Job Seekers' Catch-22

Joseph Heller coined the term in his 1961 novel Catch-22. It is now a common term to describe a paradoxical situation, similar to the chicken and the egg paradox, but much more frustrating as there is no control for the person in this situation. In the novel, Catch 22 is an unsolvable dilemma, where the soldiers could not get out of their duty by requesting for a psychological examination to show that they are insane as the act itself would prove that they are sane. 

Catch-22 is a concept that is familiar to every job seekers out there looking to get into a new area. How do you get hire for a job you don't have experience for and how do you get experience if you cannot get the job? I don't have a quick answer for you, but I can tell you what has worked for me. I would sum it up in two words: patience and persistence. 

In 1999 (yes, a decade and a half ago), I was looking for employment outside of the university with a decent pay. I had tried, unsuccessfully, the prior year and actually gave up trying. I stayed for another year at school, hoping the job market for a science-degree graduate would improve. It was then that I met a Fisher Scientific representative, Cristina, who convinced me to consider a job as a sales representative. At this point in my life, I had done many odd jobs here and there to support my college education, so sales were something I could do. I just never thought of going into sales for a biotech company. I toyed with the idea, but as it was 1999 and the computing industry was hot, I decided to focus on getting a job in the computing industry. 

I could do some basic and informal programming. Why not? I decided to shoot for it and applied to as many computing companies looking for entry-level computer programmer as I could find. My introductory email was simply that I had no formal training in computing, but that I had a biochemistry degree. The reasoning was that it meant I handled analytical thinking. I was quick to state that I was a fast learner and was eager to do a good job. It took a lot of emails and a lot of phone calls, but I finally got my shot to interview and eventually get hired with an embedded computing company in the Bay Area. Now, you would have to give credit to Paul and Michael, the owners, for giving me a chance. However, it did take a few months for this to happen and I kept at it while keeping my university job. 

Fast forward a bit, I was back to the Los Angeles area, working as a lab tech for a small biotech company. I revisited the idea of working as a biotech sales rep and restarted my conversation with my Fisher friend to look at a position there. It took four months of interviewing. Managers changed and I would interview with yet another manager. Four months and in the end, I was told I did not qualify since I did not have the sales experience. One good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it, about me, is that I don't like being told 'no'. I don't need a 'yes', just a 'maybe'. Then, perhaps I can turn a maybe into a 'yes'. Well, you could see how that could be a bad thing.... or a good thing. So, I told myself, if that were the case, I would get the sales experience. 

It took me a little while, about a year later, but I got a job selling copiers for Konica Minolta. The pay was almost $15K less that of my lab tech job and the hours were long, but it was a sales job and I needed the experience. The best thing about the company was the sales training, not just from the company's Konica University, but also from my boss at the time, Robert. He gave me the Sales 101 training that I still use today. About a year later, I got a call from a biotech recruiter for a sales/FAS position and got hired a month later with a Belgium company starting its US operation. 

So, though you might get frustrated at the conundrum of it all, I would say be patient and persistent. One way or another, you will get there. Just keep at it.