With the economy faltering every which way, and with so many layoffs in just about every industrial sector, it is small wonder that out-of-work employees are getting desperate. There are bills to pay, kids to feed. There are the school pyaments, car payments, every other kind of payment. Even if you cut back from your home-equity-hocked up to here lifestyle of times now gone by, most of us still struggle too keep afloat. When you are out of work, that struggle looms that much more desperate.
So how to get a job? There are any number of methods. Networking is best, provided the people with whom you are networking are still working themselves. My one take on all the supposed networking events is that a bunch of out or work people are prevailing upon other out of work people for either business opportunities or a job. That is kind of like an online dating site where the prospects have bull swanked each other on all their amazing assets. Including their looks. Given all preemployment screening thresholds, appearance and personality will be key factors when between two candidates all other skills are equal.
Which brings up another interesting aspect of the job search. You have to look good. I know for the past couple of decades there was prevailing edict infused in our society that the world should love us for what we are. Accept us the way I am, was one of the pervasive mantras on all the TV talk shoes and self-help publications, etc. Forget the fact that it flew in the face of reality. Most people are more accepting of attractive and well groomed people. That’s how it is. That is how it will be. And now, job seekers are finding out this is the case.
Mind you, not all of us can be models or hunks. And I am not the one to say otherwise. It is a matter of looking your best. A matter of presentation. My one friend who is in the executive placement business told her sister that if she looks frumpy she will not get hired. Her sister repsonded, “that’s not fair.” Nobody is talking fair here. This is an economic meltdown and employers are looking for every edge. One aspect of the edge is hiring people with the type of presentation that will appeal to clients.
According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, job seekers in China are resorting to plastic surgery. This may take job hunting preparation a little too far, but we are living in desperate times. Sad, but desperate. China’s economy is in the dumper big time, so employment candidates are resorting to cosmetic surgery. Some of the more desperate or more intrepid, read it as you are wont to do, are even resorting to leg lengthening surgeries. The subject themselves to a great deal of pain in purse and on person in order to have their legs lenghtened to be a more appealing job candidate. I will spare you the details of the operation.
So the Chinese have taken preparation for job hunting to the extreme. Or at least we could say they have gone a whole lot further than dying their hair. Or getting Botox shots. I realize it may sound crazy to us, to put oneself through such arduous and painful processes just to get a job. It sounds crazy to me. But then, what do we know. We’re the ones who owe them money.
Check them out before you hire.
