Imaginif...the spirit of Christmas lasted.

In a constipated employment market, job seekers need a competitive advantage to get a job. A competitive advantage is a quality or skill that will win you a job over the 100 other people also attempting to get that same job. My competitive advantage is my education, my experience and my profile. Add to that my tenacity, my self esteem and my work ethic and I am exactly the sort of person I would employ. How about you though? What makes you job ready?

We are assisting our 16 year old daughter to get a job. She has dropped out of her final year of high school, refuses to go back and would rather earn some money than pursue other education at present.  She wants to do Aquaculture but the course does not begin until next January. Off to work then, but…..she has little experience and is very  naive.

In a tourist mecca where the bottom has fallen out of tourism due to the Global Financial Crisis, jobs are scarce. Jobs for unexperienced 16 year olds are even scarcer. Sixteen year old girls need a competitive advantage to get jobs.

Daughter wants to work with animals. Damn but I had NO IDEA that the animal industry was so competitive. Many people have told us stories of how they did two years of volunteer work at RSPCA or YAPS prior to getting a job in a pet store as an assistant! The local tropical  Zoos even suggested that degreed zoologists needed to volunteer prior to securing employment at the Zoos (above pic is me at the Tropical Zoo asking the wise old man to give my daughter a job).

Not prone to give up, we did the rounds of the pet stores and handed in resumes, jut in case a job came up while 16 year old was doing some volunteer work at RSPCA. On leaving a pet store I noticed a window sign: Casual Junior required. Experience necessary.

With a little coaching and a pep talk, daughter went straight back in and made the Pet Store Manager an offer: daughter used the only competitive advantage available to her at 16 years of age.

“I am prepared to do volunteer work at the RSPCA so I am therefore prepared to work for free for you for two weeks in return for the experience required to do the casual junior position. At the end of the two weeks you can decide to employ me or not. For now though, I can clean cages, I am great with people and I have a keen and growing interest in fish and Australian marine life.”

She starts her pet store work experience on Monday.

Identify your competitive advantage by turning your thinking on its head. If you think the same way you will get the same results. Think differently and you open a range of options and personal advantages. Instead of thinking, “I won’t get the job,” think, “I have qualities that nobody else has and I will utilise them to get myself a job.” Instead of thinking, “What can I get out of the job,” think, “What can I do in this job that value adds to more than myself.”

Happy think differently job hunting. Your mind is your biggest selling point. Think differently and you will be different. Dare to be different and get the job you really want.