Yes, I can do that!

I’m reading, trying to make sense of it. Making notes to help me. But now the words are starting to blur.

I stop. Put it all to one side.

 

I go back to it again, later. I read the first paragraph and feel my mind starting to wander. I look again at the length of it, and inwardly sigh.

 

The job description is long. So long I’ve not yet read it through and made sense of it all. I’m looking for a new role, a new challenge, something that will broaden and deepen my skills and experience. Judging from how long the job description is, this one would certainly do that. But do I really want to do three-jobs-in-one?

 

This isn’t the only job description like it. So many I’ve read seem to be covering all possibilities and eventualities. It’s like they want someone with superhuman qualities. The more I read the more meaningless the words become. I’m not sure what it really is they want to the person appointed to do. So if that’s the case, how could I make it a success? Yet, if I don’t do something it’s me who’s stuck.

 

I start again. I ignore the job description. I start with the person spec. Yes or no – do I have the skills experience and qualities they’ve specified?

I sift through them and discard the ones where I lack something essential and retain the ones which I fit.

I look again at the job description, this time in brief. Do I really want to go for this?

 

No, not really. It’s the same as what I’m doing now. And I’m looking for something different.

 

I look back at the discard pile. I re-examine the person specifications again. Okay, for some I simply don’t have the qualifications for, however interesting the job might be. For others…

…I start to think more carefully…

…there are some examples I could give…

…but is that actually enough?

 

I pick one out. I quickly look at the job description. This will certainly be a stretch. Well there’s only one way to find out if they might be interested in me…

 

I open up the application form. And freeze. So much information to add. The sigh comes from the pit of my stomach. I close my eyes and take a breath. I start with the personal information…

 

Now I’m at the personal statement. The part to really ‘sell’ yourself. My mind is blank. What was it I was thinking when I started this?

 

I leave it. Something for another day.

 

I haven’t gone back to it yet. It’s sitting there and the deadline is looming. It’s nagging at me, gnawing away, I know I should finish it, but it’s making me feel uncomfortable when I think about sitting down to do it.

 

Oh! That’s a good example…

 

I’m walking down the road and a recent situation pops into my head. I realise that that could be a good way to illustrate one of the criteria in the person specification of the application I’ve been putting off. I stop and make myself a reminder.

 

It’s finished and submitted. And the relief feels wonderful. I have no idea if it’ll be successful or not, but simply getting something down was good.

And as I read through my statement again, I realise I’ve written up some good examples of a range of skills and experience. Perhaps one of the reasons it’s taken me so much time and energy is because I’ve really examined and appreciated what I’ve accomplished and tried to convey that in my examples. It’s not been an easy thing to do.

So I keep those examples. I create a new space for them. I start to add to them. I begin to build a whole set of them. And just once in a while I read back through them and remember some of my achievements.

 

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I’ve been successful. Secured a new role. I didn’t quite have all the essential experience on paper, but I was invited for interview and then offered the role.

There’s lots to get to grips with. New systems and processes I have to get familiar with. Greater responsibility to deal with. That’s good though, I wanted a challenge. Something to stretch me. So I feel like I’m learning again.


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Looking back at my experiences of seeking new roles and challenges, I realise how daunted I was when faced with descriptions of what felt like impossible jobs. Yet working my way through by applying for those jobs, helped me to appreciate my achievements and realise that yes, I can do that!