A YOUNG LESSON AND THREE AMAZING CV'S FROM THREE FEMALE JOBSEEKERS.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Molweni bahlali bakwi Internet, ndiyathemba niphilile namhlanje.
Translation: Hello Internet people, I trust you are well today.

Sidenote: If you're in Jhb and wanna learn Xhosa, my best friend Nana teaches a Xhosa class on Mondays. It's the basics and I think for people who only speak English, it's time folks, it's time to learn an indigenous language.


This is me when I was 9, I think I posted this pic back in 2011. I was 9 years old in 1994 and this is the year that I became aware of myself. This is the year I became aware that life was life.  The day this picture was taken, I was later bullied by 5, yes FIVE girls in Standard 5. I was in Standard 2.  To this day I don't know why they circled me like vultures and started shouting at me and spilled my lunch upside down, all I remember was that I cried as if my life depended on it and when I told the teacher, she didn't seem very phased. There was no justice, nobody was reprimanded and I was left with an embarrassing lump of confusion in my throat.   That is the first time I learned to depend on myself, a trait that later became very useful in life.  

If you're looking for a job and shit is not going well, start at the bottom: what can you do today vs what you want to do in the future? How can you bridge that gap?   When I wanted a pair of Levi's Engineered jeans which was all the craze when I was in matric, my mother said she would never buy me a pair R360 of jeans. The following month I got a job at McDonalds and I bought my jeans with my first wages. 

I stayed at McDonalds for a year until management fired me for complaining about management to management.  I was the youngest member of the team and the team had discussed our grievances before the meeting with management. We all had a complaint and when the manager asked if there was anything else at the end of the meeting, I expected the loudest vessel in our flotilla of unhappy employees to say something.  When nobody put up their hand, I started with my complaint thinking people would back me up the way they did when we were practicing our grievance verses. Nope. Not a single person said anything and I was left looking like a fool.  At the end of my speech, the manager said, ''Please take this as your notice period''. That was lesson number two in the importance of self reliance.  You don't have a choice really.  The following month I was going to start my first year in Varsity anyway so I didn't need the job but I guess I needed the lesson.  Don't depend on your salvation to come from someone else. Ubom ngu ina ethe, life is give and take.

Ok, onto business. Today's CV's are pretty varied.  I'm not going to do the CV format thing, I'm just going to write synopses of the 3 people, that makes it more personable.

Jobseeker number 1: Black Female

Is a 24 year old woman from East London who is willing to relocate at the brrring brrring of the phone should a job come-a-calling.  She speaks English, Afrikaans and basic Xhosa and has a driver's licence with her own vehicle.  She matriculated at Clarendon Girls High School then obtained a BTech in Public Relations Management at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth. She also has a short course in Writing Persuasive Proposals (I like this one, I mean how many times have I wished for someone who writes proposals) as well as a short course in The Fundamentals of Shopping Centre Marketing.

Work wise, before she got a job at Rennies Travel Centre as the Communications Specialist, she worked at Game as an admin clerk, worked at Billabong as a sales assistnat and was in promotions for various companies.  At Rennies her job entailed the preparation, co-ordination and execution of internal and external communication, marketing and special events.  She was the Media Liaison and also did Office Admin. I don't think she wants a job necessarily related to the scope of her CV, her cover letter speaks of a creative, energetic soul searching for something a challenging new opportunity in any creative field.  She's into music, theatre, heritage, youth culture, fashion, community projects, media, food, travel and campaigning.

Jobseeker number 2: White Female

Jobseeker number 2 is a 29 year old woman who holds and MA in English (Creative Writing), a BA Hons (Cum Laude) in English and Drama (University of Kwa-Zulu Natal) and certificates in Design and Education from Inscape Design College.  This after matriculating from Kloof High School with 5 Distinctions.  From editing script and feature writing, to arts reviews, community management and blogging. She is in love with the media space. Since her earliest days as a theatre entrepreneur, to management and writing in its many forms, this young woman believes she has grown (and continues to grow) into and and exciting artist and professional.

Her work experience and CV is very impressive, brace yourselves.

In June last year she started working for a broadcasting station editing the web and social media content.  She's been the community manager at Ogilvy PR and her clients there included KFC and Imperial I-Pledge.  She's been an English Teacher, an Assistant Editor for various online and print publications including for Mahala and an Anthology of South African Poets. She was the National Manager for Arts and Culture at Love Life and has directed a number of plays including a few at The Grahamstown National Arts Festival, has written scripts for films and plays and of course has performed. Whew.

She is currently looking to work in the media space.  Her interests are in Music, Style and Entertainment and she is good at Digital Media and Marketing, Writing and Theatre Production.

Any takers. Oh, she has her own transport. I will cry if nobody wants to snatch this up!

Jobseeker Number 3: Black Female

I enjoyed looking through this CV because it speaks of somebody who is willing to dunk herself into a challenge and make it work. At the top of her cover letter it simply says: I want to work for an organisation that strives for excellence.

Job Seeker number three is a 31 year old Xhosa woman has a Business, Sales and PR Management Qualification from Roodeport College.  She also threw in a bit of accounting during her studying so if you need books kept, here's your girl.  She is fluent in English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Sotho and has a Drivers Licence.  For 7 years she was a flight attendent for Qatar Airlines and Comair before selling life cover for Delta Brokers.  After that she was the Talent Scout for VWV Events (the people that put together that magnificent opening show at the World Cup).  Since then she has worked for the Department of Public Works as a Client Liaison Officer where her role was to facilitate the establishment of effective community participation structures for various projects.  Her experience there saw her working with communities and the employment of laborers, dispute resolution and progress reports.  She is currently looking to spread her wings in a different direction, something that involves creativity.

I hope this is a lucky day for at least one of these qualified young women.  If you want to contact any of the above people, please send me an email missmillib@gmail.com and I will respond as soon as I can. Because I'm not a registered recruiter, this is all for free so I won't charge (yet, lol).

Take care everybody,
Have a good weekend.

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