Job seeker in London stands at train station with pitches for interview; gets job offers within three hours

A 24-year-old man managed to get himself a job through an innovative way by setting up his own pop-up stand with his CVs, at a train station in Central London.

Haider Malik was looking for a job since the coronavirus pandemic began, but had been unlucky in finding one even though he was a first-class degree holder in banking and finance from Middlesex University.
The young graduate finally decided to head towards the financial district of Canary Wharf in hopes of finding a job in banking and finance. On 2 November, he carried a board bought from a stationery shop, along with all his CVs, to the train station. Malik then put up QR codes on the board so that people could access his LinkedIn profile and his CV.

Initially, the young man was nervous and stood empty-handed for 10 minutes, not knowing how to proceed with his plan. He then began speaking to people who were passing by and very soon, people began engaging with him.

Many people gave their cards and also their contact numbers. Malik decided to engage with more people by talking and greeting them. Among all these individuals, one person gave the young job seeker a breakthrough.

A man named Emmanuel came up to Malik and praised him for his courage of trying to seek a job by putting up his CVs at the station. He offered to post a picture of the 24-year-old on LinkedIn, which became the turning point in his life.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/haidermalik96_thankyou-share-work-activity-6866378272524009472-L5KQ

By 9.30 am that morning, Malik received a message from the director of Canary Wharf Group for an interview for the post of a Treasury Analyst. The young man reached for his interview within an hour of receiving the message, only to come back home and find his story trending on social media.

Malik also received a number of calls on his phone, after his LinkedIn post went viral.

By 5 November, Malik received another call from the Canary Wharf Group for a second interview after which, he was selected and was offered the job.

Malik said that he was determined to find work and chose to go at Canary Wharf because he was a fresh graduate and he would usually not be accepted for jobs since he did not have an experience of two years. Hence, the 24-year-old tried a different method to seek a job.

He had earlier given various interviews on Zoom call during the pandemic but became frustrated as the virtual interviews restricted his talent and personality.

Malik also mentioned that he was inspired by his father, Mehmood Malik to seek a job through this unique way. Malik’s father migrated to Britain from Pakistan and is a retired cab driver.

As a token of appreciation and to thank Emmanuel for making his post go viral on LinkedIn, Malik took him out for lunch.