Jeff (not his real name), a professor in Canada, was interviewing for tenured positions around the USA. He had every skill and credential to land a great job, but his poor interview skills kept him from getting offers. He was asked to interview for nearly every position he applied for, but it was apparent that he was not making the desired impression. After doing just a few hours of phone work with our career coach, Jeff had a winning strategy, practiced responses, and a clear message about who he is and what he can do.

Over the course of the next four interviews, Jeff got an offer with his dream university and a compensation package larger than he had ever imagined. He also received a second job offer, and the third university was restating their interest. He passed on the fourth interview, as he already had exactly the offer he'd dreamed of and didn't want to waste their time.

Solid, consistent messages, coupled with faith in the plan, are the path to success.

In reviewing the job-search events and results, it was clear that Jeff's problem was performing poorly in interviews. His resume, cover letter, and additional materials were garnering interviews with highly desirable employers, so there was no need to modify anything there. Focusing on his interview skills, Jeff and his coach drilled down into the questions he was being asked and his answers. They reviewed the environment and what they agreed was the information the interviewer was hoping to ascertain. Jeff completed several exercises (aka: homework) to be able to articulate his work values and life skills to create his unique and specific message to employers. After some practice and lots of note-taking, he nailed the messages and was confidently able to weave his messaging into every answer.

This was all accomplished via phone and email in less than two weeks.

Sarah had worked for a prominent employer for 10 years, accepting more and more challenging roles as time went by. Her last role was less interesting and she stalled out, raising questions with her new manager. Sarah tried to get back into her groove, but her passions were elsewhere. She needed a job, but saw herself in a completely different role — one more artistic and less corporate.

The double whammy was that as she was not being successful in her corporate role, she became more and more discouraged and was feeling very low. Since she had been with one company for so long, she had no idea how to look for a job. She had been recruited into each company she worked for, so she had never learned how to job-search. Additionally, her friends were giving her all sorts of confusing advice.

Sarah, a highly intelligent and competent professional, was frustrated and down.

Sarah landed a consulting role with a start-up company where she could work from home most days, allowing her the freedom to pursue her passions of volunteer work and writing. While still performing a corporate function, she is removed from the corporate environment.

As of this writing, Sarah is working on building her resume through volunteer work, with a goal of entering the world of international economic relief, and she is finishing her first novel. She is able to fund these activities through her consulting work.

There were two major themes at play — job-search skills and feeling down. Sarah chose to pursue counseling with a CMP partner to help put her life back into perspective and to regain her confidence. On the job skills front, we started from scratch. Fortunately, Sarah had not bought into the often unsuitable advice from well-meaning friends, so we did not have to fight those demons.

We began by focusing on career planning, completing the Discover Your Direction exercises and assessment to define Sarah's strengths and preferences to meet her goals. She then completed several exercises (aka: homework) to be able to articulate her work values and life skills to create her unique and specific message to employers. We created her resume and cover letter to reflect these messages as well as her experience and ability to contribute.

Sarah's interview messages and questions, as well as targeting desired industries, flowed naturally from her career planning experience. Everything was captured, so it was simply a matter of framing the messages and practicing weaving those messages into her responses. Her messages including her points of negotiation, so interviewers knew exactly what to value in Sarah.

Although Sarah has very strong technical and marketing skills, she was surprised at all the ways she could use online industry and company research resources. She was able to get to her exact targets within companies without wasting time with gatekeepers.

Tom and his family wanted to move back to their hometown of San Diego. He had worked in Washington for so many years that he was no longer connected within his industry in California. He knew how to interview at an executive level within his region, but with flights, hotels, rental cars, and scheduling several meetings with several prospective employers over several days, he just wasn't sure of the logistics and business etiquette. Tom is a gracious man who had earned his way into senior management and wanted to make the best impression possible.

Although Tom does a tremendous amount of business writing and deal-making in his work, he wanted assistance with his resume, cover letter, and interview and negotiation skills. We also refined his geography and company research skills to make the most effective use of his resources.

Tom landed the job of his dreams — VP of Development reporting directly to the president — with a company in sunny San Diego that met 100% of his criteria. He was able to negotiate his role, responsibilities, resources, and all aspects of the offer through a comfortable dialogue. At first he was a bit nervous about the negotiation process, but once he realized that many employers don't know how or what to offer, he was able to ask for exactly what he needed to be successful.

There were other close calls with other employers, but they just didn't match in terms of quality of people, resources, or future.

A job search begins with the foundation of career planning. Tom completed all exercises and assessments as well as the Discover Your Direction and Emotional Intelligence materials. After careful review, we were able to decisively refine his approach and his messages.

As an executive, there were only so many jobs and so many companies that matched Tom's criteria. If he were one of many in a company — say one of many engineers vs. the head of engineering — there would be more potential opportunities or slots to be filled. With executives, there are fewer slots in existence. Targeting Tom's messaging to ensure that he landed in the best possible role was critical.

As with Sarah, Tom is savvy with technology and marketing and is familiar with online resources such as Dun & Bradstreet. He too was surprised to learn new techniques to maximize the agility of these free resources.

Tom is utilizing CMP with his job transition, as well as with ongoing career coaching to keep his career goals alive and working in his favor — including keeping alert so that he does not become more loyal to an employer than they are able to be loyal to him.

You deserve the greatest success!