We all go through the experience of making a professional change at least once in our lifetime. Things used to be different when you would start working in a factory at 18 and spend all your work life there. Now, once out of the shadow of the communist regime, we have to challenge ourselves and discover our strongest points in order to identify our place, reach our limits and find "the perfect job".
My saga started with a New Year's resolution for which I've been basically just waiting for the right time to make. I used to have a great international job, where I really blossomed into a professional, and my biggest proof is the fact that my new job is simply awesome, and I wouldn't have gotten it if I didn't develop my experience before. Unfortunately, things changed a lot in the past year at my previous job...what can I say...Romanians are a special nation :)
I decided to basically announce my resignation before actually finding a job. I've been called crazy for this, but I like to be fair. I wasn't under any pressure financially and I wanted to play the cards right. Extra to that, I wasn't looking just for any job, but a really good job and this basically meant having time to sort things out.
Starting January I went to 1 - 2 interviews/ week. My goal was to have at least 1 interview/ week...and if I didn't get a job, at least I wanted to make sure that everybody knew I was looking for one. So, my main channels were: my friends, job portals and any social media available (FB, Linkedin and my blog of course). I tried to connect and interact with as many people as possible especially via Linkedin. Not everybody replied, but to my surprise more that I expected did.
So, considering all the above mentioned efforts I went to about 10 different companies for interview and rejected about 5 invitations...so January - March = 15 interview invitations. With some of these companies I went to "second base", but fortunately they were not the place for me. I've been rejected, and I also got to reject a few offers myself...I had some very professional interviews and some very, very bad, totally unprofessional meetings.
I have a pretty strong background in the recruitment industry and I know a bad interviewer when I see one...and when that interviewer is a lot likely to become your next boss...you don't want that. To my surprise one of the worst interviews were with a Communication agency, a pretty big one I would say. Totally unprofessional...they had me waiting for 45 min. and I've only been told bullshit during the interview such as: "are you a volunteer just because it's cool to have that in your CV?" or "you've done all these internships without "knowing" anyone?...I can't believe that". These are questions that cannot be argued, because only very frustrated people could imagine and give voice to such thoughts. A lot of people would give a positive answer to both questions, I know, but an interviewer never puts the problem like that, especially without knowing the person they're talking to.
My second worst interview I have to mention was with a Canadian telecommunications company (not very well known one, but very promising). I can't even comment on this experience. All I can say is that I wanted to get up a couple of times, and just leave the room. But I just didn't do it out of common sense. I did self withdrew myself (if that exists..well I did it :) from that recruitment process...I would have never wanted to have anything to do with that company.
The most professional interview I had was in a very large pharmaceutical company. It was super sharp...the only thing is that I never got any feedback from them...though that's what they said...
I'm not claiming to have been the perfect candidate. I was probably not a good fit for most of the jobs I applied for, or the companies I went to. To my surprise, though I have been an interviewer myself in the past ,and I know the "rules", I was nervous before every single meeting :)
As you can see it was a great experience!
I never thought, but always wished, to work in a communication agency. This is a like a super dream coming true. I will work in a Romanian - German team of professionals and will contribute to organizing international events for the company's biggest client in Europe. I am the happiest there is and can't wait to begging this new chapter. I will work together with professional, creative people and will have the opportunity to push myself to an edge where I always wanted to be.
This experience proves again that when you truly want something, it will happen, and experience is the key to everything....you can learn as much as you want on a topic and be super enthusiastic about it, if you don't experience it and it doesn't really attract you...well then all the studying is in vain. You don't have to "know" the right people to find a job. At the end, I got my job through a simple job portal add. You just have to hang in there and never stop trying...and I have to admit that having all my "recruitment world" friends around me helped a lot, but not because they were arranging job interviews for me, but because each of them are great motivational examples...and in such situations you need your friends and family's support for sure.
So...my holiday is over...I really enjoyed it, but I hope I don't have to take it again for a while :)