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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 29, No. 14. 1966.

Advice on the job search

page 8

Advice on the job search

In his search for a job, the young man of today is faced with a situation relatively unique in the history of employment. In shifting so rapidly, our traditional values of grading, job specifications and performance are losing much of their former significance as mankind's economic horizons loom larger, more complex and more specialised. These changes can already be observed in the occupational area where our consensus of ratings is being eroded by the swift currents of the coming age, while new standards in labour formulation, approach and outlook are taking place on a vaster scale. This will be necessary as it was not altogether uncommon for an individual to retain a job for a lifetime. Future prospects, according to statistics, suggest that a young person of 20 will probably change jobs six to seven times in the next 43 years of his life expectancy.

In the light of these proceedings, the young man may well ask himself how he intends to make up his mind in deciding what to do for a living. Because young people represent a long-term investment to management, especially during the training period, the employer will be keen in obtaining the best returns for his money. And his evaluation of the candidate's skills and experience, if any, may well affect his decision in hiring or not. Accordingly, in order to meet these demands, the applicant must; know a great deal about his personality and be able to examine, then appraise himself, frankly and accurately.

Now, this sounds quite easy, but unfortunately, it is not.

Felix Mansklied, a Wellington employment consultant, offers some suggestions for students about to seek permanent employment.

One of the grestest problems we encounter as human beings is understanding ourselves correctly, assessing our motives and interpreting our needs, once we have become emotionally involved or immersed in a situation. And so it goes with young people starting out in life. Ask any one of them what he would like to do or what he believes he is best suited for and you will usually find him hesitant and unable to give a straight answer most of the time. This is natural because of his short life history and the little experience he has gained in dealing with people or judging job opportunities on a long-term basis.

A practice I have always recommended is to ask him to sit down alone in a room in front of several blank sheets of paper and jot down what comes first to his mind in relation to his interests and desires. It is mostly a long and arduous task, but ultimately rewarding when a schema of patterns emerge, defining certain basic traits which can be construed in the final analysis of a foundation for some vocational occupation(s).

The young applicant will also have to learn to adopt a down-to-earth attitude about the things he wants to do and distinguish between reality and wishful daydreaming. He should think in terms of specific assignment ("where do I want to be at the end of the next ten years?"), and work towards reaching that goal in the allotted time, while being prepared to change jobs for the purpose of broadening his experience.

It becomes then evident that in order to accomplish successfully each and every manoeuvre leading to the ultimate fulfilment, he will have acquired an education background large enough to enable him to absorb training and re-training that permits him to adjust. For experience alone, however essential, cannot sustain him as effectively as the basic requisites that make for a longer record of better and steady employment. In a competitive world where the highway to success is measured in terms of know-how and the ability to communicate thoroughly, it is the candidate offering the promise of such potential who will run off with the grand prize.