Soutie Begins

When I moved to London in 2008, there were two main obstacles to overcome. (1) Get a Visa, and (2) Get a Job. For the Visa, I used a company called Voyage Relocations. It is possible to navigate the legalities without support. I had friends who did, but I prefer the comfort of someone telling me I have filled in all the forms correctly. As my British wife and I head back in 2020, we are again using support for her Spousal visa process. It was/is nerve wracking sending original documents (degree certificates, passports, driver’s licences). The container for the opportunity to move was Age, Education, Previous Earnings, and English. For the job, I used a company called Acumen Resources. They arranged some interviews, and gave me some support in “How to do interviews”. Like exam technique and time management are the key to Conspicuous Knowledge (education as a signal), getting a job requires performing well in the lottery of CV sorting. I got interviews at McKinsey and Orbis. McKinsey said no, I wasn’t a creative enough thinker. Orbis gave it a lot of thought, but said yes. When I say McKinsey and Orbis, I mean individuals at those companies. Although we talk of the containers we call Companies as if they are people, it normally comes down to single decision makers.

One Foot in the UK, One Foot in SA

Building Bridges

Playing the Corporate Game involves not burning bridges. When it comes to interviews, reviews, and exit discussions, senior people will regularly bemoan the lack of honest, meaningful, feedback. Honest  feedback isn’t the same thing as true feedback. We are all projecting our stuff. So if your feedback is pointed, it is often a reflection on you. That is why people know to hold back. Otherwise they are exposing their bits. Honesty will get held against you in promotions, compensation, and the quality of references you are given. Many references simply confirm the work dates. Many “weaknesses” are “I am a bit of a perfectionist”. So I get why people don’t want to talk about their black lives matter experiences in white majority companies. They don’t want to be the idiot who takes the request at face value. Smart people know that when a boss says, “This is my view, but it’s your decision”. They mean, “Just do what you are told”, but want to lie to themselves that they can delegate. Corporates like delegating responsibility, but not authority. Few people will take responsibility for why we are having the black lives matter conversation. People will be honest when bosses stop playing games.

Self Promotion

I hate interview processes and CV/Resume building. Partly because people who are good at interviews aren’t necessarily good at the job. Partly because hiring and firing is often just an opportunity to project prejudices and politics by dividing people into categories of good enough and not good enough. The interviewers and firers seldom hold themselves to the same standards as the person they are judging. The final decision seldom relies on anything other than gut feeling and hindsight justification. But such is life. Sometimes we just have to do things because that is how they are done. Writing a CV always felt nauseatingly self-promotional to me. A way I got around this was asking a few people I had worked closely, and well, with to write 100ish words (roughly the length of this post). Two or three authentic testimonials from people you have genuinely worked well with that demonstrate the skills and knowledge that are being looked for. My impression is that relationships and chance connections are the real catalyst for opportunity. Be part of the conversation and genuinely interested in other people. Do good work. Then change the way things are done.

Life is a Galton Board