Career Communiqué x-Press

A personal note from Annemarie...

Tell a friend! Forward this email to a friend!
Not subscribed yet? Don't miss an issue!

Friday 27, April 2007

Hi,

Welcome to another edition of Career Communiqué x-Press.

One of my core values around my own career is ‘professional development/education’ which is why I constantly look out for ongoing opportunities that will allow me expand my knowledge and abilities so that I can continue delivering high value services to my clients (that’s you!).

In alignment with my values, I have recently returned from an amazing three week professional development course which covered all aspects on training, speaking and presenting workshops. I had previously completed a Workplace Training and Assessment Course, however this recent course has provided me with amazing tools, resources and techniques that will enable me to develop and deliver powerful presentations and training workshops in the near future.

Coming from a family of teachers and trainers, the love of teaching, supporting and encouraging others to develop and advance their own skills and knowledge is definitely in my blood. The activities that I am involved in on a daily basis align with my work values, interests, aptitudes and natural style, which is why I am so passionate about what I do. By having an enhanced self awareness has allowed me to design and live my purposeful career through my role as Career & NLP Coach, which is soon to be expanded to speaker and trainer (keep watching this space).

Do you have a self awareness about your values, work interests and natural style? If you don’t and you are not sure how to go about enhancing your understanding around these important areas, check out our article in Coach’s Corner – Living your Purposeful Career by enhancing your self awareness.

Remember, we always welcome contact and feedback from our subscribers and visitors, so pop across to our Ask Annemarie site and submit your topic of interest, question or comment. We'd love to hear from you!

Upcoming programs and workshops

Purposeful Careers:
"15 steps to clarifying, designing and living your life's calling"

You too can feel motivated and inspired in your job, allowing you to live your life's calling. And I'll coach you step-by-step to show you how!

But you will need to act FAST as we are only offering 10 spots per group, so reserve your spot today - I would hate to see you miss out!

Just a few more days to go before our next program starts. Secure your spot today!

Purposeful Careers - 15 week intensive group coaching program

Living your Purposeful Career by enhancing your self awareness.

Feeling stuck, stagnant or stifled in your current role, and have no idea how to move forward? Missing fulfilment, motivation and passion in your work? Puzzled about your talents, values and interests and feel unsure what to do next in your career? Then this fortnight’s article is a must-read for you!

Until next time,

To your success!

Annemarie Cross
Career & Master NLP Coach

In this issue...

Coach's Corner: Living your Purposeful Career by enhancing your self awareness.

Ace that Interview: How to successfully tack the “What is your current salary” question?

Resources & Tools to Catapult Your Career

Coach's Corner

Living your Purposeful Career by enhancing your self awareness.

Are you one of the 71% of people who are not engaged in their jobs? Do you dread Monday mornings and the thought of having to begin a new working week? Do you feel that the day just drags because you feel unfulfilled and unmotivated in what you are doing?

What would it mean to you if you could change that all around? How would your life be different if you could experience meaning, purpose, satisfaction and fulfilment in your work? What would it be like to experience enrichment and empowerment in your work so-much-so that the day just flies by? Wouldn’t that be great?

When I ask this question, it’s amazing how people’s eyes light up; their physiology changes; they begin to take deeper breaths as they imagine how different their day at work would be and how much it would mean to them if they could say they felt connected and inspired in their work. Unfortunately though, that spark of enthusiasm is short-lived when I ask them the million dollar question - “So what’s stopping you?” The enthusiasm and hope disappears almost instantaneously as they begin to lay claim to the ‘victim of reality’ syndrome.

Are you a victim of reality when it comes to your work? Do you continue working in a job that clearly is unfulfilling and meaningless? Considering that you spend most of your week at work, wouldn’t you rather be doing something that you are enthused about and that inspires you, rather than working in a role that seems to drain you of your energy? So what’s stopping your from realising your dreams, aspirations and reclaiming passion and meaning within your work?

In my experience one of the many reasons keeping people a victim of reality and in a role that they are not passionate about, is a lack of self-awareness – uncertainty about themselves, their desires, and a clear plan on how to move forward. This lack of self-awareness and understanding is one of the major factors that prompt people to either move from one job to another, or remain stuck in a job that is uninspiring, unfulfilling and devoid of anything that resembles passion, true calling and alignment with their life’s purpose.

Enhancing your self-awareness is one of the fundamental steps to support you in discovering your passion and life’s purpose, which is the reason why the ‘Clarify’ stage in our Purposeful Careers program is the most comprehensive, covering eight crucial steps that support participants in gaining a far greater understanding of themselves.

If you would like to gain some self-awareness but are unsure where to begin, here are three (of the eight) steps we cover in our Purposeful Careers program:

§	Values: It is important for you to consider your values when selecting a company or industry as, if the organisation’s values clash with your own, you will only end up having to compromise on what is important to you, again causing disillusionment, dissatisfaction and disappointment. By understanding your values you will be able to see why when certain things occur in the workplace it can make a huge impact on you, perhaps through raising feelings of discomfort. Perhaps you value diversity in your work and therefore a role that involves performing a few repetitive tasks on a daily basis would soon become boring. Or if you are a pioneer who enjoys influencing change and advancement, working for a company that is steadfast in their ways may stifle your resourcefulness.
§	Natural Style: Your natural style (i.e. personality) can have a significant impact on your motivation, particularly when we take into consideration the work you are performing, the environment you are working in, your interaction with other people, and how you tend to function in your role, so having a better understanding of your natural style will provide you with another crucial element in your self-exploration. For instance, if you are a person who loves lots of interaction with other people during your day, being cooped up in a back office with limited communication with others would probably drive you to boredom. You may be a highly organised person who enjoys planning out your work commitments, so you could find working in an unsystematic workplace with no goals and objectives to work towards, extremely difficult.
§	Work Interests: An interest is generally summarised as a natural curiosity or something that draws your attention, and by finding a role that aligns with your interests – the things that you are naturally drawn to - and that matches your skill set, can be rewarding, and also serve to stimulate ongoing motivation and enthusiasm in your work. As your interests are the ‘fabric’ – the blueprint of your personality - exploring interests that can be translated within a work setting should be an important factor for you to consider. Do your interests fall into the ‘realistic’ (adventuring and producing) category, showing that you prefer tasks that involve working with objects, machinery, plants or tools? Perhaps your interests are more aligned with the ‘investigative’ (analytic) category, depicting that you enjoy observing, analysing and solving problems. You may find the ‘artistic’ (creative) category more in line with your interests, which would allow you to harness your creativity and imagination in your work.
For many people, this information in itself can be life-altering, as they begin to understand what drives them, why they react in certain ways, what makes them unique and the impact this can have on the work choices they make. They become clearer on their work interests and work activities, and what inspires and enriches their day versus tasks that seem to drain them of their energy so that they can begin to design and live their Purposeful Careers. If you would like to gain enhanced self-awareness in order to begin designing a clear career path towards your dream role then join us on our upcoming Purposeful Careers 15-week intensive group coaching program.

If you'd like any additional support around this area, please do not hesitate to email me. My direct email is: annemarie@annemariecross.com STOP PRESS: Our next life-and-career altering program beginning 2 May 2007. Places are limited so secure your spot TODAY! Click here to enrol.

To your success!

Annemarie

Ace that Interview!

How to successfully tackle the “What is your current salary” question.

Providing dishonest information during any stage of the interview should be avoided and this holds true when it comes to salary negotiations. It is not acceptable to lie about your current (or previous salary/wage), and if you get caught out in a lie this could seriously tarnish your image and undermine your future credibility and standing with the company.

Consider incorporating bonuses, training opportunities, health benefits, expense

accounts, and any other allowances and benefits that are included in your package. For instance you may be on a $50,000 salary, but be expecting a bonus of $10,000; have a company car (valued at $15,000); and a travel/client allowance of $5,000) – which grosses $80,000. Rather than saying “I am on $50,000”, you could say, “My current salary package with bonuses and other allowances topped $80,000.”

Want to learn more about how to strategically handle salary negotiations? You can!! Grab your copy of 10 key steps to Ace that Interview! today Send me Ace that Interview today!

Resources & Tools to Catapult Your Career

ATTENTION JOB SEEKERS! Want to seize control of your job search and ensure you maximise your chances of snaring that interview by making yourself irresistible to a potential employer?
Did you know that:
in today’s fast paced and competitive job market your resume will only receive about 15-20 seconds to make an impression, and
thousands of job seekers are loosing out on job opportunities due to a dull and uninspiring resume? So what lasting impact is your resume making? Powerful Resumes!: EXPOSED - 6 crucial writing strategies to Secure that Interview! e-Course shows you how to create a powerful marketing tool that will allow you to outshine your competitors and catapult your application to the top of the pile. [Fast-track your application to the top of the pile today!]

Want to use this article in your ezine or website?

You can as long as you include this complete copy with it:

Career & Master NLP Coach and author Annemarie Cross provides specialised services for people striving for success and fulfilment in their careers. With an inquisitive, inspiring and influential approach, Annemarie has supported and empowered clients from diverse backgrounds across Australia and the globe in their journey to regain clarity, confidence, contentment and balance within their lives and careers. To learn more about her book, 10 Key Steps to Ace that Interview!, and sign up for more FREE tips and solutions like these, visit her site at http://www.annemariecross.com

Have a question you'd like answered in this ezine? Submit your question to: info@annemariecross.com

Managing your subscription

Career Communiqué x-Press is published by Annemarie Cross. You are receiving this email from Annemarie Cross because you subscribed on our website. To ensure that you continue to receive emails from us, add info@annemariecross.com to your address book today. To no longer receive our emails, click to on the Remove Me button below.

If you have any comments or questions please send them to info@annemariecross.com