Job Search and Research

Before you run straight at a job (which is perfectly understandable if you haven’t got one)  it may be sensible to think about what matters to YOU (beyond just having an income).

This might not be something you have really thought about before because you’ve trained for a post in a particular domain and have been focusing upon the qualifications and experience necessary to get your feet on the ‘career ladder‘ … so NOW is the time to reflect:-

What DO you want from your working life?  

The question isn’t easy to answer – perhaps because no-one has ever asked you such an open question before – it has mostly (if not all) been about fitting yourself to the company ‘mould‘.

Q. Why is it important that you consider the Question?

A. Because work is a relationship.  Employers are asking you to give up a lot of freedoms in your working life (you will have the right to be paid… but for that you are selling your right to determine:

• what you work on
• how and how much you work
• when you work
• with whom you work
• how you are going to be measured, monitored, directed and controlled

But in giving up all this do you not have an expectation of more than a mere financial recompense…?

Perhaps you might want (believe you have a right to?):

• fairness
• equality of pay and conditions
• a tenable work/life balance where work does not unacceptably impginge upon your personal and family time
• the opportunity for self-development
• access to training opportunities
• a sense of autonomy and self-direction/management: a measure of freedom in what you do and how you do it…
• a sense of contribution to human well-being and to the environment

I could go on, but the point is that you need to apreciate what YOU are set to get out of the relationship with a potential employer compared to what it is that you believe that you need and want….   Perhaps this should be the ‘litmus test’ you should use in order to determine whether or not an offer is for you or not…

Recent research (2021) upon our own UHA students, inter alia, suggested that after having invested so much in a Degree or Master’s, as young professionals you are looking for so much more from an employer than a simple exchange of your time for their money.  Have a look at the research findings: (https://www.bio-inspiration.fr/formulaire-resultats-sondage.)

Consider where you ‘see’ yourself in these findings and the things that are you believe are important to you when it comes to working for an employer.   This should give you a clearer sense of how to look at job offers and Job Descriptions and Person Specifications and whether to apply for this offer or that!  It will also perhaps help you prepare questions to ask an employer at interview.

TJ