- Anthony Cohen
We Regret to Inform You...
I spent 8 months looking for work from June last year until March this year. I haven't yet found the time (or energy) to go through all my rejection letters and count just how many times I've heard "we regret to inform you", but I'm guessing that it's more than 100 - easily.
And then when I finally did get a contract in March, it only lasted two weeks before lockdown happened and that job vanished. Which, in retrospect was one of the best things to happen to me because I decided that day to create Project Displaced and this has been one of the single most amazing things that has happened to me.
But the sting of reading those words (even when I knew deep down that I was never really right for the job, and I totally expected a rejection) hurt, every single time.
And yet I still kept on applying for jobs. I took a breath, acknowledged that it was crappy to be rejected but hey, at least they replied, right?!
If I'm being honest with you, I think I also knew that I could have been doing things differently in my job search. I mean I knew some of the resumes I was sending out weren't the best (copy, paste, send, pray), I also knew my LinkedIn needed some attention (where to even start?!), and I knew I needed to network - but I'm an introvert and I'd rather go to the dentist than figure out how to engage with strangers!
The thing is, the moment I actually took a moment and got some advice on those three things, my job search did improve. When I started talking to my network they introduced me to people who could help. My LinkedIn profile reflected who I really was and the type of jobs I actually wanted. And I now have three basic but really useful versions of my resume that help me tell my story and at least get me interviews.
So that's why I'm encouraging you (and everyone you know who is looking for a job) to attend one of our free master classes. They're run by our expert recruiters and we've just added a bunch for November.
A job seeker who attended one last week was telling me that she wasn't really sure if Project Displaced was for her but she decided to attend one of the Master Classes. She said to me that she loved that they were a "safe space" to ask questions in, and introduced her to our team in an anonymous way (she didn't even turn her camera on) but that the session gave her a sense of confidence and some new skills - she even booked a one-on-one resume session with the team immediately after the group class!
So, try them out - all the details are on our home page. They are full of tips you can use immediately to boost your success rates. Please don't forget that you can forward this email or share our social pages with your network, too - the more people we get to help the less I care about all those "we regret to inform you" emails I got, and the more I know that I'm doing something that helps people.