February 2014 - WOW!CV | CV Writing by Gerard le Roux

Are you the kind of job hunter who – like me – struggles to focus on anything but the problem at hand. Do you get overwhelmed by the job hunt … you’re anxious … everything suffers – health, relationships, kids, personal growth, sleep?

And this at a time when you really need to be at your best. To be strong, confident, bold, bright. (For job interviews, etc)

Keeping yourself ‘together’ during a challenge is hard. It’s easy to feel like this one problem has taken over one’s life. But one has to realise that you’re better equipped to cope and to smash the problem when you’re feeling strong, together.

A few years ago there was a show on TV called EcoChallenge. It was created by the Survivor guy, Mark Burnett. Basically teams of 4 race cross country, on foot mostly, to an end point. It takes elite teams 3 or 4 days, others it takes 10 days.

In one race, 2 teams were neck-and-neck. One stopped to sleep, just for an hour or two. The other didn’t. It made all the difference. While the non-sleep team stumbled around exhausted toward the end of the race, the other team quietly & steadily overtook them. And won.

The lesson? There are certain things that keep us as humans, ‘together’. Sleep, good nutrition, exercise, positive relationships, positive thoughts (an incomplete list). When we neglect them, we pay! Performance suffers. Results suffer. We suffer.

So, pay attention to this stuff. Plan your week. Keep timeslots open for walks, exercise; eat healthy; take time to think of the good things in your life; be kind.

Just this week I’ve added a new resource to the Get a Job Fast programme. It’s called “6 Secrets to Staying Strong when Facing the Job Hunting Fire.” When you join for just R75 you get it as well as a bunch of good guidance aimed at helping you ‘get a job fast.’

[If you want to become a member, you can download the application form here: www.careerandsuccess.info; or if you’d like me to e-mail it to you, I’m at gerard@careerandsuccess.info.]

Personal thought of the week:

Made a huge mistake yesterday. My daughter (11) and I have been running, and I’ve been running barefoot (there’s a whole barefoot running trend and I figured it’d help my squash and toughen up my feet since I’m in the office all day).

But yesterday was around 30 degrees C. It was 5pm. The road was hot. But I didn’t think much about it. So now I have these massive flaps of loose skin / blisters on my feet. My wife says it’s what I deserve for being so stupid. Maybe she’s right. The lesson: I’ll learn from my mistake. The painful lesson is useful.

In a job hunt often we make the same mistakes over and over. Like thinking recruiters/agencies are really interested in us. It’s not a mistake to use them. It’s a mistake to have that strategy as your MAIN strategy. You’ll get burned.

Share your thoughts here:

www.fb.com/gerardlerouxonline

Perhaps this could be the “edge” you’re looking for in your job search. The thing that differentiates you from the crowd.

With it you’ll make a better impression. You’ll help yourself stand out. You’ll show that you’re not just a qualification + skills – you have the spirit, attitude and mindset to produce more, to achieve more, to be of more value in a business.

What is it? Learning.

On the one hand, it can be a R150 000 MBA. On the other hand it can be a free online course or just a book.

Here are some ideas that can be free (and ideas on how to use them):

* You read a book. Think library, 2nd hand bookshop, or $0.00 ebooks from Amazon.com – read them on your Kindle for Android / mobile phone or Kindle for PC – both free.

* You read a book, then write a blog post about what you learned. Your blog is free, hosted at wordpress.com, you have a link to it in your CV and on your LinkedIn.com page.

* You read a book, then develop a “5 Step” strategy to apply what you learn in your work environment, you track the results. You put it in your CV – “My 5 Step Strategy for Motivating People”

This way you SHOW an employer you’re not just a backside on an expensive ergonomicly correct seat. You’re there to make a difference. To help produce results. To help the enterprise improve.

[Many, many of my CV writing clients say they read books. Some say, “I read 5 business books every month.” Okay. Good. But what have you learned? What have you applied? What have you put to work? What results have come as a result? What difference has it made to your performance, to your value to your employer, to your value as a little one-man business?

Everybody’s read “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. But what’s more interesting is this: how has it made you more effective, more efficient, more valuable?]

You can take a free course, like full diploma courses on www.alison.com
You can read blogs of experts in your field of work. You can comment & participate.
You can read trade/industry magazines. You notice trends. You have an opinion.

Learning does not = university, college, certificates only. It’s an approach to life. An attitude. It reveals a person who always wants to improve. And when what’s learned is APPLIED (put to work in achieving measurable results), then it becomes a major differentiator in your job search (iow: it makes you look better than other applicants, set to land more job interviews, more job offers.)

Learning can make the older look young and fresh. And can make the young look wise. And not just “look”, rather actually be: “young and fresh” and “wise”.

Note: within my member’s only website – Career and Success – is a Library of books and guides, on career and improvement topics (including “Think and Grow Rich.”)

The main program of learning in it is “Get a Job Fast”. Becoming a member is R75. Go to here to get the application form: www.careerandsuccess.info.

Combatting Job Hunt Stress & Overwhelm (and how I lost the skin off my feet)

This Could be Your Edge in a Cluttered Job Market