Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Positions

I got a request from a French girl I know -- not a conversation partner, but a friend -- to see if I could help her get the word out that she's looking for a job.  Things continue to be tough in France -- the most recent unemployent rate is about 10.6 percent -- and she's been looking for at least a year. 

Of course I said I would -- I sent notes to four or five French people I know, none of whom work in her desired field (import/export), but all of whom said sure, they'd look at her resume, and if it rang any bells, or if they knew of anyone who'd be interested, they'd pass it on.

It reminded me of a comment that my daughter made to me not too long ago, asking why there wasn't a national database of available jobs, or at least a way of evaluating your skills and desires against jobs that were currently filled.  It seems like everyone has some kind of evaluation criteria, and everyone has suggestions, but when it comes right down to it -- the only consistent comment is network.  Get the resume out there.  Spread it all over the place.

If you happen to know of anyone who needs an eager 22 year old who's fluent in French, competent in English, speaks a little Mandarin, and has been an intern in China..... drop me a line.

Thanks.

2 comments:

Tabor said...

network, network, network. Most of the jobs I finally got or that people I know got were due to networks! With tons of resumes, it is the only thing that helps humanize a candidate.

Cerulean Bill said...

I joked to a friend that she could print off a thousand copies of the girl's resume and hand them out on street corners in Paris.... except that I was not really joking. Thats supposed to be the magic of LinkedIn and all of its clones....