Victor or Victim

From time to time I interview re-offenders to help as part of their process in “going straight”. I instantly warmed to this person.  I would describe this person him as a wag or a card. He would describe himself as unlucky. He was a petty criminal who never hurt another person, but seemed to be on the fringes of  others in their more determined pursuit of crime during the late 1960’s.

One Saturday, he and two other’s had planned to break into a shop in the high street and rob the safe.  They had “cased” the shop that day and were anticipating a lot of money in takings.

He did go into some aspects of the planning which only one of them had done on that day. Each had a role to play; two to rob, one to act as a look out. The kit list included welding gear and a getaway car which was a borrowed Zephyr 6.

With half a bottle of scotch consumed they took to the road.  Parking in the darkness of the service road at the back of the store they forced their way in with a crow bar. The lookout was posted and set they about using the welding torch to open the safe.

They had some difficulty seeing in the dark despite the very bright light. The torch had some gas but took several attempts to light it and they had to douse the small paper fires they had started.  But the magnitude of their incompetence came with the realisation that they were welding the safe up rather than burning through the locks.

 They decided to throw the safe in the back of the car and open it at a lock-up they had access to. It took all three to lift the safe out of the building, bending the rear door hinges of the car as they were trying to throw the safe in. Upon the last heave, the safe landed on the back seat, rolled into the foot well partially fell through the Zephyrs’ rusty floor. Severe panic set in.

All three jumped in the car and drove off at speed with the safe now setting off sparks beneath the vehicle.

 It was only a matter of time before the police had them in custody. Three other robberies were taken into consideration and it was revealed that this was the furthest they had got in any robbery using the welding torch for the first time.

At each stage in the process they failed to plan properly. As much as they hoped for the best, the best never happened to them.

Planning to get a new job is arguable the most important piece of planning you will ever have to do. It will allow you to take control of your circumstances, and bolster your confidence as you begin to get some positive feedback and some little victories  under your belt.

Do

•    Set an objective no matter what it is,  it gives you a direction to move towards

•    Don’t just think it, Ink It- write down your goals and outcomes, keep them  to refer to

•    There are some great planning tools on the web to help- use them

•    Measure your success, keep a record of the CV’s you send out and the feedback returned with a record of statistics.eg how many CV’s do I need to send to get one interview

•    Review the process, see if you can improve the ratios

Don’t

•    Rely on the planning to do it for you, you still need to push yourself out there

•    Be disheartened in the early days, it takes time to turn a tanker

•    Be a victim of circumstances, it is not what happens to you, it’s how you react to it.

Remember, the recession happed to you, you didn’t plan for it, but you can use planning to help you get out of it.