Me, the Recruiter and the Job

Last week's presentation by Dan Sorrenberg was a key introduction into the job interviewing process. I particularly enjoyed that he shared some of his impressions and expectations of constantly dealing with interviewees throughout his life.

Indeed, his presentation was extremely useful in terms of helping me understand how important is how one behaves before and during the job interview. In fact, your strenghts and weaknesses can come across the interview immediately, but one firstly needs to know what indeed he (she) is capable of. Thus, one needs to be clear of what he (she) expects out of this certain job, why he (she) wants it and whether he (she) would enjoy it. In fact, you should tell yourself constantly:

"Do not lie! Be honest!" (as Dan said).

These issues were indeed elaborated more in today's session presented by members of the CCDU from Wits. For that reason, I make the link between last week's presentation and today's presentation.

Me, the Recruiter and the Job

Last week's presentation by Dan Sorrenberg was a key introduction into the job interviewing process. I particularly enjoyed that he shared some of his impressions and expectations of constantly dealing with interviewees throughout his life.

Indeed, his presentation was extremely useful in terms of helping me understand how important is how one behaves before and during the job interview. In fact, your strenghts and weaknesses can come across the interview immediately, but one firstly needs to know what indeed he (she) is capable of. Thus, one needs to be clear of what he (she) expects out of this certain job, why he (she) wants it and whether he (she) would enjoy it. In fact, you should tell yourself constantly:

"Do not lie! Be honest!" (as Dan said).

These issues were indeed elaborated more in today's session presented by members of the CCDU from Wits. For that reason, I make the link between last week's presentation and today's presentation.

Skills? Knowledge? Do we have them? How do we get them?

Today's session really revealed to me all the key-techniques and small details required in the process of finding a job. In particular, today's session provided a profound insight into the process of preparing for a job interview. On the other hand, the workshop on CV writing was extremely helpful towards preparing one for the different stages in writing your CV.

In this regard, the second part of the presentation highlighted the organisational structure and elements that characterise the process of job preparation. In particular, I realised how important it is for one to know how to prepare for a job interview and what his (her)expectations should be.

The first part of the presentation I enjoyed the most. The group discussion on the variety of skills required for the world of work made me realise some important things.

On the one hand, it helped me understand that the job training process is a lenghty process that involves the development of skills that you have never been exposed to before (as throughout your previous years of education). On the other hand, I realised that there is not a specific group of skills required for a certain type of job, rather any type of job could involve a variety of skills.

For example, a political analyst needs to have good presentation, oral and writing skills. This does not mean, however, that he (she) does not need to have good action-planning or management skills in order to put his (her) knowledge and ideas into practice.

Respectively, a company manager needs to have above all good management and action-planning skills. Yet, he (she) needs to develop good oral and communicative skills as well in order to communicate effectively with his (her) employees.

Eventually, the last thought that comes to my mind is that the job training process is a constant process of improving and developing your skills. In fact, nobody is born with skills, they are rather acquired and developed throughout your life (inside and outside of the workplace).

In this sense, the development of skills is a self-learning process, born out of experience, communication and interaction with others. As a matter of fact, we all learn from each other and there is not a right formula of how one develops a skill. As I said earlier, it is a matter of time and experience!

Today's insights

Today's presentation by Andrew Hofmeyr was a profound insight into the dynamics of the job application process and the world of work training. Indeed, he helped me understand how one can apply his (her) skills to the world of work, no matter what skills these are indeed.

For example, Andrew Hofmeyr talked about how a BA student could be more appropriate for the world of business than a B.Com student due to his ability to think analytically and critically. In this sense, the world of work training seems a long process in which you need to apply all the skills that you have learned throughout your previous years of education-skills that you initially believe that are not relevant to your chosen career or job-related field. As he said, your skills and knowledge can lead you to a career that you expect the least. Therefore, one needs to apply them to a great degree, as he (or she) is not sure what options might arise as a result.

In addition, the exercises that Andrew Hofmeyr asked us to do helped me realise once again the importance of team-work activity as an essential component of the workplace.

Personal Profile

My name is Valentin Tassev. I am twenty-five years old and currently I live and study in Johannesburg, South Africa. I have obtained a BA degree majoring in International Relations and Media Studies, a BA (Honours) degree in International Relations and I have almost completed my MA degree in International Relations.

I am fluent in Bulgarian, English, Russian and Italian. I have also done Latin, ancient Greek, ancient Bulgarian, modern Greek and French. My passion is indeed studying foreign languages and cultures. In particular, i am interested in a career in diplomacy and international relations or any journalism (or publishing)-related field.

I enjoy writing, watching movies and playing soccer in my free time. I hope that the current work-training programme will teach me a lot about the world of work and it will help me to implement myself succesfully into the workplace. Thus, I will try my best to make use of it! So far, it has been really an amazing exoerience for me.

Why Blogging?

My first day at the work training programme has been really an amazing experience. In fact, the idea of blogging seems appealing to me and I find it really an interesting forum for the exchange of information and ideas.

In particular, I believe that blogging helps you establish solid contacts with other people and it is also an extremely efficient tool for finding possible employers. On the other hand, blogging helps you learn from your mistakes through the recommendation of others who had read your comments and ideas and who could express their views on these matters.

Personally, I believe that blogging will help me establish contacts with the other participants in the training programme and exchange infromation on various issues. Yet, i think that the guest-speakers and hopefully some possible employers could learn a little bit more about me through the comments that i make throughout my blogs.

For that reason, i am looking forward to it!