Summary: As a Communications Coach, one of the things I most love to do is to provide my resumé clients with interviewing tips, based on their personal needs. If you have a "challenged brain," you can benefit from some of my most commonly given advice below.
This week, I got one of those e-mail messages that really makes you glow: A satisfied resumé client wrote to tell me how helpful all of the "extras" I provided him were—extras like interview coaching, which is my favorite part of creating resumés for people. This work is best done one-on-one, but can also be successful when conducted over the telephone. In my client's case, we were able to meet in person and expedite the process.
Resumés are an integral part of the work world—even for blue collar positions nowadays.
This fact has surprised a number of my clients in recent months. I've helped people who have never created resumés (in one case, a retiree who had over 30 years of experience as a steel millwright in Gary, Indiana) pare down lifetimes of experience into concise, accurate, one-page sales pitches of their work history.
This can be a daunting process! Most clients come to me because they are completely overwhelmed by figuring out how to do this properly—and because so much depends on their getting the right employment right now.
Because of my expertise as a Communications Coach, it's far easier for me to do this on their behalf, simply by asking them a few questions and working off of a template that I've designed to cover all the bases. And because so many of my clients have what I call "challenged brains," I'm able to coach all personality types through unique and specific challenges. Examples include clients with ADD who have difficulty focusing (my biggest piece of advice is to practice deep breathing before, after, and especially during the interview); those with autism who may be particularly challenged by eye contact (making direct eye contact during a handshake and at the start of the interview is important, however a trick that can help for the remainder of any interview session is to look at the speaker's eyebrows or eyelashes); and clients who've struggled with depression, addiction or other illnesses that interrupted their work lives (there are a number of ways to address resumé holes or gaps in employment, and it's best to discuss these to determine what's right for each individual).
I love to see people grow and succeed. And I also love getting e-mails from those people that read, "I feel more confident thanks to you. ... I know who to come to with any questions in the future"!
© KiKi Productions, Inc. 2010
Showing posts with label success. Show all posts
Showing posts with label success. Show all posts
Oct 2, 2009
WEEKLY UPDATE: LOVE What You Do!
Summary: I'm starting a creative writing course tomorrow in an effort to hone my craft & boost my skill set. What do you love? Working on yourself continuously can turn you into an expert eventually. And no matter what you love, you can always benefit from improving your communications skills.
Tomorrow the adventure begins: It's the first day of the 8-week creative writing course I've signed up for with StoryStudio Chicago. Every Saturday for the remainder of that period, I'll spend two hours plugging away on a project of my choosing, honing my craft and clocking more hours performing my passion—communicating!
What's your area of expertise? And how often do you boost your skill set?
Malcolm Gladwell, author of (among other best-sellers) the recent success story Outliers, writes that true pros spend over 10,000 hours practicing and perfecting those areas that they eventually own. That's a major investment! If you're truly serious about being one of the best in your field, you'll find a way to make almost everything you do about the thing you love most. (My professional bio references my "lifelong love affair with language" that ranges in experience from speaking before I could walk to taking journalism workshops in middle school and teaching them in college to freelancing as a corporate speechwriter in my 20s and even to constantly editing everything I read in my head!)
If you're serious about loving what you do, you'll be continuously looking to improve yourself—particularly in your chosen field. And no matter what field you choose to pursue, communicating better can always benefit you.
© KiKi Productions, Inc. 2009
Tomorrow the adventure begins: It's the first day of the 8-week creative writing course I've signed up for with StoryStudio Chicago. Every Saturday for the remainder of that period, I'll spend two hours plugging away on a project of my choosing, honing my craft and clocking more hours performing my passion—communicating!
What's your area of expertise? And how often do you boost your skill set?
Malcolm Gladwell, author of (among other best-sellers) the recent success story Outliers, writes that true pros spend over 10,000 hours practicing and perfecting those areas that they eventually own. That's a major investment! If you're truly serious about being one of the best in your field, you'll find a way to make almost everything you do about the thing you love most. (My professional bio references my "lifelong love affair with language" that ranges in experience from speaking before I could walk to taking journalism workshops in middle school and teaching them in college to freelancing as a corporate speechwriter in my 20s and even to constantly editing everything I read in my head!)
If you're serious about loving what you do, you'll be continuously looking to improve yourself—particularly in your chosen field. And no matter what field you choose to pursue, communicating better can always benefit you.
© KiKi Productions, Inc. 2009
Sep 4, 2009
TRULY SPEAKING/WEEKLY UPDATE: Truly Listening
This week, I made a decision that affected the blog: After weeks (and in one case, months) of attempting to get together with two different friends in neighboring cities, I re-prioritized and committed to commuting to visit them—two days in a row in different directions—even though it meant I wouldn't have mid-week blog time. Seeing my friends, connecting with them face to face, was just that important to me.
One friend is about to move much farther away—to Dallas, Texas—from Chicago. While I have the chance, I want to take advantage of our shared time, so I drove the hour-plus to lunch with her on Wednesday (and then treat ourselves to girly pedicures!).
The other is a childhood friend with whom I've been in touch to varying degrees since we met in the first grade. Our life schedules have been so hectic over the past year that we've missed out on our usual holiday-centered visits in our hometown. So, I drove two hours to Indianapolis where we met for an early dinner, explored the city's refurbished downtown, then treated ourselves to a little sale-based shopping spree.
Both visits had one prime focal point: conversation. I lingered over lunch in Chi-town and dawdled over dinner in Indy; wherever we were, we two (both sets) talked and talked and talked. We may have been trying on blue jeans or testing out toe nail polish colors, but somehow we managed to interweave deeper subject matter, things that really touched our hearts, into every conversation. And even more importantly, we listened to each other.
One testament to true friendship is listening. An important part of truly listening is making eye contact—something that just can't be replicated over the telephone or in text and e-mail messages. In a time when success is so rarely measured by how many true, deep friendships one shares, listening is key for life success in many areas—from personal relationships to work-based ones. How well do you listen? And just how do you know ...?
© KiKi Productions, Inc. 2009
One friend is about to move much farther away—to Dallas, Texas—from Chicago. While I have the chance, I want to take advantage of our shared time, so I drove the hour-plus to lunch with her on Wednesday (and then treat ourselves to girly pedicures!).
The other is a childhood friend with whom I've been in touch to varying degrees since we met in the first grade. Our life schedules have been so hectic over the past year that we've missed out on our usual holiday-centered visits in our hometown. So, I drove two hours to Indianapolis where we met for an early dinner, explored the city's refurbished downtown, then treated ourselves to a little sale-based shopping spree.
Both visits had one prime focal point: conversation. I lingered over lunch in Chi-town and dawdled over dinner in Indy; wherever we were, we two (both sets) talked and talked and talked. We may have been trying on blue jeans or testing out toe nail polish colors, but somehow we managed to interweave deeper subject matter, things that really touched our hearts, into every conversation. And even more importantly, we listened to each other.
One testament to true friendship is listening. An important part of truly listening is making eye contact—something that just can't be replicated over the telephone or in text and e-mail messages. In a time when success is so rarely measured by how many true, deep friendships one shares, listening is key for life success in many areas—from personal relationships to work-based ones. How well do you listen? And just how do you know ...?
© KiKi Productions, Inc. 2009
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