Nice CV Mr Hendrix, But Are You Experienced

I was hanging out on Facebook the other day and caught the picture below on Theories of the misunderstanding of things page. After I had finished laughing I thought about the very real problem job candidates face when being interviewed.

The key issue is that many candidates go into the job hunting process with a begging bowl attitude almost begging for a job. Have you ever been face with a desperate over eager sales person? If you have then you will understand how badly this comes across and how unlikely you are to buy from this person. Job candidates come across in the same fashion.

NLP Techniques, Reframing Experience

Imagine a sales person that instead of bombarding you with statements about how great their product is; they take the time to understand your needs. They then go on to link your needs to how their product could solve those needs. They negotiate intelligently and are prepared to walk away if the deal doesn’t suit both parties.

In a job interview situation this is reflected by the candidate walking in with an air of confidence, presenting their experience and linking it to the role they are applying for. The ideal candidate understands that the interview is not about them, it is about the company’s needs and how they can fulfil that need.

Usually when I say these things some people normally start saying things like, “But you aren’t in control of the interview and all you can do is answer the questions that are asked of you.”

I normally respond by suggesting that as an interview candidate it is your responsibility to be in control of the conversation. Whilst the standard form for an interview has the majority of the questions being asked of the interview candidate it shouldn’t stop the candidate being in complete control of the situation.

I am suggesting that the interview candidate should have done several things prior to the interview.

Firstly the candidate needs to set up their CV or Resume so that they already know what questions should be asked and what experience they will be presenting back to the company. This experience should be based on the company values, the job criteria and benefit statements that meet the company needs.

For example if your last job was a pizza topping designer and you are looking for a job as a brain surgeon you need to explain how the precision hand eye coordination of placing toppings on a pizza relate to making precise cuts with a scalpel that a brain surgeon makes. If Jimi Hendrix were going for a management position he might link his skills as a performer to captivating and selling the vision to his team.

Using Questions to Present Your Experience

Once you can do this all you need is to have an answer formula that allows you to relate the question to your experience and forces the interviewer to see you as a successful applicant that is doing a great job for the company. The more you can get the interviewer to see you this way the better success you will have.

Obviously this takes a little bit of practice and the reality is spending half an hour for the next week practicing this way of answering questions will inevitably end up with you achieving your dream job. If you need more information the whole process is laid out in a step by step process in the NLP CV Writing and Interview Skills course. Here is what Raymond had to say about it:

You can click through and get a copy of the course right here

Many hypnotists and NLPers shotgun clever and fancy language patterns at people thinking that this will create a trance effect. Often it does but it doesn’t always create the result that you want. Using some really simple ideas you can make any document hypnotically compelling.

The example below is in the context of Job Hunting and using a CV or Resume. You will see as we go through the example that it is the thinking and the sequence that makes the document compelling. Some fancy language patterns may add to the effect but the patterns without the thinking is only of limited use.

Here is an email I received giving you an insight into what can be achieved with a CV.

Asking the Right Questions

Recently there has been a rash of jokey, bad CVs on the internet. Whilst they are quite funny you can also see that they have a cynical and frustrated mindset of what and how CV and Resumes are used. A quick Google search will find you a whole rash of misinformation about what these documents are and how they should be used. Asking yourself the right questions will yield you better results. Let me explain by way of demonstration.

What do I want my CV or Resume to do for me?

Normally people leap straight for questions like what should a CV / Resume look like, what should it contain and how do you write one? Another couple of supplementary questions that people usually ask is what is the difference between a CV and a Resume and which should I use?

I think a much more intelligent place to start is to look at what result you want from the CV or Resume. Obviously I would ideally like the document to get me the job, but that is not the normal process so I would settle for the document to get me an interview.

If you start from this approach all the other questions become more straightforward because all you are looking for is a layout and content that leads to getting the interview. All of a sudden I am no longer interested in the difference between the two, any technical definition of what they are or how people think they should lay them out. All I am interested in is does the layout and content support getting me an interview.

I spent three years researching every aspect of job hunting so I have extra information that many people would not have necessarily thought through about how you can use your CV or Resume. If we start from your aim for the document is to get an interview there are a couple of extra things you can use your CV for. You could use your CV or Resume to set up certain interview questions – or more specifically certain interview answers that reframe your interviewer’s beliefs, set aside their fears as well develop confidence in you as the ideal candidate. But for the moment let’s stick with some foundations.

The Anatomy of a Good CV or Resume

So now that we know what the document is for we should think about how it is laid out. Let us assume a worst case scenario. There is only one position available, there are over one hundred applicants and the recruiter has thirty minutes to draw up a list of five people to interview.

Given that case I suspect any interviewer will spend only a few seconds on each CV. In those few seconds the CV has to catch their attention and display something that will convince the recruiter to put you on the must interview pile.

A good CV or Resume should have a way of leading the eyes of the reader to a point that is filled with statements that match you with the company values and the job specification. Imagine what happens to recruiters when they see your CV and instantly see a section that matches you exactly to the job and the company. They would be almost compelled to look further.

There are many ways of laying out CV’s and Resumes but I would always use one that has a personal profile, mission or objective box that stands out on the front page. I would then fill it full of statements that match me exactly to the company and to the job specification.

Developing your professional experience

The most obvious thing for the recruiter to do would be to look further into the CV or Resume to see how you support the statements you made in your personal profile. Imagine what then happens to the recruiter when they are faced with a list of key achievements that directly link your experiences to what the company is trying to achieve.

I am amazed at how many CVs and Resumes end up as a list of jobs people have done and what the main duties were. When you think about the purpose of a CV or Resume does a list of jobs and duties fulfil that purpose?

Imagine now that you have reworked your CV or Resume to list key achievements you have had in your professional career. And imagine that you have linked those key achievements specifically to the job or the company that you are applying for.

The recruiter is going to go through a sequence that starts with them scanning standard CVs and Resumes. When they get to yours the recruiter will see a profile box stuffed with statements that link you directly to the job you are applying for. After stopping them dead in their tracks they next thing they will do is read deeper in to your CV where they will find a whole bunch of key achievements from your professional experience that link you directly to the job.

Depending on how well you do this the recruiter is almost compelled to call you in for an interview. And depending on how well you have set up your CV or Resume, you may well have set up the questions and answers you will give during interview. By making direct links between your CV / Resume to the role and to the company values during the interview will make you come over as even more compelling.

How easy is it to write a CV or Resume in this way?

This is not a normal way of thinking about Job Hunting. Just spend some time on Google and you will discover a whole load of well-meaning but low level information and misinformation about how to write good CVs and Resumes.

The reality is once you have uncovered the common misconceptions about job hunting and you have your head firmly wrapped around a sensible job hunting attitude a lot of the ideas will flow naturally. And I have a template for CV’s and Resumes where you just need to put in your qualifications and experiences and your new, hypnotically compelling CV / Resume is done.

I recommend that people spend as much time as it takes to get this right and then you spend time regularly keeping it up to date. This may seem like some effort but when you consider that it will get you your ideal job and when you are ready to move on it will be there as a platform to launch yourself from. If you want to find out more about how you can develop these ideas then click through and read more here

Reshaping Reality Using Hypnotic Language

One of the great things about language is that we can use it to frame our reality. Imagine how great a persuasion tool you have if just by the very words that you use you reshape reality around you. I suspect some readers won’t believe that it makes sense, it is possible or that it is easy to do. In this video you will see me doing it as part of teaching a bunch of student how to do it.

This video is almost an hour and half long and this is just the start of the material we discuss. You can imagine just how powerful the rest of it is. If you want an opportunity to see the rest of the video keep an eye on this article page or sign up to my list. I will be releasing details on how you can get a copy in the next few days.

Persuasion Skills on Steroids Deconstructed

Alternatively if you want to start studying how you can apply these concepts to everyday persuasion situations then click through and find out more here.

NLP Techniques for the Impatient

I have been studying Hypnosis, Accelerated Learning and related topics including NLP since I was fifteen years old. I was a really impatient teenager and wanted to learn everything fast, in double quick time. I have not got any less patience as I have got older. When I started getting into the whole coaching malarkey I wanted a system where I could assist a client to make dramatic changes instantly. The vision I had in my head was a client would come in with a presenting problem and leave after a short session having made dramatic changes. NLP is great for this sort of thing. And having that sort of mindset I spent a lot of time developing techniques to really create fast changes with clients. But as my experience grew I discovered that a lot of deep changes can be made with people easily if they didn’t know it was happening.

People are Invested in their Problems

Reading that headline and thinking about the statement will be enough for you to recognise how true this is. Because people can never truly see anything except through their own eyes it makes them feel like their problems are bigger, better and more deep seated than anyone else’s. This is the root of all the “man flu” issues. We also know that the reality is a little different and having a different view on the problem is what keeps it in perspective. Using this idea I developed a whole slew of techniques where I would covertly blow out the problem conversationally.

Destroying My Coaching Business

Prospects would phone be and I would start with something like this; “Before we agree to work together I would like to ask you some questions to find out if you and your problem are a suitable for my approach.” I would then under the guise of assessing their suitability start working on the problem. Most of the time it would take me a few minutes of chatting and asking questions to take the problem away from them. I would then find out that they didn’t feel the need to book my coaching services. At one point I got so desperate that I would still blow people’s problems out (I just couldn’t help myself) but then I would try to put just a little bit of it back so they would book a coaching session with me. But as I got better and I developed more techniques I found I got more dramatic results in shorter time. And I enjoy watching people with deep seated problems that they have had for a long time notice that the problem has suddenly vanished. And I love developing these processes. The truth is it doesn’t always work and some stuff need / takes time to work on. But those were never the clients I wanted except when I was working on another way of accelerating the process. Eventually I got to the point where I am today where I take on just a few coaching clients for the practice and joy of working with them or if they have interesting problems. But most of the time I am busy with other things.

And then the Phone Rang

Every now and again I would answer the phone to someone that wants some help and I would forget that I don’t really do this stuff anymore and I would get really curious about their problem to the point where they will just blow it out completely. This happened to me last month and I asked Jane (name changed for anonymity) to briefly write up the experience from her perspective:

How do I spend my time now?

So having developed tools and techniques that covertly blow out people’s problems…can you imagine the joy I have when I get the opportunity to do some of this stuff with a random stranger in a pub?.. I teach people how to do this sort of thing. Here are some of the ways some of my students are using the tools and techniques I have developed:

• Teachers and trainers are blowing out the fear of failure in groups of students
• Coaches, therapists and change workers taking out the presenting problems before they “start” their session
• Job Seekers reframe the holes in their qualifications and experience as key strengths
• Sales professionals undercutting objections and creating better buying opportunities
• Parents developing self-esteem and confidence in their children just by asking how their day went

Right here is a short interview from Carol Seaborne about how she is using these tools and techniques in her practice, her business and her life. Just click through the link in the picture to find out what impact learning these skills has had.     If you want to learn how to develop these skills for yourself then click through and read about the NLP course right here.

 NLP Practitioner Course 2012

During the practitioner course we interviewed the students. I was going through some of the videos when I realised that there is a really valuable exercise in spotting linguistic models for you to try out here. Before watching the video just have a quick scan through the rest of this article so you can see the few bits I have spotted and then see what else you can spot in the language of these students.

Juggling; a Metaphor for Learning

The course is set up to use learning to juggle as a metaphor. But notice how powerfully Annemieke talks about juggling. You can hear how she creates what I would call an inductive pattern for herself. My definition of an inductive pattern can be summarised by the phrase, “Now that I can do this, what else can I do?”

Annemieke goes even further by taking the strategy for learning to juggle, places it over how she has learnt things in the past, and reconstructed her model of learning to take on the new strategy. In fairness she probably did that before the interview but notice her language and you will hear her talking herself through the new strategy.

The course was deliberately structured to overlay this metaphor, but how could you use the same idea in a different context?

One example if you were in sales might be to tell the story of a previous prospect turned client. As part of the story you could detail any common values for the industry and link them to the product as well as take key objections and reframe them.

A teacher for another example might create a story where the hero demonstrates a problem solving strategy and after the telling of the story you might send the class to solve maths problems using the strategy.

Internal Communication

All communication is communication with yourself. Think this through for a second. When you talk to someone you are not actually talking to who they actually are; you are talking to who you think that they are. A simple and obvious example is that you speak differently to a police officer to your best friend, to your mother, a lover a foreign tourist that doesn’t speak your language well.

The fact that you do that means that you are tailoring your language to suit who you think that person is. The reality is that however much you try not to the whole situation is packed full of assumptions that you are making. Hence my statement that all your communication is self-communication. You are only communicating with who you think the other person is.

As you watch the video notice how Billy explains the impact of being able to communicate with himself. The interviewer Ali, runs a great inductive pattern on Billy. My idea of an inductive pattern can be summed up by the phrase, “Now I can do this, What else can I do with it?”

Once Billy explains what he got from the course Ali is straight in with, “…and how is that going to affect the work in the saloon?” She takes Billy’s grand concepts and drives him straight down to the reality of how does this make a difference in your work place.

There are two things you can do with this concept immediately. Firstly; if you change who you think someone is in your head you will change how you communicate with them and their reaction to you will change. This is a more specific, detailed version of a lot of the airy-fairy new age tree hugging philosophy and is a quick way of making your communications more effective. The second thing you can do is keep asking yourself and anyone else variations on the question Ali uses on Billy e.g.

Linguistic Deletions

Notice how Julia starts with, “I think I was always good at this stuff, BUT what I’ve never done is…” The way Julia stresses the “But” suggests to me the revelation is a pretty big one for her which is obviously confirmed by the way she speaks about it a few seconds after.

Also notice how in the space of a few seconds she switches referential index several times. She starts with “I have never done…” moves through “Always ask YOURSELF…” and moves through, “WE talk a lot in counselling…” and then she comes right back to “I’m there” It starts from about 5:12 through to 5:36

Julia’s revelation is about shifting points of view (referential index) and she unconsciously demonstrates a variety of different states in as many seconds via her language. This is a great example of these points of view switching naturally in a conversation.

This is how I use this frame of reference concept. I start by a conversation talking about a personal situation using my “I” frame of reference. You can then move into a “you” frame of reference to give people direct suggestions of what you want them to do. If we need to collaborate then we can look at incorporating some “we” references. But so long as I remember to close it of by going back to the “I” references people rarely notice what happened.

There is a lot more going on

I’ve only picked on a few things that jumped right out at me. There is a whole lot more happening in this video from the way Ali is using Presupositional Questioning and controlling the conversation right through to how Billy connects with what Julia is saying (watch for the head nods).

A great way of practising your skills is to just notice what is happening in unscripted interviews. And of course I win as well because not only do you watch the video on multiple levels, I get to sneakily show you more about the Practitioner Course that we have planned for later in the year.

Here is the video:

And you can find out a lot more about the NLP Practitioner Course that they are talking about when you click through here: