The astonishing lesson of perseverance from Philippe Fehmiu
Host Philippe Fehmiu was at the CJE Bourassa-Sauvé on February 18.
Philippe Fehmiu did not just send a CV when he wanted to become a VJ at the defunct Musique Plus television channel in the 1990s. Visiting the Carrefour jeunesse-emploi (CJE) in Montreal-Nord Friday, he shared how he used perseverance to land his dream job.
“Some people might think I was a little crazy. I was very insistent,” he said by way of introduction.
“Insistent,” to say the least. The host admits it himself, his tactics were borderline stalking, intrusion. There was no question of just one name remaining on one of the 300 resumes in the pile.
Before bombarding an assistant to the boss with regular phone calls to “follow up on the progress” of her file , he scrutinized for hours the huge bay windows of the studio on rue Saint-Catherine.
“I went to the other side of the street, I watched and I recorded what was happening. passed. In the evening, I listened to my eight hours of recording,” he said. We know the rest: he ended up having an audition.
Someone told me “Forget it, it's impossible to go back there”. It was a mistake.
Philippe Fehmiu, host at ICI Musique and ex-VJ at MusiquePlus.
But years later, he again had to be “insistent” to stand out with the bosses of Radio-Canada. Above all, he was not going to be told “We'll call you back”, because hosting a show on public radio was a little boy's dream.
A message of perseverance
“When I started, I didn't have a lot of experience and the issue of diversity was more complex,” explained the host.< /p>
He believes that things have changed a lot since then, even that diversity is now sought after by employers.
“I want to convey a message of perseverance to young people, but also convey to them the importance of doing your homework well and being well prepared,” he explained to Metro before the conference.
“The approach to the employer”
The director of the CJE Bourassa-Sauvé, Richard Biroko, sees in the facilitator's journey a lesson for all job seekers.
“You can't be looking for a job and stay at home. We have to go to the employer, follow up even once we have sent our CV, ”he explained.
