I've been job hunting lately - more of that another time - and it's been another of those experiences that teaches me a lot.
Today I was at a job fair, which is something I had dreaded, but which actually turned out to be quite fun. And I learnt I am quite good at selling myself - and might actually have something that employers want to 'buy'.
Such positivity was unthinkable a year ago, when my self-confidence was low and I couldn't imagine why anyone would want such a useless person as me on their team.
So I also learnt, again, just how far I have come.
But I was faced with an interesting dilemma - I've had to email a few CVs out to people and the usual signature on the bottom of my email is this blog address.
It was a hard decision to make to put it on there in the first place - it's one thing getting all this sort of stuff out in the ether but it's another to actively point people towards it.
But as the title suggests, I am not ashamed, and I don't care who reads this - to a point.
I have to confess that I did delete the signature when I sent out my CVs. And it's hard to explain why.
It's not because I am ashamed - if anything related to PND or depression or mental health came up in an interview I would happily discuss my experiences because I am proud of being here and I think it makes me a more empathetic person.
But it's also not the first impression I want to give people. My CV is a very positive document, as you would expect, and the covering notes that accompany it are also enthusiastic and professional.
And as that electronic version of me is what will decide whether I get as far as an interview or not then I want it to be as appealing as it can be.
There's a part of me that thinks I should leave the link on there and stuff them all but the realistic part of me knows the sort of world we live in, and that I need a job to pay the mortgage.
And while of course if a prospective employer took the time to trawl through these missives they would be suitably impressed with my strength of character and personal achievements, not to mention my wit and intelligence, it is more likely they would just click on the first page.
And if that happened to be a report of a bad day then my CV would be going the way of the world's economy, ie down the pan.
So for now I'm a candidate without mental health issues.
I do feel like I'm letting everyone down by hiding it in this way but the economic reality must take precedence here.
And of course once I get my shiny new well-paid job I will be directing all my new colleagues in this direction.....
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2 comments:
Hmmm, its a difficult call. But I think your health, mental or physical, should not come into a job application. If your signature had been a knee website how would you have felt about leaving it on/deleting it?
Agree. My take is - think 'who am I?'. Are you entirely dodgy knees and what you described, way back in July, as some "dodgy mental wiring" or are you Liz, who happens to have dodgy knees and wiring but a whole lot else besides, things that, as you said, employers might want to 'buy'.
Me, I think you're a lot more than your knees and your wiring! Yes, both have contributed in making you who you are today, which is different from who you were a few years ago and quite possibly, humans being what they are, from who you may be in a few years time.
So, in short (goodness me, about time, don't she wabbit and wabbit!) focus on the other aspects of Liz for job applications and emails. If you have more than one personal email address you could have one with usual sig for most purposes and one more forma one, without standard sig, for other purposes like this.
Good luck with the job hunting.
Love from "me-again", sometimes dodgy parts, sometimes someone with dodgy parts, and sometimes someone despite dodgy parts!
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