A book I read many years ago landed up on my desk a few weeks ago, and subsequently I’m re-reading it. Written by Michael Gerber it’s the E-Myth. This book as sold millions of copies world wide, and as a side effect many an employee has bee…

Congratulations…you’re done with your degree…that’s great!

And now REALITY..(which does not have to bite!)

In my mind what will give you an edge in the job market is not so much what you have done and haven’t. I’ve gotten jobs where I didn’t know much about what product I’d be selling – let alone about the industry. And I most certainly did not have the experience (but that’s a whole ‘nother post).

What landed me those jobs was my approach to the situation. So what I suggest you do is, if you haven’t already, to start seeing your career as a business and running it as such. That will differentiate you among the cog-employees who turn up to work to do as little as possible.

So, here’s my personal formula (my secret – which you can read about over at http://www.brazencareerist.com and in my upcoming book):

1. As an employee, you must never believe that you work FOR someone – you always work WITH someone – as a partner who has the potential to add value.

2. You must be well aware, through self-assessing yourself, what rewards motivate you about work and what you bring to the table in terms of your personality, your values, interests, skills and strengths. In my post: “I’m not sure that I’m self-assured” you can read about the assessments that I’ve used to develop a snap-shot of my key assets.

3. You must arrive at interviews with goals and an agenda of your own in mind. If you don’t, you run the risk of being at the mercy of someone else’s agenda and vision. I personally take the question:”what’s your plan for the next 5 years” quite seriously. For the past 10 years I’ve been planning my career in 5-year chunks. In my upcoming book you’ll find the templates that I’ve used to do this.

4. You must have a formula for delivering high quality results on an ongoing basis – and you must have ways to brag about it to an interviewer. Think about the systems and processes that support your day to day work. For example, do you have a time management ritual that you follow? How do you organize your work-station (cubicle or office)? How do you prepare for meetings? Those are the sort of things that allow you to get things done without having to re-invent the wheel.

5. Have strategies for changing those behaviors that get in the way of your goals. In my book you’ll learn about techniques based on Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Positive Psychology which will a. make you aware of self-sabotaging behaviors and b. empower you to change them.

Yen, I hope this has been of help to you -if you’d like for me to elaborate more, please feel free to contact me directly: silvana.avinami@gmail.com

Best of luck with your job hunt…keep me posted!

go gettem’
Silvana