No One Like You
As someone who knows of people looking for a job matching their skill set and who not so long ago struggled herself with unemployment I have often thought of the saying “nobody is irreplaceable”. Employers might take this view but my view is that chairs can be filled and in that way, yes, people are replaced but you can never find the same exact person as the one filling the role before.
In this beautiful and chaotic world of ours, nobody’s perfect and everyone is unique. Each of us carries their individual character, personality, education, knowledge, skills, social network, life and work experiences, personal and work interests, likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, values and beliefs, level of maturity and training that make up the employee that we are or have the potential to be. No-one in the entire world can be our exact replica. Each one of us is able to make our own mark in whatever we set out to do.
Let me give you an example: in my capacity as HR Manager in a company undergoing restructuring and downsizing a few years back, we had an employee who for personal reasons wanted to be considered for voluntary redundancy. Senior management did not even want to entertain the idea because the position was crucial for reporting and the person was really good at their job. Wanting to find a win-win solution I recommended that as part of the organisational restructuring we could revamp the position, fulfil the employee’s wish of making them redundant and promote another employee into the new, revamped role. The two employees were happy as a result and in the end the business benefited as well because the promoted person brought in new ideas and skills to make the reporting less time consuming and more timely and efficient.
Similarly, I would advise job seekers to not be discouraged by job descriptions and person specifications that they feel they don’t fulfil 100%. Nobody does! You may not have a degree or not have worked with a specific system but if you have a positive attitude with years of relevant experience, the mind-set to transfer your skills to new situations and the ability to learn new technologies and ways of working fast you might turn out to be even better-suited for the written vacancy advert!
About the Author: With UK studies in HRM and Psychology, Kiki Kallis is a seasoned HR professional with international experience in operational and generalist HR managerial positions. When she can steal some time from her busy schedule she enjoys spending time with friends, reading and writing as well as blogging about her make up passion on From Vanity to Sanity
