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Our unlimited potential

© Kelly L. Henderson

Back in 1980, fresh out of university and with little job experience I arrived in the city. I had no idea what kind of work I wanted to do or how to go about finding it. I knew I had to find something, though, because I had a student loan I'd have to pay back. So with a woefully unimpressive resume and a little guidance from my older sister I set out to find my way.

Within a few days I managed to land temporary work. The idea of 'temping' was completely foreign to me. As far as I knew once you found a job you kept it for the rest of your days. The idea that you could go to a company for a few days or a few weeks and do a short-term job and get paid was quite a novelty. Still, I kept looking for a 'real' job on the side and it wasn't long before I found one.

My first full-time job only lasted about a month. It took that long for my employer to realize he did not have enough work for me to do. Stunned by this unexpected development, I went back to the temporary agency confident they'd have something for me. There seemed to be lots of work available and for a few months I worked solidly at back-to-back temporary jobs.

Finally, four months after arriving in the city I interviewed for a promising full-time job at a large well-known company. A few days later I had a job.

Years later I was reading an article that referred to the rather lengthy recession of the early 1980s, the exact same time when I had come to the city to seek work. True, I would never have paid any attention to business news in those days so it's possible I might have missed this major news story. Still, I was a bit startled to learn of it. Was it dumb luck, I wondered, that I never had trouble finding jobs back then?

Well, they say that ignorance is bliss. The thing is, despite my lack of experience I was always sure I would find a job. I never doubted it. This belief was bolstered by the ease and speed with which I first landed work, albeit of the temporary variety. This seemed to me a vote of confidence in my abilities. And because I was not aware of this thing called a recession and completely ignorant of how it might limit my search for a job, it simply never affected me.