As 2019 recedes into the distance and 2020 rapidly approaches, it's a great time to take stock of your role and career, preparing yourself properly for an exciting 12 months ahead. Ask yourself the following questions to help point you in the right direction for a great 2020:
Successes — What were the key successes you had in 2019? Were you promoted? Did you work on any exciting special projects? Were you given further authority in your position? Helping to recall your successes in the past 12 months is a powerful exercise, giving you real clarity on the positive parts of the year.
Failures — As we all know, life is not perfect, and neither are our careers. What did not go so well this year? I know for myself, I have a whole litany of half-finished projects as well as proposals that were not successful.
Learn — Looking at these two ups and downs of 2019, what are the key learning points you can take, and successfully implement next year?

​More of — What do you need to do more of in 2020? Do you need to be more daring or more conservative? What projects do you need to focus your energy towards, and how can you put resources into place that will allow you to do this effectively?
Less of — What did you invest too much energy/time/money, etc into that you feel was wasted? What are key habits or ways of thinking that are holding you back and how can you break these? Are there social vampires crowding around you and sucking your energy that need to be discreetly let go?
Work/Life Balance — How did your life (outside of your career) go this year? Was it a successful and positive time growing with family, or did you spend so much time at the office (sacrificing yourself for their good of course) that you missed key family milestones, or even Saturday sport? Remember no one on their deathbed said, "I wish I had spent more time at the office ... "
Education/Professional Development — To move forward to where you want to go long-term, do you need to further your studies, invest in membership of an industry group or track down some key conferences to attend? Pitched the right way, your employer may even support you in pursuing these.
Where now? — In the book Built to Last by James Collins and Jerry Porras, they talk about setting a "BHAG" — Big Hairy Audacious Goal. If you had the power to achieve (almost) anything professionally in the next 12 months, what would this be? Once you have this vision locked into your mind, create a BHAG, then backfill it with mini-goals you can tick off towards hitting your best in 2020.
Contact Tom O'Neil and the team at CV.CO.NZ for a free CV assessment or to be your personal career coach.

For a couple of thousand years we have been using the traditional ‘live’ interview approach, where an interviewer fires questions at the candidate and the candidate responds appropriately.  However the ‘One-Way Video Interview’ is a new technique to make life easier for recruiters and interviewers.  Pre-formulated questions are given to the job-seeker, who then records them in a ‘one-way’ video, allowing the interviewer(s) to assess the candidate’s response at their leisure.
 
For the candidate of course, this is just another way to add pressure to an already stressful process.  However follow these keys to ensure you really nail your ‘One-Way Video Interview’.
 
1. Prepare yourself properly
 
This can be a complex process, with different software required to be up and running on your PC, tricky instructions that need to be followed and login details that need to be pre-populated, all before you even start your one way interview.
 
Read all the instructions a couple of times to ensure you are familiar with each aspect prior to getting started.  Have the interview link and login details ready, including interview code, employer's or interviewer's name, and password if required. 
 
Remember that the better you prepare, the better the interview will go.  Nothing will throw you off your game quicker than only having 22 minutes left to complete an hour interview, because you didn’t read some key information that was plainly communicated to you earlier.
 
Understand also that many people won’t prepare well as it is not a ‘traditional’ type of interview, and in turn will present themselves as unprofessional to prospective employers. 
 
2. Complete interview by…
 
One key point you must not miss is the ‘complete interview by’ date and time.  If you miss this window, it’s as if you didn’t turn up to a real interview.  As you can imagine, the earlier you complete this process, the less stressful it will be!
 
3. Create a great space
 
One great benefit of this type of interview is that it allows you to be comfortable in your space while answering the questions.  Ensure your area is clutter free, with either a blank wall or something professional in the background.  Make sure your zone is also noise and distraction free, with no children asking, “what’s for dinner”, or cats jumping onto the desk.  While you may be doing your interview at 8pm in your own house, you still want to make it professional.
 
4. Prepare your answers
 
On occasion you may receive your questions prior.  This allows you a golden opportunity to research and script out great responses, then rehearse these answers with a family member or friend prior to your interview recording. 
 
5. Look at the camera
 
Watching vlogs on YouTube will help you distinguish the pros from the amateurs.  Amateurs look at themselves while the video is rolling, while pros look at the camera, providing a genuine and personalised touch.  You want to give the interviewer a feeling of connection and trust, and the best way to do this, is to make them feel you are talking directly to them, not to the bottom of their screen.
 
You all ready?  Awesome, now hit ‘Record’…

Does how good you are with people, rather than your skill level, determine your career success?
According to a recent study published in the Journal of Vocational Behaviour, people with high levels of emotional intelligence (EI) are more likely to earn more and progress up the corporate ladder faster.
The study assessed university students for their EI levels while they were completing their studies, then came back 10 years later to see how they had progressed career-wise.
Over this 10 year period they found that students who scored highly for EI, on the whole had higher salaries than their less emotionally intelligent peers.

​This interesting finding was also consistent across all industries.

Why do people with higher EI earn more?
There are a number of factors why high EI is a critical personal skill to have at work:

Self-awareness — Team members with high EI are happier to accept constructive criticism in a positive way to improve their performance, as well as actively learn from their mistakes.

Emotional management — They can understand and more appropriately manage their own emotions at work, especially during times of high stress.
As you can imagine, this is critical when managing interpersonal relationships at work.

Supporting others — High EI managers are able to understand others' emotions, allowing them the ability to positively motivate and influence behaviours and outcomes.
This is a vital skill for those who are wishing to be a part of a strong, resilient and high performing team.

Stronger network — Higher levels of emotional intelligence helps them to develop more trust with their colleagues, which in turn creates a stronger "friend" network. Over time, this gives them access to more information, better career opportunities and opens more doors that otherwise would normally be closed.

Better leaders — While EI is vital at all stages of your career, it becomes more important as you move up the corporate ladder.
Great leaders are successful through inspiring, persuading and building rapport with their team, so these vital management competencies come more easily to those who have EI as an inherent skill.

Can I improve my emotional intelligence?
You can actually improve your EI through some basic steps.
When you go to work on Monday, make a conscious effort to be aware of your own thoughts and triggers, as well as how you react to specific situations and people.

Secondly, get involved in social activities or work that involves team interaction. This develops trust with your immediate colleagues and extends your relational networks across the business (and industry over the long-term).

Finally find a good EI aware mentor who can help you to develop your own emotional intelligence.

It's nice to see that there is empirical evidence that being a self-aware person who can genuinely develop quality friendships does actually pay dividends in today's corporate world! "Score one" for the nice people…
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Contact Tom O'Neil and the team at CV.CO.NZ for a free CV or LinkedIn assessment or to be your personal career coach. Visit CV.CO.NZ or CareerCoach.nz to find out more.

 
What does your contact points say about you?
 
When I was young and played cricket on a regular basis, I hated when I ran myself out, as I had effectively given away my wicket to the opposition free of charge.  If I had not done something stupid, I would still be in bat and adding to my score. Likewise, so many people ‘run themselves out’ in the job hunt, before they even come in to bat.
 
Recently I presented to a group of recruiters, and talk turned to how poorly many candidates brand themselves at prime employer contact points.  From terrible email addresses to shocking voicemail messages, each mistake piles up to leave a trail of unprofessionalism that does not set them up for success in the candidate screening process..
 
Email addresses that (don’t) rock
 
As MD of CV.CO.NZ, I come across people who tell me they are having problems finding a new role because no one responds to their emails.  Chatting with them, I try and figure out if they have the relevant skills and experience, and am sometimes amazed that no employer has snapped them up.  That is, until I get a copy of their CV and see their email address… 
 
Real life examples of terrible email addresses that have come across my desk include one_nightstand@, imasexybeast@, badboyrulz@, loveisworsethandeath@ and life-is-a-nightmare@.  The Herald’s public decency guidelines also limit me from putting far worse ones in this column.
 
Unsurprisingly, recruiters do not want to proceed further when their candidate’s email address is something offensive, racist, sexist or just plain crazy.
 
Abysmal Voicemail Messages
 
Time and again, I would screen a candidates’ CVs and think “this person is great – let’s get them in for an interview.” Unfortunately, when it comes time to make contact, I am greeted by an abysmal voicemail message that says something along the lines of “Hi it’s [insert name] here.  I’m drunk at the moment, so leave a message and I’ll get back to you when I sober up.”
 
While this message may by funny while you are at university, the joke suddenly turns against you when graduate recruiters start hanging up and not leaving messages.
 
My recruiter friends shared that almost every day they would discount potentially suitable candidates because their ‘employer touchpoints’ were so poor.  No recruiter wants to put forward to their client, a candidate who has the email address ‘deathninja@’.  (Yes it’s a real one)… 
 
Your Brand
 
Voicemail and email addresses are a key part of your employer marketing, and recruiters, human resource managers and employers in general, tend to have a low level of tolerance for poor candidate branding.
 
If you are about to start job hunting, I strongly encourage you to check your voicemail and email address, ensuring they represent you well when recruiters start to call.  Making sure your prime employer contact points are professional, will ensure you do not ‘run yourself out’ at the start of your job search.
 
Contact Tom for a free Linkedin or CV review, or to be your personal career coach.  Visit www.CareerCoach.nz or www.CV.co.nz to find out more. 
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