So I decided to tackle this TNPL career application thing head-on. Honestly, had no clue where to start at first. Figured, okay, what do they even want? Dug around.
Step one was figuring out what TNPL actually cares about. Opened my laptop, poked around their website – super vague stuff mostly. Typical “we want passionate people” blah blah. Useless. Switched tactics, looked up actual people who got jobs there on like LinkedIn. Started noticing patterns. Messaged a couple politely – surprisingly, two folks got back! Said stuff like “it’s more than just the degree” and “gotta show you get the work”. Okay, something solid.
Alright, here’s what I actually did to get ready:
1. That annoying Self-Description part: Man, this killed me. Sat staring at a blank page for like an hour. “Tell us about yourself.” Worst question. Finally just wrote absolute garbage about my school, my part-time job at Uncle’s shop – everything. Looked terrible. Scrapped it. Tried again, this time thinking: Why TF would TNPL even look at my application? Oh, right – because I can actually do things they need. Stopped writing a life story and started listing concrete stuff I actually did: managed inventory counts (hated it, but did it), helped organize that neighbourhood clean-up last summer, fixed all the wifi issues in the dorm. Made it about actions, not fluff.
2. Talking through the pain: The application mentioned interviews. I suck at interviews. Brain freezes, sweaty palms, the works. Decided practice was the only way. Grabbed my phone, hit record. Pretended the camera was some stern HR person asking “Why TNPL?” First try: mumbled nonsense, eyes darting around like a scared rabbit. Watched it – painful. Did it again. And again. Started jotting down bullet points, not a script. Key thing: had to actually sound like me, not some robot reciting bossy stuff. Focused on one or two main points about why their work mattered to me.
3. Showing I can figure things out: Remembered my cousin ranting about some stupid policy document. TNPL had one on their site about waste management. Sat down, forced myself to actually read the darn thing. Took notes like it was a textbook – main goals, key rules, who it applied to. Felt boring as heck. But guess what? Used that knowledge when I rewrote my self-description bit. Snuck in a line like “understands the importance of X policy in local waste streams”. Felt sneaky, but good.
4. Tech stuff ain’t scary: Saw they use some “Project Management Software” mentioned. Name meant nothing. Googled it. Realized it’s basically just a shared to-do list on steroids. Signed up for a free trial of something similar. Spent an afternoon messing around with it. Created a fake project for planning my aunt’s surprise party – tasks for balloons, cake, hiding guests. Clicked “Assign” to myself, moved things to “Done”. Point wasn’t to become an expert overnight, just not to panic at the term and say “yeah, familiar”. Didn’t lie about deep knowledge, just showed I can poke around and learn.
5. Being annoyingly persistent: Submitted the stupid application. Heard nothing. Radio silence. Typical. Didn’t just sulk. Found a general “info” email address listed on their careers page (no HR contacts anywhere, of course). Sent a super short, polite follow-up after a week and a half. “Just confirming receipt of my application for X position. Happy to provide any further details. Thanks!” No begging, no desperation, just a nudge. Still might hear nothing, but felt better doing something.
The messy reality check: It wasn’t smooth. Spilled coffee on some notes. Had to rewrite a whole section because I accidentally pasted gibberish. Lost track of time playing with the project software. Felt stupid talking to my phone. But pushing through the awkwardness and doing the things, step by step, made it less intimidating. Definitely room to improve, but hey, I hit “Submit”. Now we wait… and maybe practice that interview question one more time.
