Cat in hell's chance of getting a job

I remember going to secondary school and at the point I was about to leave there was a chance to talk to a careers adviser. It was a completely non eventful event, to the extent the only thing I can recall was sitting in a small cramped room and not getting any advise of much use at all. Leaving secondary school was about getting a job and earning money. The word career is a flowered up word and it really didn't dupe anybody at all. I'll not talk about apprenticeships because as far as I could tell these were like mythical creatures, it was only those who had some nepotistic connection who were going to get a job through an apprenticeship. You might as well ask a dyslexic to do the Times crossword puzzle with a blunt pencil. The dyslexic would have a greater chance of getting the clues than an ordinary person looking for an apprenticeship. These memories come back to me as I trawl through the job adverts in Scotland per my partner's (Sparkling Eyes) request. The thing I always knew at the time was I had the capability and potential to do quite a lot of different jobs, but not a cat in hell's chance of being given an opportunity. With such knowledge you get to despise anyone who has a job and is an idiot. It frankly makes you feel worse than them. But nepotism is rife in the world and it is necessary, because otherwise all the idiots would be claiming welfare benefits, rather than a proportion of them. While the other proportion work away in jobs which don't change a great deal. I know what Sparkling is worth, and it is a lot, a hell of a lot. Qualifications are barriers to capable intelligent people who don't have them. I'm sure a lot of qualified people out there have posts and their colleagues wonder how the hell they got where they are. There's probably even a few directors. Nope, there is no doubt in my mind, being intelligent or not being intelligent has little consequence to being employable. Although the natural assumption is someone who is savvy would be in a better position.

I looked through the jobs available. It is a depressing thing looking through job adverts, it is like the adverts have been worded for very specific people. Employers don't want to give a non experienced person a chance. They don't even consider it would be an advantage to take someone on into a job who has enthusiasm and desire to learn and do a good job.  They just want to look for someone who ticks the boxes. All I can say is I hope they get the right person who ticks the boxes and then they find out they made the worst decision ever. Just take a look around your workplace, there's bound to be a few of these persons there. Once they are in they don't get out, they cling with both hands in vice like grips. They have no ability to think outside of the box because they only want to think in the box and conform all the time. They are the kind of people who watch soaps every night on TV and then spend the rest of the day talking about what they watched. Therefore a second item can be added to the unnecessary prerequisites of being employed. Which is having a personality. There is no barrier to having the boring, depressive and sycophants from being perpetually employed. They perpetually enjoy their rewards as much as the less than average crossword solvers.

For the job candidate there's no doubt times are tough. For the employer I'd say get some brains think about what you are doing and think about the group of people you would not normally consider. The watch words are transferable skills, enthusiasm, motivation, adaptability and there are many others to go along. I saw a great vid on TED Talks the other day. The talker said, when you employ someone, don't employ someone because they have the skills and because they have the qualifications, employ someone who has the same dream as you do. You will get a lot more out of them than the hours pay they get. They will do it because they like doing it and they are passionate about it. It's a shame employers don't have a way to measure the passion of their candidates. Especially the ones who don't fit the overly specified job adverts. They would find a few gold nougats, one of them is Sparkling. I might be a little bias in what I say, but hell I know I'm also completely right. Shame others don't give real opportunities to those who really need them.

Wanted, highly dyslexic cryptographer, related by blood, loves evening TV and bores the hind legs off a donkey.  Damn this job advert is going to be inundated.