It was only Friday when I wrote here about a career coaching client sending me an excited email that they they had got the job. Today I received another email from a client. He had been sent to see me by his parents for my intensive career coaching interview preparation to help him succeed in his first “proper” job search.
Hi Peter,
Just wanted to let you know that you’ve done it again! Went for the interview this morning at half 8, finished by 10 and just got a call ten minutes ago saying that they are going to be making an offer! Thank you so much for your help, it really sorted me out and helped me understand where best to focus my prep work….
This guy had passed a telephone interview, helped apparently by my guide, How To Survive (and Win) a Telephone Interview. Then he was invited to an assessment day and today he had his first face to face interview. Which he got. In fact, he had only just got home from the interview when the phone rang to say the company was going to make him an offer! As he said, winning 1 out of 1 interviews is not a bad ratio!
I often only hear about it indirectly but sometimes, like today, I get a proper insight into how getting That Email can affect the candidate and his or her family. His mother was at the shops when she got the text and started texting her friends in the shop aisle – her shopping basket abandoned at her feet. The father, also a client, was on his way back from a (successful) pitch and decided to come straight home afterwards to celebrate with the family. The girlfriend got a jumbled, excited and exuberant voicemail and text and the dog that the family was dog-sitting started yapping wildly as my client bounced noisily around the house.
All of this, instead of option 2: – waiting 3 days and then getting a “Thank you but no thank you..” email….
I work in politics where spin is too often the order of the day. So I am super-careful about making claims for fear of “over-egging” things. But on days like this, getting an excited email and then having a 20 minute jubilant debrief and rejoicing with the client about their new job and reliving and wallowing in bits of the interview and the interview preparation and the coaching and the “journey” and the excited reactions of family and friends is mega. And getting that email is, for the client, literally life changing. The first job defines your career starting point. It kick-starts your working trajectory. “Start well and build” is what every parent wants for their kids. It is great to be a part of these moments.