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Who does Know Best?

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Thursday, 12th of August 2010

If you were tuned into Channel 4 on Tuesday night you may have seen Who Knows Best a show in which two professionals were tasked with the assignment of getting their candidate a job. The twist was that neither of these candidates had done a day's work in their life, they were living off benefits, abused drugs and were generally the epitome of a "tabloid target".

Fortunately, both were in full time employment by the end of the show. The younger of the two, John, who had poor GCSE results as his only qualifications and virtually no sellable skills landed a nice position as a forensic accountant. No, no, you don't need to go back and reread that, that is right: he got a job as a forensic accountant.

Granted, the position was only an internship but he received free training and had the opportunity to get his placement extended and eventually full time employment. Obviously, I have absolutely nothing against this and it was quite a heart warming story to witness - this down and out putting himself forward and committing whole heartedly in order to change his life and prospects. Good on him!

However, I couldn't help the sceptical lobe in my brain kicking into overdrive. As a dreaded '09 graduate I know what it was like job hunting in the midst of the recession, I also know how many people would be aiming for John's position as a forensic accountant - a lot. Furthermore, I also know that many of these would have been accounting graduates amongst others. I began thinking if the TV crew hadn't been there would he really have won that job.

On the flip side, he was very conversational and handled (what we saw of) the interview well. He was asked difficult questions about his poor academic performance as well as 'What have you been doing with yourself for the past few years?', clearly a hole in his CV which recruiters hone in on like hawks to a field mouse. He answered these well, being honest about his past which he "wasn't proud of" and then explaining how he no longer is that person and is passionate and eager to learn and achieve. So maybe this is a brilliant demonstration of how important good interview technique is.

I think John's story for better or worse is a good account to keep in mind. Whichever way you look at it, it shows that the desirable jobs out there aren't unattainable and you should never give up hope and get demoralised, no matter how seductive that depressing voice in your head is.