Career & Life Coaching

When you are looking for a job, being called in for a job interview is very exciting.  Out of all the applications submitted, there is something about yours that stood out above the rest.  You have made the final cut.  Then, you realize that the interview will determine whether you are employed or back to sending out more resumes. What can you do to ensure job interview success? What do you say?  How do you answer that inevitable question: “Tell me about yourself”?

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

If you really want your interview to stand out and surpass the competition, and be able to talk about yourself with ease and confidence, you need to prepare.  You may have the best education and a stellar resume, but chances are the other applicants can say the same thing. Knowing how to answer, when asked about you, may make the difference between getting the job and looking for different employment opportunities. These are the hard questions that will likely determine whether you are the best fit for the company’s needs.

Practice how you will answer the question.  Better yet, enlist the help of a friend or family member who will objectively critique your response. If you are adequately prepared, you will be able to answer the question with confidence and professionalism.

Job Interview Success

You know that your response to the question “tell me about yourself” may be what sets you apart from the competition and garners you the position.  But, what do you say?  How to you ensure job interview success?

Here are a few key points to consider:

* Be concise
* Don’t ramble on
* Pick what is likely to be most relevant
* Be personable

Before the interview, when you are practicing, it’s a good idea to write down what you want to say about yourself. Be as concise as possible and figure out how to say the same thing in fewer words, if necessary.  The interview time will be limited, and you want to maintain the interest of the person doing the interview.

To ensure job interview success, don’t ramble on and on.  This is where practice is essential. Be confident in what you want to say, so you won’t get flustered, especially if you tend to ramble.

Pick items about yourself that will likely be of interest to the interviewer and be relevant to the position.  For example, he/she probably doesn’t want to hear all about your childhood.  However, if you are applying for a job at a daycare, and you are the oldest of 10 kids, it might be important information.  You know what it’s like to work with kids.  After all, you helped raise your siblings.

When asked about themselves, many people take a more clinical approach.  Don’t.  Let your personality shine through and don’t be afraid to be yourself. In fact, your personality may be the determining factor in deciding whether you are a good fit for their organization.

If you are prepared to answer the tough questions like “tell me about yourself”, and can answer with confidence, you are well on your way to job interview success.

Copyright 2010, Cecile Peterkin. All rights reserved.

Values are ideals that guide or qualify your personal conduct, interaction with others, and involvement in your career. They help you to distinguish what is right from wrong.

It stands to reason then, that teaching values to your children is an important part of being a parent. Values make our society safe and workable, and instilling them in our kids is the most significant and effective thing we can do for their happiness. Studies show that morality and value-oriented behaviour helps a child develop a sense of autonomy, independence, and confidence.

Values can be classified into four categories:

* Personal
* Cultural
* Social
* Work

Personal Values are principles that define you as an individual, and determine how you will face the world and relate with people. Personal Values include honesty, reliability and trust.

Cultural Values help you feel connected to a larger community of people with similar backgrounds. Cultural values include the practice of your faith and customs. They are the principles that maintain your connection with your cultural roots.

Social Values are principles that indicate how you relate meaningfully to others in social situations, including those involving family, friends and co-workers.

Work Values are principles that guide your behaviour, projects and contexts. They define how you work and how you relate to your co-workers, bosses, and clients. They also reveal your potential for advancement.

The four categories consist of 12 Universal Values:

* Honesty
* Courage
* Peaceability
* Self-reliance and Potential
* Self-Discipline and Moderation
* Fidelity and Chastity
* Loyalty and Fidelity
* Respect
* Love
* Unselfishness and Sensitivity
* Kindness and Friendliness
* Justice and Mercy

1. Honesty – with other individuals, with institutions, with society, and with oneself.
2. Courage – daring to attempt difficult things. The strength not to follow the crowd, and to say no and mean it.
3. Peaceability – understanding that differences are seldom resolved through conflict, and meanness in others is an indication of their problem or insecurity. Controlling your temper.
4. Self-Reliance and Potential – awareness and development of your gifts and uniqueness. Taking responsibility for your own actions. Overcoming the tendency to blame other for difficulties. Commitment to personal excellence.
5. Self-Discipline and Moderation – physical, mental, & financial self-discipline. Moderation in speaking & in eating. Understanding the limits of body and mind. The ability to balance self-discipline with spontaneity.
6. Fidelity and Chastity – teach your kids the value and security of fidelity. Give them a grasp of the long-range and widespread consequences that can result from sexual immorality and infidelity. This is an instruction, rather than a definition.
7. Loyalty and Dependability – loyalty to family and other organizations and institutions to which commitments are made. Reliability and consistency in doing what you say you will do.
8. Respect – for life, property, parents, elders, nature. Respect for the beliefs and rights of others. Self-respect and the avoidance of self-criticism.
9. Love – for friends, neighbors, family, even adversaries. Individual and personal caring that goes beyond loyalty and respect.
10. Unselfishness and Sensitivity – becoming more extra-centered and less self-centered. Sensitivity to the needs of others and of situations. Empathy, tolerance, brotherhood.
11. Kindness and Friendliness – awareness that being kind and considerate is more admirable than being tough or strong. The tendency to understand rather than confront. The ability to make and keep friends. Helpfulness. Cheerfulness.
12. Justice and Mercy – An understanding of natural consequences. Obedience to the law, fairness in work and play.

Values should be taught to children of all ages with differing agendas and changing emphasis as they mature. Values are best taught in the home, since parents are the best exemplars and instructors. Parents should consciously develop their own set of family values, and consciously teach these to their children – leading by example and also taking the time to explain.

Children may develop values different from those you tried to teach them. However, they will do so with a solid foundation, and with a basis of comparison.

Most people want to be successful in life. But success can mean different things to different people: making more money; spending quality time with your family; or learning to play a musical instrument. Since success is personal, defining what it means for you is the first step to achieving it. Once you are clear about what success looks like for you, here are some important points to help you achieve it.

Steps to Success

1. Know your Potential: In order to succeed at anything you need to see that you have the potential to reach your goals
2. Understand your Goal: List three or four reasons why you want to achieve this goal? What is the result you want to obtain?
3. Set Realistic Goals & Timelines: Often times we want overnight success. Make sure your goals and the time frame you have set are realistic.
4. Create a Plan: This is by far the most important document of all. It allows you to keep track of everything involving your goal.
5. No Shortcuts: Shortcuts are sloppy and compromise your work and your integrity. “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.”
6. Have Courage: Depending on what success means to you, you will have to have courage to stand up for what you believe and desire to do, even if it means disappointing others.
7. Stay Motivated: It is critical to stay motivated when striving for the big goal of success. Motivational tools will help you stay on track.
8. Be Passionate: Have passion for what you are doing and working toward. You will automatically put more effort into it.
9. No Excuses: If you want something badly enough, there is always a way!
10. No Fear: Fear of Failure is a normal emotion for everyone. How you get past the fear determines whether you experience success.
11. Create Opportunities: Make things happen rather than waiting for opportunities to find you.
12. Attitude: A good attitude will allow you to turn any bad situation into a learning experience. Staying positive and surrounding yourself with friends that share a positive attitude will help you succeed.
13. Make the Best of Each Day: Make the most of every day and accomplish something – even if it’s something small. Every baby step counts towards your success.
14. Set Daily Goals: Setting daily goals keeps you on track. Seeing your progress will help keep you going.
15. Accept Responsibility: You will have help in many instances; however, the bottom line is that you are responsible for the choices you will make.
16. Be Open to Improvement: Accept that you do not have all the answers and more importantly, be open to recommendations from other people.
17. Paint a Picture: A great way to keep working toward your goal is to picture what it will look like when you are successful.
18. Identify Procrastinations: If you have a problem with procrastination, make a list of distractions you routinely choose, so you can recognize when you are off course and get back on track.
19. Want versus Need: Do it because you want it, not because you need it. When you want something, it requires and creates intention, desire, and action – all powerful tools for being successful (doing something out of need usually leads to pain, stress, and frustration).
20. Believe in yourself: Your confidence is what will get you through the challenges.
21. Be Efficient: Use your time and effort wisely.
22. Have Balance in your Life: Make the time for both hard work and pleasure.
23. Have Fun: Fun is a crucial element of success, but one that often forgotten once we get into the process. Find fun and joy in what you are doing, even in the midst of the challenges.

I recently spent some time revising my personal vision/mission statement for my career coaching and mentoring practice. While doing this, it occurred to me that the vision I have for my work is closely related to my personal vision. Having a job that reflects my personal vision is powerful because it has allowed me to create a business life for myself that truly reflects who I am. Companies know all about vision and mission statements and getting their employees on board. Vision and mission statements propel the company in the direction that they want, and ultimately towards success. Many of us have spent countless hours working on these statements for our employers, and doing our part to contribute to their vision as apart of the team. Much like a business, we, as human beings have a purpose or mission in life. What if we spent as much time getting to know who we are and what we want for ourselves? A personal vision/mission statement is the framework for creating a powerful life. Unlike a goal, a vision or mission rarely changes. It is a reason for our existence. It guides us in the decisions we make and the directions we take.

Your Personal Vision
Close your eyes and picture yourself in the future. It may be a few months or years from today. See the person you are; what you are doing, who you are with, what you have accomplished, what is important to you, and how people relate to you. How does it feel to be you? Feel the person you are, your true self. Now, open your eyes and see your life and yourself in the present, through those eyes. You will begin to notice the changes you need to make to honour this vision and lead a powerful life. A Personal Vision is a picture of your True Self in the future. An effective personal vision includes all the important elements of your life and career; it is who you want to be, what you want to do, how you want to feel, what you want to own, and who you want to associate with. Although your personal vision helps you to see into the future, it must be grounded in the present. It is a statement of who you are, and who you are becoming. It is the framework for the process of creating your life. Your vision is where you are headed, how you get there is your mission statement.

Your Personal Mission Statement
A Personal Mission Statement is how you will manifest your Personal Vision in your daily life. It may be a few words or several pages, but it is not a “to do” list. It reflects your uniqueness and must speak to you powerfully about the person you are and the person you are becoming. Remember, it’s okay to be where you are, while heading somewhere else. In fact, the only place you can start, is where you are right now. Having a personal vision does not mean your life changes overnight. But it will change. Your personal mission statement provides the steps to get you there. Your Personal Mission Statement should answer three questions: 1. What is my life about (Purpose)? 2. What do I stand for (Values)? 3. What actions do I take to manifest my Purpose and my Values? Stephen Covey, author or The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People writes that an empowering Mission Statement represents the deepest and best within you. It comes out of a solid connection with your deep inner life. Is the fulfillment of your own unique gifts. It’s the expression of your unique capacity to contribute. Addresses and integrates the four fundamental human needs and capacities in the physical, social/emotional, mental and spiritual dimensions. Deals with all the significant roles in your life. It represents a lifetime balance of personal, family, work, community – whatever roles you feel are yours to fill. Is written to inspire you – not to impress anyone else. It communicates to you and inspires you on the most essential level.

Covey also tells us that “creating a Personal Mission Statement will be, without question, one of the most powerful and significant things you will ever do to take leadership of you life. In it you will identify the most important roles, relationships, and things in your life – who you want to be, what you want to do, to whom and what you want of give your life, the principles you want to anchor your life to, the legacy you want to leave. All the goals and decisions you will make in the future will be based upon it. It’s like deciding first which wall you want to lean your ladder of life against, and then beginning to climb. It will be a compass – a strong source of guidance amid the stormy seas and pressing, pulling currents of you life.”

A Personal Vision/Mission can help propel you into a career change, finding a new job, or make your present job work better for you. The more connected your Personal Vision/Mission is to yourself, the better it can guide your career and your life.

Copyright 2009, Cecile Peterkin. All rights reserved.

Branding is a process started by large corporations like Nike as part of a marketing strategy in the 1980′s. It is a concept which had them selling their customers an image and an idea. Soon, along with the pair of running shoes you were buying, you were also buying into the concept, and “just doing it”; and your Bell telephone service isn’t just about a tool, it’s about the way we are all connected. Advertising has become less about the product and more about the feeling the company wants you to associate with what they sell.

Branding isn’t just for companies. People in all walks of life and various career stages are starting to use career tips like self branding to get ahead. Like a company and its products in the marketplace, self-branding means looking at yourself as a winning brand. It’s being aware of the things that set you apart from everyone else and make you memorable and unique – your skills, abilities, personality traits. Being self-aware means you become clear about what you stand for and what you have to offer. Doing a good job is no longer good enough to guarantee your career will go well.

Branding yourself means you become associated with what sets you apart from others and the added value you bring to a job, business, or situation. Self-branding demands self-awareness and communicates that you feel comfortable in your own skin. When you know what you’ve got to offer, you become powerful and intentional about how you communicate that through the quality of service you provide. You are your most important asset. Self-branding provides direction and clarity of purpose for how you work, not just what you do for a living.
Because you are self-aware and focused, the benefits of branding are many.

Self-branding:

As a result, you will:

Personal branding is the strategy behind the world’s most successful people like Oprah, Madonna, Donald Trump, Richard Branson, and Bill Gates. It demands commitment to what you value, consistency in what you deliver, and the guts to market who you are. It is the difference between an ordinary career or business and an exceptional one. Now you know one of the most important career tips. Get clear on the brand “You”, and be faithful to it.

Recommended Resources:

Copyright 2009, Cecile Peterkin. All rights reserved.