HR Magazine

In the early days of my unemployed status, it was easy to stay positive as there were jobs being advertised, the agencies were keen and I steamed in with direct mailings. Here I am, six months later, in a tunnel that is very long with no apparent end. The trouble now is staying motivated, as the days can be long and tedious. To alleviate this I have entered three running events. The first, in two months, is the best for my current mental state. It's a team relay over two days around the green belt of London. I have to run on both days between five and twelve miles. The distances are not a problem as I have done them many times (I am a qualified personal trainer and lead by example), but I will train for these reasons: I am part of a team and don't want to let the side down, and therefore want to run as fast as I can; to improve my stamina and pace will involve setting myself targets and meeting them; and it will give me purpose. All sounds very much like being in a job! By the way, if there are any 'fat cats' reading this who want to improve their fitness, I'm the man to help you!

I had an interesting experience at the job centre: a sign of humanity! I was doing my fortnightly visit and was asked "any luck with the job search?" It bit of a silly question, so I simply answered "no" as I couldn't be bothered to explain what I've been doing. I got the response: "I don't know what to suggest, it's so difficult right now". My goodness; she allowed her corporate guard to drop and showed some empathy/sympathy - at last, the penny has dropped! This made me feel better so I did engage with her, however, better still would be her having suggestions, but one step at a time. I went to a couple of career coaching workshops, the best being interviewing techniques. A chunk of it is obvious stuff, but the other chunk was useful. One highlight I will be practising is a two-minute pitch. When at an interview, the idea is to select four relevant topics and to speak for about 30 seconds on each leaving the best 'til last. It's to the point without boring the interviewer, and it's been proven (apparently) that the interviewer will pick-up on the last topic and will want to know more, hence the reason for saving the best 'til last. I'm keen to put the tips into practise, but the tricky part now is to get an interview as they rarer than hens' teeth.

Back with career coaching. I emailed my CV and two letters I have as templates to Tony for him to peruse. The comments came soon enough. He felt the letters were too long and the CV needed more information. What he didn't know is that the letters were edited versions of previous ones - he would have had a seizure if he'd seen those! I was sent a number of letter samples and used one style to re-jig mine. I have to say, it was an improvement. It surprised me how I was able to convey the same information without as many words. It is so easy to waffle on and the busy person I am sending this letter to could possibly give up half way through. The CV was easier. The suggestion was to add any improvements I had made at a company, eg: saving money by improving workflow. I am happy with these changes and have already rolled them out with a carpet bombing campaign targeting even more unsuspecting companies. Not had any luck though, but at least it has reinvigorated me and made me feel positive again. How long this feeling lasts remains to be seen.

I had my Penna initiation on Thursday. I met Gary Browning the CEO, and Tony Kwasnik who is a career coach. The first half hour was talking about what Penna does and how it can help plus I had a tour of the premises. Nice offices in a good location and busy. I suppose this isn't surprising considering what they do and the current economic situation. It was then me and Tony for about 90 minutes. He mentioned things to me that should be blindingly obvious, but it's so easy to forget or just not realise. Networking: I know what it is and I know what's involved (at least I thought I did), but Tony steered me in a slightly different direction. I simply think of people I know, but I should also be thinking about who those people know - obvious! I put this into practice after I left Penna. I met a friend for lunch who works close to Penna's office. She works in IT so I thought there could be a link, and would you believe it, her brother is a graphic designer. My friend is going to speak to her brother who very likely has nothing, but he may know someone who knows someone and then off I go! We discussed much more and there's a great deal that Penna offers, but this can be for next time once I get stuck-in more. I am very grateful to Gary and Tony for seeing me and providing me with this help. I would certainly recommend Penna to anyone in my situation.

Penna, the HR consultancy group, has kindly offered me coaching, isn't that great. I'm meeting the chief exec and a career coach this week, so I am rather excited and will report back next week. So, let's touch on jobcentres again. I recently read an article about how JCs are now a completely different animal from the past; how they are a choice for employers to advertise; and how the job search experience for the likes of me is so much better. Hmmmm, this person has clearly never visited a JC from my side of the line. At my JC I counted four security people on the ground floor and two on the second. OK, these people wouldn't survive an evening at a nightclub as they tend to be past their sell-by dates, however, it doesn't make for a warm and welcoming environment. Also, there are usually about three people at a front desk that have to be navigated. If I breeze-in past the desk, I am immediately pounced on by dad's army as they insist I speak to a reception person first. Unless there is a specific appointment, there is no need for this as I know where to go, where to sit and be duly processed. Most people do. I don't know what the JC people are scared of, but they are worried. Something happened that put an interesting angle on this behaviour. Usually, along with everybody else, I go to the JC dressed casually, but on one occasion I went directly from an interview. I strode in looking swish in my Ted Baker suit, quality shoes etc and did my usual of ignoring the desk people, and guess what? Yep, I wasn't challenged. I'll say no more and allow you to draw a conclusion on this.