You may get a job by thorough persistence. Don’t be pestilential and persistent, be pleasant, nice and thoroughly persistent. Let me demonstrate.
My daughter Merrilee has Down Syndrome. Her IQ is 43. She has a lot of advantages over job seekers with down syndrome. Job seekers with down syndrome accept what happens to them fatalistically. My daughter with Down Syndrome got an extra half chromosome that makes it impossible for her to be fatalistic. For example:
Merrilee loves cartoon videos. We limited the time she spends watching them. We locked them in the boys’ room so she couldn’t get them. Yet she showed up with a cartoon video in her hand while I was at the computer or reading and handed it to me almost every day.
How did she get the video? She knew that eventually one of her brothers would leave the door unlocked or the key down where she could get it. She checked the door several times a day. Not obsessively, just whenever she went by their room.
She can’t talk clearly, but I knew when she handed me a video that she wanted me to play it. She gave it to me when I was busy so I wouldn’t go upstairs to lock the room. I would hand it back and say, put it on the TV stand. She did. 10 or 20 minutes later she brought another. This went on until I played a video for her or put the videos away and locked the boys’ door.
She is how you should be in your job search. If I tell her, “No,” she’ll be back. If I lock the boys’ door, she’ll be back. She’s gentle and loving. She’s quietly persistent. She’s not unreasonable. I want to help her. She does what I ask when I tell her to put the video on the TV stand.
A job seeker with down syndrome sadly lacks Merrilee’s gentle persistence. Job seekers who feel down, just give up at the first, “No.” There may not be a job today, but there might literally be one tomorrow.
Be persistent. Don’t give up on the job or promotion you want. Figure out how to gently and kindly get your qualifications before the decision maker. Be reasonable, persistent, helpful and nice. Take your resume to HR every time they ask. Ask what you can do to qualify for and get the job. Then do what they say. After a month or two, try again.
If you make yourself qualified and have a great attitude, eventually someone will leave the door unlocked. Someone will quit or the department will expand. If you are kindly persistent and not irritatingly pestilent, you’ll have a great shot at the job.
You can’t have the blessing of the extra half chromosome that Merrilee has. However, you can develop her persistence, love and patience.
Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. (Coolidge)
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Something To Do Today
Is there a promotion you really want? Are there companies you really want to work for? Go to your job journal and write a plan for getting what you want by being persistent in a nice way. Decide how often you can try again. Set appointments on your calendar to try again.
Tomorrow: Down Syndrome vs down syndrome part 2
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