Career Advice

School’s done! Hit the pavement and bury them books. Life is lit! No more humiliating summer gigs or unpaid internships. The feverish search for a real job’s on.

Why did those fools let me go? The question haunts you after losing a job for unexplained reasons, which is the case in most dismissals. Finding out what’s behind the axing is like pulling a sword from the stone. Neither tears nor tantrums are likely to budge it from the employer.

Every new job’s got a learning curve. If that curve proves steeper than a plunge from Mt. Everest, problems mount quickly. Small tasks don’t get done. Minor mistakes snowball into an avalanche of errors. Deadlines whoosh by unmet. Word spreads you can’t hack it. That you’re way over your head.

Let’s all rub our crystal balls. Mmm, maybe a bit more. Now predict if you could survive a nasty setback to Canada’s economy. Is your job safe if things go downhill?

You’re the elite of the elite. A top prospect most employers slobber over. You’re not looking to plunk your tush just anywhere. Only at the tiny fraction of companies atop their industry’s pyramid. Emblazoning their name on your resume is the height of employment prestige. Friends will ooh and ahh. Waiters will seat you at the finest tables.

Get out! For real. Leave artificial lighting and stale building air behind. Let office-bound colleagues turn pasty and soft indoors. You’re meant to earn a living outside. Communing with nature. Hugging trees (consensually). Soaking up sun or snow instead of longingly looking out windows.

Ways to get noticed, not nixed, by the latest recruiting AI. Busy be the bots that filter incoming resumes. More employers than ever scan your application electronically. Less so at small companies, but you never know who does and doesn’t. Which is why you’ve always got to satisfy AI. Since algorithms might be parsing your words almost instantly, feed ‘em the good stuff. Otherwise, you could stay invisible to hiring managers and recruiters.

Even hermits sometimes have to work in groups, so deal with it. Loners are a breed apart. Literally. They gravitate to jobs for people who dislike - people. Teamwork seems like a toxic task.

If you’re hell-bent on winning at all costs, at least leave the innocent intact. Ruthless people litter pop culture. You can hardly stream a channel or mime a meme without cruel themes. And those mind-numbing reality shows? Competition-crushing opponents pitilessly – is the constant goal. Except, at work, brutal treachery can backfire. Violates a code of conduct or two. Paints perps as bright red targets.