interview skills | Letz Create

Podcast Ep 10: Scott survives redundancy and steers toward Career Success

Marina Pitisano — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 22:00:46 +0000

Navigating a changing career landscape is difficult until you find the right person to guide you.

Scott was thrown in to the world of the unknown when he was made redundant. He’d been employed and felt safe in an executive role for over 15 years. It had been a long time since he had to write a resume and cover letter, let alone attend an interview. The whole process seemed overwhelming until he connected with Marina. It took lots of courage to admit he needed help and he hasn’t looked back since.

Marina Pitisano

I am a passionate Career Coach who works with individuals in the explore and search phase of their career journey, helping you realise your strengths through my career coaching and training programs. I enjoy showing people the path to greater career satisfaction and providing insight and tools to help you make your next career move.

The post Podcast Ep 10: Scott survives redundancy and steers toward Career Success first appeared on Letz Create.

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From Blindside to Business Growth

Marina Pitisano — Sun, 10 Dec 2017 20:00:26 +0000

This time last year I shared this blog about being blindsided. 2016 was an extremely tough year where I found myself faced with a very unexpected event that forced me to re-think my approach.

Today I am sharing with you a celebration of the incredible ride that I’ve been on in 2017 and the excitement I feel for all of the plans that I have for my business and its continued growth in 2018.

Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

Have you heard of the concept of ‘stretch’? It reminds me of Inspector Gadget, a popular cartoon character from the 1980s. Inspector Gadget’s arms would stretch out in front of him in order to help him meet one of the many challenges in his path. For me, the ‘stretch’ has meant learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

What I have learnt this year is that where there is discomfort there is growth.

Being Strategic About Who’s on My Team

By developing stronger relationships with key people that empowered me, motivated me and scared me I have grown in my business and my business has grown.

It was Jim Rohn who said you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with and it has been a number of key collaborations this year that have helped me stretch my capabilities well beyond what I believed I was capable of.

By choosing to surround myself with certain people, I’ve been encouraged to take on projects that I initially felt I was neither prepared for or skilled in. And what I have learnt about myself in the process of accepting the challenges and climbing a number of very steep learning curves, is that I am capable of great things.

I know, I know. I tell my clients that they are capable of great things all the time . . . . so you may think it’s strange that I ever doubted myself. It’s because I am human and the self saboteur is a very real mindset challenge that we all face.

With the encouragement of supporters and colleagues I have become much more visible, both online and by taking on a guest speaking opportunity for a local city council. Saying ‘yes’ to opportunities (even though I wanted to run and hide) has been an essential part of 2017.

Increased my Online Presence

I’ve continued to enjoy a close collaboration with Karen Hollenbach who is the Founding Director of Think Bespoke. Karen is affectionately known by many as the ‘LinkedIn Lady’ and one of Australia’s leading independent LinkedIn consultants. From the moment I met Karen (a number of years ago now), I took an instant liking to her passion and enthusiasm. She is a deep thinker and I’ve enjoyed watching her blossom as Think Bespoke has grown. We both care deeply about our client’s happiness and have collaborated on the development of Career Grow, a supportive online community to help you reflect, learn and succeed in your career.

Having mentored, coached and trained hundreds of professionals in Melbourne and across Australia our aim is to provide you with helpful resources and thought starters to assist your professional development. This is a comfortable and safe place to access useful resources, learn, reflect, ask questions, seek professional development guidance and understand how to achieve greater job satisfaction.

And so here I am, moderating an online Facebook group! I never would have predicted this at the end of 2016.

I’ve also invested in updated photography and have recently refreshed the Letz Create website. Please take a look around and let me know what you think.

Learning to Become Tech Friendly

I’ve also had to learn so many new systems, set up webinars and use different IT products to make running my business more efficient. If you’ve tuned into my Facebook Lives or Career Grow Webinars this year, you’ll have heard me talk about the concept of needing to ‘get out of your own way’. I’ve certainly learnt to do that for myself this year and pinch myself when I think about some of the plans I have for embracing technology even more in 2018. Watch this space!

In this Facebook Live interview Karen Hollenbach and I discuss the Future of Work and I share my insights based on a webinar I was asked to run for fellow Career Practitioners. Please check back in and let me know what you think.

Falling in Love with My Business

The most significant milestone I am celebrating as I reflect on 2017 is becoming much clearer on my business services and scoping out many new opportunities. I have backed myself more, learnt to have greater faith in my abilities and strengths and appreciate the power I’ve really always had to help others in the job hunting arena.

Over the past 12 months I have helped many clients secure job interviews at prominent organisations in a diverse range of industries. My approach to interview preparation ensures my clients navigate phone and recruiter interviews with much greater confidence. By being able to clearly state their unique skills and experience in a more succinct and relevant way, means they are much stronger candidates when they interview and so have a very high success rate.

Achieving these results and really tapping into my ‘super powers’ (this is what Karen calls my job hunting and interview preparation techniques) has helped me fall in love with my business once again. The key for me has been taking a more strategic approach and striving for a bigger goal. I ask my clients to set high standards and shoot for the stars and am now beginning to reap the rewards of doing this for myself too.

As we all prepare for a well earned break over Christmas I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading my blog posts and articles this year. I hope 2018 is everything you hope for and looking forward to celebrating your success in the year to follow.

Marina Pitisano

The post From Blindside to Business Growth first appeared on Letz Create.

The post From Blindside to Business Growth appeared first on Letz Create.

Make this List to Help you Ace your Next Job Interview

Marina Pitisano — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 10:20:55 +0000

When working with my clients, the question that confuses or even paralyses them the most is when I ask them ‘What are your strengths and weaknesses’ or ‘Why should this company hire you?’.

In the Australian way of life, is it the tall poppy syndrome that holds us back from knowing our strengths? Or perhaps it is that we are simply encouraged to be modest. The end result is that most of us find it extremely difficult to boast about what we are great at!

I am here to tell you that modesty is not going to help you ace your next interview! It is your job in an interview to be able to clearly explain what your strengths are and why you are suited to the role. You can only do this once you take the time to really understand what your strengths are.

An interview is the time to stand out! So how do you go about doing that? Here are 3 tips from me about how to ace your next interview by taking the time to consider and understand your strengths and celebrate you skills and experience.

Reflect on all your roles, think about your success & what skills helped you. Allow yourself to feel proud and boast a little. I suggest you grab a pen and some paper and write it down. Taking the time to reflect on your successes is vital step in this process.

Make a long list of your strengths. This will help you when preparing for an interview, as you can reference this information and consider relevant examples (from the previous step) that you can explain to the hiring manager or interview panel to demonstrate your strengths.

Practice speaking your strengths out loud. I want you to hear them, feel them & own them. This will help you when you need to say them in an interview out aloud. It will also help you feel confident about them.

Here’s a list of common strengths to get you started. I suggest you review the list and consider which strengths describe you!

Common strength	How it presents at work
Communication	Written communication skill evident in reports, correspondence. Verbal communication skills evident in presentations, managing conflict, selling, dealing with customers, active listening, meeting participation and negotiation.
Strong work ethic/diligent	Hard working, works extra hours, completes projects before time, takes on more than others, does more than required, maintains a high quality of work, imposes own standards of excellence, works without supervision, follows up on own.
Organizational and planning skills	Evident in time management, prioritizing, using resources effectively, meeting deadlines, multi-tasking, dealing with competing demands, achieving objectives and goals, setting targets, maintaining schedules and calendars, optimal use of available resources, coordination of resources to complete projects.
Flexible and adaptable	Able to change activities and priorities to meet new demands, willing to learn new skills and knowledge, make a positive effort to accept changes, able to work and communicate effectively with diverse people, willing to work in different environments, willing to attempt new tasks.
Decision-making/judgment	Gather the necessary information to make a sound decision, come up with viable alternatives, consider pros and cons for each, fully commit to the best action, follow through on decision.
Problem solving	Able to identify and define problems, analyze problems to find causes, find possible solutions, consider the possible outcomes of each solution, decide on the best solution and implement it.
Gathering, analyzing and managing information	Collect required information efficiently from different sources, integrate information and put it together in a logical format, process information, identify trends and patterns, distribute and communicate information correctly, store and maintain information efficiently.
Coaching/mentoring	Willing and able to coach others, enable and facilitate learning, impart knowledge, help people to identify and achieve what they are capable of, assess training and learning needs, develop appropriate learning interventions, adapt teaching/coaching style to meet employee’s needs.
Team work	Work effectively in a team, contribute to team objectives, communicate effectively with team members, respect, listen to and encourage team members, pitch in, put success of team ahead of individual success.
Reliable/dependable	Consistent work performance, complete projects accurately and within deadlines, arriving on time, fulfilling obligations, following through on commitments, checks own work, corrects own work, complies with workplace policies and procedures, takes responsibility for own actions.
Self reliant/ self management	Uses own resources, skills and abilities fully, accountable for own activity, progress and success, manages self towards goals, completes projects and activities independently, obtains own help and assistance, internally motivated and does not seek external rewards for good performance.
Self discipline	Controls own behavior, self-motivated, prepared to work hard to achieve goals, sets own targets, avoids distractions, perseveres with difficult tasks and activities, does not procrastinate, continues with projects in the face of obstacles and challenges.
Persistent/resilient	Handle disappointment, deal effectively with rejection, stay enthusiastic after a set back, maintain work performance despite difficulties, accept criticism, bounce back quickly, overcome obstacles to achieve, keep trying until task is completed.
Persuasive	Evident in selling, customer management, negotiating, dealing with objections, getting agreement/commitment from co-workers/management, presenting ideas, motivating people, gaining the confidence of others.
Integrity	Maintain confidentiality, provide complete and accurate information, observe company policies and procedures, comply with regulations, maintain values and ethics in the face of opposition and pressure.
Energetic	Works long hours, maintains fast work pace, tackles challenging tasks, stays positive, takes on extra tasks, maintains high productivity levels, tenacious in achieving goals.
Initiative	Proactive attempts to sort out problems and issues, provide ideas for improvement, make full use of opportunities, identify needs and come up with solutions, take steps to make your job and the company better.

Source: http://www.best-job-interview.com/list-of-strengths-and-weaknesses.html

Once you take the time to recognise, acknowledge and own your strengths you will also feel more confident when answering interview questions about yourself and why you should be hired for the role!

Have a go! You never know who will be listening!

Marina Pitisano

The post Make this List to Help you Ace your Next Job Interview first appeared on Letz Create.

The post Make this List to Help you Ace your Next Job Interview appeared first on Letz Create.