A job seeker managed to grab an interview and land a new job after setting up his own pop-up stand in central London.
Haider Malik, 24, headed to Canary Wharf in the early hours of the morning on November 2 in hopes of finding a job in banking and finance.
He holds a first-class degree in Banking & Finance from Middlesex University but has struggled to find a job since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic - he felt he couldn't properly showcase his personality in Zoom interviews.
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Malik was inspired by his father, Mehmood, 67, a retired cab driver who migrated from Pakistan as a teenager.
He decided to take a shot and buy a board from a stationery shop in Romford and stuck QR codes to it so people would easily be able to view his CV and LinkedIn profile.
At 6.45am, Malik arrived at the busy Zone 2 station and his nerves began to kick in watching the crowds walk by.
The man from Seven Kings told MyLondon : “The first five minutes or 10 minutes I felt nervous because I was standing there empty handed.
“I found it really awkward. I didn't know what I was doing, I found it really weird.
“I had all my CVs in my bag. I was standing there empty handed trying to look at people and hoping to meet people rather than being proactive and speaking to them.”
But standing there didn't seem to do the trick, so Malik tried a different approach.
He began smiling and intimating conversations with people on their way to work - it didn't take long for people to begin engaging with him.
He said: “I held my CV in my hand and I was just saying good morning to people, just trying to engage people in a conversation.
“A lot of people gave me their cards, they gave me their phone numbers, and started talking to me.”
While many gave him words of encouragement, one person offered life-changing help.
He said: “There was one person called Emmanuel who actually posted a picture of me online.
“He actually came up to me, he put his hand out and said ‘I wish you well’.
“He said he wanted to do something similar two years ago but he didn't have the courage to do it.
“He was happy that I put myself forward to do it and that he wanted to share a picture of me on LinkedIn."
Within an hour of arriving at the station, Malik had given out all his CVs and by 9.30am, he received a message inviting him to come to an interview.
The interview was for a role as a Treasury Analyst at the Canary Wharf Group.
Haider said: “I got a text message from the director of the department at about 9.30am saying 'come in for an interview at 10.30am'.
“I had my car in the car park so I took the board and took all my stuff.
“I was like ‘wow, this is crazy’.
“They interviewed me on the 30th floor of a building and I'm overlooking Canary Wharf thinking ‘wow, I never expected to be interviewed here let alone potentially about to get a job’."
After the interview, Haider went back to his car to head home but quickly realised his story had gone viral on social media.
He said: “That same day my life changed because when I got back in the car to go home after my interview, I checked my phone and I had about 10 missed calls from loads of different numbers.
“I didn't know that the LinkedIn post went viral straight away and my number was on my CV so people were scanning it and calling me.
“For the first three days my phone was non-stop ringing, it never stopped ringing and LinkedIn was really busy.
“It was going crazy and I had to have my family help me to respond to DMs and get in contact with people.”
By November 5, Malik attended a second interview at the Canary Wharf Group and was offered the job that same evening.
He said: “The first interview was the same day, which was a Tuesday morning, and then I got a second interview on Friday.
"And then by Friday evening they were happy with me and I accepted the role."
Another reason the Londoner felt motivated to go to Canary Wharf was because of what he feels are unrealistic expectations for graduates to have work experience.
He said: "Recruiters ask for two years experience and you've just come out of university and you're not meant to have that.
"That's one of the other reasons I went out [to Canary Wharf] as well."
Malik thanked the man who had posted his story on social media by taking him out to lunch.
He said: “I wanted to get him some lunch to say thank you.
“It was really cool the way it happened - I took a chance."
