How to get the job you want. 5 things You Can do Right Now to Improve Your Odds.

1. Mirror mirror on the wall.

Learn to look at yourself objectively. What are your strengths? Your weaknesses? Can you talk confidently about your talents? Many people struggle to tell the good things about themselves.

It's really no surprise when you think about it. We are taught from an early age not to brag or make too much of our own accomplishments. Good advice in most social situations. And yet, the unintended result may be to internalize that thinking and to lower our own expectations about what we really deserve. This can be a seriously self- limiting bit of baggage to be carrying with us into a job interview or a salary negotiation.

Try this instead: think of yourself in the third person. What would your best friend say about you? What are your strengths, the things that make you a great employee - a terrific addition to the organization, someone others enjoy being with and working with?

Find a way to say these things in a straight- forward way. As the old saying goes, "it ain't boasting if you can do it". In the end, its sometimes as much about how we tell our story as what we say. A good career coach can work with you on this and help you develop that balance of confidence and assuredness that doesn't come across as boasting.

2. Think big. Get beyond pay to the world of compensation.

Many people fixate on pay and starting salaries, but there is so much more that can make jobs and careers truly rewarding.

Try this instead: develop a broader appreciation of the true value of what a job is offering. Make a list of the pluses and your priorities such as location, flexibility, travel, meaning, mentors, advancement, corporate culture, benefits, and all the other things that make up the total package of what you will receive for your time, your talent and your energy. A coach may be able to help you with a strategy that focuses on more than pay, while at the same time maximizing the monetary side of the equation.

3. Smile! Let go of fear to find the fun.

A coach can help you discover the fun and the potential for growth at this exciting moment in your life. Once you have a strong ally to guide and help you - and you really begin to explore the process - you will discover one of the great secrets of life: When you are totally in the moment and truly focused on process, the results almost always take care of themselves.

When you're relaxed and comfortable, you communicate an easy confidence and friendly manner that people automatically respond to. If you allow stress or nervousness to permeate the interview, you will deprive the interviewer of getting to know the real you, and worse, you will deprive yourself of enjoying a truly exciting time in your life.

Practice this with a role-playing partner: Smile, and pause a moment before you answer a question. Focus on what you want and on your specific strengths. Good: "I am a great fit for your company." Better: "I am a great fit for your company because I¹m a hard worker, I have the education and experience you are looking for, I love to learn and stretch, and my values are aligned with your core values. I would love to come to work here."

4. Negotiate for what you want!

Negotiation is a word that makes some people uncomfortable. Perhaps we feel it will be unseemly, or worse - a deal breaker. Nothing could be further from the truth. Once again, it's as much about how you do it as what you ask for. Here are a couple of ideas for you to try:

Try role-playing with someone who knows how to help you overcome objections. Get comfortable with silence and with saying what you want. These skills can be learned with practice.

Try putting yourself in the interviewer's place. Wouldn't you want to know all the factors at play? It's almost never just about money. When a negotiation takes in the entire picture of compensation and not just money, it is far more likely that the two parties will discover ways to address each others needs and along the way, learn a little more about one another. That is the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship and can set the stage for positive dynamics once you've landed the job.

5. Work with a coach.

When you are ready to start, hiring a career coach may be the right move for you. It's not that a coach will give you the answers. The answers will always be your own, but a coach can help you discover what is already inside of you. This is about bringing forward the strengths you already possess and helping you access them.

Another great advantage of forming an alliance with a coach is gaining the perspective of an experienced professional. Even in today's world where the average person may change companies or positions within a company every few years, it's still a relatively rare event in our lives. A good career coach works with these transitions every day.

Stay open to the process. Many times, people come to coaching with one belief about their situation and what they need to do, only to discover that there is another option that suits them even better.

Getting started If hiring a coach is beginning to sound like a good idea, how should you choose one?

Choose a career coach like you would any other professional. Pick a company or an individual who has a track record of success working with both individuals and organizations. Ask for references. Good coaches will be able to provide you with plenty of success stories and real people to back them up. Are they members of the relevant professional organizations? Do they bring state of the art technology to the process? Do they do their best to accommodate your schedule? Do they have a number of options to fit your budget?

And finally, keep the big picture in front of you. When you are hiring a career coach, it is important to really understand what this could mean to you. It might just help you land that dream job ¬ and that could change everything!

Hollie Castro is CEO at Global Rainmakers where she and her team of professional coaches help people all over the world land the jobs of their dreams. Global Rainmakers specializes in coaching professionals in their 20¹s & 30¹s. To learn more about Global Rainmakers, visit www.globalrainmakers.com



How to get the job you want. 5 things You Can do Right Now to Improve Your Odds. - To learn more about this author, visit Vanessa Jergensen's Website.

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