As most of you know, I’m in the process of finding a job to expand my knowledge in the C#/.net development area. The job hunt is going semi alright, well, i still haven’t found one yet. Which for the most part isn’t that worrying because i’m getting one to expand my knowledge and work on larger projects, not because I’m sick of Internet Marketing. With that being so, I haven’t really busted my balls applying for jobs that don’t really suit. I’ve only really applied for ones that i think I would really really enjoy working for. As a side note, I’ve had an interview + communication with a Paypal like company that operates in New Zealand. They are basically an online payment gateway, and apparently (From people I’ve spoken to), easily the best in the country. I don’t really want to name them, but anyway, that’s not the point of this post.

One thing I’ve known for a long time, is that some of the best jobs don’t get listed online. Recruitment companies have hundreds of CV’s on file, and usually call existing clients rather then go through a bunch of interviews with no hopers. With that in mind I’ve been calling them directly, no more BS waiting online for things to get listed.

At first I have to admit, I was pretty nervous. There is lots of talk lately about “Blacklists“. Which basically means that if you go to an interview, and BS your way through it, or you are obviously a dickhead. You get placed on a blacklist which is shared around between companies/employers/recruiters. So that when you apply for jobs later on, they don’t bother getting back to you cause they already know your a retard.  In New Zealand its actually illegal, much like discriminating against looks and race. I mean your not supposed to, but if your running a call center, can you really afford to “not” discriminate against another race if their accent is going to get in the way?   Your not supposed to, but it happens.

I thought for sure that if i call them and either sound real cocky, or come across as too confident, that I might have one of those black marks next to my name. But to my surprise when i called them, they were really bending over backwards to accommodate me. I think I had forgotten the most important thing, these people are making a living off me. Matching me with a job could earn them thousands. And by talking to me on the phone, they aren’t losing anything…

Forgetting about the blacklists for a second, if i call them and it doesn’t go well and they say “sorry, nothing matches your profile”. Then what have i lost? 10 minutes later someone else will call them and probably get the same reply. These guys do it for a living so it all mashes into one and they will never remember your name.

This is super true for one recruitment company that i think almost all of my friends have been through. Years ago when i finished my System Engineering qualifications, i was applying for a tonne of jobs to do with Microsoft Networking and Administration.  It was almost a running joke between me and my friends, that this one guy from a rather large recruitment company, would always call us and talk to us on the phone. And then say the infamous “Ok will get back to you” or “I’ll forward on the details”. Ofcourse that never happened. And it wasn’t just me, everyone got the run around from this guy.  I’m sure he did put notes down for our calls, but so often he would call us up for other job opportunities, or we would call his company and get him, and he wouldn’t recognise us at all.

Funnily enough I even got this same guy, that i had spoken to all that time ago, on the phone a couple of days ago. And once again, he didn’t remember me (Not that i prompted him or tried to remind him). And he forwarded me on a job profile that he thought fitted well with what i was after. (Although i’m just waiting for the “Ill get back to you” line).

It reminded me alot of how online, people seem afraid to contact others to do ventures together. Or to co-promote. Ofcourse things have to be win-win for it to work. But most of the time people are more then happy to gather another stream of income.  Personally, people have come to me with an application idea and said, “I’ve been wanting to do this for ages, but I didn’t want to just come out of the blue to you”. Why not?

Chances are I’m going to tread on you for all of 5 seconds and tell you your idea is hopeless and wont work. But that will seriously only be a moment in time, and then I will forget about it. You think people haven’t come to me with piss poor ideas for applications before? I get tonnes, but sitting here right now writing this post. I couldn’t tell you the names of the people at all. Hell even the ideas are pretty vague in my head right now so I cant even tell you what i turned down.

But there is always a small chance that ill say “hell yeah! lets get going”. And we go on to make a successful venture together.

Once again, don’t be afraid to contact people straight off the bat with ideas you have going.  It does not hurt one bit, and your embarrassment for being turned down will only be a tiny smidgen in your life compared to how much time you will devote when you find that guy who will help you.