In my experience I showed a bit of grit, determination and spirit. I also bought some books and listened in to conversations in my first job post dole.
I got chatting a lot to a manager about the project and asset management, I didn't realise how senior he was until I got my second role at that company. He was one of the top!
He gave me the interview questions to my second job, told me to put him as a reference and the Operations Manager for area also had a word with the recruiting manager, it was a mix of good fortune, luck and my hard graft.
Third job at a new company came out of the blue, also a bit lucky, my first role was a fixed term, and towards the end of the contract a collegue gave me the contact details of a specialist recruiter for my industry. He said he didn't have anything for me then as I didn't have a lot of indstry experience but after my second role and 2 years later I did! He phoned me out of the blue and got me an interview for the same job I was doing but 25% more money! Get it...
In the new job I had direct experience from my old place and just excelled here, now I got promoted again, but I have worked hard and due to some lucky timing I have hit a period where some senior managers have left and there are a lot more junior people than me so much so that there is only me that stands out that isn't already a manager. Again some luck but also my hard work.
Prior to 2010 I felt like you Nix in my local government job, I questioned why I bothered with uni, I rang in sick a lot, didn't do my hours or much work when I was there, it was hell on earth in the public sector. They do nothing and just shuffle paper, I couldn't get my head around that so left for a career change.
