Epico saw a potential in newly graduated, 47-year-old Johnny Paulsen

Epico saw a potential in 47-year-old Johnny Paulsen that others did not see. Johnny Paulsen had just completed his education as an IT supporter, but was met with challenges in relation to getting a real break through in the job market.

You are typically not at the forefront of the field of applicants when you retrain at a relatively late age and have to find your first job. On the contrary, you risk ending up in the pile of applicants who are not even called for an interview about the job, but only receive a more or less standardized rejection. Here, however, many companies miss out on many competent profiles.

Johnny Paulsen had to admit that he suffered the same fate. After a number of years in the printing industry, he was struck by an occupational injury that made it impossible for him to continue in that industry, and therefore he chose to go new ways and train to become an IT supporter.

As soon as Johnny finished the 2 1/2-year education, he threw himself into the job search. He applied far and wide, and over the course of six months sent somewhere between 100-200 applications, but only in a few cases was he called for an interview.

"I was rejected most times, and the reasons for the rejections were characterized by the fact that I lacked experience in the field and have a relatively advanced age. Most of the IT supporters I was trained with were very young people," says Johnny Paulsen.

However, Epico saw a potential in Johnny Paulsen, and contacted him. It takes courage and a positive attitude to change your entire career, and at the same time it testifies to the ability to be adaptable, which is important in the IT industry.

Difficult to maintain optimism

The many rejections of applications made it a little difficult for Johnny to maintain optimism in connection with the job search; "When you have applied for so many jobs and received so many rejections as I did, you lose a little faith that you can succeed," he says.

Johnny Paulsen was therefore a little surprised when an employee from Epico in Aarhus contacted him via LinkedIn and asked if he was interested in a specific job as a system administrator.

"However, the job I was presented with was, in my eyes, slightly above my professional level as a recent graduate, and I therefore said no thanks. Epico then asked what type of job I was interested in, and I told them that I would like to work as an IT supporter in a position where I could gain some experience in the field," says Johnny.

At Epico, we believed that you could find a job that matched Johnny's job wishes and experience, and already after a little less than a week, he heard again from Epico.

"They called and asked if I had the opportunity to start a job as an IT supporter at the car importer Nic. Christiansen Group in Kolding in a matter of days. I had no qualms about that, because the job sounded like the right one," says Johnny Paulsen and continues,

"The employee from Epico offered to come to my home so they could get to know me better and talk more about the job. We had a good conversation over a cup of coffee and also went through the contract. It was a Friday, and already on Monday morning I started the job at Nic. Christiansen Group."

Permanent employee after three months

Johnny Paulsen was initially employed on a fixed hourly wage scheme, but since the match between Johnny and the company was so good, he was, in collaboration with Epico, offered a permanent job in the company. Johnny Paulsen therefore now happily drives to work every day from his home south of Aabenraa to Kolding, where he is now permanently employed.