Interview
Every now and then, one particular profession seems to rise over the others in terms of its demand. At the start of the millennium, there was an Information Technology (IT) take-over. Nowadays, health is the new fad, and thus, the popularity of medical and health sciences courses. Seeing the process of job-making and workers-recruitment firsthand, my aunt Jules is the perfect candidate for this interview. She has been an IT recruitment analyst in a multinational company for close to four years. She sources for qualified candidates from all over the country and also from other continents. She has dealt with all ranks of applicants, all with different personalities.
Jules holds a degree in Legal Management and used to nurture interests in business and law. Before she became a recruiter, Jules also worked as a researcher, online poker facilitator, water dispenser sales agent, and bank employee. However, she has stayed the longest, and plans to stay for a long time, in recruitment and human resources. Graduating with a degree in one field and working in industries totally different from her specialization, Jules has been exposed to how many career options open for beginners. The plethora of opportunities for graduates is daunting and confusing, but is also encouraging and exciting. Companies are open to taking on fresh grads from various specializations as long as they show competency.
Recruiting people of different skills and background and placing them on teams with people who have different specializations, Jules see how work teams improve. Their work experiences become richer as they reach out and form ideas with other people. Integration of different talents leads to innovative and successful ways of doing the job. In her recruitment team alone, there is a combination of IT, Psychology, and Communication graduates all working on different parts for one goal. For work newbie’s, they have the chance to surf through different career options, but it is almost an entirely different story for those who have been working for some time.
Her work as a recruiter has given Jules insight on the perennially shifting job markets, qualities of a valuable employee, and what people can do to beef up their assets. With market demands constantly changing and job requirements steadily increasing, people should master their specialties and still provide a skill that is different yet valuable to the company. Based on her experience, Jules sees that employees who have identified their career goals and plans and have constantly worked towards that goal increase their chances for success. A technical support can become a network engineer, an IT operations head, and an IT manager if he or she works hard consistently and improves his or skill through IT certifications and higher studies.
Employees need to define the direction of careers, but at the same time, they also need to be flexible and open to new opportunities. Stressing that one should never feel too comfortable with his or her job, Jules says that surprises are always at hand. Whether in the form of major company instability, moving to a new location or even just changing teams, or changes in one’s attitude and satisfaction with work, changes are all part of the game. Changes should be dealt with critically but also with an open disposition. One should view it as a new challenge and room for growth or new opportunity. The Lehman bankruptcy disaster is an example of a major change in company structures and people’s personal outlook. Thomas from the International Herald Tribune wrote how the Lehman collapse, from its own company alone, caused 25, 000 people their jobs. For Jules’ company, it meant the loss of major projects, massive downsizing, pulling off their offshore accounts, and ending friendly ties with companies overseas. For individual employees, it was mixed feelings of paranoia, insecurity, and betrayal for those who were fired.
However, in the rubble of these unfortunate events, a tiny positive light shone. First, people learned to re-assess where in their lives and in their careers they are currently on. It became a time for self-awareness and how one has been contributing to society. Secondly, Jules commented on how through technology people all over the world are able to be connected to one another. People from different cultures could work on a project together from different sides of the world. A positive result of this financial crisis was that people realized how everyone was all connected. Every single person in the world is in just one boat together with the rest, and everyone should work together to keep this boat afloat.
Work Cited
Thomas, Landon Jr. “Examining the Ripple Effect of the Lehman Bankruptcy.” International Herald Tribune. 15 September 2008. 3 December 2008 <http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/15/business/lehman.php>.
