Australia's leading Career Newsletter - Career Communique x-Press

Love Your Work! | Secure that Job! | Blitz the Interview! | Retain & Engage your Staff!

In this issue

Webinars & Events with Annemarie
Stay tuned for upcoming webinars and events.

Connections: Career Success Radio & TV:
Lost your job? So, what’s Your Career Plan B?

Coach's Corner:
Are you a savvy networker?

Your question answered:
Asking for feedback…

Resources & Tools to Catapult Your Career
Career Success Radio Widget – Audio Resource for recruiter, job search and career-related businesses/websites.

Friday 20 November, 2009
ISSN:1835-8551
Volume XXXVII, Issue 66

Published every fortnight on Friday. To change your subscription, see link at the end of the email.

Career Communiqué x-Press supports people in accelerating their level of success in the job market and the workplace so they can secure their dream job, love their work, and get paid what they're worth.

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

Personal note from Annemarie

Hi,

Welcome to another issue of Career Communiqué x-Press, and especially a warm ‘hello’ to all of our new subscribers. We consider it a real privilege to have you join us! Please drop me an email to let me know how we can continue supporting you.

It’s official – my eldest daughter – Danielle has turned 18; has finished her secondary school education (and exams); and is licensed and mobile! A number of her closest friends came over last weekend and helped her celebrate this milestone – here’s a picture of Danielle (right) and one of her best friends Marsani.

Doesn’t time fly? It seems like just the other day I was taking her to her first day of school – yet here she is at the end of her secondary schooling. I must say I’m very proud of the young woman she has become and I look forward to seeing what the next 18 years hold for her.

Thanks for letting me share my recent celebrations with you. For those of you who are soon-to-be parents of 18 year olds, it’s not as scary as you may think [at least not yet – she says with bated breath.]

Have you joined our Career Success Radio community yet? Pop across and check out the expanding job search and career-related resources we’re accumulating.

Anyway, on to this issue’s article:

Are you a savvy Networker?

Your contact list (your ‘circle of influence’ as I like to call it) is worth far more than gold and should be treated as such. By nurturing and building these relationships you’ll be able to tap into numerous opportunities about which you may otherwise never have found out. Are you building and leveraging your network?

Hope you enjoy this fortnight’s article!

Connect with me on Facebook Are we friends yet? If not just click on the photo and send me a friend request. Come and join our Career Success Radio Community! Or become a fan! Until next time, to your success! Remember: If you can dream it...you can achieve it! Annemarie Cross Career Management & Personal Branding Strategist
	Name: Annemarie Cross

Webinars & Events with Annemarie

Stay tuned for upcoming webinars and events.

Connections: Career Success Radio

Bringing you empowering career related topics to support you in accelerating your level of success in the job market and the workplace across the globe.
Co-hosted by Annemarie Cross and Keith Keller.

When: Every Monday at 9.00am AEST

Where: www.careersuccessradio.com

What's coming up on our next show – 23 November 2009
Topic: Lost your job? So, what’s Your Career Plan B?

Have you recently lost your job? Are you fearful that a ‘change’ is imminent in your workplace? Whatever the reason, it’s crucial to ensure you have a solid career plan in place to ensure you are not left out in the cold if you lose your job.

Listen in as Annemarie Cross interviews Kelly MacGowan from Six Figures as she shares crucial career advice on how to develop a solid Career Plan B to help you hit the ground running should you find yourself without a job.

We’ll also be playing our ‘From the Vault’ segment – an interview we had with Nicole Cain from Profusion Group – LinkedIn for job seekers. If you don’t have a profile on LinkedIn yet, or haven’t quite figured out how to leverage your LinkedIn profile, you’ll certainly walk away with some strategic action steps.

If you have a Twitter account, join us in our new Twubs room and feel free to ask questions and share your tips: http://twubs.com/careerradio/. Or alternatively comment and follow #careerradio

Remember to visit us at our Career Radio Community page at: www.careersuccessradio.com where as always, there are fantastic resources for Jobseekers, Career Changers, HR Professionals and Recruiters alike. Including competitions, Twitter polls, job vacancies, articles, forums, and of course a great place to continue building your network.

Previous Show: Twitter (and other social media) Job Search Success Stories

Want to have CareerCommuniqueRadio.com podcasts delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to our CareerCommuniqueRadio.com Feedburner

Coach's Corner: Feature Article

Are you a savvy networker?

It’s pleasing to hear that many people are now recognising the importance of building and nurturing their networks not only when actively seeking new job opportunities, but as a long-term and integral career management strategy.

Adopting an approach of regularly sharing relevant information and supporting your circle of influence should create an environment of reciprocity so that when you need to seek support your contacts will be far more open to supporting you. It’s a win-win situation.

If you’re still unsure of the best way to cultivate your growing circle of influence, below are 5 tips that I recently shared on Twitter on how you can keep in contact with your connections in order to develop in positive and professional relationships.

Tip One:

@annemariecross What have you done for yr network today? Send someone an article they’d be interested in and that will support them in achieving their goal.

Read a newsletter, article or online report that you know would be of benefit to one (or more) of your connections? Send them a copy of the article to support them in achieving their goal.

You many like to include a short note to demonstrate that you’ve been thinking about them and that you are genuinely interested in seeing them achieve whatever they are working on.

Tip Two:

@annemariecross What have you done for yr network today? Volunteer to help out at an event. Your contact will be very grateful for the support.

Supporting your contacts by volunteering at their cause or event is a great way to strengthen a relationship. Extending a hand of friendship in any way, large or small, is certainly a wonderful gesture and one I’m sure will be greatly appreciated.

Additional benefits of volunteering include the ongoing expansion and development of your skills and knowledge base, while meeting additional people who can also become part of your network.

Tip Three:

@annemariecross What have u done for yr network today? Make contact with someone & invite them for a coffee & chat – just because you can.

Life and work often get so busy that we HAVE to make the time to just sit back and ‘smell the roses’.

Similarly, with your circle of influence, the contact you have with them does not necessarily need to be ‘work’ focussed all the time. Inviting someone out to coffee and a chat is a fantastic way to strengthen your relationship without having that corporate-like approach. Remember, people recommend and/or do business with people they know, like and trust. Aim to build relationships that are founded on integrity and trust.

Tip Four:

@annemariecross What have u done for yr network today? Send a card or tell someone how much you appreciate them for their ongoing support.

Receiving a card, a phone call or note from someone who is showing their appreciation is a gesture that I’m sure all of us appreciate. So why not do the same for people in your network.

Has someone helped you out of a bind; sent you information that has been helpful in your job search/career; or has just been there for you no matter what? Reach out to them today and let them know you are grateful for their help and support

Tip Five:

@annemariecross Building your network? Find out the interests of one of yr connections & ask them about this next time you meet.

I’m sure all of you have one activity - a hobby or interest about which you are very passionate. So how impressed would you be if one of your connections asked you how about this and whether you’d had a recent opportunity to immerse yourself in this area? I know I would be!

As the tweet post states, find out about the interests of your connections and make a note of it on your network database so the next time you know that person is going to attend a networking event, you’ll be able to ask them about it. A great icebreaker and a way to build rapport while strengthening your relationship.

So which of the five tips will you be implementing this week? My coach’s challenge for you this fortnight is to pick a minimum of two, and implement these with at least three of your contacts.

I’ll be posting this article on my blog [http://www.career-coach.com.au/blog] and will let you know which two strategies I’ll be using. Stop on by and let me know what you’ve done for your network this week – I’d love to hear from you.

Till next fortnight…

Annemarie

About Annemarie Cross

Annemarie Cross is a Career Management & Personal Branding Strategist, Speaker, Consultant, Radio Broadcaster, and Author of ’10 key steps to Ace that Interview'. She also heads the firm - Advanced Employment Concepts, which offers powerful programs for people desiring career success and fulfilment, as well as savvy companies committed to building/retaining their most important asset – their staff.

Your can learn more about Annemarie's products, programs and services by visiting: www.a-e-c.com.au

Subscriber Spotlight: Your questions answered

A recent question that was raised by one of our readers was: “When you know you were out of two people in an interview and the job went to another person, how can I find out the reason why I was not selected – even though I know I was perfectly suited for the role (and thought I would be offered the job)?”

This is a great question and one that stumps many job seekers. The answer is plain and simple - request feedback from the interviewer.

This is something I encourage all my clients to do and is something that you should consider doing as part of your job search. Make contact with the interviewer and ask him/her for his/her honest criticism to assist you in your job search. Ask them what led them to make the decision to make an offer to the other person? Were they more experienced? Did they portray themselves better in the interview and if so, what could you have answered differently in order for them to have offered the role to you?

While this may seem awkward (and often confronting having to listen to honest feedback), it certainly is a worthwhile exercise particularly if through the feedback you are able to change and enhance the way in which you respond to certain questions the next time you are asked that same question.

10 key steps to Ace that Interview devotes the last chapter to how to move forward confidently despite not having a successful job offer and is certainly a worthwhile read. www.acethatinterview.com.au

Resources & Tools to Catapult Your Career

Do you operate a job search or career-related business looking at providing up-to-date information for your site visitors and clients that has them returning to your website again and again?

Career Success Radio has recently designed a widget that contains the last of their five radio shows, which can be easily placed on your website to start sharing relevant and inspiring information with your clients and site visitors.

Interested? Go to: www.careersuccesswidget.com or for more information contact: info@careerradio.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@a-e-c.com.au 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 enquiry@a-e-c.com.au