Who is looking for a job?

As Bob sat on the couch reflecting on how the year has been, his mind flew back and forth through the various interview panels he had faced over the last couple of months. In most of the cases, the job was too close yet too far as none of the highly anticipated opportunities generated into employment. He had raised his levels of faith and hope through the year only to feel disappointed when none of them turned out to be what he expected. To him, the year has been dragging its feet towards closure and is longing for the Groove Party at the end of the year to bid farewell to this year.

Apparently, talking to Bob, it sounds like he has been over confident about himself and wonders why no one seems to notice him. He is an honest young man and is committed to keeping the job he finds for as long as the employer can keep him. In spite of being a Generation Y fellow, he has made an agreement with himself that he would pursue consistency in his chosen career path and would not be as jumpy as his peers. And yet, even with this inner commitment, no job seems forthcoming.

On the flipside, as the year wore on, there are several employers who have been struggling to fill certain positions. The HR management has posted several job adverts and facilitated numerous interviews but they still don’t seem to land on their candidate of choice. The teams have even moved beyond the competitive process and considered head hunting and are still yet to land a good candidate to fill the positions. 

With these scenarios, something then must be wrong. How come there are many job seekers who like Bob, are busy seeking for employment while there are employers who can’t find appropriate candidates to hire. Where are the jobs and where are the job seekers? These are critical concerns as we draw to the close of the year. What could be some of the reasons why job seekers are not linking up with the jobs?

In certain incidences, job seekers are straightjacketed in their job search. They only wait for the adverts through the mainstream media for them to send in their applications. And with the setting in of frustration, the job seekers often find themselves applying for virtually any available position regardless of whether they are qualified for it or not. Others never want to reveal to other people that they are still seeking for jobs for fear of being laughed at. With this approach, they lose great opportunities of networking for job search. No one around them knows that they are seeking for jobs hence no job references are made to them.

Finally, as a job seeker, be like a job seeker. Job seeking is not a joke and the process should be honored. I have encountered job seekers who walk into an interview room seemingly wondering why on earth they were invited for the interview. They fail to impress the panel by not being conversant with what is expected of them should they be hired. In other cases, they behave in relatively immature ways like dressing in fancy hairs and clothing as though they were on their way to a fashion show. This leaves me wondering where the true job seekers are since some jokers are spoiling the show for genuine seekers of jobs.