I’ve always felt in control when looking for work. However awful the job was—and I’ve been in some horror stories—I never felt trapped, exploited or scared. I always knew that I could leave and that there are plenty of other ways of making money. Since the age of ten, when I earned my first pennies in rural Scotland, I’ve been earning a living by driving, selling, painting, teaching, writing, organising, communicating and, since lockdown, gardening.
I see work everywhere and have talked my way into jobs in Austria, Bosnia, Russia, Tibet and, for 17 years, Romania. Before lockdown I was a well-paid PR consultant, and recently I’ve gone back to what I did as a student – labouring work – and feel better using my body, being outside, getting dirty, telling stupid jokes rather than being stuck behind a computer screen.
My approach to getting hired is to offer to help ordinary householders solve problems like clearing their garden, painting their bathroom or clearing out an attic.
I build on the power of “word of mouth” referrals and reputation (one job leads to another). At one point in my career, a Dutch EU consultancy heard I was “good at getting things done,” and they head-hunted me to run an EU project for “the Improvement of the Roma Situation in Romania.” Suddenly I was catapulted from charity work to highly paid consultancy. I was able to use the skills I’d developed as a volunteer in a Romanian village to run an EU project for Adrian Nastase’s government. My lack of specialist training or education didn’t prevent me from doing a good job. That project led to many other EU-funded jobs in Romania–well paid work that I did well but didn’t like (too much bureaucracy).
I’ve always felt as if I’ve had a choice–I can do this or that, go here or there, get work anywhere. This is based on the knowledge that almost every organisation needs people to fetch, carry, clean, organise, sell, communicate; and if you’re flexible (willing to work on a series of short-term tasks), reliable, and get on with people–there’s always work
It was only after publishing my latest book did I learn that most people see getting hired in a very different way.
I was challenged on BBC Radio
Recently I was invited onto a talk show on BBC Radio 5 Live on the issue of employment. In the UK it’s become a big story as the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, wants apprenticeships to be promoted in schools on an equal footing with university degrees. We also have a big problem with what we call NEET (Not in Employment, Education and Training); almost a million young Brits are doing nothing; in Romania the numbers are the worst in the EU.
I was introduced as an author who “thinks getting jobs is easy,” and said parents can teach their kids some professions at home: dishwashing and cleaning are two essential roles in any restaurant. Gardening, painting and decorating, clearing out junk from attics, basements and sheds can all be learned at home or in the homes of neighbours and relatives. All you have to do is ask–and the problem is that most people don’t. How many people do you know who say “I’m looking for work!” (I don’t know anyone). That’s a very different statement to “I can’t get a job,” which is the same as saying “I’ve given up!”
These problem-solving skills can be parlayed into freelance professions (setting up a business is cheap in the UK) and the next step for anyone starting out would be to go round small local businesses, asking if you can help—perhaps just a few hours a week. In the UK you can work legally from the age of 13 (in Romania it’s 16, or 15 with parental permission). I think kids should learn about work as early as possible, but in a fun and playful way–not the serious and legalistic way that business skills are currently taught in school. Imagine what fun primary school kids would have in building a brick wall, knocking it down, trying again, and then learning to do it properly. An experienced “brickie” in the UK can earn about 400 Euro a day.
An angry man who’d called into Radio 5 was asked to comment on my optimistic message and he was dismissive and critical (you can hear him on the link above). He said it was possible to go round small businesses and ask for work back in “the old days!, but not anymore: He claimed the cost of insurance and taxes makes it impossible for companies to hire young people.
I don’t accept that view but I do realise that many, many people would agree with him—and this outlook goes with the wrong approach to getting work: doing it all online. If you’re applying for a job online you’re competing with thousands of others; the chances are that an Ai Bot will reject you before anyone human even sees your CV; even if you do make it to the next level the amount of work you’ll have to do–vast quantities of questions and forms—just isn’t worth it. That’s why so many people despair at their “failure” to get hired.
All you have to do to break through this iron gate to the job market is to realise that you don’t have to follow the “office job” option that’s so often pushed by parents and teachers. Get off the computer, go out, walk the streets, go into every shop and business you come across and ask if you can help. At least people will speak to you. The thing to keep in mind is that every business needs a hand, as does every house owner.
This approach requires courage and can seem impossible, but the rewards are incredible. As you start to realise there are jobs in every street, you’ll realise you can take this skill anywhere in the world and be in control of your own destiny. You don’t need to be “a slave” to a big organisation–if you work for yourself, and when you build up a good reputation, you can choose your clients and make really good money.
The problem is pride, shame and fear. We’re told we must focus on a specific profession and avoid “low, dirty, unreputable” jobs. But that advice is wrong: the world’s economy is in turmoil and no company, or job, is secure.
I’m not saying “Don’t go to university and study a high level profession!” But don’t be disappointed if you can’t get a job in your chosen sector, and always have a backup profession like working in a bar, cleaning, driving or painting houses. And since Ai has disrupted the “office job” route, learning a trade, or how to work physically is more important than ever. It’s also important for your mental health–I think we need to work in order to stay sane.
You can build a profitable business by cleaning, painting, fixing and gardening. You can go from one small job to another or, like me, have a list of homes you look after. The biggest challenge is overcoming your own fear, pride and shame–and building humility—and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing since lockdown.
Rupert Wolfe Murray’s new book is called 12 Jobs in 12 Months—How I Ignored Ai and HR and Got Jobs Easily
A Romanian version of this article Published by Hotnews/Contributors, a leading Romanian website: https://www.contributors.ro/sa-ti-gasesti-de-lucru-e-usor/