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One of These May Interest You …
Soon to be added to the Career&Success community resources section:
- “How to Revitalise Your CV for Unstoppable Impact in 60 Minutes or Less.”
- “How to Easily Answer the 4 Toughest and Most Common Interview Questions.”
- “How to Figure Out Where You Need to Be Going With Your Career – in 60 Minutes or Less.”
- “How to ‘Job-Market’ Yourself – the 60 Minute Job Hunting Blue Print that Guarantees More Interviews, More Job Offers.”
- “Employment Agencies – Friend or Foe? How to Work With Them and What to Avoid at all Costs.”
- “The 1 Page CV – Why it Can Be Your Most Powerful Selling Tool – and How to Write it.”
- “How to Write a Cover Letter for Maximum Impact in 15 Minutes or Less.”
- “Me? An Expert? Why You Should Be One. How You Already Are One But You Just Don’t Know it. And How To Easily Establish Yourself as One.”
And these titles are NOT hype. They will deliver exactly as promised. Don’t care how cynical you are. AND there’ll be a community of driven friends to help you put these strategies to work.
The overall aim – a wealthier, happier, more focussed, more successful you. (Am also working on the 10 minutes per day ‘manifestation’ programme which will help you apply the key principles discussed in The Secret, Think and Grow Rich and Money Success and You. It’ll be waiting for members only at the launch on June 1)
Join now. It’s R30 pm (pre-launch special offer valid till May 31 – tomorrow!). Visit www.CareerAndSuccess.info to apply or just contact me directly on gerard@jobsearching.co.za to get the application form.
Warning! You May Miss Out.
The new Career And Success Community is launching on June 1.
And you’re invited. Will YOU be part of it? (Please read this post start to finish otherwise you’ll miss out.)
Why should you be part of it? 3 Reasons:
- You’ll be part of a community of people who want more out of life than just what’s “average”. They want better jobs. They want to be happy in those jobs. They want to be paid well. They’re overcoming their fear the job market. They support each other. They share inspiring ideas. They want more time with their families (ie. they want a rich, enjoyable life amidst life’s challenges).
- You’ll have access to the best career and job hunting advice you get anywhere (the only advice that qualifies is advice that has an immediate, positive, turnaround effect on your job hunting “luck”.)
- You’ll have access to the best motivational and success information – no 400 page books that you grow old trying to work through. Just stuff that works – to get you more successful from day one.
The idea is to help you enjoy a better work and life. To make more money. To be successful in your career.
How does Career And Success work, what is it exactly?
It’s a website. But it’s only open to members. When you register you get a user name and password (of your choosing) and you log in to get access to what the website provides. Once you’re a member and you have access (via your work/home/internet cafe internet connection anywhere in the world), you have the following things you can do:
- You can read many special reports and information available – you can open them and print them.
- The website is a ‘forum’ which means you can also place your questions for other members to read. Eg. you can ask members for help to review your CV and get some valuable feedback on how to improve it.
- You can make friends and support each other in your job hunt. Eg. you may not know how to answer some tough interview question. Now you’ll not only be able to read the information provided on the site but you’ll be able to get input from other members about what worked for them.
- Perhaps you have the goal of finding a new job in the next year. Well, you can start or join a group of others who have the same goal and work on it together – motivating each other, encouraging each other, sharing strategies and ideas (you can bet you’ll get a better, quicker result this way).
- You may be interested in a book like “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. You may want more success in your life. Firstly the book is available free on the site. And then you can join or start a group which discusses how to apply the information. Will you achieve more success that way? You bet.
- You’ll be able to do the same with the special high impact articles like: ” “How to Revitalise Your CV for Unstoppable Impact in 60 Minutes or Less” or “How to Easily Answer the 4 Toughest and Most Common Interview Questions.” etc.
- Additional benefits are the ability to network with other members for jobs. To make contacts. And if you hear about a job that’s available, you can share it – maybe other members can take advantage.
What does membership cost?
The pre-launch special is for R30.00 per month for a minimum membership period of 6 months. Payment is via debit order (on your cheque, savings or credit card account). You just fill out the application form, fax it through to me and you’re done. You can cancel your membership anytime after the 6 months. After June 1 the R30 price will go up. So act now. See here www.CareerAndSuccess.info for application details.
Joan’s Tough Situation
Got this mail from a subscriber yesterday in response to my previous post about recruiting agencies and networking.
The question is … do you identify? And the next question is … what do you do about it?
It’s pretty important.
Hi Gerard
Thanks for your very interesting newsletter. You are quite right about the bad, extremely rotten service from the recruitments agencies.
I recently had to deal with a nineteen or twenty year old, whose mascara was smudged and whose nails are so long and she has to be careful not to poke her eye out while trying to get the mascara out of her eye. At the same time she is trying to read the CV in front of her and convinced me, who has held a senior position as Admin Manager in an international shipping company for nine years, that I needed to be tested for my typing skills. She refused to discuss the job until I had done a typing test and some other skills tests. I refused and walked out of the interview. They not only wasted my time and petrol but I have lost complete faith in them. Of the 24 jobs I responded to online, only 3 had the decency to get back with a “no thank you”.
One of the 3 that responded, had the audacity to say that since the job market was so bad, they would offer me the position – and only stated that it was a 1 year contract at the interview – at a reduced salary. Times being tough, I accepted the post, but am still on the lookout for something else.
My Reply:
Great reply Joan. Thanks for the story. Liked the typing test bit. Just shows how many of these companies work a formula – so that brains don’t much need to enter the picture on the part of their staff. It’s all about ticking boxes. Sad. But it highlights the importance of taking responsibility for one’s own ‘personal marketing campaign’. There’ll be a lot of that under discussion in the new www.CareerAndSuccess.info forum – check it out.
Like your attitude – willing to accept a lesser post, but you’ve definitely not given up or resigned yourself to the lesser post. You’re still focussed on finding something better. My advice: use this position to build a ‘kick-butt’ reference, perform in kick-butt fashion, build your self-confidence by over-delivering. If you do that I predict an outstanding result from this temporary setback. All the best.
Don’t want to knock agencies too much, they serve a valuable purpose – just not to job hunters really. There are exceptions. But here’s the thing: “Joan” has had a temporary setback in her career. How will she respond? It’s easy for her to feel angry and allow the unfair situation to affect her performance at work negatively. A setback like this can be a real hole that’s difficult to dig yourself out of.
- So how does she stay positive?
- How does she go about working a serious plan to get her career back on track?
- Where can she network with other job hunters who can refer her to a better, more professional agency/personnel consultant (they are out there somewhere)?
- Where can she find some encouragement?
- Where can she get some constructive feedback about her job hunt, her CV, her covering letters, etc?
There’s nowhere she can go. Until now. At www.CareerAndSuccess.info there’ll be a whole lot of all of this going on. Exciting isn’t it. But it’s only for members. It launches on June 1. It’s going to set you back (at the pre-launch special tariff) just R30 pm. Go to www.CareerAndSuccess.info now, print out the application form, complete it and fax/e-mail it back today.
The one thing you can do to make your job hunt quicker and less painful.
Mandoza Sings About It. Believe it or not. The one thing you can do to make your job hunt quicker and less painful.
In your gut you know it. There are opportunities out there for you. But what appears to be the most obvious route to those opportunities, the easiest route, is a rough road that often leads to no-where. Agencies. Recently in a survey I conducted, agencies came in for a hammering in the popularity stakes. Bad service. Unhelpful attitude. Rude. Lying – or at least never being ‘straight up’ about reasons why applicants are not successful in their application, etc. And certainly seldom being helpful about helping ‘candidates’ to market themselves more effectively.
So are we going to take the fight to them? Fight for better service and higher standards? No. Our energy and time are much better spent on other things. Taking a walk in the park with your dog Rufus will help you land a job sooner. Seriously. And applying for hundreds of jobs advertised online also seems like an ‘easy’ way to land your next great job. But what happens? Frequently nothing. Just a CV that seems to disappear into a cyberspace black hole.
So what do we do? Interesting letter written to the Sunday Times last week. And it hits the nail on the head. First – what do we actually want? A fight? No. A better job. Simple. So it’ll be good to focus on effective ways to get there.
The letter is titled:
“It’s Who You Know, Not What.”
Now as a first comment I know many job hunters will say, “It’s now what you know, but who” with more than just a little bitterness. And it’s true, it is unfair. After building a respectable record, skill and experience, one expects that that is what takes precedence in a search for a job. Experience. Qualifications. Being good at what one does. But that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.
The letter goes on:
“Talking and contacting people you know is the most effective way to find a job. I have come to realise that only a small percentage of jobs are advertised in local newspapers and only a small percentage of people find a job from answering an advert – yet most people are hired by networking with personal contacts.
“Mandoza had a song which goes, “Uzokuyithola kanjani uhleli ekoneni” meaning, how are you going to get it if you are sitting over there in the corner.”
Now although there are no prizes for guessing what mr M was actually referring to by “it” the principle of what he’s saying is just true, true, true. Sending a CV off via e-mail answering an ad – well, it’s as safe as “sitting in the corner.” Surfing the job websites applying all over the place – well, it’s easy, safe, like “sitting in the corner”. And it can yield a good result. But more frequently it doesn’t. You have to be ‘smoking’. And really mostly we’re good at what we do but not so hot that employers notice us in the corner and arrive with their tongues hanging out.
The letter continues:
“In this day and age to grow your business and opportunities you must network. Networking comes in many forms, from a cup of tea to helping a grandmother who wants to cross the road and who later puts in a good word for you.”
Well, that’s true, but if we want real results we have to network more aggressively than that. Especially when it’s job related – it’s usually urgent.
That’s where networking becomes uncomfortable. Deeply so. We hate connecting with people, appearing to want something from them. We hate being beholden. We hate letting people see our vulnerable side and then asking them to help. Right?
But that doesn’t change the fact that networking is the one thing you can do to make your job hunt quicker and less painful. So … with that in mind …
Imagine if there was a place you could connect with other career minded people, job hunters, even serious recruiters and employers who you could network with. Get ideas on how to improve your CV. On what’s hot in the market. On where opportunities may lie for you. On who to talk to, people you could share contacts with. Even a place where you can go to ‘rant’ after a frustrating day at the job hunting office. And get encouragement from others facing similar challenges.
Richard Nelson Bolles in his famous book “What Color is Your Parachute?” lists hunting for a job in a GROUP, having support and supporting others, as one of the big ways to speed up your job hunt.
So … that’s what the Career&Success Member’s Only Community is all about. The best ‘guerrilla’ job hunting and success information out there – AND – giving you the place to connect with them, make friends, get support and NETWORK for your next great job. Find out more about how you can become a member for the pre-launch price of R30.00pm at http://www.careerandsuccess.info/.
Career&Success Pre-Launch Goes LIVE
Ok so the Career&Success pre-launch membership special offer is now “live”.Go to www.CareerAndSuccess.info for more.
Here’s how it starts out:
Want more success in your life and career?
Succeeding in your career, finding a job you love, achieving your financial goals – these can be can be tough challenges – discouraging, demoralising, lonely – you may just want to give up. But now you can join a supportive, smart, motivated online group of advisors and friends – people who want more from their life and career than just what’s ‘average’.
It’s called the Career&Success Member’s Only Community.
Have you any idea what your ELITE membership is going to cost?
Will it be over or under R100?? Ok. It’s under. But how much under?
www.CareerAndSuccess.info <== go now and find out.
Everybody Likes a Pic – Here, sneak a peak.
Yesterday you were told about something new – Career&Success.
Here’s a pic of it – open the pdf here and check it out:
http://www.jobsearching.co.za/cspic.pdf
More tomorrow about the benefits and pre-launch special offer.
Read yesterday’s announcement below.
The End is Nigh
On June 1, 2008 Job Search Success will cease to be.
Job Search Success is a weekly e-mail advice column that’s been providing streetwise job hunting strategies and ideas to help job hunters find better jobs (fast) for the last 6 years. Well, I’ve been doing my best to provide that kind of guidance and keep it free anyhow. It currently goes out to 10 000 people once a week – bit erratic lately for reasons I’m about to explain.
Truth is: free stuff by definition has a limit. A limit, for example, to quality of information and volume of information (ie. you may get a few quick tips – but not the heavyweight material perhaps you need.)
So here’s what’s going to happen.
[Okay, but first, a personal comment: helping job hunters - helping you - succeed in the job market, succeed in improving your career, work and life - well, that's my passion. It has been for years. It's what got me to leave behind the large corporate commission cheques and go out on my own to do what NO-ONE else was/is willing to do: support, encourage, guide, motivate and tell job hunters like it is.
But all the while I've always thought - there's got to be a more powerful way of helping people than just sending a weekly mail. I feel like the whole last 6 years of my life has been building up to this. Finding a way of not just giving a few lines of great advice (which may be "great" but hard to apply, hard to put to work and stick with) - but providing the platform for real assistance and support across all aspects of your career, job hunt and even overall success in life.]
I’m launching a member’s only community.
It’s called “Career and Success”.
It’s member’s only because we want positive, serious people there.
It’ll be the home to:
A community of people who want more out of life than just what’s “average”. They want better jobs. They want to be happy in those jobs. They want to be paid well. They’re overcoming their fear of the job market. They support each other. They share inspiring ideas. They want more time with their families (ie. they want a rich, enjoyable life amidst life’s challenges).
The best career and job hunting advice you get anywhere (the only advice that qualifies is advice that has an immediate, positive, turnaround effect on your job hunting “luck”).
The best motivational and success information – no 400 page books hat you grow old trying to work through. Just stuff that works – to get you more focussed and from day one, more successful.
That’s all I’m giving you for now.
It’s launching on June 1. It’s going to cost you something. But look out or a special pre-launch special. I’ll announce it in the next few days.
Till tomorrow.
[I'm actually pretty excited. Just received a really cool mail from a well known global business consultant dealing with the setting of personal and business goals - there's so much great stuff there to discuss and share - great ideas to truly turn people's careers/businesses even personal lives around, maybe yours - or at least "rev" them up a little - or a lot (whatever they choose). Now I'll finally have a place to share this stuff - you'll be able to read it online, print it out, apply it, discuss your progress with others trying to meet the same goals you are. June 1, I can't wait.]
Welcome!
Hi - I'm Gerard le Roux - CV writer & guerrilla job search coach. You may have seen me quoted in newspapers or heard me on radio. I'm here to help job hunters. Enjoy your visit.