Go on then have a guess; what kind of flower is it?

What is the secret of success when you’re looking for a job? What is the secret of success when you’re running your own business? What is one thing you can’t buy, can’t steal and need to have? The answer is P-A-S-S-I-O-N. It’s the difference that makes a difference and if you’re selling yourself at a job interview, or selling your products or services then it’s important to let your passion show though. This is because ‘people buy people’ and although we often line up objective criteria to make our decisions, in practice our underlying emotions often have the whip hand and make the final selection.

This tends to happen out of our awareness, which means that it’s easy to overlook the value of projecting positive emotions when trying to clinch that deal, or land that job. And there is a second issue which is that if you talk about being passionate directly, it can sound false and pretentious, because the key to success is to convey the emotion without stating it directly.

How To Show Passion

Here are 5 Top Tips to help you convey your passion when you want someone to buy you:

1) Use lively words.This may sound simple, but salting your conversation with key words can really convey your passion because so few people do it well. If you’re using words such as like / enjoy / thrive / relish / enthusiastic / love …then people will hear your energy and enthusiasm. If you add in some ‘really like’ for added emphasis, then so much the better.

2) Explain what lies behind your passion. It’s easy to claim passion and harder to back it up with a coherent case, so telling people what parts of your work really enthuse you will help them to make sense of your emotion.

3) Smile. I have seen some people talk about their ‘passion’ for business with all the charisma of a dead cod. It doesn’t work. When you say your lively words, be sure to smile broadly as you recall the happy memories associated with them.

4) Be realistic. Talk about your enthusiasm for supporting people, meeting a challenge head on, solving complex problems or being creative, for example. These aspects of work can stir our emotions in a way that licking envelopes or carrying boxes can fail to do.

5) Be selective.  I have met people who are so enthusiastic about everything, it can start to sound a bit disbelieving. Unless they’re Mary Poppins of course and then that’s fair enough. Think about the things that really hook your interest, or your appetite for work and focus on these for maximum impact.

Enjoy Yourself

It’s OK to share your enthusiasm and to enjoy the effect you have on others when you talk about it. For example, I am the Director of a new programme starting at Cranfield in September (see below) and the delegates will benefit from working closely with myself and my colleagues. We love sharing our knowledge and supporting people in their development and it’s truly rewarding to see good people do well, and go on to secure new jobs.

Our Task For This Week

When you have to sell yourself at an interview, pitch an idea, or lead a team, then smile, drop in a few lively words and notice how people respond more warmly and with more energy.

FREE Sample Book

Do you know someone who is looking for work and needs a hand? Marshall Cavendish have put together a sample ebook of Job Hunting 3.0 which features the whole of the first section called ‘Getting Started’ and the whole of the final section called ‘Checklists’ containing (no surprises here) useful checklists full of interview questions, process tips and essential information for success. If you would like an exclusive copy; email me, subscribe to the blog, or use the contact box and I will zap a copy right back to you.

Pass It On

If you know someone who would be interested in this blog post please forward it to them, or ReTweet it, or let them know they can subscribe to regular emails via the box on the homepage.

By The Way… FREE CRANFIELD COURSE ANYONE?

At Cranfield University we’re running an Enhanced Personal Development Programme, starting 6th September and lasting for 4 weeks. If you know someone who is unemployed and who would like to learn about job hunting skills, management skills and have fun on a real consultancy project then contact me now. Places are limited and an opportunity to spend 4 weeks full-time at one of the best universities in the world is not to be missed. WARNING: This course can seriously improve your chances of getting a job and involves fun, new learning and will increase your confidence.

Thank you for reading to the end and enjoy being passionate!

Next week is all about how we limit ourselves by saying ‘Yes, but…’

Go on, shake hands with people....they like it!

Although this post is aimed at people who are going to job interviews, building rapport is an essential life skill. Like most essential skills, including money management, knowing what APR really means when you take out a loan and basic parenting skills, it’s rarely taught. People who need to have great rapport building abilities, in order to help them get their next job and earn bags of cash, have a horrible habit of blundering along in the dark, ignorant of their own faults and foibles.

To help out here are my Top 5 Tips to build rapport. Which ones do you do already and which ones do you need to do more often?

1) Smile. It relaxes people and we appear warm and friendly.

2) Shake hands.This is an assertive thing to do, although be careful not to crush people’s hands. It’s not a test of strength.

3) Use names. Few people are really called ‘Mate’, unless they’re the first mate on a ship. Names acknowledge us as individuals and are important to use.

4) Use social gaze.We can draw an imaginary triangle between the outside of someone’s eyebrows and the tip of their nose and can let our gaze wander round inside it, instead of staring eyeball-to-eyeball.

5) Notice commonality. This is my favourite tip. When we find that we have something in common with another person they cease to be a stranger to us and become a member of one of the tribes we belong to. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an iPhone tribe, or a Blackberry tribe, a football supporting tribe, or a wine drinking tribe; all connections have value. When you hear something that fits with your world, notice it by saying: ‘Hey, I do that too…’

Our Task For This Week

Choose a top tip and and have fun using it. There are many more tips in the book Job Hunting 3.0 which is out on 15th June. Click here to order your copy from Amazon.

Next Monday – Classic Interview Questions

Interviews are unpredictable, right? Wrong! They tend to stick to a well worn pattern and we can influence them, if we anticipate answers to classic questions. Next week, we’ll look at ones that pop up time and again. Which one do you think will be top of the list?

Pass It On

If you know someone who would be interested in this blog post please forward it to them, or ReTweet it, or let them know they can subscribe to regular emails via the box on the homepage.

Missed Last Week’s Post?

Last week was all about 3 juicy questions to ask at the end of an interview. Click here if you would like to find out more.

Classic interview sign-posting: Ask your questions here...!

You’re doing well at an interview, it’s drawing to a close and the person firing the questions at you pauses and asks:

‘Do you have any questions for me?’

How do you reply:

a) Um, I don’t have any,

b) You’ve answered all my questions already,

c) Thank you and I do have a couple to ask you….

Of course the correct answer is c), but the others pop up with depressing regularity, which is a pity because asking great questions is a great way to sell yourself. There are points to be had from asking smart questions and here are three of my favourites, to get you thinking:

Q1) Can you tell me what my priorities will be on day one (or for the first three months)?

Q2) Have I answered all our questions, or is there an area you would like me to expand on?

Q3) Do you have any concerns about my application?

The first question is a sneaky one because it looks into the future and invites the interviewer to see us in the job. As they do so, they begin to see what we would be like in action and this can help to confirm in their mind that we are indeed a great candidate. This is a future pacing question and it’s always worth asking, because it gives us useful information and can lead us into a job.

The second question gives us an opportunity to make good any poor answers. If we’ve waffled, or missed a question, we can hand the interviewer a better answer and can score more points. There’s no harm in having a second attempt to get things right, because the interview is our one chance to make a good impression.

Finally, the third question is one that we are often more nervous about asking, because we fear the answer…particularly if we think the interview has gone badly. However, once we’ve left the room and are heading home it can help us to know how realistic are chances are. If the interviewer does have a concern then we might as well hear it when we’re sitting in front of him and can answer it directly. Sorting out concerns is assertive and useful and can only help us out.

As a tip I always suggest people write their choice of questions at the bottom of their notepad so that they don’t have to remember them at the end of a draining hour. Life and interviews don’t have to be a memory.

Our Task For This Week

Have fun asking questions to find out useful information, whether we are at an interview or having a sales meeting. There are more questions in the book Job Hunting 3.0 which is out on 15th June. Click here order your copy from Amazon.

Next Monday – How to build rapport

The difference that makes a difference is our ability to make contact with people and to assert our character. If we can do this well, then it’s amazing how much a interviewer will warm to us and will overlook gaps in our CV. Read the blog next week for some top tips.

Pass It On

If you know someone who would be interested in this blog post please forward it to them, or ReTweet it, or let them know they can subscribe to regular emails via the box on the homepage.

Missed Last Week’s Post?

Last week was all about where to look for work. Click here if you would like to know 20 places.

Thank you for reading all the way to the end! Good luck with your job hunting and see you next Monday. If you need help please feel free to contact me here.

If you're looking for work then 'get' Twitter and get tweeting!

I’ve met people who have great CVs (see last week’s post for 10 Top Tips), I’ve met people who are great at interviews and yet I’ve never met anyone who has thought much about where to look for work. In my experience people often shut their eyes and fire off CVs to: Job search sites on the internet, or job adverts in national newspapers, or job adverts in local newspapers

There is a big problem with this approach which, when you think about it, is obvious; if everyone is also looking here, your chances of success can be dramatically decreased. Think of it like being on a treasure hunt, where you all have the same map and all know where X marks the spot. Can you beat the others up the beach to start digging first?

Don’t get me wrong here, people do find work by using websites and newspapers, but there are others ways that need to be considered. This is because a high proportion of jobs are hidden away out of sight and need to be winkled out.

If you’re looking to find your next role please read though this list and tick off all the places where you have searched for work and ask yourself which places you could also look in:

1. Local newspapers for a neighbouring county or district.
2. Trade magazines relevant to your occupation.
3. Local libraries, containing journals and magazines with interesting people you can send cold call letters to.
4. Local business networking clubs; the members will know lots of people.
5. National newspaper news or business pages; send letters to the people in the articles.
6. Twitter; you can let people know what you are looking for.
7. LinkedIn; now regularly used by recruiters to find people.
8. Trade shows; full of companies and you can collect a fistful of business cards.
9. Notice boards, at universities or in business/service organisations.
10. Social clubs; who knows you’re looking for work?
11. Recruitment agencies; high street and specialist.
12. Friends…you never know who they know!
13. Your family…ditto friends.
14. Competitors of businesses you used to work with; you were in the same market.
15. Local business directories; often found in libraries and full of people you can write to.
16. People who are already doing the type of work you’re looking for; do they need any help?
17. Your address book; people often overlook their email accounts, so it’s worth checking to see who you could write to.
18. Job search sites on the internet.
19. Job adverts in national newspapers.
20. Job adverts in local newspapers.

I’ve repeated our three favourites to highlight the fact that they are only a small part of a much longer list and, if we’re looking for work, then we can increase our chances of success by diligently exploring all the options that we have available to us. If we do, then we might sneak ahead of the competition and be first to the buried treasure. Happy digging!

Our Task For This Week

This week we can choose five new places to look for work and can have fun exploring them. There’s more information in the book Job Hunting 3.0 which is out on 15th June. Click here order your copy from Amazon.

Next Monday – Questions to Ask at Interviews

We often get asked ‘If we have any questions’ and there are bonus points on offer for having some good ones prepared. They can help us to sell ourselves effectively, so next week we will meet three helpful questions.

Pass It On

If you know someone who would be interested in this blog post please forward it to them, or ReTweet it, or let them know they can subscribe to regular emails via the box on the homepage.

Missed Last Week’s Post?

Last week was all about CV writing tips. If you would like to read 10 Top Tips then click here.

Thank you for reading all the way to the end! Good luck with your job hunting.

Great CVs use white space to make sections more readable, but don't over do it!

I have read that CVs are a thing of the past, old fashioned and out of touch with the zap zap speed of the modern social media world and I have to say that I disagree with this for two reasons:

By preparing a CV we are encouraged to think for ourselves about ourselves. What have we done well? What skills do we have? What makes people want to hire us? Without this kind of reflective conversation it can be amazing what we might forget. For example, I’ve worked with clients who have forgotten that they saved a business from closure, or that they spoke six languages, or that they saved £1m in repair costs. A CV is an excellent tool for dragging up useful nuggets from the depths of our cerebral filing system into the front of our mind, where they can held in stock, waiting to dazzle people.

2. Gains Interest

The other great thing about a CV is that once we have one we can give it to other people. Sounds a bit obvious perhaps, but a CV does the same job as a menu pasted up outside a restaurant. It gives us information, whets our appetite and engages our interest.

So, having established a clear need for a CV we can take a look at some essential Top Ten Tips for success. Here are my favourite tips, culled from my experience of reading hundreds of CVs and of working closely with people to get theirs polished up to a usefully shiny state.

Top Ten Tips

1. Two pages maximum length. People often fail to read past the second page and if you can’t be informative and concise, what does that say about you?
2. Tell the truth. An outright lie could cause summary dismissal if you get a job, because you have misrepresented yourself. If in doubt; leave it out.
3. Leave out interview-specific information. This includes current salary details, health issues and reasons for leaving your last employer. You can answer all of these questions when at interview, without the risk being misunderstood.
4. Clear summary of yourself at the top of the first page.Write an interesting four line summary that begins ‘A successful Operations Manager with experience of….and who has saved £s during a recent XYZ project.’ Include juicy details to hook people’s interest, such as countries you’ve worked in, or brands/companies you’ve been involved with.
5. Avoid cliches.This means cutting out such boring old things as ‘blue sky thinking’, or ‘pushing the envelope’, or ‘great at thinking out of the box’. Once you’ve read them 20 times in different CVs they cease to add any value.
6. Include achievements. After your summary profile include a ‘Key Achievements’ section with at least six bullet points that show your greatest job related achievements. Include numbers in them to make them memorable and to show how much value you have added to your previous organisations.
7. If you’re a manager/supervisor/team leader talk about people. It’s amazing how often I’ve heard the cliche ‘I’m a people person’ without there being a shred of evidence in someone’s CV to back it up. If you make claims to being a people person then make at least two of your achievements people related. Think about how you developed the team, coached staff, supported people’s development or resolved a dispute.
8. Tear your first page in half. This is about as much as most people read, so make sure it has a relevant and interesting profile in it and contains at least your first two achievements. If your address takes up the whole space then it’s time to think again!
9. Stick your CV to your fridge door.This is a great way to see if the layout is neat and clear. Take a step back and look to see whether titles and bullet points are in line and whether there is enough white space between sections, to make them easy to find and read. If your CV is full of tiny type and needless clutter then you will need to give it a thorough haircut to allow your greatest points to shine out.
10. Less is more. Six well worded achievements can be more useful than 25 lengthy rambling ones. Seven lines of responsibilities/activities per job are easier to remember than 17. A classic mistake is to pack your CV with everything and a bit more to make sure you’ve covered all options, but it can look confusing to the reader and end up as a sprawling mess. Be ruthless and go for the essential details that will sell your skills and talents. Leave out the waffle and the dead wood; you’re better than that.

Remember

It’s your CV with your name on the top, so you have to be happy with it. My viewpoint is UK/Euro-centric and if you have local preferences then of course it makes sense to follow those, whilst using the above as a general checklist. There are more tips and fully worked examples of great CVs in the book Job Hunting 3.0, which is due out on 15th June. Reserve your copy on Amazon now.

Our Task For This Week

This week we can dig out our CVs and compare them to the list of Top Ten Tips above. If we’re looking for work, it might help us to get an interview and if we’re in work, then refreshing our CV now can save us frustration and heartache in the future.

Next Monday – where to look for work

We will continue the job hunting top tips by looking at 20 places where you can look for work. Most people I’ve coached use about three different sources for jobs and miss the rest. How many places can you think of looking?

Pass It On

If you know someone who would be interested in this blog post please forward it to them, or ReTweet it, or let them know they can subscribe to regular emails via the box on the homepage.

Missed Last Week’s Post?

Last week was Part 2 of the behavioural strokes series. Strokes build relationships and change behaviour. They’re also a hidden part of Twitter. Click here to read about them.

Thank you for reading all the way to the end! Good luck with your CV writing.

Look down dear, I'm over here!

A cheery story came my way last week when a colleague emailed to let me know that he had finally secured a full time job and was grateful for my help. I banked the stroke and being a curious fish, asked what I had done that had really made a difference. He instantly replied:

“Well, it sounds mad, but it was Crow really. He reminded me to keep making eye contact with people and when I had a panel of three managers at my second interview it went really well.”

Eye Contact Counts

Oh yes, the power of the Crow. He came along to a couple of my lectures and squawked when people ignored him during their Minute to Win It*. This managed to put delegates off their stride, which was the point really, because there’s no point in talking if you don’t make eye contact; your words are mostly missing their target.

Good eye contact has a gentle rhythm to it of 1-2-3-move 1-2-3-move, which means holding contact for three ‘beats’ and then bobbing on to the next person in the room. If there’s just the two of you then you can avoid staring by looking down as you write a note, or by looking away whilst you think, making sure to look back in order to deliver your answer with enthusiasm.

The power of the Crow was really to provide my colleague with a strong memory that served as an anchor for positive behaviour when under pressure. I shared the stroke with Crow and he was happy. After all, it’s not everyday you help someone get a job when you’re a shaggy black bird (not a shaggy blackbird).

So, the next time you are in a meeting, about to start an interview, or pitching your product to people, remember the Crow. You don’t want to get squawked at do you?

Has This Raised Issues for You?

If you know someone who needs to improve the way they make eye contact and would like to meet Crow he can be contacted through Richard by clicking here. All coaching is confidential and all workshops run the risk of being fun.

*A Minute to Win It is a very effective way to sell yourself, or a product, or a service. There’s more information in the book Job Hunting 3.0 which will be published on 15th June. Subscribe to the blog for updates and free downloads.

Ahoy shipmates! There's pirate gold for helping others!

As I might have mentioned already, I’m currently writing a book about Job Hunting. I need to deliver the manuscript at the end of the month and I still have a small mountain of typing and editing to climb. Yesterday I was intending to rush to the office in order to spend the day completing a chapter about interview skills, when the telephone rang.

A friend’s son needed urgent help and could I write his CV with him? The answer was; yes. I had what he needed and he needed support and encouragement, to help him get back to work.

So, instead of writing my book we spent the afternoon compiling his CV, running through interview questions and generally brushing up his skills. He was very grateful and I felt good too. Not only had I helped someone in need, our conversation had also given me an idea for the chapter I am currenty writing.

A win-win for both of us and it did remind me that we when help people we often get something unexpected in return.

So, if you have some specific knowledge, or a key skill, that could help someone; enjoy sharing it and enjoy the rewards this will bring. Happy helping!

Job Hunting Support

Apart from delivering development workshops and executive coaching, Primary People also works with people to help them learn job hunting skills. Knowing about the 90/90 rule, networking conversations, STAR interview answers, rapport building skills and how to run a campaign can help people to get ahead of the competition. If you know someone who would benefit from support then please ask them to contact me.