Learning About the Job Hunt from Ferris Bueller
Found in The Wall Street Journal
By John Brownrigg
John Brownrigg was a senior manager at Corporex Companies LLC, a real estate development company. Mr. Brownrigg, 54, was laid off in August 2008 after almost two years with the company. Previously, he worked on commercial real estate and construction projects for General Electric, Ericsson and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He earned an M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1984. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife and two children.
Does anyone else remember this scene from one of my favorite movies of the 1980’s, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”?
“Teacher (played by Ben Stein): Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
Simone (played by Kristy Swanson): Um, he’s sick. My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it’s pretty serious.
Teacher: Thank you, Simone
Simone: No problem whatsoever.”
Talk about networking — Simone had it covered! Although her information wasn’t exactly correct, (Ferris skipped school that day for a trip into Chicago), her network went eight layers deep within about 12 hours, back in the days before cell phones, texting, and YouTube. If Simone had used her network to find a job, she’d be CEO of Paramount Pictures by now.
While I’m not quite up to Simone’s standards, I am currently one of two remaining candidates for a position where my network includes my brother in Denver, my brother-in-law in Massachusetts, family friends in New York City, an ex-co-worker in Kentucky, another ex-coworker in Florida, and my wife for a job in Cincinnati. All of these people have provided me information or assistance for this specific opportunity. Without them, I would have missed the job opening all together. Which is not bad for me.
Another quote from the movie, is when Ferris proclaims: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” For the past year, I have been looking for a job — searching internet job boards, reading company web sites, establishing user accounts, filling out applications, anti-ATS-ing my resume (making sure to include all of the key words in the job description), making a relevant and interesting cover letter, monitoring job pages — taking lots of time and effort. The responses from the companies for my efforts are more or less non-existent, and are almost never positive. While I know that “attitude is everything,” it has been very difficult for me to remain positive amongst all the rejection.
I try to keep things in perspective — life is too short. I believe that a qualified, hard-working, value-added employee will always be needed. It is just a matter of time for me to find the right fit and I’ll be back in the ranks of the employed. I need to follow Ferris’s lead and take some time to laugh and enjoy the things I like to do. I won’t let job hunting get me down while my life passes me by.
Readers, what movies or books do you find inspiring and uplifting as you continue your search? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
8 Responsesto “Learning About the Job Hunt from Ferris Bueller”
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Finding a good job can be pretty troublesome. Especially when you have high expectations.
Here are some tips that helped me land the job of my dreams:
* You need to have a professional written resume. If you are not an expert, you could consider hiring one.
* Take into consideration what skills do you have. You may have more choices if you consider additional job titles.
* Look for jobs in every possible source : internet, newspaper, radio and other media. Ask your friends that have similar jobs if there may be an opening in their company.
* You need to be proactive about this. Don’t just email them, make sure to call the HR department to have them confirm your resume.
Finding a job is pretty much a job in itself and it’s all about how well can you market your abilities.
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