I love to share stories of students who have little hands on experience or industry experience but still decide to study hard. They pass the exam and it comes as no surprise to me that they get a job.
Here is a note from Brian Cleary who wrote to me this week and did just that. I want his story to give you the belief you need that if you put the work in you will get the result.
I know others will argue that experience counts and of course it does count for a lot.
But let’s not veer too far towards the argument that you are more employable if you have a relevant certification. There are so many benefit to employers to recruiting certified engineers including: Read more…
This post is about how many times you can expect to have to attempt a thing before achieving success. And the magic
number is 100.
Take my friend who had a manuscript for a book and was trying to find a publisher. 99 said no and number 100 said yes. He has published over 30 books since and produced 2 movies.
JK Rowling had her book ‘Harry Potter’ rejected 100 times.
I had to make 100 calls before I landed a lucrative training deal with a government department.
Most people want a pay rise.
One recurring theme we see in the media is employees demanding more pay. The question we need to ask ourselves of course is what have we done to deserve the pay rise? The following aren’t reasons for an increase in pay:
What do you think is the most valuable skill to employers after your technical ability?
Sure, teamwork is great, hard work, presentation skills and so on. There is one skill though which will always be at a premium and make you an invaluable resource.
The ability to listen without interrupting others.
I talk a lot about networking with other people on this site, mainly in the training videos.
Networking is the best way to get a job or contract because of the sheer power of work of mouth marketing.
Now Imagine you get to meet or even bump into somebody who runs an IT department and they are interesting in speaking to you again. At the end of the conversation they ask for your business card. What would you say?
Unless you are working for Google – people at your work will usually wear smart dress if they are customer facing. 
This is great news if you hate to dress smart and IT people in particular love to wear their jeans and tee shirts with amusing slogans on.
Here is where you can become unstuck though.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
If your strategy isn’t working then change it!
Don’t do more of it. Don’t do less of it.
Stop doing it and make changes.
