Free Resources:

• Job Interview Quiz
• Rahn - Work Abilities
• Edlund- Pick Your Job
• Thompson-We Are Forty

CHAPTER II

The Birth of the Job Formula

It was very dramatic to talk about going out on the great job hunt. Just thinking about it made our eyes flash, and our wills stiffen with iron reso­lution. But the moment we said: "Let's start the first thing Monday morning," we looked at each other in consternation. Start what? Start where?

And we realized that before we moved an inch we had the biggest job of all to tackle—ourselves. Was there any reason why anyone would want to hire us? Were we the sort of persons whose appear­ance would attract the alert eye of an employer? Did we have abilities to offer he would care to buy? Unless the answers were yes, there would be no jobs for us at all. We then began to take stock. We tried to see ourselves exactly as others would see us. Who were these two persons about to hunt jobs?

By the time we had finished, we knew. We had the facts, and we had decided what to do with them.

Down they went in a little black notebook to stay right by us and be our constant guidance. Then step by step we determined what we would have to do with ourselves if we expected to obtain jobs.

Appearance headed the list. Upon it would de­pend that important first impression. In consider­ing an orderly sequence, we set it down at once as

Step one:

LOOK YOUR  BEST.  NOTHING RUNS  YOU DOWN LIKE THAT RUN-DOWN LOOK.

As we made note of that preliminary to all sound job-hunting, one said: "But that is nothing but an old bromide. Everybody knows that."

The other hesitated and then offered casually: "Wait! From the very start everything is imper­sonal, isn't it? We are always going to be perfectly frank and straightforward with each other."

"Of course!"

"Well then, for heaven's sake, never wear that blue turban again."

The other looked startled for a moment, then smiled. "You're right. We go around taking our­selves for granted and are probably all wrong. Let's talk this thing through. I mean, definitely you will have to sit up straighter. You sort of slouch with…

…your feet way out, and it gives you a very odd look."

Before we entered that particular conversation, we had always regarded ourselves as two average, presentable women. By the time it was ended, we decided that our families, brothers, sisters, father and friends had been pretty long-suffering and extremely loyal. But we took measures, and we stepped ourselves up.

We went over our clothes, and each selected a plain but rather smart dress—one a dark blue, one a black, both with touches of crisp white. We gave some attention to make-up—nail polish on the dis­creet side, rouge and lipstick present, but with a very deft touch. Above all we strove for that gen­eral fresh-tubbed appearance of utter cleanliness.

We got family tips, too, in transit. "Watch your slip," warned one forthright brother. "Your slip and your heels. Who would hire an applicant if she came tottering in on runover heels or offered to thee public eye an inch or two of pink silk hem line?"

We took counsel about our hair, no mean point in the smoothness of any woman's grooming. We also saw to it that hats, gloves, scarfs, accessories, were as fresh and flawless as electric irons, whisk brooms and soap and water could make them.

As for posture, that rated the most serious atten­tion of all. We took our cue from the theater. Ac­tors by their very carriage know how to portray utter hopelessness and defeat—or their exact opposites. With heads up, shoulders lifted, and a light, elastic step, we could not help but feel the welling up of a new assurance and self-confidence.

Trifles, someone may say? No—essentials. For the years had taught us this truth: A job can be lost on just such details as a dejected bearing, straggling hair, a spotted tie or a hat that needs the brush.

Externally we were just about ready to go.

But not internally, Here was a real battle ground. In fact, it was our recognition of the tre­mendous struggle ahead for both of us that had brought us together as a working team. One of us had suffered a loss so devastating that the rest of life stretched out as something less than twilight. The other had had, in the midst of an illness al­most unto death, the shock of such serious financial reverses that for a time both physical and monetary recovery seemed impossible. In other words, we were forty, and had met just the sort of bitter ex­periences and hard knocks that are likely to come to all persons who have lived out two score years.

Yet we knew this much: Jobs and a sense of de-…

..spair do not go together. The defeatist outlook is death to opportunity, and had to be gotten rid of .it all costs. If every morning it meant a new dragon to slay, then each day would begin with a battle and we would see to it that we were the victors. For how could we expect an employer to believe in our abilities if we were so dispirited that we scarcely believed in them ourselves?

Well, we went after the problem as if it were totally unrelated to us. "We are human," we said in each other. "But our bodies and minds are good machines. They can be handled."

We made a compact to avoid discussing subjects that got us down and wrecked us. The luxury of grief and despair had proved too costly. Neither of us could afford any more of it. So one type of con­versation, one absorption, passed out of our lives. Passed, did we say? Rather, it was pulled out by the roots, and if most of us was torn out at the same time, that could not be helped.

Of course memory could not be blotted out, too. But we already had a method to deal with it. Our minds, like most people's minds, had only room for one thought at a time. The moment the past rushed in to take possession, we adopted drastic measures. Instead of trying to combat thoughts…

with other thoughts—a shattering, endless circle of futility—we did definite physical things that expe­riments presently showed us would actually change the content of our minds. With one of us a couple of cups of hot coffee put iron into the soul, with the other, a quick, cold shower. Sometimes it was an inspirational book, or a movie or a visit to a friend whose happy outlook always did us good. Occasionally it was a long, hard walk. Or perhaps a very frenzy of housework—with a zealous clean­ing of clothes closets, cupboards and bureaus. If other attempts failed, a visit to a certain hospital ward was an excellent antidote. But more effective than any outward action was the application of that whiplash of success—the unbeatable determi­nation to come back.

All through our flank attacks on jobs we were to call again and again on some simple, homely means to rouse the faltering spirit. But this was to be noted especially, that once the mind recognized that all coddling was finished and that we were again our own masters, fewer and fewer devices were required to keep the mental track clear.

Right from the beginning we literally ham­mered ourselves into line. In job-getting...

Step Two became:

ROOT OUT THE DEFEATIST ATTITUDE.

That, we realized, was the rock on which the jobless were most often shipwrecked. The feeling of discouragement, of despair, of panic, of rout, that came when rebuff was heaped upon rebuff, had to be handled. So under Step Two we now wrote:

A. Face your fears, then do something about them.

Meet the worst. Suppose the day did come when the landlord would no longer wait for the rent, food was low and bills piled high with no prospect of meeting them? Something still could be done, for it had to be done. Sitting around worrying could solve nothing. Maybe the immediate out would be to go home temporarily to parents. It might mean pawning an engagement ring, or a coat, or selling the watch case for old gold. You might have to move, you might have to ask help from relatives. Or you might have to do what many another good American has had to do for a time—go on relief. But whatever the out, it had to…

…be met in advance and decided upon so the frantic mind could get calm. Then, and then only, the next point became possible.

B.  Use all your thoughts in planning a campaign to get a job.

When you finally took yourself in hand, you were for the first time on the way to a real solution.

We faced our facts, and they were grave ones. We could hold the optimistic viewpoint, we could even believe it ourselves. But at that actual mo­ment no one actively—or passively, for that matter —wanted us to work for him.

There was no question about it. If we were to get jobs at all, we should have entirely to change the whole approach. We might, it is true, learn of jobs through the regular channels—through newspaper want ads, through employment agencies or through friends. But whatever the source of our informa­tion, in going after jobs we had to jerk ourselves out of a rut and fight with weapons that had never been used before.

So we boiled our ideas down to several searching questions, and made ourselves give an honest answer.

    Question: Who wants you to work for him? Answer: Nobody.

Question: Who wants more business or better service? Answer: Everybody.

Question: If you should show that you can pro­duce more business or better the service, who will want you?

Answer: Almost everybody.

All thought of the world owing us a living—if we ever had had such a thought—was thrown in­stantly into the discard. The world paid, just as we individually have always paid, for value received. If we—by our own admission—could bring nothing of value to any business, or individual, then we were self-convicted. So far as employment was con­cerned, we were worth exactly nothing.

What actually did we have to offer?

Under a column headed our assets we each began a list. Sense of responsibility we both wrote down. Then, Personal interest in what we under­take, Ability to make decisions, Balance, Toler­ance, Hard worker., Dependable, Good judgment.

Just the sort of qualities to be found in the average man or woman who has had experience and prof­ited by his past achievements and mistakes.

"That sounds very fine," one of us said. "And those qualities would be valuable to any employer once we had the chance to work for him. But our problem is to get the job. What specific abilities have we to offer that can actually win employ­ment?"

So Step Three became:

FlND YOUR EMPLOYABLE CHARACTERISTICS.

This is a treasure hunt that will take time but will certainly reward you. To help us in our search we followed a little plan:

A. List all the jobs you have ever held.

Include here any work you have ever done, such as part time jobs and even the minor positions that you have almost forgotten and which you had dur­ing school years. Leave nothing out, for an appar­ently unimportant job far in the past might come forward now as the way back to employment.

B. Put down all the special aptitudes that you have developed throughout your life.

There are all sorts of ways by which you may have attained them. Serving as scout master, per­haps, or organizing athletic events. Playing various instruments or leading group singing. Doing club work. Being a born salesman when it comes to helping put over benefits and card parties. Or maybe your garden is the one that stops all the cars. When you handle the church supper, perhaps business booms.

Or is your special talent efficient management of your home, clothes sense or a gift for arranging furniture? Or a knack with children, the sick and older people? Or skill in making and altering dresses? Possibly you are exceptionally clever in letter writing. Or you are an excellent bridge player. Or you are the one who wins honorable mention in the candid camera contest. Perhaps you are a whiz with a jig saw and a paint brush. Or you might be one of those rare mechanical geniuses who can take a car apart and put it together again, or who can drive like a breeze and can teach others lo do it, too.

Just take your time to dig up all your old skills. And while you are about it, consider what you may have learned in your father's line of business. That experience may be just the plus you need in order…

...to qualify for some particular job. You will prob­ably be surprised at the encouraging total of your abilities. And you can be sure that somewhere be­tween those lines lies your good value to some em­ployer.

Following our model, we worked for hours in assembling our list of employable characteristics. The net result could have been matched by myri­ads like ourselves who were temporarily at liberty. Once successful men and women who had been displaced by mergers or cutting down of forces, others whose own businesses had failed under the terrific strain of two depressions, persons who had been jolted out of jobs by some cruel turn of fate, or whose opportunities and funds had been de­pleted by long illnesses. Or young people who, though able, had been forced into a tide of unem­ployment far beyond their own depth.

When we felt that we had plumbed the depths of our experience and had unearthed every possi­bility that might have market value, we were ready for the next step. Now that we had lined up our job assets, what were we going to do with them?

Step Four then stood:

survey all possible fields for your talents.

The step was further amplified for our guidance.

A. Think of all lines of business and individuals who might make use of your abilities.

Who would have a market for what you have to sell: Department stores? Office buildings? Institu­tions? Hotels? Apartment houses? Private homes? Clubs? Insurance companies? Collection agencies? Landscape gardeners? Summer camps? Go through papers and magazines, talk among your acquaint­ances and friends, ask questions and follow any lead that might mean something.

B. Make a list.

Set down any sort of business that might be a possibility. Even if the likelihood is slight, put it down, since you want your line-up to be as inclu­sive as you can make it. For the next move depends on this list. It is to be your guide to the type of employers who might be interested in your serv­ices.

So Step Five became:

take your talents to market.

And our instructions to ourselves were very specific. They included:

A. Hunt for the job by reading.

Remember, as long as you are out of work, you have just one job. And that is to get a job. Every­thing you do ought to be colored by your eagerness to find work. Read every bit of news about job openings, of course. Comb the Help Wanted ads in the newspapers and trade journals. But do not stop there. The rest of the reading can be produc­tive, too. Magazine articles, business reports, ad­vertising, front page reading, have all sorts of val­uable hints. They show what new products are being offered by merchants and manufacturers, what businesses are building new departments, who is prosperous and who is not. In reading with this objective, there is one other value, too. It starts your mind back to hard and purposeful thinking, and makes it once more something with which to work.

B.  Use the Telephone Book.

Turn to the classified section of the telephone directory. Look under the fields in which you are interested. Note the names and firms that are given. These may give helpful suggestions as to who may be able to use what you have to offer.

Employment Agencies.

This may take a little time. Perhaps the first agency—or even the first half-dozen—may not seem to be the right one for you. You can tell when you find it, however, by certain unmistakable signs, will get a lift out of going there and feel that your problem is half solved. You will know that you have an interested and powerful connection that is going right after your case and does not in­tend to stop until you are placed.

D. Dig up an idea.

This is not as difficult as it sounds. Once you de­cide the business in which you think you ought to find a job, you begin to turn over all sorts of ways and means. Some of them may be brand new to you, and may sound like a good business-getting or money-making proposition. Actually they may never be adopted, but keep them and take them on the job hunt. At times, they may bring you past doors that are ordinarily closed to the person just looking for work.

And now comes the most important step of all in the job-getting formula. We have touched on it several times in the course of this chapter. In fact,