In the MOT Slack, @nat brought up an important topic - How to support those who are currently looking for work:
On my way to work this morning I had some thought I didn’t know how to answer well. I asked myself how best to support an ex-colleague/friend/partner who is looking for a job for a long time (6+ months)? Especially if it’s their first time they are in that situation.
What would be your advice, supportive ideas or mechanism if you were in such situation or already experiencing it?
How would you respond? What little things do you do to support those who are currently looking for work when the job market feels so wild?
What I would do (and what I wish people did for me initially) is just reach out for a chat.
Give them the space to vent if they want or just talk about anything.
What I would say you shouldn’t do is say things like “It’s only a matter of time”, “You’ll get something soon” etc. This will start to get pretty frustrating for the person if they have to hear it over and over again (in my experience).
I think the best thing is checking in and being available for someone. Searching for a job can put you in a very dark place mentally and you might not always think to reach out for help.
Knowing people care enough about you to reach out to you can really mean a lot.
A couple of years ago we had redundancies and some of my team were affected. When I spoke to the remainder of the team about it I honestly got quite emotional in front of them. I invested my time in building a team, I cared about everyone in it so we all felt that pain. I honestly felt a little shame in not being able to prevent it - even though it was decision totally out of my control.
But I turned that moment of feeling helpless to focus on making sure they found other roles, asking them what extra help they needed from me and did whatever I could. I didn’t stop checking in with them until they’d all found a role.
Even after that, I have a reminder, in my diary to make sure I check in on them every couple of weeks. Some will move on and I respect that, but others I keep in contact with, still give them advice if they need it but ultimately just take an interest in their success - personally and professionally.
I’m also wondering how to best help my job-seeking friends. I haven’t worked full time in a few years so my job opportunity network has shrunk. I ask job-seekers if they’d like to have a video chat, it can help just to talk. I ask them to let me know if they’ve posted on LinkedIn so I can re-post, and if they’d like me to do a reference or whatever that’s called on LinkedIn. I haven’t come up with any more creative ideas, so thanks for this topic!
Thanks Eamon sharing the things that would frustrate people. I felt somehow saying again and again “It’s only a matter of time” is even annoying me who said it also. I have not idea how long it would take - a week, month, etc. and I can’t imagine how hard it is to wait when it happens.
The most important thing we can do is to be kind and understand their situation, because if we see the condition of economy around us then anyone can find themselves in a similar situation at any moment.
Apart from that, I guide people on how to start with testing or automation testing, whoever messages me on LinkedIn. Apart from that, I share information in various testing communities to help people learn something unique that can assist them in upskilling.
And again, I ask people to join communities like MoT and enhance their networking.
I also give a referral or forward the resumes in my circle if there is any suitable opening in my company or my friend’s company for someone.
Encourage people to create a portfolio and github profile.
And lastly, giving resume feedback… (this one only for freshers )
Hey there, why do I feel like choking up in tears every time someone asks or voluntarily tries to help?
I admire @Nat for trying to bring this up, and I resonate with what @eamond15 said about “it’s only a matter of time” (yes, we just need to keep moving) and about how meaningful it is when thoughtful people just checks on you from time to time.
Personally I would reach a mental block when someone says “How can I help?” because anything I would say already feels like a big ask (like resume-review, open-role referral, etc.) because I don’t want to take too much of a good person’s time. Knowing people are open and ready to help is already a huge deal for me and is enough to cheer me up usually.
This place is already a gold mine of people and articles and topics to read and participate in. It’s like a string to hold and keep track while still immersing in QA. And it feels like finding an inspiration to keep going is just a search (or a pm, or a stage invite) away when times are hard
Like their open to work or posts on linkedin. I got my current role from someone liking my post and my boss saw it and reached out for a chat
Share job openings with your network, in a slack channel or to the individual
If you can recommend them, give them a recommendation on LinkedIn or offer a reference
Connect them with people you know
Be there to listen!
CV reviews
Share knowledge and experience. This might be something they can share in an interview. For example how do they keep up to date with trends? “Well there is this amazing community MoT”
I have people in life whose been job hunting for months now, n i have been there myself as well recently and trust me emotional toll can be very heavy, knowing that someone is out there to support and listen to you and offering micro support helps alot in this tough time
If someone is trying for months then obviously he/she might have tried n no of things, so directly telling them do this, try this …is only going frustrate the person, coz guess what they might have already done n tried that already.
Instead keeping it simple , Let me know if i can help or asking what part of the job hunting process feels hardest now , the waiting, the applying, the interviews…
Then this opens up real conversations without any assumptions.
Then offer to support in tangible way n not just vague oral moral support.
Also sometimes have conversations based on their identity what makes them truly unique, what are their good at it also helps,…the person’s identity is not tagged only to their job title, it is beyond that. Having conversations around it may even spark or unlock new opportunities one can explore they might have not thought of it before.
