A personal note from Annemarie...

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 Friday, 22nd June 2007

Hi,

Welcome to another edition of Career Communiqué x-Press. I hope you have had a productive and successful fortnight.

Yesterday, when I picked up my youngest daughter from school, she bounced into the car with great excitement, sharing the news that she has won the ‘Power Girl’ award for the week. [Each week the school singles out one special student for their ‘assertiveness’ and ‘hard work’ with each award winner receiving their certificate in front of the entire school assembly. The applause, the whistles, and the yahoos she had received from all the children at the assembly were just as exciting for her, I’m sure.] For those of you who are parents, you’d appreciate this special moment, through having shared in your own children’s joy and excitement when they received awards in recognition of their efforts

From a young age not only have I validated my children’s achievements by telling them how proud I was of them, but also allowing them to realise that they could be proud of their own efforts. I would say “I can see that you have worked very hard on that. You must be very proud of yourself – give yourself a big pat on the back,” which of course they did. Even today as they enter their teenage years, I continue to encourage them to be proud of their achievements, as once they begin work, they may not receive congratulatory or ‘job well done’ remarks from their colleagues or bosses in recognition of their work. However, that doesn’t mean that they cannot be pleased and satisfied with the work they are doing.

I believe that this is important for all of us. Do you recognise your own achievements and congratulate yourself for what you are achieving, or do you rely on other people to validate your achievements? Next time you complete a task or project on time; win a new client account; or save your company money etc, avoid waiting for others to congratulate you, but rather sit back and take a moment to congratulate yourself for the work you have put in.

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

Breaking through the barriers: addressing unhelpful beliefs.

Find yourself ‘stuck’ in a situation that you just can’t get yourself out of? Have you considered that perhaps the underlying beliefs you have about yourself and the situation may be keeping you locked in this negative cycle? This week’s article shows how powerful our beliefs are and how they can keep us from achieving our goals if we let them.

In this issue...

Coach's Corner:   Breaking through the barriers: addressing unhelpful beliefs.

Ace that Interview:  Failing to reach second round interviews?

Resources & Tools to Catapult Your Career

 

 Coach's Corner

Breaking through the barriers: addressing unhelpful beliefs .

Find yourself ‘stuck’ in a situation that you just can’t get yourself out of? Have you considered that perhaps the underlying beliefs you have about yourself and the situation may be keeping you locked in this negative cycle?  

As a career coach I’ve had many clients who have found themselves stuck in a vicious cycle because of limiting beliefs. Do you have any limiting beliefs blocking you from reaching your goals or achieving real success?.

When I think of limiting beliefs I compare it to a ‘thought’ virus. Just like a computer virus a ‘thought’ virus can cause immense destruction if you let it. Like a virus, our limiting beliefs are a self-fulfilling prophecy that interferes with our ability to heal, improve, and achieve the dreams and goals we want for ourselves.

To give you an example of how powerful our beliefs are, and how they can impact our outcomes and results, we’re going to review two scenarios.

Imagine a person having the following unhelpful beliefs:

• I’m not good at selling myself

• I don’t really have any real impressive accomplishments in my career

• I haven’t got the skills to support me in making a transition to a new role

• I’m too old for a career change - I’m too old to go back to study

• I’ll never be able to find a job that I really love .

Let’s look at the impact these unhelpful beliefs could have when this person attends an interview:

Belief: “I’m not very talented and don’t really have any hope of getting through the interview or being offered the job.”
 
Why bother to research the company and practice my interview techniques?

I just know the other candidates are going to have far more experience than me. I know I’m going to make a fool of myself.

I feel so hopeless and uninterested in preparing for the interview.

I don’t perform well at all in the interview.

I notice when I answer a question incorrectly (which makes me even more nervous and incapable of answering any further questions appropriately).

I ruin all chances of impressing the interviewer.

I receive a ‘you were not successful’ letter in the mail.

I confirm and prove my belief to myself, which is:

Belief: “I’m not very talented and don’t really have any hope of getting through the interview or being offered the job.”

So you can see that this person’s limiting beliefs became a self-fulfilling prophecy that interfered with their ability to prepare and present themselves professionally at the interview, unfortunately confirming their unhelpful belief to themselves that “they are not talented and have no real hope of getting through the interview”.

I’m sure we have all heard about the movie ‘The Secret’, which is based on a very important principle that NLP states which is: ‘where your attention goes your energy flows’. In other words, what you focus your attention and energy on is what you will attract into your life. Now if we look at the above situation, that person’s attention is focused primarily on the negative which therefore created and delivered a negative outcome for the client. They went full circle to create exactly what they ‘had [unfortunately] believed’.

If we take the exact same job seeker but change the limiting beliefs to more positive and empowering beliefs, let’s see what impact that would have on the sequence of events.

Belief: “I am skilled, have a lot to offer an employer, so have a great chance of getting through the interview and being offered the job.”

I research the company and practise my interview techniques.

I visualise myself building rapport with the interviewer and being able to answer all their questions professionally.

I feel confident and ready to meet the interviewer.

I connect instantly with the interviewer and respond well to the questions.

I notice when I impress the interviewer with my responses.

I strengthen my position as a strong candidate for the role.

I have been invited to the next round of interviews.

I confirm and prove my belief to myself, that:

Belief: “I am skilled, have a lot to offer an employer, so have a great chance of getting through the interview.”

What an impact this has on this person’s job search and interview. Simply by changing the belief and their attention in a positive way their energy, thoughts, and actions were all positive allowing for a far more positive outcome.

Do you have any unhelpful and limiting beliefs that are currently holding you back from achieving the goals that you would like to change?

Maybe you find yourself continuously failing to make it to the second stage in your interviews and are feeling quite hopeless and unable to pinpoint exactly why this is? You may have considered changing jobs for some time, however feel apprehensive about submitting a job application because you doubt your skills and experience? Perhaps you may be feeling unworthy of putting yourself forward for that promotion – how could you compete with everyone else in your department?

 Ace that Interview!

Failing to reach second round interviews?

Are you one of the candidates who continue to struggle with job interviews? Perhaps you have a misunderstanding of the entire interviewing process? Or you may have found it impossible to establish rapport with the interviewer thus making communication difficult, resulting in an uninspiring interview performance.

When interviewing, your goal should be to portray your assets (experience, qualifications, and achievements) in such a way that:

• Is congruent with the interviewer’s communication style to secure and enhance the personal chemistry throughout the interview;

• Corresponds your competencies and practical experience with the requirements detailed in the position description; and

• Demonstrates a ‘fit’ with the company culture.

Want to learn how you can achieve that in your next interview? Grab your copy of 10 key steps to Ace that Interview! today Send me Ace that Interview today! 

Stop press: Need to get your hands on 10 key steps to Ace that Interview! immediately for an unexpected interview? Get a copy of our new e-Book version delivered to your inbox today! Send me Ace that Interview today! 

Have a question you'd like answered in this ezine? Contact: enquiry@a-e-c.com.au 

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