The perfect description of my situation – A career switcher looking for challenging opportunities in one of the deepest of recessions. Can it get worse?

Career Switcher ( WSJ Article on how tough the times are for this category of job seekers) – the very word will turn off the virtual light bulb hovering around the recruiter’s head when (s)he picks up a good resume or so I would think. Why would anyone hire a person who wants to try uncharted waters using up their resources, especially when those resources are scarce!

Anyways, let me move on to what I was going to tell you.

As I start my job hunt, I give my resume a long, hard look. I put it away thinking (more on my perception of resumes later!) it looks good. I write to a couple of people I already know and check if they have anything for me. I am not even going to elucidate on their responses, we know the answer.

Step #2: I go through job boards, find a few openings, get excited and start applying. This was the algorithm that made its rounds in my brain:

IF(Job opening = new AND
Job Opening = MyProfile)
{
Apply Now
WHERE Now<=30minutes;
}
ELSE
Miss the Bus/train/plane;

The approach was good and bad. Good, because you have a greater chance of being in the race and bad, because you are hurrying up your application process and compromising on quality. Yes! I can say that with conviction, there is loss of quality. Pick up any resume that only took you 5 minutes to write. You are bound to find errors in it.

In my opinion one could take time to mull over the job description, calm ones nerves down with some caffeine, and then start the process.

Unfortunately, I did not follow this more efficient algorithm during the first 2 months of my job hunt and in my opinion I lost a lot of opportunities there.

Job hunt is a race and a very tough one, no doubt, but it is not a race where someone fires a gun and you start running. I have come to realize that in this race there is no one offering Kirkland (Why Kirkland? I love Costco. More on my dream companies later!) water bottles on your way to the finish line. There is room neither for fatigue nor for error and one does not reach their finish line unless they have perfected their way to it.

There is a job opening waiting for you out there, it may not wait a lifetime but it will till you are ready to accept it. These days, I look at a job opening, close the browser and let it be for at least half a day before I respond to it. I let the excitement go down to a level just enough to apply effectively to the job.

Dear Recruiter:

On an average how long should we take to respond to a posting? Would 24 hours be a good timeframe?I know there is no clear cut answer to this but any ideas?

Recently, I was called for an interview by a company specializing in research reports. I decided to write a report prior to the interview and send it to the interviewing panel. It worked, they were impressed. Unfortunately, they were not impressed enough to give me an offer letter. However, I thought I had done something unique that was within the acceptable range, maybe not outstanding, given the fact that I didnot get the offer.

It kept bothering me that I didnot get the offer despite being proactive, innovative and enthusiastic (all my own words) but ultimately I realized that that job interview was what set me on my path to innovating a strategy for my job search in this recessive market.

That was only the first step, this blog being the third one. Did I hear you ask what the second step was? You will hear from me, dear recruiter, you will. You are omnipresent and indispensable in my life, not just until I hold that evasive golden goose called the offer letter but even after that. Remember, you do my background check!

Dear Recruiter:
What is innovation and what is intrusion? Where do we draw the line? Can I send my resume to you with a bouquet of flowers? Or, should I insert my resume into your morning newspaper? How do we stand out in the crowd?

Thank you
Best Regards
Kavitha

I have excellent organizing as well as organizational skills. However, the note I am about to make below will contradict this statement.

I have not  listed my story in any particular order, I write those I think should catch your attention and those I think should be brought to your attention. Why are these two different? The former will help me get a job, the latter will help everyone in the community!

 Thank you for checking this page regularly for my PS.  Will always keep this short.

It is amazing how wonderful a platform Job fairs can be for character study. The variety of individuals that attend these events is more diverse than the number of jobs that are showcased and naturally so. In a recession such as this one, there are not as many jobs as there are job seekers.

Scanning through the crowd of candidates in a recent job fair I attended , I noted that the ones in black suits were normal,  the one person in a flowery spring outfit was probably looking for a “Petite Sophisticate” job which, by the way, had a booth at the event . But what really caught my eyes were a pair of shorts.  I would term this outrageous but what impresses a recruiter?  I know not. However, I do know that I would never wear one to any such professional event.

I won’t blame just the candidates’ lack of enthusiasm here. Some companies that had their booths set up exhibited a lack of fervor to find talent. For instance, I had researched on a company prior to attending the fair and had prepared a cover letter and resume exclusively for that company because I thought their business was in line with what I was looking for. To my chagrin, the lady at the booth gave me a card with the website address and told me to apply online. She could not as much talk to me about the current openings in her own company.

Last but not the least, even the freebies at these fairs are being cut down on due to the recession. Some booths had candies and nothing else.

Dear Recruiter:

What is the point of these job fairs? Where lies the fault? Are some job fairs average because they expect people wearing shorts, lacking professionalism and showing no interest to show up? Or, are the people slack because they expect the recruiting firms in such job fairs to show disinterest?Or, have I just been attending the wrong job fairs? I would not rule out the last one before I have tried out a few more such events. Or, could you please take two minutes of your time to answer this question for me?

Before I wrap up, let me tell you what I took away from this job fair:

1. I got to know the name of one recruiter who showed interest in my resume. This is great – knowing one recruiter in an economic downturn is equivalent to knowing 20 in a Bull market! Just a guesstimate.
2. I realized I would never wear a pair of shorts to a job fair. Not that the thought ever occurred to me.

 A Job fair may not always get you a job or land you an interview but it is an enriching experience by itself. And lessons , dear recruiter, are the most important part of our lives.  Remember the “Lessons Learned” session in the powerpoint presentation during the post-mortem of that important client project?

Thank you for your time and consideration, Ms/Mr.Recruiter. I look forward to a positive response from your team in the form of an offer letter!

Sincerely

Kavitha Shankaranarayanan A.K.A Kavitha Shankar