Many small business owners in Washington State receive numerous resume’s over the last couple years and our office is no different. With the economic issues surrounding us and the slow slog of the real estate market trying to find some equilibrium without “intervention,” scores of real estate related jobs have been shed over the last three years.
Many former workers that have been laid off from mortgage, title and escrow related fields submit resume’s as a matter of protocol due to unemployment benefit requirements. Employers understand this but once in a while a gem comes across you as it did us earlier this week.
Here is why the individual caught my attention.
I didn’t receive a resume via fax. I didn’t receive a resume in the mail, again and again. I didn’t receive the resume by e-mail. The individual stared at us face to face by taking the time out of their day and shook my hand and introduced herself to us in person. Call me old fashioned, but the impression you leave by being professionally presented and having an authentic conversation, unscripted and raw, going in knowing you will be rejected 9 out of 10 times and still having the COURAGE to look up a company and personally drive to the office not knowing how you will be received, will always receive high consideration of getting an interview at our office.
All the best to those who are looking for work in 2010. Keep your chin up and remember this: as Warren Buffett said in his interview this past November at Columbia University in New York, “betting against America and it’s economic engine is a bet I would never wager.”
Tim I agree completely. There is something to be said for someone who dresses for success and is willing to drive to an office knowing they will likely be told no but still gives it there best effort. It really bothers me when someone walks into our office in their bedroom slippers and pajama pants (don’t laugh, it happens more then many people realize) then hand over the unemployment form and say “Can you sign this for me?” I generally tell them no I can’t unless you fill out an application.
I really like underdogs that don’t necessarily have certain credentials, but absolutely show the spirit of going after something with the odds stacked against them. It was actually quite inspirational.
Being raised in the Depression by a Sales Manager father, I can appreciate what Tim has written above. J-
Hope everyone recovers with what the economy brings us today. We’ll surpass it all even though it’s risky…
I’ve stuck my neck out again on my PI.com Blog: JG
http://blog.seattlepi.com/northwestmodernhomes/
“betting against America and it’s economic engine is a bet I would never wager.
Ray, congrats on the anticipated 4th! Busy household!
Are any of you unemployed or have you been unemployed for more than one year. Everybody is concerened about taxes going up or this or that but no one has a clue about what it is like to have to live on the street because his or her unemployment checks are no longer going to pay the bill or even the rent.
I can almost bet most who comment to this blog are more worried about their shopping list for the holiday than whats going on in america to the thousands maybe millions of people who do not have employment. And yet no one is doing a thing about it either. I had a job where people where being fired unjustly and everyone and I mean everyone looked the other way.
It seems to me that North Americans are ok with what happens to others as long as it doesn’t happened to them. Their thinking goes something like this I’ll just grab a drink after work and wash this feeling down with the liquor in the bottle or I’ll just walk in the opposite direction to escape my feelings of watching that homeless person walking down the street as long as it does’t touch me.
Lies, Lies, Lies. One of these days what you turn your back on will turn on you. This is what history teaches us and now we are living proof of the callous generation we have become.
Happy Holidays to us all ,
we got what we deserved and I’m sure there is more to come.