Whether you are working or not, the fact is, we are all feeling the pinch that has come with the sudden petrol hike, increase in food prices and many other things that factor into our daily lives.
I’m sure by now, you’ve also realised that having one stream of income has proven insufficient, it’s just not enough to do what you need to do, let alone what you want to do.
This week, I wrote an article about the many ways Proverb has taught us how to make money. However, I quickly realised that my article might have been a bit biased, not towards Proverb but towards people who aspire to work in the entertainment industry. Chances are, they received more tips on how to make money in entertainment than someone who has little to no interest in working in this glitz & glam business.
So I then thought off other ways you and your friends can help each other in either getting employed or finding new ways of receiving a secondary stream of income.
Networking
Yes, I know, you’ve probably read or heard many times about how networking can land you a job easier than sending out a CV to a company. It’s partially true, but you probably think that you don’t have a solid network of people you may know that can help you land a job, right?
Well, I don’t believe that’s true, have you ever heard of the term; six degrees of separation?
In the most simple of terms, this definition means we all know someone, that knows someone, that knows someone. You get my drift?
Basically, you don’t need to look far to build your own network, your friends are your network.
Insecure actress - Issa Rae once said; “We have a tendency that when we network, we try to network up, and it really is about networking across. Like who’s next to you? Who’s struggling? Who’s in the trenches with you, who’s just as hungry as you are? And those are the people you need to build with. It’s not about calling Tyler Perry and asking ‘how can I work with you?’
It’s about calling your college mate; it’s about calling you co-worker and saying ‘hey, you’re trying to do this, I’m trying to do that.”
So you see, your network doesn’t need to be a bunch of corporate executives but people you know and can call.
A job Whatsapp group
Like myself, you probably can’t stand Whatsapp groups, but the fact is we use the app on a daily basis for communication, so why not use it to help each other find jobs? Like anything, when used correctly, a job Whatsapp group can help you and your network of friends put food on the table just by the use of your thumbs.
A job Whatsapp group is to be STRICTLY used for job-sharing vacancies, extra information about freelance work and anything related to getting more money into your bank account.
If you’re the admin of the group, you can set rules on what can and what cannot be posted on the group.
So for example, unrelated information or pictures cannot be shared in the group, such things are a start of having an annoying Whatsapp group.
The other cool thing about this group is that it will not only be a group with your friends as members, but it will also have individuals whom you know have a set of skills that can help other people within the group.
For example, your friend’s CV might look terrible right now, but what you don’t know is that maybe one of your former colleagues that are in the group studied a short course on how to create highly impressive CV’s for people and he/she in the group could offer your friend their services for a better-looking CV
So if you don’t have such a group on Whatsapp but have a group about partying, then maybe you should re-evaluate your priorities a bit.
Maybe you also have a few more pointers the rest of the ZAlebs readers, and I could use on how to make our pool of friends get jobs.
Please feel free to share those pointers with the rest of us on the ZAlebs Facebook page and let’s tackle this hostile economy with one job opportunity at a time.
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