When I was asked to write a blog post with the topic “candidate’s journey to get a job,” I already had a story to tell. During my now four months-long recruiting career, this is the ultimate best.
The beginning of the story goes back to October 2020 and my first month in the company. I work as a Talent Hunter, and naturally, my job is to find talented candidates for the jobs we are offering. It was my first week, and I was calling my first-ever candidates. One of them was a young Finnish man named Tomi. Tomi, who was studying in Spain, was interested in getting a job in Malta. From the first moment, Tomi and I created a good relationship. Whenever I was calling him and preparing him for the upcoming interviews, we had nice conversations basically about everything in life.
Nevertheless, Tomi never got a job in Malta. But as an optimistic guy, he never showed his disappointment to me. He wanted to apply to other destinations as well and we agreed that I would inform him about every interesting opportunity that could be suitable for him, no matter what the location was.
Unfortunately, around Christmas, we did not have so many roles to offer, and my next call with Tomi was only in January when we suddenly started to have more open roles for Finnish-speakers. I called my candidate regarding our new role in Krakow, Poland, and like in a fairy tale, Tomi was just about to arrive there. He had finished his studies in Spain at Christmas and was going back to Finland. However, because of the prevailing pandemic situation in the World, he did not find a straight flight back home and he had to fly to Krakow first. There, Tomi was planning to take a bus to the Polish capital Warsaw, from where he was going to continue his trip to Latvia and its beautiful capital Riga.
As a lively man and as a person who literally lives in the moment, Tomi decided to apply for the job in Krakow. He postponed his bus to Warsaw and was waiting for a week in Krakow to see if he would get the job in Krakow. Unfortunately, he did not and he had to continue his trip to the next destination, Warsaw. Luckily in Warsaw, we also had one job opportunity for Tomi, but this time he did not have time to wait for the recruitment process to begin. Still, during my calls with him, while he was sitting on a bus from Krakow to Warsaw, he promised to check out the city, in case he would get interested in applying to Warsaw later.
However, Warsaw did not convince Tomi that much, and again he continued his trip forward, this time to Riga. In Riga, we also had a job opportunity for Finnish-speakers, and again, Tomi got excited about the job, especially after seeing the city. He applied for the position but had to continue his travel to his last destination before Helsinki – Tallinn.
One day later, I called Tomi again. He had arrived in Tallinn and told me that he was going to stay in Tallinn for a couple of weeks, as he liked the city a lot. He did not hurry back home to Helsinki, especially when the recruiting process in Riga was going on. From Tallinn, it was a short way to go back to Riga if he would be so lucky to receive an offer.
Meanwhile, the company got a new opportunity in Tallinn for Finnish-speakers. Since Tomi had decided to stay in Tallinn, I reached out and told him about this new position as well. And of course, Tomi got excited – and applied.
Unfortunately, at the end of his first week in Estonia, the company from Riga informed Tomi that he was not going to be hired. Despite the unfortunate news from Riga, I called Tomi to prepare him for his next interview with the company in Tallinn and make sure he would get a job there. During our phone call, Tomi suddenly asked me if I had any back-up plans for him if he was not going to get the job in Tallinn either.
At this point, I was hesitating a bit, thinking that I just wanted to get this guy back home to Finland. He had been traveling through Europe for three weeks and was now so close to being home. I did not want him to travel through Europe again! However, I had to be honest when Tomi asked about the back-up plan. I explained that he had pretty much applied to every Finnish-speaking place the company had to offer at that moment. Yet, I had to mention that just one day prior to the call, we had gotten one new opportunity in Portugal for Finnish-speakers which could be suitable for him. How do you think Tomi answered me? Well, it was pretty much along this line: “Okay, sounds good, I will apply”. And he did.
Fast forward one week, Tomi was still in Tallinn, waiting for the final decision from the Estonian company. The news was extraordinary when the phone eventually rang: He had gotten the job! Yet, the optimism and euphoria did not end there. During the same day, only one hour later, he got another call, this time from Portugal: Another job-offer! At this point, Tomi called me and told me the news. I was extremely happy for him, but still, he had a big question to solve. Which offer would he take? Tallinn or Lisbon? Personally, I was sure he would stay in Tallinn after all this traveling, but I was wrong.
Tomi accepted the offer from Portugal and booked a flight to Lisbon from Warsaw because there was no straight flight from Tallinn. His journey continued. Again, he took a bus from Tallinn through Riga and arrived in Warsaw a couple of days later.
Now, when I am writing this story at this very moment, Tomi’s trip has finally come to an end. He is already in sunny Portugal, ready to start working. What a true journey it has been for Tomi! And it has been a pleasure to help him. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I would say.
PS: Due to the strict GDPR-rules, Tomi is not his real name.
