1. 20 minute shrink
talk yourself to success at work
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BRIEF
7-8 Newbury Street
London EC1A 7HU
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2. Job Interviews
When you take up a new job you need to start learning
new skills – the skills necessary for doing that job well.
But what you need to take to your interview – the
interview that gets you that job – you need to take your
old skills because they are the only skills you have.
YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT SKILLS YOU HAVE and at
this moment you don’t know the half of them.
So let’s take a look.
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3. Job Interviews
Write down the first 10 skills that you use in your present job that come
to mind.
They might look something like this
1. Good organiser
2. Punctual
3. IT
4. Fast keyboard
5. Motivate colleagues
6. Report writing
7. Coming up with ideas
8. Communication
9. Meeting deadlines
10. Working under pressure
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4. Job Interviews
Now write down 5 positive qualities you bring to the job
They might look something like this
1. Sense of humour
2. Commitment
3. Friendliness
4. Trustworthiness
5. Helpful
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5. Job Interviews Now we just need to turn these ‘pennies’ into ‘pounds’.
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6. Job Interviews
Start with No 1 of your first list and write down 5 ways you have used this skill in
your present job.
If ‘Good organiser’ is No 1 your list might look something like:
1. I made sure everyone knew about the change of meeting time last week.
2. I managed to give priority to a customer in crisis by contacting another
customer to make sure he could wait another day.
3. I get my three children up, dressed, fed and to three different schools eve
4. ry morning and still get to work on time.
5. I’m the one who is always asked to do office collections for birthdays and
leaving presents – and the Christmas Party
6. My team always has its expenses in on time – because I make sure it
happens.
Do this for every skill on your list.
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7. Job Interviews
You are still only scratching the surface of your skills but already you
are likely to be feeling more confident.
And even thoug
some of these skills may not be so important for the job you are
aiming for they are evidence that you are a person who can develop
the skills you need for the job you have.
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8. Job Interviews
Next comes your ‘Positive Qualities’ and every one of these will be
crucial because they are what you use to make any job you do your
own.
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9. Job Interviews
So once again, go through the list, one by one, this time writing
down 10 examples of how you have used each Positive Quality in
your current job.
When you have do
ne this you will have an ‘Assets List’ with 115 items.
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10. Job Interviews
 As you walk into your interview take a micro-second just to savour
the confidence this is giving you and notice how this confidence is
shown in every aspect of your body.
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11. Job Interviews
Finally, have a good story to tell when you are asked about a
weakness but make sure it is a story where you are a sort of winner.
Here’s one of mine:
“I really believe that it is important to let your staff know when they
are doing a good job even though I know I’m hopeless at accepting
compliments myself. Once my boss called me in to thank me for a
really successful project and it made me so jumpy I knocked his
coffee pot across his desk.”
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12. Job Interviews
And finally, finally, if you have a really good friend willing to spend
time with you and not let you off the hook, get your friend to ask
you these questions – all of them!
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13. BRIEF
Coaching
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want to become a
supercoach?
train with us at BRIEF
email chrisiveson@brief.org.uk
check out the BRIEF Bookshop
and for another example of
BRIEF performance coaching
see BRIEF Blog: chapter 9 on
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