You may recognise Alfred Ajani, AKA ‘The CV Man’, as the guy who landed himself his dream marketing job, by handing out his CV in Waterloo Station.
After having a tough time finding a job after graduating last Summer, Alfred did not become disheartened by job rejections and rather took his job search into his own hands, knowing that he had to do something a little different to stand out in such a competitive job market. After being spotted in Waterloo Station holding a sign advertising his 2.1 in Marketing, he was offered a job at the Asoria Group and the rest is history.
A few months on, the tables have turned and Alfred has been the one doing the hiring. Alfred shared his story with us and here’s what he had to say:
What pushed me to go to Waterloo station many asked. Many say I was desperate. I tell them I was ready to work and take my ideas to market. My main idea is self-promotion, what are you doing to stand out? With traditional methods of applying I would be waiting for a response for at least two weeks. I would sometimes have no response or an automated message stating unfortunately, I do not have enough experience. It is a problem with graduate jobs in general.
After unsuccessfully applying for over 300 jobs I decided to take matters into my own hands and get myself the role I wanted, which is what The Asoria Group offered. Millions of graduates before me have been in my shoes and have received that email telling them they are too inexperienced for the role. The headaches and hair pulling starts, where are we supposed to get this experience from?
There is the option of the gap year, but how many second year students are lucky enough to land one of those at a respected company? However my message when sharing my story is to join a start-up (like The Asoria Group). The things you can learn in such a short period of time such as organisation structure, how to run a business, how to grow a business, and the trial and error of new marketing campaigns are invaluable. Safe is risky and we are ready to try anything here.
Millions of graduates after me will receive that email and be even more confused than me as to why they pay so much to study at university, to come out with even less job opportunities than their friends who didn’t go to university. It was a stressful period but as the saying goes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, I reached mine and I like to think this was the role for me, I was meant to come here and do what I am doing.
What am I doing? Now Marketing, PR and Project manager I still find time to make TV and radio appearances and the odd motivational speech to attract more graduates to join me at The Asoria Group. My main project at the moment – ‘Women in Business’ – I have been speaking with women across the sectors we operate in to gather their stories experiences and advice. I have been sharing their stories through video logs and blog posts, the popularity of this project is great and we have already seen an increase in the number of females applying for our roles both internally and externally.
I’ve seen a few graduates pop up at stations all over the world now with placards advertising their skills. It’s great to be such an inspiration but this particular graduate caught my eye.
And I hired him.
I am proud to announce the hiring of The Asoria Group’s latest superstar recruiter, Nutty T. Squirrel. Nutty continues The Asoria Group’s diverse and out of the box hiring strategy. Nutty came to the attention of The Asoria Group, when he was spotted in Waterloo Station holding up a sign saying “2:1 in Acorn Management, Coventree University Graduate, Please ask for a CV.”
Nutty comes on board with a wealth of experience in collecting and storing acorns for winter, scurrying around really quickly and climbing trees. He will be working alongside our internal recruitment team at various events across the country helping to recruit new graduates to sales roles in The Asoria Group.
How could I not hire a squirrel that took a nut out of my tree?
If you think you have what it takes to join The Asoria Group team, drop Nutty your CV and make sure you keep up with Nutty’s exploits on his Twitter @NuttyDaSquirrel.
Author: I am Alfred Ajani the Coventry University graduate from South London also known as ‘The CV Man’. I am Marketing and PR Projects Manager at The Asoria Group, responsible for driving the Marketing and PR function of The Asoria Group. My role is to bring innovative solutions to traditional challenges within the recruitment industry.
