Kit Prendergast, PCC
Kit brings you a wealth of expertise and experience as well as a wonderful spirit, energy, and a gift for inspiring you to create the life you truly want for yourself.Kit's Tips & Books
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Category Archives: Personal Development
Acing a Telephone Interview
In my blog postings over the last two weeks, I’ve been sharing ideas and tips on how to best apply, interview and secure a competitive job offer. My most recent inspiration is coming from daily phone calls from my college age daughter, Barbara, who is pursuing PR internships in New York City for this upcoming summer.
Barbara doesn’t allow any “grass to grow” under her feet. She is beautifully organized; goal oriented and very persistent. Thank goodness I’m an experienced career professional but even I have a hard time keeping up with her especially trying to help edit cover letters at 11:00pm! But you can’t argue with success when she’s getting positive responses back within just days.
So here we go . . . now I’m helping her prep for a telephone interview scheduled for tomorrow morning. My “go-to” reference on preparing for all kinds of interviews is Job Search Magic, Susan Whitcomb, 2006. It’s simply the best resource on how to psychologically, physically and mentally prepare for a telephone or personal interview.
Here’s my favorite list taken in part from Whitcomb’s “Dozen Must-Do’s in Telephone Interviews”. I’ll be passing them on to Barbara when she calls me late, late tonight. These are great tips for all of us to remember.
- Set up a very quiet place without interruptions (no dogs barking!)
- Convey warmth, friendliness and professionalism in your opening.
- Ensure you have a good phone connection (use a head set if possible).
- Listen closely – try closing your eyes to really concentrate.
- Use SMART stories to give concise answers.
- Be aware of your voice especially if it is too soft.
- Shorten up your responses – don’t go on & on.
- Expect the unexpected (a role play, case example etc.).
- Take notes but don’t let writing things down distract you.
- Always ask for the job if you really want it!
The best part for me is being able to coach Barbara in my area of expertise to be the very best she can be. My business tag line has always been “Powerful Partnerships for Powerful Results”!
The Power of Money
I finally got my daughter’s old IPod to work and I’ve been using it while pounding along on the trend mill at the gym these past few mornings. Just by chance, I uploaded the keynote address of author Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money from the International Coach Federation (ICF) conference in St. Louis, MN 2006.
I closed my eyes and remembered what an incredible presence Twist was on that stage in front of 1,400 coaches from around the world. And she was talking about this funny subject of money. It’s a subject near and dear to the hearts of all us entrepreneur coaches but Twist put a whole different perspective to it.
Money Was Invented
Money doesn’t grow in our natural world. It is an human invention and was originally created to facilitate the sharing of goods and services. But somewhere along the way we started to give immense power to money – even over human life. People will go to the extreme all in the name of money – damaging personal relationships; destroying natural resources and always their own soul, values, time, energy and spirit.
Now, rather than relating to money as simply a tool that was invented to make life easier we have come to assume that money is everything – it has control over our lives and happiness. Interesting . . .
A Coach’s Perspective
Recently, I met an accomplished young woman executive that was looking to fast track her career into an area that really didn’t interest her. “Why?” I asked. “To make more money”. She gave many reasons around having more material possessions but more happiness? This conversation was a powerful confirmation of what Twist was talking about. The power we give money . . . do we really want to give away our heart and soul?
Fire & Ice Again in Northern Nevada
I’ve been writing about resiliency, hope and optimism in this blog weaving in real life stories. Here is another example of how our routine lives can suddenly be changed forever. Here’s what happened.
Fire . . . just when we thought Northern Nevada was through with its share of community crises another huge wild fire hit Reno last Thursday afternoon, January 19th. The winds were blowing at 80 miles an hour with gusts of over 100 miles an hour – not terribly unusual for our upper desert. But one accidental spark over in Washoe Valley was enough to begin a fire that burned 3,700 acres of rugged sagebrush; ranch land, horse pastures and 20+ houses.
As a wall of fire crested the ridge right above our local high school and just down from our house my husband and I zipped over to help our good friend, Yvonna Estep, evacuate her home. Within minutes Yvonna, along with all her neighbors, was packing up her dog, cats and personal belongings into her car as the police were going door to door enforcing the mandatory evacuation. We left a hastily scribbled note on the door saying the house had been evacuated – important for the final sweep. As for us there was no time to waste . . .
Ice . . . the irony was that it was snowing so hard on the Donner Summit that it was difficult for the California Interstate Fire Services to make it over the mountains to help Reno. After all, fire trucks usually don’t carry snow chains. I never heard the end of the story but I’m sure they finally made it – they always do.
So later that night, over a glass of wine, we huddled around the news to learn that temperatures had dropped and with the beginning of a snowstorm down here in the valley the fire was being contained. It took another full 24 hours for the highway between Reno and Carson City to be reopened up for local residents to return to their homes. When I drove through on Sunday morning the rebuilding had already begun.
This is our 5th major community crisis for Northern Nevada in as many months. We’ve been on national news too many times. But no doubt Nevada is resilient and will rebuild. That’s hope and optimism. And there’s truly never a dull moment in Northern Nevada.
“Resiliency” at Friday’s Beer Club
It’s Friday night at our regular beer club gathering and we’re having a lively conversation about a recent workshop I had given on “employee fatigue”. Several people were weighing in on the complexities of today’s work world and the resulting stress of trying to keep up in order to keep one’s job. Lots of ideas were being tossed out along with the rounds of beer.
I introduced the idea of teaching ourselves resiliency. One of our colleagues, who had had a tough day at work, questioned what resiliency really was – did it even exist? I assured him that yes, it does and what a gift it is for those that have it.
What is “Resiliency” Anyway?
Emotional resiliency is simply the ability to successfully respond and adapt to difficult life situations. Resiliency is a subtle, quiet quality that one might not notice or appreciate unless they are looking for it. Resilient people often don’t even know they possess that quality – it’s just the way they’ve learned to see and cope with life. Resiliency is actually a learned skill that improves with age, practice and experience.
Learning How to be Resilient
The best way to learn how to develop your own resiliency is to watch others. In my workshops, I ask people how they learned to be resilient. Almost always they say it came from watching someone close to themselves – maybe a parent, grandparent or someone in a mentor role. .They may have also learned by going through multiple tough times themselves. Additionally, they do these five things:
- Acknowledge the Reality & Move On
- Expect Change & Be Ready to Adapt
- Stay Connected with Others Everyday
- Learn From Past Experiences
- Find a Bigger Meaning & Purpose in Life
It sounds like alot. How does one do this? it takes self-awareness and the willingness to practice seeing and living life from a different perspective. And a key component is emotional optimism. A resilient person is an optimist person. See my next blog for my favorite tips on how to self-coach yourself to be more optimistic and therefore, more resilient over the long run.
Break the Habit of “Scrambling”
As January picks up speed, I’m committed to consciously use my time and energy even more carefully this coming year. As an extrovert, it’s easy for me to get involved in lots of activities and projects. But as I get older and a bit wiser, I realize that “less is more” when it comes to managing my time on a daily basis.
Leaders, managers and worker bees all do it . . . scrambling about to get multiple tasks done at work and even at home. It easily can become a habit – a behavior that we expect of ourselves and as a result, others expect from us as well. But the consequence is that nothing really gets done well. We make silly mistakes and waste precious energy redoing tasks because we weren’t paying enough attention or we “didn’t have time” to do it right the first time. Sound familiar?
“Scramble” Less to Get More Done
So here’s something to experiment with . . . simply slow down both your thinking and your actions. Catch yourself when you start to scramble and coach yourself to do or think of only one thing at a time. Concentrate. That’s often a big challenge because of all the noise in our lives. But when you do you will be pleasantly surprised by how much more effective you are. You actually get more done. And there is a ripple effect of feeling more in control, relaxed and focused. It’s a great feeling – try it!