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Getting that first job

Why aim for the difficult jobs?

written by Michael Schmitz

Nothing is worse than wasted talent – which brings us to the true story of Sandra and Mr. Badger.

Sandra just finished her B.Sc. in Business. She is a lovely young lady who, at 23, already has this relaxed and bubbly kind of character that makes her likeable at first sight.

She cares about the things she does – whether she is baking a cake or listening to a friend – she takes care and is nice.

But now that she is about to apply for her first job in accounting, she begins to despair: There are only five entry-level positions open in her town, everything else requires a year or two of experience, which she obviously doesn’t have. And trying to be correct, she applies for these five positions – and only for them, which is quite sad for Mr. Badger.

Mr. Badger runs human resources for a mid-sized soap manufacturer.

He is 51, a grizzly veteran who worked his way up and who has seen quite a bit in his 30 years on the job.

A man who has seen both stellar performers (and quite often helped them get a chance to be stellar) and horrible failures (and quite often had to deal with the aftermath).

And right now, he has to clean up a bit – the department head from accounting just left and took two people with him to another company (producing gearboxes, luckily – not a direct competitor).

Filling the department head position is difficult enough, but finding someone to fill the other roles will also take some time: Ads are posted, and slowly, oh so slowly, a few applications come in.

Unfortunately for Sandra, the job offer she has seen required “a few years” of experience in accounting and “confidence in dealing with senior level executives” – and she didn’t apply.

For those in the know: Yes, accounting is difficult. And having a few years of experience certainly helps when compiling the books.

So maybe Sandra did well in not applying for that role – but we will never know, because Mr. Badger never had the chance to review her application.

But if he would have gotten it, he would have reviewed it. By hand. In silence.

Especially after Sandra would have put a lot effort into writing a wonderfully matching application letter describing her experiences and why she would be a good fit.

And he would have seen that Sandra has been the accountant for her boyfriend’s soccer club and that she finished her studies with good grades and did an internship of six months already.

That the tone of her letter was very nice, friendly and charming – and that she would like to talk a few minutes on the phone with Mr. Badger.

And maybe they would have talked about the position and the expectations Mr. Badger has for that role.

And maybe, just maybe, Mr. Badger would have asked her about the accounting she did (you can bet your mouse that he would have), and he would have told her something about what would be expected in the role, and he would have told her that she could work her way up, and he would certainly have liked to meet her in person and introduce her to the colleague who now is alone in the accounting department.

And then they would have met and her charm and experience would have convinced him.

Because honestly: One or two years of experience – stellar performers may catch up to this level in a few months, if they really care.

And Sandra would have cared, because this is what Sandra does. Unfortunately, all of this didn’t happen, because Sandra never applied. And that’s sad, because Mr. Badger’s company would have been ideal for Sandra.

But what could he have done?

Nothing, really, except lowering the requirements in the job ads, and then receive a lot of not-that-motivated application letters from people who don’t care.

But you care.

And that’s why you should prioritize your applications to apply for the difficult jobs first.

If they don’t accept you, they at least have seen your CV.

And if there is an entry-level position, they will likely tell you, because the same HR person is likely to know his area pretty well.

There is another benefit: If you apply for the normal roles, you feel like this is an exchangeable opportunity.

A start, an entry. Nothing more. But ah, the exceptional role? That demands exceptional effort.

And you are willing to go the extra mile (don’t write that on your CV – show that you are doing it!).

You will research the role. The company. The hiring manager, the HR person. And you will send them a nice email, asking for the right things (see that article), and maybe they will speak with you on the phone.

And then you will either be a good fit for this opportunity, or they might offer you something else, but at least you are connected and you have a chance.

And if that doesn’t work, and you went through all the advanced roles and applied for them, then you should have a network of decision makers.

People you spoke with, people who like you and people who might want to hire you for another role.

And you can still apply for the entry level roles.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Prioritize the best things first – and aim higher than you think you should.

And what happened to Sandra? In real life, she did apply and later became a managing director, leading a whole department of 600 employees at the age of 27.

You could be another Sandra. But only if you care. And try.