The joy in Hammad Siddiqui's eyes was evident while he expressed how he always had an in-built want to help others and to share his knowledge with everyone.
‘To get a job, all you need is good communication skills, creativity and the ability to take decisions … rest of it is just BS’.
The Express Tribune came across this eccentric but logically valuable bit of advice while talking to a writer who has penned down the secrets of getting employed at the right place in just 125 pages. As hard as it may be to believe, it is not an overstatement.
The book ‘Bootstrapping Your Career’ takes its reader through detailed discussions as to how an individual can potentially get a job or enhance his career via simple measures. The writer, Hammad Siddiqui, has a colourful experience of 26 years as a senior management officer and he currently works as Deputy Country Director at the Centre of International Private Enterprise (CIPE).
During a conversation, Siddiqui revealed that he had been working for CIPE for the past eight years, where he had handled issues largely related to policy development. Before this, he had been working for the British Deputy High Commission for almost 17 years.
“I always wanted to share my experience as to how I developed my career. I never had any formal university level education, as I had started working from a very young age. However, I never stopped studying, even while working as a salesman at a shop on Tariq Road,” narrated Siddiqui, while strolling down memory lane.
The joy in his eyes was evident while he expressed how he always had an in-built want to help others and to share his knowledge with everyone.
Suggestions worked
“I have had to take many leaps to be where I am sitting today. My suggestions and counselling worked like some sort of talisman for the people who would ask for my help. Hence my interest in career development increased.”
Quoting his own examples, he discussed his role at the British Deputy High Commission where was vehemently engaged in the hiring process.
“My focus was simple. While hiring, what would I, as an employer, need? If it’s a technical job, then I would need that person to have knowhow about that particular field. However, if it is a managerial job, then all I would need in my employee is that the person should be able to communicate effectively; written communication should be strong, existence of creativity and decision making ability.”
While sipping his tea and dealing with his usual work alongside, he then recalled an event which helped him understand his true potential as a career counsellor. While he was working at the High Commission, there came a time when they closed down their visa section and 22 educated people were unemployed as a result.
Discover magic
It was here that Siddiqui discovered his magic, when he advised the individuals to work on their CV and counselled them for the future. The magic worked splendidly. Each one of those 22 people landed a reasonable job.
“The feeling of helping someone, and knowing that you had a part, albeit a small one, in someone else’s success is a great feeling. You get a sense of achievement.”
Discussing social media presence, he said he had been blogging for three years now, with almost 300 posts to his name which were all centered on entrepreneurial stories – untold, real life stories about the crests and troughs of the average businessman.
A casual glance at the contents of the book showed that a particular chapter was devoted to resume writing and their importance. Perhaps Siddiqui had sensed this glance as well and hence he continued.
Sales letter
“Your CV is your sales letter – it is what sells you to your employer. Many people ask me if there is any format which can help them get a good job. There is no magic format for designing a CV. The magic is in the content of your CV. The human resource manager will look at the CV and throw it on the side if it’s not something new. You just have a 30 second window with these people, to convince them. Your CVs content needs to stand out in order to convince them.”
The idea of Bootstrapping Your Career was conceived in January 2013, when Siddiqui felt the need of writing a book about his crusade for career enhancement and add stories from his blog to the book.
About his future endeavours, he said he was planning to write another book, along with his friend, which would be a compilation of around 50 human interest entrepreneurial stories.
Written in a first person narrative style, this book is a great read for those who want to get something new from life because, in Hammad Siddiqui’s own words: Life mein stop karna tou hai hi nahin! [There is no stopping in life]
Published in The Express Tribune, December 30th, 2013.
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Fantastic effort to make people.... how to act differently!!
What a lovely man! If every Pakistani made a personal effort to contribute something for the better of people around them, a country would move forward so such a better place
Sir Hamid Siddiqui, It is great that you are sharing your experience and helping people with their careers but sir i too have been stuck and wondered how can i get a job in a relevant field while my experience and skill set says just the opposite thing. What we do in counseling is let people only know what they are good at. Yes for some it is quite helpful because mostly people don't know from where to begin or what to do. I too help a lot of my friends realizing them there potential, but sometimes a certain someone wants a job in a particular field with no experience becomes a problem. So what will you do than any advice?
Nice experience.