Author: Codrin PO

Some guy who writes about what comes to mind, but mostly about epilepsy and his private life.
Career counselling #14: Should Greg still apply?
Blog · Career counseling · Old blog

Career counselling #14: Should Greg still apply?

Codrin PO

Greg has now 16 months since he`s been unemployed. He scoured the seven seas, searching for four-leafs clovers and ran after a leprechaun to kiss him. All these just to get a job.

He applied to highly specialized jobs for which he had the perfect resume and he was thinking of sales positions, teaching or any kind of other jobs that could bring him more money than his unemployment aid.

Credits: Shutterstock
Credits: Shutterstock

Greg applied to jobs all across the world. He had interviews in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and a few other countries. But now things get interesting. He had interviews for jobs for which he was a perfect match and jobs where he would have done a great job. Continue reading “Career counselling #14: Should Greg still apply?” →

Not too personal · Old blog

New addition to the family: meet Tudor

Codrin PO

I do not usually post really personal stuff here, but  now I am proud to announce that my boy was born.12620901_975943885814447_1931970828_o

His name is Tudor and, of course, he’s the most beautiful, intelligent (.etc) baby in the world.

Here in the photo, he`s wearing a suit knitted by his grandma.

P.S.: This is the only photo of Tudor that you will see on this blog.

Academia · Blog · Career counseling · Old blog

Farmer`s dilemma

Codrin PO

We have two farmers. They work in a coop mode which they set up to take a loan to buy the equipment needed for their farming needs: tractor, harvester etc. They share the bank loan yearly rates and the machinery equally.

In year X, they obtained the same production and sold it at an almost similar price. Thus they had the money to pay their part of the bank rate.

In year Y, Farmer 1 obtained a high production which he sold at the price from year X. Farmer 2 obtained a smaller production which he sold at a lower price than that from year X. Thus, only Farmer 1 has the money to pay its part of the bank rate. They are faced with the following solutions. Find the solution

Career counseling · Old blog

Career counseling #13 : what to do when you`re rejected

Codrin PO

Greg is back.

He is still job hunting, but things are improving. A couple of weeks ago, he gave computerized tests (logic, creative, personality, technical etc.) for a job in the public sector, as a director of … something. It`s a very long title in an institution with a very long name so I cannot say it even if I was trying to remember it.

Unfortunately, he failed those tests. He passed 31 of the 33 tests that he took. Yes…33 tests (in one day). It was a very long day for him.download

He also had a job interview over Skype for a policy research position in the non-governmental sector. He had a few problems with the connection: his webcam didn`t work, the sound on his side wasn`t great. He couldn`t her perfectly some of the questions so he started rambling about things not related to it. Despite of these setbacks, Greg believed that the interview went great and he waited and waited (…and waited) for a response (negative or positive) and feedback on the interview. He didn`t receive it (so far). Continue reading “Career counseling #13 : what to do when you`re rejected” →

Career counseling · Old blog

Career counseling #12: the application e-mail

Codrin PO

If you do a Google search on how to write the “perfect” cover letter, you’ll probably see articles saying that the cover letter is obsolete. This would be because most employers prefer to read a perfectly crafted email in which you could explain the same things as in the cover letter.

I quite agree with this up to a point. The e-mail is extremely important, but so is the cover letter.download

Situation 1:

– you apply for job X at company Y. The email address to send your application is hr@ycompany.com. In this case, you should focus on the cover letter. In a generalist email like this, nobody will read the text in the body of the message. Don’t bother with it.

Situation 2:

– you apply for job X at company Y. The email address to send your application is director.x@ycompany.com. In this case, you have the semi-private email address of the person in charge of the recruitment. Focus on both the cover letter and the email. The person might not download the cover letter or stop to read your email. You should cover all bases because of this. Continue reading “Career counseling #12: the application e-mail” →