Yesterday, we reported the experience between seasoned journalist, Betty Irabor, and a job seeker who reached out to her on Twitter.
Below is a full detail of what really happened and the mistakes Betty Irabor feels the guy made.
“Here’s the thing. I get hundreds of emails every day from job seekers, people with mental health struggles & of course internet beggars.
I try to view as many and see where I may be able to assist
Then i got the email from the guy in this tweet. What captured my attention was the tone of his application and how he put his message across. I decided to see what we could do at Genevieve even though there were no vacancies. I asked my HR to invite him for an interview without mentioning my name. I didn’t want to raise his expectations in case he didn’t get the job. I also wanted to help from a distance because I could not guarantee that he would be engaged.
My HR then placed a call asking him to attend an interview at Sonia publications which owns Genevieve magazine. Then series of phone calls followed and he finally declined, saying he didn’t apply for any job.
Here’s what I would have done..
1. I would search and research on the company.
2. I would have Googled the name of the HR guy who called me.
3. I would have gone to the address of the so called company incognito to find out if it existed or if it’s scam.
4. I would have asked for more time to prepare for interview while I did my due diligence
5.if in doubt then I would have declined.
Truth is, we never know where our help will come from.
I guess we both learnt some lessons for this.
Since yesterday’s tweet, I have received over 300 applications for the same job. That’s the reality of the Labour market sadly and I do agree that we shld tame our desperation so we don’t fall into some traps.
Thank you all for interceding and asking for a second chance on his behalf.. He got just that he was interviewed yesterday…I hope he gets the job based on his performance.”
