Investment banking here is part of the pervasive snobbery problem: it is an "elite" area not for the riff raff - even when those riff raff come with a CV (resume) packed with big international banking names from one of the world's still pre-eminent financial centres. I've discussed this on a previous post and returning to this subject might look like special pleading or sour grapes. However, there's been a notable development.
Last night she did an experiment: signed up on a well-known UK recruitment website that specialises in PA work. She gave her CV a quick update, not as thoroughly as if she were seriously looking.
And the result ?
This morning the phone (a UK-looking number but actually calling my Skype account) has been ringing off the hook. Emails are flooding her inbox. The recruitment agencies are all over her like a rash. No talk of the need to fill in "official" application forms or take ludicrous "psychological" and multiple-choice tests - all so desperately important if you are a recruiter in Brazil.
London doesn't mind that her CV isn't in exactly the right format. Who cares about all that cr_p when you have a variety of temporary and permanent positions to be filled. They all seem eager to do business with her and are impressed by her CV.
Not surprisingly, her spirits have lifted enormously, it's like a shot of adrenalin. Sure, at this stage it's all speculative. But the contrast is just too much. "Booming Brazil" remains an illusory place in which most of the workforce is locked out of the best opportunities. These kind of jobs are as tightly patrolled as the apartment blocks and mansions of the rich. It remains a country which has manifestly failed to make the switch from a lazy, exploitative economy into one that is creative and dynamic. Meritocracy is still light years away.
Meanwhile, the UK, the economically sunk UK, out of which we hear nothing but gloom and doom, the supposed polar opposite of "Booming Brazil" ... well, it apparently remains a place where doing business is a thousand times easier than here.
To paraphrase Lily Allen, and speaking on behalf of a returning Brazilian native who's had too many disappointments workwise so far, "It's not me, it's you" !
The following comment was posted by a reader elsewhere but is worth re-posting here:
ReplyDelete" I think one other reason for this issue is that once a Brazilian goes to the US, or Europe, gets good work experience in well-known companies, can use English fluently etc etc... when they come back to Brazil they are often more qualified than the people doing the hiring, so the natural reaction is to stonewall... people would rather get less qualified staff here and protect their own back! There is no way my wife could get a job in a magazine here after editing a national magazine in the UK in English... local editors here would be too afraid to hire her."
Well done on uncovering an unbelievable problem - but hope there will be a positive solution to the job search.
ReplyDeleteI understand that vacation time in Brazil operates on the same insecure basis: employees tend to be forced to take all of their holiday in one go and very much at the discretion of the employer. Apparently many don't take all (or any ?) of their allotted vacation because they are so worried that their role will be reassigned or "stolen" while they are away.
ReplyDelete... and still the London recruitment agents are flooding her inbox and voicemail. It's a very weird feeling. Deafening silence here in Brazil.
ReplyDeleteUpdate: P has just found out that she was the victim of "revenge" by a Brazilian job agency. She had, thru them, been given a job offer back in November but felt she couldn't take it because of the hours and the demands on her as a new mother. Recently she applied for another job thru the same agency. She was given the impression the job was hers but then found it was given to someone else - with the connivance of someone at the agency who wanted to get back at her for not being grovelling and desperate enough to take the job last year. Friendly Brazilians indeed.
ReplyDelete