Should you just take any old job?

Career advice for the long term unemployed

Last week one of the bloggers I read on a regular basis, Hannah Morgan, aka “The Career Sherpa” gave some timely career advice on whether you should just take any job, if you’re struggling to find a job. It’s timely advice because it is a question that people have asked during the downturn, and it is timely advice because it’s a question that always confronts new arrivals to Australia, who keep coming up against the barrier “no local experience”.

While you can take any job, you still need to think of your career. Hannah suggests that you do a job hunting audit on your efforts before you throw in the towel. Here are some career questions she poses:

Have you been specific about what you are looking for? And have you communicated this clearly to everyone who knows you are looking?

Are you really qualified for the roles you are aiming at? You need to ask yourself are you aiming at the right level. The answer to this can only come down to how well you understand the roles you are applying for and the skills you can bring.

Have you exhausted all options? I am constantly surprised by how many people will just apply for jobs through advertisements, yet if I question them, they’ve never found a job that way in the past. Go direct, network, volunteer, play sport, do anything that puts you in touch with other people. In my own business I have found many leads from weird places, including the pest exterminator who visited my apartment (it’s a Sydney “damn cockroaches” thing) and wanted me to become his webmaster after we got talking about website optimization.

If you are contemplating taking “any job”, my thoughts are, it’s better to be working than not. I see nothing wrong with driving a cab or even stacking supermarket shelves while you’re working on finding your dream job. I have a few caveats on this, though:

–  Make sure you keep your career focus, part 1. If you take a role that is well beneath your skill level, it is very easy to lose your focus if you work the long days and try to apply for roles at nights, particularly if the TV beckons

–  Make sure you keep your career focus, part 2. It is very easy to lose your confidence, particularly if you are reporting to people when you used to manage them

–  If you take a job where you think you may want to stay then ask a few pointed questions including: Does the company promote internally? What would be a typical career path from this role? Where has the leadership team come from?

My biggest fear about giving advice about taking any job, is that it is easy to be like the “frog in the slowly boiling water”. The frog doesn’t realize he is being boiled to death as the temperature slowly rises. I have found when I have taken jobs beneath my skill level, that my expectations of what I can do, shrink with the role and how I see that others see me. I am hardly aware of this as it’s a gradual thing. It’s taken a jolt to shake myself out of this.

Hannah has these great suggestions if you want to make the most of a job:

When/if you take that job, find ways to make a difference every day. Look for opportunities to learn new things and meet new people. Consider this a form of education. By all means, don’t be resentful, negative, or give an air of superiority. Be grateful to have been given a chance.

Sounds like sound career advice to me! What do you think?

Tagged as: job hunting tips, tips for the unemployed