Your job has gone and you’re looking for a new one

Be sure to make a good impression

Looking for a new job is a pain. Especially when you were so happy and doing so well in the last one. You were not part of the decision to close the business down; in fact, they never even consulted you. So now you’re on the street using up good shoe-leather and trying to look as though you’re enjoying this.

We have a tip for you

If you walk into businesses looking for a job and feeling the way you do, your chances are nil, zero, zilch! You have to change your image and make a good impression.

Any business that is hiring new staff in these times is a winner. And winners hire only winners. Winners do not hire losers. Are you acting and looking like a loser?

Change your facade

Pretend you are President Barack Obama. He is one of the most elegant speakers on the world stage. He captures millions of hearts not only by what he says, but by how he says it. His body and voice emit confidence and power. If he stands nervously, mumbling his words – as you are – would he have been chosen to lead?

Communicating your value, credibility and power, is crucial to getting that job, not to mention getting ahead. In the current economic and business climate everyone is tightening belts. Companies are streamlining operations, retrenching, freezing posts and taking a hard look at who is valuable and who is dispensable. They are using this great opportunity for replacing the bad with the excellent.

The first impression

Remember this: You cannot undo a first impression. It takes people seven seconds to form a first opinion. Which impression do you make? Is it unique, authentic and powerful? You believe you have what it takes, but what are you transmitting in those moments that count?

Body language, eye contact, posture, presence as well as tone, clarity, variety and the power of your voice are the vehicles for your message. They make more of an impression than the actual content of your words.

If you sound and look nervous or lacking in confidence this will be your listener’s first impression of you, no matter how valuable your message actually is. Nobody buys a Ferrari engine in a beat up Model T and believes that they are getting a Ferrari.

The interview

Don't be so nervous!

This is where you need high performance communication skills. It is vital that you impress and convey your best qualities when you speak. Watch out for these presentation qualities in the interview:

• Excessive nerves
• Breathlessness
• Freezing up
• Shaking, fidgeting
• A thin or soft voice
• Sounding high pitched or girlish
• A monotonous voice
• Mumbling or lack of clarity
• Difficulty making eye contact
• Lack of facial expressiveness
• Lack of physical presence and a poor posture
• A shaking or cracking in your voice
• Rushed speech, babbling.

The solutions are accessible and the skills that can make all the difference are not hard to learn. Simply by understanding that your body and voice are the biggest communicators of who you are and what you feel, you can start to become aware of what you are actually expressing.

You can nail that job! In a month’s time you’ll be on the payroll and be able to take a Payday Loan to pay for that new suit you bought especially for the job interviews. It worked!