Finding a job in today’s job market can be a frustrating process. You may find that you need some support to compete with the many sophisticated job hunters out there in the workforce. Don’t forget that there may be dozens of people applying for one job – the one you want.

The days of applying for a job and simply getting it because you are the best qualified are few and far between. You have to be able to promote yourself and your skill set better than the other people applying for the job. To do this you need to have the best job search skills to be able to present yourself with the abilities and perceived value the employer is searching for: a memorable resume and cover letter, knowledge to operate an active job search, excellent interview skills and a system to assess your progress effectively so that you can modify your approach easily and quickly in response to the volatile job market.

There are many excellent books on these topics. However, do you have the time to learn or enhance what you need to know while searching for that valued new job? If the answer to this question is, “No”, you would benefit from working with a job search coach or facilitator who can make this whole process effortless while you concentrate on the availability of the job you are searching for. You want someone who can enable you to actively and competently search for the job of your choice in the job market.

To be successful in your efforts, you need to have a good grasp of the following areas:

·        Current Labour Market

·        Cover Letter, Resume and References

·        Networking

·        Ads – Internet, Newspapers, Professional Magazines

·        Company/Employer Research

·        Interview Skills

·        Resume Delivery and Email

·        Career Management Skills

Remember, the most important skills that you bring with you to the task of getting that all important new job is a good attitude and tenacity. Flex those job search muscles, remain curious and have fun, keep focused and seriously consider getting some support if you need it. You will be very successful!

Michael McCarthy

Job Search Coach

Sound Coaching

Joy McCarthy, Holistic Nutritionist of Joyous Health tells us about a common health problem she's seen in her practice and how she came to a solution.

Client: Ashley, a 10-year-old girl and her worried mom.

The Problem: Ashley's mother described her daughter as having "ants in her pants." Ashley is a really bright little girl, but truly had the attention span of a fly and could not focus in school for more than 10 minutes. She could also be quite moody.

Like many clients, by the time they've come to me for nutrition help they are at their wit's end. This is especially true for parents whose children are suffering from something they cannot seem to fix. The straw that broke the camel's back in this situation was when Ashley's family doctor advised she take Ritalin for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Her mom didn't want to go this route as friends and parents had warned her about the negative effects. Her fear is well-founded as the pros and cons of Ritalin are hotly debated and available studies have shown unfortunate news.

For example, one study found that ADD/ADHD drugs increase risk of sudden death by 500 percent and stunt the physical growth of children while impairing brain development. Are these risks necessary? Are we dismissing viable natural solutions? Mike Adams of www.naturalnews.com has posted many natural solutions in lieu of Ritalin based on studies and real life stories.

ADD is almost always diagnosed through an analysis of symptoms carried out by the child's doctor, psychiatrist, teacher or parent. According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms include: inattentiveness, mood swings, anxiety, and trouble coping with stress. Some of these symptoms were familiar to Ashley's mom.

After assessing Ashley's diet, I advised her mom of some small changes that needed to be made. My primary focus was to get Ashley on a blood sugar-balancing diet in addition to these changes which included:

• Eat a healthy breakfast with a complex carb, protein and good fat every morning, like organic yogurt with granola and fruit (and a sprinkle of cinnamon for sweetness).
• Eliminate sugar from Ashley's diet, meaning no candy, cookies, cakes etc.
• Limit processed foods which contain many chemical additives and have been linked to causing ADD-like symptoms.
• Eliminate all juice and soda pop from the home, hidden sources of sugar and high fructose corn syrup
• We created a "snack drawer" in the kitchen with healthy, kid-approved snacks for Ashley to have when she came home from school. She was allowed to choose what she wanted in the drawer (nutritionist-approved, of course) and instead of Gummi bears and two-bite brownies, we filled it with dried mangoes, apples and nuts that we roasted with cinnamon and sucanat sugar, and healthy granola bars (Larabars).

Within a few days of cutting out all juices and candy and ensuring that Ashley had a good breakfast she was already a more focused, balanced and an all-round happier little girl. Ashley's mom was happier as well, relieved at the changes in her daughter. The alterations in Ashley's diet were simple enough for the family to maintain and it was easy for Ashley was inspired to keep it up because she felt so much better.

I love when people can see the positive impact that a simple change in dietary habits can have. Food can truly be our best medicine. Every case of ADD and ADHD can be different, therefore it's important to seek out the advice of a professional and to be your own health advocate as well.

Joy McCarthy, Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Health Coach of Joyous Health, loves to inspire others to eat well and live well.

Please note: This scenario is an actual case from my nutrition practice and is not meant to treat or diagnose. Please consult a certified practitioner or your family doctor for any serious health issues.

 Sound Coaching’s Career Counselling Assessment and Educational Planning Program has been developed to support people to discover what career possibilities are available to them. It is designed for clients from fifteen years of age to adults. The service is provided on an individual basis.

Depending on the age and vocational situation of the client, the program ranges from career identification using their interests to career identification based on a number of factors including intellectual ability, academic performance, learning style, study skills, interests, work experience, aptitudes and values.

The service begins with a one hour counselling session to discover what the client’s vocational situation is currently and what they require to be able to choose a career to work toward. This first session is usually followed by several counselling sessions satisfying the individual client’s needs in choosing a career and may include a series of tests in an assessment package that allows the client to eventually choose a career based on the analysis of the several factors mentioned above.

The focus of the career counselling is always on the generation of as many careers as possible that appear appropriate for the client. Through the counselling process the potentially long list of careers is pared down to a few careers or a career cluster that are most appropriate for the client.

Once the client has identified a small number of careers he/she commences a career exploration activity to clearly identify a final list of vocations as the most appropriate for him/her. When one to three careers (career cluster) are identified the counsellor works with the client to develop an education plan.

The career direction and education plan are developed in such a way that the client can move from one career to others in a career cluster without significant loss of time, energy, personal worth or money and yet have a vocational direction clearly based on the counselling, assessment and career exploration completed.

The ultimate goal is, of course, to have the client identify the best possible career in which he/she will be very successful. Sound Coaching strongly believes in the success of the client through the Career Counselling and Educational Planning service. It is Sound Coaching’s goal to assist the client to experience the highest degree of success possible in his/her academic, career and personal life.  

One of the most frustrating situations when submitting your resume for that ideal job that you want is providing your carefully crafted resume to the potential employer and never hearing back from that person. Being conscientious, you call the employer and you are reminded that only those candidates applying for the job, who will be interviewed, will be contacted…thank you for your interest…Good Day!

Always keep in mind that the employer or HR department handling the resumes for a position will spend only a few minutes looking over the resumes to determine which pile to place your resume on. Not much time to make that all important first impression! Pile “A” resumes will most likely make it to the interview stage. Pile “B” resumes may be interviewed if the employer falls short of potential candidates to interview from pile “A”. This is not likely! Pile “C” resumes will be filed for six months and never again reviewed because the employer will not interview any of their creators.

How then do you make sure that you are one of the people that gets your resume on pile “A” and gets called for an interview?

First of all you need to have a strong covering letter including some 35 “ musts” to be successful. The covering letter needs to be one page in length and 3-5 short paragraphs. Some of the “musts” in the 3-5 paragraphs include:

·        State the purpose of your application

·        Demonstrate your skills

·        Ask for an interview

Your resume now has a chance of getting on to the top of pile “A” since you have caught the attention of your potential employer.

Now for your resume. Let’s get on the top of that sought after pile “A”. There are at least 40-50 “musts” your resume needs to have. They fit into the following areas of resume development:

·        Initial Impact

·        Appearance and Format

·        Organization

·        Writing Style

·        Content

·        Avoids

Here is a half dozen or so of those essential items your resume needs to have:

·        Crisp and professional

·        Easy read

·        Consistency

·        Career/Job objective

·        Action words

·        Prioritization of qualifications

·        Avoid personal information

How does your resume stack up against these “musts” for success, the “musts” that enable you to get your resume on pile “A” and get you that all important call from your potential employer for an interview?

You can do it with a cutting edge covering letter and resume.  Your covering letter and resume need to have the “musts” to get to pile ”A”. Make sure that you include all of them for success. You will come away smiling. Good luck!!

Michael McCarthy

Coach/Counsellor

Director

Sound Coaching

This is a modified title of an article by Christine Hassler. When I saw the title of her article, I thought that here is a topic in the area of relationships that with a small change in the focus of the title of the article it becomes something of paramount importance in relationships.

It is very easy to be too objective, logical and strategic in looking at your relationship with that special someone. When we simply look at the facts we can get a distorted view of our relationships and life in general.

We look at that potential significant other who may be our current special someone and see that person as someone who behaves a certain way based on what we think is objective and therefore true. Our next step could be making a life decision such as marriage or having children based on our own personal logical, objective view of that person. It may seem strategic and good but is it authentic?

We move ahead without checking with our intuition to see if our gut is saying yes your decision or strategy is correct. Remember, your gut is most often what you should be checking with, not just your brain advising you as that all powerful logistics expert, the entity that can enable you to make a strategic decision that works out best for you and that special person of yours.

Often when we do not check out our logical perceptions with our gut, we end up making a decision that is not right for you or that special someone. One of you or both often gets hurt and sadness ensues. We have not been authentic in our relationship and we wonder why the relationship is faltering and ultimately hurting where there was only love before.

When you are making decisions about your relationship with that special person, be authentic, not just logical, strategic and objective. Your relationship will move along a lot smoother and successfully when you check with your intuition about what you think is a logical and the strategic course of action.

Your gut will always keep you authentic in your thoughts, observations, decisions and actions. Think about what your experience has been and share it with me, your intuition and that special someone.

Your teen may be:

“Having difficulty at school: Attendance, Homework Completion…….Marks”

“Spending too much time socializing”

“Staying out late. Not respecting family set curfews or rules”

“Expressing many emotional highs and lows”

When we look at our teens and something seems not right in our “gut”, we need to listen to our intuition. It is usually an uncomfortable feeling that tells us not all is as it should be in our teenager’s life.

When we start to think more about it, we realize that there have been other indicators that have been contributing to this feeling about our teen. When you think about it many anecdotes may flow into your mind that indicate, yes, there is a concern. You may have been thinking that you need to look into this. However, if you are like most modern parents your life is very full and it is easy to let something that may be causing some upset in your life to pass you by. Are you setting your teen’s concerns aside?

This is the time to start to look more carefully at your teen’s behaviours that may be indicators that need your parental attention.  One quick way to assess your teen’s life is to look at the following areas of his life. What is his level of satisfaction in each of these areas of his life?

·        Friends

·        Dating and Romance

·        Fun

·        Health

·        Money

·        School

·        Personal Space

·        Family

It gives you a simple snapshot of how his life is progressing. Are there, in fact, areas of your teen’s life where there are low levels of satisfaction which cause there to be an imbalance in the factors listed above? If your teen’s life looks out of balance with respect to these factors, it is time to become proactive and help your teen before there is a much greater problem, one that is difficult to help him with or maybe you are at that difficult point now!

One sure way to address this potential lack of balance is to work with a life skills coach. Keep in mind that it is seldom just your teen’s problem. It could quickly become a major concern or crisis in both of your lives.

Are you hearing your child say:

I don’t know what to do next year after Grade 12!

What career should I choose?

I don’t know what I would be good at!

Which post secondary school program is best for me?

These are questions that most students coming to the end of secondary school are asking. They are very important questions because if these questions are not answered well you may find your child spending a year at school that has cost as much as $20,000.00 with nothing to show for it. The career field and post secondary training was the wrong choice for them. They attended the program and dropped out or were asked to leave the post secondary setting because they were failing.

What does this cost you and them?

In terms of money it may be a loss of as much as $15,000.00 to $20,000.00. Your child experiences a loss of self-esteem and confidence. There is a huge loss of time toward their future education and career development. They may even choose to not go back to school.

How can this unfortunate situation be completely prevented?

While your child is still in secondary school, talk to your child to see what their post secondary school plans are:

·         Employment/Out to work, University, College, Trades

           or ??????

·         What career are they planning on pursuing?

·         How do they realize that career?

·         Is it an appropriate career for your child? Is it a career that is

           in demand?

If “I don’t know” is the answer to all or some of these questions………… 

What can you as a parent do to insure your child’s success?

SOUND COACHING is here to assist you and your child to find the answers to those questions. Your child will work with a counsellor/coach at SOUND COACHING to complete a Vocational Assessment and/or Counselling. This will enable you and your child to relax and know that he/she chose the right career and the education that will lead to your child’s success and happiness.

Contact SOUND COACHING today and receive a free 15 minute consultation that will get your child where they need to go after secondary school.  

Coaching can be arranged for one hour sessions. To have the opportunity to assist you in experiencing significant change and moving forward a 3 month commitment is recommended. After the 3 months you can arrange appointments on a needs basis from month to month. A time will be arranged for you personally, a time that works for you.

Life Skills Coaching is an opportunity to focus on what works well in our lives and truly allows us to be in the moment. It assists us in creating the place or context in which we can enjoy the moment without the frustrations of living in the past or the future. It is in the present that we can focus on what is important, what will enable us to get our lives back in balance and focus on what is truly real and important to being the best we can be.

Coaching can be completed successfully in person or by communicating with your coach through email, Skype or telephone. You must allow yourself the time to relax and communicate and focus on that which will make a difference in your life. The coach is there as a guide to help you accomplish what you need to have a fulfilling life, personally and professionally.