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Do you love your job?
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Do you love your job?

on 18 November 2020

​If you answer this question honestly you should be able to realise whether you should consider other job opportunities or not. Working in a dead end job does no good for the body and mind, but then on the other hand how many of us have that courage to move out of the comfort zone into the unknown?

Why is it important to love your job?

Being a recruiter I come across all sorts of candidates, from those that cannot stick to a job, to those that – despite feeling totally unhappy cannot find the courage to try something else.

Attending an interview with a recruitment agency is already a sign that not all is good in the present job. During the course of the interview, among other questions, we always ask ‘what a person likes and dislikes in the existing job’ and from the answer we can assess whether the candidate is in desperate need of a new challenge or whether the candidate just needs to have a one-to-one open conversation with their employer or manager.

Opening up with one’s manager is not an easy task, however without overcoming that threshold one would not know what the outcome would be. Business owners and managers do not know how every employee is feeling and unless an employee expresses his/her feelings employers would not realise that they need to offer better conditions in order to keep their top employees. These meetings need to be open but well-planned with suggestions that could offer a better working environment for all concerned.

Once a decision to move on is taken, candidates need to then identify what they really love. If during this process they realise that they don’t have the right qualifications for the desired job then they need to take appropriate action to achieve such qualifications. Having said this, statistics from our database of interviewed candidates shows that actually very few qualified candidates actually work in their ‘dream job’.

Opportunities to further one’s studies today are countless. Apart from university, today candidates are spoilt for choice with regards to selecting the subject they wish to pursue. If time is an issue, then one could easily opt for an evening course. If this is also an issue for some reason, there is the opportunity of doing it by correspondence. The options are there for the taking.  It’s just a matter of making the decision to go for it.

Once the decision of searching for another job has been made, the next step would be to prepare a well-drafted CV. Ideas on how to draft a CV can easily be downloaded from the internet. However vital information such as clearly explaining the roles and duties covered in each employment are important items to include. Other important aspects such as the date commenced and the date of when the employment was terminated including the reason for leaving the job are also important and sometimes omitted from CV’s. Finally, checking for any spelling mistakes is crucial. This might sound obvious however – believe me – the amount of mistakes one comes across when viewing CV’s is quite amazing and unfortunately gives a bad first impression. If one is unfamiliar with ‘spell check’ then the next best thing is to get a close friend or a family member to read your CV for feedback.

Prior to taking the leap and accepting a job, the candidate and prospective employer would have had a number of meetings to see if there is a positive mutual feeling and understanding. Apart from this, further research should be done on the company in order to truly understand the company’s philosophy. One important aspect which is sometimes erroneously overlooked is to ask the prospective employer to provide an employment contract with a job description. It is extremely important for both the employer and the employee to have this signed by both parties for the avoidance of future problems. Apart from the usual conditions such as the duties and functions, remuneration, commission, leave entitlement, data protection issues, a proper employment contract should also include working hours, conditions for leave entitlement and reporting structure.

A recruitment agency is there not only to match an employer with an employee but more importantly to give advice to candidates and guide them in the proper direction. Advice can be given in different forms, from preparing for an interview to also assisting them in drafting out a well-structured and detailed CV. We recruiters love what we do, so should you.

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