When you don’t have a job and you haven’t had one for a long time, it’s very easy to get depressed. You’ve sent out application form after application form and, most of the time, you haven’t even had a response.
If you’ve followed our advice about getting a job and you’re still getting nowhere, it’s time to get on your bike and try the gentle art of door-knocking.
You may already have tried it but, try again. When it comes down to it, there are five main ways of getting a job:
- Being the successful applicant
- Getting promotion
- Being headhunted
- Pulling strings
- Knowing someone
If you’ve tried the first and the next three aren’t applicable, that makes my point so, get out there. You will, however, have to accept that the rate of pay probably won’t be what you want or are used to. That’s a hard fact of life – no-one (apart from the state, perhaps), owes you a living and employers are being badly squeezed, too. If you think things are tough for you, look up the stats for the number of small businesses which go to the wall every year.
It’s the basic rule for surviving a kidnapping – get your oppressor to recognise you as a person. If you are ‘real’ to them, you have far better chances. Likewise, if an employer ‘knows you’ because you took the time and trouble to go along on a regular basis, sooner or later you’ll get offered a job.
So, with that in mind, here are some basic rules for door-knocking:
- Keep it friendly. A refusal is rarely anything which you should be offended by (although it may well give you some helpful hints as to how you could improve your chances in the future).
- Don’t give up – there is a job for you and, no matter how bad unemployment is in your area, there is always something to do.
- Have an open mind. Work is work and, as long as it pays, isn’t illegal and doesn’t harm you, go for it. Any job that pays is a good job.
- Get notions of what you should be being paid out of your head. Times are hard – for everyone.
- Not all job vacancies are advertised. Getting your face in the space and your name in the frame is often all that matters. Get out there and get known.
- If it’s just a temporary job, don’t turn it down because of the hours you have to work. It’s only for a short period and, at the end, you’ll have cash, something to put on a CV, and a contact for future work.
- Make sure that, if you need public transport, it is going to be operating. If it’s a temporary job at Easter (for example), the last thing you need is to let someone down at the last minute because your bus is only on ‘Sunday service’ and not running.
- Be prepared. Always take with you a batch of current CV’s with your contact phone number and email clearly displayed. If you don’t have CV’s, go to the Jobcentre and grab a universal application form, fill it in, and get them to photocopy it for you. Make sure you write clearly and start again if you make a mistake.
- Make sure you keep the phone with you and switched on and that you check your email regularly.
- Ensure that you have the right skillset for the job and that you are sensitive to being a nuisance. If you are going to call back, ask the employer if they mind and take ‘I’d prefer you didn’t’ on the chin if it comes. Do not protest or argue – just thank them politely for their time and walk away, never to return.
When it comes down to it, the right mindset is ‘I’m going to get a job – I don’t care what’. When you’ve got money coming in, even if it’s not much, you’ll feel better, think more clearly, and stand a better chance with other employers.
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Thank you for the useful information; I will pass it onto my son as he is looking for work
Well, thank you, Keefy. I wish him all the best. Do tell me how he gets on.