Tai WANDER YEARS

I am an American technology worker who just moved to Taiwan.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

No soup for you!

Without even having departed for Taiwan, I have learned a valuable life lesson. Unfortunately, it took me 38 years but I guess that's better than 39, right?

A coworker the other day asked me if I found this job by going through my company's job vacancies website to which I emphatically responded, "No!!!"

Let me explain:

When I was thinking about this whole possibility of seeking a job in Taiwan, I registered through my company's vacancies website to get an update any time a job was posted in Taiwan. From this I could see how quickly they were expanding and in which departments. Some of the jobs didn't match my qualifications 100% and even more were impossible to tell what they really were looking for. I debated whether I should just apply for one of them by clicking the "apply now" button or seek a path outside the system.

I consulted my buddy RJ who had taken an overseas assignment in Europe who, as quickly and emphatically as I shouted "No!!!", discouraged me from following the HR/website route.

"Waste of time, man."

 So, as I detailed in an earlier blog post, I emailed the top guy at our division in Taiwan. This is very out of character for me as I am typically respectful of any "system" and follow the rules.

In a parallel situation, Shirley was looking for a teaching job and went down the "click the send button" route. She followed up with the HR rep who told her "only the most qualified candidates will be interviewed". Basically, "Don't call us, we'll call you." She never heard back. She was hoping to get an interview at a job fair coming up in Boston. It looks like the positions are filled but the superintendent is coming to the job fair in 2 weeks, anyway.

When looking at the website for the job fair, it has a bunch of convoluted rules. First you have to come on Thursday for the job fair host to explain to you how job fairs work (first step in treating you like an idiot). Then on Friday you have to come and apply for an interview session, and "don't limit your choices to one country, be open minded" (step 2 in idiot training). Then on Saturday, if you're lucky enough, you will get an interview with some/all/none of your choices (step 3).

So it seemed like it might be a big waste of time and a hassle to travel back and forth to Boston 3 times. Shirley was wondering what to do.

We Googled the superintendent who will be coming to Boston and Shirley emailed her a simple message quite similar to my original message to my boss in Taiwan:

I'm interested in working at your school. I see you're coming to Boston. I'd like to meet with you. My credentials are attached. What should I do?

She quickly received a response  from the superintendent inviting her to meet privately at her hotel.

No job fair.
No explaining of the job fair.
No applying for an interview.
No nonsense.

The super was very flattering about Shirley's credentials and the possibility of a job even though there were no current vacancies. I am positive that her first attempt at following the rules resulted in her application never getting to where it needed to go. Big waste of time.

With my dealings with my company in Taiwan, I ended up being offered a job that was already occupied, it never would have been posted. After asking the occupant to take another job to free it up for me, they rewrote the job description to suit what I was looking for.

So for anyone out there job searching, my advice is this:

1) Find the companies you want to work for.
2) Find people who work in those companies.
3) Ask them what you should do

I wonder how many jobs get filled without ever making it to CareerBuilder, Monster.com, or any sort of job classified ad. I think a lot.

In the famous episode #116 of Seinfeld, there are many rules to be followed to get served by the Soup Nazi. For every person waiting to prove them self worthy of the soup, there are a dozen on the next block who can't be bothered.

They can't afford to let life pass them by.
They don't care about a piece of bread or candy.
They probably got better soup.

1 comment:

  1. How do I say your so inspirational- without it sounding like complete sarcasm?

    ReplyDelete