Career Coach CV/Resume Writer by Rob Ridout

GET TOGETHER A CAREER PLAN TODAY!                                The Three-Phase Plan That’s Actually Practical The three-phase plan I’m about to give you was inspired by my mentor Michael Gerber, who once gave me this great nugget of wisdom: “You need to dream big, think small and act even smaller.” The key to this nugget of wisdom is that it helps us break our future plans into three phases so we can think in the long-, mid- and short-term. It looks like this: • The Three-Year Vision (dream big in the long-term) • The One-Year Goal (think small in the mid-term) • The 90-Day Milestones (act even smaller in the short-term) Separating your plan into these three distinct phases will give you just the right balance of those two types of connections (motivational and rational) necessary to create real results. But you must have all three phases for this to work. If you just have the long-term vision, there won’t be enough implementation -- you’ll just be daydreaming all day

         Should you include photos in your CV? Great article on this topic.                 https://novoresume.com/career-blog/including-photo-on-resume     LOOKING FOR A HIGH IMPACT CV AND LINKEDIN PROFILE WITH PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS ★   CVforLife specialises in writing and designing bespoke CV designs. We are the only CV writing business in South Africa that includes a professional photo with all our packages. We use this photo in both your CV and LinkedIn profiles.   ★Contact us today for a free assessment and quote.   Carike ✉ carike@cvforlife.co.za ☏ +27 10 0355013   ✔ We are offering special packages for retrenched individuals   We also offer ✔ Career coaching ✔ Interview coaching ✔ International CV https://www.yourcvforlife.com/      

Online Interview Tips - An Extended Version I know how you feel, that Zoom interview glaring at you from your calendar as if to remind you of an impending career-defining moment. Even with years of experience selling and working with people I still suffer trying to get the laptop camera in point in just the right direction. Even having asked my teenage kids a million times to help the entire experience is almost as bad as having a half-decent conversation with a mask. Seriously though I have read through many articles suggesting tips on the topic of online interviews, but this article I found has some great suggestions that speak to a broader combination of aspects over and above the normal suggestions. Read it and let me know what works best. Trust me I need the help just as much as you do... Read Article Here robert@cvforlife.co.za rob@isantya.com www.yourcvforlife.com

 The Agile Candidate Adapting to external hiring challenges has now become a required toolset for any job seeker. Highlighting what skills to sell during this time will ensure a job interview. Critical - Attitude Agile Audacious. This is an excellent article on what is becoming the norm for candidate adaptability.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2020/04/17/8-job-skills-to-succeed-in-a-post-coronavirus-world/#4bced46a2096

Your Career Story - The cornerstone of a good interview strategy I am constantly asked questions about the interview and its many variations and complexities. This all too common topic has become a major fear factor for most candidates moving through the recruitment process. Actually, the interview is simply one party trying to understand if the other party can do the job and/or has the potential to do the job and of course, is telling the truth. Oversimplification, I know.  In the defence of the interviewer, this screening process is a critical part of ensuring that an incorrect candidate is not hired. The interviewer often or not resorts to a form of an interview that assimilates interrogation.  The candidate, however, moves into the interview process blissfully unaware of the interrogation that is about to follow and many times is not well informed of the key issues around company corporate culture and hidden key details that have not been included in the specificatio

The purpose of the CV UNCOVERED! by Rob Ridout The traditional  CV/resume has been around forever. Even with the advent of Linkedin and other social media platforms the candidate and hiring manager still considers this necessary document as the primary screening document. There is little chance of this document being replaced in the near future.   This CV has, however, three specific uses that the candidate needs to understand before entering the market. The CV, therefore, will need to cater to each of these but still keep that narrative on point according to the job specification.   Screening Purposes    The ultimate test for the CV is that it passes the screening test. The CV should always give the initial “minimum requirements” test. Most candidates still seem to think that there is no need to adjust their CV when submitting. The CV needs to be ‘loaded” for each specification! The reader will cross-reference your CV with the specification to ensure that the two docu

BECOME AN INTERVIEW DETECTIVE USING LINKEDIN by Rob Ridout   One of the most vital aspects of any job interview is your ability to successfully interpret the job specification. For many, this elusive document often carries with it very little information, which in turn provides no insight into the vacant role and therefore impacts your chances of a successful interview.   This is where your detective skills are needed.   Finding the exiting incumbents profile There is a part of the job specification that is always left out and is vitally important - who was the incumbent in the role? This is the starting point of investigating your alignment with the vacant role.   My tip First, find the previous incumbents profile on LinkedIn. By simply inserting the job description title and choosing the company name in your search fields you have a good chance of finding the profile(that’s if it's not a new role). You can also use google this may also take you to recruiters who ha

https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephliu/2018/04/30/personal-brand-work/#6293d50e7232

Interview and Hiring Statistics  (suggested read by Rob Ridout) What great info. I am always trying to give my coaching clients perspective into what happens in the job recruitment market and this article really provides the reader with a great perspective of what happens in the world of hiring and some of the stats are quite unbelievable.  https://zety.com/blog/hr-statistics?gclid=CjwKCAiAuqHwBRAQEiwAD-zr3TZb78EWx6w4kpScOs9HRjytfbR9fMdwWnMp07qDP5S5_GdOYM6BxoClEsQAvD_BwE

Do you suffer from a "Victim Mentality" when moving through the interview process?  Over the course of my 24 years as a headhunter, I’ve interviewed hundreds of candidates and also forwarded many candidates for many interviews with a diverse client base. I do believe that in South Africa we suffer from what I call the victim mentality”. From very early on in our careers we are told that there are massive amounts of unemployed people walking the streets. The fear of the dreaded interview or unemployment failure is embedded into us almost immediately without us even starting work. This constant flow of negative publicity is brought to us through all sorts of formats especially in the media and recruiters. Once we are in a position to start looking for work and starting to apply and then start with interviews there is an element of fear already in our minds especially when it comes to the actual face to face interview. I often meet and interview candidates who tell me at