About job applications

 Today I was pleasantly surprised.

I took the opportunity to reach out to a company I wanted to apply for a job with. It was the first time I pushed myself to contact someone for "any questions" from a job posting and I was ever so delighted to hear a lovely, bubbly voice on the other end, it helped me slip back into my "phone voice" after weeks of limited conversation with anyone but my cat.

Amongst other things, I wanted to ask her about the specific requirements, especially regarding technical knowledge, as all specifics were purely listed under 'desirable' and not 'essential'. The job description was everything I was looking for, meaning that this is not the first job I would be applying for with the same or similar title. However, most of these previous postings were all throwing software names at you from all kind of angles, as if the person applying used to be managing the position in question and they decided, they had enough of the higher salary.

Don't get me wrong, I love spending lockdown(s) learning new systems. And having been through many job descriptions, I have a hefty list to tick off. While it's all well and good to learn them on Open University, Google Academics or Udacity (where I am currently completing a free course for SQL), all I have is theoretical knowledge. And as my list grows and grows from one job posting to another, it makes me wonder how many people already hired started their roles with not just knowledge but experience of all the systems they had to use in their years of employment? I know that we are living through tough times and many experienced and trained people have lost their jobs, in turn making the candidate pool even more qualified, but what happened to taking a chance on someone? To see potential that can be shaped to by the company, someone with the brains and ambition to learn, without any pre-learnt bad habits?

Today I was pleasantly surprised.

The Line Manager explained their flexibility, that although they have preferred programs, tools and systems, they are not necessarily set in stone, and if the candidate has working knowledge of other platforms, they would be happy to adapt or invest in those. In fact, if the right candidate might lack this specific skill they have many training courses to rectify that, as long as the person shows willingness and ability to learn, as long as the eye for detail an design is there, they can show you how to hold the paint brush. It gave me hope that one day I will finally get to be in a position where I can use all my acquired skills from the lockdown(s). Oh and my whole master's degree.

Today I was pleasantly surprised. That phone call was more refreshing than a perfectly mixed Pimm's and lemonade in the summer heat.