Welcome to the process section.

We all really start to take in action.

This section is broken into eight distinct steps.
And while the terminology may look familiar your approach will be completely
different to the majority
those competing for the job you want.
This section wanted you to stand out at every stage of the process to increase the
probability of being
the one who gets hired.
While the majority are reactive now with strong foundations and it clearly defined
destination you're
firmly in control of your future.
The work you've done so far will give you the confidence to execute this new
approach consistently deliver
the opportunity you really want.
What you'll learn in this section feeds into your daily activity which drives your
personal job seeker
plan.
We'll start with your CV your résumé and finish with.
Negotiation.
By the time you come to the end of this section provided you put in the effort.
It should come as no surprise to be a receipt of a number of offers at the same
time.
Be warned as you start to take action you come up against challenges and face your
fair share of rejection.
This is simply part of the process.
Keep in mind the lessons contained in the psychology section and refer back as and
when required.

The 8 steps to success.

In the process section of the course you'll learn how to maintain proactive control
at every stage of the recruitment process from CV / resume composition to offer
negotiation.
In the process section there are eight steps to success:
1) How to construct a CV / resume, which stands out.
2) How to construct a cover letter, which will get the attention of your target
employer (this step is much more than cover letters, the structure you'll learn is
also relevant for emails, LinkedIn messages, phone calls and face-to-face
meetings).
3) How to get in front of decision makers. These are professional recruiters,
employers and 'marketmakers'.
4) How to control the interview process from start to finish with confidence,
irrespective of what you're asked.
5) How to position yourself and engage proactively on LinkedIn, which is an
important route to the 'hidden market'.
6) How to network effectively.
7) How to stay ahead of your competition through the potent combination of
observation and feedback.
8) How to receive, handle and negotiate any offer to secure the best remuneration /
compensation package.
When you're ready, please move forward and begin step 1.

Welcome to step one of the process section in this section.

You'll learn how to write an impactful CV your résumé that gets the attention of
professional recruiters
and employers through powerful achievements.
You'll discover how employers make decisions and understand why this document is of
course important
but not something you can wholly rely on to find the opportunity you really wants.
I'll also provide a template to complete your CV in line with your destination
statement which will
resonate with your target employer.

Is there a difference between a CV and resume?

Curriculum Vitae (CV) is a Latin expression that essentially means 'course of
life'. Translated for the modern world, it's generally described as a written
description of someone's education, qualifications, employment history and personal
interests.
A quick search on Google will pull up a multitude of articles with varying opinions
on the difference between a CV and resume, and whether it's important.
The general consensus is that CVs are longer than resumes. While CVs can be two to
three pages long a resume should be a one-page summary of you and your experience.
Essentially if CVs lean towards expansive, a resume will always be as concise as
possible.
The explanation provided is that a CV is a static document – it's a history of your
experience to date, which naturally lengthens as your experience grows. By contrast
a resume draws on relevant evidence from your CV and tailors this experience to the
position you're applying for.
Length is something that in my experience many jobseekers get concerned about, but
the reality is your CV / resume should be as long as it needs to be to communicate
the right message to your target audience. Furthermore, to increase the probability
of the best response, your CV / resume should always be tailored to the employer.
If the employer is actively recruiting, the job description will provide useful
insight as to what's important, but it's also possible to tailor your CV / resume
for the 'hidden market' through proper research (we'll get to this later).
You'll notice that throughout the course I've been using the terms CV and resume
interchangeably, and will continue to do so, because for me they're one and the
same.
Getting bogged down in a debate over the difference, in my opinion is a distraction
and a waste of energy and effort. There are far too many other and more important
things to focus attention on to find success in the job market.
Your CV / resume is only a small cog in the machine that is successful job search.
In the next four videos I'll set the scene for an impactful and standout CV /
resume. I'll explain the purpose of a CV / resume and why having one is essential,
but not that important, how recruiters and employers read them, essential
foundations and the three things an employer really wants to know.
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the videos.

In this video I want to talk about CVD or raise you masan.

I use the terms interchangeably.
And I want to say something that is sometimes hard for people to hear.
And I'm going to say that a CV is essential but not that important and I won't
explain why I make that
that rather bold statement by running through the the five Points You can see here
on the screen in
front of you and you'll notice having been in this program for a while now that we
didn't start the
program with with a CV and how to write a CV.
Yet that's where the majority of people when they enter the job market start.
It's what the majority tend to focus on.
The media reaction is okay.
I mean the job market for whatever reason the first thing I need to do is to put a
CV together.
But until you understand the environments how the game is played.
The psychology for success and where youre headed which we covered in the planning
section then really
its impossible to craft a CV that would resonate with a target audience and
communicate the right message.
So the first point here is that the reason a CV is essential but not that important
is because its what
everybody else is doing.
The majority of focussing on it and what the majority tend to do when they focus on
their CV is their
chasing perfection in the belief its the CV that will get them the job.
And CV that is the most powerful thing and the most important thing in their job
search strategy.
And I used to see this all the time when I ran my recruitment company.
Somebody would register with me.
They register their CV.
If I hadn't found them a position or introduced them to an opportunity within two
or three weeks what
they would tend to do is to make a slight change to the CV.
Sometimes I could not even tell what they changed and they would send it to me in
the in the belief.
And this is in an ad in an inaccurate belief in the belief that that final tweak or
change would be
the magic pill that would open up the doors to opportunities but it rarely was.
So where there is no such thing as a perfect CV and chasing perfection actually
negates action.
And what this program is all about and what the correct methodology is all about is
proactive action.
Being in proactive control of your job search.
Focussing too much on your CV is a waste of time because people don't read them.
And I've probably seen thousands of CBS in my time in the recruitment industry and
I can tell you that
I've only ever read one from top to bottom and that was my own to make sure that
it's a read properly.
It was grammatically correct.
There were no spelling mistakes but I've I've rarely read In fact I've never read
another CV from top
to bottom.
And recruiters don't have the time and employers don't have the time what they do
is they tend to scan
read CBS and probably spend between 10 and 15 seconds scant reading a CV in the
hope that something
pops out grabs their attention and the fourth point here is that beauty is in the
eye of the beholder.
So where you know I could write what I believe is a perfect CV for a target
employer but the reality
is that they may perceive something else from my CV that I couldn't anticipate
because we're all different.
We all see things in life through a very different lens.
And you know putting my CV in front of an employer let's say it goes in front of
two key decision makers
one decision maker may say yes another decision maker may say no.
Based on what they perceive the CV is telling them albeit it's the same text.
They're just perceiving in a very different way.
So beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
While you can craft a message that you believe will resonate with your target
audience and that's what
the planning section was really all about getting clear on who your audiences.
You can never be sure that it's going to resonate in the way that you hope it's it
resonates.
And this brings me onto the fifth point and this is the most important point on
this slide because it's
not about your CV it's not about the document itself but it's about how you
position it that really
counts and what I mean here is it's about your approach.
Okay so were having a CV Yes you need what.
Going to be asked one want as part of any recruitment process.
At some point but what really helps you stand out is not the CV itself it's how you
approach the employer
or how you approach the recruiter or how you approach the market bakery and because
that's what's going
to get people's attention and what most people are the job market tend to do is
they write a CV they
send it off through a job board or via a recruiter.
And that's it.
They wait for things to work the way for things to happen.
That doesn't help them stand out because that's what everybody else is doing.
What helps them stand out is their approach.
So when you imagine that you send a letter a cover letter or a communication to say
how to do that in
step two of this process section you send a communication that is about your need
for a job.
It's about something else and we'll get on to that short.
That's a very very different approach to the to the approach the year the majority
takes.
And that's what helps.
That's what will help you stand out from your competition.
So it's not the document but it's the approach that really counts and everything
that we do in the process
section is about managing your recruitment process being big in proactive control
of your recruitment
process to stand out every step of the way.
The follow point I wanted to say in this video is that your CV will not get you a
job.
It will not get you a job your CV has one mission and one mission only and that's
to get the attention
of an employer.
And that's to get you a face to face meeting with an employer ultimately to get you
an interview.
And what we cover in the process section is how you move from no relationship with
an employer because
it's automate the employer.
Ultimately the employer you wish to be in front of how you move from no
relationship with an employer
to a face to face meeting and a CV is just a really really small cog in a in a in a
very big process.
While others emphasize too much time on it but what you're going to be doing
through the process section
is taking a very very different approach.
Of course you need a CV.
It's got to be good.
It's got to be grammatically correct.
It's got to speak to your target audience but it's not the document itself that
counts.
What really counts is your approach and how you engage with the employer

So how do recruiters and employers read these.

Well I know a little bit about this having been a professional recruiter for over
10 years and what
I can tell you is that recruiters and employers tend to read stevies in two waves
and wave one.
They'll go through do this scan read.
They'll spend between 10 and 15 seconds looking for something to jump out and
they'll either categorize
the CV and place it on the yes no or maybe pile and the yes parleys.
Well looks interesting.
I want to look at this in a bit more detail a little bit later on.
But there's a possibility that I might bring this person in for interview.
No parley's.
Well you know next stop shredder or Ben.
This person's not getting in front of me.
This person is not somebody I'm going to interview and then maybe.
And this really is the second no pile because what happens is the maybe pile.
Yes it piles up and there is an intention maybe to go back and look at it again.
But the reality is it generally ends up where the no pile ends up which is usually
the shredder or the
bean.
And the analogy after new.
I often use here is this think about post you get at home and you'll open a piece
of post and it looks
kind of interesting.
You think maybe I'll get back to that later or maybe I'll take advantage of this
offer or whatever else
comes through the door when you put it on a pile to deal with later.
And if it's anything like what happens in my house that's that maybe pile that that
pile of stuff that
I may get round to usually gravitates to work towards the bin at at some point.
And there's an important point here because if your CV is on the maybe pile and you
simply sent sent
your CV and waited.
Well one of the ways to get it off the maybe pile onto the yes pile is to follow
up.
So you follow up and talk more about this as we move through this section.
But having said your having sent your CV an application for a position maybe you
follow up with a phone
call and that allows your CV to get noticed pulled off the maybe pile and put into
the into the YES
pile.
So first wave is yes maybe no.
And then the second wave is when they recruit or the employer takes the yes pile
and go through the
yes pile it in a little bit more detail.
Now this is the time that they're probably going to spend a little bit longer than
10 or 15 seconds
reviewing So they may read the majority CV.
They may not but they'll be interrogating that CV to to really get down to a short
list of people that
they're interested in meeting.
Now you know as I said as I said in the previous video I've put together hundreds
of short lists over
the years but I've never read a CV in its entirety so although I'd spend more time
in wave two looking
at a CV I still need things to jump out at me to speak to me in regard to the role
I'm looking to recruit
for the client and it's exactly the same for the employer.
They need something still to jump out at them albeit they may spend a little bit a
little bit longer
on the CV in weight too.
They still need things to jump out at them that says yes this is this is a person
that I want to bring
in to work to meet at interview.
A final point I wanted to make on this video is that you can never guarantee that
the person reading
your CV and doing the initial first filter really understands your skills and
experience and busy organizations.
Often the first filter can be pushed down the organization to somebody who is
making a selection process
against a job specification.
So it's not the ultimate decision maker not the person you would actually be
working for it's somebody
perhaps lower down in the organization that's been charged with that first filter.
Now what that means is that if you are in a process via a recruiter it pays to get
a hold of the job
specification and write a specific CV in line with that job specification because
if the decision maker
making the first filter is is looking to the job specification as a guide.
If your CV speaks into that job specification there is more of a chance that you'll
land on the yes
pile and that you'll make it through to work to wave to.
So very important to tailor your CV wherever possible when it comes to the hidden
market.
Going direct to employer I want to talk more about this later.
You don't necessarily have a job specification because there is no position
advertised and that's the
best time to apply for a position but what you do have is a clue.
Through your research as to what's important to that organization what's what's
keeping the decision
maker awake at night and of course indirect employer.
What you do is you go direct to the decision maker.
You're not going through the same thought process as everybody else.
Perhaps lower down the organization you'll go to the decision maker with a message
that isn't just about
your need for a job it's about something else.
And of course the decision maker knows what you can bring to the party because
you're going to speak
in to where you speak into their problems or the opportunities that they're looking
to exploit within
their within their business so they have it the two waves how employers and
recruiters initially vet
CBS.
You have 10 to 15 seconds to make an impression.
To make it through to wave two this is hopefully showing you that just relying on
the CV is a low probability
strategy and why going direct to employee out leveraging the power of market makers
is always a higher
probability strategy and this is the place of course that you play that I call the
hidden market

So although as severe as you may is is an essential document as you now know.

It's not as important as perhaps everybody makes out for for the reasons I outlined
previously.
But you do need one.
And in this video I wanted to discuss the foundations of a standout CV or regimes.
There are essentially six pieces of advice that I would give here.
There's a multitude of advice out there on the Internet but the advice I'm going to
give you here has
stood the test of time and is the advice that I give my one to one coaching client
to make sure that
they get their CV is good is it can be.
Without of course aiming but aiming for perfection which of which.
As I've explained already is impossible.
So the first thing you need to do is to do it yourself.
So there are a whole host of services out there that will offer you the promise of
a CV that's going
to wow an employer and somebody will ask you to complete a questionnaire.
But do a telephone call with you and then they'll write your CV for you.
This is a really really big mistake.
In my experience not only is it costly but nobody knows you better than you so
nobody is more qualified
to write your CV or resumé than you.
So were getting somebody else to do it can be dangerous because they may not
understand who you're aiming
to reach.
First off and secondly they may may misinterpret certain elements of your
experience and not communicate
it as you would communicate it in at at an interview and bearing in mind that a CV
is designed to get
you an interview.
If you walk into an interview environment with a CV that you haven't written I can
guarantee that a
recruiter or an employer is going to find something in there and he's going to pick
you up on something
in that in that document the second thing is to get the basics right.
So what I mean by the basics you've got to get a structure that is easy to read.
This means no big blocks of text that needs to be whitespace.
Break up the consent use bullet points use headings underline various bits and get
onto this one.
I talk to you about the CV template and then of course the basics are spelling and
grammar.
There is no excuse for spelling mistakes and I used to see spelling mistakes on CBS
all the time and
I am afraid it was.
It was the no part straightaway because what you're telling somebody here is that
if there are spelling
mistakes and grammatical errors that you haven't spent enough time on your on your
CBA and of course
there's that delicate balance you don't spend too much time but you need spend
enough time to get the
basics right so the basics really is about structure which are well come on to and
also about getting
getting the spelling and grammar as as well.
Absolutely spot on.
And of course the there is spell check and grammar check in in word Microsoft Word.
So where you can you find that there.
The next thing is to start from scratch.
When I used to hear people tell me that they were going to go away and update their
CV.
It used to send shivers down my spine because what that meant is they'd have an
older version of their
CV and they'd go and add some extra stuff on.
So over time their CV became longer and longer and longer and the more historic
experience usually became
less and less relevant to the type of opportunity they were looking to find.
Right now.
And also what tended to happen if they updated the CV.
They forget this historic experience and I had had a situation once where I sent
somebody on interview
they'd they'd done this so they'd updated their their CV and they were caught out
by something they
didn't realise was on their CV because they'd written it so long ago and they'd
simply updated so my
advice here is that you now have a clear idea as to your destination the place that
you are headed.
You have a clear idea as to the type of opportunity that you want.
It's now about thinking about your most relevant experience and starting from
scratch so if you have
an older version of your CV I would advise that you read it through two or three.
Read it through two or three times then place it face down then open up a new Word
document and start
from scratch because you got to pull through the most relevant experience to speak
to your target audience
to speak to the target opportunity that you're looking to find.
The fourth point is to write for The Reader.
CV is not about you.
It's not about your life history what it's about is speaking to your target
employer.
It's about crafting a message that will resonate with your target employer.
So what this means is that you don't need to include everything.
All you need to do is to include enough to spark an employer's interest based on
their current requirements.
Now if you are applying for a role you can see advertised via a recruiter you have
a good clue as to
what should be on the CV in terms of what you see on the job specification.
But if you are applying or not applying as I should say if you are carrying it to
the head market to
reach out to employers directly and.
Fooding in your communication a copy of your CV you've got a you've got I guess to
a certain extent
but it's an informed guess as to what's important to that employer right now.
And when I talk about getting a friend of decision makers will get into that in a
bit more detail so
you always got to write with a reader in mind.
Remember I said already in the previous video that sometimes the initial reader of
your CV is not somebody
who really understands the role that you do there.
They've been given a brief they've they've gone out to the market they're doing a
first filter.
So you've got to think about that person as well and make sure that your CV is
easily understandable
to somebody that may not understand exactly what it is you what it is you do and
what are the test that
I would get my calibrates to do in the past was to take a copy of their CV give it
to somebody that
doesn't necessarily know them ask that person to read their CV and then to play
about what it is that
person does because coming onto the fifth point if if there's too much jargon
there's too much technical
stuff in there then somebody may get confused and not really understand it
particularly if it's somebody
doing the first filter that does really understand exactly what the role is all
about because they're
not the ultimate decision maker.
And then the last point which is point six on here is to signpost to discuss an
interview.
So you are now in the process section of the create correct methodology and
everything you do in the
process section builds on the previous previous steps so the right steps everything
you do builds on
a previous step.
And in terms of your CV the most important thing on your CV is achievements and
what it's all about
how you put those together in a video coming up.
But most important thing is achievements and these are the things that you want to
signpost to an employer
on your CV because you want a signpost to an employer that these are things you
want to discuss at an
interview and in particular when it comes to competency based interviews.
I'll talk about that in a future video.
When it comes to competency based interviews the interview is going to want to
really really dive deep
on a particular piece of your experience and achievements are a great thing for
them to interrogate
and to focus on.
So it means your achievements have to be robust.
They have to be the achievements that speak to the employer's needs which is either
a problem or an
aspiration the employer has.
And these are the things that you need to put prominently on your CV because they
tell a story of achievement
and they tell the employer also what it is you're really keen to talk about when
you get to the interview

So what does an employer really want to know.

And in my experience an employer whether they tell you this directly or not really
wants to know and
really wants to understand three things.
The first thing they want to know is what have you done.
So what's what's your what's your skills and experience what do you bring to the
party.
What have you done in the past and that's really a clue as to point to which is
what you can do for
them.
So their best guess about the value you could add to their organization is the
value you've added in
previous organizations that you've worked for and the way you communicate what you
can do for them is
through powerful achievements and achievements tell a story.
There is a start a middle and an end and the end is a quantifiable outcome of a
value add.
And the more you can position your achievements to speak into the problems or the
aspirations of the
organization that youre now talking to the more an employer will get a sense of
what you can do for
them.
And just a point here.
One of the one of my big bugbears on CBS and I used to read a lot of CV is one of
the big bugbears was
the personal statement that people used to put at the top of a CV where they tell
me that they were
good at this that and the other for me this was this really never had any value
from a lot of the employees
that Ive spoken to over the years didnt have much value for them either because it
was about the candidate
telling me or the employer what they were good at rather than demonstrating and
point to what you could
do for them.
Your best way to communicate that is not through this personal profile at the top
its by powerful achievements.
And I want to talk about how you craft an achievement in a video I've got coming
up.
But that's really the best way to communicate that potential value you can bring to
an employer.
The third point is what kind of person are you.
Now this is more difficult to gauge unless they've met you in person.
But one of the big clues as to what kind of person you are I always think is what
you do in your spare
time.
We all are.
We all to work.
But we have to do certain things there.
But when it comes to our spare time what do we spend our spare time doing because
we have complete freedom
there and it's a really good clue I always think as to what somebody like what
somebody what makes somebody
take what they're passionate about based on what they do in their spare time.
Certainly when I used to do my interviewing it's one of the first questions I would
ask people because
I wanted to get a sense of them that wasn't their skills or experience.
I just wanted to get a sense of what made them tick.
And an employer wants to know what kind of person you are.
Because I want to make sure you fit in.
They want to make sure that you know you're not going to upset the apple cart.
So trying to communicate to an employer a sense of you and injecting some of your
personality in your
communication is very important to be able to let them know what kind of person you
actually are.
So in terms of your CV which is what we're talking about in in this particular step
thinking about whether
you've communicated what you've done what you can do for an employer through
achievements and a sense
of you perhaps through hobbies and interests is an important thing to consider.
And I'll delve into achievements and hobbies and interests very shortly in in in a
video that I've got
I've got ready to go that is coming up shortly in this hour in this section

Does your CV / resume make sense?

As you know, your 'destination statement' (covered in the planning section) is a
written representation of the organisation, position and location of the
opportunity you are proactively pursuing, whether it's currently visible or not
(remember, believing is seeing when it comes to the 'hidden market').
If you are applying to a position that's in the public domain and is for example
being recruited by a professional recruiter then beginning with the job
specification will be an important start. This will give you specifics of the role,
which will inform the experience (in the form of achievements) you need to
communicate on your CV / resume to increase the probability of being invited in for
interview. What this won't give you is information pertinent to the wider industry
sector, which you'll also need to factor in (see below).
If the opportunity is not yet visible because it exists in the hidden market, there
will of course be no job specification. This is where research comes in, not only
on the organisation you're directly approaching in the hidden market (more on how
to do this when we get to step 3), but also on the sector they operate in. There
will be specifics to individual organisations, but all will be facing similar
sector-wide challenges or opportunities.
In step 4 I'll show you how to research any organisation like no one else. When we
get there, the approach I recommend is more than just preparing for interview –
this is the approach you should also be taking to research organisations you're
directly approaching in the hidden market.
In the next video, I'll walk you through the CV / resume template, which you can
also download – you'll then be ready to put together your own CV / resume in line
with your destination statement. You'll also find additional videos where I discuss
responsibilities and achievements, and then hobbies and interests.
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the videos.

On the screen in front of you you can see a c.v. templates.

And there's one available for you to download in there in this section.
So this is the template I've I've used and advise people to to use for a number of
years now and again.
There is no perfect CV.
We've got to remember that.
But what I'm showing you on the screen here is a high probability documents of what
that means is if
your CV is going to get attention.
There is a higher probability of getting attention with a CV template like this
than there is perhaps
with with other advice that you may hear out there.
So this is a tried and tested CV template and I want to start from the top and work
down to the bottom
and just talk a little bit about some of the areas.
So the first thing you need at the top of your CV is your name.
You then need your contact details.
And if somebody is interested in your experience it's very important to have your
contact details clearly
at the top of your CV which is a phone number.
Generally nowadays we're talking about mobiles because people want to reach you
directly on a mobile.
And certainly as a former recruiter I never find landlines.
I always find mobiles because it was quicker because I knew I would get through to
the person I actually
wanted to work to speak to.
Email address goes without saying that your email address should be business
focussed.
I guess we've all had email addresses that we perhaps wouldn't want to share with
people in the past.
But you know make it business focussed make it professional.
That's important because first impressions do count residents so where youre
currently based.
So your location now if youre looking for a move in geography so it could be a
national or an international
move.
Its really important to communicate where you currently reside but also where youre
looking to find
that next position.
For example if your CV said residents London but you know I had an opportunity in
Scotland that I was
recruiting.
I perhaps wouldn't consider you.
I might do.
Based on your experience.
But there is always more risk when somebody is moving geography so it's important
to communicate on
your CV where you're currently based but also where you're looking to find that
next position.
Education speaks for itself.
Now how far back you go in terms of your education.
My advice here is that you tell a story so you tell a story from.
From school right the way through to you know whatever it is degree or university
degree or whatever
it is you did.
You don't need to delve into into details in terms of in terms of grades.
You know in the UK where I'm based a level grade is probably something I would put
on there.
I've been asked by employers in the past even for recruiting very senior positions.
What are particular candidates.
A lot of grades were in fact one employer I had which is one of the biggest
employers that I've recruited
for place more value on a level grades than they did on a University degree which
was quite interesting
and it just shows that perception of what people value in a CV varies from
organization to organization.
So work solely for your degree include the class of qualification.
So include that and also include where you got that qualification qualifications
his professional qualifications.
So for example I'm a chartered accountant.
That's what I would put on their languages.
We live in a international world.
If you have language skills even if it's basic language skills in another language
then it's important
to communicate that here and give an indication as to what level is it basic.
Is it intermediate is it.
Is it advanced lated is very important.
We need to put a U R L to your linked in profile.
So as a as a professional recruiter I know a lot of employers do this as well.
They're going to look at your LinkedIn profile and probably place more emphasis on
your LinkedIn profile
than they would on your CV.
And we get to Linked In later on in the process section but what are the reasons
linked in is of more
value.
Is it's up to date.
There's more information on there there's recommendations on there and people get
more of a sense of
you what you're all about not just on what it says on your LinkedIn profile but
also from how you're
engaging on the platform how you positioning yourself how you using the platform
proactively and what
you're talking about.
If you have a blog and this could be a blog on a website that you that you run or
you have a blog on
Linked In published posts you can put the U R L to that here.
Ideally your blog o your linked in published post.
You are l needs to speak to the target decision maker so it needs to speak to the
type of organization
that you looking to work for.
So it is talk about things pertinent to that sector to get resonance with the
decision maker who may
be reading your CV or indeed looking at your Linked In.
Team profile then it's down to then it's down to experience and experience.
But down here company or organization give me a brief give a brief description as
to the organization.
Don't assume that the employer or the recruiter knows anything about that
organization.
So size and sector filters that employers and recruiters use alike to make a
decision on who to bring
in for interview.
There is I guess an understanding that if somebody is moving from a large
organization to another large
organization there is a higher probability that they'll make the cut than perhaps
somebody is moving
from a larger organization to a smaller organization.
This perhaps more of a risk.
Now that's entirely possible to do that and I've helped many people do that.
And this is why going to the head market can sometimes lead to a higher probability
result because of
course recruiters are looking to are looking to service the needs of their clients.
That's how they get paid.
And you know there is less flexibility sometimes when going to market via
recruiter.
Because of that that very reason.
Particular when it comes to transitions wanting to move sector wanting to move
sizable organization
that is what job title and then here responsibilities Let's talk more about this
shortly but responsibilities
are essentially what I would expect you to be doing in this particular role.
What are the three or four maybe five things that I would expect you to be doing.
These are more factual than achievements.
This is where you communicate your value add to me as a recruiter or a an employer
this is where you
speak into the employer's problems that they're looking to resolve through hiring
or you speak into
their aspirations how they look into the grow their business and how you can
perhaps help.
And this is where you communicate and you demonstrate what you could potentially do
for them down here.
Another position now this could be a more junior position in in the same
organization and your demonstrating
promotion.
Or it could be a completely separate organization.
On this templates here dates from and to.
This is one organization and what I'm showing here is I'm showing progression Im
showing promotion.
Thats a very important thing to show on now on a CV.
If you worked for the same organization for 10 years for example but have not been
promoted that can
maybe send a message to the markets and to the reader of your CV.
So make sure you break down your experience on the CV in2 into where youve been
promoted and show that
journey show that journey of promotion show that youve advanced within the
organization.
Of course if you get promoted maybe appear youre doing some similar stuff as to
what you were doing
down here.
My advice here is not to repeat.
Push the most relevant experience up to the top of the CV.
Because remember somebody is going to scan read it that want to pay attention to
every thing.
The thing that turns up first is probably the thing that they're going to place
most most emphasis on
down here computer skills.
You can't get away from i.t. systems in any role nowadays so what systems have you
used and to what
level.
And then hobbies and interests.
I want to talk more about this and how you craft achievements out of your hobbies
and interests.
And again this gives your CV a little bit more personality.
And I've actually had people as a professional recruiter employees that is approach
me and say I want
to interview the person that did this.
This was their hobby I want to interview that person as opposed to them actually
giving me their their
name that's happened in the past.
You'll notice up here the no personal profile.
I mentioned this in the previous video a personal profile is where you say you know
I'm a great leader
I'm conscientious reliable hardworking whatever else it is.
And the reason I don't advise that you put that on a CV is because it's telling me
something.
It's not demonstrating and really the place to communicate a message to a recruiter
or an employer is
down here.
Well you where you tell the story of value ad where you tell the most relevant
achievements because
he through achievements your demonstrating.
And that's much more valuable to an employer than than telling them something.
So there you have it the CV templates.
There's one available for you to download in in this in this section.
So we're thinking now about your destination statement.
Now is the time to go ahead and write your CV in line with your destination
statements and to communicate
irrelevant message to the target employer that you've identified

I've spoken about the importance of responsibilities and achievements and also
stress that achievements
are more important in communicating your message to an employer or a recruiter.
So let's dive into this in a little bit more detail.
And in this study I'm going to give you an example of one achievement and challenge
you to go ahead
and write some achievements for your CV.
This speaks to your target employer.
So responsibilities what are they.
Well they're essentially facts.
These are things that I would expect you to do in a particular organization with a
given job title so
the things that you do on a day to day basis are the factual stuff the size of the
team that you managed
the things you were responsible for doing.
You know you had to do this as part of your a part of your role.
Achievements are different.
And whereas facts are a kind of static achievements they tell a story they tell a
story of achievements
their journey they have a start a middle and an end.
And this is where you really communicate value and specifically the value that you
added to an organization
and whereas responsibilities I guess are expected to a certain extent.
Given your job title previous position or positions you've held achievements really
have the wow factor.
There's something out of the ordinary something they are going to get people to
take note.
These are things that don't happen every single day of the week responsibilities
you do every day.
But achievements are something that happen not on a regular basis.
So when they do happen it's important that you capture them.
So I want to show you now when you look forward to the next line in show you now
how to craft a really
powerful achievement and achievement has three elements.
It has a start a middle and an end.
It's a story and we all like stories we're all conditioned to stories as children
we read stories.
Whether it would be school or by our parents and what what that did it in built
this thing in us that
when we hear stories we're prone to respond to them in a positive way and we're
proud to remember them
and think about this example if you've ever listened to a presentation but one of
those monotone presentations
where you've drifted up to drifted off to think about something else.
But the presenter is then carefully crafted.
Well I'm going to tell you a story now and you've been thrust back into
consciousness.
Well that's the power of stories somebody telling you they're going to tell you a
story can often be
a catalyst for people paying attention.
So stories are really important.
And here you can see a picture of a car story has to have context it has to have
action.
It has to have a result.
Let's use a picture of a car here and I guess a dream car sports guy here for me
because you should
feel really proud of your achievements.
You should feel like your behind the wheel of your dream car.
And that's how you should feel when you when you put your achievement forward you
feel great.
You should feel proud.
So achievement has context action and results.
So context is the situation that you inherited.
So this could be a problem a challenge within a previous organization.
Then you did something.
This was the action that you took.
You have to be very careful here because a recruiter or an employer wants to know
what you specifically
did not what we did.
Now if you were doing something as part of a team that's fine communicate that but
specifically tell
the recruiter or employer in your achievement what you did.
And I used to run competency based interviews.
One of the largest employers in in the location where I live.
And the feedback from competency based interviews and some of the candidates that
have been through
them was that candidates could be rejected because they didn't talk about what they
did specifically.
So the terminology they used was we instead of I.
It's very important to communicate in your achievements what you specifically did.
And I want to talk more about competency based interviews when we get to the
interview section in in
the process section the interview stage in the process section.
And then finally you need a quantifiable results.
This is the finish to the story.
Every good story has got a powerful finish.
And this is this is ideally quantifiable in terms of value added.
If you can include figures here then great if you can include timescales here then
great because that
has that has raised resonance with your target employer.
So you will have achievements that speak in to the target employer or employers
that you've identified
as part of your destination statements.
And it's important now to think about what those achievements might be because when
people scan read
your CV what they're looking for is something to jump out.
And inevitably the thing that jumps out is is an achievement because it tells a
story.
It gravitate it gravitates the person to take interest and take note.
And what's more they're more likely to work to remember it.
So what I'm going to do now is share an achievement with you an example achievement
this is an example
achievement one.
There's another one I'll share with you in hobbies and interests and this one
relates to the work I
do through career codecs and it's got a start up here.
It's got a middle it's got an end it's got a context it's got an action it's got a
result and the situation
I inherited the context I inherited I was approached by a U.S. based senior
executive looking to make
a complex transition from government sector to private sector.
It did a complex transition from from public sector to private sector and indeed
from a large organisation
to small organisations so were quite a complex move.
But undeterred I took action and I coached my client through the career Codex
methodology for job search
success.
This is the process or the methodology that you're going through enrolled on this
program and ran this
client through environment psychology planning and process and tailored that to his
specific situation
and that's what I did the action.
This was the quantifiable results.
And within 10 weeks my client received three competitive offers for positions
existing in the hidden
market so these were opportunities that weren't advertised.
These were opportunities that he created by approaching employers directly and he's
now working for
one of these one of these organizations.
So that was the context action and results.
And just think about how that achievement speaks into your situation so you're
enrolled in this program.
You enrolled in this program for a reason.
You're looking to find that next their next position and do it in a very different
way to everybody
else.
Does this achievement resonate with you.
Does this achievement grab your attention.
Would be my question because that's one achievement should do and this should
really speak into your
challenge and show you that absolutely what you want to do is is possible providing
you follow this
follow this program do the action prescribed on the on the program so that's
example achievement achievement
one and you'll notice that it doesn't tell you I did something.
It demonstrates that I did something I tell a story which is memorable and made.
Maybe you remember the story maybe you'll tell somebody but it's a story that's
memorable and it has
impact.
And this story exists in my Linked In profile and I use it I use it in my
communications to speak to
my target audience so that's really what it's all about.
There's an example achievements so now is really the time of you to think about
what achievements you
may put on your CV your resumé.
This speaks to your target audience and how to communicate contacts.
Action result.
Start of your story milby story and a quantifiable end to your story that has
resonance

Hobbies and interests are an important part of your CV that people often overlook.
And as a former professional recruiter I would always look to see what their
hobbies and interests were
and a lot of employers I used to recruit for years to do the same.
Because if you think back to what an employer is looking for.
The third thing that I mentioned in a previous video was looking to get a sense of
you what makes you
tick what you do in your spare time is a really good indicator as to what kind of
person you are.
So it's important to communicate hobbies and interests but to do to do that in the
form of achievements
wherever possible and you are going to give you a few examples now on the screen.
You may have over here you may have sporting interests so you might like to run
your mallet to play
golf.
You marketed or whatever else it is but what's can you communicate in the form of
achievement to an
employer that shows that you do this you're committed to this you're passionate
about this you do on
a regular basis and then it's current because it has to be current.
One of the bugbears on CV is that I used to say I'd look at the hobbies and
interests and I'd ask somebody
a question and realise that it was something they did 10 15 years ago and they'd
not kept it up so it
has to be current and ideally it's got to tell a story.
It's got to tell a story of achievement and I'll share one of mine very shortly to
to give you an idea
and give you an example.
Over here you might do something in the voluntary sector or in the charity sector.
What is it.
How much time do you commit.
On what basis what value have you added what you do in your spare time.
In terms of social responsibility can communicate a very important message to work
to an employer nowadays.
Organisations are placing increasing importance on the need to give back to serve
community corporate
social responsibility or corporate responsibility is becoming increasingly
important not only for the
larger organisations but also small and medium sized businesses to have included
this we all read books
and or most of us read books and one of my other big bugbears on a CV was when
somebody would say that
their hobby was reading.
Now that's absolutely fine.
And one of my hobbies is reading it's what I do to relax.
But wouldn't it be far better to communicate on your see the details of a book
you're currently reading
why you decided to read it what you got out of it.
Wouldn't that be a good message to send to an employer particularly if it was a
book about about's the
particular sector that youre youre looking to move in because that would tell me as
an employer that
on your spare time youre interested in the sector youre reading about the sector
youre staying current
in the sector.
You know in business one of the things thats important now and we'll get onto this
is social media.
I read a lot of books on social media.
If I was recruiting for my company social media is an important thing and if
somebody could tell me
that they were up today on social media strategies said read certain books that I
would know about because
I've read Amelie this some there's some connectivity there's some resonance.
It's attention grabbing.
And I would be more likely to interview that person if they communicated that that
to me.
So on the next slide I want to share with you a specific achievements that I did
and it's a sporting
achievement and this is an example achievement that you can you can use to help
craft your achievement
around your hobbies and interests and I'll share that with you now.
So I'm a keen martial artist and I've been studying various martial arts since
since I was at the age
of 16.
And my achievements says on the screen one of the things I did in 2006 while living
and working in Tokyo
Japan.
I enrolled in the international Can I Kido censure say program so I kid who is a
martial arts.
This was as it says here.
This is the context the action.
This was an 11 month martial arts boot camp with the Tokyo riot police so that's
what I did that's what
I embarked on.
And what was the outcome.
What was the result.
Well I gained a unique insight into Japanese culture because I was in a Japanese
dojo or training hall.
The language was Japanese that we were spoken to predominately in and I was one of
only probably 150
people in the world to have completed this intensive course.
That's international students outside of outside of Japan.
So quite quite a powerful achievement.
And while this may not speak to a Target employee It may not be relevant to the
sector.
If I was moving roles it may not be relevant to the sector.
What it shows is is commitment and being able to stick stick the course and push
through and break out
of the comfort zone and your hobbies and interests the achievements you put on your
hobbies and interests.
Do not speak to your sector.
But what they can do is demonstrate qualities.
These are the qualities that people often put in those personal profiles that I've
mentioned I dislike
already at the top of their CV.
Far better to demonstrate your qualities through a powerful achievement and you can
demonstrate those
qualities of commitment reliability.
Being able to stick the course determination discipline through achievements it has
much more power
much more resonance and is much more believable and is more attention grabbing to.
To a recruiter or an employer.
So think about think about your hobbies and interests.
Think about including someone your CV.
Think about what achievements you may have that you could communicate through your
through your hobbies
and interests.
Initially you may think well I don't have any.
But dig a bit deeper.
It doesn't have to be as extreme as this.
You don't have to have gone to Japan and done this crazy martial arts course but
you may have done something
even locally to to communicate on your CV which will get the attention or could get
the attention of
your target employer

Congratulations on completing step 1.

Congratulations on completing step 1 of the process section.
You now have all the tools to put together an impactful and standout CV / resume.
This must speak directly to the organisation you are approaching.
Achievements are the powerhouse of any CV / resume – by sharing your stories of
success clearly and concisely you demonstrate not only what you've done in the
past, but also the value you could bring to a new employer.
It's time to move forward to step 2, where I'll show you how to position a message
that will literally grab your target employer's attention and is the vehicle to
introduce the skills and experience contained in your CV / resume.
Once you've completed your CV / resume in line with your 'destination statement',
please move forward to step two of the process section

The main purpose of a CV is to get the attention of a recruiter and ultimately an

employer.
It's to get you in front face to face at the interviews so so he's got to grab
attention.
And you know as a former recruiter how many CV is that our read from start to
finish.
Well not that many.
How many see these do employees read from start to finish.
Perhaps not that many.
So it's got to grab attention.
So the the context the structure is really important.
And communicating a message that resonates with the recruiter and the employer is
absolutely critical
to your success.
The main way to grab attention a series for me is achievements because achievements
tell stories we
like to hear stories.
We're conditioned from birth to hear stories.
So what achievement has as a start a middle and an end and it's a story of your
value add in the organizations
that you've previously worked for.
So two or three strong achievements for me on a CV is far more important than a
long list of responsibilities.
So if you're if you're putting a CV together for a particular role what you want to
be thinking about
is the organization that that CV is going to be put in front of.
What are their problems what are their challenges and communicating.
A and achievements are a story of success.
Having done that before because if you can talk in terms of a story and the
employer reads that they're
going to say well this person has done this before they're going to have more
confidence in your ability
to deliver similar value if they hire you into their organization.
You need a generic CV.
This is the CV that you will position first in front of a recruiter.
But then once you know where that CV is potentially going to go for a specific
opportunity then it's
about tailoring your CV and the achievements on your CV.
In line with the employer's expectations to fit your CV to the employer because
that increases the probability
of you being the one that comes in for interview

When it comes to writing your CV My advice is always to start from scratch.

There is a temptation to take a historic CV and update it.
The problem is the stuff that you wrote two years ago may not be relevant to your
current situation.
So my advice is to start from scratch.
Put the most relevant stuff on your CV that will speak to the opportunity that
you're looking to get
to make sure you know what's on your CV.
There's an example that I can share with you a number of years back.
I put somebody forward for an interview with a large employer.
They did a competency based interview and asked a question.
Tell me about a time when you displayed leadership and there was a prime example on
the CV.
Because the candidate had written a CV that part of the CV a couple of years back
they couldn't come
up come up with an example so knowing what's on your CV is critical.
When you go into the interview environment.
A CV that's going to sound strange but a CV should be as long as it needs to be.
So some people say should be one page move say should be two pages.
But you know if you've been in business for a number of years and you've worked
different roles it might
be three pages.
The most important point is this and we say this in the recruitment industry that
everything on your
CV should fight for its place.
So if it doesn't add value to the CV take it out because if you take out the stuff
that's less relevant
the more prominent and relevant stuff will stand out far more.
Some people put Sheamus at the top of the CV as general achievements but the
problem with that is as
a recruiter an employer you don't necessarily know when those achievements took
place.
My advice is under each role that you've had.
You have responsibilities but then you get quickly onto achievements the
achievements set under the
time line under the role where you were achieved that particular that particular
thing

Well the two ways is how recruiters and employers generally read these.
Because for any job there are probably a number of applications.
So wave one is looking at the CV looking for something to grab attention and it's a
yes or no or a maybe
pile.
Once they've gone through wave one they'll look at wave two so they'll take the YES
pile.
They'll go through that and they'll think about who they might want to bring in for
first round interview.
So that's the second wave.
Now the maybe pile and the no part is not is not where you want to be the maybe
pile unless the yes
part doesn't come up trumps is probably going to end up on the heap as well.
So it's really the yes pile that you want to be on

Welcome to step two.

The process section where I'll show you how to write a powerful cover letter.
This document is much more than a traditional letter.
It can be an e-mail linked in message phone call or even a face to face
conversation using the framework
of grab a message and call to action.
You'll gain the attention of the attention of employers in their head in markets
are providing a template
to write a cover letter to a target employer which in the first instance must be
all about them and
never about you and your search for a new position

The two questions to ask yourself before approaching an employer.

In step 1 where you learnt how to create an impactful and standout CV / resume, I
explained the importance of understanding the specifics of the organisation you're
approaching in the 'hidden market'.
To communicate a message that gets through, you also need to research and
understand the wider landscape – what's happening in their industry sector?
Ahead of any direct approach, it's important to ask yourself two questions:
1) What are the challenges keeping the CEO / President awake at night and how could
I be the solution? [The emotion here is fear – see below].
2) What are the opportunities keeping the CEO / President awake at night and how
could I be the catalyst? [The emotion here is hope / aspiration – see below].
Remember, earlier on in the programme where I explained the importance of emotions
and that as human beings we are generally motivated by fear or hope / aspiration
(fear usually being the more potent motivator) and rarely by logic, which is
something we often use to justify our actions afterwards.
By answering the two questions above you give yourself the opportunity to speak
into the fears (question 1) and hopes / aspirations (question 2) of the most senior
decision maker in your target organisation. This enables you to tailor your cover
letter, and also select specific experience to include on your CV / resume, which
accompanies it. This empowers you to to engage the employer on an emotional level;
as such you're more likely to get their attention.
In the next three videos I'll explain:
1) Why the principles behind a great cover letter are the key to effective
communication.
2) The three components of a great cover letter.
3) A step-by-step example of how to create a cover letter targeted to a specific
employer.
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the videos

So what is a cover letter.

Well it's in its traditional form it is a letter that introduces another document a
covering document
to introduce another document which is generally a CV or regime.
And the question often arises whether you need a cover letter when youre sending
your CV or resumé off
to an employer or to a professional recruiter.
And that really depends on what you were asked.
So if you think about the traditional route to market that the majority adopt this
is responding to
adverts.
If a recruiter has a position generally they won't require a cover letter all there
requires a copy
of your CV your résumé and you send that in and of course what you're looking to do
is to open up dialogue
to get a face to face meeting with the recruiter because getting a face to face
meeting means there
is a higher probability chance of you landing on their short list moving forward.
So generally for a recruiter you dont tend to need one.
And certainly when I was a professional recruiter I never asked a candidate for a
covering letter for
me.
It was just one more document that I really didnt have time to work to read when.
When you think about applying to an advertisement an employer has out there.
Perhaps our advertising directly in the market if they request a cover letter.
Yes you need a cover letter because if you don't someone it's a failure to follow
instructions and that
can mean that you get knocked off the potential interview list straight away.
So if you ask for one.
Absolutely you need one.
But the big mistake people make with with cover letters in in a traditional form is
that they repeat
what's on their CV and that's a big mistake because I've already said in step one
that people don't
tend to read stevies They'll spend 10 to 15 seconds.
Scan reading the CV in the hope that something something pops out that resonates
and is reason for them
to invite you in for your interview.
Now if you attach a cover letter that simply repeats what's on the CV Well it's a
duplication of resources
duplication of effort and it's a duplication of effort required on the recipients
side to read both
documents and the cover letter simply won't get read.
So a cover letter has got to be something in its traditional sense that introduces
the document that
is accompanying which is generally the CV and raising May and what it will do is
highlight something
of importance.
Probably the most important thing on the accompanying documents and when we get to
the detail of how
to put together a cover letter I want to talk about the grabber message and call to
action convention
which will explain exactly how to do that.
So when you think of a cover letter in its traditional sense it's very much a
letter but in the correct
code its methodology remember one of the things that you'll be doing is going
direct to the hidden market
where opportunities are advertised.
There is no job specification and there is no requirement for you to to put a
covering letter together.
The employer is an advertising.
So why hasn't asked for one.
But this is where in the career Codex methodology the principles we learn in this
step of the process
section in putting a covering letter together means that a covering latter is much
more than a letter.
It's actually a key to effective communication or the key to effective
communication.
And of course in its traditional sense a covering letter could be a letter.
But down here the framework that I'm going to outline in the next video grab a
message and call to action
can be used for email.
It can be used for social media principally a linked in Ellington request
connection request or message
a phone call or a face to face meeting.
And this convention of rabid grab a message and call to action is effective in all
lines of communication.
And if you think about your journey to get in front of a target employer in the
hidden market you know
a letter may not work.
An e-mail may not work.
A social media engagement may not work you may need to follow up with a phone call
to get an email read.
And ultimately it may rely on a face to face meeting.
It depends on how the decision maker likes to communicate and their favourite forms
of communication
and talk a bit more about that.
In Step three When we talk about getting in front of decision makers.
But the important thing for this section.
This step of the process section is to understand that a cover letter is not just a
letter.
It is a principle and in the career code x methodology it is the principle of grab
a message and call

There are three components to an effective cover letter.

And remember in their career Codex methodology a cover letter is not just a letter.
It can be a letter of course but it could just as easily be an e-mail a social
media message primarily
on Linked In.
It could be a phone call or it could be a face to face conversation.
But there are three components of effective communication and the first component
is a grabber.
This is where you get the attention of your target decision maker.
If you think about all the all the people vying for their attention all the
messages out there that
are there to distract and grab their attention your message and your grabber has to
be disruptive.
It's got to grab their attention.
It's got to speak into something that is going to resonate with them and it has to
get to the point
quickly and effectively.
If you think about an email the grabber has got to go and the subject line.
That's the first thing that we read before we decide to read an email or not.
And the example I use in the book was super secrets of successful executive job
search.
This rule this example is flattery somebodies.
Somebody read an article that the decision maker has written and is right it is
written to compliment
them on that particular article.
The example I'm going to share with you in the next video does something slightly
different to get the
attention in the form of a grabber.
The decision maker and I share that with you when we get to it.
The message has got to speak into the emotions of the target employer.
There's no good trying to there's no good trying to position yourself based on a
logical logical argument
a logical statement if you like that people respond to emotions.
And if you can get the attention of your target employer based on the research that
you do you've got
to speak with your message into the fears or hopes and aspirations of that target
employer and fears
tend to be a more a stronger motivator let's say than hopes or aspirations.
So what are the problems that the employer is currently facing.
What's keeping the chief executive awake at night.
What are the hopes and aspirations for growth in the business.
New markets they're looking to explore.
Is this something that you could help with.
How can you speak into the hopes and aspirations that may also be keeping the chief
executive of the
organization awake at night thinking about.
Then there's a call to action.
The creek haddix methodology is all about proactive control.
You dont wait for somebody to phone you back or to get in touch.
In response to your communication instead you let them know when youre going to be
getting in touch.
Because then you maintain control and you give yourself permission to get in touch
and you make yourself
accountable to get in touch and to determine what happens next

You now understand the convention for effective communication which is grab a
message and call to action.
And in this video I'm going to share with you a real life example of a cover
letter.
But the framework I'm want to share with you here could be used just as well for an
email social media
message phone call or even in face to face conversation.
And you remember from step one that I shared with you an achievement from a client
I helped move from
the public sector to the private sector often seen as a very complex transition.
And this letter which you can see on screen which I'm about to share with you in
more detail is loosely
based on the letter that my client used to open the door to create an opportunity
with a target employer.
And in this instance no position was advertised and the structure used in this
letter was the template
to open up a conversation which ultimately created an opportunity that didn't
previously exist and the
first thing to say is that you need to get the contact details right so where you
need you need the
address the postal address.
If it's a letter and an e-mail address if it's if it's an e-mail and this of course
on a letter would
go would go at the top.
You must know here who you're sending the letter as I presume it's a letter that
you're sending the
letter to.
And you address it to somebody in person not to a job title never to a job title.
And the best thing to do is to visit the organization's website and identify the
senior decision maker
or better still visit the individuals linked in profile to confirm the name and the
position of the
target decision making you looking to reach.
And even if you find the name on the company website or organization website.
My advice here is that you always cross-reference that with Linked in because
linked in can often be
kept more up to date as the onus is on the individual as opposed to the
organization.
When it comes to data instead of mr. or mrs. or another title I like to keep things
on a level level
playing field and I advise that you do the same.
So it's dear first name dear John.
Jenny do whatever because this starts the conversation on an equal footing which is
exactly where it
needs to be.
And just to clarify before we go any further you'd actually need these titles grab
a message.
Call to Action.
I've just included them to show you how I've broken up the letter into its
component parts and you'll
see that the letters are quite short.
It's designed to be because anything too long people are going to read it.
In short it's punchy and each paragraph has a very specific purpose.
Let's let's talk then about the the grabber and the grabber here.
This is this is designed to literally grab the readers attention from the off and
includes this subject
line and also the opening paragraph.
And what I'm doing here is telling the decision maker I've researched their
organization and know something
about what's important to them.
And this thing that's important to them I read this in a moment.
Namely their expansion into China.
So let me read this Asia Pacific expansion a Chinese perspective.
I've been reading with interest about the growth opportunities.
ABC Ltd are exploring in the Asian market.
In particular I was very excited to learn that you've established your first office
in Shanghai which
is one of my favourite cities in the world.
I'm connecting to here on an emotional level and speaking into their aspiration for
future growth and
the expansion of the business and by getting their attention from the off.
There is a higher probability that they will read on next year.
We moved to the second paragraph which is the message.
And here is where I build on from the grabber and speak further into solving the
problems or furthering
the aspirations of the organization.
And of course its its aspirations in this case and I communicate my value
proposition Proposition and
communicate it clearly and concisely explain how I can potentially help based on
the research I've done
too.
And let me read this now for you as a director of strategy for an international
manufacturing organization.
I've led the overseas expansion of our manufacturing base with a particular focus
on the Asia Pacific
region.
Further details are included in my attack CV.
I spent a number of months in Beijing and I believe there is great potential for
companies like ABC
to expand in the Asian market.
Having recently returned from China I have an up to date perspective on the
opportunity expansion into
this fascinating country presents and would be very happy to share this with you.
Okay now note here I am referencing the CV and signposting what's on it.
What I'm not doing is duplicating my CV which is a common mistake that people often
make when it comes
to cover letters or other communication forms.
I'm telling the reader that I have valuable knowledge and insight about the
industry along with the
geography the way they operate in and I'm very much on message with what the
decision maker is very
likely to be thinking about.
It's important to know that I'm not saying I'm looking for a job.
What I am saying is that I have a relevant experience which I'm happy to share.
So it's an invitation to have a conversation as opposed to asking for an interview
asking for an interview
for a job.
And this is an important distinction.
And to use an and an analogy I'm not asking to get married but instead proposing a
first date which
may or may not lead to something now or in the future.
Then we have the call to action.
This is the final part of my communication and where I retain control is very
important to retain control.
Instead of giving it away.
So let me read that I'll give you a call in the next few days.
But in the meantime can be reached on a telephone number or an e-mail address.
I hope to have the opportunity to speak with you very soon.
Your Sicilian then now and then my name too.
To sign it to sign it off.
I need to diarise went to follow up and when I follow up I can use the same
framework as in the letter
whether they read the letter or not doesn't matter.
It creates a reason for me to follow up.
And he's also very helpful in getting past the gatekeeper and sometimes it takes a
few pushes to get
the attention of the decision maker even if the letter unlocks the door.
It won't necessarily open it which is achieved by a follow up communication perhaps
in the form of a
phone call which gets you in closer proximity to your target decision maker.
So the principles are outlined here are the ones that have helped many of my
clients unlock and even
create opportunities in the hidden market.
And going back to the grabber the grabber shows initiative it demonstrates research
and encourages the
reader to read on the message here.
The message speaks into what's important to the decision maker right now which is
something you can
and will discover from your research.
It's not about the need for a job it's never about the need for a job but instead
an offer to share
expertise.
It's an invitation to have a conversation and see if this if this letter simply
talked about the need
for a job if the decision maker was not in the market to hire right now in this
very moment it's very
likely that the letter would be disregarded.
The decision maker would instinctively see a job application and connect this with
we're not currently
hiring.
But remember if you're approaching in the hidden market it's very likely that the
employer is not currently
hiring.
They might be having conversations One and Two but your communication may precede
this and be ahead
of the markets.
So what youre looking to do is to spark enough interest so that the employer wants
to meet you right
now or the very least makes makes you memorable for the future and because your
approach is different
and if you communicated value relevant to their situation it vastly increases the
probability that theyll
want to meet and that that first meeting is often not about an opportunity.
But if you impress at that meeting and build on the value that youve already
positioned here in this
communication there is a probability that an opportunity will be uncovered and
sometimes even create
it to take advantage of your skills and experience.
And then the call to action down here the call to action explains what will happen
next and keeps you
firmly in control of the process because its you doing something youre not waiting
for something somebody
to come back to to come back to you.
You then you then sign the letter of course and use your sincerely as you know the
person's name.
But for an email it States its kind regards or something similar.
So there you have it.
An example of an effective cover letter that work for one of my clients in real
life to create in opport
create an opportunity in the hidden market and I'll include a template which you
can download and will
leave that content in to to act as a guide so my challenge now to you is to use
this methodology to
approach the Target employees on your spreadsheet which are in line with your
destination statement
capture everything you do in your thinking Journal and repeat repeat repeat.
Consistent execution is what it's really all about.
And this this is a strategy this template will help you.
And this is a strategy that absolutely opens up opportunities that others dont see
in their head in
market

Congratulations on completing step 2.

Congratulations on completing step 2 of the process section.
You now have all the tools to put together an impactful cover letter or other form
of effective communication, which speaks directly to the organisation you are
approaching and the decision maker within.
Before moving forward to step 3, please be sure to complete a cover letter to a
target employer that you've identified in line with your 'destination statement’.

Welcome to step through the process section where I show you how to get in front of
decision makers.
These are professional recruiters.
Employees you've identified in line with your destination statement and market
makers.
You'll discover the job seeker dichotomy which is one of the most important
principles in the career
Codex methodology of forms the framework for all communication between you and the
outside world

The foundations of a successful approach.

Approaching decision makers in the job market is much more than sending a CV /
resume and hoping for the best.
In step 2 I explained how to craft a powerful and impactful cover letter using the
framework of grabber, message and call to action. Remember, this framework can also
be used to construct emails, social media messages, phone calls and even in face-
to-face engagement.
The grabber is always about the person you're approaching – it has to resonate with
them to get their attention.
The message is again all about them, it's never about you and your need for a job –
it speaks directly to the employer's fears or hopes / aspirations for their
organisation.
The call to action is about you staying in control – a well-crafted communication
is just the beginning of a dialogue with the recipient; a dialogue you'll
proactively control every step of the way.
In the next three videos I'll explain how a balanced portfolio of activity is
essential to get you closer to your target, the three Ps that drive success and the
'jobseeker dichotomy', which is a powerful framework that governs / sense checks
all of your communication with the outside world.
To get in front of decision makers professional persistence pays off – this means
you need to identify through research, approach in the right way and then be
prepared to follow up.
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the videos

Effective communication is about getting you close to your target audience.

It's about getting you in front of the decision maker.
This could be a professional recruiter or in the hidden market.
It could be an employer direct or a market maker and you work you need to advance
the relationship at
every touch point at every step and the point is this that you know you may send
you may send a letter
a cover letter you may send that email but there may not be read and you may need
to follow up with
a phone call in the instep to use the example of a cover letter and then two or
three days later following
up with a phone call and this multi-step approach is designed to get you to a face
to face meeting.
And if you think about distance from an actual interview or a face to face meeting
with an employer
if that's over here probably further away is an email.
Social media engagement perhaps on Linked In gets you closer a letter perhaps gets
you even closer.
A phone call while you speaking so you're closer and then you may run into somebody
at a networking
event or another social engagement or business engagement which gets you closer to
that face to face
meeting.
And this is all about trust build so it can take some time.
And so may not respond to your e-mail.
They may not respond because they simply don't read it because they have too many
emails to read.
Which is why you need to be persistent.
But the point is that you can't do all of this on the same day.
You've got to space this out so if it's an email follow two or three days later
with a phone call.
Don't do all of this on the same day.
The point is this that you have to experiment because you dont know and its very
hard to find out what's
the preferred method of communication is for your target target employer or
recruiter or market maker
even you know for me as an employer I dont particularly like email.
I would prefer that somebody engaged me on now on Linked In.
Thats going to get my attention.
It tends to get my attention on linked in because I get ill like on pop up that
says somebody sent me
a message and that stays there till I do something about it.
So it really tends to work.
And depending on Linked In settings may I may also get a an email to tell me that
as well.
So I'm really looking to push the relationship this way.
Now in my experience coaching want to warn clients people tend to find the email
fairly easy.
The latter fairly easy social media engagement fairly easy we're going to get onto
that but there tends
to be a war here too.
The the phone call people find that incredibly difficult no matter what their level
no matter what their
level of experience and standing in their industry sector.
The phone call can be quite difficult but remember you have now a convention to
follow you have the
three components to follow which is grab a message and call to action and you
follow that on every step
at every step of the way.
If you send a letter you have to grab a message and call to action in there two or
three days later
when you follow up with a phone call.
Use the grab message and call to action.
The grabber gets the decision makers attention on the phone.
You then communicate your message clearly and succinctly and then you express the
call to action which
is not a phone call.
Of course its potentially a face to face meeting.
So you use this convention all of the time in all of your communication and you
know you can't assume
that you sent something and somebody reads it so this is why you have to try this
multimedia approach
into experiments.
Enjoy it

In this video I am talking about the three Ps that drives success when it comes to
getting in front
of decision makers and on the left here you have preparation and this is where you
research your target
audience in line with your destination statement.
So you get to grips and you understand how to communicate effectively with them and
what your grabber
message and a call to action might be.
So preparation is important but don't get bogged down in preparation.
At some point you have to pull the trigger and pull the trigger and get that
communication out there
get it working for you.
Remember there's no such thing over here as perfection.
You don't know 100 percent what's going on in the mind of your target decision
maker.
You've got to pull the trigger to find out.
You've got to get the communication out there.
And one of the things I certainly find when one coaching one to one clients is yes
they can spend time
preparing and they'll probably spend too much time preparing.
And there's a difficulty sometimes in pulling the trigger because then you're in
the unknown.
You're not quite sure what response you'll get.
And of course there's a risk of rejection.
And this is when I'd refer you back to the psychology section because remember
rejection is just part
of the process.
So pull the trigger get the message out there proactively and you stay in control
because you have your
call to action.
And of course you're using a multimedia approach you're prepared to follow with a
phone call using the
grabber message and Call to Action Convention.
And this is where persistence comes in because if you're really determined to have
a conversation with
a decision maker in an organization then you sometimes have to be persistent.
They've got lots of calls on their time.
They're senior in the organization and you might need one two three four attempts
to get in touch and
to get to get her to get your message heard before that conversation or that
initial dialogue takes
place and there's nothing wrong with persistence providing it's professional and
you don't do it all
on the same day so just space these communications out.
Always have a reason to get in touch.
Always make it about them.
This is the grabber message and call to action and have fun with it.
You know preparation being proactive and being persistent is really what leads to
success when it comes
to breaking breaking the attention or getting the attention.
Should I say decision makers and many people will will stop here.
Yeah.
You've got to continue by being proactive and persistent.
Remember most other people in the in the job market in terms of their approach
they're not preparing
properly and their approach is about a CV in response to an advert you're doing
something completely
different by approaching the hidden market with a well crafted message you should
be proud of pushing
that message out there proactively and staying in control and then being persistent
but professional
in being persistent and that that really counts for something.
And that will get the attention of your target of your target decision maker

In this video it's time to invoke one of the most important frameworks in the
career Codex methodology
for job search success.
And I call this the job seeker dichotomy and the reason I use the word dichotomy is
because what the
majority are doing which is pretty much everybody else in the job market is
completely opposite to the
advice that I present here.
And the job seeker dichotomy is your framework for communicating with the outside
world.
So any communication that you have with the outside world.
This is this is framed by the job seeker dichotomy in the job seeker dichotomy is a
sense check really
on all of your external communication with decision makers.
So let's take a look at it in more detail.
So if you think about what the majority of people do in the in the job market they
blame the markets
the market's good the market's bad talked about this in the psychology section
earlier on in the program.
They're full of blame and excuses.
They're not taking responsibility.
So the first part of the job seeker dichotomy says if you're going to have an
empowered job search strategy
if you're got to be in control of your process and not succumb to reactive chaos
you've got to take
responsibility while everyone else is blaming the market and you can see through
that and realize the
market is just the market that rejection is part of the process and take
responsibility for your own
actions.
And more to the point consistent action.
And remember you're doing things in a very very different way as well.
Then you have a higher probability of success.
It's about taking responsibility.
The second element talks about your communication style.
And the majority certainly in my experience as a recruiter and certainly from
talking to employers when
when they approach decision makers it's all about them.
So it's about their need for a job and a problem with that is it doesn't resonate
with the decision
maker particularly if a decision maker is not in the in the process of recruiting
at that time.
And as you know in the head and market you may approach an employer that isn't
recruiting but that doesn't
mean you can't get their attention.
It doesn't mean they won't remember you.
It doesn't mean it won't lead to a face to face meeting.
So in your communication while everyone else is talking about the need for a job
what you're going to
be doing is talking about your target decision maker.
In the first instance that's very important in the first instance.
It's all about them and think about what we did with the grabber message and call
to action convention.
The grabber was all about the decision maker here.
The message was all about positioning some of your experience to help the decision
maker not to not
to find a job necessarily but to help the decision maker.
So in the first instance it was all about them.
Now of course if you manage to get in front of the decision maker using this
strategy which is a higher
probability strategy.
If they see something in your skills and experience then of course the conversation
will naturally turn
to you and whether youre in the market for a position but in the first instance it
has to be all about
them and never about your need for a job.
So on the screen now youll find the jobs seeker dichotomy written down and you'll
also find this in
the book super secrets of successful executive job search and the first part of the
job seeker dichotomy
which relates to the previous previous slide is that your success in the job market
has nothing to do
with the job market itself.
It has everything to do with you so this is about personal responsibility.
And this goes back as I've mentioned to the psych psychology section of the program
where you take full
responsibility for all of the outcomes and you certainly don't blame the job market
for what does or
doesn't happen to you and then down here.
The second part of the job seeker dichotomy which relates more to getting a product
decision makers
is that in all communication with professional recruiters employers are market
makers.
It's never about you.
It's always about them and that's in the first instance.
It's never about you.
It's always about them.
And this is about communicating a message that resonates to get you in front of
them and if they like
what they see even if they're not in the market at that moment they'll certainly
remember you and you'll
be first point of call when they do need to do something.
And sometimes you can even create an opportunity for yourself that didn't actually
exist through this
through this strategy.
So that's the job seeker dichotomy.
Encourage you to memorize that and use this as a framework for all of your
engagement with the outside
world with all decision makers.
With everyone you come into contact with in the job market.
This is this is what the job seeker dichotomy is all about.
It's a framework for its framework for success that is very very different to the
approach taken by
the majority

The three types of decision makers.

In the environment section of the programme I set the scene for how the job market
really works. While the majority succumb to reactive chaos by surfing job boards
and pitching their CV / resume to professional recruiters, you now understand the
existence of the 'hidden market' and why attacking it needs to be part of any
successful job search strategy.
In the planning section I explained how to use your 'destination statement' to find
the decision maker, namely professional recruiter, employer or 'marketmaker'.
Now you know how to find them, it's all about the approach and here you need to
understand the other person's psychology, keep in mind the three components of
effective communication and also the 'jobseeker dichotomy'. Do this and you put
yourself ahead of the market and in a position to uncover high-probability career
opportunities others rarely see.
In the next four videos I'll explain how you approach professional recruiters,
employers and marketmakers to supercharge your job search strategy to get the
result you want. Before we get into the mechanics of approaching each of these
important players, I'll explain why you should never rely on others.
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the videos

When it comes to getting in front of decision makers you can't rely on others.
It's tempting I know but to get the best response to your communication you have to
do the hard work
you have to go direct to the decision maker.
And you know over here remember the majority are relying on job boards or
professional recruiters to
find that next position.
So they're looking for advertised positions or positions in the public domain.
You now know that the hidden market is a higher probability strategy for success.
But you are still going to engage recruiters.
And I want to show you how to do that coming up.
But one of the things a professional recruiter may say to you is they may offer to
they may offer to
approach certain organizations on your behalf and that may seem very tempting.
On first look.
But the reality is this.
There is a recruitment fee attached.
If they charter your ship for you or if they put your CV forward on on your behalf.
And that's going to be less attractive to a potential employer or a target
employer.
And also the recruiter may be using your CV your skills and experience to open the
door to a relationship
with that employee.
They may not have a strong relationship currently and that can be a dangerous
proposition.
It's far better for you to go directly to a target employer than to allow somebody
else to do it for
you.
In the case of recruiters your approach you approaching as an individual is going
to be better received
because it's you doing it and it's it's your skills and your experience and your
future.
You're going to get a better response.
And also there's no fee attached.
If you approach the employer directly over here one of the things I hear quite
often from my one to
one coaching clients when were re discussion about this is that they have a friend
or a contact that
works for a particular organization that they're interested in in having a
conversation with.
So let's say this organization is ABC limited and one of their friends works for
ABC limited and their
friend says look give me your CV give me a resumé I'll have a word and see what I
can do for you.
And the temptation here is to say yes but actually that's not the right thing to be
doing because you've
no idea whether your friend will actually do that and whether they'll talk to the
right person and what
their message might be about you.
The best person to deliver your message to the target decision maker in that
organization is you.
Now of course with your friends permission you can use that relationship to your
advantage and in terms
of the grabber.
Maybe if you know your friend has a particularly good relationship and is known to
the target decision
maker in the organization you can use your friend as the grabber in the in the
message in the opening
statement.
But don't rely on your friend or your immediate contact to make that inroad for you
because as I said
when I discuss step one and see your resumé what I said there was that it's not the
document that does
the work it's not the document that gets you the attention because people don't
tend to read it.
It's your approach and it has to be your approach and not somebody else's
The former professional recruiter with over 10 years experience in the industry
I've seen it very very
different approaches to work to me and the organization that I worked for initially
and then ran my
own business.
And the first thing to say is this that it wasn't always the candidates with the
best skills and experience
that got my attention.
And the ones that I ended up helping sometimes it was those that adopted a very
different approach and
had a very different dialogue with me that I really wanted to help and I went out
of my way to help.
And what I going to die digest for you now are four principles that in any
engagement with a professional
recruiter I would advise you you take heed of think about how you may change your
positioning in your
dialogue with that recruiter.
So the first thing is you've got to understand their primary motivation and the
primary motivation of
a recruiter is not to find you a position it's to place you in a job it's not to
manage your career
it's the place you win a job.
And ideally it's to place you in a job right now because a recruiter gets paid by
placing people in
positions.
And if you approach your recruiter now but they don't have a position for you right
now they may not
get back to you.
Does it mean you're a bad candidate.
It doesn't mean that your skills and experience aren't of value and won't be of
value moving forwards.
It just means they don't have a position for you right now.
Now this goes back to the psychology section of the program.
You may make that mean something else but that's the reality of the situation.
They just don't have a position for you right now because a recruiter will have a
number of positions
on the books and their job is to fill those positions and talk to candidates.
Currently that can fill those those positions.
And this is the same thing whether it's a contingent piece of recruitment whether
in competition with
other recruiters to fill a particular vacancy or whether it's retained search.
So where they've been paid up front they're the sole agent on this particular
assignment.
It's the same thing.
They're they're only going to talk to those candidates that are relevant for what
they have on the books
right now because that's their primary motivation.
When you do talk to a recruiter you have to respect their business.
And ideally My advice is to treat them as a business person not as a recruiter.
I had some really dreadful approaches from candidates in the past that that walked
into my office or
got me on the phone and really had a chip on their shoulder.
And part of the reason for that was they'd had a bad experience elsewhere but that
really wasn't my
problem.
They were bringing a belief about recruiters into our conversation that wasn't
necessarily true about
what I was prepared to do for them or how I could help them.
So this is where managing beliefs is so important.
And again it's back to the psychology section.
So respect the recruiters business respect the job that they're doing and let them
know that let them
know that you value their opinion you value their help your putting your trust in
them and that will
really resonate because that's that rarely rarely happens.
And certainly a candidate would say to me look Simon I'm going to put my trust in
you to help move me
forward in the job market.
That would put a lot of pressure on me to want to help this particular candidate.
And I would go out of my way to do that because it was a very different message to
the message I was
getting elsewhere.
Thirdly position the long term relationship.
Now recruiters are concerned with making fees they have pressure from their
immediate bosses.
They have peer pressure from those around them in terms of who's where in the
pecking order for making
fees that particular month.
So recruiters are always looking to develop more business and they invest a lot of
time in developing
client relationships.
And if you can help them to develop clear relationships they'll see you more than
being just a candidate.
Right now the scene you see as a potential client of the future and there's a
couple of ways to do that.
The first way to do that is to let them know early on in dialogue that if they
manage to place you.
Of course there will be a backfill and you'll leave the business you currently work
for.
You're currently in employment and you let the recruiter know that you'll do your
level best.
You're not promising but you'll do your level best to introduce them to the
decision maker to back fill
your position.
And this is the two for one and good recruitment was always about two for one.
So if I could place somebody and backfill fill position that was very very good
recruitment.
The other thing is to position yourself as a client.
So if they place you and you move to a new organization you're going to make some
changes to your team.
There is a very strong possibility that you may need to recruit to boost the team
or to bring new skills
in.
Depending on your agenda when you get to that new business and it's important to
let them know that
you value the long term relationship and if they look after you you're prepared to
look after their
moving forwards and will give them the opportunity to recruit for you in your new
position because again
they will see you as a client of the future they will see conversion to cash in the
future.
You strengthen the relationship based on their motivations.
And this goes back to psychology your understanding their psychology your
understanding what makes them
tick.
And you're speaking in to that to that mindset that they have and you know some
people say well that's
a negative picture to paint over a professional recruiter.
Yes yes it is potentially.
But the reality of the situation is recruiters are in business and recruiters have
to make profit and
that means they need to make fee income and they do that from candidates that they
can place or from
client relationships either now or in the future.
And then the last point here is if you can help the recruiter to do their job
you're going to go down
very well in their estimations and they're going to want to keep in touch with you.
One of the things that I used to see as a professional recruiter is people would
phone me up on a regular
basis ask me any updates you know is there anything you could tell me.
Are there any opportunities.
And there was very little value in me taking that call.
I understand Don't get me wrong I understood why people were calling because they
wanted to keep in
touch but think about the job seeker dichotomy in that approach.
Their approach was all about them not about me as a recruiter.
So it's far better to keep in touch with a recruiter or to try and open a door with
a recruiter.
By trying to help them and speaking into some of the challenges that they have for
some of the aspirations
that they have.
So you know referring another candidate to a recruiter potentially for a position
that they are currently
recruiting even if they can't they're not recruiting for a position that you're
quite right for now
will really really bolster their opinion of you and make them want to return the
favour.
The other thing you can do sometimes recruiters they understand the sector but
they've never worked
in the sector.
I was slightly different.
I worked in finance recruitment predominately And as an accountant I really
understood the sector but
in many recruitment businesses the consultants has got some you know they've got
recruitment experience
but they don't have experience of the sector.
So if you can highlight something to the recruiter that says Have you seen this
event or have you come
across this website.
Have you heard about these organizations on the move.
It's a reason for you to get in touch and it's a reason that adds value to their
situation.
It adds value to what they're trying to achieve.
And if you do that and you give this information and you're doing this as part of
your research and
they had market anyway.
If you provide this information and help them to do their job there then becomes an
obligation that
they're going to want to help you back.
And they're going to want to keep in touch with you.
And when you phone or get in touch with them by whatever means they're more likely
to want to keep in
touch and you'll be more memorable because you you talk to them on a more regular
basis.
So there's some bits of advice as to how you can really build a strong relationship
with recruiters.
The other thing to say here of course is that you can't have a relationship with
lots of lots of recruiters.
If you have have a relationship with a multitude of different recruiters recruiters
will know this and
they think in probability terms.
So you know if you have if you have 15 recruiters that you're talking to there is a
one in 15 chance
potentially of any one of those recruiters placing you.
So your conversion into cash probability falls so it's far better to have more
empowered relationships
with a few recruiters than it is to have superficial relationships with a lot of
recruiters.
Now one of the things you may say is well okay what about if a particular recruiter
doesn't have the
opportunity that that um Im looking for.
Well thats a good point.
But remember youre not just relying on recruiters what youre doing here is
chartering your own ship
in the hidden market so recruiters are just one part of your strategy you have
going to employers direct
and also going to employers by market makers as your other strategies.
So you have you have a very very different approach.
And as you now know from the environment section the higher probability
opportunities always exist in
the hidden market

In this video I'm talking about some of the things to think about when it comes to
comes to getting
in front of employers.
So these are Target employees that you've identified in line with your destination
statement.
Remember this is not just about your psychology but it's about the psychology of
the employees themselves.
You've got to get into their mindset get into their into their head and that's how
you deliver a message
that that resonates.
Anyway here are four bits of advice to think about.
So the first thing is to always start at the top.
So start at the top of the organization the high you can go the better.
The reason for that is is threefold First of all the more senior the decision maker
the more easier
they are to find because they tend to be the spokesperson for the organization.
They usually visible on the website.
You can find them in the accounts you can find them on linked in so you know who
they are and also you
are probably able to find some form of article or reason to get in touch where
they're speaking about
the organization or something important to them.
So that really helps when it comes to when it comes to the grabber.
The second reason is that they dont tend to get approached that often and they dont
get approach because
people think its more difficult.
But in actual fact back to point one its easier it can feel more difficult to go to
the top of an organization
should I be bothering this person.
But that's that's the wrong kind of belief and if you think back to the environment
section of the program
I talked about the pain employees go through when it comes to hiring or bringing in
talent to their
organization.
You now know that employers do want to hear from you providing you approach them in
the right the right
way.
The third reason to approach from the top is because you can get what I call a top
down referral.
So I spoke about in step one which was the key section that that initial first
filter when a job is
being advertised is done perhaps lower down in the organization.
That's not where you want to play.
That's a low probability strategy in terms of numbers of people in the game and
also the way the CV
is potentially read.
So you want a higher probability strategy approaching the hidden market and
approaching the decision
maker at the top because it's a decision maker at the top likes what they see in
terms of your approach
which of course is going to be very different to everybody else.
They may just refer that down to somebody in the organization.
They may not get in touch themselves but they may prefer it down to somebody in the
organization to
say I'd like you to get in touch with this person and bring them in and send it
with one of my one of
my clients in recent times.
We did exactly that approach with a big international travel company.
We went right to the top.
We actually went to one of the non-executive directors in that business and crafted
a message in line
with a grabber message and call to action.
And the non-exempt director actually referred that down to the h.r. director and
the dialogue began.
So it does absolutely work this top down referral.
The second point is that you've got to tap into conversations one and two.
So remember go back to the environment section employers find recruitment painful.
They want to talk to people who have the right skills and abilities that could
potentially help them
with some of the challenges and some of the opportunities they're looking to
explore in their business.
And if you do your research on the organization and you approach in the hidden
market while they're
having conversations one and two while they're considering what they may do before
going out to the
public domain then you get ahead of the market and your message is more likely to
get through.
And that links to point three.
You've got to deliver a message that resonates.
So this is a message in line with the job seekers dichotomy which is all about them
in the first instance
and not about you.
It's not about your need for a job which is point four here but it's about you
being helpful and offering
to engage in dialogue about a subject that you know something about about about
helping them to alleviate
a problem or aspire to something they're looking to do in their business.
And if you can think about those things you approach from the top approach with a
very different message
in line with what I've spoken about already then there is an increased probability
not certainty.
But there is an increased probability that your message will get through and that
an employer will.
Will meet with you even if they're not currently hiring

In this video I'm talking about getting in front of market makers and remember
market makers are well
connected and well respected individuals in a profession industry sector or
geography they may run events.
They may be non-exempt directors.
They may work with a number of different organizations in a particular sector in an
advisory capacity.
And you'll find them in in publications they'll be conveying their opinion.
They're generally thought leaders.
And once you start to look out for market makers you'll start to see them all over
the place.
And of course they can connect you to a multitude of different different
businesses.
And I outlined this in the environment section of the program about how Referrals
can come to you through
market makers from employers having conversations one and two and how do they turn
to employers in conversations
one and two.
Well they tend to market makers to ask for help and advice.
So once you identify a market maker one of the strategies to use is to first of all
knowledge their
success.
So these are generally successful people in the public domain acknowledge their
success.
You read an article you've you've seen they've won an award they've been
acknowledged for something
so you acknowledge that success in your communication and this forms part of your
grabber which which
then leads onto your message.
Remember of course the job seeker dichotomy it's all about them in the first
instance and never about
you asking for help and advice is also a very powerful strategy.
And this is particularly important when it comes to market makers.
Market Makers are generally social beings.
They like to help people.
They like to be seen as as people that help people.
And if you approach them with a message that says I could really do with your
council could I have five
minutes of your time just to get some advice provided you ask politely and you use
the grabber to get
the attention in the first place.
It's very very likely that they will spend some time with you because they used to.
They used to giving help and advice it's what they like doing.
As I say they're social beings.
They're well respected well-known figures.
And if you ask for help and advice is human beings generally people like to watch
people if you ask
for help and advice.
People generally offer it.
So I think we pre-programmed as human beings to to help people that ask for our for
our help.
The third thing is offer your help so you may see an opportunity to connect them to
somebody.
Remember market makers like to be connected.
They like to build relationships so you may see an opportunity to help them to
connect them with somebody
you can offer to connect them to your network in some way.
If you do some investigation on on LinkedIn to see who they're connected to what
they're talking about
then you may know somebody within your network that could add value to work to them
and their network
and you can make that offer of introduction or you could offer some of your helpful
advice as you generally
would by going direct to employer for thing to say.
Patience pays off.
And you remember the way the market maker relationship works.
I discussed this in the environment section.
It's all about trust.
And that takes time.
So you might need a number of different engagements with them.
You might need to run into them on a number of occasions perhaps at a networking
event before they will
start to to trust you and be in a position to recommend you because if we recommend
people generally
we only recommend people that we know we have some experience of.
And it's exactly the same for market makers.
So were you not going to get an instant result.
And patience does definitely definitely pay off.
You know one of the one of the examples of market makers which is one of the places
this concept came
from is when I run my own recruitment company I would go out there into the market
and the relationships
not necessarily directly with employers but I would build relationships with people
who had relationships
with employers what particular a relationship built was with a business coach who
advised a number of
different businesses and we had coffee two or three times.
I introduced him to some people I know and we built that relationship probably over
a six month period.
And after that six months period of getting to know one another and building that
trust that relationship
really paid dividends because this this gentleman referred a number of high value
pieces of business

Who are you and what do you do?

You've now clarified your 'destination statement', which determines where you focus
your attention in the job market in relation to the proactive activity you take in
the 'hidden market' and as a sense check against opportunities presented to you by
professional recruiters.
Your destination statement, is an INTERNAL document. It's for your reference only
and not something you communicate to an external audience.
In step 2 of the process section I explained the grabber, message and call to
action framework for effective communication when directly approaching a target
employer in the hidden market. This can be used as a letter, email, social media
message, phone call or even in a face-to-face engagement.
When you come face-to-face with others (not necessarily a target decision maker),
also having the 'tell me more' test in your arsenal can lead to a more engaging and
interesting conversation. It's tempting when asked who you are and what you do to
return fire with your job title and the organisation that you work for, which can
often kill the conversation there and then.
Your job title and the organisation you currently work for don't define you, it's
the value you add that should define you and the thing you should be communicating.
This grabs attention, should be easily understood and absorbed, and therefore
becomes memorable and mobile.
The 'tell me more test' is an EXTERNAL communication strategy to be used with
people you meet who may not be your target decision maker, but who can potentially
make an introduction further down the line (conversations 1 and 2). It's
particularly useful at networking events when you meet someone for the first time,
to build rapport and create a lasting impression. We'll specifically get to
networking in step 6, but I'm introducing the tell me more test here, because its
ultimate aim is to get you in front of decision makers

You've now clarified your destination statement which determines where you focus
your attention in the
hidden market to find secure the opportunity you really wants.
It's also a sense check against opportunities that may be presented to you by
professional recruiters
to make sure they really are opportunities.
You want to pursue now a very important point here is that this is an internal
documents.
This is not a this is not a narrative that you would communicate externally.
It's for your internal reference only so you know where to focus your attention.
In Step two of the process section I talked about the the framework for effective
communication which
is the grabber message and call to action and this framework can be used for
letters emails social media
engagements phone calls and face to face meetings.
But there is another tool in your arsenal for a face to face engagement which is
called the Tell Me
More tests.
And this is particularly useful at networking events where youre not talking
directly to your target
employer to your target decision maker but youre in an environment where people ask
you who you are
and what you do and you need to give a response and you want to give a response
that is going to be
of interest so that people say back to you well thats quite interesting.
Tell me more because you want you want then potentially to remember what you said
to ask you some more
questions and there is an opportunity then that when they go about their everyday
business that they
may introduce you into conversations one and two with decision makers that they
that they know.
So tell me more test is is an external communications strategy.
I'm introducing it here albeit it's it's particularly useful for networking events
because it is a route
to getting for any decision makers by talking to people and communicating a
different message face to
face.
Your message is more memorable.
And as a result it tends to travel and it tends to travel so it may just crop up in
these conversations
one and two that happen all the time.
And this of course is the is the hidden market.
So tell me more test is very similar to what I outlined in step 2 which is the
framework for effective
communication.
Grab a message and call to action.
But it's slightly different and it's slightly different because what you're doing
here you're generally
not talking to your target decision maker.
You're generally talking to somebody you've met in the everyday course of your life
or you're talking
to somebody that you may be met at a networking event who is not necessarily your
target decision maker.
So what you're trying to do with the TELL ME MORE test is to build rapport build
interest in what it
is you do and to make sure that your message is remembered because the person that
you're talking to
will go off and have conversations with people in the course of their business and
they may fall into
conversations one or two and somebody may ask them Who do you know who could do
this who would you know
who is an expert in this field and you want you want you you want you want to be
the one that's ultimately
remembered.
So tell me more test has three elements needs to grab attention and interest it
needs to be easily understood
and absorbed and it has to be memorable and mobile.
This is about your messaging and the temptation when you meet people in the course
of your life and
at networking events they ask you who you are what you do.
The temptation is to give your name your job title and the company that you work
for.
But your your job title on the company that you work for doesn't define you.
What defines you is the value that you can add and that should be the message that
youre communicating.
So thinking about your TELL ME MORE test the question is what value do you add and
what message do you
want to communicate that will have a resonance with the person that youre talking
to so that they will
remember your message and let me give you a quick example as to what I did to craft
my Tell me more
test statement for want of a better word.
It would be very easy for me to describe myself as a career coach and that I run a
business called Career
kodaks but that can that could potentially kill the conversation.
So what I do instead is I tell a story and I say Im three things.
I'm a trainer I'm a coach and I'm a corner man and I describe what a trainer is I
define.
I help my clients define find and secure the job opportunity they really want not
just the one they
see advertised.
I am a coach.
I keep them motivated along that journey and I keep them accountable and I keep
them headed in the right
direction.
I'm a corner man so the fight that is it is the job market.
I sit alongside my clients I help them to see things that they can potentially see
because they're too
immersed in the job market.
I help them to navigate the fight to keep going when things get tough.
I act as a confidant and an adviser.
So I'm a trainer coach and corner man.
And when I started to use this.
People started to remember it and I used this on line and also face to face.
And particularly the word.
WARNER man seemed to spark interest and intrigue and that was me being slightly
inventive and innovative
given the fact that I do martial arts is my hobby and you know in competition in
martial arts particularly
in ring sports you have a corner man who sits in your corner who's there to help
you.
So I use that and crafted that as part of my story and I've had a number of
inquiries now particularly
through linked in because it sits in my professional headline as to what's a corner
man so it seems
to be doing the trick with them with your TELL ME MORE test it's important to
inject some personality
to be innovative and to experiment.
Remember your message will never be perfect.
How people perceive it will depend on them depend on the filters that they're using
to to hear your
message.
But you get a sense through trial error as to what might be working.
But communicating a message that has the potential to grab attention and interest
be easily understood
and absorbed and therefore memorable and mobile is far better than just
communicating your job title
and the company that you currently work for because that doesn't define you.
What does define you is the value you can add in future relationships and to a
future employer.

Developing a modern marketing mindset.

In the business of finding your next career opportunity you are responsible for all
of the marketing activity. Promoting your skills, abilities and experience to your
target audience is essential to your success.
I hear the term 'selling' a lot when it comes to this activity, but this term is
unhelpful to your situation. In my experience the majority of people are
uncomfortable selling (particularly if they're not used to doing it) and as human
beings we're increasingly uncomfortable being sold to.
In the marketing world, advertising is synonymous with selling, but selling doesn't
work anymore.
Finding success in the job market has nothing to do with selling and is instead
about helping and educating.
In the next two videos I'll discuss this in detail.
In the first video I'll provide a brief lesson in modern marketing, where 'inbound'
is proving far more effective than 'outbound' activity.
In the second video I'll explain what I call the 'hire cycle', which will provide a
useful frameowrk for communicating your message to target decision makers.
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the videos.

In this video I I'm going to provide a quick lesson in modern marketing because
whether you like it
or not if you're in the job market looking for that next position you are in the
business of marketing.
And I've already talked about job search being very much like a business running
your own business and
talked about the three Ps which is positioning promotion and performance.
You now have the positioning down in terms of your destination statement which we
did in the planning
section and getting in front of decision makers is all about promotion.
It's about promoting your message to your target audience.
Now when people think about promoting their message they often think about selling.
And if you think about promotion it's not a leap too far to think about advertising
traditional advertising.
And of course traditional advertising is selling.
And on the left hand side of the screen here you can see a representation of an
aeroplane taking off.
This is out bound marketing outbound marketing and a great example about bad
marketing is TV advertising
TV advertising of course is expensive.
It can be a general message to a general audience.
There's some targeting depending on when the TV advert airs which program it airs
in.
But generally it's a general message to a general audience and as consumers we've
we've learned to tune
out.
So we've got our filters up now we know when we're being sold to and we don't like
being sold to so
certainly in the case of a TV advertising will tend to fast forward will tend to
turn the volume down
we'll go and make a drink or do something else and then come back when the when the
program resumes
so when advertising doesn't work as well as it is it used to do.
And if you think about it you think about advertising it's basically saying here's
my product here's
my service buy my product buy my service.
And this really is outbound marketing not just TV advertising.
It can be all other forms of marketing particularly when it says see my product or
service buy my product
or service.
And this can work quite well for low value items.
So were more of the impulse buy.
So think about purchasing say a book on Amazon.
You're not going spend too much time researching that you're gonna make a decision
to buy it fairly
quickly.
So it works for for lower transaction value stuff.
But think about if you were buying a car you're going to go out there and read and
buy your next car
you'd probably do some research and you'd probably jump on the Internet to do that
research and never
you know in the past.
One of the reasons that advertising was so powerful was there wasn't the Internet
for people to do research
on.
But now we're all informed consumers and advertising to inform us as a consumer is
not really needed
anymore because we have the Internet to find out information for ourselves.
So were nowadays consumers jump on the jump on the internet to research to do their
homework before
they go and make a purchase particularly when it's a higher transaction type type
purchase that they're
they're looking to make and think about the analogy here in the in the job market.
Now if somebody is looking to bring you in to their business that's a high
transaction value thing that
they're doing there.
Perhaps if they're using job boards or recruiters they're perhaps going to invest
in a recruitment fee.
They're certainly going to invest time energy and effort in the recruitment
process.
And then of course having made a decision on who to hire they're going to spend
money on the salary
remuneration package the compensation package.
So it's a high transaction value thing.
So if the message that you're delivering in the market is an outbound message which
is basically here's
my CV your resume Hi Amy me.
That's not really a message that is going to get through.
People are going to have their filters up and a different strategy is now required.
That will help your message get through.
If you want to find success in the in the job market and this is where Out bound
marketing falls down
and inbound marketing comes into place on the right hand side of the screen.
This is an aeroplane landing to represent inbound marketing and in marketing is
never about selling.
It's never ever about selling.
People find selling uncomfortable and as human beings we find being sold too
uncomfortable so our marketing
is about something else altogether and embar marketing is about communication.
It's about education.
It's about communicating a message to a target audience and a clearly defined
target audience that will
that will resonate.
It's about providing value providing value over.
We would have time.
So were an example of in marketing the weekly blog posts that I put out.
I will put a podcast out and a video.
Let's talk about the blog posts.
So in my blog posts I talk about challenges that I know people have in the job
market.
And I communicate this on a weekly basis through the blog post.
And I know that if people have a challenge in the job market they're going to be
searching online because
we all have the Internet at our fingertips.
And I know there is a chance there is a probability that they'll come across my
content they'll read
my content.
It doesn't sell anything.
What it does it educates and informs and I build a relationship with my target
audience I know who my
target audience is but I dont necessarily know who specifically they are as
individuals yet because
they are not not not knocked on my door as yet but you know a client that I
recently started working
with on a one to one basis before he approached me directly.
He read a number of my blog posts.
He said I think listen to one of my podcasts watched a couple of videos on YouTube.
He got hold of my book on Amazon again a low transaction value item in terms of
what he had to spend
to get it and he'd read the book and the message it resonated.
And then he got in touch.
So that was in bad marketing.
That was my message.
Me being helpful and educating my target clients that led this particular gentleman
to work to come
to me to sign up for my executive page program.
I want to one coaching program so that's a prime example of an by marketing.
So when it comes to your job search it's exactly the same thing.
If you think about the employer that's out there whether they're advertising
whether they're using recruiters
or whether they're looking for you in the hidden market they're going to be using
the Internet.
And I'm going to be talking about links in coming up but linked in is something
that gives employers
direct access to the hidden market.
So where they're going to be searching online and depending on what they find will
depend on whether
they get in touch with you about potential opportunities.
So if your message let's say on line is just about here's my CV here's my skills
and experience hire
me.
That message is very likely not to get through.
But if your message on line is about thinking about the challenges that the
employer your target employer
has in a particular industry sector thinking about the aspirations that
organizations in your industry
sector will have and they are communicating it helpful and educational message in
the form of thought
leadership.
That's what breaks through.
That's what gets your message through.
And that's what will resonate with your target audience.
So you may not know specifically who's reading this stuff who's engaging with your
content but when
the Times writes you'll have built a relationship with your target employer and
they'll be ready to
get in touch.
So that was a quick lesson in modern marketing.
What a marketing is all about inbound marketing and in the next video I'm going to
talk to you about
something called the higher cycle which will bring this to life.
Specifically when it comes to job search.

In this video I want to talk to you about something I call the highest cycle which
really is a lesson
in modern marketing.
And if you think about what most people are doing in the job market what they're
doing up here top left
they're saying see me.
So they're presenting their CV or resume.
And down here bottom right they're saying on the basis of my CV or raise you may
higher me.
Now that doesn't always work.
It doesn't always work because that's what everybody else is doing.
And there's no high value message being delivered.
And think about the commitment an employer needs to make to bring somebody into
their organization.
It's a big decision and they need to make that decision based on as much
information as possible because
employers can traditionally be risk averse.
They want to do their due diligence.
They want to make sure they're bringing the right person into the organization and
they don't want to
make a mistake.
So see me.
Hi Amie doesn't necessarily work.
And in modern marketing it doesn't work for for high transaction value stuff.
So why would it work in the in the job market.
And in actual fact there are two steps in a higher cycle that you need to introduce
as part of your
job search strategy to increase the probability of you being found and ultimately
hired.
And these two steps are like me.
And down here bottom left.
Trust me.
So instead of See Me hire me which is what everybody else is doing.
In fact the steps are change the colour there.
The steps are.
See me.
Like me.
Trust me.
HIRE ME NOW.
The chance to be that is it takes longer.
And people want instantaneous results.
You know here's the CV hire me seemed like me trust me hire me Convention takes a
lot longer and it's
about it's about helpful and educational communication that employers are likely to
find.
So let me talk to you about an example about how that example of how this works.
So.
You have skills and abilities and you have knowledge about your sector.
You know who your target audience is.
You've done some research now you understand what some of the challenges are with
with your target audience
some of the problems that an organization may be looking to alleviate through
bringing somebody in or
some of the things the organization is aspiring to.
Part of their growth strategy what are they looking to do.
Is that something that you can help with and because you're very fine tuned in who
your target audience
is.
It means you can craft a message that will resonate with your target audience
because you're not a general
message to a general audience as is traditional advertising.
This is a specific message to a specific target target audience.
So one of the things I do with my one to one coaching clients is I encourage them
to create a narrative
online particularly violent teen because linked in gives employees direct access to
the hidden markets.
They no longer have to rely on professional recruiters or job boards to find
talent.
They can go on a linked in which is probably the best database for talent out
there.
Fired up today information on people that they may wish to engage with and
employers are doing this
all the time.
They're doing it all the time as part of conversations one and two so social media
strategy dialling
10 and a linked in database has really given employers the opportunity to leverage
leverage conversations
one and two outside of their immediate network and extended networks.
So think about a published post on Linked In and this is what I get.
I get my one to one coaching clients to do their right to publish Post that talks
about things that
they know are important potentially to their target audience and it provides
education and opinion so
they don't just do this once they do this on a regular basis and through doing it
on a regular basis.
This stuff is online and it can be found and people will start to see it.
And if employers are searching online looking for people with specific skills and
experience in a particular
sector employers may come across this and they may start to like it so they may
start to like your message
over a period of time and again this is about consistent action.
This is not just one published Post for example.
This is about continued action over a period of time which is one of the things
that makes it so challenging.
They start to trust your message.
And when it comes time to hire they know exactly who to go to.
And this is where youll find employers coming to you directly.
Perhaps you linked in and asking to have a conversation.
These are employers you may not specifically have targeted but employers whose
message.
Who who who got your message and your message has resonated with them so seemy like
me trust me hire
me is a strategy that really works and is a strategy that definitely opens up
opportunities in the hidden
market.
Its more difficult because it takes more time but the pay off can be a higher
probability payoff in
terms of an opportunity that fits with the opportunities.
You want a unified with your destination statement.
And one final point on this.
If you look down here trust me I talked about trust in relation to market makers
market makers are going
to be recommending you.
Its all about trust and trust is extremely important when it comes to hiring
decisions particularly
high value hiring decisions.
So were building trust through engagement being helpful educating your at your
target audience your
target employer communicating your opinion is really what it's all about.
It's never about selling.
It's not about selling your skills and experience.
It's about helping and educating your target audience to deliver a message that
will resonate that will
invite them to get in contact with you when they have a requirement that they think
you can help with.

To protect and serve.

One of the challenges in getting to speak to the decision maker in your target
organisation is the gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper is regarded as a foe by many – someone who gets in the way and will
possibly thwart your ability to reach the person you really want to speak with.
However, regarding them as a foe doesn't really help your cause.
One of the tactics I used to great effect as a professional recruiter was to phone
outside of normal working hours. Gatekeepers tend to keep regular hours and before
9.00am and after 5.30pm (or normal working hours in your country) you're very
likely to get directly through to the decision maker or someone else who will put
you through.
The gatekeeper is there to protect and serve. In protecting they keep out unwanted
calls, but they also have a responsibility to put through the important ones. How
you feel about the phone call you're making will have a direct impact on your
probability of getting through to the decision maker (psychology).

In the hidden market you go direct to employers part of your strategy and that can
be through written
communication and it could also be through phone communication.
And as I've as I've demonstrated in a previous video this is about a multi-media
multi-strategy approach
to work to get the attention of the decision maker.
So if you sent a letter you sent an email then it's very probable that you're going
to need to follow
up with a phone call to get their attention to get them on the line and to have a
conversation to advance
that relationship and getting past the gatekeeper can be a challenge.
And I spent 10 years in the recruitment industry working out how to get past the
gatekeeper so I could
talk to the decision maker.
And in this video you've got to talk a little bit about how to view the gatekeeper
and some of the strategies
that I used to use to good effect to get past the gatekeeper to have that
conversation with the decision
maker.
You have to treat the gatekeeper as a friend and as an ally.
Anything other than that will shine through in your communication and get you off
to a bad start with
a gatekeeper and gatekeeper is somebody that knows the decision maker very well
they possibly work with
the decision maker for some time and they're responsible for keeping the calls.
The decision maker doesn't want out and letting the calls that the decision make a
wants in.
So that's why we call them the gatekeeper.
And when you phone up and you get through to the gatekeeper they're generally going
to ask you two questions.
And the first question that they're going to ask is Will Will he or she know what
it's regarding what
the decision maker know what it's regarding.
And the second question question they often ask is will he or she be expecting your
call.
Would the decision maker be expecting your call.
So let's run a little scenario here and let's imagine that I've written a letter or
an email to to Helen
a decision maker in one of my target companies.
So if I follow up on that letter and I've said I will do this in the call to
action.
Remember the grabber message and call to action convention.
So I have an obligation to follow up.
And when I get through to the gatekeeper it is very likely that I will then the
gatekeeper will ask
me one of those questions and my answer is yes they are expecting my call and
they'll know what the
call is regarding Because I've made a written communication.
And my assumption is having sent that communication that the decision maker has
read that communication.
Now sometimes you may still get blocked and this is the time really to ask for help
or advice from the
gatekeeper.
You know explain that it's important that you speak to the decision maker.
You promise to follow up on the communication.
When would be the best time to call back and pin this down to a specific date and
time and ask the gatekeeper
to pop that time in the diary there ends and you put that in your diary your end
and you make sure you
call back at that specific time because attention to detail is important.
And if you call back at that specific time it's going to be very difficult for the
gatekeeper not to
put you through because they gave you that specific time and date as a time that
you could get through
to the decision maker.
Now of course things can change but you're putting an obligation on the gatekeeper
then to put you through
when you work when you call back.
What are the mistakes that people make when they when they speak to the gatekeeper
is to repeat the
message that they have for the decision maker and this is wasted time or wasted
time and energy.
Your message is only for the decision maker.
So you really don't want to be communicating what it is you would communicate to
the decision maker.
Your job is to give the gatekeeper just enough information to get put through to
the decision maker.
So you know the grabber message call to action the follow up call to action there
is a really powerful
way to get through asking for help and advice and pin pinning the gatekeeper down
to a specific date
and time again is a powerful way to get through.
But sometimes you need a little bit of extra help.
And I to talk to you now about three strategies that are used to great effect as as
a professional recruiter
wishing to get through to senior decision makers in organizations that I was keen
to do business with
and remember it was probably generally more difficult for me to do that as a
professional recruiter.
If your going directly to the head and market of course what you're doing is is not
common.
Most people won't do this and that's why it's so important to do it because it
stands out.
But if you can imagine how difficult as a professional recruiter this might be to
do because senior
decision makers are getting calls from professional recruiters all of the time each
and every day.
All of the time multiple times a day so breaking through can be quite difficult and
the gatekeeper is
always on low on alert for the recruiter call.
The first thing you can try is familiarity and familiarity is important because the
gatekeepers are
going to want to put people through to the decision maker that they believe the
decision maker knows.
And if you call up and youre not quite sure who your who your calling to speak to
by name.
Thats a really really bad start so you got to know who the decision maker is what
their name is and
you do that part of your research and you have done that prior in the form of your
written communication.
But then when you phone out rather than asking for Mr Mr or Mrs surname what you
need to do is to use
their first name because if you are somebody that knows the decision maker youd be
more likely to use
their first name than their.
Their Mr or Mrs.
Followed by a by surname so familiarity is important.
If this is the second time that you've you've got in touch with the gatekeeper then
the familiarity
with the gatekeeper again counts for a lot so it's always useful to ask the
gatekeeper's name get their
name on that first call and when you call back you know ask them how they are use
their name because
it breeds familiarity with them and if they.
Like you and your building a relationship with them they're more likely to put you
through.
The second thing here is authority.
So when you're on the phone you have to speak with authority and the temptation is
on the phone to speak
very very fast indeed.
Because for many people it's an uncomfortable thing to do particularly when they're
championing their
own cause in terms of trying to help open up opportunities in their own market.
So if you think about what a sales call sounds like a sales call usually sounds
like somebody speaking
very fast.
It's quite hard to get a handle on why they're calling and even if you don't listen
to the words that
people are saying on a sales call you can kind of get a feeling it is a sales call
by the speed of of
the the person talking.
And that doesn't command authority.
And if you think about how people talk when they're looking to get a message across
an important message
across they speak slowly and they use use pauses and they speak with authority.
So when you phone the gatekeeper you're looking to speak to the decision maker is
very important that
you speak slowly and that you command authority.
So you know hello if you know the gatekeeper's name.
How are you today.
Could you put me through two.
And then the decision makers name please.
And then you go quiet.
You you work you pause and wait for that action to happen.
The third thing is repetition and this can be a difficult strategy to execute but
I've used this strategy
on many an occasion and it's not necessarily a strategy that I like to use but it
is effective and this
strategy puts the gatekeeper on a in an uncomfortable situation so much so that
they eventually put
you through to the decision maker.
Now how this works is you'll find up your last speak to the decision maker and the
gatekeeper will ask
you a couple of questions then I say well what's it about.
And you mentioned that it's about following up on a on a letter or written
communication that you've
made which is your call to action.
But then they may ask you again they may ask you for more details.
And this is when you repeat your statements are thank you yes.
Could you put me through to the decision makers name and they come back and may
challenge you again
you say look.
Thank you.
Could you put me through to the decision maker please.
So your repeating your message and your instruction to be put through to the
decision maker and providing
you communicate that message with authority.
So you're not rushing the gatekeeper is going to start to get uncomfortable and at
some point they're
just going to put you through because they're not sure who exactly you are why
you're calling and while
their job is to filter out the sales cause and the cause the decision maker doesn't
doesn't want what
they what they don't want to do is to filter out the important calls and there is a
chance that your
core could be important which it is.
But they don't necessarily realize that when they first speak with you but by
repetition they start
to get that message and are more likely to work to put you through getting through
to a decision maker
on the phone.
Navigating the gatekeeper is a game of trial and error.
There'll be certain things that you try certain things will work sometimes things
won't work sometimes.
Remember there's this thing called the certainty link it doesn't exists.
You know there's nothing that I can tell you here that will work.
Hundred percent of the time.
But some of these strategies I've outlined on this video and some of the approaches
to get past the
gatekeeper a very high probability strategies if you practice them and and use them
time and time again
so if at first it doesn't work.
Keep practicing polish the polish the approach and you'll start to see this this
work and remember your
mindset is not about selling your mindset should never be about selling you know.
This is the seemy like me trust me hire me thing this is about you.
Communicating a message in the form of your grab a message and call to action that
is helpful to the
target decision maker to the target employer.
And that's what you have to have in your in your mindset.
When you make these follow up calls.

Congratulations on completing step 3.

Congratulations on completing step 3 of the process section.
You now have all the tools to get in front of decision makers – professional
recruiters, target employers and 'marketmakers'.
You now know the grabber, message and call to action convention, which shapes all
effective communication. In addition, the 'jobseeker dichotomy', which is an
important framework in the Career Codex methodology to position your message to the
outside world – in the first instance it should never be about you; instead it's
always about them.
I also explained the 'tell me more' test, which shapes your message in face-to-face
communication not directly targeted at a decision maker. This is extremely
important when it comes to professional networking, which I'll cover in more detail
in step 6.
It's now time to move forward to step 4, where I'll show you how to handle any
interview situation with precision and confidence, to increase the probability of
you being hired or progressing to the next stage.
Before you leave this section, please take the time to craft your tell me more
statement and to take practical action to communicate an introductory message to
the professional recruiters, employers and marketmaker you've identified in your
spreadsheet. Capture everything in your 'thinking journal' and interrogate this to
uncover areas for performance improvement.

Transcript

Building a relationship with recruits is absolutely critical because unless you put
the time and energy
and effort into building that relationship then they're not going to get to know
you well enough to
be able to put you forward to their clients.
If you think about what recruiters do they're out there all the time doing business
development to find
opportunities potentially for you.
But you have to build a relationship with the recruiter so that they get to know
you.
They get to trust you.
So the when the opportunities come along they have a clear understanding as to
where you're headed what
skills that you bring and then you're at the top of their list for that short list.
One of the big things that recruiters do is business development activity.
And you know one of the things that people don't necessarily like doing is talking
to people they don't
know.
So recruits are very good at networking.
They're very good at targeting organizations picking up the phone having
conversations to explore opportunities
that might be right for you as a candidate and business development is a difficult
thing and recruiters
are very very good at doing that.
If you as a candidate can add value to the recruiter that's going to stand you in
very very good stead
to take on the recruiting short list.
So you know phoning up every couple of weeks to see if there's any opportunities
coming in is probably
not the best the best advice.
But if you have the opportunity to introduce somebody else that the recruiter might
want to talk to
is a potential candidate.
You have the opportunity to introduce the recruiter to an employer.
That's a great thing to do if you if you know a lot about your sector which you
probably will do and
you can introduce something to the recruiter.
You know piece of news and event that they might be interested in that kind of
stuff and having a conversation
about that kind of stuff can stand you in very very good stead

Welcome to step four of the process section where you learn how to take control of
any interview from
start to finish.
While the majority react to what they're asked through the five steps of
preparation you'll be empowered
to proactively position the experience you need to communicate to be the one who
gets hired.
She had to establish a higher baseline to gain the employer's attention from the
start and the power
of the catalyst bridge a 90 day plan you'll learn how to handle competency based
interviews.
Deal with reservations and follow up properly or share with you the Triple A which
directs everything
you don't say during the interview process along with a black hole an 8 mile
strategies.
By the end of this section you'll approach the interview stage of the recruitment
process with a renewed
confidence and a strategy for success.
The three stages, which drive interview success.
Having worked hard to find and open up opportunities it's important to capitalise
on these at interview.
There are three stages to any successful interview:
1) Preparation – how you prepare is the foundation for interview success.
2) Execution – the preparation work you've done empowers you to take proactive
control of the interview, which increases the probability of you being the one who
gets hired or progressing to the next stage.
3) Follow-up – the interview is not over just because you've left the interview
room. Following up keeps the conversation going and continues to influence the
employer's impression of you.
Before we get into the detail, in the next three videos I'll first dispel some of
the myths surrounding interviews, discuss the two keys to interview success and
possibly surprise you with how employers really make decisions.
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the videos.

Let's begin the interview section by talking a little bit about some of the myths
that people have or
some of the fears that people have when it comes to the interview interview
environment.
And let's dispel some of those myths now.
The first thing is that you should feel confident about being there because they
asked you.
You didn't force them to interview you.
They asked you.
However you made the approach whether it was in response to an advert or via a
recruiter or direct in
the hidden market.
They've agreed to spend time with you to understand more about your skills and
experience and whether
you might be right for their organization.
So something in your approach in your CV your resume may or something else has
sparked their interest
and there is a serious possibility that they will hire you.
They're not trying to catch you out either.
They want the interview to go well.
Nobody wants to spend an hour of their time in an environment that's uncomfortable
and the interviewer
wants the interview to go well which means that they want you to be able to work
display and to demonstrate
your skills and abilities in the interview environment that speaks into the
problems and challenges
they have in the organisation or the aspirations for their organisation moving
forward.
The interview a need your help and particularly at the senior end of the market.
If you think about a chief executive as CEO How often do they interview.
Well very rarely is is probably the answer.
Depending on the size of the organization of course but certainly in a midsize
business they may interview
once every 12 months once every two years.
So second interview stage you'll usually meet the senior decision maker if not
before and they may not
be experienced interviewing because they don't do it that often.
They may believe their experience to interviewing because they'd been on to
interview themselves in
the past but that's a completely different thing altogether.
So if you're in a position through your preparation and how you conduct the
interview that you can make
the interview go a lot smoother for the interviewer that helps them to make a
positive decision about
you and helps them to come out of the interview with a very very positive
impression of you.
It's your decision too.
This is not just about the interviewer making a decision on whether youre right for
their organization.
This is about fact finding to make sure this is the organization and position thats
right for you so
its your decision to and youre well within your rights at the end of the interview
to decide that this
is not a position that you want to pursue and its not an organization that you want
to work for.
And if you keep that in the back of your mind that puts you on an equal footing in
the interview environments
and then finally its two way traffic.
Many people I've spoken to over the years fear the interview environments because
they're not quite
sure what they're going to be asked.
They feel like it's going to be a barrage of questions and they've got to dodge
these questions in a
rapid fire answer back.
But that's not the case at all.
A good interview should be a conversation.
Nobody feels comfortable being being barraged with with a load of questions.
We feel more comfortable having conversations and an interview is two way traffic
which means you should
be asking questions and answering questions not just answering answering questions
and I'll show you
how to create a conversation as we move through this section particularly when we
come to the the black
hole principle.

Performing when that interview comes down to a virtuous circle of confidence and
preparation you have
to be confident in the interview environment.
And you can't just you college kid yourself that you're going to be confident
because that's what you
tell yourself you're going to do.
That doesn't doesn't work at all.
It's it has to be much more than that it has to be robust and it has to be built on
solid foundations
and you have to be confident in the interview environment because if you're not
confident in your skills
experience and abilities and being able to communicate that then the employer is
not going to have confidence
in your ability and will therefore probably divert and hire another candidate in in
place of you.
So confidence is all important but how do you get confidence.
Do you get confidence through preparation and you need to spend a lot of time
preparing ahead of interview
and want to show you the the stack.
I call it the staircase of preparation.
When we get set when we get through this section a little bit later on which are a
number of different
levels you can prepare that takes your preparation to a level that most people
never never get to and
that preparation breeds more confidence and bring more confidence and courage is
encourages you to prepare
harder.
And this is the virtuous circle in action.
And of course through your preparation you uncover a lot about the organisation you
uncover a lot about
the people who are going to meet.
And that gives you confidence in what message or what messages you should be
communicating at the interview.
And it gives you the power through communicating those messages to control the
interview from start
to finish.
So rather than going into an interview environment whereby your you're going to be
faced with a barrage
of questions that you're not quite sure what they are what the answers need to be
through preparation
you have the confidence not just to wait for questions but you have the confidence
to be able to deliver
a message that you know will resonate with the employer.
Finally in this video there is a phrase that I hear a lot in the recruitment world.
And I used to I used to use myself in the recruitment world which is that the best
prepared candidate
gets the job.
So it's not the best candidate that necessarily gets the job but it's the best
prepared candidate and
through your preparation the more preparation that you do you build your confidence
you're better able
to perform at interview and you better able to communicate communicate a message.
That means that at the end of the interview process the experience you've given the
interviewer and
the account that you've given of yourself means that you increase the probability
of you being the one
that's offered the position or at least progressing to the next stage.

So how do employers really make decisions in in an interview environment.

Is it what you say is it how you behave.
Is it.
Is it the way you shake their hand you look them in the eye what is it that really
influences how employers
make decisions.
And let me tell you a story before I before I give my opinion on this and this
story this story happened
over and over again when I ran my recriminate company because I would I would be
placing people in organizations
in all sectors and all sizes of organizations.
And what I would want I would get to the end of the recruitment process.
So we the second or third Rand interview and I was taking feedback from my client I
would ask them well
you know are you going to offer one of my one of my candidates.
And when they were in a position to offer one of my candidates I would always ask
why why that particular
candidate ahead of somebody else and a high proportion of the time not always but a
high proportion
of the time the employer would turn around to me and say well I'm not quite sure
that was just something
about them.
It just felt right.
They seemed to be the right person for this organization.
So they didn't they didn't outline specific skills or experience is the reason for
hiring.
It was something other than that he was kind of a feeling that they had.
And it was often very difficult for employers to pinpoint what that feeling was or
the source of that
feeling.
So in my opinion employers make decisions on on one thing and one thing only.
And that's on gut feel.
And what do I mean by gut feel.
There's a Interesting interesting picture on the slide there which kind of
illustrates the point.
But what do I really mean by gut feel.
Well an employer is seeing a lot of people potentially there may be saying you know
five six seven eight
nine 10 11 people for four interview maybe more maybe this is the second time that
they've attempted
to hire whatever they're seeing a number of people and something has got to set you
apart from those
people because if you think about it you probably all got very similar skills and
experience because
you wouldn't be in the interior interview environment if you didn't.
So it's got to be a lot more than that.
And really what gut feel is about is how you make the employee feel in the
interview environment and
your job as a candidate.
In the interview environment is not so much to focus on how you feel but at all
times is to focus on
how you're making the employer feel.
And I mentioned previously that employers are not often experience to interviewing
particularly when
you get to second and third round interview.
So the more that you can control the interview and position your experience that
speaks to the problems
or the aspirations of the organization.
And what's needed in that particular role the more you influence the employer's gut
feel about you and
the chances and the probability of them them hiring you ahead of somebody else.
So a gut feel is very very important it's all about how you play the game and how
you position yourself
in the interview environment.
And what I'm going to cover throughout the rest of the section is exactly how you
do that because remember
we're all emotional beings and we tend not to make judgments and decisions based on
logic.
We kid ourselves that we do.
But the reality is we make decisions based on emotions and we have an emotional
response to a situation.
And as an employer if I've just done an interview with somebody that made me feel
really comfortable.
They talked well they position their experience well even without knowing the
detail of what it is they've
done in the past and you know specifics of that and maybe not remembering that the
fact that you know
emotionally I felt comfortable in their presence.
It was it was a comfortable environment that triggers a response and that responses
that perhaps this
is somebody I should bring into my organization.
So it's not about logic.
It's about.
It's about emotion and your job as a candidate is to control the employer's gut
feel about you and to
influence the experience that they have with you in the interview environment in a
very positive way.
And as we move forward I want to show you exactly how to do that.

The staircase of preparation.

'It's not the best candidate that gets the job; it's the best prepared!'
In the next five videos I'll show you how to prepare for interview – something I
call the staircase of preparation.
While most people stop at the basement, your job is to ascend to the roof terrace.
What you discover along the way will help you stand out from your competition in
the interview environment and take control from the very start!
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the five videos.

In the next series of videos I want to show you exactly how to prepare for any
interview environment
that's going to put you were ahead of your competition in terms of the preparation
work that you do
and preparation is power.
And as I've already said the best prepared candidate often gets the job is a high
probability if youre
the best prepared candidate that youll be offered the position at the end of the
day.
So I call this the staircase of preparation and I call it the staircase of
preparation because the analogy
I use is is a house or an apartment building as you can see here and there were
various levels and we
start on the basement level this is this is level one.
This is the level that most people get right.
They get it right.
They do some of this stuff.
But do they actually progressed then onwards and upwards.
Quite often they dont.
And that's the mistake that many many people make so this is the first level.
I talk about some of the stuff that you need to do with the first level to set the
foundations for the
other preparation that youll go on then to do so at the very least you need to go
onto the company's
website.
The organization's website and a good place to look is on the news page or the blog
page just to see
whats current in that organization the news page is an important place where an
organization will tend
to communicate positive stories about the about the organization.
And these are things that you should know and it can be useful icebreaker having
read something on the
website thats current and is important to the organization and the decision maker
within when now when
you actually arrive at the interview and environments when youre ripe for
interview.
So the website is important.
Look at other things on the website.
You know what messages are coming through other particular phrases or language that
the organization
is communicating.
Whats their mission statement.
Do you know that you need to find that out.
What are their values.
All of the stuff that you do expect to see on the website you need to know and you
need to have an understanding
of how social media is becoming increasingly important.
And I describe social media as the pulse of an organization because if you think
about the website sometimes
in bigger organizations it can take longer to get various things updated news
stories posted but social
media is current and social media is instantaneous.
So we look at the social media channels that the organization is on and a good clue
is a good clue to
find out which channels they are on is to were to go to the website and see which
which social media
channels their their outbound linking to have a look at what it says on their
Twitter feed.
Delegating company page have a look at what the decision makers are talking about
in particular if they're
communicating directly through these mediums and make notes make copious notes and
try to cover themes
and themes as to what you know what the challenges are in the organization what the
opportunities are
for the organization because these are the things that you're going to want to
speak into at an interview.
So that's the organization at the basement level.
But you also have to know your own CV your résumé and your experience.
And if this is for a position that's that's been advertised to there will be a job
specification no
doubt.
If it's an opportunity that you've uncovered in the hidden market that possibly
isn't.
But you know if there is a job specification it's a useful exercise to get a hold
of that to read it
three times to place it face down to read your CV three or four times to then place
that face down and
then really to think about what are the four or five key messages or key
requirements of the job specification.
Write that down on the left hand side of a piece of A4 paper and then on the right
hand side you position
some of your achievements that speak into those requirements on the job
specification.
And I always advise my candidates to do this.
It was a very useful technique because it's very easy to get bogged down in a job
specification and
get bogged down in the detail and in the interview environment.
Having done this exercise there is a visual imprint in your head that piece of
paper with five things
on the left hand side and five things on the right hand side which are achievements
that speak into
the requirements of the role.
And this was a very useful technique that allowed people sometimes in the interview
environment if their
mind went blank to draw on the relevant achievements that the employer was looking
to hear.
So that's the basement level website social media channels for the organization and
really making sure
that you understand your CV your résumé your experience your skills and abilities
and how they speak
into the requirements of the role.

Many people will have already stopped in their preparation at the basement level
but now you've ascended
to the first floor and the first floor.
There are a number of things that you need to do to increase the level of your
preparation and understanding
of the organization and also the people that you're going to meet at the interview.
And just before I move on to talk about those what what you should be getting a
sense of now is the
fact that there is a lot of preparation to do and what that means is you should
never accept any interview
on a moment's notice.
You need time to prepare particularly when you advance to the higher levels.
There's more in-depth work to be done which is important work that really sets you
apart from your competition.
So you know ideally you need four or five days in advance of going to an interview
to do some preparation
work.
And obviously that depends on the time you have to invest in that preparation work
and whether you're
currently in a position or not but you've got to allow yourself enough time to do
the preparation properly.
So the first thing to do on the first floor is to Google the organization Google
the company name and
see what pops up because if they're in the news that's likely to pop up if it's
something current that's
not yet made it to their website or their social media channels.
You'll probably find it through a Google search.
And the other important thing about a Google search is you're going to find
negative stuff potentially
stuff that other people are saying that maybe may not be as positive or may not be
the message the company
wants communicated about them.
And it's important that you know that because that may allow you to position an
important question in
the interview environment that shows that you've uncovered this not to be negative
about it but just
to question it.
And sometimes having the more difficult conversations or positioning the more
difficult questions can
really stand you in a good light with the with the employer.
What it's all about Google alerts you can you can Google Google alerts and you can
set up an alert for
a particular company name a particular search terms which means that if that
organization is in the
news you'll get an email directly into your inbox that will attach the article that
the companies in
the news for.
So Google Alerts are really really useful.
And I talked I talked before about the positioning content I'm going to talk more
about that this seems
like me trust me Hymie convention when we get to the social media step but in
producing content and
perhaps specifically mentioning the organization that you're interested in now in
talking to if they
have Google alerts set they're potentially going to see your article as well.
And that's one way to reach decision makers which is slightly different to the way
other people are
reaching decision makers.
But I digress there slightly but in terms of the interview environment it's Google
alerts so that you
know if you got an interview coming up you set a Google alert and it tells you that
the it tells you
what's going on with that organization.
If there's something in the public domain on the Internet that will pop up directly
in your inbox.
The next thing is company information.
So think about think about getting a hold of the company accounts in the U.K. you
can do that through
companies house in in your country if you're in a different country.
There will be a way for you to do that even if it's not for a finance position.
It's important to know the numbers behind the organization and the report in the
set of accounts will
tell you about past performance.
We'll also tell you a little bit although it's a historic document about the
trajectory of the organization
moving moving forward company literature really important and this can be used as
an icebreaker when
you get to the interview environments.
On the day of the interview.
So my suggestion here is that you phone the organisation you get put through to the
marketing department
and you ask the marketing department to send out some company literature to you.
You can tell them that your on interview that message may get back give your name.
Tell them the message may get back to the decision maker that youre preparing
properly and ask them
to send you some literature in the post that you can peruse as part of your
preparation strategy and
you can then use that on the day of the interview as an icebreaker.
When you when you arrive at the organization's premises and then you need to look
at the interviewers
linked in profile if theres more than one interview and then you look at all of the
interviewers profile
don't connect at this stage because you've not met but look at the profile.
Look at what they're saying in their status updates have they have they written a
publish post.
What is that saying.
What does that tell you about the problems or aspirations that they have the things
that they're currently
thinking about the things that are keeping them awake at night.
What does it tell you about what's important to them.
And again make copious notes.
Looking at the LinkedIn profile has another merits because it shows.
The interviewer ahead of time that you've looked at their profile it shows the
interviewer that you're
preparing properly and what they may do as well is look back at your linked in
profile.
So if all they've seen to date is a cvo regime.
What they may do now.
Because you've invited them to do it by looking at their profile is look back at
your profile.
So if you're linked in profile speaks speaks the language that they're going to be
listening to has
resonance with what they're looking to achieve.
Then you have an extra opportunity to communicate a little bit of yourself before
you get into the interview

At the second floor level things really start to get interesting.

And one of the first things that you need to do is to look at market information.
So it's a lot wider than the organization.
Some people do this at the basement but not usually as well as they should do.
But market information really is understanding the sector that the organization
that you're interviewing
with operates in and there are various websites various industry publications that
you can consult and
Google is a great great starting point.
And of course if you're moving with industry sector you probably know what these
what these publications
are what the websites are and where to access this information information if
you're making a transition
to a new sector that can be a little bit more difficult.
And this is where Google comes in to help you.
There's various websites that you can find online by doing some digging that will
give you an overview
as to market conditions.
And it's important you know that because at a senior level in an organization it's
not just about the
organization itself it's how our organization interacts with the with the rest of
the world.
And that leads onto another point it's very important to understand the news to to
read a book to read
a newspaper to know what's going on currently because that could be a topic of
conversation that crops
up as crops up as an icebreaker.
It's important to be worldly wise know what's current know what the issues are in
the world because
that again particularly if it's an international business sets the landscape that
that business or organisation
will operate in contacts in common is when you look at somebody who is Linked In
profile so you look
at the interview as linked in profile and it will identify people that you have in
common.
So these are people that you're both connected to.
Now if I'm on interview and I have a contact in common with the person who was
interviewing me what
I need to do is to qualify that relationship.
I would never use that as an ice breaker at the interview because I don't know what
the relationship
is.
And many people are connected to people on linked in that they don't really know or
talk more about
that in the end the next step.
The process section but only to qualify what that what that relationship looks like
because if I'm going
to use it I need to know that it's robust and it's going to add value to my
strategy to approach the
interview.
So I'd look on the interview as linked in profile and identify the contact in
common.
If it's somebody I know reasonably well what I would do is phone up that contact
and say look I'm an
interview with with this organization and it's confidential.
I would always caveat that because sometimes recruitment process processes
particularly at the senior
end of the market can be very confidential and we wouldn't want that getting out.
That's why caveat that and say Look you seem to be connected to this decision maker
this interviewer
on linked in how how close is your relationship is there anything you can tell me.
Could we have a conversation and sometimes you can get some really useful insight
on the individual
that you're going to meet.
But remember it's insight that has been filtered by your contacts in common so is
their perception perception
as we know is not always reality but you can get some useful insights.
And if their relationship is particularly good what that allows you to do is to use
the fact that you
have a contact in common as an icebreaker when you arrive at the interview you know
you can say you
were talking to such as us the other day I understand you know one another but you
only do that if the
relationship is robust it's a it's a strong relationship and it's going to help you
in that in the interview
environment.

Preparation on the third floor can require quite a bit of time because this is
where you experience
the organization wherever possible.
And I'll give you a couple of examples about how you can do that and how you can
think about doing that
even when it's not immediately obvious in a moment but basically experience in the
organization means
that you spend some time in the business wherever possible.
And a really easy example is if if an organization is a retail business they will
have outlets and going
down to the one of the retail outlets.
Before the interview having a chat with a manager getting the manager's name giving
them your name and
asking about the products on display how they're selling what the relationship is
like with head office
gives you some really nuts and bolts stuff to talk about at the interview and it
shows that you've gone
the extra mile in preparation.
Hotel business.
Exactly the same if it's in the leisure sector.
You can go to a hotel or a leisure outlet and experience the business the
organization you want to talk
to the manager because you want to get the manager's name when you want to get some
really detailed
insight and you let them know that you're on interview and you want to get an
insight as to what the
business is really all about on the ground on the ground level at the customer
facing level and in getting
the getting the manager's name you can communicate that at at the interview.
It shows that you have actually been to speak to somebody and in giving them your
name there is a chance
that the fact that you've done that ahead of time will get to the interviewer which
paints you in a
very very positive light when it comes to the interview day.
So make copious notes really delve deep into the business find out as much as you
can and and remember
it and it will start to craft some of the positioning that you're going to do in
the interview environment.
So let me let me give you a couple of examples specific examples as to where
experience the business
has has paid off and work.
So the first example I'll give you is my own example.
Not technically not technically for an interview but in the recruitment space I
would often have to
go and pitch against my competitors to win the business in what's called a beauty
parade.
Now beauty parade is very similar to an interviewer environments.
They're going to pick me or somebody else.
And I had an opportunity to pitch for a piece of business with an organization that
produced toys and
ahead of my face to face meeting with with their chief executive.
What I did is I went to a retail outlet and it wasn't their retail outlet but their
product was in the
retail outlet and it was a business called Toys R Us big big toy store here in the
U.K. you may be familiar
with it.
And I went and spoke to the manager.
We exchanged names.
I had a look at the product on display.
I took a photo of the display.
I asked how it was selling.
I even bought some products and bought it for my kids to play with to see what
their reaction to the
toys were.
And when I went to the meeting I told the the chief executive that I'd done this
and it really changed
the dynamic of our conversation.
He didn't realize he had he had stock in this particular outlet so I showed him the
photograph we discussed.
We discussed some of the feedback that I've got.
I even produce some of the toys that I'd given to the kids and I ended up winning
that business.
And this in part was due to me establishing a higher baseline which I'll talk to
you about which is
how you actually run the interview process and how you start the interview process
based on the preparation
work that you've done and that's coming up in a future a future video.
Another example here unless offie obvious example is when US as a recruiter I sent
one of my candidates
on an interview with an airline now quite difficult to experience a flight that's
going to take some
time there's going to be some expense.
But you know if you really want the role maybe that's what you think about doing.
But what I got her to do was to go on to go onto the online booking system go
through the booking system
right up until the end where you would you would check out purchase your ticket and
to make some notes
about that experience about that customer journey.
And she talked about this at her interview and it really changes the dynamic of of
her interview and
really helped her stand out against her competition and the feedback I had for her
was absolutely excellent
because of that and the employer mentioned it specifically that they were impressed
by the fact that
she'd actually gone out of her way to try and experience the business.
So even if it's not obvious in your sector it's not obvious given the employer that
you're going to
meet.
Try and think outside of the box and think about is there a way I can experience
the business in some
way shape or form.
Because there probably is.
At the third floor level is to really understand the customers and the suppliers.
The supply chain of the organization that you're interviewing with because we live
in a connected world
an organization needs customers and an organization generally needs suppliers for
raw materials or whatever
else depends what they're doing.
So getting a real understanding of customers and suppliers and researching those
organizations as well
as the organization that youre on interview with can give you an additional insight
as to some of the
some of the things you perhaps should be talking about at an interview and
positioning the fact that
you have done that if you know who the key customers are you know who the key
suppliers are.
It can give you some really interesting things to talk about in some really
interesting questions that
you can pose in the interview environment.

You've now reached the roof terrace and this is where you really bring your
research your high-level
research to a close.
And the roof terrace level the majority of your competition what I've got here they
perhaps won't know
what to do to get there.
And having ascended to the roof terrace you'll have a wealth of wealth of knowledge
about the organization
and the individual that you're going to meet that will really help stand you in
good stead in the interview
environment and the roof terrace level.
You've got to know the summary so you'll have written notes you'll have done this
research the previous
levels.
Now it's time to really try and digest and summarize those those notes to work to
find out what it is
it tells you at a higher level about the organization and what it tells you about a
higher at a higher
level about the individual that you're meeting.
You know I've talked to I've talked talked before in the program about tapping into
the problems and
the challenges both your organization and the individual within that organization
and also into the
aspirations.
It's important that you know what's going on in that organization what's important
and what's important
to the individual within the organization so you wouldn't know the summary you got
to really tap in
and analyse what you've what you research to identify what those things may be and
knowing this summary.
So knowing exactly what it is you've done to prepare is also important when it
comes to the day the
interview and really interview and taking control of the interview from start to
finish and knowing
what you've done as opposed to the detail of what you've done to prepare is how you
establish what I
call a higher baseline and get on to that to that shortly.
The other thing you do at the roof terrace level is you prepare a 90 day plan and a
90 day plan showcases
based on your research and based on your understanding understanding of the
organization what you would
do in the first 90 days of employment.
And there's one principle reason that you do this.
It allows you to take control of the interview position your experience.
And when I've when I've spoken to employers before and taking briefs from employers
one of the things
they've they've told me on a regular basis is they want somebody to hit the ground
running.
And that's what it that's exactly what a 90 day plan does.
It demonstrates to an employer that you've you've thought about what it is youre
going to do in the
first 90 days of employment and it allows you to shape and influence the interview
and it allows you
to add to it as the employer rather to see you not just applying for the role but
it allows the employer
to see you actually visualize you actually doing the role and that's the important
distinction.
I'm not gonna get too much into the detail of a 90 day plan here.
I've got a separate video on that coming up where are actually pull up a template
for a 90 day plan
and show you exactly how to put one together.

The three documents you need to prepare in advance of any interview.

There are three documents you need to prepare ahead of any interview.
I've mentioned one already, namely the 90-day plan, but in addition there's the
catalyst and bridge.
1) The catalyst – is the reason you want ‘this’ job and not ‘a’ job, which is a
hugely important distinction. What is it that you’ve discovered about the
organisation? What excites you about the position on offer? Why ‘this’ position and
not others?
2) The bridge – once you’ve discovered your catalyst you then need to back up your
enthusiasm for the role with skills and experience.
3) The 90-day plan – this document is the product of the catalyst, the bridge and
all of the research you’ve done as part of the five-stage preparation process.
While I’m never one for paper pushing – the above documents have to be committed to
paper.
Committing something to paper (or a Word document) gives it permanence and this
very action reinforces the content in your mind. Depending on how you learn and
ultimately remember, it can be a very helpful process too.
Having a physical expression of your research in the form of your catalyst, bridge
and 90-day plan firmly etches their importance and messaging in your brain.
If you're ready, please move forward and watch the three videos.

The first document you need to prepare ahead of any interview is something I call
the catalyst.
And this is really a document that that details what sparked your interest in the
organization and the
position that youre interviewing for because an employer wants to know why this job
not just a job they
want to know why their job is special why their organization is special.
And youve got to think about what struck a chord with you through your research.
If this is your second interview what struck a chord with you at your first
interview.
What what are you passionate about.
What have you seen.
What have you found out that has ignited your passion for the organization and what
they stand for what
excites you.
Its these kind of questions you need to ask yourself in coming up with your your
catalist.
Now an employer wants to know why this position not just a position and an employer
if they feel that
this is just one of many that youre considering may or may get turned off and
theyll of course think
that if they offer you the position theres a good chance that you may actually turn
it down and take
another offer elsewhere because an employee if they make an offer.
Ideally they want to be pretty much guaranteed or as closely guaranteed as possible
that the candidate
will will accept the position because they will talk about this in the offering
negotiation step which
is coming up in the process section we'll talk about this that that employers
really don't like making
offers and having those offers turned down so where sometimes an employer will
choose one candidate
over another because the candidate that they choose is really convince them.
All things being equal that they really really really want this position not just a
position.
Now one employer will probably expect you to be on interview elsewhere.
Good candidates always have multiple interviews and it will come as no surprise
probably to the employer
that you are an interview elsewhere.
But there is a big distinction here.
And while the employer may know that your on interview elsewhere which I guess is
confirmation of the
factors as to why they decided to interview you because you were a good candidate.
What they want to hear is that this is the position you want.
Its their position you want.
Its not just a position so theyre less concerned about what those other
opportunities are.
What you need to communicate to them in the interview while you're in their company
in their interview
environment is that this is the position you want.
Is their position you want ahead of any other position.

Having identified your Catalyst which is why you want this position not just a
position.
It's now time to back your enthusiasm and passion up with with your experience.
And I've alluded to this already in previous videos the fact that you need to think
about the challenges
and opportunities that face the organization and the decision make it within that
organization.
What is it that is keeping the decision maker awake at night either things that
worried about or things
they're aspiring to.
And now through the research that you've done you should have a better clue as to
what those things
are.
And the bridge really takes those things four or five things key things.
And you document them and then you link some of your specific experience ideally in
the form of achievements
to those challenges or opportunities.
What this does it's a visual representation which means that when were in the
interview environment
you got deeper with your research you've got deep.
You've gone deeper with your understanding of the organisation and you can draw on
your achievements
the most relevant achievements you have to speak into those challenges or
opportunities because that
will gain resonance with the employer and that will mean that you increase the
probability of you being
the one who gets hired or at least progresses to the next interview stage.

Having identified your Catalyst which is why you want this position not just a
position.
It's now time to back your enthusiasm and passion up with with your experience.
And I've alluded to this already in previous videos the fact that you need to think
about the challenges
and opportunities that face the organization and the decision make it within that
organization.
What is it that is keeping the decision maker awake at night either things that
worried about or things
they're aspiring to.
And now through the research that you've done you should have a better clue as to
what those things
are.
And the bridge really takes those things four or five things key things.
And you document them and then you link some of your specific experience ideally in
the form of achievements
to those challenges or opportunities.
What this does it's a visual representation which means that when were in the
interview environment
you got deeper with your research you've got deep.
You've gone deeper with your understanding of the organisation and you can draw on
your achievements
the most relevant achievements you have to speak into those challenges or
opportunities because that
will gain resonance with the employer and that will mean that you increase the
probability of you being
the one who gets hired or at least progresses to the next interview stage.

The third documents you need to prepare ahead of any interview is the 90 day plan
and I've already mentioned
this when it came to the staircase of preparation at the roof terrace level.
It's really the culmination of all of the research that you've done packaged into a
document that you
can either discuss at interview or leave with the interviewer after the interview
and a 90 day plan
is really a really a document that based on your research summarizes what you would
do in the first
90 days of employment.
And the reason it's so important is because employers are generally risk averse and
employers want to
hire somebody into their organizations that can hit the ground running.
And I heard this phrase often as a professional recruiter and in taking a
recruitment brief quite often
before the employer would get into the nitty gritty of this specific skills and
experience they were
looking to bring in.
They would tell me that absolutely they wanted somebody to hit the ground running
and the 90 day plan
is a way that you can demonstrate yourself doing the role not just applying for the
role.
And that's very very important.
Now the 90 day plan is generally something you would pitch at second interview or
third interview stage
it's normally not something you would do a first round interview because a first
round interview your
You've got that you've done your research already of course but you're still in
fact finding mode.
And in fact finding Mona mode at first interview what you glean from the first
interview you can then
build into your 90 day plan which you then pitch present at a second interview or
third interview stage
and really the 90 day plan should be put in front of the most senior decision maker
that you're going
to meet as part of your recruitment process part of your interview interview
process.
So how do you position a 90 day planet interview.
Well of course the 90 day plan as you now know is a written documentation of the
things you would do
in the first 90 days of employment and at the interview the start of the interview
when when you're
establishing your higher baseline I'll come onto that shortly.
You let the employer know that you prepared a 90 day plan and you offer to share.
You don't force feed you offer to share and if the employer invites you to share
the 90 day plan and
discuss the 90 day plan there and then that's one of the ways you take control of
the interview because
if the employer is talking to you about your 90 day plan what they're doing is
visualizing you in the
role not just applying for it so those you know the other candidates in the process
against you who
are interviewing against you are probably having their their interviews run by you
know by comparison
to their CV and their skills and experience which is a historic document with a 90
day plan.
What you're doing is presenting your experience forward looking by applying your
experience in the first
90 days of employments So you're not just telling an employer what you've done your
demonstrating your
experience in their business you're applying your experience to their business in
the first 90 days
of employment.
Now there's a big caveat with a 90 day plan and it's important you put this
disclaimer in because you
are looking at this organization from the outside looking in.
If you're pitching this second or third interview which you should be you'll have
had a first interview
but it's not the same as working for the organizations.
So the caveat is always this.
This is my best guess or my best idea as to what I would do in the first 90 days of
employment from
the outside looking in.
But of course having got into the business and understanding more about the
organization having having
been offered and accepted the position.
Of course this may change.
So that's the caveat that's the disclaimer that you need to accompany your 90 day
plan because you can't
do everything from your research and there's a big difference between being in the
organization working
with the organization and the knowledge that gives you and the research you do from
an external perspective.
So a 90 day plan that really speaks into an employer's gut feel about you and I
talked about gut feel
at the start of this start of this step in the process section and as you now know
employers make quite
a high proportion of their decisions on gut feel.
They probably justify with logic but ultimately who they decide to bring into their
organization is
is greatly influenced by their gut feel of you and the interview process that you
run.
So in presenting a 90 day plan and offering to share this at the interview the
employer may think well
this is great.
Let's talk about the 90 day plan now because it takes the pressure off them in
interviewing you particularly
if they're not used to interviewing so they may have had a list of standard
questions that they were
going to ask you.
But if you offer to share your 90 day plan that's potentially going to be more
interesting more relevant
and it's how you take control of the interview and it's how you make the interview
interview much.
Easier for the interviewer because the conversation is is at a higher level.
It's not the interviewer asking questions you're having a conversation about what
you would do in the
first 90 days of employment and the other thing the other reason that 90 day plan
is so important is
because it really does give an employee a confidence confidence that you thought
about what it is you're
getting into applying for a position is very different to having accepted the
position.
Starting in that position.
And the more you can convince an employee that you've really thought about what
this role is all about
and what you bring to the table and what you would be doing in that role.
The more confidence that they're going to have in your ability to settle in to work
to get the job done
to add value from day one and the more likely they are to offer you the position
ahead of somebody else.
So that's the 90 day plan.
What I'm going to do now is is share a template with you and just walk you through
that template so
you can then go and produce your 90 day plan with the template you'll find in it
that you'll find in
the platform.
So on screen you can see a 90 day plan templates and there's no there's no right or
wrong way to produce
a 90 day plan.
It needs to be short.
It needs to be concise and it needs to speak to the employer.
Those are the main things.
But you can craft this as you will.
This is just an idea as to how you might produce a 90 day plan that you either
communicate at the interview
and talk through at the interview or you can leave with the employer.
The interviewer at the end.
So at the top what you can see is an executive summary.
So work is a load of research.
You've you've ascended the staircase in preparation.
What are your key findings what are the key priorities that you will have in now in
the first 90 days
of employment so it can be two or three things.
You then have the caveats or disclaimer I talked about this already says this is
based on you looking
from the outside in.
But of course once youre in the organization this could be subject to to change.
You then talk about the research that youve done so this is where you document not
necessarily what
you know but the research that youve done to prepare for the interview and this
sends a very powerful
message to the employer that youre serious about the position because of all the
research that youve
done so well you know things like experiencing the the business the Internet
research that youve done
and all of that good stuff all goes down here.
Its a record of how you've prepared for the interview and that will speak volumes
to the employer in
terms of your interest and their appetite for this for this position and for
working for their organization.
And then you have the planned activity.
So what you plan to do in month one where you plan to do a month to what you plan
to do in month three
and you describe the activity briefly you assign a priority here one to three.
In my example three is the highest priority.
How are you going to measure it.
So how are you going to know if you've you've achieved that and what timescale is
it.
Is it some it's going to take you a week two weeks.
You may start this in month one but is it going to take six months to deliver on.
So that's where you put that there and you do this for a month one month to a month
three and you you
type this up.
You take this with you to the interview and you discuss it at the interview or you
leave it with the
the interviewer at the end and you'll find a template in the platform that you can
download to produce
your 90 day plan.

How to handle the interview.

You now know how to prepare for any forthcoming interview – preparation that the
majority will never do!
It's now time to take what you've learned and position it correctly in the
interview environment to proactively take control of the interview from start to
finish.
In the next series of videos I'll walk you through some of the strategies to ensure
the interview runs as smoothly as possible, and that you give the interviewer an
extremely positive experience of you and all you have to offer – your aim is to
influence their gut feel!
I'll explain why success at interview is much more than what you say and how to
establish a higher baseline.
I then discuss two important strategies to create a conversation (instead of facing
a barrage of questions), how to handle reservations and fill in any gaps before you
leave.
I also explain how to ask great questions and why you should always ask for
feedback.
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the videos.

While a lot of the stuff that I've spoken about so far has been about what you say
at an interview and
what you would talk about an interview in terms of your skills and experience and
messaging speaking
into the problems and aspirations of the employer the triple of influence is about
something else altogether.
And the tripling of influence is about what you don't say.
So this is the year the messages you communicate by your body language how you
dress how you carry yourself.
It's it's all the stuff that you dont say that is is very important in
communicating a message.
And it's a message that we as human beings pick up on.
In fact first impressions are a lot to do with the stuff that we dont say rather
than what we do say.
So the triple play of influence is really a sense check to make sure you are
considering these three
things ahead of any interview.
So the first day's authority and you have to convey a level of authority that sits
well with the role
that youre in the process for and authorities about how you carry yourself.
And that really has two elements.
Its the clothes that you wear your personal grooming.
What message did they send about you and your seniority level Europe your level of
experience and how
you speak.
And in my experience the more senior the individual the more experience the
individual tend to be --
tend to speak slower.
If you look at some of the senior business figures out there in the world theyre
very measured in how
they speak.
They speak slowly.
They they use the power of the poor so they paused for breath to emphasize a point
and that conveys
a certain level of authority.
So really what you have to do with your authority here is you have to dress and
convey authority appropriate
for the role that you were in the interview process for not where you come from but
where youre headed.
And thats an important distinction now Amy ability is the antidote to authority
because while authority
conveys power and can sometimes be a little harsh or you know it yeah it can be a
little harsh it perhaps
needs to be softened.
And this is where amiability comes into play.
Now in an interview environment it can be very stressful for some people hopefully
not for you now as
you go through this career carrick's methodology you'd be well prepared for
interview and know how to
execute an interview properly but you've got to soften your authority with
amiability and that really
means two things.
The first thing is remember to smile enjoy the interview so smile a smile send such
a positive message.
And you know you can't smile too much you know a smile says I'm enjoying this.
I'm relaxed in this.
I'm comfortable in this environment.
This is where I want to be sweeping if you don't feel like smiling at the
interview.
Consciously forcing yourself to smile will do two things it will convey an
important message to the
interviewer and also it will make you feel a lot better too because the very act of
smiling can carry
lacks you and improve how you feel about that situation as it unfolds before you.
The second element of amiability is to inject some of your personality.
This is not a this is not a robotic exercise.
The interviewer does not want to interview a robot.
You got to make a few mistakes probably you're not gonna say everything perfectly
and you know inject
some personality.
Share a joke if it's appropriate.
Inject some humour tell some stories and you know communicate on a personal level.
Although one interview environments it has to be serious of course it's going to be
serious.
You can inject some personality and we communicate as people with our
personalities.
That's why we like some people and we we kind of gravitate towards them and maybe
we don't gravitate
towards other kinds of people.
It's all down to their personality.
So Amy abilities the antidote to authority is something that you need to factor
into what you don't
say at an interview.
And then finally attention so attention so important.
And as you go through every day course of your life you probably noticed this that
people just don't
pay attention anymore.
And I talked about this in the earlier section psychology.
I said detached from the past and forget the future.
And it's exactly the same way into the interview environment.
You've got to be in the moment.
So whatever happened this morning whatever happened on the way to the interview
forget it.
What the outcome of the interview is forget it's the only thing you can control is
the moment that youre
in.
And being mindful in that moment because if you allow your mind to wander to things
that happened earlier
or things that may or may not happen you will lose you lose your attention and the
employer will sense
that the interview will sense that and this is about personal connection its about
being in the moment
and it's important that you are mindful and are in that moment with.
With the employer attention is about eye contact.
So you know look the employer and the ice dont you know don't stare but don't be
afraid to give eye
contact particularly when you're making them making an important point.
If you make an important point but look away.
That sends a message about the point that you're making.
So when you make an important point it's important to look the employer in the eye
and be in the moment
with.
With that with that employer with the interview.
And I want to talk about.
I want to talk about group interviews and and panel interviews coming up.
It's very important that you engage people with eye contact because that's how we
that's how we gain
a personal connection.
And the last point on on attention is that you really have got to consciously
listen you've got to listen
to what the employers are saying to you what the interview is saying to you the
questions that they're
asking because if you fail to listen you're gonna miss the miss the question you
may answer the wrong
question.
You may misinterpret what was a very clear statement and the temptation in these
situations and in any
communication is that we're thinking too much about what we're going to respond
with rather than being
active in the moment.
In listening to what the person saying to us so listen to the interviewer pause for
reflection and then
give your answer.
But don't jumble the two because again the interviewer will tell and the
interviewer might just catch
you out.
And remember I talked about gut feel at the start of this step and so that gut feel
was one of the most
important decision factors that employers use to make a decision on who to hire and
who not to hire.
And the tripling of influence or be it is is about what you dont say to a certain
extent.
It can be even more important than what you do say based on how we how we judge
people and how we interpret
what you know how we interpret people in our presence.
So the tripling of influence is something you need to invest some time in to think
about to practice
so that it is so so that it becomes a habit.
And if you get it right you create an environment that the employer the interviewer
feels comfortable
in.
And if you make the interview feel comfortable there is a higher probability chance
that you will be
the one that gets hired or at least progressing to the next stage.

So now you're at the interview and you've arrived at the interview and the
employers arrive to work
to meet you.
And how do you break the ice because you need to break the ice because breaking the
ice makes the interviewer
feel comfortable and you know the importance of gut feel and influencing the
experience the employer
has in your company and breaking the ice or the ice breaker is the starting point
that sets the scene
for everything that you do from.
From there on in so you got to make sure it's an icebreaker and not an iceberg.
And I spoke before about contacts in common.
If you've identified a contact in common you've reasearch that relationship and you
fill from the conversation
you've had from a contact in common that that's going to help you in the interview
environment.
Then this is the time that you would make mention and you would mention the fact
that you'd spoken to
somebody that the interviewer knows and you would embark on a conversation and if
you think about think
about what we do in the real world outside of the interview environment that's how
we build rapport.
One of the ways we build rapport you know if we know somebody in common that's a
good clue that actually
we may get on as well so were contacts in common very very good way to break the
ice providing you've
done the research on the on the contacting comment to make sure it's a valid
relationship and a relationship
that's going to help you in your endeavour.
You don't want an iceberg.
Other things you can do is.
Well other things you can do are you can use some of the research that you've done.
So you have researched the organization I mentioned that you should you should get
company literature.
So this is where you ring the marketing department or the organization beforehand
and get some company
literature.
What you do when you arrive at the interview to break the ice you take this company
literature with
you you've got to read it you will annotate it so you'll you'll perhaps highlight
it or use and post
it notes and you have it under your arm.
When you when you arrive and you can use that as an icebreaker you can use
something you may see in
the reception area.
You know there's a there's a picture or there's something there that you've had a
chance have a look
at and you can make a comment on you can ask a question on asking a question is a
great way to break
the ice because people like to talk you'll make the interviewer feel comfortable
and it gets the conversation
to a good start from from the off the things not to do.
When it comes to breaking the ice don't talk about the weather or your journey in.
I've I've seen this so many times and it really adds no value to the conversation.
And it's kind of the conversation probably other people will be having.
So you're looking to do from the outset is to really elevate the level of your
conversation and to take
that to a higher level from the off because that will set the scene for the rest of
the interview.

Establishing a higher baseline is hugely important.

It's one of the most important things you do in the interview environment a really
sets the scene for
everything that follows and is a key determinants of whether you are offered the
position after the
interview or whether at the very least you progressed to the next stage.
And in my experience as a professional recruiter I would often have candidates come
back from interviews
with clients and they would tell me that the interviewer talked too much so if it
was an hour long interview
the interviewer talked for 40 minutes of that and told Tom I can operate a lot of
stuff they already
knew.
And then there was only 20 minutes for my candidate to pitch their experience and
talk about their experience
in relation to what they felt was required in the role and what the employer was
looking for.
Now whose whose fault would that was that.
Well you now know from the job so good I coater me that it's about personal
responsibility so if that
happens to you then it's down to you because you control everything that does or
doesn't happen to you
in the in the job market.
And that's you know in the job market and as part of your process in pursuing your
next opportunity
so that's the first part of the job seeker dichotomy.
So we have to do with the higher baseline as you take control of the interview
situation from the start
and what you do is you let the employer know the research that you've done.
You tell the interviewer I've done this research because in telling them that
you've done the research
you tell them that you have a certain level of knowledge.
They may be making an assumption that you don't know much about their organisation
because people don't
generally prepare as well as they should do.
And your telling them that actually you have prepared and you do know a lot about
their organisation
and as a result they can have a higher level conversation with you.
And remember it's about gut feel.
It's about making the employer the interviewer feel comfortable and in in telling
the interviewer that
you've established this higher baseline with the research that you've done.
They may feel more relaxed about having a high level conversation with you and at
the end of the interview
they're going to remember that conversation because you talked about more important
stuff that was at
the basic detail it was probably down to her down to talking about the bigger
issues and the bigger
things that the interviewer wanted to talk about but perhaps hadn't planned to talk
about because they've
not assumed you'd done at that level of research.
The higher baseline is also where you where you present the 90 day plan and second
or third interview
stage this is the culmination of your research.
You let the interviewer know that you've thought about what you would do in the
first 90 days and you
offered to share that at the outset of the interview.
Again that that tells the interviewer that you've done your research and you're
prepared for that interview.
So to establish the higher baseline you can start with a statement very much like
this.
Thank you for inviting me in for an interview today.
Just to let you know before we start I've done extensive research on your business
including reading
your company brochure.
Visiting an outlet or similar.
Depending on how you experience the business and also preparing a 90 day plan which
I'll be very happy
to share with you now or later.
And that's it that establishes the higher baseline.
So what you're doing here and this is an important distinction you're not telling
the interviewer everything
you know because they know that already it's their it's their organization it's
their business not yours.
But what you're doing.
The distinction here is your telling them all of the stuff you've done to research.
So you're telling them about the research that you've done not bombarding that
bombarding them with
everything that that you know.
So it's a short statement that if you if you use at the start of an interview
really sets the scene
for what happens there on in takes the conversation to a higher level.
At the end of the interview the employer the interviewer has generally had a better
experience.
You've had a higher level conversation that other candidates in competition for
that position are probably
not had and that's memorable and that gets attention and it's one of the most
important things in the
career Codex methodology really to get your head around.
And from talking to my one to one coaching clients some of them may find that
difficult at the outset
because it can be an unnatural thing to go into an interview environment and take
control from the start
with a statement.
But that's the whole point.
It's disruptive so it gets attention.
But providing your professional impolite in the way you do it it gets the right
kind of attention and
it can often take the pressure off the interviewer who may not be that experienced
and give you the
power at their control to direct the interview where you know it needs to go
because you've probably
done more research.
Your organization ahead of the interview then the interview has done on you.
And what they need to ask you just before I close out this video you'll remember
that in a previous
video I talked about the example where I'd pitched for a piece of recruitment
business in a beauty parade
set up against competition.
Other recruiters to recruit this senior position.
And the way I won that piece of business was through my research.
So I visited an outlet and I had experienced the business or the product in a store
and I let the chief
executive of the organization know that at the start he was probably prepared to go
straight into the
detail tell me what he wanted what he needed to hire.
I disrupted the conversation by telling him at the start that I'd done some
research that nobody else
had done that sparked his attention.
It changed the dynamic of the conversation and it led to me winning the business.
And that's exactly what establish this higher baseline is all about.
And while you may feel slightly uncomfortable doing it hopefully that example gives
you reassurance
that it works.
And certainly when my want to one coaching clients go and try this yes it can feel
a little bit uncomfortable
at the beginning but it really really does pay results because it gets attention it
gets the right kind
of attention and it really does influence the rest of the interview and the
interviewers experience
of you in that interview environment.

One of the things that scares people the most about interviews is the potential for
an awkward silence
or going blank and not knowing what to what to say and a strategy that I've come up
with to to handle
this and to create more of a conversation is something I call the black hole
principle.
Now in any conversation and in any interview environment there is silence between
you and the other
party.
The interviewer in this case and whoever controls the silence controls the
conversation.
So in actual fact the silence is not something to be scared of.
The sign is actually something to use in your arsenal.
In the interview environment to control the conversation and I spoke about this
already when I talked
about the triple play the first day is Authority and of course powerful
communicators.
They talk more slowly or tend to talk more slowly and they use the power of the
pause to either emphasize
a point or for the natural change between a speaker and listener.
They know how to control the siletz to control the conversation.
Now in my experience good interviewers and you know interviewers can be a mixed bag
depending on how
often they do it but good interviewers will sometimes entrap candidates by using
the power of silence
and of course if the silence is uncomfortable and something you don't expect there
can be a tendency
to garble or to talk too much and not to get to the point.
And that's exactly what the interview is potentially looking for for you to reveal
too much detail or
something that you had not anticipated or planned to share.
And they're controlling the silence by keeping quiet.
The natural tendency is because silences can be uncomfortable for you to fill that
silence but that's
not what the game is all about.
And in actual fact if you're aware of the black hole principle that the power
really is in the silence
use it to your advantage as you make your point.
You work you pause you stop.
And that naturally invites the other party to speak to ask you a subsequent
question a clarifying question.
And this is very important when it comes to competency based interview questions
and come onto those
in a video coming up because the competency based interview questions are designed
to set a high level
question to get a response but not a detailed response.
And then for the interviewer to probe further into the initial answer to to dive
deep on on what you
did how you were thinking what you were feeling in any particular scenario so well
in an interview environment.
It's very important to get to the point to be clear concise and that really is
about controlling the
silence and not being afraid of the silence.
Another point I wanted to mention in relation to the black hole principle is one of
the ways that you
can change the dynamic from speaker to work to listener and this is a strategy that
I've used personally
as a strategy some of my candidates have used in the past.
So youre asked a question by the interviewer and you give an answer and you give
your answer.
And then to change direction rather than relying on the silence.
What you can do is confirm you give your answer and then say to the interviewer did
did did answer your
question Did that cover off your question.
Its just a different way of passing the baton back to the interviewer.
And remember you know people naturally think about asking questions at the end of
an interview and you
absolutely must ask questions at the end of an interview and I'm going to show you
how.
In another video Ive got coming up.
But you know you can ask questions throughout and this is how you create a
conversation by asking open
questions based on what the employer has asked you.
You give a response but then maybe you've got something to say a question you want
to ask during the
interview based on what the interviewer said And that's absolutely fine providing
it's part of the natural
flow of conversation and this is the this is the area many people get tripped
tripped up at interview
because they believe it's a barrage of questions that they're there to answer
questions but you're not.
You're there to have a conversation.
That's what we do in the real world.
That's what we do in real life.
And to give the interviewer a great experience of you that's what you should be
creating in in the interview
environment and the black hole principle helps you to do that by showing the
silences is power and not
to be afraid of that silence to create a conversation as you would do in everyday
life.

A big believer in taking inspiration from anywhere.

And the 8 mile strategy which I'll share with you in this video was inspired by the
film 8 mastering
mnm.
And if you want to know the story you can find that in my book super secrets of
successful executive
job search.
So what's the strategy all about.
Well the aim our strategy is really all about dealing with weaknesses or gaps in
skills and experience
or issues regarding your application and the interview process that youre in
reservation's that you
believe the employer has about you for that particular position.
Its not just based on perception.
Its based on detailed analysis from your research and I'll talk to you a little bit
about that.
Now you've done extensive research as part of your preparation for the interview
and in doing the research
on the organization and the person that you would be working for the person
interviewing you you've
you've potentially identified some weaknesses in your skills experience or another
thing in relation
to your application or share a couple of examples with you shortly.
So you know these down and you decide you going to do something about it.
And one of the other areas that you can uncover potential reservations an employer
has is actually after
the first round interview because an employer if they have reservations will
generally probe on those
reservations at an interview.
So think back to the first interview go back to the notes that you made after the
first interview and
you should always make notes after each interview.
It's invaluable information that you can use to prepare for the next interview.
Go back to those notes and think well what do they probe me on and the areas that
they probe me on where
my answer is strong enough for my answer is slightly weak.
Do I need to do something about that now and you know going back to the planning
section.
When you put together your destination statement Exercise 3 You need to identify
your goal was all about
now and future skills.
So you know going for a position where you have 100 percent of the skills
experience and whatever else
to do the job is probably not the opportunity that you want because you're looking
to develop future
skills in that next.
That next move and although employers sometimes want to bring people in who can do
everything from day
one.
The reality is that's really very unlikely to happen because what would be the
point of that particular
candidate taking that position.
So once you've identified potential areas of reservation and you know this is not
just you perceiving
it it's got to be fact based based on the research that you've done and maybe some
of the questions
you were asked at first interview.
You've identified these reservations and you document them and then you have a
choice either you can
brush them under the carpet and hope they go away or you can confront them.
And the 8 March strategy is all about confronting those those reservations head on
because if you confront
the reservation's head on you send a very important message to the to the
interviewer.
You tell the interviewer that you've recognized these things and you prepared to
bring them out into
the open you're not afraid to do that which is a really positive statement and you
also you also tell
the interviewer that you prepared to do something about them and and in doing that
it's a very very
strong message that you know you recognize perhaps a weakness and you're turning
that into a strength
you're turning that into a development point for you moving forward.
And if you think about it it's some of the traditional interview questions you know
tell me about your
weaknesses.
Well really what an employer is looking for when they ask that question is What
have you learned or
what are you learning from that to improve for your future and the atmar mile
strategy helps you to
work to demonstrate that.
And I'll share with you a couple of examples now.
So with this first example let's imagine I've had my first interview with with
Susan.
And Susan's got a reservation about my experience and I've recognized this based on
analysis of my notes
post first interview and I decide to confront this at a second interview and this
is what I say.
Following on from my first meeting with Susan I understand you may have a
reservation regarding my level
of public speaking experience and of course public speaking experience is important
at a senior level
to communicate a message in a leadership role.
So you know it's it's a or warranted a warranteed reservation.
So I continue although I've had limited opportunity develop to develop these skills
in the past.
I've recognized their importance for this position and I'm currently receiving one
to one coaching to
improve my skills in this area.
My coaches said are making excellent progress.
So I recognized the potential hole in my game.
I recognized the potential weakness and I've told the interviewer that I'm doing
something about it.
And what's more I've told the interviewer that in doing something about it based on
what my coach has
said that I'm making really good progress so it puts this reservation to bed.
And if I was the interviewer in this case I'd be very impressed.
With that statement.
And this actually is a real life strategy because I use this a number of years back
to secure a position
or to help me secure a position because I knew it was a reservation that the panel
of interviewers had
and I did exactly that.
I got a coach and the coach told me I was making progress and it convinced the
interviewers that actually
because I confronted it I recognized it that I was going to do something about it
and it wouldn't be
a blocker to them offering me the position which.
Which they did.
The next example is about location and location can often be a reservation and it's
often a reservation
that employers don't specifically talk about.
But what I can tell you is this that if an employer knows that somebody is
relocating as well as taking
a new position that's sometimes a double whammy of risk.
And employers can be risk averse.
It's one thing hiring somebody from the locality but bringing somebody in from a
different city in the
country or moving somebody internationally that's potentially fraught with problems
because not only
is somebody's got to acclimatize to a new a new organization they have to
acclimatize to a new place
of living a new environment that they're living and making new friends and and this
that the other so
in this reservation.
Let's imagine the reservation that I picked up from my research was about location
picks up from my
research and also from the first interview let's say.
So this is what I say at the subsequent interview.
I understand that you may have a reservation throughout my relocation from the UK
to the USA.
I wanted to reassure you that I have relatives in the Miami area and my family and
I have already made
three exploratory trips this year.
Were on the books of three real estate agents and I've already viewed a number of
potentially suitable
properties in a insurer.
In the short term my family and I are happy to rent.
And we've already identified a school for the children.
So this is a very powerful statement because I'm saying I have a family connection.
I've made a number of trips.
I'm already talking to real estate agents so I'm already in the market for a
property.
I'm not even been offered the position as yet but I'm already looking for a
property which tells the
interviewer that even if they don't offer me the position I'm still committed to
the my Ammie area.
So that's a very powerful statement.
And I was talking about the family environment to say that I considered the
children and I've identified
a school for the children so that would very much alleviate that reservation and
put their reservation
to bed.
So our strategy is something you can use if you identify a reservation as part of
your research or following
on from one of your interviews.
My advice is that you confront that because otherwise you run the risk of the
employer factoring that
into their decision even though they may not confront you with it.
So you don't have the opportunity to deal with it so if you recognize it then then
deal with it and
position it in the interview.
Put it to bed and move on and it works.
It absolutely works.
And it tells the employer it the interview a lot about you who you are what you
stand for and the fact
you're not afraid to confront difficult situations.

Remember everything that happens to you or doesn't happen to you in the job market
is entirely your
responsibility.
And it's exactly the same in the interview environment.
And remember also that interviewers vary in experience and they vary in preparation
for the interview
and it's very likely that it comes to the end of the interview and the interview is
forgotten to ask
you an important question that would allow you to position some of your very
relevant experience that
will help you secure the position on offer.
And this happens all the time and it's your responsibility to put that right to
work to fill in the
gaps as I call it.
And this this is this is fairly similar to the the eight mile strategy which I've
I've covered already
the aim of strategy is all about turning a weakness into a strength.
Fill in the gaps strategy.
Some you do.
Towards the end of the interview having given the employer every chance to ask you
the question but
if they failed to do it then you have to interject and make sure you position your
experience that's
very relevant to the organization and very relevant to the role.
Before you leave and as always you ask permission to do it.
And I'll share with you an example of that now.
So here's an example where the interviewer has forgotten to ask a question about
international experience
which is one of the critical things that you know from your research was important
to the decision making
factor as to who to hire into the role.
So work before I leave in this example I make the following statement and I say I
know from my research
that extensive international experience will be critical in this position.
We've not covered this specifically in our conversation today but I led the global
expansion of my current
organization to Europe and the Far East.
I'd be very happy to share this experience with you before I leave.
If it helps.
So I've I politely introduced the topic of international experience of let the
interview know that I
have international experience and I've not force fed the interview.
What I've done is offered to share and the interviewer in this situation is
probably quite grateful
that I've done that because if they'd left the interview environment we both left
the interview environment
we not covered this topic when they were reviewing other applicants and the
interviews that they'd undertaken.
They may have found this glaring gap and it would be quite difficult to fill that
gap if I hadn't stepped
up towards the end of the interview and filled it for them.
So were this really is an opportunity to leave the interview strong to fill any
gaps that exist and
to make sure that the employer is making the best possible decision on full
information.

At the end of the interview you must ask questions and you must ask specific type
of question.
I call knowledge based questions how I explain what they are in a moment.
So what do you need to ask questions.
Well the first reason is it shows youre interested.
It shows that youre interested in the organization and it shows that youre
interested in the role and
a fairly to ask questions can send a message to an interviewer that really is not
that interested in
in coming to work in that position and for their organization and I've heard that a
number of times
during my time as a professional recruiter that the feedback I would get was really
great candidate
great experience.
But for some reason they didnt ask any questions at the end of the interview.
And on that basis Im afraid we went for another candidate.
You absolutely have to ask questions to show that youre interested.
The other reason to ask questions is it allows you to stand out because youre going
to be very creative
in your questions.
And you know if if for example the interview has been on script on a standard
script throughout this
potentially could be your final opportunity to get them off that script and to
create a conversation
to create a higher level conversation.
So you must ask questions but you must ask permission to ask your questions and you
got to ask questions
even if youre not prompted.
But you have to ask permission to ask them and that's the important point.
And never ask a question that you could find out the answer to yourself because if
you do that it's
it's basically telling the employer telling the interviewer that you've not
research properly.
And also it's a missed opportunity to at the final final hurdle at the end of the
interview to raise
the conversation to a another high level.
So you started out the interview by creating a higher baseline.
This is an opportunity through empowered questions and knowledge based questions to
raise the level
that you finish the interview on to a another high level to a new to a new
empowered level.
So the two types of questions there are belters and builders and belters are the
most powerful type
of question which is why the box is bigger on the left than now than on the right
and belters introduce
new information to the interview environment so this is something that you've not
that you've not discussed
before.
It's a belt of a question because it introduces something new and the way it's
positioned which is why
it's a knowledge base question is you drawn some of your research so you present
some knowledge and
then you ask some questions around that or ask a question around that.
Now builders are slightly different.
They build on something that's already been discussed at interview and builders can
be the get out of
jail free card if you get to the end of the interview and you can't think of a
question to ask.
You can draw on a something that was discussed earlier on in the interview and ask
for clarification.
Ask for further information or ask for opinion on that.
Before I show an example of a belter and a builder question I just want to make two
important points
on questions.
First the first point is this.
It can be tempting going into the interview environment to have a number of
questions in mind that you've
written down that you've memorized that you're determined to ask.
Now there is a danger in that because there is every chance that the interviewer
will cover off those
questions during the interview but you may be so wedded to those questions that you
ask them anyway.
And basically that's telling the employer telling the interviewer that you've not
listened.
So rather than having specific questions in mind that you go into the interview
with it's far better
from your research to have certain topics that you are keen to explore.
And remember in the interview environment you have to be in the moment you have to
be mindful you detach
from the past and forget the future you were in that moment so you should be
picking up on clues.
You should be picking up on on topics that you may want to expand on through a
Build a question you
should be cross referencing the fact that if you know ask a belter question that
that's not been covered
off by the the interview already.
The second point is that it goes without saying that the questions that you ask
should be about the
organisation they should be about the role they should be high level questions
because you in front
of a higher level decision maker asking questions about salary compensation
remuneration hours of work
holidays anything like that.
This is not the time and the place.
This is not the time and the place at all that can be dealt with through offer
negotiation.
The job here in front of a senior decision maker is to ask questions that are going
to impress they're
going to leave leave the decision maker with a very positive impression of you and
your thoughtfulness
in your research so that they they go away and when they're deliberating on who to
make an offer to
or to progressed to the next stage it's very likely that they come back to you.
So let's now look at a belter of a question and this is your Remember introduces
original content so
here's an example from my research unaware that one of your competitors has
recently set up operations
in Shanghai which gives them a strategic foothold in the Far East.
Given your international expansion plans what do you see as a potential impact on
your business.
And how do you plan to respond.
Now this is a belter of a question because it introduces new information that I've
gleaned from my research
and what it also does ask the decision maker for their opinion.
So it is two things introduces new information and ask the decision maker for their
opinion which tells
the decision maker that I value their opinion.
Example here of a builder question.
I remember a builder question Bill's on discuss content already discussed topics
already.
And here we go.
So you mentioned earlier in our discussion the possibility of a number of changes
at group level.
What potential impact if any do you think any changes are likely to have on the
reporting line or scope
of this position.
Again good question.
Not quite as strong as a as a belter question but still a good question.
And again I'm I'm asking the decision maker here for their opinion and that again
shows the decision
maker that I value their opinion.
So there's some insight into why you need to ask questions that you need to ask
knowledge base questions.
At the end of the interview remember that you have to.
You have to ask them whether you're prompted to or not.
But you have to get permission to to ask them.
And then of course there are two types of questions belters and builders and
belters generally have
more power and generally generally impress the interviewer more and leave leave you
in a very positive
very positive position in terms of how the interviewer believes perceives the
interview has gone.

Before you leave the interview.

My advice is always to ask for feedback.
Now asking for feedback can be difficult.
People find it uncomfortable because when you ask for feedback then you're not
quite sure what the other
person is going to say.
It can be either good or not so good feedback.
But my question is this wouldn't you rather know if the interviewer was carrying a
a reservation that
you not already dealt with throughout the interview using the 8 mile strategy or by
filling in the gaps.
You'd probably want to know this particularly if it was an unwarranted reservation
so they made an assumption
based on something you'd said or that you hadn't said or something they've not
asked a question about.
And they were carrying that into their decision making process.
You'd probably want an opportunity to deal with that before you left the interview
and asking for feedback
is a final chance to her to do that and to deal with any unwarranted reservation.
Now feedback takes two forms and first of all you need to give your feedback and if
you feel positive
about the position this is the position you want.
It's not just any position.
This really is the position you want.
It's a really good or idea to tell your employer that before you leave the
interview room.
And the reason for that is this that employers want to offer a position.
Want to offer their position to a candidate that will accept the position.
Nothing frustrates an employer more than offering a position to somebody that they
really want in their
business.
Having put that person through an interview process only to then have that offer
turned down.
So imagine youre in the final stage is decision time for the for the employer and
they have two people
that they're considering.
If you're the candidate that has communicated your keenness to accept this position
and conveyed that
you know you really want the role based on what you've heard obviously subject to a
satisfactory offer
then the employer is more likely to look on you perhaps more favourably than a
candidate that has an
expressed that desire for the position.
The second form of feedback is to ask the employer for their feedback and it's
really important that
you take it on the chin.
So if you ask for feedback at the interview or in any any walk of life you've got
to take it because
you've asked for it.
So don't argue back.
Accept It.
Deal with it.
And if it's you know if it's credible feedback if it's if it's feedback that is
warranted that you can
use moving forward then this is absolutely the thing you should be capturing your
thinking Journal and
looking at later and delving into to improve your performance.
Moving forward with future interviews now if it's an unwarranted reservation so the
employer has made
this assumption perhaps they will ask the right questions to uncover your
experience in a particular
area.
Then this is your time to deal with it and it is back to the strategy of filling in
the gaps to make
sure that the employer the interview alleve the interview environment with all of
the information they
need to make a positive positive decision on you.
So how do you were how do you position this feedback at the end of the interview.
Well here's a here's an example that I'll share with you now.
So here's an example of a statement I could make.
Before leaving the interview room.
And yeah I make this to the interview just before I leave today.
I wanted to let you know how very interested I am in this position from the
extensive research I've
done and what I've learnt throughout the interview process.
I know this is an extremely forward thinking organization with a great team and
somewhere I can add
value from day one.
So there's a few things going on here before I leave today.
I'm letting the employer know that this is the position I want.
It's not just a position.
This is the position I want and have carefully considered that and made that
decision based on my extensive
research throughout throughout the interview process.
Having experienced the interview process and met the employer presumably a number
of times now so I'm
also reminding of course through the extensive research statement I'm reminding the
employer of all
the work that I've done that shows I'm very interested and I know what I'm getting
into and I'm complimenting
the employer too by saying that it's an extremely forward thinking organisation
with a great team.
So you know flattery can get you somewhere and that just helps the helps the
employer to feel positive
or even more positive about me at the final stage and then I'm talking about the
fact that I can add
value from day 1 so I'll have pitched my 90 day plan.
That was an opportunity.
The second or third interview stage for the employer the interviewer to visualise
me in the role as
opposed to just see me applying for it and it speaks to an employer's desire for a
new recruits a new
hire to hit the ground running from day one so I'm just reminding them of that with
that.
With that final statements now I'm expressing my desire for this position.
But of course this is always subject to a satisfactory offer satisfactory
remuneration package compensation
package.
So I want to deal with that later on when we get we're offering negotiation but at
the moment what I'm
saying through my feedback is that based on what I've seen this really is a role
that I want.
This is the role rather not just a role.
This is the role that I want and this is an organization that I really want to work
for.
So I haven't given my feedback.
It's now time to ask the employer for their feedback and I listened intently.
I thank them for the feedback and I take it on the chin I learn from it.
But if there's an unwarranted reservation then of course it's it's now time to fill
in the gaps and
it's back to the fill in the gaps strategy which I discussed earlier and as a quick
reminder on screen
let's say they have a concern about my international experience which they've let
me know as part of
their feedback.
I could say something like this thank you for your feedback.
You mentioned that you have a slight concern over my level of international
experience although not
specifically covered today.
I led the global expansion of my current organization into Europe in the Far East.
I'll be very happy to share this experience with you before I leave.
If it helps so I'm dealing with what I believe to be an unwarranted reservation.
I'm trying to fill in a gap before I leave.
The employer has not now the interview has not asked me a question to allow me to
work to speak about
this and this is my final chance to get that experience across and to make sure
that features in their
decision making process.
And then of course I don't force feed I offer to share.
If that if that helps.

Three special interview scenarios and how to handle them.

In the next three videos I'll cover three special interview scenarios and explain
how to handle them:
1) Competency-based interviews – a type of evidence-based interview that has become
popular in recent years, particularly with larger organisations.
2) Group interviews – where you're assessed alongside your competition.
3) Panel interviews – where you're interviewed by more than one interviewer.
The good news is that everything we've covered already in this step of the process
section has prepared you to handle any of the above scenarios. The above however
have slight nuances, which I'll cover next.
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the videos. You'll also find a
downloadable guide to help you handle competency-based interviews.

Competency based interviews have become very popular in recent years with a whole
host of companies
but in particular with large larger organizations and competency based interviews
can sometimes be things
that people fear just by the very title.
You know what does it mean.
What is a competency based interview.
But everything you've done in this section so far has has prepared you to deal with
competency based
interviews and content.
These are really skills.
That's all we're talking about here.
Skills and abilities and competency based interviews are a way for an employer
through the interview
process to gather evidence of your of your ability and and past track record of
particular.
In displaying particular skills and abilities so when the interviewer starts the
line of questioning
at a very broad level.
Tell me about a time when Give me an example of this.
And you know it could be Tell me about a time that you displayed leadership.
Give me an example of a time where you showed excellent communication skills.
Tell me tell me a story of when you had to make a difficult difficult decision and
why.
So they asked these broad based questions and then they follow those questions with
that with more probing
questions to really dive into the detail.
So can you expand on this.
Can you tell me a little bit more about that.
How did you feel in that particular situation.
So the questions that go in it that at the top of the funnel gets squeezed in what
I call the funnel
effect as the interviewer starts to probe and analyze your answers more more deeply
and then out of
the bottom of the funnel comes the evidence.
So they score this generally.
Of course everybody will have slightly different answers because they have they
have very different
different levels of experience different stories to tell but they try and quantify
this evidence so
they can compare one candidate against another.
So thats how a competency based interview tends to work.
Let's look now at why they've become so popular particularly in recent years.
The first reason they become popular is because they they allow an interviewer to
gather evidence because
they force you to talk about real life situational examples.
And I mention in the section already about the fact that employers want to want to
ask questions about
your past because it gives a very good clue as to what you could potentially come
in and do for them.
So they're looking at real life situations.
They want you to give real life answers and because they're diving quite deep
because you're telling
a story of a of a journey.
It actually reduces the risk of an employer an interviewer making a subjective
decision by making it
an inaccurate perception on a certain certain skills and abilities skills and
abilities that you may
or may not have.
So it's done well and you control competency based interviews well they can really
increase the probability
of you progressing to the next stage or ultimately ultimately being offered the
position.
The second reason is that they can to some extent be regarded as a standardized
process.
Now of course every interview situation is different.
Every candidate is different but because the employer is asking probably the same
questions of every
candidate and then probing and then gathering evidence at the end which they
they'll they'll score in
some way.
It's more of a standardized process than perhaps other other styles of of interview
and of course the
employer has probably prepared more and is now in running a competency based
interview.
The employer the interview has to be experienced in delivering competency based
interviews so they're
more likely to ask better questions to allow you to display the relevant skills and
abilities for the
position on offer.
Thirdly they go really deep really deep on particular areas of your experience so
the answers that you
give they've they've got to be real They've got to be real life situations where
you can give we can
give detail where the employer can probe the interviewer can probe and you can
really talk in in a quite
a detailed way about a particular situation how you felt what you did why you did
it.
And it really allows the interviewer to gather some really really good evidence
going back to point
one because they're diving deep onis on a particular situational example that youre
communicating in
response to their competency based interview question.
And then finally they they really allow an interviewer to identify the truth and
your level of experience
which goes back to depth goes back to work to depth because if you know if you
embellish the truth or
you exaggerated any way they would find it because the devil is always in the
detail and they're asking
for specific details in.
Situation and those specific details in the situation that your outlining really
really give the interviewer
a really good understanding as to how involved you were and really get to the truth
of what your contribution
was to that to that particular example that you're giving.
Now as I've said already the interview process is something you should be in
control of and being proactive
control of.
So where in the examples that you're positioning in response to competency based
interview questions
you should proactively have thought about what what kind of experience you need to
position in front
of the employer which gives you control of the interview situation.
And you do this through your research of course because you'll have a clue through
the research as to
the problems the organization is looking to resolve in hiring or the aspirations
and the growth prospects
the organization is looking to explore in bringing somebody new into the
organization so you know you
have to stay in proactive control albeit You may not know what competencies they're
looking to specifically
ask you about you'll have a very very good clue based on the research that you will
have done.
Now having taken feedback from a multitude of employers over the years as a
professional recruiter I
can give you now two pieces of advice as to how to handle competency based
interviews properly.
And this is based on the feedback that I receive from from these different these
different clients.
So the first thing is you've got to be clear and concise so you have to deliver
your example in a very
clear and concise way.
So were waffling does not go down well.
Think back to the black hole principle about delivering your message and then using
the power of silence
and then inviting through the power of silence the interviewer to ask their next
probing question so
being clear concise is very important.
And then the second thing is to talk about I said to talk about what you did not
what we did and you
know some people struggle with that because they did things as part of a team and
we don't always like
to push ourselves forward in terms of her experience but this is what a competency
based interview was
designed to test.
The interviewer wants to know what you did not what we did so if you did do
something as part of a team
that's absolutely fine but detail in your answers what you specifically did as part
of that team because
this is about gather gathering evidence on you and what you did not on what the
team did.
And then finally you have the tools already to answer competency based interview
questions and this
is the convention I spoke about on an earlier video which is car context action
result.
So were in any response to a question.
The interviewer asks think about the context.
Communicate that in one or two sentences.
Think about what you did.
The action you took.
If it was part of a team explain that but specifically say what you did and
communicate that in a couple
of sentences and then think about the quantifiable results so what value did you
add and communicate
that which is the result of the CIA are Convention.

I mean talk very briefly about group interviews and give group interviews and
mention here because from
time to time they do crop up.
And the thing is to say at the outset is really a group interview is no different
to any other interview
apart from the fact that you're not alone.
But remember in any interview environment you are in control you determine what you
do and how you do
it.
You were in Proactiv control of the situation from start to finish.
So when you know you can't control what others do in the group environment you
can't control what what
the employer what the interview does necessarily.
But the only thing you can control is what you do and how you do it.
So what are people there what do organizations use group interviews sometimes well
they do it sometimes
for speed.
If there were a number of people that they're looking and considering they may want
to bring them together
in in one process because it speeds that process up they're saying everybody wants
and then they would
make a decision based on how people perform at that group interview as to who they
were take four to
one to one interviews.
The other reason that an employer may do a group interview is perhaps at the final
throes.
So maybe the final throes of an interview process if they have two candidates that
are very close very
neck and neck.
They may want to compare those candidates in the same in the same environment and
perhaps bring them
into the organization invite both for a dinner or to spend some time in the
business before making a
decision.
And it's allowing them to compare one candidate with another candidate because of
course normally they're
interviewing these people separately so that could be another reason as to why a
group interview may
may take place.
So in terms of the group interview you generally set exercises you generally
observe doing stuff.
And again the message is simple follow the career code methodology you'll have done
your research you
are going to position your experience to weigh into the problems and aspirations
that the organization
has you going to speak in a language that would resonate.
And that's what you need to do to stand out at a group interview.
The other thing to say in a group interview your meeting the interviewers your
meeting the employer
but you're also meeting your fellow candidates and the interviewers the employers
watching a group exercise
or performing the group interview will be looking to see how you interact with your
your fellow candidates
because that's a very good clue as to how you interact how you made the right with
people in their organizations
so were yet group interviews nothing to be feared.
If you're invited to a group interview remember you're in proactive control.
Do the research do everything that I've outlined in this in this step in the
process section and you'll
be absolutely fine.

Panel interviews are another type of interview that people can sometimes worry
about and people fear
panel interviews because you're not just being interviewed by one interview.
You're going to be interviewed by a number of interviewers and that can really
sometimes put the pressure
on.
So why do why do employers do panel interviews.
Well one of the reasons they do panel interviews is because they want more than one
person in the organization
to take a look at you and to see you in the interview environment.
So certainly in the majority of organizations it's not just one person making the
final the final hiring
decision.
So a panel interview is an opportunity for more than one interview out and more
than one decision maker
to meet you at the same time.
Now in addressing panel interviews one of the big mistakes that people make in my
experience is that
they talk to one person over another and that's a really big mistake because if
there's four people
interviewing you as there are on the screen in front of you even if it's just one
person asking the
majority of questions you've got to address all of the all of the people on the
panel which means you
have to give them eye contact and in giving a response you have to talk to all of
them not just the
person asking the question.
And I you know I put many a candidate through a panel interview in the past.
I've actually had panel interviews my myself and you tend to find that somebody
that doesn't really
say a lot who's quite quiet it can sometimes be the good cop bad cop mentality.
But you know even if there's somebody quiet who's not saying too much acknowledge
them as you give your
answer give them eye contact and engage with all of them because that could be part
of the test of the
panel interview.
So nothing really to worry about everything that you've covered in this in this
step of the process
section is prepared you to deal with a panel interview you know how to research you
know how to execute
in the interview environment and a panel interview is just another another type of
interview where more
than one decision maker is meeting you once the final thing I'd say on panel
interviews is you're giving
eye contact to everybody even if not everybody is engaging back with you.
And in a similar vein when you arrive in the interview environment you need to
shake all of their hands.
And it's the same when you leave so you're acknowledging all of them as important
people in the decision
making process who were making a decision as to whether to work to hire you or at
least advance you
to the next stage.

When you leave the interview room, the interview is far from over.
When you leave the interview room, the interview is far from over and while it's
tempting to sigh with relief there's still work to be done before you can relax.
Following up with the interviewer(s) is another opportunity to impress and stand
out from your competition.
In the final video in this step of the process section I explain how to follow up
properly whether this is an opportunity you identified in the 'hidden market' or
where a professional recruiter is involved.
The follow-up happens in two waves – immediately after the interview is over and
when you expect to hear on an offer or next steps.
[If this is anything other than your final interview (in my experience it can often
be wise to assume there might yet be another stage in the process) remember to
write notes on what you discovered at the interview and any potential reservations
the interviewer(s) may have had. This will help you prepare for subsequent
interviews and informs, in particular, the 8 Mile strategy.]

When you leave the interview room the interview is far from over.
And as part of the crackerbox methodology you've learnt in this step how to prepare
for interview and
then how to execute in the interview environment.
But the final stage is all about following up and to set up the follow up.
You have to do a couple of things while you're still in the interview room.
The first thing you need to do is to clarify the timing of next steps.
So when are you likely to hear when are they going to make their decision either on
whether to hire
or whether to press you to the next stage and make a mental note as to when that
date is.
And also make a mental note to clarify who will be coming back to you with that
information.
The second thing to do is to ask for a business card.
Because in asking for a business card Well it's the professional thing to do.
And it also gives you implicit permission that you can and will be getting in
search.
And if this is the second or third round interview and you've met the senior
decision maker that might
be your only opportunity to work to meet the senior decision maker.
So getting a business card from them is very important because then you're back in
the process with
everybody else or other candidates in the process.
And it made a be the decision maker that comes back to you but you still want the
ability to be able
to reach the decision making in case you have any queries or wish to follow up on
anything with them
directly.
So how do you follow up.
Well the first thing you do is you follow up immediately so as soon as you get back
home or get back
to the office if you've had an interview during a during works for a new position
you send a thank you
email and you send a thank you email to the interviewer.
And ideally the interviewers.
Now you may not be able to send a thank you e-mail to all of the interviewers.
If there was a panel interview.
But at least you should be sending a thank you email to the primary contact the
person that led that
interview whose business card you've obtained and you sent a thank you email
because it builds on the
conversation that you had at the interview.
And it keeps you in mind it keeps you memorable even though the interview is over
and it's an opportunity
to reinforce a message to reinforce the message that youre interested in this
position that you want
this position and a good idea as well is if you can to build on the conversation by
sending a website

Congratulations on completing step 4.

Congratulations on completing step 4 of the process section.
The majority believe that an interview is something that happens to them – it's a
form of the reactive chaos I described earlier on in the course and as such it's an
environment they find extremely uncomfortable.
In stark contrast, you now have all the tools to take proactive control of any
interview situation from start to finish. You know how to prepare, execute and
follow up properly, and what's more, you now know that a successful interview is
about creating a comfortable environment for the interviewer and influencing their
gut feel

The interview stage of any recruitment process is sometimes the one that the
candidate fears the most
is the thing they want because that's how they get the job.
But it's something they can fear.
Preparation is everything.
And the more preparation you can do the right preparation then the better chance
and the higher probability
of finding success at that interview and being confident in the interview
environment.
And one of the things people do they get to an interview is a step out of their
comfort zone.
It's different people it's a different place.
It's an opportunity with an organization they're not explored before and nerves can
set in.
One of the things I advise is to reframe the fear as excitement because if you prep
prepared properly
you should be excited about going into that interview environment and showing what
you've got.

Well interview preparation is critical to your success.

And you've got to leave enough time to do preparation properly because preparation
should take you some
time.
I talk about the staircase of preparation.
There are five levels and some of the key important points in that staircase are
don't just look at
the company website.
That's what everybody else is doing.
So think about the company's suppliers their customers.
Think about the industry sector that this company operates in.
What does that tell you about some of the things that they may want to hear from
you.
At an interview.
Research the individuals that you got to go and meets linked in is a very powerful
tool to be able to
do that.
And you get an insight into the personalities that going to come face to face with.
Looking at the company accounts even if it's not a finance position you know look
at the company accounts
and see what they see what they tell you.
One of the most important things that I always advise is to try and experience the
business because
if you can get any insight into how the business really runs you know operationally
and you can take
that into the interview environment that really stand you in great stead in front
of the employer.
If you can experience the business ahead of the interview it puts you miles apart
from anyone else who
perhaps hasn't bothered to do it.
I'm advising a candidate at the moment and this candidate is on interview with a
car dealership so I
advised her to go to a couple of their car dealerships speak to the manager there
get an insight as
to how the business runs operationally and how it connects to head office and then
in the interview
environment position.
What you've done at the start of the interview which allows you to elevate the
level of a conversation
right from the off.

The icebreaker question that's always a difficult difficult thing to do.

The things that you don't do to begin with don't talk about the weather.
Don't talk about your journey.
This is your opportunity to start strong.
So all the research that you've done this is where you position some of that
research.
Always a good idea to Google the organization on the morning of the interview.
If a news story is broken that's the thing to talk about.
I advise people get hold of company in literature whether it be digital or whether
it be hard copy hard
copies.
Better phone the marketing department beforehand take that into the interview
environment walk in with
it.
You've got highlights post it notes ask a question on the way to the interview room
about the stuff
that you've read.
It starts the conversation from a higher level and it's going to increase the
probability of you advancing
to the next stage.

In the interview our environment the employer controls the interview or you control
the interview with
the candidate.
My recommendation is that you control the interview not all employees are
experienced at interviewing
particularly the more senior in the organization.
They'll tend to interview on a less regular basis.
You start the interview by establishing what I call a higher baseline.
So this is where you take your experience all your preparation and you position
that and you let the
employer know what you've done to prepare.
It elevates the level of conversation then in terms of the conversation you have
with the employer you
have to go into that environment not expecting to be asked questions not rote
learning answers to expect
questions but instead knowing having interrogated the job specification spoken to
the recruiter done
your research on the organization knowing what experience what achievements you
need to communicate
in that interview room to be the candidate that progresses or is the candidate that
gets hired.
Switching roles in an interview is difficult because if the employer is condition
to ask you lots and
lots of questions you really want a conversation.
You want to create a conversation because we feel comfortable having conversations.
We don't feel comfortable being interrogated.
So employer ask you a question you can ask a counter question.
Ask for their opinion on what you've said is clarify whether you've asked the
answer the question properly.
To start to create that two way dialogue the more preparation you've done the more
intelligent your
questions can be and one of the mistakes people make in the interview environment
is to wait till the
end to ask their questions.
No you don't have to.
You can ask questions throughout because if the employer comes away from that they
feel like they've
had a conversation rather than interrogating you.
They can have a better gut feel about you as a candidate for their organization.
In the interview you've got to put your experience across the most relevant
experience to help the employer
make the right decision which is to progress you or offer you the position.
So the research that you've done you'll have a clue as to what's the most important
thing for that employer
job specification the research the insights you've had from your recruiter.
So you've got a position that if you get to the end of the interview and they've
not ask you the right
question for you to be able to communicate that you have to fill in the gaps.
So one of things you can do toward the end of the interview is to say Look from the
research that I've
done I'm pretty pretty sure that this particular area of experience might be
relevant.
You might want hear about it you offer to share that force feed it you offer to
share.
Because if they not ask you the right question it's your responsibility not theirs
to make sure that
you communicate the most relevant experience so that they can make an informed
decision.

I think it's critical for a candidate to call the recruiter straight away after the
interview.
I would always ask my candidates to do this because I wanted to get their real time
feedback on the
interview depending on what they said that might mean I needed to call the employer
straight away if
something had gone wrong.
They not position some of their experience.
I'd want to talk to the employer right away to put that right.
I don't always want to know what my candidate's thoughts before I spoke to the
employer because if the
candidate had a really positive experience was really interested in the role I'd
want to tell the employer
sooner rather than later because that could help them make a decision about who
they brought back or
who they ultimately offered.

A group assessment day is very very similar to a one to one interview.

The only difference is there's more people there now.
The reason people will do a group assessment days probably for two reasons.
I'd have got to see a number of people at once.
So you're going to use it as a first filter before the one to one stuff.
All they want to see how you interact in a group environment.
So preparation again.
Yeah being yourself understanding from your preparation if communication skills are
important is what
you need to be communicating and what you need to get across at that interview but
it's very much the
same advice as for a one to one interview.
There's just more people in the room.
On assessment days one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to not be yourself
and to think that
you've got to be the one that pushes yourself forward the loudest in the room.
You've got to get your point across ahead of anybody else.
But that's not how people behave in the business world it's not how people behave
necessarily in the
office environment.
So you're to be sensitive to other people's point of view.
You've got to get your point of view across.
You've got to you've got to be brave enough to do that.
And you've got to stick stick behind what you what you believe what you do in a
business professional
way.
And yet don't think you have to be something you're not.
Be professional.
Imagine you're in your existing office environments and communicate in a similar
way and you can't go
far wrong.

When an interviewer when an employer puts forward a test they might be doing it for
a number of reasons.
Now they might there might be a situational test which tests certain competencies
that would be expected
to have in that role you should be prepared for that because that's the job you're
coming in to do.
It's nothing to worry about.
Imagine you're not in a test environment you're in a business environment working
for that employer
psychometric tests or another type of test.
Now these are things that can be used towards the end of the interview process
perhaps second or third
interview.
Usually when there's a close call between two candidates so you're rarely going to
get high just on
the basis of a psychometric test.
You can't game the system.
You answer the questions honestly as you can.
And it just helps the employer make a more informed decision.
If it's a very very close call.

Welcome to Step Five of the process section where you learn how to create a
powerful online presence
links in gives both you and employers direct access to the hidden market which is
in addition to conversations
one and two explained in the environment section.
Show me how to build a powerful personal brand.
A shop window of your skills and experience that speaks to your target employer.
In addition I show you how to use LinkedIn as a proactive engagement tool.
I'll also build on some of the principles explained in step 3 where I showed you
how to get in front
of decision makers.
If you've not done so already now's the time to connect with me on Linked In.
My username is Simon at great g r a y.
ACA Please log into the platform and send me a connection request now along with a
message to let me
know how are you getting on with the course.
I'd love to know.

Key principles of LinkedIn and an impactful online presence.

Employers used to have to rely on conversations 1 and 2 in the 'hidden market' to
find the talent for their organisations, but now they have LinkedIn at their
fingertips, which allows them to extend the reach and scale of these conversations
and in many instances circumvent the need for conversation 3.
If conversations 1 and 2 fail to find the right candidate they can now bypass job
boards and recruiters to find talent themselves.
In the first video in this step, I discuss this in more detail and explain why
LinkedIn is the secret key to the hidden market – the place where high-probability
opportunities always exist before being placed on job boards or with professional
recruiters.
In the second video I introduce the online 'hire cycle', which builds on the see me
> like me > trust me > hire me convention I introduced in step 3 (getting in front
of decision makers).
In the third video, I highlight some of the key principles of building an effective
online presence.
In the fourth video I introduce something called the LinkedIn Social Selling Index.
You can use this link to access yours – [Link]
In video five I debate whether you need a free or premium account.
Then in video six I deal with navigating the delicate balance between work and
personal. If you're currently employed, developing your LinkedIn profile can
sometimes arouse suspicion.
Finally in video seven I'll show you how to set your career interests, which may
just increase your visibility in front of recruiters.
If you've not done so already, now's the time, as we're talking about LinkedIn to
connect with me on the platform. If you're happy to do this, please click here to
send me a connection request and in your message, please let me know how you're
getting on with the course.
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the videos.

In this video a quick reminder of some of the principles I talked about in the
environment section of
the program.
And you remember that there are two key players in the job market.
There are job seekers and employers and a gap exists between job seekers and
employees which is generally
filled by professional recruiters and also job boards.
But having been enrolled on this program having look at the strategies in the
approach you now have
an opportunity to position yourself much closer to employers by going direct to the
hidden market and
in going direct to the hidden market.
Of course you increase the probability of finding in securing the position that you
really want.
You'll remember that employers find recruitment painful it's a distraction from
running their business.
It can be costly both in terms of time dedicated to the pursuit of bringing
somebody to the organization
and also in terms of money.
If there is a recruitment fee or an advertisement fee to pay so where employers
have conversations one
at two and three and a conversation one is when they talk to their immediate
network.
This is their inner circle of contacts to ask Who do you know that might be
relevant for our business
conversation 2 is when they go to their extended network so this could be
professional advisers.
Sit just outside the network but are still important people in the organization in
the organizations
network that the employer who is looking to hire trusts.
And then of course if they get nowhere they're into conversation 3 and conversation
3 is when they go
out to market and either place advertisements or talk to professional recruiters
about about the type
of person that they're looking to bring in.
And of course with conversation 3 this is where it gets costly.
This is where a fee is payable and this is where the opportunity is in the public
domain.
So from a probability standpoint increasing the probability of finding and securing
the position you
want.
I talked about in the environment section about getting ahead of the market and
this means you need
to position yourself in conversations one and two wherever possible.
You still have a strategy to talk to professional recruiters but ideally you're
going direct to employer
or do or to employee by via leveraging the power of market makers through
conversations 1 and 2.
So what does all this have to do with social media and in particular linked in.
Well you've already positioned yourself closer to the employer than the majority.
You now have an opportunity through linked in to get even closer to the employer
and what's more the
employer violin team can get closer to you because what I can tell you as a
professional recruiter a
former professional recruiter I should say that employers were all the time on
Linked In looking for
the right people for their organization.
They were either doing this actively for a position that they had currently or
passively looking at
people that they may wish to talk to at some point in the future.
So linked in as really close this gap is close this gap it's given employers direct
access if you like
to the hidden market so whereas before they were slightly curtailed in terms of
conversations one and
two by their immediate networks.
Now through linked in they have the opportunity to go direct to markets and really
to work to broaden
their horizons in terms of who they talk to and how they profile their business and
who they reach out
to about potential opportunities in their business.
Whats more professional recruiters are doing exactly the same.
The linked in database is probably the best and most up to date database that there
is.
Having run my own recruitment company I will have a database but that database was
always out of date
because I was reliant on my candidates letting me know what was happening where
they were there what
they were doing.
But of course on Link 10 the onus is on the individual who owns the profile to keep
that profile up
to date and people do keep their profile up to date because its a representation of
them.
Its a communication of their personal brand which all come on to in a in a later
video.
So linked in is probably the best database and as a professional recruiter I would
use this all the
time to search for candidates so what that means is that employers are using links
into access the hidden
market to broaden their horizons in their markets.
Recruiters are using Linked In to find people looking for positions and also
passive candidates.
Those that haven't that are all actively in the job market but may be relevant to
their positions.
So what it means is that you have to have a LinkedIn profile and it has to be a
good profile and this
is what we're covering in this section.
So hopefully you remember this diagram from the environment section of the program
and what it shows
you is over here.
Job boards and professional recruiters.
This is conversation 3 over here this is the hidden market.
This is conversations one and two before an employer goes to a professional
recruiter or a job board
to to advertise or promote a position.
As part of your high probability strategy where you're in proactive control of your
job search.
This means that you spend at least a third of your time going direct to employer
and a third of your
time leveraging the power of market makers.
But the important point now to note where LinkedIn comes into play is you have more
access to an employer
and then market violent in on what's more because linked in can work in reverse.
Employers have direct access to you.

In Step Three getting in front of decision makers of the process section I

introduced the concept of
the higher cycle.
See me like me trust me hire me.
And it's exactly the same online so see me.
What does this mean.
Well it's an optimized and complete profile linked in once you'd have a complete
profile.
It wants to serve up the best results to people searching on the platform and that
means that your profile
has to be complete and it has to be optimized to be found and I'll talk more about
that as we move through
this section.
Visibility is also about liking commenting and sharing.
If you think about your target decision makers liking their post commenting on
their post and also sharing
their posts increases your visibility in front of them.
And remember your visibility linked in it's your online polls so you have to be
active on the platform
and active on a regular basis for people to see that that you're out there you're
doing stuff and potentially
you're somebody that they'll they'll want to connect with or reach out to.
Like me is about curated and created content.
So were curated content is when you find something online an article a post that
you agree with that
you have a comment on that resonates and you can share this through status updates
with your connections
with your network created content is something different.
This is where you perhaps produce a published post.
So this is content that you create so you're not sharing other people's content
your creating your own
content and in creating content.
And even to a certain extent sharing curated content you're communicating an
opinion and you're building
personal engagement with your audience and they're having an opinion is important.
Remember you're not trying to appeal to everybody you know who your target decision
maker is.
It's about communicating a message and an opinion that will resonate with them.
And that's really what it's all about.
You can't please all of the people all of the time as I often say what your what
your concerned with
in terms of your likability on the platform is speaking to your target audience and
then trust me you've
got to position yourself as a thought leader.
There is value in being a thought leader.
People will naturally gravitate to you thought leadership really is about being an
industry expert.
Being an expert on what it is you do offering help and advice through the content
that you share and
the content that you create on the platform and also delivering a consistent
message.
One of the one of the big mistakes people make on Linked In is they'll do something
once and then they
won't do it again so they may produce one published post don't worry or talk about
publish posts coming
up.
But they do want publish post and that's it.
They won't do another one for six months 12 months.
That doesn't build trust.
Trust is about a consistent message so you know one of the reasons I do a publish
post regularly usually
once a week is that it delivers a consistent message to my target audience and that
builds trust over
time.
And then of course hire me.
So want somebody seen you like what you're talking about.
They're trusting your message and this could be professional recruiters or
employers direct.
They're going to want to reach out and that means that your contact details need to
be visible.
And once they get in touch you have to be immediately responsive.
Linked in social media.
It's like a face to face conversation.
It's very different to email email it's acceptable to wait you know one or two days
before you respond
on LinkedIn a social media.
People expect an immediate response so being responsive is extremely important.
So what are some of the key principles of building an effective online presence or
the first one is
that less is more.
There are a multitude of social media platforms out there and you can't be on all
of them nor do you
wish to be on all of them.
You have to get focussed and in getting focussed.
You have to think about where your target decision maker is.
Are they on Linked In or are they on Facebook.
Are they somewhere else.
The majority of times you'll find in the business world that the decision maker is
on Linked In Which
is why in this section of the program I'm focussing specifically on Linked In.
So were investing time and energy and effort into linked in.
If that's all you do in terms of your social media strategy is about focus and will
pay off.
Patience pays.
I talked about calendar and investment time earlier on in the program in the
planning section.
So calendar time means that you know it's going to take a bit of time to build an
online presence.
It doesn't happen overnight.
Once you built your presence it's got to be out there it's got to be visible for
people to find it.
And then of course you going to use it proactively which we'll talk about coming
coming up.
So don't expect that things are going to happen overnight.
Patience pace and in building relationships patience pays of course and investment
time is also important.
You know investing time in your social media presence in your social media strategy
consistently leads
to you know small steps lead leads to big results.
For example one of the things I advise my one to one coaching clients is if they
make three links in
connections every day five days a week that's 15 a week it's 60 a month.
It's 720 a year and connectivity and building connections really increases your
visibility it increases
your reach to people who you want to work to get in front of.
And it also increases your visibility to people who are looking to find you.
So were building connectivity and building connections is very important.
You have to be consistent that's in terms of your activity level already talked
about the fact that
your social media presence is your pulse.
People want to see that youre active youre engaging on the platform and you have to
be consistent in
terms of your message.
So remember this is about focus.
You know who your target decision maker is.
You have to communicate a message to them and that message has to be consistent.
You know you can't say one thing one day and then completely change your stance the
other.
That sends a confusing message and what youre looking to do is to send a very very
clear message about
who you are what you do and why it matters.
The fourth thing is that its all about having a two way conversation.

In this video I want to talk to you about something called the linked in social
selling index.
Now it's not something to worry about too much you may have heard of this before.
You may not have heard of this before but basically we all have one of these on
Linked In and the social
selling index is a measure of how effective you are in establishing your
professional brand.
Finding the right people and engaging with insights and building relationships.
And this is a screenshot of my social selling index a little while back.
And these are the four categories and how I was ranked at that time.
And what's interesting is that you'll see here there are four levels that linked in
highlights in terms
of building relationships and this is very similar to the see me like me trust me
hire me Convention
I've spoke about already because once you've identified your destination you've
identified your target
the kind of opportunity you want target decision maker and then you establish your
professional brand
to speak into the problems and the aspirations of those target decision makers.
So you're very focussed.
You've ditched flexibility and you very focussed about trying to reach and the
message that you deliver
to reach them then go out and find the right people.
And this is proactively getting in front of decision makers in your niche.
You then engage in with insights.
This is content that you've curated.
So this could be interesting articles that you found that speaking to your target
audience that you
would share with insight through your linked in feed or it could be created content
original content
you've created in terms of thought leadership pieces like like articles on the
platform and then you
build relationships so linked in is is a one to one platform it's about building
relationships one to
one.
And as with any digital strategy what you're looking to do is to get face to face
with the decision
maker because that's when decisions happen and LinkedIn is one of the tools are a
multitude of other
tools that allows you to getting closer proximity with your target decision maker.
But one of the great things about linked in is that it's instantaneous real time
information that gives
you real up to the minute insight in terms of the people you're looking to reach.
So let's dig down a little bit deeper in terms of what these categories mean and
more importantly what
you can do on your on your profile.
So why is it important to establish a professional brand.
Well it's fairly obvious but what you need to do is to complete your profile 100
percent.
If there is an opportunity to complete something on the profile complete it because
just as Google wants
to serve up complete websites linked in exactly the same it wants to serve up
complete profiles to people
searching on the platform at a rich content.
You know this can be visual content articles videos which highlights you as a
thought leader increase
your visibility by interacting with people's content so liking commenting sharing
other people's content
in your nation is very important and generating endorsement endorsements from
customers and colleagues.
This is people saying yeah this is you what you say you can do your skills and
endorsements you absolutely
can.
And that's important that's social proof in action.
Secondly was important find the right people.
Well if you find the right people in line with your destination they're more likely
to warm to your
message and linked in allows you to really zero in on target decision makers.
And here down here it talks about the fact you can look at who's viewed your
profile.
You can do this on the free version but only to a certain extent.
So the premium version of the platform allows you to look a lot deeper at who's
interested in your profile
that could give you a clue as to how well your profile is resonating with your
target type of decision
maker.
Okay so why is it important to engage with insights.
Well strengthens your connectivity strengthens your relevance with your personal
connections.
If you're producing timely content then you get people's attention and what it
means is that you have
relevant information to share with your connections and also on their profiles.
If they've shared content you have a reason to get in touch you know in line with
the job seeker dichotomy
you know it's always about them and not you.
In the in the first instance and important relationships.
Well you know relationships is what it's all about and linked in is one of the
tools that gets you closer
to your decision maker.
And you know it's a view to building this trust that I've spoken about already
linked in provides lots
of evidence as to you and what you can do it provides social proof in terms of
recommendations skills
and endorsements et cetera et cetera.
So it's a really important important tool to build your profile in the hidden and
market which of course
is the place where high probability opportunities always exist that others rarely
see.
So I'm going to pull up now my social selling Index today.
Let's see what this says Okay so it's gone up 75 out of 100.
What it's telling me here this is my top two.
I sent in my industry sector in top five percent of my network.
By the way to access your social selling index this is the you are all you want.
W w w dot linked in dot com forward slash sales forward slash S S I and I can go
down here and see that
people in my network.
The average social selling index is 45 out of 100 people in my industry it's 16 out
of 100 so what it's
telling me is I'm on the right track in terms of see me like me trust me hire me
scenario that or methodology
that I've spoken about spoken about before.
Well it prompted me to do here as LinkedIn likes to do now is to upgrade to a
premium package so this
is sales navigator.
I have sales navigator and in sales navigator there is more insight in terms of my
connections and more
ability to reach out to reach out to those connections with the right kind of the
right kind of message
so if youve not checked out your social selling index I'd recommend that you do
that and just keep an
eye on it from time to time and see how this number is improving because thats a
good indication as
to how your reach visibility it influence on the platform is progressing over time.

One of the big considerations for people on LinkedIn is whether they use the free
version of Linked
In or whether they use the premium version of Linked In.
You can see here I have a premium version.
But what you can see in front of you here is basically the basic the basic version
the premium version
I have is something called Sales Navigator which sits here.
So if I click on Sales Navigator then it opens up a new tab and my Linked In
profile looks slightly
different.
Now while that opens are just jumped back into here really what I'm paying for with
a premium version
and I'll double into this in a bit more detail in a moment is more advanced search
functionality that's
one of the primary things that I'm paying for.
This is the basic linked in search functionality as you can see it's quite limited
in terms of you know
if you do a keyword stuff on here company is past companies et cetera et cetera.
But really it's a boolean search across the top in Sales Navigator.
If I click here I have much more functionality so I can get very very granular in
terms of what I'm
searching for or more appropriately who I'm searching for.
On the on the platform now linked in doesn't really give a lot of information in
terms of comparisons
as to what the different premium accounts mean.
But what I'm going to do now is just summarize this for you.
And I've spent a linked indirectly about their offering.
There's a free account.
There are various premium accounts and then there are corporate solutions.
And the way they described it to me is a free account is a little bit like
travelling from Scotland
in the UK down to down to London.
It's a bit like walking if you have a premium accounts it's like taking a
motorbike.
So it's a lot faster.
You get to your destination a lot faster from Scotland to London and if you have a
corporate solution
and the different with a difference with a corporate solution which is not really
going to be relevant
for you in that your you're an individual looking to navigate the job market then
just for you know
completeness corporate solution you get a linked in Representative that you can
talk to that can help
you implement your strategy.
So really what we're looking at here in terms of job search is the free vs. the
premium account and
there are two principal premium accounts there's a premium premium business plus
and Sales Navigator
professional.
Now these terms may change over time.
They are essentially the same products.
I've used premium business plus I've yourselves navigated professional.
I'm currently using that.
And there's a few little nuances a few little differences which are like what I'll
talk about.
Now my view has changed probably in recent months.
It used to be you could get away with most stuff and do most stuff on the free on
the free platform.
But now with better search functionality on the paid platform I think it's worth
investing in the pay
platform.
Plus what you get on the paid platform is you have you see here extended linked in
network access.
What will happen is on Linked In free version if you've not been very active on the
platform and suddenly
your active.
What link Tim will do is stop you making connections it will stop you based on
previous activity levels.
Because if it's unusual activity they want to stop you and they want you to pay for
a premium account.
So if you've not used LinkedIn before but now using Linked In extensively as part
of your job search
you're going to need a premium account because otherwise LinkedIn is going to limit
the number of connections
and profiles you can view etcetera etcetera.
So that's important.
The other thing that you get with a paid account is you get something called emails
I'm going to talk
about emails a little bit later on.
But this is like paid paid IMAO.
Yeah.
I'm not a big fan of mail.
I'll explain more on that later.
In a video coming up.
But you know you do get in mails which means you can reach out to people that you
don't necessarily
know you've got no connection with and you can reach them with a kind of paid email
which will pop up
in their links in inbox.
The big difference between premium and sales navigator is is this stuff in my
opinion which is notes
and tags down here.
You also get news alerts which can you know give you an idea as to when somebody
has been in the press
in media which can be useful for a reason to get in search.
But if you dig a bit deeper in premium you can probably find that stuff any way via
google or alternative
alternative options.
No tags though is important and again I want to talk about that a little bit later
on.
But what that means is you can use your LinkedIn profile as a crm.
So it's a database so you can add notes based on the conversations that you've had
with with people
on links in so you can put notes on there.
This is an extra.
Think of your right your spreadsheets which is managing your relationships and
increasing the proximity
the closeness you are to those decision makers.
And you could also tag people using sales navigator and again I'll show you that
I'll show you that
a little bit later.
Another reason that people subscribe to a premium account is because of who's
viewed your profile with
a basic account because if the last five people that looks at you and with a
premium account you can
see it looks at you in the last 90 days and this can be quite useful.
And it's a good gauge as to whether your your profile is reaching the right kind of
people who started
to take note of who you are and your message your message out there.
I don't necessarily suggest that you connect with people automatically just because
they viewed your
profile.
Unless of course there is a reason to do so and that reason of course is always in
line with the job
dichotomy.
Do you have a reason to get in touch.
This is about them in the first instance and not and not you shouldn't.
In my opinion just Cornette because they viewed you.
But you can monitor this and if somebody is looking at you on a regular basis then
it could be that
they're keen to engage you in conversation.
They haven't made the first move but then that could be the time of you to reach
out to them directly
having done your research and having found a reason to work to get in touch.
The other thing I wanted to talk about in in terms of premium is something called a
open profile so
it's your premium badge if I go into my profile you see the premium badge there if
I click here on the
pencil icon what I can do up here is set my open profile so my profile to open and
what this what this
means is it says here this premium feature allows anyone on LinkedIn to contact you
directly for free
even if they are not connected with you.
Now normally somebody who's a with me or linked in would have to send me an email
like a paid Im paid
email or just connect to me and maybe a recruiter an employer or a market maker.
Its not ready to do that so Im going to make it as easy as possible for somebody I
dont necessarily
know who Im not not currently active actively in conversation with.
I'm going to make it as easy as possible for them to reach out to me which means
that they can send
me a message at no cost using using the linked in platform.
This is because I have my profile set as open profile and ill receive that message
from them directly
in my inbox so I'm just making it very very easy for for people to get in touch.

There's a delicate balance between linked in for personal use and linked in for
business use.
And if you're currently employed but are active in the job market then you have to
be slightly careful
not to alert your current organization that you're potentially on the move.
And the big clue is this.
If you start to make changes to your profile suddenly become more active on the
platform.
It can send a message to your current employer that you are active in the job
market.
Certainly as a former professional recruiter one of the ways that I could tell if
somebody was getting
ready to make a move in the job market was by the level of activity on their
LinkedIn profile.
So you have to be slightly careful now.
Your LinkedIn profile is yours and linked in terms it's your profile.
But of course you are connected to your company usually on Linked In and you just
got to be a little
bit sensitive to the fact that connections that you may have within your
organization may be alerted
to some of things that youre that youre doing.
But theres a few ways a few things you can do to protect that and I'll show you
these now just before
I do of course.
If you are in between roles if you're not actively in a in a position but looking
to make a move this
is not an issue and you will need to make these settings I'm about to share with
you.
But if you are in a position and want to protect the fact that you are stepping up
the activity on your
platform.
Here are some things you can do.
So if you go to me and you drop down to settings in privacy first thing you do
click on the privacy
tab and go down to sharing profile edits and simply switch that to know what that
means is when you
make changes on your profile it will send an alert that your first connections will
say that you made
a change you don't want people to see that you're making lots of lots of changes so
simply switch that
to two to No.
The other thing you can do is you can switch off who can see your connections at
the moment I have this
set to my connections my connections connections connections can see who I'm
connected to but if I switch
this to only me what that means is that other people my connections can't see who
I'm connected to and
if I'm connecting with more recruiters with more employers then I might just want
to switch that switch
that's off to only you for a for a little while just to protect protect
confidentiality and to protect
people seeing that I'm making connections perhaps in a certain sector that may give
them a clue that
I'm actually I'm actually on the move.
Next in your Linked In profile part of your activity should be sharing articles
creating content either
created or curated content created as you know things like publish post curated is
way you seeing you
know interesting articles that you may want to share with your with your network.
Now when you were when you share a particular particular post you have the
opportunity to share it publicly
or to share it with your connections only or to public and Twitter.
If you have a Twitter account connected so depending on what you sharing you know
you may not want everybody
on LinkedIn to be able to say you only want your connections to see it and youve
got to be a little
bit careful about the type of content you are sharing you know suddenly sharing
lots of lots of content
about how you find a position in the job market may give a clue to your current
employer that youre
on the move.
So there is a delicate balance to be had because you need to be sharing content
with your target decision
makers to raise your profile your thought leadership potential in the market.
But there is a delicate balance that if you start to step that up too quickly too
soon that it could
alert a current employer to the fact that you may be thinking about jumping ship
and moving to do something
else.
Now forward thinking organizations now recognize that their employees should be
sharing content and
should be building out a personal branding and being seen as a thought leader
because it helps not only
the individual it helps the organization but not every organization is like that.
So depending on your organization you would need to be more sensitive or perhaps
less sensitive depending
on what their attitude is to employees sharing content and using Linked in you know
more actively than
perhaps other people within the organization.
The other thing that you have to be.
You have to be careful of is groups and groups are very powerful in terms of your
ability to raise your
profile in front of some people within a particular profession.
Industry sector or geography and you find groups here under work.
More on groups more groups later.
Now when you join a group youre going to get you to send and send out an alert that
you are joining
a particular group and similarly with.
Similarly with the other two things that I've shown you about your you know your
visibility and what
you are doing on the platform in the settings you can.
Change that and turn that into that.
So people don't know when you've when you've joined a particular group.
So if I got two communications here and if I go to group notifications choose
whether whether we notify
your network when you join a group.
And again you just turn that two weeks off.
So if you're starting to join groups in a particular sector if you're joining some
you know if you join
in some job search groups then you really want to turn that off because you want
your connections to
necessarily to necessarily now.
So just a few little ways you can protect yourself if you're currently employed but
are now starting
to beef up your activity in the job market to to find and secure that next
position.

In this video I want to show you how to update your career interests.
And this is something that not many people seem to know but can be quite important
in getting your message
out to work recruiters which of course are part of your strategy to find and secure
your at your next
position and at what you do as you go up to jobs here and click on there and you
click here update career
interests.
And this is our read.
It says let recruiters know your open so recruiters with a certain package on the
platform will be able
to see that you are open to opportunities and it says we take steps not to show
your current company
that youre open but cant guarantee complete privacy.
So you have to be slightly careful with this because there is a risk that your
employer might find out
if youre currently employed and linked in is categorically saying they cannot
guarantee complete privacy.
So if I switch this to on what I have the opportunity to do is to send a message to
recruiters.
I've got 300 characters to be able to do that.
This is kind of my my call to action.
My my.
My offer to the market.
My Destination statement of sorts.
It's really akin to the professional headline on your your linked in profile.
I can add the type of job that I am considering the location.
What type of position and in terms of company preferences the industry and the size
of the organization
that I'm looking to work for.
If this is which to on recruiters will be able to see this and it may just lead
some it to some private
inquiries from recruiters that you may not otherwise get.
Having said that as a as a former professional recruiter and I switch that to off
now as a former professional
recruiter what I can tell you is this I would be less concerned about this.
I would be using LinkedIn to find individuals with the right skills experience and
abilities that I
was looking for from my clients and whether they were you know open in terms of
career interests or
not wouldn't really concern me because if they were passive candidates they hadn't
communicated to me
in any way shape or form that they were looking.
It wouldn't matter of providing they had what I was looking looking for so I think
this is something
to be aware of.
I don't think it's massively important.
I think the better recruiters out there certainly the search firms are going to
find you anyway.
But it might be something you want to experiment with just to see if it generates
some additional interest
in your profile.
But the priority always is to have a great profile and then to use the platform
proactively proactively
to reach the decision makers that you're looking to reach.

The importance of building a personal brand.

Nowadays developing a personal brand is essential to your success. A personal brand
influences what others say about you when you're not there – if you don't choose to
communicate your message, others will fill the gap with what they perceive.
As with everything else in the Career Codex methodology, you want to be in
proactive control. In building a personal brand online, the same applies.
In the next video I explain in more detail why it's so important to build a
personal brand.

So let me ask you a question and it may seem like a strange question to be asking
but here we go.
So have you googled yourself lately and the reason I ask this is because quite a
few people that I talk
to have never done this.
And it's an important thing to do because when you think about how we research
these days we tend to
divert to online means whether we're looking to buy something whether we're looking
to a research a
service provider.
We're going to go online and do some due diligence and it's exactly the same in the
job market and as
a former professional recruiter I would search for my candidates on Linked In and I
would also search
for them on Google because I knew that if I put them in front of an employee as
part of the employer's
due diligence at some point they'd be likely to do that.
And I wanted to know what was going to pop up so I could be prepared for it.
And if there was anything that I needed to discuss with my candidate I'd find it
before I put them forward
to work to my employer.
So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to google myself and see what see what
comes up and I would
encourage you to pause this video and go and do that for yourself too.
So here we go.
So I'm going to search on my name and side of the serling's you can see my search
on careers because
that's the that's the sector that I'm in.
So everything that pops up here is photos videos all of this stuff is stuff that
I've proactively positioned
in the marketplace proactively positioned online.
You can see my LinkedIn profile comes comes in at third your LinkedIn profile is an
important it is
an important tool to get found online through a Google search.
And Google likes LinkedIn linked him profiles and Google will generally put your
LinkedIn profile certainly
on page one and it's one of the one of the quickest ways for people to find you so
that's another important
reason to work to be on Linked In.
The important thing to say on this on this page is that all of this content I have
proactively positioned
out there so well I'm not I'm not reliant on somebody else to communicate my
message through consistent
social media engagement.
I am proactively telling my story proactively putting my message out there and you
have a choice online
either you're reactive to what others say about you or your proactive in the
message that you put out
there.
And certainly I would much rather be proactive in putting my message out there
because I have an opportunity
then to shape what that message what that message looks like.
So talking about personal brand what is a what is a brand.
Well a brand is what people generally say about you when you're not there.
And to all intents and purposes its how they perceive you.
And people will have a perception of you based on what sits on line based on the
content that's online
whether you created it or not.
And I would encourage you to start creating because that informs your positioning.
But if there is no content online if they search for you on Google and they don't
find anything they'll
also have a perception then.
And if you think about it if you think about your position the opportunity that
you're looking for there
may be requirements that you have a public profile that you have a public presence
to help promote the
business that you're going into.
And it's important that you tell a story of having a public profile and being able
to communicate a
public profile for the benefit of the organization that you work for.
Certainly that's part of the requirement of the position that you're going to end
up in by proactively
pursuing this.
This next opportunity.
So it's important.
So have a google of your have a google of your name see what pops up.
Don't worry if not a lot does pop up at the moment.
You had to learn it in this section how to positively inform what does come up when
people search you
but just recognize the fact that people will be doing this.
Employers will be doing this.
Professional Recruiters will be doing this and you absolutely have the opportunity
to proactively influence
what what they find online in searching for a new position.
Now is the time to build brand.
You have a responsibility.
Remember career Codex career and its methodology is all about taking personal
responsibility for your
results so you have the responsibility to build brand you you can't rely on other
people to do this
for you and this means that as a starting point you have to know who you're trying
to reach.
And this diverts back to your destination statement which we covered in the
planning section.
You have to know who the decision maker is and you have to craft a message that
will resonate to work
to that decision make or that type of decision maker.
It's important not just to only communicate your skills abilities and their
expertise but online you
also have to communicate opinion.
And sometimes people struggle with this.
I dont want to upset anyone.
I don't want to say something that you know may may go against me.
I'm not talking about anything radical or anything too disruptive but having an
opinion on now on certain
things and certain things put in to your industry sector and the role that you do
is important.
And remember you're not trying to please everyone.
You're trying to do is to craft a message and a personal profile that will resonate
with the target
audience that you've identified.
So you have to yell out your uniqueness.
You know don't try to be anybody else.
Everybody else is taken.
You are you and you need to be proud of you and what you have to offer to a future
employer.
And when I say yell out uniqueness just to be clear what I'm not saying here is
that you go online to
start shouting about what you do.
Remember the highest cycle me like me trust me hire me.
This is about helping and educating.
Its definitely not about selling.
So think of the online world very similar to how you would treat the the physical
world.
You wouldnt go to a networking event and walk into the room and start shouting
about what it is you
do what you would do is go to a networking event and I have a section coming up on
on professional networking
you would go when you listen to the conversations you would start to interject into
those conversations
and you would start to contribute to those conversations and thats how you would
get your message across.
And they say exactly the same online.
One of the big mistakes people make online particularly when it comes to groups
which I will talk about
coming up they go into groups and they start promoting promoting promoting
promoting and thats one of
the ways you can turn people off in the groups.
Thats one of the ways you can get banned from posting in in groups.
That's absolutely something you don't want to.
You don't want to be doing.
You may recognize the image on the right hand side the WOW image and your message
online has got to
create a wow.
People have got people got to take notes it's got to really speak into their
requirements their hopes
fear aspx fears aspirations.
It's got to have the wow factor you know does need to be a bland profile it's got
to have something
about it that it captures people's attention you got to have an impactful shop
window which I'm going
to show you how to put together and then you use that shop window proactively as a
proactive engagement
tool to go directly to your target audience so the image on the on the right hand
side here is the image
I used for the TELL ME MORE test.
And you remember the TELL ME MORE test is a method of communicating your your
skills and abilities not
in the form of your job title and the organization that you work for.
But it's a method of communicating not necessarily directly to your directly to a
decision maker you've
targeted and you've approached using the grab a message Call to Action Convention
but this is a message
that you craft with the TELL ME MORE test that if somebody lands on your profile
they're going to look
at that profile of think wow this is interesting.
I want to find out more TELL ME MORE and tell me more test has three components.
You've got to grab attention and interest.
Your message has got to be easily understood.
It's got to speak into your target audience and it has to be memorable and mobile
because somebody may
land on your profile today.
You want to remember you because two three weeks to three months down the line when
they have a requirement
when they need to talk to somebody about their requirements they want you want them
rather to remember
you ahead of anybody else.
And finally in this video I wanted to revisit the comfort zone which I talked about
in the psychology
section and as I defined the comfort zone Hopefully you remember that it's that
people you know the
places you go and the things that you used to doing well in terms of social media
and linked in in particular
you generally are going to be connecting and contacting people that you don't know
you doing in a different
place perhaps on line.
Perhaps you have not use Linked In extensively before and it's activity that you've
not done before.
So in terms of being at the periphery of your comfort zone which which is here you
write perhaps on
the periphery and remember that the periphery your comfort zone is either a prison
or a platform of
potential.
And the Codex methodology is all about it being a platform for potential so trust
in some of the advice
that I'm giving you in this in this step of the process section do the activity
this will push the perimeter
of your comfort zone it make your compass a bigger.
It will increase your reach your visibility and it will increase your ability to
reach the decision
maker that you need to reach to find and secure the opportunity that you want.
The two principal ways to utilise LinkedIn properly.
In my experience the majority of people create a LinkedIn profile then do nothing
with it. Because they don't have a clear destination in mind, their profile fails
to speak to a target audience and gain resonance.
Your LinkedIn profile is one of the principal ways that professional recruiters and
employers alike will find you in the 'hidden market'. As such your profile has to
have impact and grab their attention from the start.
There are two principal ways to use the platform properly:
1) As a 'shop window' – of your skills, abilities and experience. This is
a REACTIVE strategy, as decision makers will either find you or they won't.
2) As a 'proactive engagement tool' – where you position your message in front of
your target audience. This is a PROACTIVE strategy, which has a higher probability
of leading to inbound opportunities..
In the next video I link back to the lesson in modern marketing I delivered in step
3 (getting in front of decision makers) to discuss the shop window and proactive
engagement tool approaches in more detail.

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171. 'SW' and 'PET’.

In my experience the majority of people create a linked in profile and then do very
little with it.
They create a shop window.
They put that shop window their personal website out to the world and they wait for
things to happen
and the slide you can see on screen you will see an already albeit it's annotated
now.
And I covered this to an extent in getting in front of decision makers which was
step three of the process
section where I talked about a lesson in modern marketing.
And over on the left hand side you can see that this is the Linked in shop windows.
So this is your Linked In profile that that your create.
And this really is outbound activity because it's a it's a personal website.
I've shown you that it's it's very searchable via Google and it's to a certain
extent advertising it's
a it's a billboard it's a message that you put out there whether your target
decision maker actually
comes past is is dependent on how how they're searching for you online and you're
relying on them finding
you online on the platform probably through advanced people search or some other
means.
So it's it's principally a reactive approach and really to get the most out of
linked in what's what
I advise is to use Linked in as as what I call a proactive engagement tool.
And this is akin to inbound marketing which is is modern marketing and this is
where you create content
helpful and useful content that you put out there.
This is the higher cycle me like me trust me hire me.
You put this content out consistently on the platform you can use things like
publish posts you can
position your published post in groups you can engage in groups and through your
engagements through
the content that you create your proactively putting your message in front of your
target audience.
And this can lead to inbound inquiries so they see your content they start to like
your content they
start to trust your message and when it's time to hire when it's time to have a
conversation they know
who to get in touch with and remember link 10 is a platform that both professional
recruiters and employers
use now directly to target talent.
And they're doing this all of the time.
And if your message is just a message which is a shopfront effectively.
Well that's good but it's not as good as it could be using Linked In proactively as
a proactive engagement
tool really increases the probability of you being found and generating inbound
opportunities.

LinkedIn as a 'shop window' – the reactive approach.

In the next 10 videos I'll show you how to create an impactful 'shop window' that
will speak to your target decision maker:
1) Why making connections is so important to drive reach and visibility.
2) Determining your policy on the platform and whether you're a LION.
3) The three key questions you need to ask yourself on LinkedIn.
4) How to use the invaluable real estate LinkedIn gives you – photo, header
and headline (you'll also find an article explaining why 'currently seeking
opportunities' should never be your LinkedIn professional headline).
5) Why and how to create a customised URL and how to set your visibility settings.
6) How to complete the summary and experience sections.
7) What to do about skills & endorsements.
8) Why and how to ask for recommendations.
9) How to make your profile sticky!
10) Finally, as a bridge to using the platform proactively – how to connect to
someone you don't know.
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the videos.

Linked in it is all about connectivity and the more connections you have the more
reach and visibility
you have reached being that you can reach target decision makers and visibility
meaning that target
decision makers can see you because remember in the hidden market when it comes to
Linked in it's two
way traffic.
You can go proactively out to decision makers and they can find you based on what's
on your profile
and what they're searching for.
So there are four types of LinkedIn connections.
There are first tier connections second tier connections and third tier connections
and also a special
kind of connection called group connections.
So were first taken actions of people who are directly connected to you.
You've agreed to connect you said a connection request and that person has accepted
your connection
request but your first hear connections also have first connections and your first
tier connections
first tier connections are your second tier connections.
And so it goes on so this is where the first second and third tier connections come
from.
So the more first tier connection to you have the more second tier connections you
have and the more
third tier connections you have.
And this is all about increasing your reach and visibility by building more first
tier connections.
So what's a group connection.
Well a group connection is a special kind of connection and group connection is an
a first tier a second
tier or a 30 connection.
It's a group connection and what that means is that you were in the same group as
somebody else.
So for example if I join a group on linked in I want to talk about groups in a
video coming up if I
join a group on Linked In that has 2000 members then I have two thousand group
connections via that
group providing they accept me in the group.
So work groups are a really powerful way to increase your reach and visibility on
Linked In and also
if you're in a group as I'll show you later.
People have the opportunity who are also members of that group to communicate with
you directly and
you have the opportunity to communicate with them directly.
Even though you're not a first second or third tier connections yet so groups are
really powerful and
groups leveraging the power of groups and joining relevant groups.
In relation to your target sector your target industry sector profession or
geography really does help
to supercharge your reach and visibility.

On Linked In you have to decide on your policy.

On the platform that is are you going to connect to people you dont know or are you
only going to connect
people that you do know people that youve met face to face.
Now when it comes to successful job search of course the reality is that it is very
likely that the
next person that hires you or introduces you to somebody that will hire you is
somebody you dont currently
know.
So having a policy that youll only connect to individuals that youve met will be
limiting your reach
in a visibility on the platform.
The other extreme there are people on linked in who are called Lions not the not
the roaring type but
Lyons stands for Linked In open network and anyone who has a lie in on their on
their profile where
it wherever that set is basically saying that they will connect to anybody on Link
10 and really link
to an open network.
They generally have a pretty big reach.
I mean this this chap Gabe Hes got five thousand eight hundred fifty seven
followers at the moment.
So if I connect agape am not currently connected to him if I connect to him.
Im going to have his five thousand eight hundred fifty seven.
Well let's assume there's slightly less connections that he has because followers
is usually harder
connections.
Let's say it's five and a half thousand connections.
He's five and a half thousand first tier connections will become my five and a half
thousand second
tier connections.
And that's you know increases my reach and visibility on the platform.
So there are a number of different types of connections.
You know first tier second tier third tier and group connections and connecting
with Lyons is one very
quick way to increase your reach and visibility on the platform.
Now there is a debate of course between quality and quantity.
And my view on this is is the fact that you need quantity you need a certain level
or level of connections
on the platform and you absolutely need to get above 500 as quickly as you possibly
can.
But once youve got quantity its then about quality and if you think about your
destination statement
you have focussed on what it is you want.
You positions your profile to speak in a certain language to a specific audience
about their problems
their aspirations and then its about having quality quality connections and
building more quality connections
and groups are a great way to build quality connections because anyone in a group
is going to have something
in common whether it be a profession an industry sector or a geography so were
connected to people in
groups is a great way to build some quality connections but don't discount Lions.
Lions can increase your your reach and visibility exponentially very very quickly.
So if you find a line on the platform then then feel free to connect to them and
also your policy depending
on what you decide to do.
But my advice is to make your policy one that you connect with anyone that connects
to you.
You have the option.
If somebody does connect to you and starts to spam you with messages or sales
messages or whatever it
might be you have the ability to block block them by disconnecting from them so I
have a I have my policy
is I will connect to anybody but if I receive spam messages or inappropriate
messages then are simply
disconnect from that from that person.

There are three key questions you need to ask yourself when engaging on Linked In.
And the first question is Who are they.
Who are you trying to reach.
Who are the decision makers you're trying to reach.
And the big clue for this is your destination statement because as part of your
destination statement
you've identified the type of organization and the geography but also the type of
individual that you're
looking to work for.
So that gives you a clue their job title the type of organization they work for so
you revert back to
your destination statement.
The second question is What are these people searching for.
So assuming that they are active in the hidden market they're using Linked In to
access.
They had a market.
What are they searching for.
What are the key words.
What would they type into a Google search bar to try and find somebody like you and
that will inform
the keywords you need to include in your profile so that they so that they have a
high probability of
finding you ahead of your competition.
And then finally when and how are they doing it.
So how are they searching.
Are they using the search functionality that linked him provides.
Are they doing it via groups.
Groups are a collection of people on Linked In that have a particular profession
industry sector or
geography.
One of things I used to do as a professional recruiter.
If I had if I had somebody I was looking for I'd search in a relevant group to find
them.
Because if you think of linked in as the ocean then individual groups are like the
ponds and if you
catch a specific type of catch you have you know use the ocean analogy fish.
Then your best suit your best.
Searching in the right kind of pond and that's what groups are really all about.
So are you positioned in the right groups and then time because link 10 people are
going to search at
different times of the day.
When are people using Linked in when are your target decision makers using Linked
In.
Are they searching for you in the morning.
Are they searching for you in the evening.
Are they searching for you throughout the day.
Because if youre creating content and sharing that through your your activity feed
or your curating
content and showing that through your activity feed you need to know when to do
that and when the best
opportunity to do that is to increase the probability of you being found and seen
as an important player
in your sector and a thought leader in your sector.

Linked in provides three invaluable pieces of real estate that you absolutely must
take advantage of
to communicate your message to your target decision maker.
The first is your photo.
This needs to be a professional headshot.
Black and White Collar doesn't really matter but it needs to be a professional
headshot dressed accordingly.
You know for the market you're looking to to appeal to and with a smile on your
face.
First impressions count.
And although this is a digital platform people judge people on first impressions so
smartly dressed
cropped hair professional headshot and a smile on the face goes a long way to
encourage people to engage
further with the remainder of your out your profile.
The second thing is your professional headline.
This is the Professional Headline you have a limited amount of characters to
communicate your value
proposition here and the mistake that many people make here when they're active in
the job market.
In particular if they're not currently Well if they're not currently employed they
put that they're
currently seeking opportunities.
This is a real mistake because there's no value proposition and what you need to
communicate here is
you need to give a sense as to your sector your job title principally and then you
need to spark some
curiosity in terms of your value add or what you could potentially deliver to a new
organization.
To get the attention of a target decision making and curiosity goes for a long way.
I've used to call a man on my profile for a little while now and you know I'm a
executive job search
trainer as it says here coach and corner man.
I get quite a few inquiries because of the word cornermen So I've said what it what
I do and if somebody
is searching for me they're probably going to search on this or something similar.
But this is usually what gets their interest.
They want to know what this corner something thing means and just for just for your
benefit.
If you've not discovered this already in the in the program makki martial artist
and of course the job
market can be a fight and having somebody in your corner to see things perhaps that
you dont see is
important to help you achieve achieve success.
I include my my website here as well because I want to direct them there and I put
stars which you can
just copy and paste from my profile or anyone else's profile that has them and it
just brings this Professional
Headline to to work to light.
Remember this is not this is not the grabber message and call to action convention
that I've mentioned
already.
This is more about the TELL ME MORE test so the analogy here is that you've got an
idea as to the type
of decision making you're looking to reach.
Imagine this is a face to face networking event and you've got to have.
You've got to have something to say about you which is going to invite people to
want to say well tell
me more about that.
And this really is what your professional headline is all about and what you're
trying to do here is
to get people's interest to push them down here so that they read more about what
it is you do who value
proposition and why they might want to talk to you about bringing you in to their
business.
What are the things that people miss all the time.
Is this banner at the top and you know having a banner that communicates something
about your specialism
your sector or your geography is important.
It's only a small thing but because links it gives you the opportunity to have a
background photo then
you should have a background photo and there's very size.
Well there is a size requirement here if you're not a graphic designer Don't worry
you can jump into
something called cannava.
Let me show you this now.
If you go up here to Cannes.
What can the will do is give you the opportunity to create a template with custom
dimensions.
And then you can drag and drop various things various images into that template and
then export that
to your desktop and then upload that to your linked in your linked in header here.
Very simple to do.
And it does count for a lot so the three pieces of invaluable real estate the photo
the professional
headline and the back ground photo.

Setting a personal as you are and your visibility settings are very important.
On the on the platform and let me show you how to access access.
There going to add to me at the top into settings in privacy and privacy.
And then here it's edit your public profile and this way you can set what people
see when they land
on your on your profile you can see down here I've got make my public profile
visible to everyone and
to the public because you know I want I want as many people to see my profile as
possible.
I want them to see pretty much everything on my.
In fact everything on my on my profile.
And if youre active in the job market then that's probably the setting you want to
because it's very
likely that recruiters or employers or market makers very likely they fall out of
your connections and
you want to reach out to the public to get the maximum traction possible once
you've created your your
profile and your profile in line with your destination statement.
The other thing you should do up here is to edit your public profile you are all so
linked him we'll
give you a standard default usually a list of numbers on the end here.
If I click on this little arrow a little pencil rather here I can set my public
profile longtail to
what I want it to be.
So I set my name and my qualification.
What that means is that I can then share that in my signature strip.
I can share that on a business card I can share that very easily with people that I
meet to invite them
to come and connect with me because I want to increase my reach.
That means more first tier connections.
And if it's number of digits then that's not very easy to communicate.
It's far easier to have your name and perhaps your professional qualification in
here to share that
with other people of course as well.
You are more likely to crop up in search results if your name is in your public you
are out.
Then if it's a series of digits that don't really mean a lot to anybody at all.
So when I think about changing this and you will increase your potential for being
found on the platform
and make it easier to share your LinkedIn profile with others other people that
your keen to connect

In this video I want to talk about the difference between the summary and
experience sections.
There are three principal important sections on the platform the professional
headliner already discussed.
And here the summary which first couple of lines now really form kind of a second
shot at the professional
headline and what you need to do now is to click see more to see under that.
This is where there's more information here in the summary and then down here for
various positions
that you've held will be your experience.
Now the important thing to say about the summary is that the first two lines are
critical because they
really add weight to your professional headline up here.
So this really is about delivering a message that must have resonance with your
target decision maker.
For me the summary is about passion and this is where you really communicate your
value proposition.
And my advice here is to do that in the first person because if I was talking one
to one with you about
what I'd do and why I do it and why it matters I will talk in the first person.
And so I would use the word I as opposed to a more traditional communication style
that would tend to
find on a CV or regime.
What I've done here on mine I made it very clear I put two headings and I put the
main thing is how
can I help.
And in addition some additional stuff down here that that may be of interest to
somebody reading my
profile.
So think about what think about what's important to the decision making as you're
trying to reach and
make it really clear how you can help and do it clearly and concisely and space it.
So it's very very easy to read and use the first person communicate your passion
for your profession
industry sector.
That's very very important indeed down here.
In your experience section this is more akin to your CV or regime.
So on the CV or as you may the convention is third person.
So you know it's a little bit more matter of fact it's a little bit more as
expected.
But again down here they should communicate a value proposition.
And really this is about or should be about achievements as opposed to a list of
responsibilities on
your profile.
So think about the organizations that you've worked for the value that you've added
in those organizations
that would be a start a middle and an end in terms of the story and a quantifiable
quantifiable outcome
as a result.
So think CV raises you may hear in terms of experience and think about
communicating achievements that
will resonate with your target decision maker.
So there there the main difference is this is all about passion.
This is about your your kind of summary.
If you were ever to communicate the fact that you are available immediately it's
never a period a professional
headline.
It's definitely not the first couple of lines here but it's probably in here
somewhere but down here
is the more traditional CV stroke resumé communication style.
It's very important to set your skills and endorsements correctly on your linked in
profile and because
linked in gives you this opportunity.
It's important you take the opportunity and position the right skills and
endorsements that will resonate
with the target decision maker.
You're looking to reach.
So Dan your your profile what you will find is skills and endorsements and these
are the featured skills
and endorsements the top three.
And I have the option opportunity to select 47 more so 50 in total.
But I have to decide which are my top which are my top three.
And that's not particularly helpful though we get yeah which are my top three.
So I have executive search career counselling career development and these are the
three that link to
and more flash up in front of people who visit my profile to say is Simon what he
says he is.
Do you want to endorse Simon for these particular particular skills.
So the top three the most visible and what LinkedIn is doing now is if you came to
my profile and saw
these top three skills and endorsements you would see two things you would see
people over here highlighted
to you who are either highly skilled at this particular skill as is the case with
Ross which would give
you confidence that if Ross who is highly skilled at career counselling has
endorsed me that I must
be skilled at career counselling.
Also if you came to my profile and we had a connection in common so there was a
first connection in
common and that first tier connection had endorsed me for let's say executive
search linked team would
flash up the fact that a connection that you know when you have has endorsed me for
executive search
and this is social proof in action and social proof being you know if you know
somebody that I know
and that person has said good things about me that gives you confidence in my
ability to deliver what
I say I'm going to do and it's exactly the same for you.
So the more endorsements you can get for your for your skills particularly the
skills that are most
relevant to the target decision makers you're looking to reach.
Having identified your focus and your destination statement then the more your
LinkedIn profile will
crop up in the right search result.
So few things you need to do.
First thing you need to do is to make sure that you drag and drop these skills so
that your top three
sit in the right place and very easy to do this year drag and drop so the top three
things you want
to be endorsed for sit at the top of your profile because the top three are going
to be flushed up more
they're going to be endorsed more by people visiting your profile.
The other thing is to adjust indorsement settings make sure that you are set up to
be endorsed.
I would recommend you have the set to yes and yes as well.
In the spirit of link 10 and if you endorse people it's got to be a real
endorsement if you endorse
people they are likely to endorse you endorse you back.
So yeah having endorsements is very important make sure the top three resonate and
are on point on message
with your destination statement and having the right featured skills and
endorsements will help increase
your reach visibility and find ability on the platform.

Recommendations are very important analytic linked in and I think it's pretty fair
to say that we live
in a fairly distrusting world now and a world where social proof and third party
verification is important.
If you think about when you last booked a holiday you you probably looked at
TripAdvisor to see the
reviews of the hotel of the resort.
We are in the business now on social media reviewing constantly.
People tend to review when things go wrong not necessarily when things go right.
So really managing your reviews and managing your recommendations on Linked In is
is important to build
credibility and trust with your with your targeted decision makers.
So all the things I used to lock out when I was a recruiter I would look at all of
this of course on
a LinkedIn profile but I would pretty quickly be looking at recommendations because
if somebody was
prepared to come onto linked in and write a recommendation for somebody I was
looking at that would
increase my confidence in the ability of that person.
If you think about a more traditional CV your resume may tend you go through a
recruitment process you
tend not to ask for testimonials or referees until right at the end of the process.
But Linked In gives everybody in the head and market the opportunity to see what
you're all about what
other people are saying about you even before you've entered a recruitment process.
So I've got 55 received recommendations at the moment.
And you know if I wanted to ask somebody let's let's let's go with Russ here.
If I wanted to ask Russ for a recommendation first of all it would rust would have
to be somebody that
I'd done some business with somebody I'd coached or you know whatever in the past.
And what I would do is click up here and I would click request a recommendation so
I jumped on on it
onto its profile I'd select the relationship.
So let's say let's assume this is just an example let's assume Russ was a client of
mine and I would
then say okay that was my position at the time.
And I then click next and then I'd send him a message and I personalize this to ask
him for a recommendation.
But here's the here's the trick Here's the gold nugget here before you ask for a
recommendation in written
form on Linked In.
My advice is to pick up the phone to the person that youre asking for a
recommendation from.
And the reason being is if you find them up and have a conversation with them you
will you will have
the opportunity to explain why it's so important and why you need this
recommendation.
And they're more likely to do it.
And also in that conversation they may ask you Well okay you've done a fair bit of
work for me in the
past.
What specifically would you like me to mention.
What would you like me to emphasize in this recommendation.
Now there is a big distinction here.
I'm not suggesting here that you influence what that recommendation looks like.
What I am suggesting though is you influence perhaps which topics and which areas
of your expertise
that recommendation talks about.
And the best way to do that is by picking up the phone in my example to Russ and
just say look some
work together others work for you in the past.
I'm looking to improve my LinkedIn profile.
And one of the areas I'm looking to get some elaboration on is a specific piece of
my experience.
Would you be happy to perhaps write a recommendation for me.
And in writing that recommendation if you were able to focus on that specific area
as well as anything
else you wanted to write that would be absolutely fantastic and generally youll get
a better response
if you pick up the phone first and talk to the person that youre asking to
recommend you because theyre
more likely to do it and you may be able to guide but not influence which areas of
your expertise theyre
going to focus on.

So you've got people to your linked in profile and they found you and this could be
a decision maker
that you'd be looking to connect with.
And how do you make them stick or stick around awhile.
Well you want to get the basics right.
The three things I've spoken about already but then it's about it's about the
content that you're creating
over here.
This is what I call curated content generally.
So this is sometimes where I will take a in fact let me show you.
So click in to where all activity and you'll see down here the content that I've
created which i share
on a on a regular basis.
But as we get further down you'll see examples hopefully somewhere.
Here we go yes.
Here we go.
This is what I call curated content.
So this is content that I've read elsewhere.
This is five tips for leaving your stress at work designed to get the attention of
my Target.
Target decision maker and I put a comment in here and I've shared it with my
audience because I believe
it's relevant to my audience.
This is created content so these are articles blog post that I've created in the
past that i share on
a regular basis through my feed and over here these are articles that I've created
on on Linked In.
So these are long form content that I've written from scratch and that generally
has a little bit more
value because I created it from scratch.
It's been more effort to create it and I have more of an opportunity to communicate
my message and the
message I communicate in my blog posts or my articles on linked in as they're as
they're known.
It's grab a message call to action it's the same thing you know what am I trying
to.
What am I trying to say.
What's the overarching message the grabber rather then what's the message that
follows.
What's the detail that follows behind that telling some stories.
Some examples.
And then the call to action at the end.
What I want people to do having read this particular article generally you know
that can be to get in
get in contact with you or at least at the very least to connect with you on Linked
In.
So you know that's that's important stuff.
This stuff that sits at the top and that's linked in saying yeah this is important
stuff.
But when you go into your individual individual roles you can add content you can
add media then you
do this by clicking on the pencil icon here and down here you can upload content
you can link out to
content I have here you know a couple of my clients that are recorded a video.
This is this is hosted on YouTube and they're saying some evamy I think it is
they're saying some good
stuff about the executive program.
There's various articles being quoted in the press and it just helps to establish
you as a thought leader.
So if you have been quoted in the press and it's relevant to the to the decision
makers that you're
looking to reach then you want to put this in here.
And one of the best ways to host content is to use something called slideshare
which is slideshare dot
net.
I have an account very easy to set up.
You just upload documents and very easily if you upload a document and you hover
over you can click
add to Linked In profile.
It's got a direct integration because it's a linked in product with Linked In and
you simply click that
and it will turn up on your LinkedIn profile and it's quite amazing on slideshare.
You know even some small presentations that I've done get some quite big views
buried in fact that I
haven't.
I haven't actually really shared this.
So were having a presence on slideshare that integrates through links and is very
important and having
this multimedia face to your LinkedIn profile just makes the profile a bit catchier
a bit stickier.
People are more likely to stick around on that profile for longer and the longer
they stick on your
profile the more they engage with your content your message the more likely they
are they're more likely
they are to get in touch or at the very least send a connection request across to
you.

In this video I want to show you how to set your contact information and also how
to connect with somebody
you don't yet know.
The first thing to say is contact information.
If somebody lands on your profile and they like what they say they want to get in
touch with you.
They dont want to wait.
And as a former professional recruiter if I landed on somebody's profile and I had
to dig around for
their contact details email address phone number then if I couldn't find it would
probably turn me off
and I'd go and look elsewhere.
So there were a few things you need to know a few things you need to do over here
contact and personal
information.
This is where you put your contact information and email address phone number with
an international
dialling tone.
Generally advise a mobile.
You can put your Twitter handles in this that the other your LinkedIn profile sits
at the top.
If you have a website where you blog about your industry sector profession or
whatever else.
This is the place to put it.
But these two things are really important.
I want to see the phone number and e-mail address when get in touch right away.
You can also if you wish.
I've looked at it on my profile but you can also include your e-mail address and
phone number at the
bottom of your summary because that's probably some well something some something
somebody will look
at if they're interested in the stuff they see at the top.
And rather than looking over here they could just pick that up over here.
So it just doubles the chances of them being able to find you or your contact
information.
So what about connecting to somebody that you don't know and you know it's
important to build connections
now the more first connections you have your reach and invisibility.
What I'm going to do is to dive in to Sales Navigator here because there's more
functionality to do
this in cells.
Navigator and one of the reasons that you have a Sales Navigator or a premium
mccowen business premium
is because of something called open link.
And let's jump in here.
So what I've done.
They want a brief search on CFO chief financial officer and second connections
because it's generally
my second connections.
I'm going to look to because they're in closer proximity to being a first tier
connection than perhaps
a third tier connection on the platform.
So I want to go down here and I'm going to pick.
I'm going to pick a an individual that I'm going to show you how to how to connect
with.
And where are we.
Let me find somebody down here.
But but but but but I picked somebody earlier which was a prime example.
I was struggling to find them now.
Mark Okay so Mark Mark has got a couple of symbols here.
He's he's a premium is a premium person on Link 10.
So we've got a premium account and he's got this like on here which is he's got an
immediate or an open
profile.
And what that means is when I go into mark.
If I I've got a number of different things that that I can do I can I can do the
more traditional thing.
I can connect to him here and it's going to ask me to put in a note to personalize
my invitation to
Mark.
Now I can do that.
It's quite an aggressive strategy for somebody you don't know might be your
opinion.
I tend to do this a lot so find a reason to connect to mark so I will have
interrogated his profile.
I'll have a reason that's about him to get in touch.
And this could be as simple as Hi.
We're second tier connections.
I've I've had a look at your profile.
You look to have some very interesting experience.
It will be a privilege to connect with you on links in place and generally you'd
have a problem.
And generally people will connect back to you.
I'm not going to do that on this occasion but that's what I would normally do.
The other options you have is to use something called open link up here because he
has an open profile.
I can send Mark a message and this open profile message I can have a header very
much like an e-mail
I can have the body text here and he will get that message and it won't cost me
anything to reach out
to Mark because he is an open profile.
So he has an open link if you like so I can reach him directly.
Now if Mark didn't have open links set on his profile.
If he didn't have an open profile then what I would see here is send in mail if I
was on a premium account
and send email is basically me paying to send Mark a message and I get a certain
amount of credits each
month with a premium account on on Linked In to send direct messages to potential
contacts but generally
it's better to to use this or in my opinion to just connect directly because if you
send an email if
you if you're in receipt of an email or a you know somebody is paid to get to you
and that has less
resonance for me than if somebody is connected with me directly or perhaps used the
open link to to
get to me.
Now the other thing I could do if I wanted to connect to mark would be to go down
and see which groups
Mark is in and he's in there.
The CFO network I'm in the CFO network but if I wasn't I could join the CFO network
and I could find
Mark in there.
So let me just check is his surname.
So what I'm going to do I really get down here into the group.
I remember a group is a collection of people of a profession industry sector or
geography.
And I won't go down here to members.
And what I can do is I can search for Mark.
And there is what I can do in linked 10 I can message him via the group because we
have a group connection
so I can click here without connecting to him.
I have the ability I have the ability to send him a message.
I'm not connecting to him but I can message him.
I'm going to go back.
Because for me yet that's an option.
But what I would probably do instead I would go into mark here and I would have
noticed that he was
in the group.
I want to I want to make connections not just necessarily send messages.
So what I would have done here is probably just connected directly and reference
the fact that we were
in the same group or reference of content that he shared or referenced something
about his profile that
caught my attention.
So the group connection can be a reason for you to personalize your invitation to
somebody like Mark
so your email open link you can go direct as I'm doing here I can go via group and
send a message.
But if you've got a group connection I think you can go in here and.
And connect anyway.
And it really depends on your attitude to how you like to use links in um quite
aggressive on the platform.
I'm an ex recruiter.
So generally I just dive in and connect but always find a reason.
Always personalize my invitation but email an open link are other options as well
as going.
Fire the groups.

LinkedIn as a 'proactive engagement tool' – the proactive approach.

Your now have the tools to build an impactful 'shop window' and in the next four
videos I'lll show you how to use LinkedIn as a 'proactive engagement tool'.
This is inbound marketing at its best. You put yourself in front of your target
audience by creating content, which invites then to engage, take a look and then
when they're ready connect and get in touch. You may not know individually who they
are yet, but you know the collective audience you are targeting.
I'll explain:
1) How to search, which helps you to identify decision makers and them to find you
– also how to use notes / tags in Sales Navigator.
2) Why it's important to 'like', 'share' and 'comment', in addition to creating
updates and published posts / articles.
3) Why groups are a powerful tool in LinkedIn and how to engage with them properly.
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the videos.

Searching for contacts in decision makers on Linked In is best done through a

premium account.
It gives you much more flexibility and links and increasingly is putting more stuff
behind a paid wall.
So here I am in Sales Navigator.
Have business premium.
This will look fairly fairly similar.
What I'm going to do here is click into a search result and Im going to then have
the opportunity to
enter keywords geography.
Generally I search on second connections and group connections rather than third
everyone else it just
closer proximity to first tier connections and Im generally going to get a better
response I can get
very granular constituents Pacific companies industries company size function job
title and seniority
levels.
So I have a lot of functionality in in here and one side.
You know once you've clarified your destination statement the type of individual
that you're looking
to work for then you want to search on their job title their location and identify
them as individuals.
Identify the organizations that they work for.
And this starts to build your list of employers that you're directly you're
directly targeting.
Now I want to show you something else that you can do in a premium accounts and
this is this is tagging
notes and you can only do this in a premium account.
You can't do it in a free account.
And if I go back to the contacts I was using in a previous example let me see if I
can find Mark who
I was looking at previously.
Here we go.
So what I can do if I go into mark what I can do is in a premium account in cells
navigate I can save
him as a lead.
If I save him as a lead.
And this is more sort of business to business.
He will pop into my Leeds box up here I say please appear and that will allow me to
keep track of him.
The other thing I can do with with Mark is I can tag him so I can say Well Mark is
a certain type of
decision maker that Im looking to reach.
I can create a tag so that I can find him moving forward so I'm going to add a I'm
going to add a tag
in here.
So.
So I got to save as lead first.
That's what it's prompts me to do.
So here we are.
I mean my saved leads.
So what I can do now is I can go into Mark and I can add a tag to the tag I'm going
to add is let's
say for my business.
He's an executive target he's somebody that I think could potentially be a client
of my moving forwards.
He's an important decision maker in my space so I want to tag him as as an
executive target or I could
create a new tag if you know there was something specific about him that was common
to other people
that I might want to find it might be able to find on links.
So I'm going to in fact let's create a new tag so I want to call this.
Let's call this see Jeff.
So let's just leave it at that.
Let's just call it CFO.
And that tag sits there so this could be a CFO that I'm looking to build a
relationship with over a
period of time.
Now I may have discovered something through reading Mark's profile that you know I
want to make note
of.
Or I may have had a phone conversation with him and I can add a note in here.
So perhaps I could I could I say something like a member of the CFO group or
something like that so
I know he's a member of a group that I'm a member of and I can save that and this
will stay on his record.
So this is like a crm within LinkedIn is it.
And he's only available for premium premium customers on Sales Navigator so you can
search quite granular
on a business premium account but notes and tags are reserved only for Sales
Navigator.
So if you have Sales Navigator then this may or may not be a reason to get it but
it just means you
can get a bit more detail with what you can record and how you can search moving
forwards.
So now what.
What I can do here in my leads Mark will appear in my leads at the top.
Now we go so Mark's there but also if I then go into a search and down here instead
of just searching
out instead of searching on key words and everything else because I've tagged Mark
I can now search
on him as my CFO tag.
So for example I can have a list of 50 photos that are my target my target clients
in your in your job
search you might have 50 CFO.
Or 50 CEOs that are your target decision makers that you're looking to get in front
of and using Sales
Navigator you can target them and keep track of them either in your leads save
leads or through the
tagging mechanism here and you see I hit the tag and mark a mark turns up so that's
how you can use
a search functionality and get very very detailed very granular in both business
premium and Sales Navigator.
The notes functionality in the tagging functionality is very useful to use Linked
in as a crm but is
only available in in Sales Navigator.
So that might be a reason to get into Sales Navigator or to to change from a
business premium in else
to sales.
Now we get it depends how you decide to use the platform.
It's very useful for me and it's something that I do advocate because it helps you
to keep close track
on on your contacts and also how you're engaging with them.

Using Linked In proactively means having conversations to expand your reach and
influence beyond your
existing contact base and beyond your existing shop window.
And this is a very important thing to do to increase your reach and visibility and
the likelihood of
you being found in the hidden market.
And remember things you can do.
And one I'm going to show you here is at the top here you have the opportunity to
share an article photo
or update so I can share a piece of content that I found or I can write an article
from scratch and
there are really two types of content that you can share on links in.
There is curated content so for example I may go down here and I might find an
article that is really
resonates with me.
Let's have a look.
Let's find them.
Okay so let's pick this one Sunday science.
The Internet of Things.
So what I could do here.
I could do a number of things I could.
I could take this piece of this piece of content you dive into this here.
And this has been shared by Gemma church got 699 likes so I could like this yeah I
could comment on
it.
I could start to engage in this in this conversation.
And then what I could do what I often do is I will connect to the person who's
written the article and
tell them you know how much I enjoy the article that it resonated with me and I
hope that they connect
back because clearly quite a bit of reach and visibility.
And it just helps my reach and visibility what I can do is I can.
Copy.
You are all of this post up here.
And I can then copy that and then I can use that to share on my feed and to comment
on that on my feed.
I can also do it this way by sharing I can collect share.
They're linked.
This has popped up on my screen.
And again I can comment in here.
And as it says I can mention somebodies name by using the at sign and then typing
there their name just
to acknowledge where I've got that piece of piece of content from and I can post to
groups or send to
individuals or just sent to public or connections on Linked In.
So it's a couple of things I can do.
I can do it that way or I can go back into links in here and here.
This is curated content to its content that I found so I could write something just
to read this great
article etcetera etcetera.
And then what I can do is I can paste the you are real it will pull this through.
Now sometimes it will let let me.
Well I don't think I've connected together so I just read this great article by
ATS.
Let's see if it will let me.
Sometimes it does sometimes it doesn't it generally reserves this for first tier
connections.
Yes in fact it has.
So if I was going to tag if I was going to tank Gemma we would probably need to be
first tier connections.
But if you offer two connections it pays to tag the person because they get an
acknowledgement that
you've you've tagged them so I'll just expand on this.
And then I'd share that with my with my network.
So if this is on message with my target audience if it is on message with your
target audience and is
content that decision makers you're looking to reach are going to be interesting in
reading.
It just helps to build your profile as a thought leader and an influencer in that
in that space so Im
just going to get rid of this.
Im going to get rid of this because thats not what Im not sure in that piece of
content.
Just an example I can also share an image.
The other thing that I can do is just refresh this page.
I can share an article now that is long form content here.
So all I can do is die then create a headline add an image which I can create in
canvas.
And if its an image that Ive taken from somewhere else I can credit the image there
and then I write
a long form article.
And if you see my Linked In profile You see I do this on a regular basis.
Im constantly writing I do one of these a week.
The last one is what executive search for Ms really wants.
This was quite an interesting post because its a hybrid post so I came across an
article written by
an executive search consultant and I read it and then I put my own spin on it and I
acknowledged this.
This person here in that post and put my own opinion piece in here and when you
create long form content
content what youre really trying to do is to do three things you create a grabber.
This is going to grab somebody's attention.
My target audience is attention.
I then create a message.
I got sort of three key points in there.
And then at the end there's a call to action now for you the call to action may be
for somebody to connect
you on linked in because they've liked what you've written.
Not a huge amount of engagement on this post as yet post links or articles on
Linked In tend to get
less visibility now.
And the best advice here is to copy.
You of your post and then to share.
That's in your public feed here.
So when I post my long form content I also post it in here with a bit of an
explanation as to what it's
all about and I copy and paste the your URL.
And then share that with the public.
So that's another way to do that I do that.
I do that through a bit of automation so it happens on a regular basis which just
means my content has
a bit more resonance and longevity in front of my in front of my target decision
makers.
So that's that's important.
The the long from articles created content and also shorter form articles which is
more of your curated
content where you've seen useful articles that may resonate with with your target
with your target audience.
And if your post gets a certain amount of likes comments it may get picked up in
linked in news feed.
If it does you'll notice that your your post gets exponential viewing it starts to
get some real traction
and the more you can tap in to the mood and the topics of conversation that are
important on the platform
the more likely it is that you'll get picked up in that the other you want to talk
to you about.
On linked in is the just the liking and commenting.
So if I go in to any refresh that if I go into my news feed here.
So here let's say.
Jonathan Andrew was a decision maker I was looking to reach rather than connect to
Jonathan.
In fact we may be connected let's check.
OK.
We are connected.
Let's say I jumped on to a second tier connections profile let's let's just pick
somebody at a name
at random.
Okay so John Jones and I pick John and he.
Yes.
Here we go.
So you know John shared some stuff.
He's not in any published post which is quite common which is exactly why you
should do it.
But what I could do is jump in here and see what.
See what John is shared.
And then to get John's attention before connecting with him I could like this post
I could comment this
post I could share this post.
And John's going to see that he's going to get an alert in his notifications to say
that I've done that
and just start to build a relationship with John if I view John's profile.
He will see in it depending on whether he has a premium account which it looks like
he doesn't say he
will see the last five people that viewed his profile.
That's getting my getting me on his radar definitely if I like or comment at one of
his posts that gets
me directly on his radar with a view to making a connection.
I call this my shark attack strategy perhaps not the best title but you imagine
you're in a boat out
at sea.
If you are in shark infested waters then what do the sharks do.
Well they bump at the bottom of the boat to let to let you know that they're there.
And this is the strategy on nichts end before you would make that connection.
Or one of the strategies you can use on Linked In.
So yeah quite a bit of information there in terms of creating content curating
content that would be
relevant to your target decision maker and also building relationships through
liking commenting and
sharing other people's content or other things that or things that other people
have shared their curated

Group should be an important part of your strategy to build reach and influence on
Linked In.
And you know groups are a collection of people of a particular profession industry
sector or geography.
There are some groups are long term which is more about interests but that tends to
be more for Facebook.
This is more about a business community a business.
Business networking opportunity based on one of those one of those three things.
So a few things I can do to find groups that might be relevant to me and relevant
perhaps that's probably
the wrong thing to say.
It's relevant groups to my target decision making because that's where I want to
position myself and
one of the ways I can do that is using this search functionality up here to find
decision makers that
I'm looking to reach and have a look at which groups they're in because that's a
great clue that they're
groups that I should be in I should be into.
Up in the search function I functionality as well.
I can click on the search tab here and click on groups so if I wanted to find you
know groups about
finance let's saying or I can do is click here and it's going to show me all the
groups on links in
relating to finance.
So those are some of the groups that I would want to join if I was looking to
position myself in front
of a finance decision maker.
The other thing I can do is go over here to work and click into groups and this
will show me all of
the groups that I'm currently a member of.
These are my groups here.
And what I can take here is discover it will make some suggestions to groups that I
might want to join
and I can claim not interested or so I'm not interested in that one but maybe I
want to join the CFO
coaching club.
Someone asked to join that and then I'll need to wait until my request is approved.
So being in the right groups is important and I'm going to show you a couple of
things that you're going
to want to know about about groups.
I'm going to go into one of my groups here.
I'm going to go into this one.
You can see the 60 new conversations.
This is a really active group.
So if I go in here what I can see is a group rules so what this group is all about
and the best advice
when you enter a group is not to immediately start to post stuff.
But the best advice really is to listen and get the temperature of the room.
It's a bit like when you go to a networking event you know you don't go and go in
there and start shouting
about what it is you do and you go in there and you listen to some of the
conversations and you start
to engage in some of those conversations.
Now this is a group for CFO.
So you know if I was in the if I was in the job market and you know I was looking
to position myself
as CFO was then this is a great place to be because quite a few of these people in
here maybe not all
will be CFO or at least have a finance background.
And again I can like and comment on some of this stuff to start to build
relationships.
I can create my own content.
Over time I can look at who the other members of this group are and I can search
the members of this
group to see if there's somebody that I'm looking to connect with who is a member
of this group but
I can message them without connecting if I chose to do so.
Amends is important.
It means a market makers.
So these are well connected individuals in a particular profession industry sector
or geography.
And it can be a good idea to connect with these these group managers or admins and
or the owner indeed
and say look I'm a member of the group really enjoying the content in there.
Is there anything that I can do to help you any content you like to create and if
you like me to do.
Because if you get the attention of the group owner and you know this group has got
quite a few members
that's that group and I might just say yeah what do you write an article for me and
what I'll do I'll
post that and make make make sure that everyone in the group is aware of this
particular article so
it exponentially increases the reach of your content in there.
My advice is to have about 10 groups that you are active in and these are the
groups that your decision
makers that you are looking to reach should be active in all should be at least be
maybe not active
in.
But how often you post in groups really depends on how many people there are in
there.
There's a lot of activity here in the in the group and you know you're going to
want to post on a regular
basis in a group with lots of activity.
This is where your creative content comes into place because having identified your
destination statement
speaking to your target audience through your created posts where do you show your
creative posts where
you share them on your shop window your linked in profile.
But you also proactively position them in front of your target decision makers and
that's where groups
comes in because you can you can put your u r l of your post in here and just
explain a little bit about
what it's about and invite some comment and feedback and then post that in there.
So that really helps to get your message out to big relationships with market
makers and yeah groups
are a powerful powerful thing on links and everything about links.
And as a as the ocean then groups are like ponds within the ocean and ponds which
are a collection of
people of you know like minded disposition.
They've got something in common profession industry sector or geography usually.
And this is a great place to you for you to position yourself to increase your
reach and visibility

A source of salary information.

Before we close out this section it's important to highlight LinkedIn Salary.
LinkedIn has recently begun collecting data on salary information. This is an
important development particularly when it comes to offer negotiation (see later),
which must always be based on evidence. It's early days and reliant on people
sharing their remuneration / compensation information and I've highlighted it here
(instead of in step 8) as it relates to LinkedIn.
In the next video I'll explain more and show you where to find LinkedIn Salary.

One of the relatively new features on Linked In is something called linked in

salary survey.
And this exists under Jobs on the on the platform.
So if I click in here and I can see here is linked to in linked in salary if I
click in here what's
linked to will prompt me to do is to enter my job title and location.
So for example I put in CFI and it will give me some defaults so I'm going to put
let's put let's put
groups CFO and I'm going to go for London for example.
And again it is going to pop up some some defaults.
There we go.
And I'm going to search.
And what will happen now is links in will give me a median base salary median total
compensation.
It'll give me it will give me information based on what other people have told
Linked In what other
people told the platform in the in the past.
So you know there's only been four responses to this particular search I linked and
this is data that
that linked tierney's is building I can fine tune that even more by years of
experience.
In fact no I cannot hear because it's not got enough information here and I can
take whether this looks
accurate or not.
So it's just a useful way to get a bit of information about what the market is is
is paying what the
middle salary is based on what the people are a telling linked in about this
particular job title in
that particular location.
And the other thing I can do here is to enter salary information.
So while I can choose to do is I can enter my job title and I can put my location
and I can continue
through this.
Let's put this in London for the time being.
I'm going to continue through this here.
Title also let's call myself CEO.
Go and I can continue in here and I can put my salary I can put per year per month
whatever it is and
this is how linked in is building its database.
So there is no showing this is because this can become quite useful this data's not
brilliant because
theres not theres not a huge amount of data for for this type of job title and
location theres only
four responses it says here that a histogram will be displayed after 20 responses
so as linked in bills
this is going to become.
This is going to become more and more important when it comes to often negotiation.
And I talk about often negotiation a little bit later on in the program.
So this is just something to be aware of then because often negotiation Its about
having some evidence
as to why you would negotiate an offer upwards.
And I think increasingly as linked in gathers this data and this information this
is going to become
more and more important both for employers to know what they need to pay and also
for candidates to
know how to negotiate to be able to negotiate more effectively

Congratulations on completing step 5.

Congratulations on completing step 5 of the process section.
You now have a detailed understanding of the power of social media and specifically
LinkedIn to raise your profile, visibility and reach in front of decision makers in
the 'hidden market'.
LinkedIn is both a 'shop window' and a powerful 'proactive engagement tool'.
Investing time, energy and effort to build an impactful profile and new connections
will really pay off.
Now's the time to get to work on your own LinkedIn profile to position your
narrative to resonate with decision makers who hold the key to the opportunity
you've identified in your 'destination statement'.

Social media is critical.

If you don't exist in cyberspace you don't exist at all.
So as a as a former recruiter I would look at the CV and then pretty quickly I'd
get onto linked in
as my primary tool.
And the reason I do that is because the social profile is going to tell me a lot
more about a candidate
than the paper documents things like social proof other people endorsing them for
skills that they have
the recommendations that are on there which third party verification as to what
they say they can do.
I'd also be cross referencing the CV with the LinkedIn profile to make sure that
they stacked up.
And of course you get more of a sense of somebody from their LinkedIn profile
because there's a photo
one there there's an activity feed so if they're commenting and posting about stuff
so that would be
my first point of call generally pretty quickly from the CV to divert I linked in
to see what they were
what they were saying and what they were all about.
Plenty of our stories.
What is one of the main things you need to watch out for.
So in my own business my recruitment company we interviewed a candidate we thought
he was great and
we did a cross reference to social media.
I think it was on Facebook.
We uncover some stuff that kind of told a different story to the story that had
been portrayed and as
a result we made a decision not to hire that candidate so whatever's out there on
social media.
However historic it is it's probably still less you have to be very very careful
and to make sure your
privacy settings are set accordingly.
But best practice is just to communicate whatever is on line.
Make sure it's the right message because people can find stuff from way back when.
And it's important that that stacks up with the message you're trying to deliver to
a recruiter and
to an employer

Welcome to step six of the process section where you learn the importance of
networking and how to do
it properly.
Face to face networking is one of the things people fear the most but it's an
important part of any
successful job search strategy.
And the culmination of all you've learned so far.
It's actually one of the most effective ways to access the hidden market or show
you that empowered
networking is not about meeting someone looking to hire and should never involve
selling.
You'll discover how to answer the who where how and how often questions and to
approach networking with
renewed confidence and a strategy for success.
Also share with you the ultimate technique for building relationships with people
you don't yet know

Key principles of successful networking.

Networking is a way to connect with people you don't yet know who have the ability
to bring you closer or introduce you to your target employer. If done correctly it
gets you closer to the career opportunity you really want.
There are four videos in this section where I'll outline a successful approach to
networking and explain how to do it properly:
In the first video I discuss the power of networking and why it's something not to
be feared, but instead embraced.
In the second video I explain why networking is never about selling. Removing the
pressure to sell yourself makes the experience more enjoyable (for you and the
people you meet) and leads to far better results. It's time to stop selling and
make it memorable instead!
In the third video I explain how to build your strategy for success by considering
the questions: Who, where, how and how often?
In the final video in this step I highlight the ultimate 'TEC'hnique for building
relationships.
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the videos

Effective networking is very different to the networking that most people do.
In my experience and having attended lots of networking events over the years and
actually running my
own events what I see sometimes is people turn up they chat to a few people hand
out some business cards
and leave.
And because sometimes people find networking uncomfortable or they can sometimes do
too is arrive late
and leave early which is no recipe for success.
And really to be effective at networking I used that word deliberately.
Effective.
You have to have a strategy.
And in this video what I want to do is talk to you about the power of networking
and also five key principles.
The first key principle of effective networking is that it gives you direct access
to the hidden market.
And I talked about the job market environment in the environment section of the
program and I talked
about the conversations employees have when they're looking to hire.
And before going out to the public domain to job boards or recruiters they have
conversations one and
two.
And one of the conversations that they have in conversations one and two is with
market makers and you
remember that market makers are well-connected individuals in a profession industry
sector or geography
and it's market makers who you will meet at networking events you meet market
makers at networking events
because that's what they do.
They enjoy networking events.
They're well respected figures well-connected figures and the organizer of any
networking event by definition
is a market maker.
So at networking events and by going to networking events that are relevant to your
profession industry
sector or geography you are meeting one of the key people that can give you access
to the hidden market
namely market makers.
The second principle is that networking is uncomfortable for a reason.
Everybody finds it uncomfortable and a lot of the reasons that people find it
uncomfortable is because
they don't do it enough.
And we tend to get comfortable with what we do and remember when one I outlined in
the psychology section
of the program about the comfort zone and your comfort zone are the comfort zone is
that people you
know the places you go and the things you're used to doing so if you're going to an
event where you
don't know people if you're going to a place you dont know and you're doing
something you don't do on
a regular basis.
Of course it's going to feel uncomfortable.
It's a step out of your comfort zone and it's absolutely natural.
But to get comfortable as you remember with a with a step outside of your comfort
zone you stay there
long enough to get comfortable and that naturally expands your comfort zone and
that is where opportunities
often often exist.
I remember everyone's in the same boat.
If you're feeling uncomfortable going to a networking event I can guarantee you
there will be lots of
other people they're thinking the same things.
So if you remember that it's going to make you feel a lot better about your
situation and of course
you understand that you are on the periphery your comforts that comfort zone and
that's where you need
to be to really make things happen.
The third thing is it's never about selling at a at a networking event.
And this is where people often go wrong in terms of their inherent beliefs that
they have to go to a
networking event.
They've got to meet as many people as possible and sell their skills and abilities
and the fact that
they need a new position or are looking for a new position.
That's not what it what it's all about at all.
And changing your mindset to go to a networking event that it's not about selling
that it's about something
else is important.
Because the chances of you bumping into somebody at a networking event who as an
opportunity for you
right now is extremely slim.
So you're not looking to me a decision maker who's there ready to hire you what
you're looking to do
is to communicate a message that's memorable because you going to meet people at a
networking event
who go to other events.
They network with people they're gonna have conversations naturally in the in the
hidden market and
everyone is a potential market maker.
They had a market so you got to meet these people and you need to communicate a
message that's memorable
so that they take that message with them and when they're asked who do you know who
could you recommend
they're going to think of you.
The other element of selling that I wanted to talk about here is that it goes
against the job seeker
dichotomy.
So go into a networking event thinking you have to position your experience upfront
and really sell
their experience is a mistake because in line with the job seeker dichotomy which I
introduced in the
getting in front of decision makers Step three the process section that's all about
taking a different
different approach to everybody else so the second part of the job so you get a
call to me says that
in any engagements with recruiters employers are market makers in the first
instance.
It's all about them not about you.
And that builds a relationship that takes the pressure off you selling and it's
going to make you more
memorable in their eyes which which is what this thing is really all about.
The fourth principle is that networking is a strategy for success but it's a long
term game.
So you have to do it consistently.
There is you know there is a probability that if you go to one event you may meet
somebody that will
introduce you to somebody at some point in the future.
But if you go to an event on a regular basis then particularly it's the same event
and it's a very relevant
event to the profession industry sector or geography you're looking at in line with
your destination
statement.
Then the more you go the more you're going to get remembered and the more you're
going to get used to
that environment and be able to be able to communicate effectively in that in that
environment.
So were doing it consistently and not expecting an instant payoff is very important
too.
And finally remember effective networking happens both offline and online.
In Step Five of the process section I talked about social media strategies and how
to network online
and face to face networking events of course gets you closer to a human being so it
advances you along
that that journey to get in front of a decision maker potentially albeit that it
may not be your target
decision maker but somebody that could potentially introduce you to somebody in the
in the future.
So it's important to have a balance between both offline and online networking and
the two really go
hand in hand because if you think about the fact that if you go off to a after a
networking event and
you've done some research on some of the people that may be there you may have done
that online on LinkedIn
to get some information on their background and some of the things that you might
wish to talk about.
Secondly in reverse.
Having met somebody new at a networking event what you will do when you come back
to when you come back
home or to the office is that you would make connection requests on linked in
because you met in person.
So there's an implication then that you would connect on online and of course if
you're doing the social
media strategies that I've talked about using Linked In specifically is a pro
active engagement tool
then they will have the opportunity to consume your message and content long after
the networking event
that you met them at is over

I mentioned the previous video that networking and effective networking should
never be about selling.
And I wanted to expand on it in this video and also talk about why making your
messaging and your communication
style memorable is so important and also how to do that.
So it's a really big mistake go into a networking event believing that you're going
to bump into a target
employer decision maker who's ready to hire right now.
And if you go to a networking event without belief there's a very very good chance
that you will come
away disappointed and success.
Networking is not about selling but it's about being memorable because you don't
know when the person
that you're talking to a networking event is going to come into contact with
somebody in the hidden
market who is going to have a need for somebody with your skills and experience in
your role at that
networking event.
But once you've you've listened and you engage with that individual so were in line
with the job to
get our economy to position your message so that it resonates.
And it's it's remembered.
I remember while everyone else at a networking event is perhaps there to sell
career codecs in the Coro
carrick's methodology is all about doing the opposite to stand out so well while
everyone else is selling.
If you're there doing something different which is engaging and communicating a
message in a very different
way.
It's more likely that your message is going to be memorable and mobile.
And last well into the future.
So in Step Three of the process section getting a any decision makers I talked
about something called
the TELL ME MORE test and as a quick reminder the TELL ME MORE test is where you
are positioning a message
not directly in front of your target employer.
The Taj target decision maker but in front of somebody that could connect you to
your target employer
at some point in the future.
And the idea in terms of your communication style is to prompt a response well that
sounds interesting.
Tell me more.
And of course it's very very much more than your job title and who you currently
work for and it's a
networking event that tends to be the temptation.
People ask you well who are you.
What do you do.
And you give your name job title and the organization that you work for.
But that's not what it's all about the TELL ME MORE test is about communicating a
story that has a grabber.
It it generates interest.
It's easily understood and because it's easily understood it's memorable and that
makes it mobile.
So what happens is that that person takes that story with them and when they go
about their everyday
busy business when they're travelling about they'll remember that story and if
somebody prompts in with
a question well who do you know who could do this.
Who do you know is an expert in this field.
They are more likely to work to remember you.
So over here on the left of the screen you can see now if this is a time line this
is the networking
event this is where you position or tell me more test and over time this this
message that you position
is memorable and mobile.
And the people that you talk to will remember it.
And what that means is when they're having conversations one and two they're more
likely to remember
it and position your story.
So the result and the pay off from your networking is not likely to happen today.
But he's more likely to happen at some point in the future.
And if your sole message here is about the need for a job the need for a new
position.
People are going to remember that that's that's not a unique message.
That doesn't define where you're headed it doesn't define where you come from.
It just defines your current situation.
And that's not giving somebody over here the ammunition to communicate a powerful
story that resonates
in the head and market.
So it's very much about the TELL ME MORE test here to give the people that you meet
the the ammunition
in the story to then communicate that in.
Now if they had a market to potentially run again this is about probability not
certainty to potentially
generate an opportunity in the future in the hidden market.
If you remember back to Step 4 of the process section where I talked about
interviews you remember that
one of the key principles of effective interviews is the other person's feeling
about you and influencing
their gut feel because as human beings we respond to emotion.
That's what drives us.
And what what you need to be thinking about doing at a networking event in line
with the advice I shared
in the interview section is is to influence that other person's feeling about you
to really influence
their experience while they spend time with you at the networking event influence
their experience of
being with you and being in your company.
And this is where the job seeker dichotomy comes into play because in the first
instance it's about
you taking an interest in them.
It's not about you were you pushing your message on them which is very very
different.
And remember people tend not to remember what it is you were you say specifically
they're more likely
to remember that if you communicate stories which is why storytelling in the form
of the TELL ME MORE
test is so important but people really remember how you make them feel and if
they're there at the networking
you aren't feeling a little bit uncomfortable.
You engage with them in a different way which is not about pushing your message but
about taking an
interest in them in the first instance they will remember that they're more likely
to help you in the
hidden market moving forward.
Now one of the other ways that you can be memorable at a networking event is based
on the questions
that you decide to ask people in in your communications and certainly at networking
events that I've
I've been to and events that I run.
Having witnessed how people engage with one another that I've never met before.
It tends to be the standard questions of well who are you what do you do where are
you from that kind
of thing.
But that really doesn't help you to stand out.
So what I want to share with you now some ideas as to how you can ask more
memorable questions which
will help you stand out and spark a higher level conversation.
And if you remember back to the interview step of the process section Step 4 it was
all about establishing
a higher baseline and this is a play on that to establish a higher level of
conversation with somebody
that you meet at a networking event.
So here are some examples of question.
So here are some examples of questions you can ask that are slightly different.
Were told to stand out be memorable.
And it goes against the traditional line of questioning who are you what do you do
worry you from.
And these questions are designed to be slightly disruptive to be slightly
challenging but of course
they raise the level of conversation to a higher level.
So first question what are you working on in your business right now.
Related to that what's taking priority in your business right now.
What's currently keeping you awake at nights.
This plays into fear and aspiration.
I spoke about this at step 3 getting you for any decision makers and about the fact
that when you are
positioning for another target employer you ought to think about what keeps them
awake.
It will either be fair or aspiration.
And if you can speak into that then then that helps.
So we have this high level conversation with people you meet at networking events.
They're not necessarily decision makers that will hire you but they are people that
could potentially
introduce you in the net market.
And then finally what opportunities for growth.
Are you currently exploring.
And this is about the aspiration play.
So again getting somebody to talk about what's going on in their business that
they're moving towards
that's positive is a great thing to do to influence their experience of being in
your company.
So while some of these questions may seem more difficult slightly unusual that's
okay just weave them
into your normal dialogue and see how it see how it pays off a note or down in your
thinking journal
and see what works and make improvements moving forward but have fun.
Experiment with it and remember this is about the second part the job seeker
dichotomy.
So it's all about you influencing their experience of view in your company and in
the first instance
it's always has to be about them and not you

Now it's time to formulate your strategy for Effective networking.

And this starts by asking yourself a number of questions.
And the first question is Who are you trying to meet at a networking event.
Now you now know it's not necessarily your target employer.
The target decision maker in the organization that you want to work for.
That may happen depending on the event.
But you know it could be a it could be high probability low probability depending
on the event.
Any networking event however you are very very likely to meet market makers and
remember market makers
are well-connected individuals in a particular profession industry sector or
geography and market makers
are the people that are consulted by employers all of the time having conversations
one and two to find
people with certain skills and abilities and experience.
So positioning yourself in front of a market maker and networking events and
remember these people go
to networking events it's what they enjoy doing they are well connected by
definition.
By attending networking events either in a profession industry sector or geography
that is relevant
to your destination statements you put yourself up for it.
Market makers that have the opportunity if you deliver the right message to them
using the TELL ME MORE
test to remember that and communicate that in the hidden market moving forward the
next question to
ask yourself the second question is where and where means geography.
It also means well what kind of event whereas the event based and on what topic is
it who is likely
to be there because where it's base will govern the audience that will be in the
room.
And the analogy I use in my book is one of energy to describe energy because we all
have limited energy
and if it's anything like where I'm based there are a multitude of networking
events to go to.
It's pretty similar where youre based and you have to be discerning and choose
which events to go to
because the analogy is.
Its like a car if youre a car you have fuel in the tank but that fuel can deplete
very quickly and if
youre running on fumes at a networking event youre perhaps not giving the best
portrayal of yourself
and you actually need to be there on full energy on a full tank of petrol to work
to really engage with
people properly to come over in the best possible way so you have to choose which
events to work to
go to and there is a geographical consideration which is local national and
international on the international
front.
If you are looking to move country as part of your your job search strategy My
recommendation is that
you spend some time in your destination country because it helps to convince an
employer that you're
serious about making that international move.
It will help convince a professional recruiter if you're talking to a professional
recruiter there about
making that international move.
And you'll also get the lay of the land locally because you'll meet some decision
makers at networking
events relevant to your new geography.
And that's important to acclimatize into build some connectivity.
So although there is a cost a cost investment to that to make that journey in a
time investment in terms
of the travel time it can really help you to position properly and also to convince
a future employer
that you're serious about that international move particularly if you dont have the
story of well its
a family connection or that kind of thing if its a brandnew country where you have
less experience.
That's an important step to take as part of your rate your job search strategy.
It seems at times of local vs. national There is an important consideration to make
here as well.
So I run a I run a networking group locally and the group that I run there are lots
of different people
from all different professions and the one thing that everyone has in common is the
same geography because
they all go to the same networking event and all live fairly close to where this
networking event takes
place.
So let me play out an example for you.
I'm a qualified accountant.
If I was looking to make a move into a senior position in finance I would probably
go to my own event
because there are a number of people in the room who I could connect to.
And while not everyone in the room is from the same profession or industry sector.
The fact that there is a common geography means that if I portrayed my message in a
right way using
the TELL ME MORE test that that message would have the chance through market maker
conversations to
crop up in conversations one and two in the head in market.
But I might also be looking to make a trip nationally and Im a member of ICAO w the
Institute of Chartered
Accountants in England and Wales and fairly recently I attended an event in London.
I actually spoke at this event and this had a catchment of people from all over the
UK who came to London
for this specific event and that was worthwhile making that investment in terms of
time and energy.
If I was looking for a senior finance position because in the room it was people
from a finance background
who everyone in the room was pretty much a qualified accountant.
The profession was well represented and the industry sector to a certain extent was
well represented
in the room too so getting the balance right between a profession industry sector
and geography's is
important but you also have to temper this against the fact that if you are if you
are spending your
time networking you have to decide where it is you going to do it.
Pick the best possible events to work to go to because we all have limited energy
limited time and limited
resources to be able to attend these events and it's important to pick the right
ones and its difficult
to know sometimes you know you have to go sometimes at least once to try these
events out.
My recommendation is go to one of these events come away write some notes.
What what what was good about it was not so good.
Would you go again and then refer to these notes when youre asked to attend this
event next time aware
that when you consider attending the same event next time and it can help you to
make an informed decision.
Well are there things you can think about in terms of this where is WHY WHY youre
going to a specific
event and think about the set up of the events you know.
Is it a drinks reception.
Is it a presentation.
I personally and this is my personal view.
I personally like networking events where theres some educational content for two
reasons.
The first reason is that its a great icebreaker So when youre sat in a room with
people youre are listening
to a presentation.
Its a great thing to discuss afterwards and ask open empowered questions about
high-level Questions
to really open up the conversation.
And secondly youre not going to waste your time going to an event even if the event
doesn't turn out
to be getting you in front of the right type of market makers.
If there's been an educational presentation well you might just have learned
something that you can
take forward with you and that's a benefit that you'll get however good the
networking was at the event.
The next two questions are combined which is how and how often.
And let's deal with a house first.
So the first thing is when you go to a networking event you have to be yourself.
You have to be authentic and that means that you communicate you and your
personality.
You have an opinion on things and you know you're going to communicate your TELL ME
MORE test statement
and your message may not always resonate with your target audience but that doesn't
matter because this
isn't the this isn't an event where you necessarily make friends what it is it's
about building contacts
and connectivity and that's important because in the business world you're not
always going to have
the message that will resonate with everybody.
You know we're going to have the same opinion as anybody but conducting yourself in
a professional manner
and being yourself communicates in authentic you know authentic you is is what
people will remember.
The second point here is to get there early.
And in my book I talk about one type of individual that goes to two events that
sometimes turns up late
because they're uncomfortable with the networking.
Now my advice is to get there early because if you get there early you meet the
organizer of the event
and they're an important market maker.
You also have the opportunity usually to look at the delegate list and to plan out
who you may wish
to be introduced to and who you may wish to speak to while you're there.
So it allows you to be more targeted in the conversations that you have and in
meeting the market maker
the organizer organizer of the event being stood next to them.
When people start to arrive you can ask them to specifically introduce you to some
people you also have
the opportunity to communicate your message to them.
Obviously having taken an interest in them first.
But you have an opportunity to communicate a message to them that will resonate and
is an important
market maker.
They are very very likely to be having conversations one and two all of the time.
So it's important that you build a relationship with that market maker who
organizes the events in the
best way to do that is to get there early.
Then it's all about the TELL ME MORE test and I covered this in the previous video.
So it's not about selling but it's about being memorable and communicating a
message that is transportable
into the future.
You've got to be patient.
I mentioned the job seeker dichotomy already.
Don't be about positioning your message necessarily first.
Engage listen ask questions let the other person share with you what you know what
they're up to why
they're there and listening first and asking asking empowered questions.
At some point the conversation will reverse and you will have your chance to
position your message.
But taking an interest in somebody else is more important.
First off most of the people won't be doing that.
They'll be so keen to get their own message out but remember you're trying to
influence the person you're
talking to whose experience and their experience of being in your company.
Because we remember how people make us feel not always everything that they say but
definitely how they
make.
Yes.
How they make us feel.
And then finally you've got to be prepared to follow up.
So meeting at a networking event is just the start of a relationship.
And the mistake people make at networking events who just hand out business cards
and think that's it
done it's not because people won't remember you.
It's a start of a relationship and if you can go to a networking event and just
meet one person that
you think has has the potential in a market make it capacity to to have
conversations once who in the
future and where you can contribute to a relationship with them then you know meet
offline have a have
a coffee at some point get to know each other better and the more that you can
build a relationship
with somebody over a period of time the more they're likely to trust you.
Remember they see me like me trust me.
Hymie convention I spoke about earlier in the program the more likely they are to
recommend you in the
hidden market so it's just the start.
And following up to have a coffee face to face is important.
Following up via e-mail to thank somebody whose business card you've obtained to
thank them for their
time and to see how much you enjoyed the conversation.
Or to send them an article of interest.
Very similar to what I advised in the interview step of the process section is a
great idea and also
to connect on Link 10.
Because if you connect on lentin there a connection they're going to see your
dialogue.
The proactive stuff that you're putting out there using LinkedIn as a proactive
engagement.
So thats another important strategy so you have to follow up and to follow up
quickly.
Don't leave it too long.
Follow up quickly and take that relationship to the next level.
If relevant were the individual that that youve met.
And then of course how often how often should you be attending networking events.
Well less is more.
And I would suggest that if there is a regular event that you've been to that has
value that you enjoyed.
Go to their events regularly because if you were if you dive deep on a particular
networking event you'll
tend to get to know the people in the room and what I mean by dive deep as you go
to the same event
more than once because you build stronger relationships and you'll be seen at that
event people start
to engage with you.
People start to get to know you and people start to trust you.
And it's more likely that they'll then communicate your message in conversations
once you're in the
market.
The temptation can be to spread yourself too thin.
But of course you've got limited energy that can be a mistake.
So my advice is to try events that look relevant at least once and then pick you
know a handful of events
and then go to on a more regular basis.
In terms of networking how much time you dedicate to it how often you go to an
event to a certain extent
depends on your investment time.
And my advice at the very least if you can is to attend at least one event every
couple of weeks.
But of course if you have more investment time you can go to an event once per
week.
And the good thing about going to a regular networking event particularly if you're
currently in between
roles is that it gets you out of the house.
It gets you in front of people it gets you it gets you networking face to face and
it builds your confidence
because psychology as you know is extremely important.
And you know now you have a system for success which is very different to everybody
else.
But getting out of the house at least once a day is an important strategy to
maintain emotional well-being
and to increase the probability of success so it really depends really really
depends.
But note down all of this stuff in your thinking Journal start to discover
patterns.
Make notes as to what was good what wasn't so good and just fine tune your approach
to make sure that
you're spending your time wisely.
Then it's about discipline.
Going to an event at least on a regular basis but also productivity to make sure
are going to the right
events that have a higher probability of leading to the success that you want which
of course is an
introduction to the target employer that you wish to work for.
The final thing I want to say in this video is that networking takes place all of
that all over the
place not just at networking events.
And you know you could be at the gym you could be in a coffee shop.
You could be anywhere striking conversations with people who you don't necessarily
know but potentially
could be somebody you get to know is a great idea and it's a great practice for
networking events.
I'll give you two examples.
An ex colleague of mine would go to the.
We'll go to the gym to the health club and he will strike up conversations with
people all over the
place.
You know even in you know the swimming pool or whatever else and he's to bring
business back as a result
of striking those conversations.
And it's just about passing the time of day taking an interest in somebody else to
start that conversation.
Another example is there is a coffee shop not too far away from me.
It's near a business park.
Now I know because I know quite a few of the people that go in there that are
around about half past
7:00 in the morning that coffee shop is rammed full of business people at a very
senior level who are
getting their coffee before they go to the office and being in that kind of
environments having a coffee
before before work and getting to know a few people there particularly from a
geographical perspective
could be a great way to start to position yourself in the head a market.
So be more creative about what networking actually means to you is also important.
It's a great way to practice in everyday life by striking up conversations with
people you dont necessarily
know to build your confidence in ability to have more empowered conversations at a
more formal networking
events

In the final video in this step of the process section I'm going to talk to you
about the ultimate technique
TTC technique of building relationships with people who you don't know.
So this could be people at networking events that you meet.
It's even relevant to target decision makers.
It's relevant to everybody that you meet that at first is a stranger somebody you
don't know.
And helps you to build a relationship with that person over a period of time and
time is the first element
of technique because the longer we generally known somebody the deeper the
relationship tends to be.
And the analogy here is what was discussed in the planning section in terms of
calendar and investment
time.
So the longer you've known somebody in terms of calendar time generally the deeper
the relationship
the more likely you are to know that person and trust that person.
But within that period of calendar time the more you've met that person you know on
a regular basis
the more investment that you've made the more investment time you put into the
relationship.
Again the further that tends to advance the the relationship.
The second element is experience.
Now people can be different things in different situations at different times of
the day.
The more you've experienced somebodies company in different walks of life the more
you generally know
them.
So if you know somebody through business that's one thing you you know them as a
personal friend that's
another thing.
And the two can be very very different indeed.
So the more you have the opportunity to experience somebody perhaps on a personal
level or a business
level generally the deeper the relationship and the more trust that tends to be
built.
And of course trusties is hugely important when it comes to people recommending you
in the hidden market
in conversations one and so I've already mentioned the the higher cycle see me like
me trust me but
trust me is hugely important particularly when it comes to market maker referrals.
Trust me hire me so Building trust is important and this really is what the
ultimate technique is all
about it's building trust and a trusted relationship with that with somebody over a
period of time and
it doesn't happen overnight.
And then finally confirmation.
Now what.
This is one of the ways to fast track a relationship.
So imagine I met you at a networking event and it's the first time that we've met.
But in our conversation we worked out that we both knew the same person.
And the fact that we both knew the same person quite well gave us comfort and an
affinity early on that
we would probably get on and we would probably tend to trust each other more
because we had that contact
in common.
Now I've spoken about contacting contacts in common already and of course you have
to research a contact
in common if you're going to use that as a as a bridge to advance your relationship
more quickly and
to build trust more quickly.
So one of the things you could do if you met somebody at a networking event you
then connect on linked
10 you then have a look at their contacts in common.
If there is a contact in common cause she could talk to that contact in common to
find out what the
relationship is.
And then when you meet this person face to face if you've chosen to advance the
relationship you have
informal knowledge as to what their relationship is all about with the contact in
common and you can
position that as part of your conversation which will help to build trust faster
and advance the relationship
more quickly

Congratulations on completing step 6.

Congratulations on completing step 6 of the process section.
You now know that effective networking is never about selling and instead about
being memorable. The second part of the 'jobseeker dichotomy' comes into force
again, as in the first instance it's never about you, but instead always about
them.
If you're focused in your approach networking events give you direct access to the
'hidden market', which is where high-probability opportunities always exist. They
may not present themselves, today, tomorrow or next week, but as with the advice I
shared earlier on in the course, believing is seeing, and consistency leads to
results

Welcome to Step Seven of the process section or I'll explain how to continue to
innovate to stay ahead.
The job market is constantly moving and evolving.
Employers are innovating when it comes to their recruitment strategies through the
power of observation
and feedback.
It's your job to continually innovate to your personal job seeker planning your
focus and the only constant
in an environment of ever changing variables and associated probabilities.
There should never be standing still.
Your approach to your job search must be covertly developing and open to feedback
from the market

Adapt and innovate.

The job market is never static and your ability to find success is in part
determined by your ability to adapt and innovate.
There is a big difference however between a knee-jerk reaction to a one-off
situation and a planned change of course based on consistent feedback.
There's only one video in this section, but it's an important one.

In this video I'm going to explain the importance of observation and feedback on
successful job search
and the image you can see on screen is when I first shared in the planning section
where I was comparing
job search to running a business and in running a job search you are in business
for yourself it's the
business of finding and securing your next position.
So observation really starts by saying well if I'm observing the actions of others
in the job market
my competition.
What I don't want to be doing is copying what they're doing because that's never a
recipe to stand out.
I can't stand out if I do what the majority do.
And everything that you've covered in this program and everything that I've shared
the advice that I've
shared has been to position you to stand out from your competition and to stand out
on a consistent
basis to stay in the game long enough to find and secure the success you deserve.
So this is what it's really about observation is is not copying.
Observation is standing out and a couple of examples are that if you think about
the CV already among
the majority relying on the CV or as you may to open doors you now know that's not
a foolproof strategy
for success.
The CV already made just a small cog in the big machine that is the job market.
And secondly people that rely the majority they rely on third parties to do the job
for them.
Again it's a low probability strategy for success which informs what the high
probability strategy is
which is all about proactive control.
So feedback takes two forms.
There is self observation self feedback which you will gain insight from your
thinking Journal and I'll
show you how to do that in a minute when I bring the thinking journal back and
there is feedback that
you get from others.
So Principal example of this is you go on interview and you get feedback from the
interview either in
the interview as I advise in the interview step of the process section or
afterwards.
And sometimes it will go your way and sometimes it may not because remember
rejection is just part of
the process and what you need to be doing is analysing your thinking Journal on a
weekly basis and asking
great questions to gain insight.
That's really what it's all about.
It's not just about the answers it's about asking great questions in the first
place to uncover changes
in behaviour to improve your performance moving forwards.
It's very dangerous as part of your job search to make a knee jerk reaction because
as you know there
is no certainty in the job market.
And you now have a plan.
You have a framework for success and your job is to execute that plan.
And you know that rejection will be part of the process because you know that
certainty doesn't exist
if you do a you're not always guaranteed B but if you do a number of times the
percentage of those times
that will result in B.
So in the psychology section I encourage you to ditch the certainty mindset and
replace that with a
probability mindset.
And this is why you can't have a knee jerk reaction to feedback because if you did
you would change
your system every time you got a piece of negative feedback.
So what feedback does it's captured.
And you interrogate that feedback after a period of time has elapsed for you to
look at feedback in
its totality and to look for patterns and trends.
And it's when you identify those patterns in trends that's when you make an
informed decision to perhaps
change elements of your plan to improve the performance of your plan and your
performance in the job
market.
Hopefully you remember this slide from the psychology section.
You know if you have a situation that perhaps doesn't go your way the automation
subconscious mind kicks
in and you will react emotionally.
This is what you've been capturing in your thinking Journal and that's not a
helpful place to be.
And what I've been talking about is the fact that through the thinking Journal
something will happen
or not happen as the case may be.
And you capture it in the thinking Journal and you intervene.
So it's not an automated thing.
You have the power to intervene using your thinking journal to question what it's
telling you whether
there are patterns and trends and what you need to do.
What positive action you need to take or positive change you need to take in your
conscious mind to
improve your performance in the job market to get better results.
So back to your thinking Journal.
This is the place you've captured all of the stuff that you've done and what it's
meant to you and the
end of each week.
This is where you interrogate this stuff with great questions to ask the question
well how can I improve.
How can I get better and it's not a knee jerk reaction but it's an informed
decision that you make in
your conscious mind based on analysis based on evidence that will empower you to
make positive changes
that frame your system and improve your system but dont break your system because a
knee jerk reaction
will break the system.
But informed analysis will empower the system and that's the big difference.
The other area that's important is when it comes to your destination statement and
you know you have
a destination statement and you've been targeting employers let's say in this space
for a period of
time now let's call it a month and you have exhausted your location in terms of
this target organization
and target role.
So then you make an informed decision as to maybe widening this geography or as
part of your body what
you've captured in your thinking Journal.
You know maybe this was a transition that you're making to something slightly
different from what you're
currently doing.
And throughout the interview processes that you've been on you realize that in
actual fact this is maybe
not what you thought it would be perception was not reality.
So again based on evidence captured over a period of time you make a positive
change to improve your
direction to fine tune your destination in fact to fine tune your destination so
that youre headed in
the right direction and that's an important thing to do and you're well within your
rights to do that
because it's your plan.
But it's very different to keeping changing things every every moment.
Just because things aren't perhaps going so well and that's the big big
distinction.
So observation of feedback should be ongoing.
It should happen continuously.
The thinking Journal is where you do it and the success of your thinking Journal
really is the questions
that you ask yourself about how you can improve how you can get better at this
skill.
That is job search.

Congratulations on completing step 7.

Congratulations on completing step 7 of the process section.
Observation and feedback are two important habits to build into your job search and
indeed for life. As explained this comprises self-reflection and observing / taking
feedback from others.
There should never be a knee-jerk reaction where your conscious mind is not in
control, but a considered change in direction based on a consistent message

Welcome to step out of the process section or I'll explain how to handle the offer
in negotiation stage
throughout the program.
You developed an empowered and proactive approach to successful job search which is
much more sophisticated
and effective than what the majority are doing search.
It should come as no surprise to receive multiple job offers at once.
I'll explain the power shift and show you how to receive handle and negotiate
multiple offers to secure
the best terms possible.
I'll share with you how professional recruiters and employers think at this stage
and how to handle
the pressure and associated leverage that you may feel to make a decision and to
make it quickly

An introduction to offer and negotiation.

If you've followed the Career Codex methodology for job search success outlined in
this course it should come as no surprise to be in receipt of a number of offers.
If this hasn't happened for you yet don't worry – stick to your plan and focus on
the process, not prize. If you continue to work the system in a diligent and
disciplined way, it's only a matter of time before you find and secure the
job opportunity you really want.
The offer and negotiation stage is one of the most difficult stages of any
recruitment process with a multitude of variables that are different in every
situation.
In this step I'll start with an introduction to offer and negotiation, which links
back to psychology, and your beliefs about the job market and your position in it.
This is the stage when emotion can creep in and it can be easy to lose proactive
control of your process if you're not careful – this is where the power shift takes
place and it's possible to feel pressure.
I'll then explain high-level principles of how to receive, handle and negotiate any
offer, in addition to handling leverage.
This section also includes a document to download, which outlines a special tactic
employers and sometimes recruiters use called a pre-offer salary negotiation.
Knowing how to handle this properly can make a big difference in the outcome of any
offer negotiation and I explain how to handle this special situation.
When you're ready, please move forward and watch the videos

So are you now at the office stage and you received that offer for a position that
you now need to make
a decision on.
And one of the complications that sometimes happens at the office stage is of
course you receive multiple
offers but not necessarily at the same time so you may be in a process for a number
of positions and
they're all about to fall due in terms of decisions within the next two or three
weeks and one of the
things that they're offering negotiation is all about not just getting the best
offer but trying to
get all of the offers to line up at once you can make an informed choice as to
which want to negotiate.
And that can be easier said than done but it is absolutely possible and it's
possible some of the strategies
that I share with you in now in this step of the process section.
So the fact that you've received an offer should come as no surprise but often at
this stage this is
the time that people can drop the ball because if you've adopted the methodology
that I've outlined
you've been in proactive control of your job search every single step of the way.
But at the office stage it's very easy to get emotionally involved and to drop it
to drop the ball.
As I say and get tied up in the emotion that is the that is the offer and this is a
real mistake and
this is not the time to give control back.
This is the time to stay in proactive control to receive handle and then negotiate
the offer properly.
One of the things that makes this step of the process sections so difficult is the
perceived power shift
and it is a perceived power shift and also pressure.
So what I mean by that.
Well there is a power shift and employers see this power shift and feel this power
shift so to recruiters
because at the office stage this is the first time that an employer either directly
or via recruiter
has put their cards on the table to say that you're the one that they want to hire.
And in their mind at least this is when they have given up the power from from
where they're thinking
of course they believe they've had the power throughout.
Of course having been through this program you know that's not the case because
you've been in proactive
control of your process.
But from from their perspective this is where they intentionally sometimes put
pressure on you to make
a decision.
And if a recruiter is putting pressure on you it's because there's an employer
behind the scenes and
also a recruiter will need to make certain targets.
And if you're not careful and you lose priority of control of your process you can
be influenced by
this pressure and you can start to react to this pressure.
And that's a very dangerous position to be in.
So my advice is to stay in control stay focussed stay calm and receive handle and
negotiate the offer
properly.
This stage is further complicated by the emotion that can creep in and when you're
in receipt of an
offer of course it's an emotional experience you're interested in what their
remuneration the compensation
package looks like.
It's very flattering to be offered and it can be sometimes difficult to make a
decision on their offer
because suddenly it's all about what the offer is.
They need to accept it and accept it fairly quickly and when there's multiple
offers on the table that
can be even more complicated by the need to compare.
And certainly with want one coaching clients I've worked with in the past at this
stage.
They often ask me Well how do I make a decision.
I refer them back to one document and one document early and that's their
destination statement because
you remember as part of your planning exercise you put together your destination
statements before really
pulling the trigger on the activity that you take in the job market and you did
this in a state of calm.
You weren't emotionally involved in a process and this was really you looking out
into the world and
saying whatever's advertised or not whatever I can see out there it doesn't matter.
This is what I really really want and unifying the organization.
You defined the role you defined the location and of course you find out form your
destination statement
that time that would take you in the time that you would invest.
Along the way.
So if you're in a position of comparing multiple offers or indeed considering one
offer to know whether
you should accept that offer of course you know compensation remuneration is
important but to really
know you have to go back to basics and you have to go back to your destination
statement to make sure
that this isn't just an emotional decision so you remove the emotion by comparing
what you've been offered
the position you've been offered back to your destination statements

In this video I want to explain how to receive and handle the offer properly.
And the reason you need to do this is because if you receive an handled offer
properly it sets you up
well for the negotiation that you will do.
And the other reason that you want to receive and handle the offer properly is
because you may need
to buy yourself some time to make a decision particularly if you have a number of
processes that you're
in and you want to be in a position to have all of the offers on the table for you
to be able to make
a comparison.
And that means you need to buy yourself some more time.
So you do that by doing five things.
And the first thing you do is you thank the person who's filled with the offer for
that offer.
So you need to convince the person who's made the offer that you're pleased to
receive it and of course
you will be because you've not necessarily seen it yet.
You probably had a verbal offer particularly if the offer has come via a recruiter.
You then need to request the offer in writing and this will be usually via letter
and sometimes in email
form but usually it comes as a letter as well a formal letter which will be an
offer letter and a contract
of employment.
And that buys you a little bit more time because usually wants wants the offers
been made.
It can take you know two or three days for that formal paperwork to be produced by
by the HRT and that
buys you a little bit more time.
Once you are in receipt of the written offer and really you have to be in receipt
of the written offer
to make a decision until you have it in writing.
It's nothing it's just a verbal representation so once you've got it in writing you
need to interrogate
it and you need to go through it line by line in detail.
And if there's anything you don't understand this is the time to clarify and in
going back to clarify
a couple of points.
Again if you're looking to buy more time this helps you to buy more time to let
those other offers.
If they're going to come crystalise.
Now.
Sometimes as part of your receiving and receiving and handling the offer and
wanting to buy yourself
more time you can be honest with the with the employer or the recruiter recruiters
specifically because
they're in the middle and a trying to handle this kind of situation.
To say that you do have other options and you're still very keen on this position.
Remember it's not just a position.
This is the position you said you wanted you so you're still keen on this position.
But of course you've got other offers coming in potentially and you just want to
wait to see what transpires.
And usually if you play this well a an employer will be quite okay with it because
they want you to
make the right decision.
The last thing an employee would want you to do is to make a media reaction to
accept the offer then
to be in receipt of another offer a few days later and then change your mind that
that's no good for
anybody.
And that's certainly not something you want to be doing so they will appreciate
that you're a good candidate.
Which is why they're making you an offer and providing that your open and very
clear on deadlines which
is the last point.
Then they'll probably be prepared to push that.
Push the boundaries a little bit to wait for you to make the decision but you have
to establish firm
deadlines and if you say that you will make a decision by a week next Friday you
have to make a decision
a week next Friday and establishing those firm deadlines is what gives you the
opportunity and gives
you the chance to buy more time and you have to establish firm deadlines both with
the offer that you
have in terms of when you go back and make a decision and if you're waiting for
another offer to come
in you have to inform the organisation who's potentially making you the offer as to
what deadlines you're
under so they have the chance to feel their offer too

One of the questions I get asked all the time is whether you should negotiate the
offer.
And my answer is yes you will we should because if you fail to negotiate both you
and the employer might
feel they could have got a better deal.
And what I mean by that is this if you don't negotiate the offer.
Well there may been an opportunity to push your compensation remuneration package
slightly higher.
And an employer quite often will not go with their best foot forward.
They'll lead some leave some powder dry just in case of a negotiation.
So it's certainly worth worth trying.
A negotiation provided you do it using the steps that I'm about to outline from the
employer's perspective.
They will expect the best candidates to negotiate and if you dont negotiate well
maybe they'll start
to question well have we actually hired we actually offering the best candidate.
It may be a thought that passes through their minds so employers generally will
expect the best candidates
to negotiate and if they've offered you they will expect you to negotiate but they
will expect that
you do it in a professional way.
So when it comes to negotiating the offer now we've established that you should
negotiate.
The first question really to ask yourself is whether this is a negotiation youre
going to do via a recruiter
or an employer if its via a recruiter is generally easier because theyre on your
side they want to get
this offer landed.
They want to get their fee paid so theyre going to do everything that they can to
make this work.
And you can be very open and honest with them and really put your cards on the
table to say what it
is that they need to achieve for you to make that happen.
Now if youre negotiating directly with the employer because this is an opportunity
you've identified
in the head and market let's say you have to be more sensitive to the employer's
feelings because the
employer ideally wants you of course to jump at this offer subject to a small
negotiation not a long
protracted negotiation.
So it's even more important that you follow this advice and this video to make sure
that they are still
convinced that you really want this job and it's not just a job and certainly they
want to be convinced
that you're not simply playing them off against somebody else and that this is the
nuances of offering
negotiation and to be honest.
Every situation is it is different and the nuances of the situation will determine
exactly what you
do and how you do it.
But this is general advice to negotiate in the offer.
So if you decide you're going to negotiate as you should you should prioritize what
you can negotiate
on.
You can't negotiate on everything.
You can't negotiate are now starting salary.
You can't negotiate on bonuses while you can't go share a holiday.
You got to go second everything.
So you have to prioritize.
What's the most important thing to you.
What's the one or two things that you really want to negotiate on and pick those
and run with those.
If you're going to negotiate on a points you've got to have a good reason.
And the good reason has to be more than your personal circumstances.
You know it can't be the fact that you need to pay the mortgage or you know you're
relocating to a great
extent that's relevant to the employer.
Alice's relocate relocation package included of course which is a something you may
prioritize to negotiate
on so you can have a reason that's more than you.
And the reason could be a benchmark offer in the market that you received for a
similar type of position
or it could be evidence that you know there are other opportunities in the
marketplace that are paying
you know slightly more if your priority is is compensation is remuneration but it
has to be it has to
be a reason external to you that is evidence based not personal to you.
And then once you once you prioritized and you've said okay I will accept the
position.
If you can do this.
That's the line in the sand and you have to be prepared if they come back and
honour that negotiation
that you will accept the position and you will accept it right there and then that
is not the time to
negotiate again.
But when you go you go with your best foot forward.
This is what you're negotiating on you've prioritized.
You draw a line in the sand.
If they come back and honour that negotiation then this is the time to accept and
you have to be prepared
for a counter.
So if you want to go shifting the offer well the employer may come back either
directly or via the recruiter
to say well okay if if we give you that then we want this in return so be prepared
for the counter.
If you can.
As with everything in the career Calix methodology through your research and
through your experience
of that employer then you know you may be able to anticipate what that is but if
you need to take some
time to think about whatever they come back as a counter that's absolutely fine.
Remember this is not knee jerk this is this is a considered considered decision
that you going to make
an informed decision that you were going to make.
And one of the reasons people are reluctant in my experience to negotiate the offer
is because they
go back to that grateful feeling that is the old way.
I believe in the old way of thinking.
And at the outset you know if things weren't going so well for you in the in the
job market you may
be in a position whereby you'd be grateful for any job not the job necessarily that
you wanted but any
job to come along you would have considered and you would have jumped at the
chance.
But of course this methodology that you've been through is all about you being in
proactive control
knowing what you wants.
Going out there and getting what you wants.
And along that process you've given such a good account of yourself you put
yourself in a far better
position to negotiate because you've done things better than everyone else.
Every single stage of the process.
So now is not the time to revert back to that emotional thinking to that knee jerk
reaction to accept
the accept the offer because there is an offer there.
Now is the time to stay in control and to negotiate the best offer possible for you
because this is
the reward for all of the hard work that you've done all of the time that you've
invested all of the
energy that you've invested to get the offer and to get this offer at the final
stage

As you now know having gone through the program psychology is key to your success
in the job market
and it's not just your psychology it's the psychology of the people that you're
dealing with.
And at this stage of the process and employers made you an offer either directly or
via a recruiter.
And generally they want a decision and sometimes not on purpose.
But you know there's a need to get it to get a decision.
They can sometimes apply leverage and you have to be aware of leverage and know how
to handle leverage.
And having been in the recruitment game for a long time there are two principal
pieces of leverage that
I've seen and the first one is offer expiry and the second one is that there is a
backup candidate so
there is somebody that they're considering which means you need to make your
decision quite quickly.
Now don't be fooled by either because offer expiry will providing your clear on
deadlines and you've
handled the offer properly and clarified deadlines then that's absolutely
acceptable that you will take
a period of time to make a decision.
And in showing you how to receive and handle the offer in the previous video you
now know how to buy
yourself some more time so dont before buy offer expiry as long as you're clear
with deadlines and they
agree those deadlines the offer will not expire.
The second element the backup candidates and you know there may be a back up
candidate.
There may be somebody there considering as a second choice but put it like this.
They wouldn't be talking to you right now.
If they really didn't want you in their business so dont be pressured into making a
knee jerk decision
a quick decision simply because you're told as a backup candidate.
And again it's back to establishing clear deadlines and being professional in your
approach to tell
them when you will do what you're going to do in terms of making a decision and
what you need to do
to make that decision.
So offer expiry and backup candidates sometimes strategies.
Employers can use sometimes strategies recruiters can use not not generally
maliciously but because
they're so keen they have individual motivations to get this get this deal done.
The slight irony I guess with all of this is sometimes a recruitment process may
have taken three months
four months five months six months.
But as soon as the offer is fielded they want a decision in less than a week or
immediately sometimes
and you're well within your rights to to ask for a bit of time to consider.
But being firm with the deadlines the receiver is receiving and handling and then
of course negotiating
gives you that time too.
I'll give you that breathing space to buy more time to make an informed decision
that's right for you
and keeps you in Proactiv control.

If you're now receipt of the offer that you want it lines up with your destination
statement.
Now is the time to accept the offer and to accept it formally and that's it.
You've achieved your goal.
You've got to your destination.
And it's testament to the hard work that you will have done in defining your
destination at the outset
executing your strategy to find the position that you wanted.
And now securing it having gone through gone through a recruitment process.
So many congratulations and it's time to celebrate.
And I think celebration is important and celebrating with those around you that
have been there to support
you along the way is is very important too.
Now if you're not quite at the offer stage you've got to this stage of the of the
program in consuming
the content then dont worry because remember you set your calendar time in the
planning section and
it may take you a little longer than the time it's taken you to consume the content
and success in the
job market is about continual execution consistent execution against your strategy
until you find and
secure the position you want.
It's about process not prise.
It's about keeping going in the face of rejection and of course you expect
rejection.
It's part of the process but it's about continuing to execute until that
opportunity comes along.
And that offer comes along.
So if you're not quite there yet dont be disheartened.
Keep going keep the process running.
The only thing that stands in the way of you finding and securing that next
position is you not taking
action.
And if you continue to take action Im a firm believer and I see this a lot.
Im a firm believer that if you continue to take action there can only ever be one
results because if
you dont quit and you keep going the result has to be that you find the success you
deserve.

Congratulations on completing step 8.

Congratulations on completing step 8 of the process section.
You now know how to handle the offer and negotiation stage of your job search. This
is not the time to let your guard down, but instead to retain proactive control to
maximise the remuneration / compensation package, which is the return on your
investment of time and energy.
You've now completed all of the stages of this Career Codex course – environment,
psychology, planning and process (the eight steps).
When you're ready, please move forward to the summary section

We all want a pay rise don't we.

Let's face it.
Pay rise you have to justify Okay the reason for a pay rise are asking for a pay
rise can't be personal.
It can't be to do with the fact you need to pay the mortgage.
You want to buy a new car or go on holiday pay rise has to be justified.
It has to be justified based on value.
So if you're taking on additional responsibilities you brought a project to a
fantastic close.
That's the time to ask for a pay rise because it's value driven to a pay rise
request.
Always has to be value driven.
My advice is generally do the job first prove what you can do and then ask for the
pay rise.
Don't ask for the pay rise in advance because it's not justified at that point.
When you're preparing for an appraisal internally you have an advantage and also a
disadvantage.
The disadvantage is that because you work in the organization you may fail to
prepare because you think
you know how the organization runs.
The advantage you have is because you are in the organization you've got the
opportunity to really dig
into the skin of that business talk to other people in different departments.
Research the lake with the latest figures that their organization has produced.
Do the same preparation you would do as if you were an external candidate.
With the advantage of being internal.
If you're looking to make a step up let's say from a manager to a director level
Well there's a whole
host of additional skills that you will need at that more senior level.
One of the great things you can do internally is go and talk to people who are
already at that level.
Find out what's important and let the interviewer the internal interviewer know
that you've done that.
Establish that the start of the conversation because that shows you serious issues
you motivate.
It shows your key and it shows you're prepared.
It shows that you're ready for that promotion

A big congratulations on completing the course.

It's been an incredible journey and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity
to share my knowledge
and experience with you.
You now have a proven and winning approach which gives you an edge in the job
market to define find
and ultimately secure the position you really wants provided you continue to follow
the advice I've
shared in take consistent and diligent action.
I have no doubt you'll achieve your end goal.
I have to say that if you continue to knock on the door of success there can only
ever be one outcome
and that is it will open.
The only variable is time.
Having worked with clients all over the world.
The thing that sets those who find success apart from those who struggle is a
persistent commitment
to action.
None of the concepts I've outlined a difficult to grasp but what proves a challenge
for many is bringing
the education to life through relentless execution.
You now know that a successful job search is about standing out which means taking
different action
to others.
It's much more than a well worded CV your résumé to find success.
You need a strong foundations of environment and psychology reinforced by planning.
You'll find a summary document in this section which highlights some of the key
points we've covered.
What are of more value though of the notes you've taken throughout.
He will have documented your own unique journey and important milestones along the
way.
Thank you for taking the course.
It's been a pleasure to work with you.
Remember it's your future and you now have the strategy's tools and techniques to
make it what you will

Look how far you've come!

A huge congratulations on completing the course!
You've been on a journey to help you define, find and secure the career opportunity
you really want.
You should now have a completely different understanding of how the job market
really works and more importantly your position in it, which will serve you well
not just now, but for the rest of your career.
This means that:
1) Whatever your discipline or industry sector, you will be in a position to
uncover a higher number of job opportunities.
2) You will have a higher probability of converting this increased number of
opportunities into job offers at a more competitive remuneration / compensation
package.
Having come to the end of the content it's time to reflect on where you started and
how far you've come:
At the very beginning I asked you three questions.
1) On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your level of confidence in your
current approach to find a new position (1 = low / 10 = high)?
2) On a scale of 1 to 10, how reactive or proactive is your approach to find a new
position (1 = very reactive / 10 = very proactive)?
3) On a scale of 1 to 10, how disciplined is your current approach to find a new
position (1 = low / 10 = high)?
4) How does your current activity match up against the activity you should be
taking to achieve success in the job market?
5) How are your current beliefs impacting your thinking and actions, and ultimately
your ability to achieve success in the job market?
It's time to dig out your notebook and reflect on the journey you've been on and
all you've learned – you'll need your answers to the above shortly.
You'll find a summary here of everything we've covered, but what's much more
important though are the notes you will have taken in your notebook and your
'thinking journal' throughout, as these are personal to you