In the past few years I have been helping women, men and young adults find the position that best suits their needs. My services include:
On choosing a job that’s right for you
I have two credos in this area:
On the first point I believe that any limitation on our abilities is self-imposed. Sometime fear of failure or fear of being rejected paralyzes us, but one small action alone can unleash a string of creative outcomes that proves us to the contrary. I set my mind very high and try not to doubt myself along the way.
On the second I always urge people to stay clear of choices where earning money is the only criteria used. In a culture where material possessions play a large role, it is easy to disconnect with our deeper self and buy into the belief that more money equals happiness. In my experience it is not so and I will encourage you to express your creativity through a job (or a paid hobby) that is in line with your values and with what you like.
On building your resume
We often think of a resume as a list of tasks to be told in chronological order. Just by enumerating our accomplishments, we believe that the prospective employer will want to interview us in no time. It doesn’t work in such a way. A resume should reflect your achievements (quantifiable and what not) AND clearly express how you can help that particular company grow. Employers don’t have the time to connect the dots and realize that, if you have done an amazing job somewhere else—especially if it was in a different field—that those skills alone would guide you to quickly become efficient in your new position. When I applied to become a sales representative for Apple Computer, I was told that ‘I never sold computers, so I couldn’t possibly do it;’ (never mind that I made it to the top 1% of the entire sales force for Xerox within two years of immigrating to the US). My job became that of convincing my prospective managers that the mere skills utilized in my previous job would allow me to speedily acquire the necessary ones in the technical arena.
On interviewing
A good resume will land you an interview, but a good interview will land you a job offer. Most of us think of it (the interview) as a place where we can recite our past doings, and then leave it up to the interviewer to make a decision. To differentiate yourself from the competition you need to be in control of the conversation. What does that mean? It means that you have to ask the questions that will make the employer remember you more than any other candidate. Statistically, people recall 40% of what they say but only 10% of what someone else says. You can activate that 40% by asking questions relevant to his/her needs and how you can help.
My rates:
I charge $85.00 per hour. Usually, two hours are enough to compose an effective resume, and two hours to complete the interviewing process. If you buy five hours upfront (to include help with rehearsing the interview) the rate is $75.00 per hour.
My blog is about all the women who have chosen to compromise their career to raise a family, the women who long to reach their highest potential and express their creativity through the integration of the old self with who we have become after years of identity changes and fragmentation. Click Here
Painted Red is a book I wrote about growing up in an impoverished area of a medieval town in the North of Italy in the '60s and '70s. After my parents split when I turn one, my mother turns me over to an abusive foster family. To escape my daily horrors, I run away at the age of six to my paternal grandparents where I am offered a few years of respite, only to rejoin my mother, who has by then become methamphetamine addicted, a few years later. Painted Red contrasts what people think of Italy today with what it was like to grow up in provincial, narrow-minded towns in Europe at the time.