After I finished university (I graduated with a business degree), I moved to New Zealand and figured I’d work there for a few years. When I got there, I literally started knocking on doors and handing my resume out. This was the mid 1990s so the Internet was around but was kind of in its infancy as far as job boards were concerned.
I was out one day hand delivering resumes to companies I’d targeted when I walked past a building with a company name I recognized as a recruitment agency. I had one resume left so I figured I’d drop it off. I took the elevator up to the office and was about to ring the bell at reception when a guy walked by at the same time and introduced himself.
Turns out he was a recruiter for the company and once we started talking about why I was there, he mentioned that had a client in a company just down the street who was looking for a recent grad like myself to help out in their marketing department.
Long story short, after we’d talked for a bit, he sent my resume to the manager in question, and two weeks later, I was working for him. I was brought on as a temp staff member on an open-ended contract as they had no head count available to hire me fulltime. I was a bit hesitant to take a temp-type or contract job as I really wanted a fulltime position but I had no other options, so I took the job. The company I was hired by was in fact the largest company in the country, Telecom New Zealand, the nation’s telecom provider.
In my first week on the job, one guy who worked on the same floor as me told me I shouldn’t worry too much, that I’d be hired fulltime in no time. The same thing had happened to him when he started with the company as a temp employee and he was now a fulltime employee.
Less than one year later, I was made into a fulltime employee. I ended up working there for 3 years before leaving the country and moving back home again.
Moral of the story: once you get your foot in the door, other doors can open up. Getting your foot in the door is often the hard part.
If I had decided not to pursue this job because it was “only” a temp one to start with, I’d have missed out on the great opportunity that ended up materializing. Once I got my foot in the door, I started realizing that as much as I wanted to work there fulltime, my boss wanted to hire me fulltime too and he eventually did when he had the opportunity.
Once you get your foot in the door, other doors can open up that you never would have known about otherwise. Think twice about turning down opportunities like the one I mentioned above, especially if you have no other options at the time.
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