Thanks to the lockdown, it’s helped slow the spread of the coronavirus in the community. Together, we’ve saved lives. As the curve has flattened in many parts of the world, Australia for example have begun to ease restrictions imposed during the peak of the pandemic. Now those words on every politician’s lips are “It’s time to save the economy!”
We don’t need to be reminded that the unemployment rate is on the rise, it’s right in our faces.
Lat night I heard on the news that Australia has officially entered recession. It didn’t surprise me.
In the past two months, I’ve sent out a few more job applications, roughly about one per week on average, as opposed to one per day when I first started back in January. Not that I’ve become lazier. A scarcity of job openings in the market means job seekers like me are faced with more fierce competition among others.
The job I applied for last week, up till now, there are 249 applicants in total as indicated on LinkedIn. I’ll keep it simple and round it down to 200. So, statistically speaking, if they’re going to take 10 people in the first round, my chances of being shortlisted are super slim – just 5 percent, that’s only 5 people in every 100 applicants. And to make things worse, to be the finalist, the final winner to get the job, the number looks sickeningly skinny, just 0.5 percent. As you can see, I’ve done the math. Odds are against every job seeker out there.
But luckily, job hunting is not like winning the lottery. We don’t need to reply on pure luck alone. The more jobs we apply for, the more we learn how to do better the next time. It’s not rocket science. It’s really no big deal when you think about it. All it takes is practice, practice and practice.
Looking back, the job I landed in March this year, the company decided to take down the ad once the number of applicants had hit 60, regardless the closing date. Of course, in the process I had no idea who I was up against. All I knew was, I got the call, sat for 2 interviews, passed the reference check and the police check. At the end, I ticked all the boxes and took home the one and only trophy. It was a small win. But a win is a win, now I use it as a confidence booster and a benchmark for next job search success.
Of course, time is different now, it’s going to get harder and harder. Job creation just can’t keep up with the pace of unemployment. OK, but that’s nothing new. Since job is never easy to come by anyway, there’s no reason to get worked up about statistics. Let’s be strategic about it instead.
For me, no matter how scarce the jobs are, no matter how scary those figures look like, before I can get my foot in the door, I will always follow one timeless formula: You’ve got to be in it to win it.
Ted Tsai 