Prepare For Success - Final Formatted Copy

Prepare For Success 

©TRCC 2015 www.ighpro.net www.igothired.net 1


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The information contained in I Got Hired TM – Prepare For Success, and its several complementary guides, 

is meant to serve as a comprehensive collection of time-tested and proven strategies that the authors 

of this eBook have applied, or seen applied, to or by many candidates to secure new employment. 

Summaries, strategies, tips and tricks are only recommendations by the authors, and reading this 

eBook does not guarantee that one’s results will exactly mirror our own results, or the results of these 

candidates. 

The authors of I Got Hired TM – Prepare For Success have made all reasonable efforts to provide current 

and accurate information for the readers of this eBook. The authors will not be held liable for any 

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Got Hired TM – Prepare For Success are the property of their respective owners. 

Copyright: TRCC 

Published: 2015 

Publisher: The Recruitment Coaching Company 

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CONTENTS 

How To Use The I Got Hired TM Modules..................................................................................................7 

Introducing I Got Hired TM ...........................................................................................................................10 

First Things First – How I Got Hired Will Help.......................................................................12 

I Got Hired – Our Credentials.....................................................................................................13 

Who I Got Hired Will Help..........................................................................................................13 

The I Got Hired Sales Philosophy..............................................................................................14 

Underpinning The Sales Philosophy - The I Got Hired Sales Funnel..................................15 

The Thin Line Between A ‘Sales Funnel’ And A ‘Sales Plughole’...........................................15 

Keep It Simple, Stupid – The KISS Principle...............................................................................17 

Getting The Best From Your I Got Hired Experience.............................................................17 

Introducing ‘Prepare For Success’...........................................................................................................19 

Introducing The 12 Habits Of Success...................................................................................................20 

Habit One – Fail To Prepare, Prepare To Fail.........................................................................................21 

Why Is Preparation So Important?...............................................................................................21 

The ‘Preparing For Your Job Search’ Checklist..........................................................................22 

An Overview Of Key Events In Your Job Search For Which You Will 

Need To Be Prepared.......................................................................................................................25 

Preparing For Face-To-Face Interviews...................................................................................26 

Preparing For Telephone Interviews........................................................................................26 

Preparing For Follow-Up Calls And Contract Negotiations....................................................27 

Prepare Your Social Network Presence As Employers Expect To See It...............................27 

Prepare For Work..............................................................................................................................29 

Habit Two – It’s Professional To Be Professional................................................................................30 

Behave Like A Professional – Every Day, In Every Way............................................................30 

Being Professional – The I Got Hired Top 20 Tips.................................................................33 

Habit Three – Get Organized, Stay Organized.....................................................................................38 

Using IGH Pro To Get Organized................................................................................................40 

Process Management......................................................................................................................41 



Campaign Planning..........................................................................................................................41 

Diary Management..........................................................................................................................41 

Performance Management.............................................................................................................41 

Document Management.................................................................................................................41 

Contact Management......................................................................................................................42 

Habit Four – Hard Work Never Killed Anyone......................................................................................43 

But Don’t Just Work Hard – Work SMART....................................................................................44 

The Power Of Setting SMART Targets..........................................................................................45 

Habit Five – Collaborate To Accumulate................................................................................................47 

Using Social Media To Collaborate...............................................................................................47 

Other Social Networks....................................................................................................................48 

Five Golden Rules For The Social Media Party..........................................................................49 

1) Listen....................................................................................................................................50 

2) Mix In The Right Circles........................................................................................................50 

3) Don’t Be A Bore.....................................................................................................................50 

4) Appearances Matter.............................................................................................................50 

5) Mind Your P’s and Q’s..........................................................................................................50 

Back To The Real World – Support Networks.............................................................................51 

How Much Time Should You Devote To Collaboration?..........................................................51 

Habit Six – Positive Mental Attitude – Not Just A Cliché...................................................................53 

Set Your Goals and Your Expectations........................................................................................53 

Be Action-Focused And Positive About Dealing With Debts.................................................54 

Loss Of Independence, Learning To Lean On Your Partner.....................................................54 

Old Colleagues And Friends Can Be Avenues To New Work..................................................54 

Don’t Lose Status Or Identity, Develop New Skills And Your Personal Brand....................54 

Dealing With Rejection – The Power Of No...............................................................................55 

Loss Of Structure? Be Your Own Boss And Be A Hard Taskmaster........................................56 

Getting To The Power Of Positive Thinking................................................................................56 

Positive And Negative Thinking Are Contagious......................................................................56 

Practical Instructions For Positive Thinking...............................................................................57 

Habit Seven – You Won’t See Success Without Focus........................................................................58 

Define Your Goals............................................................................................................................58 



Planning For Setbacks And Failures.............................................................................................58 

Focusing On A Specific Task...........................................................................................................59 

Measure, Measure, Measure..........................................................................................................59 

Exercises To Increase Concentration And Focus.......................................................................60 

Sleep Well, Perform Well...............................................................................................................60 

How To Get Focused In Six Easy Steps........................................................................................61 

1) Get Rid Of Obvious Distractions..........................................................................................61 

2) Anticipate Your Physical Needs...........................................................................................61 

3) Choose An Appropriate Time...............................................................................................62 

4) Answer Your Internal Questions..........................................................................................62 

5) Get Physical..........................................................................................................................63 

6) Get Rid Of The Negativity.....................................................................................................63 

Habit Eight – Face Up To Reality..............................................................................................................64 

Career/Job Placement Goal...........................................................................................................64 

Activity Target...................................................................................................................................65 

Habit Nine – A Little Knowledge Is A Dangerous Thing.....................................................................67 

Habit Ten – Perception Is Everything.....................................................................................................71 

Other Ways To Develop Self-Awareness....................................................................................72 

High Level Career Interest Testing...............................................................................................72 

Personality Profiling........................................................................................................................73 

What Is Your Team Role?................................................................................................................73 

Aptitude Tests...................................................................................................................................74 

Your Personal SWOT Analysis........................................................................................................75 

Strengths...................................................................................................................................75 

Weaknesses..............................................................................................................................75 

Opportunities...........................................................................................................................75 

Threats......................................................................................................................................76 

HABIT ELEVEN - Courage AND Convictions...........................................................................................77 

‘I Learned That Courage Was Not The Absence Of Fear, But The Triumph Over It’ ..........77 

Take The Example Of Cold Calling…............................................................................................79 

Research The Market And Research Your Target Employers..................................................81 

Group Interviews And Assessment Centres – Safety In Numbers.........................................81 



Habit Twelve – Honesty Is The ONLY Policy..........................................................................................83 

Face Up To Accepting Your Shortcomings..................................................................................85 

How To Be Honest About Failings In Your Resume…................................................................85 

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)...........................................................................87 

Concluding The 12 Habits Of Success....................................................................................................88 

Planning Your Job Hunt..............................................................................................................................90 

Set Up Your IGH Pro Calendar....................................................................................................90 

Document Management.................................................................................................................91 

Contact Management......................................................................................................................91 

Performance Management.............................................................................................................91 

Define Your Campaign Plan......................................................................................................................92 

Setting Your Targets........................................................................................................................96 

Set Your Working Rules..................................................................................................................99 

Communicating Your Working Rules.........................................................................................103 

Establishing A Working Space.....................................................................................................104 

Setting Up Your Technology........................................................................................................105 

Organizing Your Work Environment..........................................................................................107 

Evaluating Your Circumstances.............................................................................................................109 

Assessing Your Situation..............................................................................................................110 

Assessing Your Finances...............................................................................................................111 

Assessing Your Wants And Needs...............................................................................................118 

Assessing Your Last Role..............................................................................................................119 

Defining The Optimal Employer.................................................................................................121 

Concluding Prepare For Success............................................................................................................124 

The Complete I Got Hired tm Series........................................................................................................126 



How To Use The I Got Hired Modules 

The five I Got Hired TM modules, or workbooks, have been developed to make sure that you get 

exactly what you need, when you need it, and with the minimum amount of trouble finding it. 

The modules are easy to use because they all fit into the same logical structure – something 

we call, IGH Octagon TM . 

IGH Octagon TM is the job seeking process built on eight types of activity that equip you to find 

your ideal job. Each of the eight activities (we call them ‘….ations”) is an essential element of 

the job seeking process: 

• y Education – the necessary knowledge, skills and qualities 

• y Preparation – essential planning 

• y Evaluation – assessment and research 

• y Documentation – the must-have paperwork 

• y Collaboration – building those important relationships 

• y Application – applying for positions 

• y Communication – dealing with people 

• y Negotiation – getting the offer you want 

Each of the five modules reflects a different stage of the job search and each module gives you 

the relevant information from IGH Octagon TM for that stage. 

As you go through the different modules, you’ll find a series of cartoons and callouts. Their job 

is to help you home in 

on the really essential 

points and activities 

that you need to 

remember, consider 

and/or act upon. 

Each different cartoon 

prompts you in a 

different way: 



Homework 

A one-off assignment that sets you a task to 

complete to a deadline. 

Read More About It 

Points you in the direction of more 

useful stuff on a subject elsewhere 

in the IGH TM modules. 

Something to Think About 

Just a topic you need to consider to 

really optimize your job search. 

Top Tip 

An idea or a guiding principle that 

we feel will provide a real benefit 

to your job search. 

Checklist 

A simple list of things to do that are 

grouped together to make things 

easy for you. 

Cut Out & Keep 

A story, information or observation 

that is worth saving as a future 

reminder. 



To Do 

A simple reminder of a single task 

that you need to complete. 

To Don’t 

A simple reminder to make sure 

you don’t fall into bad habits. 

A Famous Quotation 

A relevant quote from people we 

think are worth listening to. 

An I Got Hired TM Quotation 

One of our favorite sayings that we 

feel you will benefit from hearing 

You can drop in and drop out for whatever you need, whenever you need it just by using the 

detailed content information at the front of each module. Or, of course, you can read the whole 

set of five, cover to cover – whatever works for you. 

Just remember that the modules are not your only source of critical information and help. 

The nature of a job search in today’s fast-moving world or employment is that guidance and 

advice must change and evolve (especially the material relating to social media!). The I Got 

Hired TM toolkit contains all the checklists, templates, and additional information you need and, 

being online, it’s kept right up to date with the very latest job search thinking. Find it all at 

www.igothired.net 



Introducing I Got Hired 

Thank you. 

Thank you for buying and placing your trust in I Got Hired - 

the ultimate Job Seeker Program - and Toolkit. 

And thank you for making the personal commitment that 

will ensure that you secure your next exciting, fulfilling and 

lucrative role (hopefully, the job of your dreams!) so much 

more quickly than you thought you could. 

There’s no doubt about it, the jobs market has changed in the last few years. Advances in 

technology have resulted in the job seeking process becoming very complex. It’s evolved in 

the direction of social media, collaborative recruitment, and self-promotion. Agencies are no 

longer the main source of employment opportunity - with organizations opting for more direct 

hiring methods, job seekers must take greater responsibility for finding those elusive roles 

and managing their end of the process. What’s more, thanks to the recession, we’ve all been 

through there’s a feeling of scarcity and caution in the air like never before. 

If that sounds off-putting, it shouldn’t. It’s a new and complex environment, but for those 

who understand the jobs 

market (or ‘jobs jungle’!), 

this is the perfect time 

to find the perfect job. 

And don’t forget, you’ve 

already taken that allimportant 

first step to 

give yourself a real and 

significant competitive 

advantage over everyone 

else who is after the job 

you want: the job that 

your skills, experience 

and commitment deserve. 

You’ve got I Got Hired! 



After all, that’s what I Got Hired is here for. To guide you through 

the process of understanding and mastering the often complicated 

process of landing your ideal job. 

Now that’s said, let’s also be clear on what I Got Hired is NOT. I 

Got Hired is not a career counseling service. It’s not our specialist 

niche and we don’t want to do a half-hearted job, so we don’t focus 

on talking you through a career change, instead we’re the one-stop 

shop for getting your next job. 

IGH Aspire is a good staring point if you are thinking about a change, or just want to understand 

what you are looking for in a role or an employer in your current career. Coupled with a number 

of the tools and checklists you will find at www.igothired.net, IGH Aspire will make sure you 

ask the right questions and start your journey of career change in the right direction. IGH 

Aspire TM does not try, or pretend, to give you all the answers. Career counseling is a deep and 

serious area that should be conducted by highly experienced professionals and is available 

through many channels. What we do promise is that, once you know the career you are best 

suited for, I Got Hired is the best there is to help you get that perfect role – quickly! 

I Got Hired helps you focus on being smarter, tougher, quicker, better presented, more 

organized and more professional, than the 10, 50 or maybe even 100 people who have targeted 

the same job as you. I Got Hired will not only take you step-by-step through the detailed and 

proven I Got Hired process, but it also gives you all the innovative web tools, templates and 

checklists you could possibly need to keep you one step ahead in the competitive race for 

THAT job. 

As with I Got Hired, at the heart of IGH Pro is IGH Octagon, the eight step process that 

guarantees an accelerated and successful job hunt. Everything has been meticulously planned 

and is very simple to follow as IGH 

Pro takes you through the eight 

steps. 

Clearly, these are not ‘one-at-atime’ 

steps. At first glance, it may 

seem sensible that preparation 

comes before negotiation but 

the whole job hunting process is 

filled with preparation, and there 

are many dealings along the way 

that require a little negotiation 

before you start talking contracts. 

That said, unsurprisingly, this first 

module – “Prepare for Success” – is 

mainly focused on the preparation 

you need to do before you enter 

the jungle. 



We’ve all heard the cliché, ‘Fail To Prepare, Prepare To Fail’ but it’s a 

cliché for a reason – and the reason is that it’s true. When it comes 

to job hunting, preparation makes the difference between success 

and failure – it’s as simple as that. 

First Things First – How I Got Hired Will Help 

Your first step is to analyze exactly what your skills, aspirations, motivations 

and needs are with IGH Aspire, the detailed evaluation tool that creates 

personalised graphical reports and outputs that can later be used to evaluate 

the appropriateness of roles and employers making sure you target your 

activity in the best way possible. 

IGH Money is the simplest tool around to help 

you assess and plan your finances. No accountancy jargon or 

experience required - just simple straight forward language, 

easy data input and clear graphical reports. 

As if this were not enough, you also get IGH Pro, the world’s 

only specially developed Application Management System for job 

seekers. IGH Pro helps you design and plan your job hunt, set personal 

activity targets and then measure your performance against them to 

keep your campaign on track. IGH Pro supports all your job seeker activity 

and ensures that you don’t miss a step, a call or a trick as you pursue that 

perfect role. 

IGH Pro is a particularly useful tool for contractors 

and temps who ‘dip in and out’ of the employment market. They will 

particularly benefit from IGH Pro’s ability to retain their records, 

contacts and documents so they don’t have to set up their job hunt 

every time they return to the job market. 

With I Got Hired you are not alone in your job search. As a member of 

the international I Got Hired job seeker community you have exclusive 

access to IGH Xchange, a forum, blog and chat room for job seekers all 

wrapped into one. IGH Xchange offers support, 

advice and opportunities from people who share 

your situation - it’s always good to know that you 

are not alone. 

After landing the ideal job, it doesn’t stop there. I 

Got Hired will not only ensure that you prepare 

for your new role and make your first day in the 

new job a real success, it will also go on to help 

you plan the next 100 days and help you make the 



most of the brilliant new opportunity you have earned for yourself. 

I Got Hired – Our Credentials 

I Got Hired has been researched, written and developed by professional recruiters and HR 

experts from around the world who have over 200 years’ combined experience in getting real 

jobs for real people – not in theory, not in textbooks, not in classrooms, but in the real world. 

Real people, real jobs, real results. 

The I Got Hired team 

understands what works and, 

more importantly, what 

doesn’t. We know how 

recruiters work and how 

HR departments think. 

Most important of all, we 

really know the secrets of 

the recruitment industry. 

We know what it takes to 

get your resume noticed, 

get invited to interview 

and land the job. There’s 

no magic wand, but I Got 

Hired is as close as you 

can get! 

The team have all been 

successful job seekers at 

one time or another and 

so speak from experience. 

They understand the frustrations and fears when that perfect role doesn’t come along as 

quickly as you had hoped or the irritation of dealing with an unreliable recruiter or a slowmoving 

employer. But they also know how to deal with it too! 

You’ll find short biographies of the key members of the team on the I Got Hired website. 

Who I Got Hired Will Help 

Whether you are looking for a new job due to a change in your circumstances or you are thinking 

about a complete career change, I Got Hired is here to help you by providing all the tools and 

guidance that you will need along your job seeking journey. 



In short, if any of the following scenarios apply to you, I Got Hired will help you find, secure 

and be successful in your dream job: 

• y I am looking for a new job following redundancy 

• y I have been out of work for some time and need to try a new approach 

• y I am considering a job in a different sector 

• y I want to climb the ladder in my chosen career 

• y I am thinking about a complete career change 

• y I am returning to work following a career break 

It really doesn’t matter what you do, or what you want to do for a living – I Got Hired is 

designed to help EVERY job seeker no matter what sector, location, level of seniority or skillset. 

The age-old rules of successful recruitment apply equally across the board to everyone. 

I Got Hired will help: 

• y Permanent job applicants 

• y Full-time workers 

• y Part-time workers 

• y Temps 

• y Contractors & Contingent Workers 

• y School leavers & graduates 

• y Interims, interns & locums 

• y Ex-military personnel 

The I Got Hired Sales Philosophy 

There is a fundamental philosophy that is ingrained throughout 

I Got Hired that sets it apart from traditional thinking. 

No doubt you have heard the phrase ‘selling yourself’ many, many 

times and now this is where it really comes into its own! Throughout 

the process you will come across references such as ‘Personal Sales 

Program’, ‘Your Sales Plan’ and ‘Your Sales Campaign’. 

I Got Hired believes that the process to get a new job is the same 

as the process used by the world’s leading sales people to sell multimillion 

dollar products or services to the globe’s finest companies, 

organizations and institutions. It is known in the business world as 



‘Solution Selling’ – providing the solution to an organization’s problems. The only difference is 

that in this scenario YOU are both the sales person and the solution. You, your skills and your 

experience are the solution to the organization’s hiring challenges. 

But what sets the really great solution sales people apart from the also-rans? It’s really quite 

simple and it’s always the same: 

• y They have a great work ethic 

• y They are courageous and determined 

• y They are highly organized and structured 

• y They are great at setting out a plan and following it 

• y They have brilliant attention to detail and accuracy 

• y They never drop a ball, never fail to follow up and never fail to do exactly what they said 

they were going to do, when they said they were going to do it 

• y They really understand what ‘competitive advantage’ is 

And finally … 

• y They have outstanding product knowledge – and let’s face it, who could possibly know 

more about you than … well … you! 

Underpinning The Sales Philosophy - The I Got Hired TM Sales Funnel 

Behind every good sales person and every good sales campaign is a carefully structured and 

measured Sales Funnel. This is a simple tool that helps you keep track of, and measure, just how 

active and successful your sales campaign is. By identifying the number of leads, prospects, 

suspects, opportunities and offers you have in your pipeline you can see where and why things 

are moving forward and the points in your sales process that are weak or may need a bit more 

focus. 

The Thin Line Between A ‘Sales Funnel’ And A ‘Sales Plughole’ 

If you look at a funnel from above, or from a particular angle, it can look remarkably like a 

plughole! Your job is to make sure that your sales funnel never looks, or behaves, like a plughole 

– from any angle! 

To stop your sales campaign going down the drain there are some simple rules to managing 

a sales funnel that are worth their weight in gold when it comes to getting real value from all 

your hard work; 



Using a Sales Funnel 

can sound a little 

confusing, if not 

daunting, but it really 

isn’t. In the I Got 

Hired Toolkit you can 

find the I Got Hired 

Guide to Establishing 

and Managing a Sales 

Funnel which will make 

it all seem as simple as 

it really is. The guide 

includes details of the 

rules, defines all the 

stages of the funnel, 

the activities that take place during each stage and the milestones you should use to move the 

progress of each opportunity from one stage to the next. 



Remember, as with all things in I Got Hired, all tools and ideas (in this case the Sales Funnel) 

are there to help, motivate and support you. If you find that the funnel is taking over your life, 

simplify it, it’s as simple as that. The funnel’s job is to inform and structure your campaign, 

not dominate it, so don’t let it take over. Although IGH Pro does the job of managing and 

reporting on your funnel really well, don’t forget you could run it on the back of an envelope if 

you are more comfortable that way! 

Keep It Simple, Stupid – The KISS Principle 

The ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid’ or KISS Principle is a globallyrenowned 

philosophy for sales and operational management and 

is enthusiastically adopted by I Got Hired. 

Everything is laid out simply and logically; everything is easy to use 

and understand, and the process is ‘simplicity personified’. 

Getting The Best From Your I Got Hired Experience 

I Got Hired constantly promotes the following key habits. To get the best from the program 

you need to be disciplined, trust the system, 

commit to it and organize yourself around it. 

Treat I Got Hired as if it is the best buffet 

lunch in the world! You may not need or want 

everything that is laid out neatly in front of you; 

but everything you DO need or want is here. Dip 

in and dip out as you need to, take what you want 

and leave the rest. Every job seeker is different, 

with varying experiences and knowledge; each 

job seeker needs different levels of support and 

help – so don’t be afraid to define the needs of 

your own job search and use I Got Hired to 

give you the exact support YOU need. 

Start off by assessing your circumstances, your aspirations and finances with IGH Aspire and 

IGH Money to create the perfect foundation to your job hunt. 

IGH Pro’s campaign planning and performance management reporting capability helps define 

your job hunt, set personal targets and measure your progress. 

The tools and templates will support you every step of the way ensuring that you never miss a 

call, an email or a step in the process. Make sure you use the checklists. We are all human, and 

missing a vital piece of the jigsaw isn’t beyond any of us – it might just be the one piece that 

makes all the difference. 



Take pride in being an active member of the I Got Hired community 

by joining discussions in IGH Xchange and contributing your 

own ideas through the suggestion box system to ensure 

the continual development of the program. 

Most of all, enjoy the experience of job seeking, 

surround yourself with positive, enthusiastic people 

and trusted advisors who know things that you don’t, 

and have experienced things that you haven’t. Listen a lot, 

talk a little and make every day worthwhile. 



Introducing ‘Prepare For Success’ 

Having outlined the I Got Hired TM philosophy in some detail, let’s just take a moment to look 

at what you can expect from this first module, ‘Prepare for Success’… 

The first thing that should be clear by now is that preparation is absolutely critical to your job 

search. If you’re more of an ‘action’ type of person then this may not be the best news but stick 

with it! I Got Hired TM makes proper preparation easy to do. When you’re properly prepared, 

you’ll find that when you do take preparatory action it is far more likely to result in success. 

Many of the tools, checklists and templates you can find in the I Got Hired TM toolkit are geared 

towards making your preparation simple, and so is much of the content of this first module. 

As a foundation to everything you do in your job search, we outline the 12 Habits of Success 

– these are the behaviors displayed by the best and most successful job seekers. They’re also 

the traits you’d expect to find in a good salesperson because with I Got Hired TM that’s what you 

are, and the product you’re selling is YOU! (But more on that soon…) 

Having established the right attitudes and qualities needed for your job search, the next step 

is to start mapping out your campaign, with a proper plan, and clear and measurable targets. 

What’s more, you’ll need some structure to keep you on track during the search and a base of 

operations from which you can direct your efforts – that’s where IGH Pro TM comes into its own. 

After you’ve taken care of the practical and physical arrangements, it’s time to take a good 

long look at yourself and what you really want from your ideal job. Some of this involves 

an objective assessment of your current circumstances, including your finances. It’s entirely 

possible that elements of this process may be uncomfortable. We make no apology for that. 

Honesty with yourself is your best way forward and ensures that your job search is built on a 

solid foundation – ultimately leading to a job which will give you the lifestyle you want. 

In other words, this module contains a wealth of helpful detail and guidance about setting 

yourself up with the best possible chance for success. 

So, what are you waiting for? Start preparing for that success… 



Education 

Introducing The 12 Habits Of Success 

Ever known somebody who always seems to be in the right place at the right time? Good 

things just seem to fall into their lap? The best jobs, the best seats at the theatre or football, 

the best exam results or the best bargains when shopping online? 

Annoying isn’t it? 

And wouldn’t it just be great to have that kind of luck? 

Well, it isn’t luck. Of course, happy accidents 

do occur but more often than not, somebody 

else’s ‘good fortune’ is underpinned by the 

‘good Habit’ they adopt in everything they do. 

I Got Hired will take you through all the 

detailed and essential steps you need to take 

to sell yourself (as a product) to prospective 

employers and find the job of your dreams. 

But the first step is checking your own attitudes and Habits to ensure that 

they’re fit for purpose – in this case, the purpose being job seeking. 

Get The Habits Of Success 

The good news is that these Habits of Success are easily learned and replicated and when 

you apply them to your job search, opportunities will begin to ‘fall into your lap’ too. As with 

all things worth having it may take some thought and hard work but, if you begin to apply 

the following 12 Habits to your job search (and even your life) you will experience real and 

positive change, including becoming ‘luckier’! 

So, in no particular order (because they are all essential), the 12 Habits of Success in job seeking 

are… 



Education 

Habit One – Fail To Prepare, Prepare To Fail 

We know that the saying ‘Fail To Prepare, Prepare To Fail’ is a 

cliché and has forever been trotted out by every teacher, 

boss and parent – but that is only because it is so true. 

Preparation should be at the heart of everything you do 

in your job-hunt – It’s as simple as that. 

Why Is Preparation So Important? 

As a rule good things just don’t happen by accident, and if you are 

going to wait for Lady Luck to bring you everything you want in 

your life, you are probably going to be waiting for a very, very long 

time. Good things, crucial things, the things that really shape our 

life, like finding and securing the right job, need planning: they 

need you to prepare. 

As the jobs market gets tougher you are going to need to be better – more 

prepared – than the next guy or girl. Preparation is a competitive skill and it 

will pay dividends many times over. 

You will be facing the toughest competition at every stage of the process, 

be that short-listing, interviewing or conducting interview assessments. 

You must perform at your highest level if you are to get ahead of your 

peers and get the job you really want. The best way to ensure that you 

deliver your best performance is by preparation. 

But preparation isn’t just about preparing for each individual 

event or action in your job-hunt, it’s about setting up an 

environment and systems that are going to work successfully 

for you too. 

Get A Diary And Use It Every Day 

(IGH Pro Is Perfect By The Way!) 

So, where does preparation start in a job-hunt? It starts with getting hold 

of a diary. It doesn’t matter if it is paper or electronic, although by using 

IGH Pro you can integrate your diary with every document, task, event, 

target and report throughout your job-hunt. 

If you have doubts about using a designated diary system or think that 



it is ‘overkill’ for a simple job-hunt, don’t fall for the easy option of ‘I can keep a track of all my 

events and tasks in my head.’ That’s a great attitude if your favourite pastime is crossing a busy 

road or highway blindfolded – you only have to get it wrong once for it to be fatal!! 

You only have to forget one call, turn up one hour late for one interview, to blow the greatest 

opportunity you may have ever had, and all that hard work has gone down the tubes and your 

job-hunt is dead in the water. 

Of course if you CAN track all the elements of your personal 

marketing and sales campaign in your head, if you know exactly 

where, when and who you are interviewing with, if you can 

remember every single follow up call you have to make, the 

details of every job, the content of your bespoke resumes, 

then why are you looking for a job – you clearly have a very 

lucrative career in the theatre ahead of you as ‘Memero – The 

Incredible Memory Wo/Man’!! 

Or, maybe you simply are not being industrious enough! 

A fully geared up, and committed job seeker should have a diary so full of activities, events, 

tasks, appointments, interviews etc. that it should be almost impossible to track them all 

without the help of a calendar or diary. 

You should see your job-hunt as a race to beat the other competitor candidates to the job and 

you must move fast if you are to win and secure that perfect job. 

It is vital that you have your diary on hand at all times so you record future events, tasks and 

appoinTMents as they come up – and to make sure you avoid scheduling conflicts. This will 

help you to be prepared and stay on top of your engagements. However good you are (and 

don’t forget you ARE brilliant) you really will not be able to attend two interviews at the same 

time! 

The ‘Preparing For Your Job Search’ Checklist 

• y Get a diary, use it, and keep it with you at all 

times. (IGH Pro is perfect by the way!) 

• y Create a job seeking environment that works 

for you. 

• y Define and map out your job seeking week. 

• y Plan on a daily basis to keep up with the 

constantly changing details of your search. 

y • Choose and set up your job search tools – 

Internet access, computer, smartphone, printer, etc. 



Preparing Your Job Hunting Environment 

Your job-hunt is a job in itself. We’ve talked about the checklists and tools that are in the I Got 

Hired TM Toolkit to help prepare you to take on this job but creating the right environment is just 

as important. 

‘The right environment’ is a very personal thing but its purpose is very simple. ‘The right 

environment’ is the ‘best environment possible to ensure that you make the most of your jobhunt’. 

It is where you are most comfortable, most organized and most productive. 

Plan And Prepare Your Working Week – It’s All About Time Management Now 

To begin with, define your ‘job-hunt week.’ 

Whether your job-hunt is your ‘full time 

job’ at the moment, or if you are currently 

working and fitting your job hunt in around 

the rest of your work life, set yourself some 

parameters and targets. 

Set times of the day and days of the week 

when you intend to focus on your job-hunt. 

Whether it’s a couple of hours two evenings a 

week plus a couple of lunch hours, or maybe 

two three-hour sessions three days a week, 

set your targets for the number of hours 

every week that you are going to commit to 

your job-hunt. Once you have set them, put 

them into IGH Pro, or your other diary, and 

STICK TO THEM! 

It’s also important that people around you 

also know your working hours, your job-hunt 

hours, and that they don’t expect you to be 

around for a chat, go to the bar, watch the 

television or play any part in the 1,001 things 

that can get in the way of your professional 

search for a new job. You are better than that. 

Once you have set your working hours, it’s 

time to plan your week. 

At the start of your job-hunting working week, 

review your diary and remind yourself of any 

appointments, engagements, interviews, 



careers events, seminars, webinars and so on that you may have scheduled. (As we said earlier, 

if your diary is not full, then you need to be working harder and smarter). 

With your diary commitments in mind, you should now schedule your time in line with your 

‘working hours’ and get ready for the following activities (and many, many more): 

• y Searching for jobs 

• y Registering with job boards 

• y Registering with appropriate agencies 

• y Engaging in relevant discussions and debates on social networks, forums and blogs 

• y Interview preparation time (if interviews are scheduled). This would include time to 

consider the following: 

 

Likely interview questions and model answers 

 

Questions that you would like to ask the employer 

 

How to get to the employer’s office, preparing your interview suit, etc 

 

Possible psychometric or assessment tests and how to perform well in them 

• y You should allow about 4-8 hours to prepare in advance for an interview. If it does not 

take this long, then you are not preparing well enough 

• y Employer research to support speculative applications 

• y Preparing a tailored resume and cover letter and applying for jobs. (A quality application 

should take about an hour to prepare) 

• y Rest (include morning, lunch and afternoon breaks). Build in at least an hour a day for 

breaks to ensure that you remain at optimum productivity levels 

• y Allow time for interruptions and unexpected events or just working slower than 

expected. This will help to keep your schedules realistic. If you find you have more time 

than you thought, you can simply do more job-hunting work 

• y Unavoidable engagements, e.g., dentist, school run, etc 

Prepare For Every Job-Hunting Day 

With the week planned, you can now prepare for your 

working day, what you should do each day. 

As the week goes on, new appointments will be made and 

events will occur, which means that your weekly plan will be 

out of date. 



First thing in the morning, every morning, review your weekly plan and prepare a fresh todo 

list for that day. You will always build today’s To Do List by starting with the leftovers of 

yesterday’s, but then add today’s new tasks. This will lead to you adding more tasks, or delaying 

certain tasks, or increasing time, or reducing time to work on things. Each and every day, set up 

your daily tasks and give rough time estimates for how long you will spend on each assignment. 

Make sure you review your task list at the end of every day and congratulate yourself on 

everything you have ticked off and then make a plan for how you are going to complete the 

outstanding tasks tomorrow. 

Bad Workers Blame Their Tools 

As well as a diary, you should ideally have home access to a computer, Internet and printer, if you 

possibly can. While library computers and facilities are sufficient for job-hunting, the opening 

times of libraries are now being reduced, so they are not as dependable as they previously 

were. So buy, beg or borrow (but don’t steal!) a computer if you possibly can. It doesn’t need to 

be top of the range – the work you will be using it for will be fairly basic in today’s computing 

terms – Internet access and writing Word and Excel documents will be your key activities. 

There is no question that you will be more efficient on your own computer and having home 

Internet access will mean that you can spot and respond to opportunities at the earliest 

opportunity rather than frustratingly waiting for library opening hours to prepare your next 

application. 

Don’t forget the capabilities of your smartphone either – after all they are just small computers 

nowadays that can make phone calls. We won’t go into detail on what you can do with your 

smartphone as there is such a broad range of operating systems apps and networks but take the 

time to investigate your phone’s capabilities. Remember; I Got Hired is all about joined up jobhunting 

and a phone can be the perfect glue, especially if you are running IGH Pro on it! 

Although you may not regard it as ‘equipment’, preparing two sets of interview clothes is an 

essential. It is highly unlikely that you will get to an offer without attending two interviews, or 

assessment events and you won’t feel comfortable wearing the same clothes twice! 

Events You Will Need To Be Prepared For 

– An Overview 

Throughout the five modules of I Got Hired TM you 

will find advice, guidance and industry secrets, 

supported by the full range of I Got Hired TM tools, 

to make sure that you are fully prepared for 

every event, meeting, call or document you have 

to deal with in your job-hunt. 



Here in overview, are just a few of the things that I Got Hired TM will help you to prepare for. 

Preparing For Engagements 

An effective job-hunting campaign will ultimately be characterized by a sequence of 

engagements which include: face-to-face and telephone interviews, follow up calls, contract 

negotiations, seminars, careers fairs, local business events, webinars, etc. 

Your performance at these events should not be taken for granted and you should prepare 

meticulously for each event. Use the I Got Hired TM checklists and guidance notes to make sure 

you are thoroughly prepared. 

Preparing For Face-To-Face Interviews 

Interviews are obviously the most important meetings in your job-hunting campaign. Intensive 

interview preparation is the key to good performance at interview. 

There is no substitute for hard work and preparation here. Prior to interview you 

should be carefully reviewing the job description and looking to anticipate the 

questions and tests you may face during interview. Once you 

know this, you should prepare for challenges by practicing 

mock interview questions and tests and preparing model 

answers. Practice will make perfect. 

Preparing For Telephone Interviews 

A telephone interview requires exactly the same 

preparation as a face-to-face interview. 

In fact, in some ways 

it is harder as you 

must also find a quiet space which you know will be free 

of distractions for the intended time of interview. Always 

plan to be at home when having a telephone interview 

so you can take the call from a land line and easily write 

notes. Never, (unless completely unavoidable) conduct 

a telephone interview on a mobile phone as you cannot 

depend on line quality, signal strength or signal availability. 

You can easily end up holding a compromised interview 

which reduces your chance of getting selected for the job. 

Module 4 of I Got Hired TM ‘The Perfect Interview’ is packed full of interview preparation and 

performance tips and skills audits. 



And of course, you will find everything you thought you needed and so much more, on the I Got 

Hired TM website www.igothired.net – checklists, guides and clever tools! 

Preparing For Follow-Up Calls And Contract Negotiations 

It is important to prepare for any follow up calls or contract discussions with your 

potential employers. In both situations you should prepare a script to ensure the 

call is efficient and effective. 

You will find plenty of example scripts and templates for every 

possible type of call in the I Got Hired TM toolkit. It should be 

easy as you are just reconfirming your interest in the role, 

thanking them for their time and asking if they need any 

more information from you or if there is anything else at this 

stage that you could do to help them. 

Contract talks require a lot of preparation and you would be 

ill-advised to enter talks about your terms and conditions 

of employment without detailed planning. This involves 

reviewing professional online salary surveys (multiple sources will have more credibility with 

the potential employer) and establishing a clear and reliable picture of the going rate for 

your role and your net worth as an employee. You can then present this information to your 

employer if you find you need to negotiate a higher salary. 

In addition to salary you may need to prepare or negotiate other terms - if you need some 

form of flexible working for example. The offer stage is the time to try to negotiate these 

things because if you leave it until after you have signed the contract, you will effectively have 

accepted the employer’s terms and will be in a much weaker negotiating position. This is why 

it pays to prepare in advance for your contract negotiations so you can bring any issues to the 

table before you commit to the contract. 

Module 5 of I Got Hired TM , ‘Closing the Deal’, walks you 

through the follow up process and exactly how the 

best recruiters in the world are trained to manage offer 

negotiations. 

Prepare Your Social Network Presence As 

Employers Expect To See It 

The world is digital and the world of recruitment leads 

the way in the use of digital platforms, tactics and 

strategies. To be an effective job seeker you must 

understand how, why, when and where these new 

strategies will support and promote your job-hunt. 



The main social network that you should focus on for your job-hunting activity is LinkedIn. It is 

without doubt the biggest phenomenon to hit the recruitment world since the Internet and job 

boards took hold. LinkedIn may play three key roles in your job-hunt: 

• y For many roles, LinkedIn is now a very important source for job-hunters – both employers 

and agencies will advertise roles and promote them through discussions in relevant 

‘LinkedIn Groups’, so you have to make sure you are part of the action. 

• y Many agencies and employers pay LinkedIn huge sums of money for what LinkedIn calls 

‘The Recruiter Seat’. This improved access to people’s LinkedIn Profiles gives them the 

ability to use LinkedIn as the biggest ‘candidate database’ in the world – not only do 

you have to be in the database, you have to be visible and attractive to recruiters and 

employers. 

• y Employers and recruiters are increasingly using candidate’s LinkedIn profiles both as 

a point of reference to confirm details on a resume (so make sure your resume and 

LinkedIn profile match!) and to use as a reference or pre-employment screening source. 

This is where LinkedIn recommendations are key to giving you credibility and putting 

you ahead of the competition. 

You can find everything you need to know about LinkedIn and everything you need to understand 

to set up a ‘state of the art’ LinkedIn profile in Module 3 of I Got Hired TM – My Sales Toolkit. 

Even though you will most likely apply for jobs using a resume, employers are increasingly 

looking for candidate’s social network profiles to help decide if a candidate is worth inviting 

for interview. 

But it is not just LinkedIn that prospective employers will be looking at, there is a whole digital 

world of joined-up sites, blogs and networks that you have to take control of and make the 

most of. 

Some you will know; Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Flickr, YouTube, Bebo – some you may not 

have heard about yet; Doof, Ning, Plurk, Digg and TweekPeek – and many don’t exist today 

but will exist tomorrow. With the help of I Got Hired, you can, and must, become a digital and 

social media expert with control of your online 

presence, using it as a powerful tool in your 

job-hunt. 

If you haven’t got one already, then the first 

thing to do is to create a LinkedIn account and 

fully complete your profile and then start on 

the rest. 

It should take about half a day to complete 

the profile to a high standard. Follow all the 

guidance on LinkedIn and in the I Got Hired TM toolkit on how to complete your 

profile. Also, make sure that you take the time to invite recommendations. It can take 



a few weeks for referees to respond, so it is important to request recommendations right at the 

start of your job-hunting campaign so your recommendations will be visible to prospective 

employers who may be deciding whether to interview you……..or not! 

Up until now Facebook has not been that important a tool for job-hunting or for business in 

general; it has been used more for personal entertainment and communication. This is changing 

now and you will find that more and more forums are networks, giving you the ability to access and 

comment on discussions using your Facebook login and post this activity to your Facebook profile. 

This means that employers can now check your profile to see how knowledgeable you are about 

your profession and, importantly, to see how well you can engage in professional discussions. 

Facebook can be a great tool for you to market yourself professionally, but be warned – an 

unprofessional, poorly managed Facebook presence can ruin a great opportunity for you and 

take away the job you really want. 

Make sure you use the I Got Hired TM guides to creating and managing a Facebook profile that 

will support, not hinder, your job-hunt. 

Preparing For Work 

I Got Hired TM doesn’t just stop when you get hired!! I Got 

Hired TM stays with you after you accept the offer you were 

looking for and not only helps you prepare for your first 

day at work, but also the first 100 days in your new job. 

The preparation checklists will make sure you tick every 

box but the key is the I Got Hired TM 100 Day Planner tool 

which will help you make the most of the opportunity you 

have worked so hard to get. 

You will find much more about preparing for and planning your 

first 100 days in a new role in module 5 of I Got Hired TM , Closing The 

Deal’. 



Education 

Habit Two – It’s Professional To Be Professional 

Behave Like A Professional – Every Day, In Every Way 

There are some people who just impress. They exist in every walk of life, in every social, 

economic or industry sector. Sometimes they can impress before they even say anything at all, 

they have that magical thing – ‘presence’. 

They tend to be people you feel you can instantaneously trust. 

There’s something about the way they present themselves, 

conduct themselves and express themselves; they are just 

professional. It’s incredible just how much influence being 

regarded as ‘professional’ can have on your job-hunt. 

But what exactly does ‘being professional’ mean? 

Although you always know when someone is ‘professional’, why 

you know that they are professional isn’t always the easiest of 

things to put your finger on. 

However, if you think about a number of people who you regard 

as conducting themselves in ‘a professional manner’, you will 

begin to see consistent behaviors and characteristics that they all share. It is these behaviors 

and characteristics that you will need to develop to gain the immense benefits of being a 

‘professional’ job-hunter. No two people will always agree exactly on all the behaviors or their 

order of importance but some core characteristics and behavioral traits will always be there. 

The Five Stages Of The Professional Process 

The I Got Hired TM concept is simple: it pitches you, the job seeker, as a product, and getting a 

job as a sales process where you must sell yourself; the product, to the employer; the effective 

buyer of your services. 

There are five simple stages to the sales process: 

1. Research your customers (employers) 

2. Know your competition (other candidates) 

3. Design a great product (develop skills and experience) 

4. Pitch your product professionally (apply for jobs and interview effectively) 

5. Close the deal (get the job, the salary and the terms you want) 



Stage One - Research Your Customers 

Let’s consider researching customers, or in this case, employers. Before applying for a job – and 

certainly before applying for interviews – research and understand the employer’s background. 

This means more than just glancing at the website. It means reviewing their website closely and 

systematically asking questions like: 

• y ‘What are the company’s values 

and do they align with mine?’ 

• y ‘How do they treat employees?’ 

• y ‘What are their products and 

services?’ 

• y ‘How much market share do they 

have?’ 

• y ‘Are they a leader in their field?’ 

• y ‘What do their customers say 

about them?’ 

• y What do their employees say about them?’ 

• y Can I build a career here?’ 

Try to target employers you have an affinity with and to whom your skills and experiences and 

values are well suited. This is what recruiters will be looking for, so you will be giving yourself 

a head start if you adopt this approach. 

Stage Two - Know Your Competition 

All good sales people will research the competition to establish what they are up against. So 

you must do the same by researching the candidate market place and understanding what 

skills and experience candidates in the market place are likely to possess. 

• y What specialist qualifications do candidates have? 

• y How qualified are candidates in general? 

• y What level of experience do they tend to have? 

• y What skills do they have? 

• y How quickly have they been promoted? 

This will tell you whether you are pitching too high or low in terms of job opportunities, or 

whether you need to update or improve your skills or experience. It will also tell you your 

strengths and weaknesses compared to the market. 



Stage Three - Design A Great Product 

A sales person is only as good as his or her product. In this case the product is you and your 

skill and experience. The most effective and successful employees are focused on constantly 

developing these skills and experiences. Even Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, still 

considers himself to be ‘very much a student’ and believes that continuous self-improvement 

and learning are essential to success. 

Seize every opportunity for training at work and welcome challenging work assignments and 

experiences that expand your skillset. Teach yourself new skills using books and resources on 

the web. It’s never too late to get a degree; bear in mind that graduates earn 85% more than 

non-graduates. 

Stage Four - Pitch Your Product Skillfully 

Good sales people know that they 

need to pitch their product well in 

order to secure the sale and you, as the 

candidate, must sell yourself effectively 

in order to secure that all important 

role. You must act professionally at 

every stage of your contact with clients. 

Nothing and nothing should be taken 

for granted. 

Improve and tailor your resume for 

each job you apply for and prepare meticulously for every interview you attend. 

Stage Five - Close The Deal 

A sale must not be taken for granted until the contract is signed; every good sales person 

knows that final negotiations and closing the deal are the key part of the sales process. As a 

candidate, selling yourself (the product) to the employer, You must negotiate and close the 

deal effectively and professionally too. 

This requires knowing your own worth, as well as knowing the employer’s needs and financial 

resources, and conducting a professional negotiation to secure the best deal you can. 

But there is more to being a professional than doing professional things, it’s about doing 

everything professionally – the secret of being seen as a professional is not just what you do, 

but how you do it. 



Being Professional – The I Got Hired Top 20 Tips 

1. Do What You Said you Would Do, When You Said You Would Do 

It 

It sounds really simple and obvious, but it is shocking just how many 

people fail to fulfil the basic requirement of reliability. We all expect other 

people and organizations to be reliable, and complain vehemently when they 

let us down, but then regularly do the same thing ourselves. Use IGH Pro to 

keep track of your tasks and commitments and help you to deliver on time 

and as promised. 

2. Know What You Are Talking About 

Beware of attempting to speak with great authority on topics you know little about. Professionals 

never do it. They don’t want to risk their reputation by getting caught out and neither should 

you. If you aren’t sure of something, have the confidence to say you don’t know but then go and 

find out. People prefer honesty and integrity and as long as you do what you say and get back 

to them in the agreed timeframe this will be received far better. 

3. Keep Calm And Carry On 

Professionals are always in control of their emotions. They know 

that an emotional response, is rarely the best response, and is never 

perceived as the best response. 

We trust people who are calm, we trust them to control situations 

because they can control themselves. Think about the way a good 

doctor acts – always calm and clear, and therefore trusted, whatever 

the circumstances. 

4. Arrive When You Are Expected To Arrive 

If buying a home is about ‘location, location, location’, 

then getting a job is about ‘punctuality, punctuality, 

punctuality’. There are very few acceptable 

excuses for being late – but in today’s age of 

mobile communications there is NEVER an excuse 

for not warning someone if you are going to be 

late. Equally, arriving too early can also be viewed 

negatively. Treat other people’s time with respect. 



5. Personal Presentation Is About The Little Things 

You don’t need a $2000 suit or £1,000,000 worth of jewellery to be well-presented – but 

you DO need clean clothes, clean shoes, matching socks, a skirt of an appropriate length and 

(if you are not wearing a tie) only one top button undone on your shirt or blouse. Personal 

presentation is about attention to detail, not spending money! 

6. Learn The Art Of Active Listening 

‘Two Ears – One Mouth’ may be an old cliché but how can you hope to communicate successfully 

with anyone unless you HEAR what they are saying. It’s a harder skill than you would think; 

especially when you’re under pressure. Many people are so concerned with what they want to 

say next they just forget to LISTEN, they’re simply waiting for the opportunity to speak. If, like 

many, you struggle with really listening, make a conscious effort and SILENTLY repeat in your 

head what you’ve just heard – odd, but it will work! 

7. Their Name Is More Important Than Yours 

While you are ‘actively listening’, concentrate on the name or the person you’re talking to. The 

first 10 seconds of a conversation is always crucial so the pressure is on. If you don’t make the 

effort to hear, collect and remember the name you’ll be lost – there’s every chance they won’t 

repeat it, But you can repeat it …., ‘Dave, it’s good to meet you’. It really helps – it shows you 

listened and are paying attention. 

Don’t allow yourself to miss their name because you are thinking about how you look, what you 

are going to say or whether you have spinach between your teeth (if you’re properly prepared, 

you’ve already thought about all that and can relax into the conversation, confident in your 

appearance). 

8. There’s No Need To Rush 

You’ll never see a CEO running down the corridor – if you did 

you might ask yourself whether you should be working for a 

company whose management team appear to be panicking 

(or just managing their time badly!). 

The old saying might be ‘speak quietly and carry a big stick’ 

but it’s better to ‘walk slowly and carry everyone’s confidence’. 

9. Be Big Enough To Handle The Brutal Truth 

Courage is about overcoming fear. Sometimes the truth is 

difficult, even downright unpleasant, but you have to find 

a way to break it to people sometimes. Be pleasant, be 

kind, find the right words (which invariably are the words 

you would like to hear if the roles were reversed) but be 

straight. 



Remember you also have to be able to take the brutal truth as well as give it, so a calm, 

constructive response to your own brutal truths are essential, however tough they may be to 

hear. 

10. Honesty Is The Only Policy 

There’s a lot more on this in Habit Ten but you know it’s right, your 

mother told you enough times. It is NEVER, NEVER professional 

to lie – all you have at the end of the day is your own reputation. 

11. Manners Maketh The… Job Seeker 

It’s incredibly easy in today’s busy world to stand out from 

the crowd, just by being well-mannered. Whether it’s 

remembering to say please and thank you, or opening a door, or 

letting someone else go first, it works wonders. 

12. Cheer Up Folks – It’s The Power Of Positivity 

People do not like spending time with miserable folks. You’ve never heard someone say ‘Yes, 

it was a great meeting, s/he was really miserable!’. A smile and a quietly positive disposition 

will always put people at ease, and that’s exactly how you want them, at ease and comfortable, 

enjoying their time with you – and then offering you a job, of course. 

13. The Language Of The Gutter Stays In The Gutter 

There is never an excuse for swearing during your job search – in a conversation, in an interview, 

in an email – never! Don’t cheapen your point of view, your image or your chances. Even if the 

person you are speaking to swears, DO NOT reciprocate – they have nothing to lose – but you 

do. 

14. Did You Hear About The Gossiping Job Hunter? 

Video might have killed the radio star but gossip killed the star candidate. 

Although you may think you are doing the listener a favor giving them an ‘inside track’, or 

showing them your ‘industry knowledge’ when you gossip, all they are actually thinking is ‘who 

are you going to talk to about me, and what confidences have I shared with you that you are 

going to abuse elsewhere?’ 

No one likes or trusts a gossip, and even fewer people employ them. 



15. A Smile Is Worth A Thousand Words 

Just smile. 

People like smiles and as a hug is NEVER acceptable in an interview, 

it’s the next best thing! 

16. Ethics Are Priceless 

Ethics are the standards of Habit and integrity you are going to set for 

yourself – and then keep – throughout your job search. Hold yourself to 

your own standards. Every time you slip, you are letting yourself and your job search down. 

People WILL judge you. 

17. If You Don’t Have Something Nice To Say, Don’t Say Anything 

Never, never, never say anything negative about a previous employer, a colleague, a boss or a 

friend. The likelihood is that the person you are saying it to thinks that one day they will be one 

of those people and you will be saying negative things about them to someone else. 

18. Hand To Hand Combat And Eye Contact 

A firm handshake and strong eye-to-eye contact are 

the key indicators of a confident personality. Have 

you ever met a really professional person who lacks 

confidence? 

Employers have confidence in confidence, it’s as 

simple as that. 

19. Enjoyment Isn’t A Sin 

Don’t just enjoy yourself, your day, your interview, (your job even) – let other people know that 

you enjoy it. As a professional person you enjoy what you are doing because, if you didn’t, you 

have the option to change it – or at least that’s what you want others to think. 



20. Keep Your Voice Down – Your Body’s Shouting Its Head Off 

Professionals never shout, they don’t even raise their voices, but they 

are always aware of what their body language is saying. Keep 

your body language powerful, professional and positive and 

your voice calm, consistent and considered – it makes a big 

difference. 

Throughout I Got Hired you will come across references to the 

fact that Job Hunting is a competitive sport, and there is no greater 

set of ‘competitive advantage’ skills than these professional Habits. 

The tougher the jobs market is, the more hiring managers and 

HR departments lean towards what they see as the ‘safe hire’. A 

recession is not the time to be taking risks and companies tend to 

just play it safe. The more professional you are, the safer a bet you are 

perceived to be as a potential hire. 

Professional candidates get hired first – that’s just how it works. 



Education 

Habit Three – Get Organized, Stay Organized 

If you intend to achieve your objectives, aims and ambitions, you 

must inject high levels of planning and organization into your 

job hunt because as we like to say in I Got Hired, getting a job 

is a job in itself. It may only be a part-time job, because you are 

already in work or you have other commitments, but it is a job 

and it demands the same disciplines and rigor that you would 

apply to anything else you have set your heart on achieving. 

You have lots of tasks to perform, e.g., researching jobs, researching employers, preparing 

resumes and cover letters, making applications, preparing for interviews, attending interviews 

and so on. They will not happen on their own and they will not happen in the right order, at the 

right time or to the best of your ability if you are not organized. 

Like a job, to do this effectively and stay ahead of the competition, you will need to spend as 

much time as you can on your job search and spend that time working SMART, not just hard. 

You also have to be resilient - according to a recent study at Rutgers University, 80% of their 

graduates take over six months to find a full time job. 

But getting your job-hunt organized and up and running isn’t just any old job, it’s a tough 

job with fierce competition. For example, The Wall Street Journal reports that for every job 

opening there are 118 candidates applying for it. 

You need to understand the challenges you are taking on and properly focus your mind on 

the task ahead when it comes to job-hunting. It will enable you to see that you need to plan, 

organize and execute your own extended personal sales and marketing campaign in order to 

secure your dream job or even just your next job. 

Taking an organized and disciplined approach to your job-hunting campaign will have many 

benefits, not least the fact that you will be more successful more quickly. There are numerous 

other side effects and benefits from running an organized campaign, such as; 

• y You will feel considerably less stressed if you are working to a plan 

• y An organized campaign allows you to set targets and measure your success against them 

• y You can focus more on your objectives day by day 

• y You’ll be more productive as each task sits in an order and has a time and place 

• y You can maximize the use of your time 

• y You’ll be able to prioritize your tasks better and with greater clarity 

• y You’ll have more energy and enthusiasm 



• y You’ll be more flexible and creative 

• y You’ll be easier to be around 

• y You’ll have a general feeling of wellbeing and achievement 

• y You’ll have organized time in your schedule to allow for friends, family and all those 

other important little things 

So what steps can you take to be organized during your recruitment campaign? 

Establish A Professional Working Space 

Set up an office space at your home, which is purely dedicated to your job seeking activities 

and where you can work in peace. This should include a PC with Internet access (if possible), a 

web browser and Microsoft Word installed. (Make sure there is no TV in the workroom as this 

can be a major distraction.) 

‘Possible’ is the all-important word here. 

As with all things I Got Hired TM , we work exclusively within the ‘art of the possible’. Sure, in a 

perfect world you might want a home office dedicated to your job-hunt with your very own 

Personal Assistant sitting outside the door waiting to serve your every job-hunting need – but 

in the real world that is pretty unlikely to happen! 

We work exclusively on making the best of what we do have, and not hankering after what we 

could have. There is no point in even thinking about the ‘if onlys’ if they are not achievable; if 

only I had an office, if only I had a printer, if only my children weren’t at home during the day. 

This type of thinking just drags us down and bursts the all-important bubble of enthusiasm and 

motivation and you’ll find yourself making excuses for 

your failure before you have even started. 

We need to build our environment with a combination 

of what we have and what our job-hunt requires. 

Different job-hunts require different environments. If 

you are currently out of work your job-hunt should be 

pretty central to your life right now. 

Setting up an area of your home as your ‘Job-Hunt 

Patch’, whether it’s a home office, a spare bedroom or a 

corner of your living room, kitchen or dining room, is a 

great idea. Just having a space where you work, where 

your family and friends know you work, and where your files, computer, etc. are located, will all 

give real focus to your search. 

Some of the most focused job-hunters will even hang an ‘Occupied’ sign on the back of their 

chair just to make sure their partner, kids or flatmates know that they are ‘at work’ and serious 



about their job-hunt. It’s also useful to make sure you can’t see the television from your place 

of work and that you keep ‘talk’ radio off. Music is fine in the background, but concentrating 

over a conversation on the radio is really tough. 

The I Got Hired TM ‘How Ready Am I?’ checklist can help you to set up an effective working 

environment in your home. If you do not have these resources then consider making your local 

library your workspace as they will provide you with access to the Internet and also provide a 

quiet and ‘distraction-free’ workspace. 

Establish A Working Pattern 

It really doesn’t matter if your job-hunt IS your permanent job at the moment or if it is a parttime 

exercise that you fit in around work. It is easy to become distracted from your job-hunting 

activity and the danger is that this distraction can turn to de-motivation which can be a real 

problem. Establish a working routine to follow each day that you can commit to. 

If your ‘Job Is Your Job-Hunt’, do all you can to be really disciplined about getting started not 

only as early as possible, but ON TIME (remember you have set yourself hours of work for this 

campaign). The later you start, the harder it can be to motivate yourself and the less it will 

seem like a serious occupation. 

Give yourself breaks and rewards just like you would do when at work. Keep active and make 

sure you get out at lunchtime for a walk, fresh air and maybe to socialize (but not for too long!). 

And remember, when you are at work on your job-hunt, whether it’s for an hour, half a day or 

the whole day, you are at work and everyone needs to know it and respect it. Be one of those 

really harsh bosses that don’t encourage personal phone calls, let alone personal visits to the 

office from friends and family! 

Be tough on yourself – it really will pay off. 

Using IGH Pro To Get Organized 

IGH Pro is the world’s only specialist job 

seeker support software that has been 

designed specifically to give you everything 

you need to make sure you ‘turbo charge’ 

your job-hunt. What’s more, IGH Pro is 

optimised for mobile use so that your data, 

documents, process notes, job descriptions, 

diary and your targets and reports, can be in 

your pocket all the time on your favourite smartphone or tablet. 

Just to make sure you are getting the best from IGH Pro here is a quick outline 

of just what it is capable of; 



Process Management 

• y Navigate the Jobs Jungle 

• y Manage every application 

• y Prepare for and conduct the perfect interview 

• y Negotiate like a professional 

• y Control referencing and prepare properly for your first day in your new job 

Campaign Planning 

• y Define your key role criteria 

• y Identify your employer criteria 

• y Identify your key employers 

• y Identify the best agencies that will work for you rather 

than themselves 

• y Set activity targets to measure your success 

Diary Management 

• y Integrate your diary on laptop, mobile or tablet 

• y Manage appointments and tasks 

• y Allocate and manage time and send diary invitations 

• y Stay on track with pop up notifications 

(Reminders of important tasks and events will be sent by email) 

Performance Management 

• y Manage activity with clear graphical reports 

• y Configure reports by date and activity 

• y Report current and historic activity 

• y Design multiple graphical views to suit you 

Document Management 

• y Store multiple copies of documents and web clippings 

• y Always use the latest document with IGH Pro Version Control 



• y Keep your documents stored by opportunity, date, purpose or type 

• y Link records to documents for every opportunity 

• y Link one document to another 

Contact Management 

• y Keep every contact up to date and in your pocket with IGH Pro ‘On The Go’ 

• y Link contacts to jobs, employers, and agencies 

• y Link contacts to specific documents 

• y Keep a record of contact detail changes 

IGH Aspire 

IGH Aspire gives you a snapshop of your career, 

interests, values, needs and skills to help you target 

your job-hunt on companies and opportunities that are 

just right for you. 

• y Defines exactly what you need from your job 

• y Measures what is important to you in an employer 

• y Details the features of your perfect job and 

employer 

• y Personalised written & graphical reports 

• y Single dashboard integrates with your campaign targets & reports 

IGH Money 

IGH Money is our budgeting and money management tool 

that is fully integrated with IGH Pro TM making sure you are 

always in control of your finances on a daily basis. 

• y Allows you to mange your money exactly how you 

want to 

• y Set your own spending and income categories and 

amend them whenever you want 

• y Set you’re your monthly income and spending budget 

• y See exactly where, and when, your money is going 

• y Identify cash ‘pinch points’ in advance and on a daily basis 



Education 

Habit Four – Hard Work Never Killed Anyone 

It is easy to think that people like Bill Gates, 

Einstein, Tiger Woods and Mozart all got to 

where they are today due to some divine 

spark. Although that may be the case, the latest 

thinking suggests that all these geniuses have 

one big thing in common - it’s not necessarily 

that they were all super intelligent or super 

gifted at birth… 

…but that they all put in the necessary 10,000 

hours of practice. 

in more hours than your competition. 

While you know that you cannot be expected to 

apply 10,000 hours of preparation and practice 

to your job-hunting campaign, you can do the 

next best thing – work very hard and try to put 

Consider the findings of a survey from monster.com which found that of 68% job seekers 

surveyed were making between 6-7 high quality job applications 

per week. If you want to get ahead of the competition you should 

be making 6-10 applications a week. It’s as simple as that! 

It is this hard work and diligence in your job-hunting process that 

can give you the edge over the competition. Remember, it was the 

great inventor Thomas Edison who said, ‘Success is 1% inspiration 

and 99% perspiration’. There are no shortcuts to finding a job. The more 

opportunities that you create and manage, the quicker the right opportunity arrives. 

‘It’s funny, but the harder I work the luckier I get’ – it may be a bit of an old cliché but it is never 

truer than in a job-hunt. We all need a little bit of luck to fall our way but the more chances you 

give Lady Luck to land on your side, the more likely you are to get the breaks you want – in fact, 

as with all things in life, you will only get the breaks your hard work deserves. 

Hard Work And The Case Of Stephen Stubbs 

Even if you don’t find a job as quickly as expected, don’t be disheartened, and most important 

of all, don’t cut back on the effort. The tougher it gets, the harder you have to work – it’s not 

easy and it takes real guts to keep going. In fact you have to keep going faster and faster the 

tougher it gets, but it’s the only way. Just keep making the job applications (ensuring you 



adopt a high quality sales process) and your opportunities will arise. 

If you need inspiration in those dark times when you think you are not getting anywhere, just 

think about the case of Stephen Stubbs. Stephen is a visually-impaired man who made 2,000 

job applications. After 15 months of thinking he was unemployable, he got the job he wanted 

and in his own words, “If I can do it anyone can do it you’ve just got to believe in yourself and 

it will happen.” 

There is a job out there for you and it may not come easy. You can get the perfect job, as long 

as you put in the necessary hard work and persistence. 

But Don’t Just Work Hard – Work SMART 

Although you need to work hard, you must also 

work smart and ensure that all your efforts are 

optimised towards achieving your goals. Your 

efforts should be focused in the following 

areas: 

• y Actively searching and reading 

reputable blogs and articles relating 

to effective resume and cover letter 

preparation. This should not be left to 

chance 

• y Doing detailed research on every 

employer before you apply for a job; 

this familiarity should be reflected in 

each job application that you prepare 

• y Tailoring each resume and producing an individual cover letter to suit each job 

application you make. This takes time 

• y Conducting detailed research prior to every interview to understand likely interview 

questions and prepare mock answers to all the possible questions 

• y Conducting detailed research prior to interview relating to the employer’s products, 

services, culture, locations, business strategy and corporate goals 

• y Locating employers and making speculative job applications. In addition to emailing, 

hand-deliver applications when the employer is local. This can make a big impression. 

• y Getting acquainted with all the key social networks and spending time diligently building 

contacts and connections with recruiters, hiring managers and employers 

y • Is this beginning to sound and look like a job description? Well it should because, as we 

said earlier, finding a job is a job in itself 



• y Thinking creatively – research and find creative and unusual ways of making job 

applications 

• y Prioritising your job search activities. There may be more jobs available than you 

can apply for in any given period. In which case it is important that you learn how to 

prioritize your activity and focus on the roles that you are most suited to. Don’t waste 

time on applications for roles where you have little chance of success or that don’t fit 

your previously identified goals. Focus on applications to which you are well-suited 

• y Structuring your day to ensure you can maintain your momentum, maximizing your 

working time while at the same time not overdoing it. Set yourself some structure, 

just like with a real job. Establish working hours and working days, building time in for 

breaks, rest and relaxation 

Personal development is important too so work hard on continuous lifelong learning and this 

will increase your employability. The PDP Framework in the I Got Hired TM Toolkit is a perfect 

starting point 

The best employees are committed to lifelong learning and continuing personal development. 

Whether at work, between jobs or looking to find a new job, you should be dedicated to putting 

in the hours to improve your skills and knowledge in your field of expertise. 

This will pay off in the long term. You will have a much better skillset and not only will you be 

much more employable, but you will also be much less likely to be made redundant during 

any downsizing as your valuable skills and valued contribution may just save your job from 

redundancy. 

The Power Of Setting SMART Targets 

How do you know if you are working as hard as you should be? 

How do you know if you are working as hard as you said you were 

going to? 

Easy – set yourself targets (and don’t forget to make them 

SMART!) for EVERY activity in your job-hunt and measure your 

performance day by day, week by week against the targets you 

have set yourself. The key is to do it consistently and never cheat 

– you are only cheating yourself, you know! 

The Campaign Planning tool in IGH Pro takes you through a 

process to set targets for the key objectives of your job-hunt, 

such as: 

• y The number of agencies you will contact every week 

• y The number of employers you will contact every week 

• y The number of advertised vacancies you will send your resume to 



• y The number of ‘unsolicited’ applications you will make 

• y The number of interviews you will attend 

IGH Pro allows you to measure all your activities against these targets and reports the results 

in easy to follow graphical illustrations. You can set the reports over a set period or for the full 

length of your job-hunt. It just doesn’t let you off the hook! 

You just will not know if you are doing the right things and doing them often enough, unless 

you set your targets and measure yourself against them. Target setting and performance 

management is without doubt one of the really great motivators. 

Make sure you work hard, but make sure you know you are too! 



Education 

Habit Five – Collaborate To Accumulate 

Collaboration is a fundamental part of any effective job search campaign and your ability to 

build bridges and business connections with friends, colleagues and strangers will be crucial 

in determining how quickly you get the job you want. There are many ways that you can 

effectively network and collaborate which will increase your chances of finding that perfect 

opportunity. 

Word Of Mouth Really Works 

Did you know that the most common way that people get hired is via word of mouth or what 

are known in the trade as ‘employee referrals’? 

In fact the recent Source of Hire Study by CareerXRoads revealed that 28% of jobs that were 

filled last year were filled by employee referrals. This made it the most popular source of hire 

by some distance since the next most popular, at 20%, were job boards. Job boards were 

followed by employer career sites at 9.8% and recruitment agencies at 9.1%. 

Get the picture? Make contacts, make connections and talk to people to increase your chances 

of hearing about job opportunities through word of mouth before they are advertised. 

Using Social Media To Collaborate 

There is no doubting the fact that word of mouth is an 

effective channel to finding a job, but how can a job seeker 

make use of it? Thankfully the onset of social media has 

made recruiTMent via word of mouth much easier for 

just about anybody to engage in. The problem is that 

not enough of you are using it. Let’s take LinkedIn as an 

example. 

Here’s The Daddy! – LinkedIn 

networking and job-hunting. 

LinkedIn is the leading social network for finding jobs 

and building business connections in the UK, yet 

recent research suggests that on average only about 

16% of the UK adult working population have active 

accounts on it. This means that a massive 84% of you are 

not making use of this invaluable medium for business 

So join LinkedIn - NOW. 



However, the work doesn’t stop with simply joining LinkedIn. Many LinkedIn users don’t fully 

complete their profiles. This is a big mistake and they are missing an opportunity as LinkedIn 

clearly advertises that ‘Users with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive 

opportunities through LinkedIn‘. 

So take the time and follow the advice by fully completing your profile, building connections, 

including a professional photo and gaining recommendations and so on. LinkedIn are giving 

you a golden nugget for free so you would be foolish not to take it. 

Having built your profile in LinkedIn you are now free to apply for jobs on the jobs boards 

throughout LinkedIn’s many specialist groups. The I Got Hired TM Guide to Using The LinkedIn 

Job Seeker App will optimise your use of LinkedIn 

However, right now we’re focused on how you can collaborate and build connections. To do 

this you should research and join several groups that are related to your skills and interests. 

Some may be UK jobs and careers groups and some may be more specialist sector groups like 

customer service, hospitality or IT. Within these groups you can collaborate by engaging in 

discussions which can involve both giving and receiving advice or simply offering your opinion 

on things. 

Through this approach you will build valuable connections, hear gems of wisdom and inside 

gossip, receive encouragement and moral support and know about jobs before they are 

advertised. 

Don’t forget to include as many ‘recommendations’ as possible in your LinkedIn profile – these 

are like online references given by people you have worked with. Recruiters both in agencies 

and in organizations always look for recommendations and regard them as very important. 

You’ll find much more on soliciting and publishing recommendations and building your LinkedIn 

profile professionally in the I Got Hired TM toolkit. 

Other Social Networks 

You can also collaborate on Facebook and research 

shows that the vast majority of you (77%) are active 

users of Facebook – so we do not need to encourage 

you to join. You can collaborate on Facebook in a similar 

way to LinkedIn, although the emphasis has so far been 

more on fun and entertainment. There is nothing wrong 

with this as you can still ‘become friends’ or ‘friends of 

friends’ with people in high places or those who know 

people in high places. That said, given Facebook’s fun 

side, be careful about the pictures and comments you 

post and who can see them! 

Once again, if you are visible and active within these 

networks you will be able to hear what’s on the 

grapevine in terms of job and career opportunities. You 



can also ‘like’ employer pages on Facebook, which means that you will hear all their updates 

and you will effectively be on their grapevine. You can also comment and engage with other 

employees, managers and recruiting managers in a more informal environment. 

But always remember, however ‘informal’ it may be, you are a professional and must conduct 

yourself professionally at all times, however ‘informal’ the environment appears! 

Facebook is looking for more and more ways to maximize their revenue stream so keep a look 

out for ‘Facebook Jobs’ (or whatever they will call their employment initiative). We bet it’s on 

the way and when it arrives it will transform the way many, many people find and apply for jobs. 

Don’t forget Twitter, which is another great collaboration tool. Research shows that only 31% 

of you are making use of this tool for networking, so there is an opportunity beckoning. While it 

is fun to follow celebrities, we are not recommending following them as part of a collaborationbased 

job search and networking strategy. 

As with Facebook you can follow large employers, but the real power of job collaboration on 

Twitter can come from following small employers you are interested in. Large employers like 

Microsoft will have thousands of followers and when you follow Microsoft – although Microsoft 

will be automatically notified that you have followed them – you will hardly make waves. 

However, the exact opposite will be the case if you follow smaller employers on Twitter. Firstly, 

they will have a much smaller, more loyal and engaged following and they will certainly notice 

you and check out your profile when you follow them. If you send intelligent and helpful tweets 

about their products and services, they will remember you. Many small employers have limited 

resources when it comes to recruiting new staff, so many of them exclusively search for new 

employees via their Twitter following as it is convenient and cheap. 

So, collaborating on Twitter and researching, targeting and following relevant small or specialist 

employers on Twitter will place you firmly on that organization’s radar and grapevine for 

hearing about hot job opportunities. 

Five Golden Rules For The Social Media Party 

The Made Simple Group recently 

published these very useful 

guidelines for making the most 

of the ‘Social Media Party’. 

Social Media is one absolutely 

massive party with no entry fee 

and no guest list. Unsurprisingly, 

things can get a little raucous. 

So how do you navigate yourself 

around the party and make it 

work for your job-hunt? 



Follow these five tips and become a great guest: 

1. Listen 

If you turn up at a party and immediately start chatting about yourself with little or no 

regard for fellow guests, you will quickly find yourself fiddling with your cheese-on-astick 

with no one to talk to. You need to listen and get to know other accounts before 

you start updating everyone about yourself. 

2. Mix In The Right Circles 

You need to make sure that you are talking to the right people. Of course it’s important 

to be nice to everyone, but if you’re on Twitter or Facebook (and so on) for business 

purposes, don’t spend all of your time dealing with accounts that have absolutely 

nothing to do with your industry. 

3. Don’t Be A Bore 

Don’t be that person who tells the same story time after time. It’s fine to tweet and 

update about something more than once, just don’t say it in exactly the same way again 

and again. Edit the story and give it a different spin. Essentially you need to come up 

with original and interesting content that is just asking to be re-tweeted, liked and 

commented on – don’t wait to be asked! 

4. Appearances Matter 

It’s a sad fact that if you show up at a party having made no effort with regards to your 

appearance, you’re going to be shunned. How is this comparable to Social Media? It’s all 

about your profile. Use interesting photos, cover photos and headers (and backgrounds 

if you have the know-how) that actually say something about yourself. And don’t forget 

to accessorise by having a nicely written “about me” section, too. 

5. Mind Your P’s And Q’s 

You should want to be seen as approachable and someone everyone else enjoys talking 

to. Always update in a polite and friendly manner; this is especially relevant for dealing 

with complaints or queries. Under no circumstances should you use obscene language. 



Back To The Real World – Support Networks 

There is of course a real world out there 

that is outside the social networks and you 

should ensure that you remain social in that 

world too. Attend as many career support 

sessions, seminars and training events that 

you can as you will meet others and gain 

support and advice. 

It is really important that your collaboration 

and networking takes you out of the circles 

of job seekers and into the real world. This 

could be a football team, a golf club, a film society, a reading group, etc. These 

social groups are still support networks for your job-hunt as they will allow 

you to socialize and spend regular time with a more diverse group of people; many of whom 

will actually be employed. 

As a result these groups can be likely sources of job and career opportunities. 

A business card may help with your collaboration activities. It doesn’t need to be attached to 

your current or last employer but it will make it easier for you to introduce 

yourself and give people your contact details. You should prepare a 

professional business card which includes your name, profession/ 

job title (or target job title), a promotional tag line/objective (e.g., 

opportunities of interest), contacts details, including all your social 

network links. On the back of the business card, you should list your 

key skills and maybe your previous employer. 

Ultimately, you should be reducing and presenting the highlights from your 

resume on the back of your personal card. Always carry these cards with 

you. If someone gives you a card for whatever reason, e.g. an estate agent, 

plumber, an accountant, etiquette states that you are entitled to give them 

a business card back – and you should. 

a 

If you are out somewhere and you have a particularly good conversation 

with someone, e.g. a restaurant owner or store manager (anyone who has 

a position of responsibility), give them all a card. This is a very effective 

and powerful way of networking. 

How Much Time Should You Devote To Collaboration? 

This is a very important question. The time that you spend collaborating with others should 

be moderated and managed and must not interfere with your direct job seeking activity – it 

is very easy to become addicted to social networks! Set aside up to an hour a day for formal 



collaboration on social networks. 

In terms of the time that you should spend on face to face collaboration, as mentioned above 

with the business card example, a lot of the real world collaboration should be built into the 

fabric of your social routines, e.g., golf club, weekly film, social ‘get togethers’ and so on. 

With regards to attending seminars, careers fairs, training etc, while these will provide you with 

enhanced job search skills and excellent emotional support, remember you are surrounding 

yourself with people who are also looking for jobs. They will be more focused on finding 

their own opportunities rather than helping others. This is not a criticism, just a reality. While 

there is nothing wrong with attending these events, carefully monitor how many leads and 

opportunities arise from these situations and moderate your attendance accordingly. 

There is no doubt that collaboration with others, be that through social networks, social groups 

or careers events, will enhance your search activity and shorten the amount of time it takes you 

to get a job. 



Habit Six – Positive Mental Attitude – Not Just A Cliché 

Education 

One of the biggest challenges that you will face during the highs 

and lows of your job-hunt will be managing the emotional and 

psychological effects of good and bad news. There will be many 

forces and influences acting on you that may sap your confidence 

and lower your morale. 

If you are out of work life can just get tougher and tougher: 

• y Rising debts and general lack of money 

• y Increased economic dependence on a partner and a shift in the 

balance of earnings in the relationship 

• y Loss of freedom and independence from having to move back in 

with parents 

• y Isolation from colleagues and friends 

• y Loss of status and identity 

• y Dealing with the rejection associated with job-hunting 

• y Loss of structure to your time and day creating a tendency to drift 

The list is here not to depress you or frighten you – it is here so that, should you experience any 

of these circumstances, you know you are not alone, it is not your fault and there is a way out! 

Although you cannot just magic up a job or money out of thin air, the good news is that there 

are steps that you can, and should, take to address and manage the various challenges that you 

will face while unemployed. If you ignore the signs, things will just get tougher and unattended 

circumstances will reduce your morale and motivation. 

Set Your Goals And Your Expectations 

One of the first things you need to do to manage your morale is to set realistic expectations of 

how long it will take you to find the perfect job. 

For example, December is a notoriously difficult time to find a job (unless you are looking for 

seasonal labor) and so are July and August. These are the traditional holiday seasons when 

decision-makers and managers are hard to reach, and recruitment decisions are often put on 

hold as a result. If you are unemployed during these periods, you can still focus on job-hunting 

activity but be prepared for, and accept, that your job seeking efforts may not yield as much 

fruit during this period. 



If you are using a recruitment agency, ask them how long candidates are taking to find jobs in 

your area, profession, grade or salary level. If you are still ahead of schedule then great, but 

if you find you are behind schedule, this is no reason to be downcast. It means that you may 

need to make more adjustments to your personal sales strategy to increase your chances of 

selling yourself to potential employers. This could include lowering your salary expectations, 

broadening your job search area and considering other roles where you can transfer skills. 

See every problem as an opportunity to deploy a new, winning, strategy or to adopt a more 

effective approach. 

Be Action-Focused And Positive About Dealing With Debts 

Don’t ignore your financial problems, they will not go 

away on their own but they may fester and damage 

your confidence. If you’re in this position, our 

recommendation is you investigate local and online 

debt management services that specialize in 

helping those with debt challenges. They will help 

you manage (and possibly reduce) your debt over 

a sensible and workable time frame 

Loss Of Independence, Learning To Lean 

On Your Partner 

View this as a positive. Most psychologists will tell 

you that having a support network of family, friends 

and peers to rely on during times of stress is very beneficial to your well-being. Many people 

don’t have support networks; so don’t take it for granted and be pleased that you have the time 

and space to focus on your job search. 

Old Colleagues And Friends Can Be Avenues To New Work 

Turn your absent colleagues and friends into potential avenues for new work. Stay in touch 

with old colleagues on social networks and through social events. Surround yourself with 

positive people and continue to socialize with old colleagues and friends and turn them into a 

job-hunting resource. Be sure to return the favour if the tables are turned. 

Don’t Lose Status Or Identity, Develop New Skills And Your Personal Brand 

Many people feel a sense of loss of status and identity when they are no longer associated with 

an employer. Don’t dwell on this loss, be positive and focus on developing new knowledge 

and skills through online learning or courses. You can then update your resume with the new 

skills that you have learned while searching for work. Use the spare time that you have when 



unemployed to develop new skills you simply would not have the time to do when in work. 

You should be seen as a lifelong learner, continually developing your skills, experience and 

knowledge. This is part of your personal brand. 

Dealing With Rejection – The Power Of No 

The job-hunting process, just like any sales process, will 

involve proposals and presentations; the inevitable rejections 

that may follow are all just part of the process. 

Your resume will be ignored, criticised and rejected on many 

occasions and you will be told that you do not have the skills 

to do the job. This ongoing rejection can be both disheartening 

and morale-sapping, yet the most successful people in the world are able to deal with knockbacks 

and use them to focus and galvanise 

the mind to make them stronger. 

Experts are calling it the ‘Power of 

No’. For example, not only was J.K 

Rowling fired as a secretary, she was 

rejected 12 times before her first 

Harry Potter novel was accepted by a 

publisher. Virtually every label in the 

country rejected the Beatles and Walt 

Disney was sacked due to a lack of 

imagination! 

These people may be icons now, but 

at the time they faced rejection they 

were just normal people. But they 

didn’t let the rejections drag them 

down or knock them off course – put 

simply, they just would NOT give up. 

If you begin to feel that you are the only one suffering these moral sapping rejections, find 

someone you look up to, someone who has the job type you are looking for and ask them about 

their experiences when they were looking for work. If someone who has everything you are 

looking for suffered the same rejections as you are experiencing you will be amazed just how 

much someone else’s bad experiences make you feel better! 



Loss Of Structure? Be Your Own Boss And Be A Hard Taskmaster 

Losing a job or not having a job will mean that you lose that ‘9 to 5’ structure that is imposed 

on you in the workplace. This loss of routine can be unsettling and disorientating for some 

causing them to feel they are free falling, leading to panic. This is the right feeling to have 

(as long as you manage it and turn it to your advantage of course) as the panic should invoke 

action and cause you to do something about the situation. It is arguably more concerning when 

the loss of structure causes lethargy as you may not be motivated to act. 

The truth is there is no need to panic or be demotivated as all that you are suffering from is an 

absence of a plan which you now have the power to formulate and put into action. 

So what’s the problem? More importantly, what’s the plan? The plan is up to you. Build yourself 

your own structure to suit your own lifestyle and commitments. Do you swim on Tuesday 

mornings, attend yoga on Wednesday lunchtimes, enjoy a run on Thursday mornings or meet 

up with a friend on Friday afternoons? Keep doing the things you love and set your own working 

schedule to suit this lifestyle. 

Getting To The Power Of Positive Thinking 

Successconciousness.com is one of the world’s leading exponents of 

practical tactics for positive thinking. Here is their view on how to 

remove the negative and promote the positive. 

Positive And Negative Thinking Are Contagious 

All of us affect, and are affected by the, people we meet, in one way or 

another. This happens instinctively and on a subconscious level through 

our words, thoughts and feelings and through body language. 

Is it any wonder that we want to be around positive people and prefer to 

avoid negative ones? 

People are more disposed to help us if we are positive and they dislike and avoid anyone 

broadcasting negativity. 

Negative thoughts, words and attitude bring up negative and unhappy moods and actions. 

When the mind is negative, poisons are released into the blood which cause more unhappiness 

and negativity. This is the way to failure, frustration and disappointment. 



Practical Instructions For Positive Thinking 

In order to turn the mind toward the positive, some inner work 

is required since attitude and thoughts do not change 

overnight. 

only to gain 

• y Read about this subject, think about its benefits 

and persuade yourself to try it. The power of your 

thoughts is a mighty power that is always shaping 

your life. This process is usually done subconsciously 

but it is possible to make the process a conscious one. Even 

if the idea seems strange, give it a try. You have nothing to lose but 

• y Ignore what other people say or think about you if they discover that you are changing 

the way you think 

• y Use your imagination to visualize only favourable and beneficial situations 

• y Use positive words in your inner dialogues or when talking with others 

• y Smile a little more as this helps to think positively 

• y Once a negative thought enters your mind you have to be aware of it and endeavour to 

replace it with a constructive one. If the negative thought returns, replace it again with 

a positive one. It is as if there are two pictures in front of you and you have to choose to 

look at one of them and disregard the other. Persistence will eventually teach your mind 

to think positively and to ignore negative thoughts 

• y In case you feel inner resistance and difficulties when replacing negative thoughts with 

positive ones, do not give up but keep looking only at the beneficial, good and happy 

thoughts in your mind 

• y It doesn’t matter what your circumstances are now. Think positively, expect only favorable 

results and situations and circumstances will change accordingly. If you persevere you 

will transform the way your mind thinks. It might take some time for the changes to take 

place but eventually they will 

y • Another useful technique is the repetition of affirmations. This technique is similar to 

creative visualization and can be used with it 



Education 

Habit Seven – You Won’t See Success Without Focus 

You will not achieve your job hunting and career search 

goals without focus. For example, having established 

a goal to get a job in a month, or an interview 

in a week, you will find it is easy to become 

discouraged when things are not moving as fast 

as you like, or if multiple job applications have 

not yielded one interview or even a response. 

This is where focus is so important. If you lose focus on 

your goals, it is likely that you will take much longer to achieve 

your aim and find the perfect job. 

Many people are naturally focused, but many are all too easily distracted. Either way, most 

people will need to work on staying focused during any process or campaign. 

Defining Your Goals 

Ensure that they are demanding enough to drive you, 

but realistic and achievable so you are not constantly 

courting failure – as this can lead to disappointment, 

self-doubt and a loss of focus. 

Planning For Setbacks And Failures 

There is no shame in failure; in fact most successful people see failure as a necessary step on 

the route to success. Great sales people regard a ‘No’ as just being one step closer to the next 

‘Yes’. 

As the great Winston Churchill said, ‘Success consists of going from failure to failure without 

loss of enthusiasm.’ If you fail to get an interview within your desired timescale, or simply 

don’t get a response to an inquiry, or come close second in an interview to someone else, how 

will you react? It is in the face of these disappointments that you are prone to lose focus. So 

always have a motivational item ready, e.g. a favorite motivational quote, an uplifting song, 

etc. Whatever raises your spirits, use it to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and regroup. 

You always need a contingency plan, or, what is increasingly referred to as a Plan B. What 

happens if your strategies and techniques are simply not working? Of course, you simply create 

a new strategy. The problem is, when you realize your job search strategies aren’t working it 

can be disheartening and you are left feeling you have no options, which can cause you to lose 

focus. 



It’s not true of course: you have plenty of other options, you just 

haven’t thought of them yet, but it can be hard to think creatively 

when you’ve suffered a setback. 

Therefore, when you are making your plans, always try to devise a 

Plan B. Develop a fall-back plan and new strategy, then if Plan A fails 

you can, without hesitation or distraction, focus on Plan B. It’s a step 

towards your goal, not a step back. 

Focusing On A Specific Task 

When you have a particular job to do – preparing a cover letter, completing 

an application form, etc. – try the following tips: 

• y Eliminate distractions. Avoid visiting your favorite blogs, news or entertainment online 

sites. Don’t check email too often (try to limit it to three times a day, maybe once in the 

morning, once in the afternoon and then in the evening, just before you wrap up for the 

day). Put your phone on silent or vibrate and only respond to calls that may be related 

to your job search. 

• y Create an effective workspace. This may mean little more than closing the door or putting 

a scarf or other signal on the back of your chair, politely telling people, ‘Do Not Disturb’. 

• y Schedule sufficient breaks and ensure you take them or you will get tired and lose focus. 

When you do take a break, try to complete the task first and then clearly plan the next 

task you will work on before ‘breaking’. This will make it much easier for you to regain 

focus and quickly get back into working mode when you return from your break. 

• y Build slack into your day, as there will always be events that are beyond your control 

that prevent you from doing a full day’s job search. This will mean that you have a 

greater chance of meeting your targets, which will spur you on and keep you focused on 

meeting the following day’s targets. 

Measure, Measure, Measure 

Nothing helps you focus more than knowing exactly how you are 

doing against your targets and goals. Measuring your successes (and 

planning changes in the areas where you have not been quite as 

successful) motivates, focuses you and drives you forward. If you 

feel you are struggling to maintain focus, make measurement part of 

your daily routine – count applications, letters, emails, phone calls 

and see how you are doing against those all-important targets. 

The Campaign Planning tool and reporting engine in IGH Pro 

will give you all you need to plan your targets and measure against 

them with clear attractive graphical charts 



Exercises To Increase Concentration And Focus 

Research has shown that doing brain exercises such as playing Sudoku (in combination with 

healthy eating, sound sleep and physical exercise) will make you sharper, more confident, and 

will also improve your decision-making. 

This is why we recommend that you engage in these types of brain training exercises in your spare 

time. 

Sleep Well, Perform Well 

One of the biggest barriers to focus is lack of sleep. If you do not sleep well you will be tired and 

much less able to concentrate and 

focus on your job search activities. 

Academic research shows that in 

order to achieve the highest level 

of productivity the following day, 

workers should have more than 9 

hours sleep, but 8 hours is good. 

The lowest levels of productivity 

came from individuals who had 

slept between 6 and 7.9 hours 

the previous night. 

It’s official: getting a good night’s 

sleep will increase your ability 

to focus and concentrate during 

your job search campaign. So how 

can you get a good night’s sleep? Below are some top tips to increase the quality of your sleep. 

• y Don’t go to bed hungry or full, as hunger and indigestion both hamper sleep 

• y Exercise 3 or 4 times a week 

• y Don’t take naps in the day. If you must nap, do it before 3pm for no more than an hour 

• y Engage in relaxation exercises before bed such as deep breathing and visualization as 

these will improve your sleep 

• y Don’t drink coffee after 4pm 

This may sound obvious but eat healthily and at regular intervals. It will be much harder to 

focus and concentrate if you are hungry or malnourished. Try to stay away from foods that are 

too high in fat or sugar, especially energy drinks. Although this may seem strange advice if you 

need energy just remember, every energy ‘high’ induced by the intake of sugars and caffeine 

are inevitably followed by an energy ‘low’. 



How To Get Focused In Six Easy Steps 

We’ve all been there: sitting at a desk or table studying intently, and 

then…Wham! Thoughts from all over the place invade our brains and 

we get distracted. If it’s not our thoughts, it’s our room mates; or 

neighbours; or kids. 

These ‘work intruders’ take over, causing us to lose focus. And focus 

is what you need to be able to make the most of your job-hunt. 

So how do you focus? These five steps from Kelly Roewell will 

show you how to regain focus if you get distracted and how to set 

yourself up for focus success before your work session even begins. 

Check out 6 ways to get back on track if your focus has already gone: 

1. Get Rid Of Obvious Distractions 

It’s not smart to work with your mobile phone ringing all the time. Ideally it wouldn’t even be 

set to vibrate but you need to monitor job search related calls and opportunities. However, 

you might disconnect the land line phone (unless you’ve given out the number as part of your 

contact details) and maybe even the computer too (unless you’re working on it) and definitely 

no music with vocals. Work music should be lyric-free! Post a sign on your door for people to 

stay away. If you have children, find a babysitter for an hour. 

If you have room mates, you might even head out of the house to the least popular spot in the 

library if you have a particularly important task to carry out. For that one work session, make 

yourself inaccessible to people and other external distractions so you don’t lose focus when 

someone wants to chat. 

2. Anticipate Your Physical 

Needs 

If you’re working intently, you’re 

going to get thirsty. Grab a drink 

before you get started. You may 

even need a power snack while 

you’re working, so grab some brain 

food too. Use the bathroom, put 

on comfortable clothes (but not 

cosy), set the air conditioning/ 

heating to a comfortable level. 

If you anticipate your physical 

needs before you start working, 

you’ll be less likely to break your 



concentration with an unscheduled break and lose the focus you worked hard to gain in the 

first place. 

3. Choose An Appropriate Time 

If you’re a morning person, choose the morning 

for your hardest working sessions; if you’re a night 

owl, choose the evening. You know yourself better 

than anyone else, so choose the time when you’re 

at the height of your brain power and the least 

tired. It’ll be much more difficult to focus if you’re 

battling fatigue. 

4. Answer Your Internal Questions 

Sometimes the distractions aren’t coming from 

the external – they’re invading from within! We’ve 

all sat down to work and had worries when other 

internal distractions also invade our brains. ‘When 

is she going to call me?’, ‘When am I going to get 

a raise?’, ‘Will I get that interview?’. When these 

distracting questions invade, accept them, then 

push them aside with a logical answer: 

‘When am I going to get a raise?’ Answer: 

‘I don’t know the answer to that question 

right now, so I’m going to focus on what I do 

know right now.’ 

‘When is she going to call me?’ Answer: 

‘Who knows? Who cares? I need to complete 

this resume so I can get my application in 

before I miss the closing date and I miss the 

opportunity completely.’ 

‘Will I get that interview?’ Answer: It’s out of your hands now so don’t worry about it. If 

you genuinely think that your application could have been better then bear that in mind 

while working on the next one. 

It seems silly but if you answer your own internal questions you’ll focus your mind back where 

you want it to go. If necessary, write the worry down, solve it in a simple manner and move on. 



5. Get Physical 

Some people are just ‘antsy’. They need to be doing something and their bodies don’t make the 

connection that they are doing something during work. Sound familiar? If you’re one of these 

kinetic workers, get out a few things to anticipate an “ants in your pants” issue: a pen, a rubber 

band or a ball. 

• y Pen: Underline words when you read. Jot down notes about prospective employers or 

possible interview questions. Moving just your hand may be enough to shake off the 

jitters. If it’s not... 

• y Rubber band: Stretch it. Wrap it around your pen. Play with the rubber band while you’re 

working. Still feeling jumpy? 

• y Ball: Read sitting down and then stand and bounce the ball against the floor as you think 

about how what you’ve read impacts on your job-hunt. Still can’t focus? 

• y Jump: Read sitting down then stand and do ten jumping jacks while you visualize your 

next job-hunting step. 

6. Get Rid Of The Negativity 

It’s impossible to focus on working if you have all sorts of negative ideas about your job-hunt 

in your head. If you’re one of those people who say, “I hate looking for work!” or “I’m too 

upset/tired/sick/whatever to work” then you must learn how to flip those negative statements 

into positive ones so you don’t automatically shut down when you open up your systems. It’s 

amazing how quickly working can become an awful burden with just a poor frame of mind. 



Education 

Habit Eight – Face Up To Reality 

Hopefully, you have got the message by now: it is vital that you 

set job search activity goals and you drive yourself to meet 

those goals. But, unfortunately, many job seekers aren’t 

very realistic when setting goals, which can often lead 

to disappoinTMent when the job search activity does 

not meet their expectations. This disappoinTMent 

can lead to demoralization, demotivation, and in the 

worst case scenario, despair and the job seeker losing 

faith in the process and giving up all together. This means 

there is a huge danger in setting unrealistic goals, as you may be 

setting yourself up to fail. 

So, how can you set realistic job search goals? 

Just Be SMART!! 

The SMART goal setting process should be applied to your job search activity (it can in fact be 

applied to every area of life). So let’s see how it works with particular relevance to your job 

search.What Does Smart stand for? 

Specific – target a specific area for improvement 

Measurable – quantify or at least suggest an indicator of progress 

Attainable – specify who will do it 

Realistic – state what results can realistically be achieved, given available resources 

Time-bound– specify when the result(s) can be achieved 

A specific goal is more likely to be achieved than a vague one. In terms of job-hunting, ‘getting 

a job’ unsurprisingly, is not a very SMART goal. It is vague. For example, what kind of job are 

you trying to get? In what location are you trying to get the job? How soon would you like to 

have secured the job? How much do you want/need to be paid? How many job applications do 

you want to make in a week? How many interviews? It is important that all the questions are 

answered when setting a SMART job seeking goal. 

We have described an example of a SMART set of job-hunting goals below. It is a good idea to 

break this up into Career/Job Goals and Job Search Activity targets as the latter will depend on 

the former. 

Career/Job Placement Goal 

‘I am looking for a job as an office manager within my local area and I am aiming to have 



secured a permanent position in three months, for a minimum salary of £23,000 or $35,000 

per annum.’ 

Activity Target 

In order to make these goals SMART, you need to 

inject some realism and engage in some serious 

research. 

The first area to look at is your weekly job 

application target. How realistic is this? In our 

example, we suggested that you apply for five 

jobs per week, but how can you be sure that there 

will be five jobs, which suit your criteria, advertised 

each week? 

‘I plan to apply for at least five jobs per week and hope to 

attend at least two job interviews each and every month’ 

But be beware, while these goals are specific, measurable 

and time-bound, they are not SMART yet. 

We cannot be sure that they are attainable and realistic. 

How can we be sure that we will be able to find five jobs 

a week to apply for? And if you are not sure that you 

can apply for five jobs how can you guarantee you will 

be able to secure two interviews a month? If you can’t 

be sure that you can reach your job search activity 

targets, then you can’t be sure you will meet your job 

placement goals? 

You can’t, but you can at least see how likely it is by checking all the major job boards. Good 

websites to use are indeed.com or Adzuna.co.uk that ‘aggregate’ jobs from all the major job 

boards. By using one of these sites you will be able to see how many job adverts that meet your 

criteria have appeared on the market for each week of the last month. (You generally cannot go 

back any further than one month). 

If you are finding that more than five suitable vacancies are appearing each week, then the 

target is realistic, but if it’s much lower then you need to either lower your job search activity 

targets or adjust some aspects of your career goals. For example, you might need to increase 

your job search geographical area, lower your salary expectations, be open to accepting a 

temporary role, etc. 

Doing this will mean that more suitable jobs will become available for you to apply for each 

week, meaning that you can reach your job search activity targets. 



You should also look at your interview activity target. Is it realistic based on the number of job 

applications you are making? For our example above, we suggest that you might need to make 

10 good quality job applications before getting one interview. However, there is no standard 

here and this can vary depending on the quantity and quality of competition, your own skills 

and experience and the quality of each application. In order to get a realistic view of how many 

applications it takes to get to interview, gather information and opinions from as many sources 

as possible, e.g., career blogs, job boards, recruitment agencies, friends and colleagues. 

The other important area to look at are your Career/Job Placement goals and expectations. 

Are these realistic? 

For example, in the goals that we presented above, we suggested that the job seeker would be 

looking for a minimum salary of £23,000 or $35,000. 

Is this realistic? Are office manager roles in your local area currently paying this level of salary? 

If they are not, then these career and job placement goals are unrealistic. To check market 

salary levels for roles, job seekers can talk to recruitment agencies or consult many of the free 

‘salary checkers’ that are online. Alternatively, you can just search the job boards themselves 

and see for yourself the salaries that have been offered for office manager roles over the last 

month. If you find that your salary expectations are too high, then your goals are not realistic 

and you may have to lower your sights; or you may need to broaden your search area and be 

prepared to work further afield in order to secure the salary that you want. 

Having set realistic goals, you are now free to focus on your 

job search activities. 

It is likely that things may not go entirely to plan. For 

example you may manage to make double the amount 

of applications, yet fail to secure any interviews. This 

is the time that you need to stay focused. It may not be 

that you have failed and it is more likely that you were not 

realistic in the first place. You simply expected to get too highpaying 

a job in too short a time, based on what the market is currently offering in the way of 

job opportunities. 

In which case, it is important that you readjust and update your plan to make it more realistic 

and therefore far more useful to you as a motivational tool to drive and guide your job search 

activity. This could include extending the time scale for finding a job or widening the search 

area. 



Habit Nine – A Little Knowledge Is A Dangerous Thing 

Education 

Knowledge is power in all areas of modern life and none more 

so than in your job-hunt. One of the key ways you can 

get ahead of the competition and secure your dream 

job is to develop your knowledge; knowledge of your 

market, knowledge of your role, knowledge of your 

competition and most of all knowledge of yourself. 

But as most of us know, there is an overwhelming 

amount of advice and information available and it 

is important that you do not waste time reading 

peripheral information. Always focus on the core 

information that will be of the most value to your 

job search. 

One Of The First Objectives Is To Acquire 

A Detailed Knowledge Of… Yourself 

You need to do an honest appraisal of your own skills, experience and qualifications so you can 

easily benchmark yourself against the likely competition and, most importantly, so you can 

target roles for which you have a realistic chance of being considered. 

This means that your job search campaign will be focused on areas where you have a much 

greater chance of success, meaning that you are likely to receive a greater return on your 

investment – that is of time, money and resources. Many candidates waste time applying for 

jobs that they simply do not have the skills for – do not be one of them. Know yourself and your 

capabilities, and focus on roles that fit your profile. 

And don’t forget ….. IGH Aspire has been 

built specifically to handle this job for 

you! 

Develop (Or Refresh) Your 

Knowledge Of Your Specialist 

Sector Or Profession 

If you are job-hunting while out of work 

(and if you have been out of work for 

some time), employers will be concerned 

to see if you have managed to keep your knowledge current and up to date. It 

is vital that you constantly update knowledge of your profession to understand 



new legislation, developments and technologies so you can clearly demonstrate at interview 

that you are right on the pulse – and have in no way fallen behind the times during your time 

outside of the workplace. 

You can always keep your knowledge up to date by attending industry events, careers fairs, 

reading trade press and relevant blog articles and participating in relevant industry and 

profession based discussions on social networks like LinkedIn. 

Develop (Or Refresh) Your Knowledge Of The Relevant Local And National Job 

Markets 

You should be clear about both supply and demand for your particular set of skills within 

your town, county or state and across the country. Are there any geographical hotspots where 

demand for your skills is especially high? It could pay dividends to focus your job search 

activity on these hotspots, even though it may require a commute or relocation. Not only are 

you likely to find a job sooner, if you know they are struggling to fill the roles, you will be in a 

stronger bargaining position and in a good position to negotiate a higher salary. 

On the other hand, if you are confined to applying for jobs in an area where demand is low, it can 

at least allow you to set more realistic targets for both salary level and the likely time it will take 

to get a job. As we have said earlier, this will help you to avoid unnecessary disappointments 

and keep you motivated. 

The I Got Hired TM Market Research guide can help you to conduct detailed, focused and relevant 

market research. 

Know What The Salaries And Cost Of Living Are In Different Locations 

You may find that applying for the same job in a slightly larger town, in a different direction or 

slightly closer to the city, may result in an increase in the salary being offered for the role, while 

cost of living may be comparable. Always keep documentation showing the average market 

salaries for your profession so that, when you need to negotiate a better salary at interview, 

you will be in a much stronger position if you have evidence. 

Develop Knowledge Around Your Job-hunting 

Techniques 

(This Is The Expertise You May Need The Most!) 

One area in which many candidates fail is their awareness and 

knowledge of how to make good quality job applications. 

Many candidates prepare resume that are simply not up 

to standard, leading to high rejection rates. Many don’t 



prepare cover letters and if they do prepare them, they are not written effectively. There is 

simply no excuse for this as there is an abundance of high quality resume and cover letting 

writing resources on the web, much of it written by HR, recruitment or career development 

professionals. It is imperative that you research the best resume advice sites (one of which 

is I Got Hired TM ) so you are knowledgeable on all the best resume writing 

resources. 

Understand The Requirements Of The Interview 

You must not leave your interview performance to chance. You 

can, and should, prepare for each interview. Firstly, you should 

develop your knowledge of modern interviewing processes and 

techniques so you are aware of the type of assessment process that 

you are likely to go through in order to prepare for it. This will lead to 

better performance at interviews and aptitude tests 

Aptitude tests need special preparation. 

For example, sites such as assessmentday.co.uk and practiceaptitudetests.co.uk, enable you to 

carry out mock aptitude tests that will help you to prepare for the real thing. 

• y Will there be any kind of group assessment exercise or presentation? 

• y Is there any way that you can prepare for this? 

• y How many people will you be facing at interview and what will be the makeup of the 

interview panel? 

You can find this kind of information by either asking the employer’s HR team or by enquiring 

on social networks and forums to see if other candidates can shed any light on the interview 

process. 

Understand Your Targets Company’s Business 

You should also develop a deep understanding of your employer’s business so that you can 

demonstrate your knowledge of it when asked. Employers often ask questions on this topic. 

You should therefore conduct detailed research of the company’s website with a view to finding 

out the following information. 

• y What are the company’s key products and services? 

• y What was their latest product/service release and what new releases are planned? 

• y What is the size, structure, and geography of their business operations? 

• y What are the company’s growth plans and strategy for the next few years? 

• y Who are the company’s main clients? 



• y Who are the company’s main competitors? 

• y And finally … how can any level of knowledge be 

a dangerous thing? 

So, Why Is ‘ A LITTLE Knowledge A 

Dangerous Thing’? 

A little knowledge certainly can be a dangerous thing 

in two ways: 

Firstly, not knowing enough, or as much as your competitors, will weaken your case and make 

you a less attractive candidate. There is no ‘learning magic wand’ or short cut. You just have to 

do the work, the research and the reading and listening. It’s as simple as that. 

But ‘a little knowledge’ has a hidden danger, a hidden trap, and it is really important you don’t 

fall into it. When you have learnt a little on any subject but have not put in the hard yards to 

research the subject fully, there is a real temptation to pretend you know more than you really 

do and talk as if you are an expert. 

This habit is dangerous enough at any time, but when you are speaking to a real expert, say 

the interviewer for example, you can very quickly can come across as a real fool at best or a 

deceitful, dishonest liar at worst. You will get caught out! 



Education 

Habit Ten – Perception Is Everything 

There is no doubt that self-awareness plays a crucial part in ensuring 

an individual achieves their goals. But what is self-awareness? It’s 

about knowing your internal strengths and weaknesses. It’s 

about seeing yourself the way the rest of the world sees you. 

It’s about closing the gap between perception and reality. 

But what does this deep self-knowledge bring you? 

It enables you to respond better to the various opportunities 

and threats that will make themselves known to you in the 

world today. 

This is heady stuff and you may ask how this applies to the jobhunting 

process. Simple: being self-aware and knowing your own 

strengths and weaknesses in terms of skills, experience and knowledge means that you can 

develop a more focused job search campaign; meaning you will be directing your energies 

towards those opportunities best suited to you. This will increase your chances of successfully 

securing an interview. 

Another advantage of being truly self-aware is that it can identify areas for personal 

development. For example, if through an honest self-appraisal of abilities, personality traits 

and behaviors you realize that you have weaknesses in communication skills, assertiveness 

and negotiation, then you can read books or attend courses to develop these skills. This will 

mean that you will be developing your skillset and increasing your employability within the 

job market. 

True self-awareness will also help you during the interview process. Knowing your strengths 

and weaknesses prior to attending the interview means that you can prepare more effectively 

by preparing counter arguments and explanations should the interviewer probe areas of 

weakness. Additionally, during the interview, you can put greater emphasis on personal 

strength areas you know to be relevant to the role. 

Self-awareness will also help you at the negotiation stage should you be offered a role. You 

will be much clearer on ‘must haves’ versus ‘nice to haves’. You can negotiate more effectively 

as you will know which areas to be more flexible on and which areas to stand your ground on. 

You can be assertive but in a far more informed way. 

IGH Aspire Is A Great Starting Place 

Integrated into your I Got Hired TM experience is the remarkable IGH Aspire and it is a great 

starting place to begin a comprehensive, simple and nil cost exploration of your own self. We 



make no apologies for repeating our description of IGH Aspire from earlier in this module, 

just in case you missed it…………. 

It is more effective to start your job search from a point of personal awareness. Without a clear 

idea of what stage you are in your career - what interests you, your values and your key skills 

- making a job choice is similar to choosing a new car in the dark. You know it will more than 

likely drive OK, but you have no idea about the color, features and aesthetic appeal. 

The IGH Aspire suite of career tools provides a snapshot of your career stage, interests, values 

and skills that you can use to determine if a job opportunity is worth pursuing. By completing 

four basic questionnaires you will receive a report summarising your personal snapshot, as well 

as a list of your ideal job and company features. 

The outcome of your IGH Aspire process makes sifting through the opportunities you are 

evaluating, and prioritising them in line with your own drivers and preferences, a lot more 

effective. IGH Aspire provides you with a consolidated picture of the key elements that drive 

job satisfaction in a simple report which is easy to read and apply to your job-hunt. 

IGH Aspire has been built on solid career theories and models brought together in a simple, 

‘one-stop shop’ process by Belinda O’Regan PhD, a leading HR and career specialist. 

Put simply, IGH Aspire helps you to match your aspirations to your opportunities. 

Other Ways To Develop Self-Awareness 

Other than with IGH Aspire, the simplest place to start to establish 

self-awareness is by completing a personality assessment test. 

A personality test is a questionnaire (prepared by occupational 

psychologists) which has been designed to measure aspects of 

your personality to ascertain the kind of tasks and behaviors your 

personality predisposes you to most. This makes it a great career 

development tool. You can establish which jobs and careers 

you are more suited to (and arguably more employable in) which 

should enhance both your job and career prospects. 

There are several different types of personality test that can help you in 

your career and job-search and we describe them below. 

High Level Career Interest Testing 

One of the most commonly used types of career interest tests is based on the work of Carl 

Gustav Jung, the world-renowned Swiss psychiatrist. Referred to as a ‘career inventory’, or 

even ‘interest inventory’ this type of test can be used at any stage of your career. These tests 

are very useful if you are just starting out – when you have very little work experience – as they 

can help you to assess the suitability of a range of work roles and areas. They are also useful for 



job seekers who are looking for a promotion or career change. The results can help you decide 

whether your current job, or career choice, is right for you or whether you should consider a 

change in direction. 

There are a range of career interest tests available on-line; some are free and some come with 

a small fee. The quality of career interest tests can vary dramatically, so try to choose tests 

from larger, more reputable publishers which have some kind of accreditation or endorsement 

or involvement with trained occupational psychologists. 

Using these tests are an excellent way to build up an awareness of the kind of careers you are 

suited to or are not suited to. 

Personality Profiling 

While career inventories are focused on assessing how well you are suited to particular roles or 

careers, the personality profiles are more diagnostic and are concerned with how you respond 

in different situations. The kind of areas these tests might assess are: 

• y What kind of a leader are you? 

• y How do you react to pressure and stress? 

• y How well do you handle uncertainty? 

• y Can you handle change? 

• y How flexible and adaptable are you? 

• y Do you enjoy working in teams? 

• y Do you work well in teams? 

• y Do you work effectively in isolation? 

Doing this kind of test will enable you to develop a deeper self-awareness of your workplace 

preferences. It can help you to assess if your current role is unsuitable and to help you more 

effectively target roles that you are predisposed to perform successfully 

and enjoy. 

What Is Your Team Role? 

Dr. Meredith Belbin invented the concept of team roles following 

research at Henley Management College. As a job seeker, knowing 

your team role is an excellent way to demonstrate to an organization 

committed to teamwork, that you are an effective team player. Taking the 

test and knowing your Belbin team role shows a willingness to understand 

your role within a team so you can work more effectively within that team. 



The Belbin Institute allows you to conduct their team role assessment inventory so you can 

know what your role is. We have outlined the nine ‘Team Roles’ below. 

Which do you think yours is? 

1. Plant; creative, imaginative, free thinker, ideas person, problem solver 

2. Resource Investigator; outgoing, enthusiastic, communicative. Explores opportunities 

and develops contacts 

3. Co-ordinator; Mature, confident, identifies talent. Clarifies goals, delegates effectively 

4. Shaper; Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. Has the drive and courage to 

overcome obstacles 

5. Monitor Evaluator; Sober, strategic and discerning. Sees all options and judges accurately 

6. Team Worker; Co-operative, perceptive and diplomatic. Listens and averts friction 

7. Implementer; Practical, reliable, efficient. Turns ideas into actions and organizes work 

that needs to be done 

8. Completer Finisher; Painstaking, conscientious. Searches out errors. Polishes and 

perfects 

9. Specialist; Single-minded, self-starting, dedicated. Provides knowledge and skills in 

rare supply 

Aptitude Tests 

The aptitude test is a specialized kind 

of test that measures your thinking 

power. There are four types of aptitude 

test. 

As a job seeker or career changer, 

awareness of your aptitude can help 

you to be more realistic about your 

career choices and choose career paths 

where you are likely to encounter a 

high degree of success. For example, it 

is generally thought that in order to be 

a good computer programmer, you will need to have good skills in numerical, logical and nonverbal 

reasoning. 



So, if you are contemplating starting or switching to a career in software development, why not 

do some aptitude tests to see if you really have what it takes? 

Your Personal SWOT Analysis 

Many of you who have worked in certain 

environments, or who have done business courses, 

may be familiar with the term SWOT Analysis. It 

stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities 

and Threats. It is a way for a business to assess the 

current effectiveness and competitiveness of an 

organization, department, product, or service. Once 

this SWOT analysis has been done, the findings are 

used to form the basis of future strategy. 

This approach to personal analysis can also be 

used by job seekers to help them assess their 

own effectiveness and competitiveness in the jobmarket. 

They can then use this to form the basis for their own job-hunting and personal career 

development strategy. For example, you might build a personal SWOT Analysis like this: 

Strengths 

• y Well-qualified with degree 

• y Experienced 

• y Specific software experience 

• y Can also manage staff if needed 

• y Can deal with clients and effect sales 

Weaknesses 

• y Live beyond a commutable distance 

• y Need a high salary 

• y Technical skills need updating 

Opportunities 

• y New employer moving into area 

• y Local demand is high but supply is low 

• y There are different industries/professions that you can easily transfer to 



Threats 

• y New graduates are trained to a higher level 

• y Jobs from my profession are being ‘off shored’ or replaced by machines 

In the I Got Hired TM toolkit you will 

find a number of SWOT Analysis 

templates with guidelines to help 

you complete the analysis and 

understand what it tells you and 

how you can use that information. 

Having built your personal SWOT 

analysis you have a detailed 

awareness of your effectiveness 

and competitiveness and can put 

together a plan to improve it. This 

might include items like looking for 

ways to ensure your skills remain 

up to date, and/or moving to a new 

geographic or career area where there is higher demand for your skills. 



Education 

Habit Eleven – Courage AND Convictions 

We know that job-hunting in the current climate is extremely difficult. To be honest, 

can you name a time when it has been really easy to get a job? It’s always been 

a challenge and you are nearly always facing competition, in fact stiff 

competition. The average number 

of applicants for jobs in the United 

States is 118. 

What does all this mean? It means 

you must be brave enough to take 

the bull by the horns! It means 

that in times when the job market 

is as tough as it is currently, if you 

are to raise your head above the 

parapet and set yourself apart 

from your peers, you are going to 

have to take a risk. Be brave, be 

different. If you are going to be 

noticed, you will have to break 

out of the normal mode of job 

seeker thinking and methods and 

do something innovative that no 

one else is doing. 

Look at the case of Graeme 

Anthony – a prime example of 

being brave and trying something 

different. 

‘I Learned That Courage Was 

Not The Absence Of Fear, 

But The Triumph Over It’ 

This is a fairly well-known quote 

from Nelson Mandela, but it’s no 

less powerful or accurate because 

it’s well-known. 

Every day in some way, and on 

many days it will be in many ways, 

the effectiveness of your job-hunt 



will be impacted positively or negatively by you doing something courageous – and it’s exactly 

the same for every job-hunter and every sales person in the world. 

These tasks are not always easy and comfortable but that doesn’t make them impossible or 

dangerous either. 

First, let’s look at a list of some of the tasks and actions that, for different people, will require 

different degrees of courage to complete. Then, let’s take a look at how you can master and 

manage your fear (if you experience it) to ensure that your job-hunt is not impacted negatively 

by it. 

And here’s a promise; nowhere will we say, ‘come on toughen up, just get a grip!’ – this approach 

will help and your job-hunt will be all the better for it. 

Let’s look at some of those ‘courageous’ tasks; 

• y Asking for a reference from a senior person you don’t know well 

• y Calling a local employer for the first time 

• y Following up an application when you think it is a long shot 

• y Following up after an interview for a job you really want 

• y Calling…, well, anyone you said you would call last week 

• y Asking a friend if there are any jobs going with their employer 

• y Showing your resume to someone whose opinion you really value 

• y Calling to ‘objection handle’ a rejection – at any stage in the process 

• y Walking into a company’s reception and asking if they have any jobs 

• y Doing something in your job-hunt that sounds like a good idea but that you’ve never 

heard anyone do before 

• y Calling a recruitment consultant to follow up a resume submission ….for the third time 

All of these tasks may cause anxiety or even fear for different people – but they don’t have to. 

Fear is almost always driven by either the prospect of failing, and therefore embarrassing 

yourself, or it is driven by a fear of the ‘unknown’. 

All of these events have the potential for both – you may get it all horribly wrong and be 

embarrassed, and you certainly cannot predict the outcome 100%. However it might just be 

that both of these are not actually all that important after all – and if they are not, what have 

you to be scared about? 



Take The Example Of Cold Calling… 

If you ask any sales person which sales task they like the least, it is cold calling. The tension 

that comes from having to consistently break the ice and interrupt people can be unbearable 

for many sales people. However, cold calling is a proven method of generating sales leads, if 

done properly. This cold-calling approach can also be applied in your personal job-hunting 

campaign. 

Of course, not many job seekers adopt this approach because cold calling can be nerve-racking 

and can result in rejection after rejection. But, this is exactly why it is a good approach to adopt, 

because few other people are doing it. Of course, you’ll need to be brave to do it, but here’s 

some reassurance from an expert… 

Simon Collins is one of the UK’s leading recruiting experts. He has written several books, spoken 

many times on recruiting techniques, he advises some of the world’s largest companies on hiring 

strategies and was Recruiting Director of one of the largest insurance companies in the world. 

Just listen to what he has to say about being on the other end of these calls and conversations: 

Simon Says: 

‘Over the years I have received literally thousands of sales or cold calls from candidates, and most 

of them haven’t been very good! 

‘But I don’t know why people get so hung up about 

making the call. What they need to understand is that the 

person taking the call at the other end is always very busy 

and if it’s a bad call it’s forgotten in about 30 seconds. 

‘Most recruiters and HR people I’ve worked with would not 

be able to tell you the name of a caller five minutes after 

a bad call, they are just too busy with things they think are 

more important. 

‘You’ve always got a second chance, so just don’t worry about it! 

‘There are however, some basic rules that are important to bear in mind: 

• y Prepare for your call - make sure you know: 

 

What the purpose of the call is 

 

What success looks like 

 

What you want to say 

 

How you want to say it 

 

Who you are going to talk to and what they do 



 

Some key facts about the company 

• y Consciously make yourself speak slowly and clearly 

• y Listen, Listen and Listen 

• y Don’t try to remember things – write them down 

• y Never use slang or swear 

• y DON’T PANIC! 

• y If It’s going badly: 

 

Don’t try to recover 

 

Get off the call as quickly as you can 

 

Do not repeat your name 

 

Do not agree, or attempt to agree, a next step 

 

Afterwards, concentrate on what went well (e.g. you got to the person you wanted) 

 

Take a break for 24 hours and then …… 

 

CALL AGAIN (it will be a whole new start!!!) 

‘Just remember you haven’t blown your chance, you’ve only blown the call – there 

can always be another call!’ 

‘If there was one piece of advice I could give it would be this: 

‘THERE IS ONE CALL THAT IS GUARANTEED TO FAIL – THAT IS THE CALL YOU 

DON’T MAKE. 

‘Just by making the call you have increased your chances. If it goes wrong you just try again later.’ 

If the person at the other end of the line doesn’t know who you are 

and isn’t going to remember you if you mess things up, how can 

you humiliate yourself? 

If you know that the worst that can possibly happen is that you 

are going to wait a while and then try again, then the fear of 

the unknown has disappeared too! 

We know this is a very simplistic approach to mastering your 

fears but for many, many people it does work. If you understand 

that your call may be the most important thing in the world to 

YOU when you are about to make it, but of very little consequence 

to the receiver, your fear and nerves will reduce. 



However nerves are not a bad thing, they keep you focused and ‘on your game’, but you must 

control them. 

Remember – you will ALWAYS have a second chance to be brave again! 

Research The Market And Research Your Target Employers 

Follow key employers, key individuals and employers 

of interest on Twitter and LinkedIn to try to pick up 

gossip on jobs or opportunities, before they become 

advertised. 

Prepare a sales script focusing on the sales doctrine, 

AIDA, which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and 

Action. 

A script based on this format might read: 

products for five years’ 

• y‘I have been successfully selling your competitor’s 

• y ‘I’d like to sell products from your business and believe I can increase your sales’ 

• y ‘I also think I could help you to improve your product and make it more saleable’ 

• y ‘May I speak to the person who is accountable for sales of X products in your business’ 

This is just an example and you can adapt the script to suit your situation ensuring to use 

specific references to the company and products as often as possible. In truth, the script is the 

easy bit, the hard bit is plucking up the courage to call companies and face rejection time and 

time again. But, it will all be worth it surely, if that one call in 50 gets you an interview. 

Group Interviews And Assessment Centres – Safety In Numbers 

You may find yourself involved in group interviews or in some kind of group assessment 

exercise. Generally, timidity and shyness will not be rewarded simply because the point of 

these interviews is that the company can observe your behavior. So, always be prepared to 

speak out or volunteer to go first, lead a team or put forward the first idea. Be brave and take 

a risk. 

The important thing to remember when being brave and taking risks is that you must learn 

from the process. So take a chance and if it works then great but if it fails, try to understand why 

it failed and adjust your approach next time to increase your chance of success. 



Finally, have the COURAGE OF YOUR CONVICTIONS. Set standards for 

yourself and be proud to keep them. 

Sometimes it won’t be easy to be honest or to be ethical, or 

committed to a certain path – but you must. You only really have 

your reputation and you can’t afford to compromise it or it will 

come back and bite you. The pleasure you get when you achieve 

within the moral framework you have set yourself will be so 

much greater than if, to achieve your goals, you have become 

someone you can’t look at in the mirror every morning. 



Education 

Habit Twelve – Honesty Is The ONLY Policy 

Lying on job applications is reaching epidemic proportions! 

In 2014 employment screening, the process employers 

used to check the education, employment, financial and 

criminal records details given to them by applicants, 

helped to detect a 70% increase in false applications. 

Employee fraud is costing companies in the UK alone 

over £2 billion and 50% of all internal fraud is 

related to false claims in job applications. However, 

employers are beginning to do something about it. 

90% of applications that contain inaccurate information 

are detected by screening; identifying the 27% of 

applicants that give false references and the 11% that have 

falsely claimed to have a degree! But employers are winning the 

battle and in 2013 15% of candidates withdrew applications when they are told that their 

applications will be formally screened. 

A leading screening company in the UK, The Security Watchdog, have over 30 different checks 

they are capable of carrying out on behalf of employers and they alone screen over 720,000 

applications every year. 

The Guardian Newspaper in England reported on a survey of 1,306 students and graduates and 

reported that: 

• y Nearly half of those surveyed (43%) admitted that the rise in tuition fees would make 

graduates ‘more likely to lie on their resume’ with only a third of them disagreeing outright. 

• y And just over two thirds of them (68%) suggested that ‘buying a fake degree’ would be 

more tempting, and less than 25% disagreed. 

Just to be clear, these attitudes were not a matter of ignorance or a lack of awareness of right 

and wrong as most of those surveyed admitted that they realized it was, ‘illegal to lie on resume 

in the UK. 

In the U.S., at least 11 states have current legislation enacted laws making misrepresentation 

of employment qualifications a criminal offense. In five of those states it’s a felony; the rest a 

misdemeanor. 

With the majority of all employers; big, small private or public sector now taking steps to verify 

qualifications, lying on resume is now becoming increasingly futile as the likelihood is that you 

will be found out. 



Lying on resume is not just confined to graduates. 

In May 2012 Scott Thompson, CEO of Yahoo, resigned amidst on-going allegations that he had 

lied on his resume, specifically: his resume falsely indicated that he had a computer science 

degree. 

The message should be loud and clear, ‘be honest about your skills and experience’, as there is 

a very good chance you will be found out, which could lead to a loss of your job, your career/ 

reputation and in the worst case scenario, a criminal conviction for fraud and a prison sentence. 

But the likelihood of being caught during the application process should not be the only 

deterrent to lying in your application. 

Just take a couple of minutes to think it through ….. imagine that your dishonest application 

has managed to avoid all the checks, or that the screening process doesn’t kick in until after 

the assessment process, and you have been invited to an interview which 

inevitably will almost exclusively be focused on the 

content of your application. An interview can be 

stressful enough but imagine the tension you will feel 

as you walk into the building knowing you are going 

to have to back up your written lies in person! 56% of 

dishonest applicants recently reported that they were 

caught out during their interview and 78% wished they 

had never put themselves in the position where they 

had to look an interviewer in the face and attempt to 

maintain their lies. 

It just isn’t worth it. 

But what if you are a ‘Walter Mitty’ type character who is happy lying for a living (literally) 

and have somehow made it through the interviews, the intense background checks and the 

psychometric assessments and have, miraculously, been offered and have accepted the job. 

Do you really want a job you had to lie to get in the first place? 

The very fact that you had to lie to get the job means that you are not what your employer thinks 

you are and you know it. You do not have the qualifications or experience the role requires and 

you WILL fail – have no doubt about it, sooner or later you will fail; or of course you will be 

caught and exposed as a liar and a cheat. Do you really want that pressure weighing down on 

your shoulders every day you go into work? 

There’s a simple solution – be honest and get the job you are qualified for and deserve ….. and 

enjoy going into work everyday. 



Face Up To Accepting Your Shortcomings 

The first lesson and piece of advice to arise out of all this is that job seekers must face up to 

and accept their shortcomings from day one of their job hunt, or in fact from day one of their 

career. 

We realize that it can be very tough to admit your own failings to yourself, but, if you think 

positively about it, the sooner you can accept your own failings the sooner you can start to 

address them, and in many cases overcome them or at least reduce their significance. And 

there are many ways to confront shortcomings, which is addressed in the next section. 

How To Be Honest About Failings In Your Resume 

Imagine that you want to apply for a job that requires a degree in computer science, you don’t 

have a degree, but you do have good experience and skills in all other areas of the job. There 

are many ways to address this which do not involve lying 

Example 1: 

Call companies or recruitment agencies, or write to them, and ask them if they will consider 

experienced applicants but without the right experience and skills. You will be surprised, as 

many employers will be prepared to look at a resume that fits these criteria, especially if the 

candidate has personally contacted them to request it. 

As a strategy, consider starting a part-time degree course in computer science and tell the 

employer that you have already started (assuming you have of course), or that as a condition of 

joining you will be prepared to do a part-time degree in computing. Some employers may be 

able to give you some study time off or may contribute some of the cost of the course. 

Apply for the job anyway, but ensure that you supply a detailed portfolio of work that clearly 

demonstrates your proficiency, which may be a suitable substitute for a degree. 

But it is not just in the areas of qualifications that you may find 

that your resume falls short; you may find that you have a lack 

of specific experience in relation to a job you may want to 

apply for. 

Example 2: 

Let’s say that you want to apply for a job as a sales manager 

(for which you have all the skills) in an international 

company that wants applicants to have a good business 

grasp of French, which you do not have. Once again, lying 

would be futile, as you would soon be found out, possibly at 

interview where they might ask you some questions in French. 

Does this mean that you have to miss this opportunity and refrain 



from applying for the job? Not necessarily, we recommend a strategy where you can be honest 

about your shortcomings and still apply for the job in this example. 

1. Research and find a classroom based or online course in French, and make sure you find 

one that promises at least business level language fluency at the end of the course 

2. Check dates, duration and prices. Be ready to start the course at a moment’s notice or at 

the next possible opportunity 

3. Next, contact the employer and explain to them that you have all the skills for the job, 

apart from the language skills, but that you have a course ready and waiting and you will 

commit to starting the course as a condition of joining should you be chosen for the job 

and that you hope to become conversant (not fluent) in French within 6 to 12 months, or 

whatever dates are predicted by the course with intensive study 

4. If you are unable to contact the employer, you can simply explain the above as part of a 

cover letter 

Another area candidates may find that their resume is failing them is in the area of management 

experience. How many times have you seen an application where you have all the skills, apart 

from the one essential piece of work experience that is something like “at least 2 years’ 

experience supervising others”? You cannot fabricate this experience, so how can you address 

this? It depends on your level of experience and will involve a combination of the techniques 

mentioned above. 

Example 3: 

As with the language training, you could consider researching training providers of people 

management skills and make a plan to be able to take intensive and on-going formal management 

training to develop your skills. You can then ring the employer, explaining your strengths in 

other areas as well as lack of 

management experience, along 

with your plan to correct it. You 

may find that they are refreshed 

by your honesty and proactive 

nature and may offer to provide 

some help with management 

training, should you be chosen 

for the job. 

While it is important that you are 

honest about your shortcomings, 

there is absolutely no reason for 

you to accept these limits. There are many tactics and approaches that you can 

adopt to overcome your limits and make potentially successful applications for 

jobs for which you did not have the skills. 



Continuing Professional Development (CPD) 

As we have mentioned in earlier chapters it is important that you have a commitment to lifelong 

learning, as it is the way to continuously improve yourself. The basis of CPD is self-analysis and 

honesty about your own strengths and, more importantly, weaknesses. Whether as a job seeker 

or an employee, you should engage in a training needs analysis at least once a year, so you can 

understand your areas for development both then and in the future. Seize every opportunity 

that is presented to you in life, or in work, to develop skills, particularly in your relevant career 

areas. 

As you can see, through a combination of honesty about your own skills, combined with an 

on-going commitment to lifelong learning you will be continually improving your resume, 

eliminating potential shortcomings in your experience profile and increasing your own personal 

level of employability within your field. 



Education 

Concluding The 12 Habits Of Success 

Knowing the rules is all well and good, 

but knowing how you are stacking up 

against them is much more important. 

Use the checklists in the I Got Hired TM 

Toolkit to measure and understand 

how you have been doing, how you 

are doing and if you are getting close 

to that professional perfection. 

In the meantime just take this 

personal test to get started. It’s very 

simple really; just ask yourself these 

12 questions; 

1. Am I prepared in every way for 

my job-hunt? 

2. Do I know how to conduct 

myself professionally? 

3. Am I organized? 

4. Am I prepared to work hard? 

5. Am I going to collaborate with others in every way I can? 

6. Do I have a positive attitude 

to this project? 

7. Am I focused on achieving 

success? 

8. Am I working in the real 

world another? Am I being 

realistic and honest with 

myself? 

9. Am I doing all I can to be as 

knowledgeable as I can be? 



10. Have I made the effort to see myself the way others see me? 

11. Am I prepared to be brave in action and in word? 

12. Am I prepared to be honest, whatever the cost? 

If your answer to any of these questions is ‘No’…. 

…….go away and work out how to get to a ‘YES’! 



Planning Your Job Hunt 

Preparation 

Setting Up Your IGH Pro Calendar 

If your life doesn’t already revolve around your calendar, once you start your job hunt it should. 

No one has the ability to keep every appointment and action, every 

contact and phone number you need to call, and every email 

address you have to write to, in your head. 

You need a calendar, as simple as that, and your calendar 

needs to contain every scrap of information you need for 

every appointment and task – and it needs to be with you 

every minute of every day. 

And that is where the IGH Pro calendar comes into it’s own. 

The calendar in IGH Pro not only joins up your appointments and 

tasks with your contacts, all your documents and your opportunities, 

it is fully optimized for mobile devices; and that’s every mobile device whether IOS, Android, 

Windows or Blackberry. 

Your calendar will always be right there with you, in your pocket (or even on your wrist if 

you also have a smart watch!) 

and it will always be completely 

joined up with your job hunt – 

just as you need it to be. 

At the heart of your job hunt is 

a diary and the IGH Pro diary 

(fully mobile!) integrates with 

your contacts, documents and 

whole job hunting process. Put 

simply, everything you need 

is joined up and sitting in your 

pocket at all times. However, 

IGH Pro is more than just a 

diary app, to use it to its full 

potential, you need to set it up 

for the following: 



Document Management 

Bespoke versions of your resume, job descriptions, applications, references and 

recommendations, or just your research and notes – use IGH Pro to: 

• y Store everything by opportunity, date, purpose or type 

• y Keep track of multiple copies with in-built version control 

• y Link related documents to each other 

Contact Management 

During your job hunt you will meet a multitude of people and any one of them may hold the 

key to your dream job. Never lose a telephone number or an email address – use IGH Pro to: 

• y Keep contact details up to date 

• y Link contacts to specific jobs, employers, agencies , and even documents 

Performance Management 

Finally, IGH Pro will not only manage your job hunt, it will manage you! Having set your job 

campaign targets and goals, you can use IGH Pro to keep yourself on track with: 

• y Reports on current and past jobs, by date and activity 

• y Clear graphical reports (configurable to suit you) 



Defining Your Campaign Plan 

Preparation 

Have you ever noticed how some people seem to have all the 

‘luck’? Wouldn’t it just be great to be one of those people? Well, 

you can be. Because it’s not luck, it’s organization. 

The I Got Hired concept is simple: you pitch yourself as a 

product, and getting your dream job is a sales process where 

you ‘sell’ yourself to an employer. This puts you at the heart 

of a marketing and sales campaign in which you are both the 

product and the salesperson. There are six simple steps to this 

campaign process: 

1. Research your customers (employers) 

2. Know your competition (other candidates) 

3. Design a great product (develop your skills and experience) 

4. Pitch your product (apply for jobs and be great in interviews) 

5. Close the deal (get the job, at the salary and the terms you want) 

6. Manage your expectations 

Research Your Customers 

Just as in sales, a good 

job seeking campaign is 

targeted. You don’t apply 

for just anything; you’re 

looking for the perfect 

position. But to find your 

ideal customer (employer) 

requires research. This 

means more than just 

glancing at their website. 

Gather all the information 

you can find and ask the 

following questions: ‘What 

are the company’s values and do they align with mine?’ 



• y ‘How do they treat employees?’ 

• y ‘What are their products and services?’ 

• y ‘How much market share do they have?’ 

• y ‘Are they a leader in their field?’ 

• y ‘What do their customers say about them?’ 

• y ‘Can I build a career here?’ 

You’re not just looking for a good salary and reward package. Ideally, you 

want a future employer you have an affinity with and who will value your 

skills and experience. 

Know Your Competition 

All good sales people will research the competition to establish what they are up against and 

you should do likewise. Assess the skills and experience other candidates in the market place 

are likely to possess. 

• y What specialist qualifications do candidates have? 

• y How qualified are candidates in general? 

• y What level of experience do they tend to have? 

• y What skills do they have? 

• y How quickly have they been promoted? 

Consider what you have to offer. 

How do you compare? Are you 

pitching too high, or low, in 

terms of job opportunities? Do 

you need to review your skills 

or experience? Just how you are 

presenting them through your 

resume and applications? 

By studying your competitors 

resumes you will not only 

understand who you are up 

against but you will begin to get a great understanding of the phrases used 

on the resumes that you love, and more importantly, the ones you hate. Use 

the ‘best of the best’ to strengthen your Sales Toolkit and assign the rubbish 

one to the garbage. 



Design A Great Product 

A good salesperson can clinch the deal, but having a great product makes it all so much easier. 

Make it easier on yourself and ensure that you have the skills and 

experience that your target market is looking for. This might 

mean being open to learning something new if there 

are any gaps on your portfolio. In this scenario, selfimprovement 

is product improvement. And it’s easier to 

sell an improved product. Look for training opportunities, 

challenging projects, workshops, anything that might 

expand your skillset in a way that will appeal to your market. 

Pitch Your Product 

A good pitch is persuasive, attention-grabbing, convincing. If 

you want that dream job, you have to make them want you. 

Know your resume and experience inside and out. Have the 

facts at your fingertips and understand how to present those 

facts in an appealing way that is linked to the background 

of each specific employer (remember: you researched 

the employer, right?) 

A generic pitch is only a fraction as effective as one that 

is tailored to the opportunity in front of you. It’s more 

work that way BUT that extra work brings success within 

reach. So, tailor your resume, customize your pitch, 

and at interview, answer the questions asked (and not 

the ones you wished they’d asked). 

Close The Deal 

Don’t take the sale for granted until the contract is signed. Remember you’re selling. The buyer 

may like your product and you may be attracted by their offer, but the devil is in the details. As 

salesperson, you’re also responsible for the final negotiations and the contents of the contract. 

Pushing (without being pushy) for the deal you want requires that you know your own worth. 

Manage Your Expectations 

The last key element of planning your sales campaign is to be realistic. Optimistic certainly, but 

also realistic as to how long it will take you to find that dream job. 

For example, December is a notoriously difficult time to find a job (unless you are looking for 

seasonal labor), and so are July and August. These are the traditional holiday seasons, when 



decision-makers and managers are hard to reach, and recruitment decisions are often put on 

hold as a result. At these times of year, you can still focus on job hunting activity but you 

may be improving your product and pitch ready for a period when the customers are more 

interested in buying. 



Setting Your Targets 

Preparation 

Having mapped out your job hunting campaign, you 

now know where you’re going. However, there’s a 

difference between having a destination in mind 

and arriving there. That difference is often 

defined by whether or not you set yourself a 

target. Success rarely happens by accident; 

usually it’s a question of focus and nothing 

focuses your mind on your goal better than a 

good target. 

IGH Pro is a great tool for target-setting and uses the SMART principle, a globally accepted 

standard utilized around the world to set targets that actually mean something and that enable 

you to measure your success and plan a route forward. 

Specific: 

A specific goal has a much greater chance of being 

accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal 

you must answer the six ‘W’ questions: 

1. Who: Who is involved? 

2. What: What do I want to accomplish? 

3. Where: Identify a location. 

4. When: Establish a time frame. 

5. Which: Identify requirements and constraints. 

6. Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal. 

Measurable: 

Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. 

When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience 

the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your 

goal. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as; How much? How many? 

How often? How good? How will I know when it is accomplished? 



Attainable: 

When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways to make 

them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach 

them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the 

achievement of your goals. 

You can attain almost any goal you set yourself when you plan your steps wisely and establish 

a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away 

and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, 

but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your selfimage. 

You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that 

allow you to possess them. 



Realistic: 

To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective towards which you are both willing and able 

to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how 

high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. 

It is always worth trying to stretch yourself, e.g., if you think a 15% pay increase is achievable 

in 2 years, aim for a 20% increase in 2 years as long as you think it is achievable and realistic – 

with additional effort and focus. 

Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplish actually seem easy simply because they are a 

labor of love. 

Timebound: 

To be SMART a goal must 

be set within a time frame. 

With no time frame attached 

to it, there’s no sense of 

urgency. If you want to lose 

10 lbs., when do you want 

to lose it by? ‘Someday’ just 

won’t work. However, if you 

anchor it within a timeframe, 

‘by May 1st’, then you’ve set 

your subconscious mind into 

motion to begin working to 

that goal. 

Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be achieved. 

Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have 

accomplished anything similar in the past, or ask yourself what conditions 

would have to exist to accomplish this goal. 

At times, you may miss targets; this is inevitable, especially if you set yourself stretching goals. 

What is important is your response. Don’t ignore the missed target, acknowledge and accept 

that you have missed it and reset the target and take heart from what you have achieved - then 

knuckle down and focus on meeting your new target and never allow yourself to miss a target 

twice! 

Use IGH Pro to set, measure and monitor your SMART targets with easy to follow graphical 

illustrations. You can set the reports over a set period or for the full length of your job hunt. 

Either way, it won’t let you off the hook! 



Setting Your Working Rules 

Preparation 

The best kinds of rules are those you set for yourself. And given that you know you best, you’re 

undoubtedly the best person to set the parameters and guiding principles of your personal job 

hunt. That said… 

…may we recommend the following job hunting guidance based on our extensive experience 

on both sides of the process? Think of them as the foundations on which you can build your 

own personal approach – feel free to fine-tune them to suit yourself, but we offer them as our 

own tried and trusted list. 

1. Get A Diary (And Use It!) 

Preparation starts with a diary. It doesn’t matter if it is paper or 

electronic – although IGH Pro is designed with your job hunt 

in mind, of course – the important thing is that you use it to 

co-ordinate every document, task, event, target and report 

throughout the process. 

If you’re not a ‘diary person’ then it can be tempting to 

try to keep track of everything in your head. However, 

you only have to forget one call, turn up one hour late for 

one interview, to blow the greatest opportunity you may 

have ever had. Why risk that? 

In fact, here’s a simple rule: if you CAN keep track of every 

aspect of your job hunt in your head, then you’re not hunting hard 

enough! If you’re really going all out, and managing the rest of your life at the same time, then 

there should be too much for anyone to remember. 

One final point about your diary: keep it with you at all times. The modern jobs market is social, 

online, and mobile. Wherever you are, some new detail – a phone number for a new contact, a 

change of interview time, a freshly-posted job ad – may reach you and you need to be able to 

respond quickly and smoothly. 

2. Establish Your Own Job Hunting Pattern 

Whether you have a current job or not, the reality is that it is all too easy to get distracted from 

your job hunt. The easy way around this is to establish a job hunting routine to follow each day 

that you can commit to. 

Set yourself hours that work for you (you know if you’re a ‘morning person’ or an ‘evening 

person’) and stick to them. Set times of the day, and days of the week, when you intend to focus 

on your job hunt. Whether it’s a couple of hours two evenings a week plus a couple of lunch 



hours, or maybe two three-hour sessions three days a week, set your targets for the number of 

hours every week that you are going to commit to your job hunt. Once you have set them, put 

them into IGH Pro. Give yourself breaks and rewards just like you would do when at work. 

Keep active and make sure you get out at lunchtime for a walk, fresh air and maybe to socialize 

(but not for too long!) 

And remember, when you are at work on your job hunt, whether it’s for an hour, half a day or 

the whole day, you are at ‘work’ and everyone needs to know it and respect it. Be a boss that 

doesn’t encourage personal phone calls, let alone personal visits to the office from friends and 

family! 

Be tough on yourself – it really will pay off. 

3. Be Disciplined About Your Job Hunting Week 

Having set your job hunting hours, it’s time to plan your week. 

At the start of your job hunting working week, review your diary and remind yourself of any 

appointments, engagements, interviews, careers events, seminars, webinars and so on that you 

may have scheduled. 

With your diary commitments in mind, you should now schedule in your time in line with your 

‘working hours’ and get ready for the following activities (and probably many, many more): 

• y Searching for jobs 

• y Registering with job boards 

• y Registering with appropriate agencies 

• y Engaging in relevant discussions and debates on social networks, forums and blogs 

• y Interview preparation time (if interviews are 

scheduled). This would include time to research 

the following 

 

Likely interview questions and 

model answers 

 

Questions that you would like to ask 

the employer 

 

How to get to the employer’s office, 

preparing your interview suit, etc 

 

Possible psychometric or assessment tests, and how to perform well in them 

You should allow about 4-8 hours to prepare in advance for an interview. If it does 

not take this long, then you are not preparing well enough 



• y Employer research to support speculative applications 

• y Preparing a tailored resume and cover letter and applying for jobs. (A quality application 

should take about an hour to prepare) 

• y Rest (include morning, lunch and afternoon breaks). Build in at least an hour a day for 

breaks to ensure that you remain at optimum productivity levels 

• y Time for interruptions and unexpected events or just working slower than expected. 

This will help to keep your schedules realistic. If you find you have more time than you 

thought, you can simply do more job hunting work 

• y Unavoidable engagements, e.g., dentist, school run, etc 

4. Job Hunt Every Day 

Here’s a selection of likely tasks for your to-do list. 

With the week planned, you can now prepare for your working 

day. 

As the week goes on, new appointments will be made 

and events will occur, which means that your weekly 

plan will become out of date. Review it every day 

and prepare a fresh to-do list. Start with the leftovers 

of yesterday’s list (if any) and then add today’s new 

tasks. This will lead to adding more tasks or delaying 

certain tasks, increasing time or reducing time to work 

on things. Each and every day, set up your daily tasks 

and give rough time estimates for how long you will spend 

on each assignment. 

• y Actively searching and reading reputable blogs and articles relating to effective resume 

and cover letter preparation. 

• y Getting acquainted with all the key social networks and spending time diligently building 

contacts and connections with recruiters, hiring managers and employers. 

• y Locating employers and making speculative job applications in addition to emailing, 

hand-deliver applications when the employer is local. 

• y Doing detailed research on every employer before you apply for a job; the results should 

be reflected in each job application that you prepare. 

y • Prioritizing your job search activities. There may be more jobs available than you 

can apply for in any given period. In which case, it is important that you learn how to 

prioritize your activity and focus on the roles that you are most suited to. Don’t waste 

time on applications for roles where you have little chance of success or that don’t fit 

your previously identified goals. Focus on applications to which you are well-suited. 



• y Tailoring each resume and producing an individual cover letter to suit each job 

application you make. 

• y Conducting detailed research prior to every interview – relating to the employer’s 

products, services, culture, locations, business strategy and corporate goals – to 

understand likely interview questions and prepare mock answers to all the possible 

questions. 

• y Thinking creatively – research and find creative and unusual ways of making job 

applications. 

• y Structuring your day to ensure you can maintain your momentum, maximize your working 

time while at the same time not overdoing it. Set yourself some structure, just like with 

a real job. Establish working hours and working days, building time in for breaks, rest 

and relaxation. 

In Summary 

Work hard, but don’t forget to work smart; all your efforts MUST be geared towards achieving 

your targets. 



Communicating Your Working Rules 

Communication 

Letting Friends And Family Know Your Set Up 

Job hunting can be challenging and is likely to take up a lot of your time. In treating your job 

search like you would any other job, you need to set yourself a schedule to help you stay 

focused. Setting that schedule and laying down some ground rules will also ensure that you 

keep to reasonable hours and help you keep that work/life balance by separating the ‘personal’ 

from the ‘professional’. 

Once you have set your schedule, the final critical step is to 

communicate your schedule and rules to: 

• y Your family – just because you’re at home, that doesn’t 

mean you’re not working. Make it clear what your 

working hours are – when you start and when you 

finish. Those around you need to be understanding 

of your space and work commitments. Hang a sign 

on the door or on your chair! 

• y Your friends – as with family, you need to manage 

their expectations and let them know when you’re 

available, and when you’re not. Let them know that 

you won’t be free if they just call round for a coffee 

and a visit. While searching for your dream job, it’s better to organize your social life to 

fit your search life – make social appointments and make sure friends respect them. 

• y Your business contacts – you may choose to do your job hunting research in the evenings 

or at weekends but potential employers and other people in your networks will most 

likely want to contact you during normal office hours. Make sure that you allow for this 

in your schedule and set sufficient time during reasonable hours so that people are able 

to get in contact with you when necessary. 



Establishing A Working Space 

Preparation 

An office, a corner of the room, a table, just a space to call your own – having an area dedicated 

to your job hunt can bring benefits to your whole process. First of all, it’s easier to get (and 

remain) organized if you’re not constantly having to move. But there’s also a psychological 

advantage: if you can devote physical space to your job hunt, it 

reinforces the mental ‘space’ too, acting as a motivator. 

In an ideal world, your job hunting space will be a 

separate, private room, with a PC/laptop/tablet with 

Internet access and a printer, and enough peace and 

quiet to make and receive phone calls. That said, 

if that isn’t possible, don’t waste time and energy 

worrying about it. Get as close as you can and work 

with what is possible. It might be a chair at the kitchen 

table with an ‘Occupied’ sign on the back or even a 

favorite spot at the local library. Whatever. So long as 

you can work there and be focused and free of distraction, 

then it’s your job hunting ‘office’. 

Taking an organized and disciplined approach to your job hunting campaign will have many 

benefits, not least the fact that you will be more successful, more quickly. There are numerous 

other side effects and benefits from running an organized campaign, including: 

• y You will feel considerably less stressed if you are working to a plan 

• y An organized campaign allows you to set targets and measure your success against them 

• y You can focus more on your objectives day by day 

• y You’ll be more productive as each task sits in an order and has a time and place 

• y You can maximize the use of your time 

• y You’ll be able to prioritize your tasks better and with greater clarity 

• y You’ll have more energy and enthusiasm 

• y You’ll be more flexible and creative 

• y You’ll be easier to be around 

• y You’ll have a general feeling of wellbeing and achievement 

• y You’ll have organized time in your schedule to allow for friends, family and all those 

other important little things 



Setting Up Your Technology 

Preparation 

It’s a technological world, and with an increasing amount of job opportunities only ever appearing 

online, you do need access to some form of technology to job 

hunt effectively. The ideal package is. 

• y PC/laptop/tablet 

• y Word processing and spreadsheet 

software (MSWord and Excel are the 

most widely used but other compatible 

and free open source options are 

available) 

• y Internet access 

• y Printer 

• y Mobile/cell phone (preferably a smartphone) 

Your Online Job Hunting Presence 

After sales, one of the leading online business activities is recruitment. You don’t have to have 

a digital presence, but if you can’t be found 

on social media then you may lose out on job 

opportunities. 

There’s an in-depth rundown of how to best 

leverage social media for your job hunt in I 

Got Hired Module 2 “Your Sales Toolkit”, 

and Module 3 “The Jobs Jungle” and of 

course, in the ‘Habits for Success’ section of 

this module, but here’s a quick reminder of 

why an online presence is so important… 

Potential Employers Expect To See You On LinkedIn 

LinkedIn is likely to play three key roles in your job hunt: 

• y Employers and recruiters are increasingly using candidate’s LinkedIn profiles both as 

a point of reference to confirm details on a resume (so make sure your resume and 

LinkedIn profile match!) and as a reference or pre-employment screening source. 



• y Both employers and agencies advertise roles and promote them through discussions in 

relevant ‘LinkedIn Groups’. 

• y Many agencies and employers pay LinkedIn huge sums of money for what LinkedIn call 

‘The Recruiter Seat’. This improved access to people’s LinkedIn profiles gives them the 

ability to use LinkedIn as the biggest ‘candidate database’ in the world. 

It’s Not Just LinkedIn 

Prospective employers and 

recruiters also tap into a 

whole digital world of joinedup 

sites, blogs and networks 

that you have to take control 

of and make the most of. 

Some you will know; 

Facebook, Twitter, Google+, 

Flickr, YouTube, Bebo – some 

you may not have heard about 

yet; Doof, Ning, Plurk, Digg and 

TweekPeek – some don’t exist 

today but will exist tomorrow. 



Organizing Your Work Environment 

Preparation 

So you have established your office space and set up your 

technology. In an ideal world, you’ll have a spare room or space 

in the house where you can fit a desk and chair and all your 

other office furniture and equipment needs. Whatever space 

you have, what’s equally important is how you organize that 

space for optimum benefit. Consider the following: 

• y Location, location, location – if you have a choice, your 

office (or other space) is best 

located in a quiet spot, 

away from distractions 

or at least with a door so that 

you can shut the noise out. Seating – you will no 

doubt be sitting down for long periods of time 

while working in your office, so make sure you 

have a comfortable chair that provides adequate 

back support and is set at the correct height 

and position in front of your PC/laptop screen; 

ergonomics are important! 

• y Lighting – set up your desk by a window or under 

a light fitting. Alternatively create more light by 

acquiring a good desk lamp 

• y Distractions – minimise anything that might be an interruption, including removing any 

TVs, radios, non-job search phones, etc. If you do work better with some background 

noise, instrumental music tends to work best. 

• y Equipment – make sure you have sufficient space for your PC, printer, fax, telephone, 

docking station, pens, etc. in addition to space to just sit down and work (bear this in 

mind if you go shopping for a new desk). 

• y Storage – make sure you have somewhere to keep all your paperwork so you can find 

it when you need it. Much time can be wasted searching for a copy application or a 

particular version of your resume. Most information will be stored on your computer 

(the Document Management system in IGH Pro TM gives you the perfect platform to look 

after everything that is in anyway attached to your job hunt), but you may have books 

and articles that you have printed or notes you want to take to an interview. It’s best if 

these are put away in drawers or on shelves in case anyone comes into your office and 

they get misplaced. You also need cupboards and drawers to store stationery and other 

essential equipment; if there is no room in the office, how about a cupboard in a nearby 

room? 



Of course, all this is fine if you’re living in an ideal world but in 

reality you almost certainly don’t, so you need to improvise. 

Your workspace may just be a table in a shared room. It 

could just be a box of papers, pens and mobile devices. Or 

it could simply be a tray on your lap. Whatever your space, 

organization is key – you have to be able to lay your hands 

on anything you need, when you need it. So, at the end of 

each working day, pack it all up, switch off and rest easy in the 

knowledge that tomorrow it will be exactly where you left it. 



Evaluating Your Circumstances 

Evaluation 

Self-awareness is a quality useful for most walks of life, and possibly few more so than job 

hunting. After all, if you’re looking for your dream job, first you need to know and understand 

your dreams. This stage of the job hunting process is all about understanding yourself and 

where you want to go – both in terms of your hopes and aspirations and the highly practical 

realities of your current situation. 

Complete IGH Aspire 

The IGH Aspire suite of career tools have been built on solid 

career theories and models brought together 

in a simple ‘one-stop shop’ process, by 

Belinda O’Regan PhD, a leading HR and 

career specialist. 

The purpose is to help you take a ‘snapshot’ 

of your career stage, interests, values and 

the skills you can use to determine if a job 

opportunity is worth pursuing. By completing 

four basic questionnaires you will receive a 

summary report as well as a list of your ideal 

jobs and desirable employer features. 

This report will help you sift through the opportunities you are evaluating, and prioritize them 

in line with your own drivers and preference. 

Put simply, IGH Aspire helps you to match your aspirations to your opportunities. 



Assessing Your Situation 

Evaluation 

Whatever your situation is, whatever your 

motivations are for committing to I Got Hired, 

you have started a journey, a period of change 

and like it or not, it IS going to affect your life 

and the lives of those around you. With a little 

planning and management, this is a good thing. 

To help you through this process thoroughly, 

make sure you use the I Got Hired ‘Situation 

Analysis Checklist’ which has been carefully 

designed to help you assess and understand 

the impact of your situation on you, your family, 

your friends and your surroundings. It will help you understand 

just what you are going to need in order to be successful. 

Before you dive into the job pages and start firing off copies of your resume, take a look at your 

situation and ask yourself: 

• y What impact will my job hunt, or even not having a job, have on my mental well-being, 

my finances, my self-esteem, my family and my friends? 

• y What kind of support and help will I need? 

• y How will my new situation, my new project, impact on my life? 

• y What resources will I need? 

• y How do I make the time to do this properly? 

• y What is going to stop me doing this properly? 

• y How am I going to stay positive, no matter what? 

• y Am I going to be a good person to be around? 

• y How can I make myself a good person to be around? 

• y How can I still deliver on all my other responsibilities to my friends and family? 

This is a key process to go through and will create a basis for your job hunt that will pay 

dividends, allowing you to view your situation objectively and from a variety of perspectives – 

always helpful when the pressure mounts! 



Assessing Your Finances 

Evaluation 

Although the ideal is to work at what you love, for the vast majority of 

us the motivation to work includes an element of 

financial need – i.e. we have bills to pay! 

Your financial position may not be a concern 

to you. However, if you’re currently between 

jobs, or even hoping just to switch from one 

job to another, money is something you’ll 

probably have to think about at some point. 

Whether money is a concern now or not, do take 

the time to read this section. An objective and 

level-headed view of your financial situation is 

an absolutely vital underpinning part of your job 

hunt. 

Introducing IGH Money 

IGH Money is the straight forward and simple to use financial management tool that comes 

free as an integral part of I Got Hired . 

Because understanding and reacting to your financial position is so very important for the 

health of your job hunt (and for the health of you and your family too!), I Got Hired has placed 

IGH Money right at the heart of IGH Pro. To make things even simpler for you, IGH Money is 

fully integrated with IGH Pro’s core reporting and calendar functions so everything is joined 

up. 

IGH Money links all your financial planning, spending and reporting and pops it right into your 

pocket on your favorite mobile device. IGH Money will be right there with you when you want 

to record that unplanned purchase or celebrate an unexpected bonus or just to understand 

exactly what your financial situation is when you are on the go – or with your Bank Manager! 

IGH Money has been built especially for people who do not specialize in financial 

management, and indeed may never have tried to manage their money before. There are no 

complicated processes, buzzwords or accountancy jargon for you to battle with, just plain and 

simple everyday language. All data is linked so you only have to enter it once and then view all 

the important stuff in attractive and easy to understand reports and graphics. 



What You Get In IGH Money 

Financial Forcasting Tool 

• y An intuitive data entry 

screen makes it simple 

to enter spending targets 

and anticipated income 

across a range of personally 

configurable categories and 

sub categories. 

Daily Cash Management 

• y The ability to profile payments and receipts so you can predict (and 

change if needs be) the exact day you expect to make a payment, or receive income. 

Monthly Cashflow Statement 

• y This financial information compares your monthly net income (after deductions) to your 

regular monthly expenses. 

• y A Cash Flow statement that shows you exactly what you thought you would spend and 

receive against how it works out in reality. The Cash Flow also predicts your ‘pinch 

points’ in the future when money may get tight (there are tricks and tips about how to 

sort out your pinch points in the IGH Money cheat sheets). 

Financial Traffic Lights 

• y The unique IGH Money traffic light system that 

warns you in advance when things are beginning 

to get a little tight so you can ‘take evasive 

action’. 

What IGH Money Is Not 

IGH Money will deliver real value to you when it comes to 

helping you plan your financial future and understand exactly 

where you are today, but we have to be very clear about what IGH 

Money is not: 

• y IGH Money is not a financial transaction tool - you cannot 

make or receive payments through the tool 

y • IGH Money does not integrate with your bank accounts or 

credit card companies 



There are other tools that you can buy online that will enable you to do all of this but you will 

probably find that they cost more than the whole of I Got Hired put together! 

IGH Money integrates perfectly with the rest of I Got Hired and we are confident it gives 

you all you need to give your job hunt a thorough health check! 

As with everything in IGH Pro, IGH Money has been fully optimized to run on your phone or 

tablet so it can be with you at all times! 

In addition to the core application in IGH Pro, several IGH Money tools and cheat sheets 

can be found in the www.igothired.net toolkit to make sure you recognize the first signs of 

financial trouble. They guide you through assessing your current position in detail, helping you 

to set a plan and manage your money in the future. 

Net Worth Statements 

This list of personal financial information reflects your current ‘net worth’, at any moment 

in time, by looking at the total value of your assets (cash, property and other valuables with 

income potential) as compared to your total liabilities (money you owe). Use the information 

about your personal net worth as an important factor in the development of your assets and 

all of your liabilities. 

Examples of assets include: 

• y Value of equity in your home and/or other properties 

• y Cash, including the amounts that are in bank and savings accounts 

• y Bonds, unit trusts and other investments 

• y Pension value 

• y Shares 

• y Cash value of life insurance 

• y Retirement accounts 

• y Market value of vehicles and boats 

• y Personal valuables, such as jewellery and home furnishings 

• y Business assets 

• y Value of your car 

• y Any outstanding monies owed by family, friends or employer 



Examples of liabilities include: 

• y Outstanding mortgage balance 

• y All loan balances outstanding 

• y Credit card balances 

• y Balance on store cards 

• y Taxes owed 

• y Other unpaid bills 

• y Outstanding car loan 

• y Outstanding HP balances 

• y ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ balances 

As you begin assessing your financial situation, IGH Money will help you to: 

• y Organize your financial records 

• y Review and become familiar with all the financial areas of your life 

• y Prepare a personal budget or spending plan 

• y Analyze your financial situation to identify potential problems and solutions related to 

your financial situation. 

Developing A Financial Plan 

After you have organized, assessed and budgeted for 

your current financial situation, it is time to develop 

a financial plan. This requires that you identify and 

write down future financial goals, such as saving for 

retirement, putting money away for a home purchase 

or paying off all credit card debt. 

A written financial plan helps identify and clarify goals, 

increase income, reduce debt and manage your finances. 

Your plan does not need to be complicated; however, a 

financial plan does need to be monitored and re-evaluated 

on a regular basis. If you are not able to meet your original 

financial goals, you can always change your plan or adjust your 

goals. The important thing is to start taking steps now to get your 

finances under control. 



Dealing With Financial Emergencies 

If you are already dealing with a financial emergency, take the following steps: 

1. Evaluate the financial emergency. Ask 

yourself questions such as: 

• y How much is this emergency situation 

likely to cost? 

• y Whom will I owe money to? 

• y What terms (when and how) will be 

available for payment? 

• y Are there options if the debt cannot 

be paid? 

2. Find out what your options are. Consider a number of ways you may be able to manage 

during a financial emergency, such as: 

• y Work out an agreement with the creditor to temporarily make partial payments, 

skip or delay payment for a short period or waive rate fees and penalties. 

• y Eliminate unnecessary expenses in order to still pay important bills such as your 

mortgage or rent 

• y Arrange a loan or borrow from a friend or family member 

• y Develop a plan for paying off the debt over a period of time 

• y Avoid harassment by submitting a request in writing that asks debtors and 

collection agencies to contact you only by mail and not by phone. 

3. Decide on the best method to manage the financial emergency, including: 

• y Taking immediate control of your spending 

• y Keeping communications open with creditors to show your positive intentions to 

repay the debts 

• y Talking with a debt counselor, financial planning professional or someone who 

is knowledgeable about using credit cards, retirement plans, savings accounts 

and personal loans to identify the best way for you to recover from the financial 

emergency. 

y • In many cases, an effective debt management strategy is to pay off the highest 

interest rate debt first, while making minimum payments to the lower interest rate 



debts. After the highest rate debt is fully paid off, begin making larger payments 

on the next highest interest rate debt while still making minimum payments on 

the lower interest rate debts. Continue this process until all of the debts have 

been paid off. 

• y Contact the people to whom you owe money to explain your situation before 

collection agencies are involved. Some may understand and be willing to help you 

find a solution. For example, 

you might be able to arrange 

to make lower payments for a 

certain length of time. 

• y If your debt is the result of 

illness, there may be disability 

waivers for major loans and 

credit cards during the time 

you are not able to work. 

• y With your finances stabilized, 

you can make more considered, 

and therefore more effective, 

job and career choice 

decisions. 

• y If you feel that external help 

may be required to assist 

in addressing your financial 

challenges, a good place to 

start may be the UK’s Citizen’s 

Advice Bureau or an equivalent 

service which can help to 

set up a payment plan with 

creditors and stabilize your 

finances. Alternatively use IGH 

Money. 

Preventing Financial Emergencies 

Even healthy finances can be knocked off 

balance by the unexpected, such as loss 

of employment, family changes, legal 

problems, sudden illness or long-term 

disability. Taking steps to prepare for such 

occurrences in advance may help you avoid 

serious stress, possible financial crisis, and 



will help keep your job hunt on track. 

The following are the ideal preventative measures; the more you can take, the better: 

• y Put away savings to build a cash reserve (emergency fund) that can help you cover 

unexpected events. Your cash reserve amount should ideally be able to cover three to 

six months of living expenses. 

• y Keep cash reserve funds in an account that you can easily access if the money is needed. 

• y Consider putting additional savings in invesTMent accounts that generate a higher 

return than a regular savings or current accounts. 

• y Purchase long-term disability insurance. 

• y Create a plan to deal with unexpected emergencies, including what you could do, where 

you could you go, who might help you. 

• y Identify potential credit and loan sources or other ways you might be able to quickly 

increase your income during a financial emergency. 

When you are confident that you have a clear view of your financial situation and that your 

finances are under control, you will have a solid (and far more stress-free) foundation to move 

forward with your job hunt. 



Assessing Your Wants And Needs 

Evaluation 

The ideal job (the dream job) should be the foundation, the enabler, for 

the life you want. It should create a solid platform to allow you 

to live your life the way you want to live it. It should address 

the priorities and needs you have and support you the way YOU 

need to be supported. 

degrees. 

Everyone is different. Everyone has a different attitude to risk, 

to security, to the importance of self-esteem and recognition, 

achievement and integrity. Equally, every job and every 

employer will respond to these needs and desires to differing 

Put simply, in your job hunt, you’re looking for a match. The best possible match, in fact! 

Using the basic (and very well-accepted) psychological principles established in Maslow’s 

‘hierarchy of needs’, IGH Aspire can help you to assess what is really important to you and 

apply the results to your job hunt. 

For now, try asking yourself the following 

preliminary questions to get a feel for your 

ideal direction. 

• y Where do you see yourself in 5, 10 or 

even 20 years? 

• y Where do you want to be living? 

England? Australia? Barbados? 

• y Do you want to own your own house? 

Do you want a more expensive house? 

• y Do you want to be a senior manager, 

Director or CEO? 

• y Do you want to be a specialist? 

• y When do you want to retire? 

This is a process that requires thought, introspection and some time for reflection (hence the 

clarification of financial issues first). 

The results will give you an insight into the aspirations and motivators driving your job 

hunt which, in turn, will drive the practical targets and plans you set in order to make those 

aspirations a reality. 



Assessing Your Last Role 

Evaluation 

When you begin the process of trying to understand and 

document the characteristics and requirements of that 

perfect role, as with most things, where you find yourself 

today is the best place to start. 

Although, whilst looking forward is very important and, 

by using the role analysis element of IGH Aspire TM to 

help you understand what will make you happy and 

fulfilled in your new role, it is equally important to 

look back and evaluate your past experiences. If only to 

avoid repeating any previous errors! 

By assessing your personal, professional and emotional reactions to your current or last role you 

can begin to create a solid foundation on which to build your new role targets and aspirations. 

Go right the way back to what you were looking for and why you accepted your last job and 

then work forward from there. 

Here the key questions to ask yourself to understand your last role; 

• y What was I looking for when I started my last job search? 

• y What attracted me to my current/last role during the recruitment process? 

• y Did the role, the company, my boss deliver on these promises? 

• y What didn’t they deliver on? Are these important to me? 

• y Did I have a clear set of objectives when I started the search that led to my current/last 

role? 

• y If so, was I able to deliver on those objectives? 

• y Did I like the people I worked with? And do I need to like them? 

• y Did I receive recognition for my achievements? Was I made to feel valued? 

• y What was acceptable and what was not? (Try drawing up two lists covering aspects such 

as the hours, the travel/commute, the reward package, etc. 

The most important thing as you begin to evaluate your past is to be totally, ruthlessly, honest 

with yourself. It’s only by being completely straight with yourself that you get the real benefit 

from the experience. Whilst you look for the failings or Habits evident in your current or last 



environment that have made that experience less than perfect you must 

also hold a mirror up to yourself and evaluate your own performance. 

Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, this is the time 

to be honest about yours. 

Never has the phrase ‘you’re only cheating yourself’ been 

more relevant than when you walk through this ‘journey of 

self-discovery’. It may be a little painful to recognise your own 

weaknesses and failing but it will pay dividends here. 

Of course, having gone through this process of reflection, the final 

step is to ask yourself: 

What Does This Mean For My Next Role? 

In other words, what do you want to repeat and what do you definitely not want to repeat! 



Defining The Optimal Employer 

Evaluation 

“I hate my job” or “my job 

sucks” are the standard cries 

of many people who want to 

change jobs. 

However, various research 

from HR consultancies and 

corporate ‘exit’ interviews 

suggest that about 85% of 

people in fact, don’t hate the 

job itself, they actually hate 

the company they work for 

or the people they work with. 

And yet, people always talk about it being the job’s fault. 

Job seekers often think solely about the job. They just don’t give enough 

thought to the company that is going to provide that job. They’re so focused on the role, the 

responsibilities, the reward package (all very important, obviously) that they fail to consider 

just how much ‘the company’ will influence just about everything about the job. 

The ‘company’… 

• y employs your colleagues – the people you either love or hate 

• y sets standards of Habit and dress codes 

• y creates the atmosphere you are going to work in 

• y buys the furniture you sit on 

• y decides on benefits 

• y sets the rules by which people are promoted (or not) 

• y establishes the systems, processes and rules that you either find fair or unjust 

• y … the company even decides what is in the vending machine 



In simple terms, every job is a product of the 

company and definitely NOT the other way 

around! 

As a job seeker, you’re probably good at asking 

‘job’ questions: 

• y ‘What responsibility will I have?’ 

• y ‘What skills development and training 

will I get?’ 

• y ‘What is my chance for career 

development?’ 

• y ‘What hours will I work?’ 

• y ‘How much paid time off do I get?’ 

And so on… 

However, how many ‘employer’ or ‘company’ 

questions are on your list? 

• y ‘As far as your employees are concerned, 

what does good look like?’ 

• y ‘What makes you proudest when you 

think about working for this company?’ 

• y ‘How would you define trusting your employees/colleagues?’ 

• y ‘Where does the balance lie between following the rules and showing initiative?’ 

• y ‘Do you think you need to be brave to work here?’ 

• y ‘Why did you (the company) last promote/sack an employee?’ 

These can be difficult questions to ask. We know it can sometimes 

feel difficult to ask questions that appear to be passing a 

judgement on the listener. But they are important questions. 

These are the sort of questions that will give you the 

beginnings of a real insight into exactly what makes the 

business tick, and (remember!) you have every right to ask 

them. 

If you choose to work there, you’ll be a valuable asset. 

The company will be lucky to employ you and you have an 

obligation to yourself to make the right decision. 



However, as with most things in life, asking the questions isn’t the 

really tough thing – knowing which questions to ask is! 

In any one interview you will probably only get to ask 

two or three ‘employer’ questions at most so you have to 

ask the right one – don’t waste this opportunity. Although 

remember: you don’t have to limit your questions to your 

interviewer; you can ask a question of anyone you come 

into contact with – the receptionist, the security guard, the 

secretary – everyone’s view on the company is valid so feel 

free to talk to anyone and ask the questions that matter to 

you. 

What’s more, analysing your recent ‘employer’ experiences, exactly the same way you did when 

you reflected on your last or current role, is key. The ‘My Last Employer Evaluation Checklist’ 

in IGH Pro is a great starting place. The checklist prompts you to look at your last, or current, 

employer from a variety of angles and will help you understand in a little more detail, just what 

worked for you, and exactly what didn’t. Completing this checklist makes it so much easier to 

choose those all-important ‘employer’ questions. 

The ‘My Last Employer Evaluation Checklist’ will also help you to build a small list of ‘deal 

breaker’ criteria that you can apply to every opportunity. If an employer doesn’t pass these 

criteria then they are out – as simple as that! 

Even better, you don’t have to wait until the interview or meeting 

people face to face, to start judging a prospective employer 

against your criteria. Research on their company website, 

looking closely at the job description and requirements, 

checking them out on Facebook and/or LinkedIn, these 

can all help you decide whether they are a truly realistic 

prospect. 

Putting the time and effort in during the early stages of your 

job search to understand what turns you on (and off) about a 

prospective employer will be time very well spent in the long 

run – we promise. After all, a great job with a lousy employer is just 

a lousy job! 



Concluding Prepare For Success 

Preparation 

By now you’ve taken the first important steps in your job hunt. 

• y Defining your campaign plan 

• y Setting your targets 

• y Setting up your own job hunting 

rules and environment 

• y Assessing your current situation and 

finances 

• y Identifying your aspirations 

These steps are arguably some of the most important as they lay the foundations for all that 

follows, including setting the direction of your search. 

The next phase of selling your product (that’s you, remember?) is to put together your own 

tailored sales toolkit, the ultimate package of documentation that you can draw on for every 

aspect of your job hunt campaign. The I Got Hired toolkit has a myriad of templates for every 

possible document that you might need and using those templates to create your own personal 

versions is covered in I Got Hired Module 2 “Your Personal Sales Toolkit”. 





The Complete I Got Hired TM Series 


• y Create the perfect environment 

for your job-hunt 

• y Plan a campaign & set targets 

• y Learn the 12 habits of the best 

Your Sales Toolkit 

• y Build the perfect resume 

• y Write applications letters with 

Impact 

• y Be a social media expert 

The Jobs Jungle 

• y Understand the secret jobs Jungle 

• y Manage agencies & job boards 

• y Make LinkedIn work for you 

The Perfect Interview 

• y Perfect interview preparation 

• y Winning interview performance 

• y Beat the assessment centre 

Closing The Deal 

• y Secure the very best deal 

• y Manage your references 

• y Prepare for work & your first 

100 days 



The Complete ‘Joined Up’ Job Seeker System 

Join up your job hunt and put it in your pocket! 

I Got Hired TM – Prepare for Success 

Copyright: TRCC 

Published: 2015 

Publisher: The Recruitment Coaching Company 

The right of The TRCC to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with 

sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form 

or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written 

permission from the publisher. 

You must not circulate this book in any format.

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