Hey everyone on your school/work grind. Hope you’re doing wonderful this week! As I mentioned last week, I’m currently in the Bahamas for my honeymoon. It’s been an absolute treat so far. We’ve had many days of lounging on the beach, eating awesome food and sipping on delicious tropical drinks. The people here are amazing, kind, and so so friendly. They love to share about the island and their lives here and are super helpful when it comes to finding our way around.
I tend to stay away from the major touristy areas, stay in airbnb’s, ride the bus, and so on. I love immersing myself in the the culture of any place I visit. We are staying on the west side of New Providence which is on the opposite end of the island from Paradise Island and Atlantis. Between our location and still being in the midst of a global pandemic, tourists are relatively few and far between, just the way I like it.
We have had the pleasure of meeting many different people around the island. Heath owns the airbnb condo next to us and asked us about what renovations we’d like to see made in the future and gave us great suggestions on where to go and what to do. Major and Anthony were two of our cabbies on the few taxi rides we’ve taken on the island as the taxi union doesn’t allow the buses (known as jitneys) near the airport. The pointed out great places to eat and gave us the history on certain landmarks we passed. There have been countless other Bahamians we’ve encountered that have been just as friendly and helpful, but we just haven’t gotten their names.
While this does allow to me to share a little about my vacation to the Bahamas, I am nearing a tech related point. This past week has made me think a lot about how we make connections with people. As I briefly discussed in last week’s post, my job search has been going about 6 weeks now and with little success. Most people don’t know me from Adam. To all these recruiters and resume readers, I’m no more than the sum of my parts. They see statistics, not me as a person. I do the same thing, I think we all do. Until you truly get to know a person, all you see is their skills, experience, or achievements.
My life I’ve heard “It’s who you know”. I think people want to be judged based on their merit’s only and that only the most qualified should get the position. In some ways I wish that were true as well. It would mean everyone would be excellent at their job. But when I think about, the last two jobs I had were “who I knew” situations, not “I was the most qualified” situations. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t good at them. I learned the ropes and tried to work with excellence in the roles I placed in. My employers saw aptitude and attitude, not strictly what was on my resume.
All of this is to say, just like here on the island, the best experiences we typically have is with the people who we’ve made the most personal connections. It has made me reconsider the effort I put forth into the making connections part of my job search. So far I’ve been relying on my personal projects from the program and my resume to set me apart from other candidates, but that isn’t working thus far.
So if you find yourself in a similar position as me, I’d suggest reevaluating how to approach your job search. For the past 6 weeks I’ve been looking for a job, in the next 6 weeks, I plan to look for connections and relationships with the hopes that they might bear fruit and lead to a job later on down the line. Invest in yourself and invest in your professional relationships. A strong network with people who truly get to know you will be a bigger asset than your portfolio will ever be.