was, like me at the beginning. Very disheartening, this is when I nearly stopped blogging, Becoming a Blogger.

I keep on doing what I learnt a JobCAMP, keep networking. So I do. We were told that “every connection is a good connection”.  I start surfing my network, reaching out to people I believe maybe able to help me in my quest. Though at the time I was getting confused at who I was surfing for? Connections to understand social media in more depth, other social networkers, connections who share many, many of my connections, recruiters and more recruiters, and accepting every invitation that was sent to me.

After networking for the past 12 months, I believe that this statement is only true for some and not for others. I do not believe that every connection I have made has brought me the benefits that social networking has to bring. Only unwanted invitations onto networks that have no association with being a business analyst or related work, or recruiters that do not live in Australia or those who do not want to learn from my experiences, which is always disappointing and many hanger-on-er’s.

I received many interviews with recruiters who in turn did not return calls after the interview. Even though during the interview they were very enthusiastic about meeting and future prospects they had for me. One recruitment company had very stringent rules with the handling of their candidates. I ended up with a recruiter from the public sector. She knew it was not right but she did try to help me and did go to at least one interview, though I did get a rant out of it . In general, the recruiters were very good, they are trying to do the best they can do in very hard situations and some I developed a great rapport with.

So many consulting companies that I lost count, some short term, some long term contracts and even some full time work but…

1. the firm would not get the contract so I would not get the job
2. I am a data analytics BA not an IT BA, so many times…
3. worked too much corporate, and one basically said I would a princess and would not know how to work in a small firm, maybe a little bit true, only sometimes, but is expected in corporate life,  and,
4. many that did not suit me.

I also received opportunities from some corporates, through them searching their networks. One had done all reference checks before they contacted me with an interview. Went to the interview, but you know when you step into an interview and you know and they know. Forty minute interview, with an answer at the 30min mark but the HR person had not looked at my blog at all, even though the other that reached out to me looked at my profile .

Before my journey began, I was hitting the job boards. Everything and anything, one of these was a role I did not have enough experience but my resume was passed onto another recruiter in this very large recruiting agency. This recruiter became one of my best leads. I never met her and we spoke on a very regular basis, I did eventually meet with one of her colleagues but the opportunity did not eventuate. Every opportunity she had, was passed onto me, some did not suit but she sent me to interviews.

One of these was an interview with a very large Japanese company. They did not give me any notice. The recruiter rang in the late afternoon, with a one paragraph JD and 2 interviews the next day. The first with the C-Level and the next with the hiring manager in 2 suburbs, not close by.

I was not prepared. After the interviews, I believe the hiring manger liked me but the C-level did not. I did not have my left-of-centre personality out there, I was very conservative and also very nervous. Though, after 2½ hrs of interviews, I was very excited about the opportunity. But in the end, I did not receive any feedback. The recruiter rang so many times to reach the HR people but no response at all. That is just so poor.

So how do I get their attention? I know it was not me in the interviews. My first thought was to use my network to try and reach out to this C-level. I received some feedback from my network but it didn’t work. I have a blog, I can show them what I can do. Operations Dashboard for a Matrix Organisation was born, my first theoretical data analytics post.

The response from my data analytics posts has been well received and continues to appear in search engines. With these analytics posts, I received offers to speak overseas, in Asia and the US, at conferences and training programs. They would list out the people that had previously spoken at these events and I was extremely flattered that they would consider me in that league. I would write back to these people and received an offer from one of these events. It did put a smile on my face, in times when I would say was one of my low moments.

My recruiter was very pleased that I had gone to the effort to write the post and said no other candidate she had come across had written a post for an opportunity. She had tried to contact the HR person but no response, she contacted the C-level directly, and again no response.

Time lapses, I had an interview with a consulting company, they really wanted to hire me but did not have a role for me. The consultant said I would not have liked the culture of the Japanese company, the left-of-centre in me, so no great loss but it certainly didn’t feel like it at the time.

Sigh…

Next post in The Story -> Landing that Job