People Escalators
While researching the importance of first jobs, an article in Forbes caught my eye: The Impact Of Your First Job After College. Although I wasn’t focused on jobs associated with recent college grads, the article offhandedly reinforced my perspective that reentry success starts with the “right” first job.
The Forbes piece points out that career progression for aspiring college grads does not favor switching paths. This is partly due to online hiring algorithms that can pigeonhole candidates and applicants into similar roles as they move forward, making it challenging to explore diverse career opportunities.
To quote the article,
“These algorithms, while efficient in processing large volumes of applications, often lack the nuanced understanding of your potential beyond your immediate past experience. They often overlook transferable skills or the ability to adapt and excel in different contexts.”
So, how does this correspond to reentry and the all-important first reentry position?
First, it is ANOTHER reason to seek the right first job—to pigeonhole yourself intentionally! After all, a unique Job Search Objective aims to position you to penetrate and move forward in a specific field. You want future employers to see you in this light. If a hiring algorithm shepherds you along this particular career lane, okay!
Secondly, being a pigeonhole-ee aligns with your longer-term plan based on remaining in a chosen field. This is not to say minor deviations and role pivots won’t happen; they probably will. However, these course corrections will occur within your selected field vs. moving to an entirely different category of work.
Generally, more efficient digits (AI algorithms) will not make things easier for the background-challenged job seeker. More sophistication will translate into new ways to eliminate candidates well before meaningful engagement. Furthermore, altogether avoiding online applications and evermore savvy candidate tracking platforms isn’t possible now and will only get more challenging. When some facet of new technology drops in your lap (like pigeonholing), recognize it and take full advantage.
Still, the best search plan is based on face-to-face interaction with prospective employers and hiring managers. It reduces the impersonal negatives of the online application process, which is particularly important when mapping out your first reentry position. Your Job Search Objective gets you in so you can do the work, make modest progress, and move on to your next role.
See this first job as getting on an escalator—not any escalator, your personal one. You have to do the work to retain your spot so that you can move up to the next floor. Your task and responsibility is to stay on this industry-specific set of escalators, progressing from floor to floor.
My reentry approach, as outlined in my book Get Beyond Your Troubled Past, is designed to avoid the digital hiring ecosystem as much as possible. My way demands more—it is not the shotgun, resume blast-out method. I emphasize connecting with people thoughtfully and strategically. Imagine that, people, live humans, not bots!
These people will become your personal escalators.
Successful reentry begins with getting your head straight, planning, and developing your Job Search Objective. And it very much involves connecting with people. What’s more, the bigger your pile of background challenges, the MORE you need people. Understanding and accepting this is part of getting your head straight.
Onward!