Perseverance & giving someone a chance

(Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox)

A couple of weeks ago, I had the distinct pleasure of immersing myself in a very positively inspiring movie, "Hidden Figures". For anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet, the Preview is HERE.

It got me thinking on quite a few levels .... the perseverance and sheer tenacity of the ladies (above, referred to as "Computers" in the movie) to succeed in their individual goals; and how their sheer will to win positively impacted others around them, including those much senior. In the build up to the end of the movie, I was almost cheering squadding them out loud, encouraging them to succeed, and urging them on. It made me think, taking me from the 50's - 60's through to now and what this inspirational movie could do for me in my current career.

For the uninitiated, I am a Business Development Manager for HELP Employment & Training, a division of HELP Enterprises. We work within jobactive and Disability Employment Services employment contracts, throughout South East Queensland. Within those contract, we are privileged to work closely with 11,000+ jobseekers, and our team (across 37 Employment Sites) are doing everything we can to gain sustainable employment outcomes for each and everyone of our registered jobseekers.

I believe the vast majority of the jobseekers HELP Employment & Training are working with, really do want to work, but need to overcome barriers to achieve their goal ... employment. We are lucky that the employers we work alongside with, understand they can remove a barrier and provide someone who is unemployed, the chance to employment. And why do they do this? Good question, and one that is sometimes not that clear to answer. But never the less, we are honoured that our employers make the effort to work with us, and our jobseekers.

And that special moment, when one of our employers presents us with a wonderful vacancy, when a jobseeker is given a chance to succeed, and they then run hard with the opportunity, is one to be cherished and remembered ... adversity has been faced off, and told to stand down. And that over generalised perception of unemployed people, is proven wrong, yet again.

What those ladies, in real life (not the glorified, slightly glossed over movie version), had to endure and persevere, in order to gain the success they truly deserved, is not being belittled here, but stands as a reminder for me, of what someone can achieve, even when faced with intolerant adversity.

Well worth watching and immersing yourself.

Thomas