We placed two job vacancies for one of my projects. 200 emails & CVs per day is kinda killing me by now. Especially as someone’s screw up meant that these mainly Gauteng-based folk do not realise that they are nowhere near the physical vicinity of the required jobs.
“Hi. Thanks for your interest. I have received your CV. Please confirm you are either based in or willing to relocate to a minute-one-traffic-circle-dorpie-beyond-the-dusty-horizon”.
I firstly am quite startled how many people are willing to relocate.
People are desperate for jobs.
And we (South Africa) definitely have a marathon of a way to go before we get the general workforce skilled up beyond being the general office secretary.
And we MUST get people skilled up beyond this, otherwise no wonder we have 25% unemployment. Any country only requires so many general secretaries.
But how? Where?
I know we have bursaries waiting to be taken. But I need a list of these bursaries, and academies, and foundations, and even just general cheap courses of skills training. Because right now I have 200/day women and men desperate to attend. If you know of any, pop me an email/ comment with a link.
These people are desperate. And my do-gooder self is desperate for them.
One woman, who is unable to relocate, emailed back begging me for any help and advice, to just get short-listed. She “can’t even get an interview”
What could I do. I said I’ll look at and rework her CV and here are some websites where she can also find job adverts.
Am I going to end up doing this for everyone begging for help? Probably.
These folk are just so grateful that they get ANY response. And I am humbled by their grateful responses to my generic response.
Again. It also gets back to the idea of just one person out there having trust in them, how such support, in a damn scary working world, can build your confidence & bravado and keep you going one silent job rejection after another.
Anyone need 1000 general secretaries!?!?!
4 comments:
I can totally identify with these people! I have been unemployed for six months at a time twice and although that is not as bad as what some people go through, it was hell for me.
I felt useless. I questioned my capabilities. And non-responses for job applications was the absolute pits so on behalf of all of those people, I can say again - THANK YOU for responding, it means so much.
i think you should schedule 10000 interviews just to make sure that you get the 'right' one.
What you did reminds me of the missing link in development - the facilitator. Most people have the knowledge to find work/build their community/starta job/charity etc. What they don't have are people like you who can help link the dots. Just someone who can provide a bit of advice and make people feel a bit more empowered. you recharged the battery of that woman. Now she can try again for a few days and hopefully run into another "change agent/facilitator" that can recharged her batteries again.
hell I'd scramble to relocate too if I lived in Jo'burg.........
Naanaanaanaa!
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