The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Interview’

This is a guest post by Mao Risby,  an employment specialist for local colleges.

The job market is rough and many people are turning to career recruitment services in hopes of landing a position. Recruitment agencies can help job seekers find temp, temp-to-hire and direct hire positions.

Finding a new job or switching careers can become stressful for many people and using career recruitment services is a great way to get rid of the stress of the job hunt. Recruiting companies offer a variety of services to help clients find workers and job seekers get jobs.

Here are some important tips to know when working with agencies for career recruitment services.

Build a Strong Resume

Like with any recruitment services website, a strong resume is going to put you at the top of the growing pile of resumes recruiting agencies receive. Recruiters see hundreds of resumes a day so make sure you list all your jobs, duties and skills.

Your résumé should include recent job positions that relates to the job you’re applying for. For instance, if you’re looking to switch careers to marketing then your résumé should include previous jobs that show you can handle a marketing position.

Prepare Additional Information

Depending on the job you’re applying for you might need to include writing, marketing or design samples. Make sure you have something ready so your recruiter can send it over right away with your résumé. Not having samples could cause a short delay in being presented for the position. With the tight competition out there, that’s not something you’ll want happening.

Search the Database Every Morning

While part of the recruitment services include contacting you about possible positions, it’s always good to check the job database each morning. If a position catches your eye, simply hit the apply button. You only need to send your résumé once and it’ll get stored on the website. If the recruiter feels you’re a great fit, he or she will contact you to speak about the position before presenting you to the client.

 Stay in Contact

One of the biggest mistakes a job seeker can make is not staying in contact with recruiters. They’re busy and won’t always have time to contact you back. It’s recommended to follow-up with the account executive via e-mail or over the phone to get updates about the position.

Prepare for an Interview

Before meeting with the client you’ll meet with an agent at the recruitment agency. They will ask you to fill out paper work and go over your résumé and the position. Treat this like an actual interview. Show up early, dress professionally and answer their questions like you would on a regular interview. You want to make a great impression on them because they’ll push you more to the client.

During this interview ask any question you would be nervous about asking on the interview. This includes dress code, salary, insurance and time off. They will gladly go over all of this with you so you won’t have to awkwardly ask the client in the event you’re invited in for an interview.

About the Author: Mao Risby is an employment specialist for local colleges. Using recruitment services can definitely ease the burden when it comes to searchign for a new job or career, especially in a touch economy where businesses don’t do as much public advertisement of open positions.

This week I present 28-year old Jonathan Wong.  When I interview people I do not prompt them, and I let them answer questions the way that they want, and there is a certain beauty in that approach because inevitably I uncover a goldmine of information. This interview is not a traditional one because I asked only a few of the questions. After I completed the interview I agonized over whether or not I should post it because of some of the information that came out. In the end I decided to include it because it may help someone. We all have dark and  light aspects within ourselves and we have to find a way to live with them. And according to “the U.S. Department of Labor, 10 percent of all U.S. workers have a substance abuse problem. Whether employees use alcohol, illicit drugs, prescription drugs, or other substances, their behaviors can have a profound impact on the workplace.” Source

The interview contains some personal information, but I think there are some potent lessons for us to learn from Jonathan’s experience. He got involved with the wrong crowd, used drugs, and at one point was in a detention center. This is a great reminder to us to be careful who we allow into our circle of influence. Do you yield to peer pressure, or do you stand your ground?

When Jonathan has some down time one of the things he does is grab a ball and play catch. One day I bumped into Jonathan and he asked me if I would play catch with him. For those of you who know me, can you picture me playing catch? I find it interesting that the person that Jonathan most want to meet is his younger self, read why? This reminded me of an interview I did with Gail Blanke for my book Tales of People Who Get It. The book that had a profound impact on Gail’s life was indeed the play Our Town by Thornton Wilder. Here is what Gail said:

It wasn’t a book but the play Our Town by Thornton Wilder. I saw this play when I was 10 years old and I have never forgotten it because it had such a profound impact on me. After I saw it, I made a promise to always let people know how much I love them, and I have kept that promise to this day.

Set at the turn of the 20th century, in the small town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, U.S.A., the play reveals the ordinary lives of the people, the tale of love, marriage and death and daily life. The play is centered on a woman, Emily, who dies during childbirth and wants to go back. Those who died before her allow her to go back for a day. Emily chooses to go back on her twelfth birthday. On her twelfth birthday she sees her family and suddenly realizes how much she took things for granted. She didn’t appreciate how wonderful she had it at the time. Emily realizes how precious life is.

This play is about seizing the moment and living life fully in the moment. At 10 years old I made the promise, which I have kept, to let those near and dear to me know how much I love and appreciate them.

Excerpt from Tales of People Who Get It page 135 – An Interview With Gail Blanke

I included the excerpt because I thought it relevant to Jonathan’s experience. While reading Jonathan’s interview instead of judging or criticizing, let us look at the potent lessons we can take away. If you met Jonathan, it would be very difficult for you to guess his past. He has blossomed into a fine young man and it shows that it’s never too late to change. In what areas of your life do you need to change? Is there an issue in your personal or professional life that you are ignoring? I am saying this to you as much as I am saying it to myself? Please read the article that I wrote, Do You Have the Courage to Re-invent Yourself? Jonathan’s family runs three very successful restaurant businesses in Toronto, Canada but he has decided to find his own path.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I am charismatic, outgoing, I like to be active and I really enjoy close interactions because I find that people are really interesting. To be out and about and around people is a lot of fun for me.

Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it.

When I was 18 and early twenties I got involved with some characters who liked to use drugs and I got involved in that. I learned some lessons from that experience, and my memory and thought processes would have been a lot better if I hadn’t gotten involved with that. It is an interesting experience that I had to go through and I overcame what was holding me back and holding me in that position. I had a couple of near death experiences and it’s something that I never want to ever experience again, and that helped me to get out of that and make a change.

What lessons did you learn in the process?

1. I learned to surround myself with positive people
2. I learned that though I do like to interact with all kinds of people, there are some that you should stay out of arm’s reach from. I still have childhood friends that I would still like to keep in touch with but it’s very difficult because they are still doing drugs, and I can see their mental deterioration and altered personalities and we have gone two ways. We used to be able to have fun and joke around but now it’s very awkward around them, so it’s best for me to stay away from those people.

As an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

In the video below, Jonathan assumes the role of invisible mentor and give us some advice he thinks is important. Watch the short video and let me know what you think.

Jonathan Wong Assumes the Role of Invisible Mentor from Avil Beckford on Vimeo.

What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

I would like to say that I do not have any regrets, but there are a couple of things that I’ve gone through. I was involved with a woman not too long ago, and we were together for a few months but I realized that I did not want to be with her so I ended the relationship. Shortly after that I discovered that she was pregnant and she gave me the option of being with her and the child and I freaked out because I was young and didn’t have a job. I also told her that I didn’t want to be with her. After about a week later I came to my senses and I told her that I wanted to help raise my child, and by that time she didn’t want to have anything to do with me. I regret that I do not get to spend a lot of time with my child and when I get visitation it’s not for a long time.

What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

1. Always be active, to be in good physical shape is very important
2. Always be assertive and that doesn’t mean that you go for every opportunity that comes your way, but you should certainly investigate them to determine if they are right for you
3. Cherish your family and do not allow anything to come between you and them. Resolve whatever issues you have and get your ego out of the way. Also learn how to apologize and things will work themselves out
4. Learn to slow down and appreciate life, even doing something as simple as watching the sunrise or sunset, watching the trees shape sun rays as they sway in the wind can bring you serenity
5. It’s important co-operate with others in the workplace

When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

I play cards, video and board games, hang out with friends and sometimes I grab a ball and play catch outside.

What process do you use to generate great ideas?

When I was younger I used to listen to music and that would help with my sketching and painting. What I felt from listening to the music came out on the paper.

What’s your favourite quotation and why?

I got into trouble when I was eighteen and there were two characters involved in that incident. When I was in the detention center, my mother came to visit me and she told me that “The truth shall set you free.” And after that, I could not, not tell the truth. I stopped doing a lot of things and I couldn’t stand there and not open the doors for others. That was a very powerful phrase for me.

How do you define success?

Success is something that you attain and it’s not always through wealth. I also think that as long as you are happy in what you are doing, making enough money to put food on the table, and take out your partner once in a while, you are successful.

In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Be hardworking, make sound decisions and research what you are going to do and think about how you are going to approach things.

If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

There is only one person that I’d like to meet and that’s my younger self. So if I could go back into my past, I would like to talk to myself. I was a very shy child, and I came out of it when I was in Junior High, so I would tell him not to be afraid and that everything would be okay, and that whatever was troubling him, he should not worry about it. And I would try to bring him out of his shyness. I think that my past reflects my future so if I could have gotten to him earlier I would be a different person now, and also more of a go-getter.

What excites you about life?

The future excites me about life, not knowing what’s going to happen. Life is like a strategic game, you set something up, and you take different paths and it’s exciting not knowing where you’ll end up.

If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for? Or, if I gave you a magic wand, what would you use it for?

I would wish for wellness and happiness because I think that those are two very important things.

Complete the following, I am happy when…..

I’m surrounded by loved one and friends.

What are five takeaways from Jonathan’s interview?

Lessons

1. There is truth to the adage, “Show me your company and I’ll tell you who you are,” so be careful who you let into your sphere of influence.
2. No one is perfect and we’ll forever make mistakes, but the trick is to learn from our mistakes.
3. Explore opportunities that come your way to determine if the fit is right for you.
4. Cherish your friends and family.
5. True success isn’t about money.
6. Take time to enjoy life

Another lesson I gleaned from Jonathan’s interview is beautifully summarized in the poem Autobiography in Five Short Chapters by Portia Nelson.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS

by Portia Nelson

I

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost … I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes me forever to find a way out.

II

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place
but, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

III

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in … it’s a habit.
my eyes are open
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

IV

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

V

I walk down another street.

Portia Nelson, 1920 – 2001, There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk

Please keep the conversation flowing, click on the comment link below and leave a note for me. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

For your research and writing needs, consider my firm Ambeck Enterprise for white papers, articles, fact sheets, anniversary booklets, you name it. Since I am the best kept secret you may not know this, but I have over 15 years research and writing experience. I KNOW content. And if you cannot figure out which books to read for professional development, I am your WOMAN. I can assist you with that too. Visit my sales page for resources such as The Invisible Mentor Toolkit to assist you in acquiring wisdom from a distance. For free white papers click here.

Related Posts

Learning from our Mistakes, Or Not

This week I present Carolyn Barber and as usual the interview will be in two parts. I have known Carolyn for about 13 years, but I learned things that I didn’t know about her while interviewing her. Think back to a time when you made a drastic change in your life, what happened to trigger that change?

Can you imagine being on a flight and told that there is a possibility that the plane will crash because the landing gear isn’t functioning? Carolyn was on such a flight, and nearly the entire flight, the passengers were going through crash landing drills. Some passengers felt they had lived a good life so dying would be okay, others were terrified and crying. Carolyn didn’t think they were going to die, but it made her think  about her life, and she realized that she would have to make drastic changes.

She was given a second chance, and she decided that she didn’t like her job, so she made a plan, and a year later she took early retirement , retrained and started a new career which she is still doing. Using Carolyn as an example, it’s never too late to try new things.

Carolyn talks about mentoring in the video below. I am experimenting and it’s a bit dark but you can hear what she says.

Interview With Carolyn Barber from Avil Beckford on Vimeo.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I am a 70-year old, single woman living in Riverdale, Toronto. I have a part-time business in nutritional counseling that I started when I was 62 after retiring early as a nutritionist in public health. My career is a fairly important to me and it takes up a couple of days of my life. I am quite involved with my church and it’s a big part of my life and friendships. And perhaps the main reason for me being at the church is the community that it offers to me aside from the spiritual aspect which would be secondary for me. My family of three kids and four grandchildren are also really important to me. I am also a very active person. My favourite outdoor activities are camping and canoeing together. I also like biking and hiking, and for indoors, my passion is cooking. I am quite interested in the art scene in Toronto: opera, theatre, and music of various sorts such as the Toronto Consort. I keep quite busy.

What’s a typical day like for you?

I do not have many typical days, I try to keep Mondays and Tuesdays for my business so I am often up around 7:00, 7:30 am. I use an auto share car to get to a Mississauga rehab clinic where I do nutritional counseling. After that I see private clients in my home. In the evenings I am often on the phone inviting friends to come over for dinner.

How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

I think that a lot of my motivation comes from being active, keeping fit, going to the gym frequently, hiking and biking. I seem to naturally feel motivated in all aspects of my life, and my family and social life helps me to stay on track and the motivation just is there for me. It isn’t so often a problem.

If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

I would have paid more attention to my unique interests in my work and even in my home life. I would have looked at the things that I like to do and treasure, honor and explore them more. I think your passions lead you deeper into activities.

What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

Working with my clients I get very excited about nutrition, and I was amazed that I still maintain my passion for nutrition. Many times when I woke up in the mornings I thought for sure that my passion was gone, that I was no longer keen, but when I start talking to a client I have that interest again and I’m finding that stays with me which is a surprise and like a discovery.

What’s one of the biggest advances in your industry over the past five years?

There is a lot of new research into holistic, alternative, complementary nutrition. It’s finding its way into the mainstream and that’s affecting my business, it’s improving my business.

What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

1. Age is a threat to how I handle my business and what I’d do in my business. I already see that my interests and passions change and my energy changes so I have to change with that. Age very much affects my life at this point in terms of what I would do in the later stage of my career.
2. How much money I have is another threat. Lack of money drove me into a career when most people would have stopped, and because I still need to look for money I have to find creative ways to get it. A lack of money has actually been a bonus to me because it helped me to move ahead.

What’s unique about the service that you provide?

I am a registered dietitian but I have training in complementary nutrition. There are very few dieticians in Toronto who have that training.

What do you observe most people in your field doing badly that you think you do well?

I think that dietitians are not paying enough attention to the alternative stream, the complementary stream of nutrition, and I think that they are missing the boat because that’s where the clientele is going. I wouldn’t say they are doing something badly, but they are not using their full skills and they are not benefiting the clients as much as they could. I feel that I have an edge there.

Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it.

When I retired early from Public Health I had no form of income and I had to find something,  and how I resolved it was by really writing and reading books which I will talk about later. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron is a book that I’d recommend because it helps you to see who you are, honor who you are, and you get to see your entire self, your longings. Out of that process I got a notebook and wrote down the things that I wanted to explore, and I kept making lists and checking them off and forcing myself to do one thing every day and keep working away until a path emerged.

What lessons did you learn in the process?

1. Pay attention to the things that interests you, that excites you
2. Build on your strengths instead of thinking I’ll start a completely different career because the other one didn’t completely meet my needs
3. Plug away

Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

I didn’t necessarily have one big break. Changing my career to me was a break and I’ve talked about that. But a recent break that I had was when I started working in the insurance field doing independent examination for nutrition claims, and that really happened through a chance piece of work that I got, and me researching what other opportunities were in that field.

Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?

I would say that as a manager at Public Health, I didn’t feel that I excelled at being a manager.  I am not a very social person though I am great at one-to-one interactions. I got out of that because I thought that wasn’t my niche. And I ended up doing something that I like much better.

What has been your biggest disappointment in your life – and what are you doing to prevent its reoccurrence?

Not having a male partner in my life has been my biggest disappointment. It’s something that I think about every day. I keep working at meeting people. My husband died when I was 35 and I have not really had any long-term relationships since then except for a four-year relationship.

What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

I have never found any decision that was so difficult to make. They seem to just come to me. It’s quite natural for me to make decisions and I cannot think of any decisions that I really had to agonize over, but one would probably be to stop my work in public health. That happened when I was on a flight back from Newfoundland and there was danger that the flight was going to crash, luckily we landed up okay. But during that time I had some very difficult emotional times and I felt that I wasn’t getting everything that I needed out of my life and I had to make changes.

I started to think this isn’t the end of my life, I am not happy, and I had to change. So the next year I set my plan into motion and left Public Health.

What are three events that helped to shape your life?

1. The plane I was on nearly crashed
2. My husband died when we were both young, in our thirties. He was a dominant person so I had to really learn to handle everything after his death, which I had previously unlearned
3. I grew up on a farm, which influenced my life in that I always saw myself as a working class person, and from that background I never saw myself as an elite and I was never comfortable in that environment. The way I was brought up was to be a good person, and it wasn’t about being the best you could be or be a success. So I was never taught that, “you must do your very best, I know that you are going to be something great.”  Sometimes when I have thought that I am doing really well here, I would often tone myself down and think “don’t think you are so smart.” I think that aspect of my upbringing has been a detriment to me at certain times, and a conflict

What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

Starting my business and going back to school at age 61

How did mentors influence your life?

I do not have a sense of many mentors in my life. I feel as if I have done a lot of things on my own. Obviously in talking to friends, I must have used them as sounding boards, but I was mostly on my own. In my recent years, there have been certain nutrition people who I look up to, and take the courses that they offer. Aileen Burford-Mason, a nutritionist is someone who I consider to be a mentor.

What are five takeaways from Carolyn’s interview?

Please keep the conversation flowing, click on the comment link below and leave a note for me. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

For your research and writing needs, consider my firm Ambeck Enterprise for white papers, articles, fact sheets, anniversary booklets, you name it. Since I am the best kept secret you may not know this, but I have over 15 years research and writing experience. I KNOW content. And if you cannot figure out which books to read for professional development, I am your WOMAN. I can assist you with that too. Visit my sales page for resources such as The Invisible Mentor Toolkit to assist you in acquiring wisdom from a distance. For free white papers click here.

You are smarter than you think, and you have a lot more to contribute than you think.  Today, instead of an interview, I will post some of the interview questions for you to answer. The questions make you think, but you’ll find it very worthwhile going through the process.

Next week I’ll present Nathalie Lussier’s interview. It’s the first time I have ever interviewed someone so young, she is 24 years old, but we’ll all learn from her. You can email me (email address found on contact page of this blog) your interview responses and I will feature them on this blog.

1. How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?
2. If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?
3. What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?
4. What’s unique about the service that you provide?
5. Tell me about your big break and who gave you.
6. Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?
7. What has been your biggest disappointment in your life – and what are you doing to prevent its reoccurrence?
8. What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?
9. What are three events that helped to shape your life?
10. What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?
11. How did mentors influence your life?
12. What’s one core message you received from your mentors?
13. How do you integrate your personal and professional life?
14. What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?
15. What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?
16. What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?
17. What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?
18. If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?
19. Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply? Did you have an emotional or intellectual attachment to this book? Why?
20. If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

What are your thoughts about the questions? Keep the conversation flowing, please comment. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed.

For your research and writing needs, consider my firm Ambeck Enterprise for white papers, articles, fact sheets, anniversary booklets, you name it. Since I am the best kept secret you may not know this, but I have over 15 years research and writing experience. I KNOW content. And if you cannot figure out which books to read for professional development, I am your WOMAN. I can assist you with that too. Visit my sales page for resources such as The Invisible Mentor Toolkit to assist you in acquiring wisdom from a distance.

Today and tomorrow we present Paul Copcutt’s interview. Are you noticing any similarities in the interviews that you read here? If you were asked what are three threats to your business, how would you answer? What are three events that shaped your life? For Paul, it was (1) The death of his mother and sister when he was seven years old, (2) Taking a job at a biotech firm as a National Sales Manager without any medical experience and (3) Marrying his wife. If you were to respond to the questions, would any of  your answers be similar Paul’s?

Tell me a little bit about yourself. Tell me a little bit about your company and where the idea for your business came from?

Paul Copcutt, a transported Brit, I came to Canada in 1996 with the biotech company I was working with to follow a Canadian and convince her to marry me. I started my company Square Peg in 2004 as a recruitment company but always with the intention of doing something more involving personal branding because what I had been doing in a corporate career was personal branding there was just not the name for it.  Now that is all I do, personal branding for individuals, inside corporations and speaking on the topic.

What’s a typical day like for you?

I run a home based business, so once the family is getting on with their day is when mine starts professionally. This will involve talking to clients on the phone, using the technology of the internet to connect and stay in touch. If I am out meeting clients or speaking, a day can start early and be a long one depending on location, travel etc.

How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

My main motivation is that everyone should have the opportunity to understand personal branding and see if it applies to them. My purpose is to spread that message to as many people as possible. Also I love to connect with others. My colleagues and connections become my virtual watercooler. I am in two mastermind groups and we help and hold each other accountable.

If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

The journey I have had to this point makes me who I am, I don’t know that doing it differently would have resulted in the same outcomes, so I hesitate in saying what I would do differently.

What’s the most important business (or other) discovery you’ve made in the past year?

That my biggest strength is spreading the message to many versus converting people one at a time and modestly I am actually very good at it.

What’s one of the biggest advances in your industry over the past five years?

The speed of the internet and the developing technologies that stem from that. Now people see the need to manage their personal brands because of the impact of social media and online brands.

What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

1. Remaining focused – belief that what I am doing now is right and resisting the temptation to look at another direction just because things may not be happening fast enough. 2. Too much noise, not enough substance – there are a lot of people now talking about personal branding but to be honest that is all it is. There are very few people who are actually doing something everyday in terms of helping people define and develop their personal brands. 3. Bright shiny objects – trying too many new things can be a distraction. I am a catalyst and starter, but not a finisher, so new ideas and so on are a big attraction but also distraction.

What’s unique about the service that you provide?

I inspire people to take action with regards to their personal brands by sharing personal information and examples and practical solutions. There does not have to be smoke and mirrors to make this happen.

What do you observe most people in your field doing badly that you think you do well?

I do not think that most people in my field who are actually working with people on their personal brands are doing it badly. It is more those that talk about personal brands as the solution to online branding but fail to get the foundation offline established first.

Describe a major business (or other) challenge you had and how you resolved it.

Charging by the hour you reach a limit – either in number of hours you can work or fees you can charge – or both. I stopped charging by the hour or month for my services and went to a project based model.  Researched value based fees models and created proposals and marketing materials around talking about value and outcomes versus hours worked.  I now have only one client who pays by the hour and that is an arrangement through a partner and not my contract.

What lessons did you learn in the process?

People are receptive to a project based fee model for consulting and coaching. It makes you focus more on the outcomes and creates a much better relationship with clients because you both have interest in getting results versus just delivering a program.  Clients call on me when they need to not when they need to pay for it.

Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

My first ever client for my own business. I had made the decision to leave my previous employer and had no actual business to take with me. That first client gave me the opportunity to prove myself and became a significant client for my first 2-3 years of business.

Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?

First ever job that required me to sell a service instead of a product. At the time I was not ready, I could not relate to selling an intangible and within 3 months I had left the company. The next time I went to sell a service a few years later I knew what was expected and needed and although it still took me some time to get good at, it eventually set me up for what I do now.

What has been your biggest disappointment in your life and what are you doing to prevent its reoccurrence?

To varying degrees I still get disappointments – the contracts or pieces of work you expect to get but don’t. I try to learn from every experience and even ask the question “Is there something I could have done differently?” and take that to the next experience.

What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

Moving to Canada with all my family still in the UK. I knew deep down it was the right move, and Canada has offered me so many opportunities as well as a wonderfully supportive wife and two great children. Not sure if I ever would have started my own business back in the UK.

What are three events that helped to shape your life?

1. Loss of my mother and sister when I was 7 years old.
2. Taking a job as a National Sales Manager for a biotech company without any medical qualifications.
3. Marrying my wife.

What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

My two children.

How did mentors influence your life?

There are probably three people, apart from my father, who have influenced my life.  My first ever boss when I had a part time retail sales position. He said, “You are never bigger than the customer and the customer is never bigger than you.”

The owner of the first recruitment company I worked for who let me learn from my own mistakes and was okay with my learning the lessons even if it meant we lost the business.

And my boss when I first became a manager, who always challenged me to have at least two options to any decision.

What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

See above

Which resources (books, movies, training etc.) did your mentors recommend to you?

The most influential training I received was the Wilson Learning Social Style program over 20 years ago and is still something I use now.  I am constantly looking for new resources, books and probably seek out opinions from many places to find these, but I have never found anything to replace that program.

As an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

Be yourself, be truthful. Stick to your values and beliefs and it’s okay to say no sometimes.

What nuggets of wisdom have you gleaned from Paul’s interview? How might you apply his responses to your situation.

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