It's a special situation when the economy is in a downturn and you're looking for work along with so many other people. In my last position I met many people who mentioned the excessive number of applications they were receiving for their postings. In Alberta we have a lot of oil and gas workers looking for work and apparently some are applying for social work positions. These ones were actually identified but I can't help but wonder how many employers are not even looking at all of the applications. If you received 200 resumes would you read through all of them? Or would you stop looking after you found 10 that matched your requirements?
It's a scary thought that you may apply for something you are genuinely qualified for and your resume might not even be seen due to the sheer volume of applications. I've connected with the career planning workshop facilitator's employer and we have arranged an information meeting. Richard Bolles ("What Color is Your Parachute") recommends information meetings as a way of finding out more about a particular industry and building your network. If you're changing your career, you may have very few connections in the new field. You have to start somewhere.
Two years ago I was offered a position with a local career and employment agency. I put them on hold because I had just interviewed for the previously desired organization. I was unsuccessful and it was just enough extra time for the local place to find someone else. At that time, though, I was focused elsewhere. Although I knew I might really enjoy the work, I was focused on something else.
With that being said, I plan to reach out to the manager there and see if I could volunteer my time to learn more about the work. Just before I left my last position I had been contacted by someone looking for a facilitator for a resume workshop. I called around to a few places I knew of that provided the service but none would come to meet the client. I was surprised at that since I had been in very mobile positions where I always met clients out of the office. (Need identified!)
Slight digression here but I have to say this. My mom used to bring home Archie comics; we had hundreds. One had a story about the boys, Archie and Jughead, looking to make money. It was possibly Mr. Lodge who told them to "Find a need a fill it". I've never forgotten that.
I figured that I might be able to offer the service but I wanted to learn more before I found out I didn't know enough and made an ass out of myself. I'm also going to talk with my kids' school (two are in junior high). I don't think they have a specialized career counsellor at the school so I'm going to see if they could use a volunteer in some capacity. That one will take some finesse so I'll have to work on my pitch.
It feels kind of strange to be actively planning volunteer work but I see real possibilities here. I need to get some experience (and LinkedIn is bugging me to enter in my new job) and volunteering seems like the easiest place to start. I think I would have to have more education to work at the school, or a particular type of education (um, education degree?) but who knows? That's the point: I have to reach out to people who can answer these questions.
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