A pen is the perfect prop to focus your presentation In this series of five articles, I cover top tips for delivering a professional, impactful presentation. Let's start with Perfect Presentations Tip 1 – The Pen. It’s interesting how many people like to talk but don’t like to listen to themselves. And how many people don’t know what they sound like. Back in my twenties, I was surprised when I heard myself on someone’s answering machine and realised I sounded like Minnie Mouse on speed. Was my voice really that high and fast? Not long after, evidence emerged that it really was that high when I called for an ambulance and the operator asked me in a gentle voice, “Is your mummy there?” assuming I was far, far younger than my 24 years. I put that assumption down to being in pain and needing an ambulance and moved on. Or so I thought. What I realised over the years is that I had both slowed down the way I speak and lowered my voice. Partly in an attempt to lessen my accent (this was a long time before regional accents were deemed acceptable) and partly to emulate the people I admired at work, most of whom were much older than me. During a group coaching session a few years later, something happened that opened my eyes to how the way we speak can impact our ability to communicate and be understood. There’s nothing quite like being filmed giving a presentation and having to watch it back with a group of (not very supportive) colleagues to open your eyes to the way in which you come across. Surprisingly, it wasn’t my voice that lowered my performance score. That seemed OK. I spoke clearly and time seemed to have dulled the high-pitched edge, but… I waved my hands around. A LOT. So much so that no one focused on what I’d been saying, and all the feedback was about how distracting my hands had been. Clearly, I needed to keep evolving and make some changes. Being me, I researched. I studied body language articles, communication textbooks and then started to look online at successful speakers. I didn’t want to adopt the slightly odd Tony Blair “puppet hands” approach, so I settled instead for a pen. How does that work? Hold a pen loosely with one hand at either end. Don't let go. Your focus stays centred when you’re talking, and you aren’t flinging your energy - or your point - around the room. It works standing or sitting. Genius. Problem solved. I still gesticulate a bit (I am still me, after all), but at least now it tends to be with more emphasis on key points and with more certainty than in my arm-waving days. But, back to voices, I was phone coaching for interviews a few weeks ago and asked my client if he was sitting. Yes, he was. I asked him to stand and try his interview answer again. The difference was immense. Gone was the mumbling, gone was the deflated tone and gone was the monotone delivery. By standing, more air was coming into his lungs, removing the deflated, flat sound. His upright head made his voice clearer and he sounded much more confident. Not sure that he could register the difference, I suggested that he record himself speaking in both poses and he was stunned by the difference. Of course, it’s not always possible to stand on a video call or in a meeting, but we can apply the same principles – shoulders back and down, chest open and head up. All of those acts make a difference. Try it. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re interviewing. As a transition coach, I work with a lot of people now who have been made redundant and are feeling deflated. With each, I go back to a time when they felt confident and get that version of themselves to speak so they can reconnect with their strengths. Once we’ve achieved that, I ask them to record themselves and, for the brave, to film themselves. Like the pen, this simple technique produces incredible results. I’ve worked with very few people who would willingly submit to being filmed or recorded. I understand why, but based on my own experience and the experience of 100s of clients, I try to convince them that they really would benefit from seeing how others see and hear them, and from making a few changes to boost their presence. If you’d like to be more confident at interviews or in presentations, why not try a session of Career Therapy? Click ‘Book a call’ on the website for a free intro call or email me at louise@careertherapy.co.uk Check out my other articles on interviews and presentation tips as well as careers and confidence: You can grow your confidence, 5 steps to building confidence and Want more confidence? Take control. And find more tips in this article on using body language. Why not follow me for more career confidence-boosting tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn Louise Newton Instagram @career_therapy_uk If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support, grounded in years of coaching experience - and real life. Photo by Syed Hussaini on Unsplash

Mentoring is a powerful way to lift others, generate lightbulb moments and share the value of your experience Have you ever met someone you wanted to be? I’m not talking about a pop princess or film star, but a real person, a role model, someone you look at and think ‘I want to be just like you.’ I have. I met her when I was 17. I was a working-class girl at art college in small-town Yorkshire, desperately trying to work out who I was, what I liked, what I wanted to be… and how I was going to get out of where I’d grown up. Finding a role model was a pivotal moment, one where I saw a way to get from where I was to where (I imagined) I wanted to be. Starting art college was an incredible experience. I’d hated secondary school, hated it with a zeal finely-honed over five torturous years. At school, I’d felt trapped, bored, confused, misunderstood and achingly lonely. Then, I went to art college and all of a sudden, things started to make sense. It was, literally as well as emotionally, colourful and bright, a place where I was encouraged to break out of all the boxes the school system had tried to force me into. The first year was good, but the second year was great. It was then that I met my new art history tutor, Louise. We’d probably say now that I was fan-girling, but my awe went far deeper than that. Here was someone I could aspire to be, could emulate. She was bright but humble, confident but a bit awkward, capable but a bit scatty. She wrote notes on art postcards from galleries (how exotic), wore flat shoes and straight skirts (how French) and had bobbed hair (how chic). To my provincial mind, she was the epitome of an interesting, cultured, stylish woman. Her intelligence, her knowledge, her curiosity, her clothes, her manner, her voice… all of it inspired me to do more, be better. I’m sure she saw a young woman starved for new ideas, parched by the sheer need to be taken seriously, hungry to learn and desperate to escape. Through books, films and gallery visits, Louise opened my eyes to a whole world I’d craved but had no idea existed. But, in addition to an education in art and culture, Louise provided development and structure and she pushed me, showing me how to find new ways of looking at things. She went beyond being a role model to be a mentor. An extremely good one. Finding a role model was a pivotal moment, but finding a good mentor was life changing. Louise invested in my development. She gave me her time, ideas and support, but, more than that, she encouraged new directions, challenged my thinking and helped me identify how to move forward. Later on, facing what felt like failure in the first term of my degree and with difficult choices to make, she was my go-to for objective career advice. She helped me make a fundamental shift in my education, which took me from a ‘has some potential’ C-grade student to the holder of postgraduate and first-class degrees, winner of two scholarships and published author. Insight and good advice. Powerful stuff. We lost touch when I went to university for the second time, but I like to think she’d be happy to know she was the guiding force behind my academic success. (I think she’d be amused to learn my look is also influenced by hers, even now). Positive role models, representation and good mentors like Louise are vital in life and at work. They are incredibly powerful, useful and inspiring. Ask a successful person what helped them and I’m sure good mentors will feature in their top three. Good mentors need to be genuine. And skilled. Having had the support and structure I needed to find my path, I’m a huge advocate of mentoring and of modelling the behaviours we want to see in others. Being with people we respect and admire is motivating. It makes us want to do better, be better. It also helps us build resilience and stronger mental health. I’ve used my roles and experience to mentor numerous people, particularly women at the early stages of their careers. I’ve given the same encouragement, support and push to others that I received and it’s hugely rewarding to see the results - and be part of those ‘light bulb’ moments. Role models also work in reverse and awareness of that can also help us make decisions. Later on in my career, in a role I took for the money, status and security, I struggled to find role models and mentors. Not finding anyone I aspired to be – in fact seeing quite the opposite – I realised that a lot of mentoring is done by people who think it’s something they should do to look good and further their own careers. This realisation led me to quit the most lucrative and prestigious job I’d ever had, but it’s a move I’ve never regretted. It was right for me and I made it by using the insights and lessons I’d been given over the years. You can stay where you are and be mediocre or you can find the courage to say you made a wrong choice. Take control. Make a change and do something that excites you, that fuels your curiosity and joy, and pushes you. I’d encourage anyone to think about the value they could add and the life changes they could help create through mentoring. It can be good for others, but it can be great for you. Want to have a positive impact? Be a mentor. If you’d like to explore career mentoring, learn how to be a good mentor or find support to make a career change, why not get in touch to see where a session of Career Therapy with me can take you? Click ‘Book a call’ on the website for a free intro call or email me at louise@careertherapy.co.uk Why not follow me for more career confidence-boosting tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn Louise Newton Instagram @career_therapy_uk If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support, grounded in years of coaching experience - and real life. Check out my other articles on careers and confidence: You can grow your confidence and The power of choosing to be positive. Photo by Skye Studios on Unsplash

Your profile is how you greet your reader. Be welcoming, in a concise, professional way Other than your name and contact details, your profile is the most important part of your CV. If you can’t keep the recruiter/hiring manager’s attention in this brief section, you have lost them and they won’t read the rest of your CV, however fantastic it may be. But how do you make your profile so engaging that they will want to read the rest of your CV? Be concise Your profile is a showcase for you to highlight your alignment to a role - what you do, who you do it for (and where), what you bring (skills, knowledge, capabilities and experience) and how you add value - results you secure, outcomes you generate. Don’t waffle. Use short sentences. Make it easy for the reader to see who you are, what you can do and how you have previously contributed to business success in no more than 4-5 lines. Use third person and be specific, ie, ‘Dedicated and driven Data Analyst with 10 years’ experience providing innovative analytics solutions that drive client decisions’. And no need to use the word ‘profile’ as a title. It wastes space and is obvious. Instead, include a target job title so the reader can immediately see your level and role - and align it to the role you are applying for to show a strong fit. In the past, CV profiles were more concerned with highlighting your professional objective, eg, ‘Looking to develop my career to become Sales Director within the next 5 years.’ This is no longer the case. Your profile is where you highlight who you are, what you have done and what you can offer, to tempt the reader into having a conversation with you. Be relevant Tailor your CV and your profile to the role that you are applying for. You’re not expected to rewrite the whole CV for each role, but as a minimum, you should tailor the profile and the ‘Areas of Expertise’ section with keywords, ie, the top third of the first page. Think of this as the most important real estate on your document. A vital source for relevant keywords is the job ad for the role you are targeting. Of all your CV, the profile especially needs to be relevant to the role you are applying for. Sending out a generic CV to different companies demonstrates a lack of commitment and professionalism that will not get you anywhere. And you might not be found at all if the company is using an applicant tracking system to store and retrieve CVs (more about that and the importance of keywords here). Including your years of experience positions you as the right level and highlighting your key expertise and achievements immediately helps the reader to see if you fit in the role they are recruiting for. Be creative You may be shy and introverted, but your CV needs to sell you at your professional best. Besides, you are not writing about yourself; you are writing about what you can do. And that is based on evidence, not hyperbole. For example, ‘HR Manager with 15 years’ experience helping teams’ may be true, but it doesn’t show you in the best possible light. Whereas, ‘Innovative HR Manager with 15 years’ experience delivering solutions that enhance individual and team performance, and contribute to business success’ communicates the same information, but in a much more engaging way. Remember, the challenge is to keep the recruiter/hiring manager interested enough to want to continue reading the rest of your CV – and invite you for an interview. Be correct It may seem like a minor thing, but make sure your profile, like the rest of your CV, is clear and correctly written and formatted. Research shows that if a recruiter/hiring manager reads your profile and sees a spelling mistake, they likely won’t read on, as it’s an indicator of a lack of professionalism and attention to detail. If spelling is not your strength, use a spell-checking tool or an app like Grammarly, but don't rely on it for all your proofing - get a person to do that. Digital tools won't notice if fonts are different sizes, margins vary, or if some of your bullets have full stops and others don't! Another way If you want to set out your value in more depth, create a 2-3 line overview followed by three concise bullet points that align your expertise to the job description. So, there you go. Be concise. Be relevant. Be creative. Be correct. A lot is riding on your CV, so it's vital to get it right. If you would like help writing or reviewing your profile - or your CV - book a free intro call and let's see how I can help you. Click ‘Book a call’ on the website for a free intro call or email me at louise@careertherapy.co.uk If you'd like to keep learning how to do it yourself, take a look at these other posts: 4 tips for writing a 5 star CV, Why does a CV need to be two pages? and this handy 2025 guide from ITN Business. Why not follow me for more career confidence-boosting tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn Louise Newton Instagram @career_therapy_uk If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support, grounded in years of coaching experience - and real life. Check out my other content on careers and confidence: Lost in keywords? and Time for a CV refresh? Photo by Alison Saeng for Unsplash+

Take control to be more confident Confidence is made up of several parts and one of those parts is control. When you feel more in control, you have more confidence. Want more confidence? Take control. There are things you can control (your thoughts, actions and reactions) and things you can try to influence (other people’s thoughts, actions and reactions) and the rest of the universe that you have no control or influence over, despite your hardest efforts or wishes (the weather, keeping the cat off the kitchen counter, etc). In psychology speak, this is called ‘locus of control’ and describes how we feel about the control of a situation. An internal locus of control is when we feel we have a strong effect on what is happening. An external locus of control is when we perceive that other people or factors are controlling the situation. This idea of how we feel about control (and where it is/who has it) has a strong relationship with confidence. Our confidence understandably grows when we perceive we have control over what is happening. Conversely, that confidence shrinks when we feel like things are happening beyond our control and, even worse, get ‘out of control’. You feel more confident when you have control based on experience, like travelling somewhere new. Once you’ve done it the first time, your confidence grows and the negative naysayers in your head get less airtime. You can’t control the weather or if the train shows up on time, but you can control many other aspects of the journey and feel confident about it. We feel more confident when we are in control because we know what we are doing and what is expected. We know we have the knowledge/skills/resources required by the situation. With different and evolving situations in the workplace, control is something that we may or may not always completely have, or even be close to having. As our confidence is strongly linked to how much we might feel in control of a situation, this locus of control can have a large impact on our approach to a situation and how we feel about it. When we feel that we are capable of changing a situation, we brim with confidence, set a goal and a plan for achieving it, develop strategies, trust ourselves and our methods and remove the doubt that can get in the way of our aims and action. The mental naysayers get zero airtime. But when we place too much emphasis on what we cannot control, we push that locus of control away from us, lose confidence and create a more difficult environment for us to succeed in. We lose belief, we second-guess and we procrastinate. And the naysayers in our head win. Even if we cannot control all aspects of a situation, we can control our reactions to it. “My boss is making me have sleepless nights,” said a client last week. No, they aren’t, thought I. They aren’t at your house poking you with a stick whilst you wriggle about under the duvet. You (client) are allowing your boss to have control over the situation. You are giving up your control because you don’t feel or think you have any choice. And when we probed further, it became clear that part of the wider situation causing the sleepless nights is that the client felt their confidence was being eroded by this person they had handed their control over to. So, how do they take it back? They choose to. If we decide to stop reacting and handing over control, quite simply, we have more control. Give less away = keep more. And that will impact how we see a situation and reframe what is happening. Your confidence can be raised by taking more control. (And limiting air time for the naysayers). Confidence can be changed and working on locus of control is one aspect that I focus on with my clients. The aim is to guide you to see more clearly where you are in the workplace structure and culture, so you can identify and ask for what you want and control the direction that your career is taking. You can’t always change things, but you can change how you react to them – and how you feel and think about them. Shifting your perception of who has control – and taking more control – enables you to feel stronger and increase your confidence, positively impacting your workplace situation and helping you feel happier and more capable at work. It’s work I do with my clients every week and they say it gets results. A session of Career Therapy with me as your coach can help you take control and see where the opportunities are to think, feel and act differently about what is going on around you. Let's explore how with a free intro chat. Click on 'Book a call' anywhere on the website or email me: louise@careertherapy.co.uk And don't forget to check out other posts on Career Therapy Instagram and LinkedIn for more impactful confidence-boosting tips and tools, including this one on how to Grow your confidence and Picking your shine time, What's stopping you? Think about how having just a little more control would feel...and what you'd feel able to do. These tips from Calm on taking control of your life can also help you find balance and build resilience. If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support grounded in years of coaching experience...and real life. Photo on Unsplash

To some degree, we can choose how we experience the world around us and control our response I was browsing the Daily Stoic website and one of the posts talked about stress being a fact of life and that being stressed, feeling stressed, is a choice. There has always been stress, life can be hard and harsh things happen that we have to deal with, but the idea from this post appears to be that we choose whether to feel the stress, to allow it to have power over our minds (and bodies). Things that need doing are a fact of life. My endless lists and crammed calendar clearly show me that. So I looked at my life with the same lens and realised: Overcommitting and feeling overwhelmed is my choice. Despite feeling that being busy is unavoidable, I am the one saying yes, so I feel the need to acknowledge that I am over-committing and making myself feel stressed and overwhelmed. Back to the Stoics – the workload is a stressor, but how I react, how I manage my mental reaction and how I choose my perspective on it is my choice. It sounds harsh because, well, the truth can be hard. And I was living my own (self-made) hard truth. I have ‘over-commitment-itis’, an affliction that causes me stress, results in long hours and makes me cross that I don’t have time to do other (nicer) things. It could also be called 'poor-boundary-itis' or 'can't-help-myself-itis' or even 'I-value-my-time-less-than-others-itis' - all self-generated and not uncommon afflictions, especially in women of my generation. I’ve always loved the thrill of a big event to organise or a problem to solve. I’m energised by mental challenges and delighted by the power of organisation, getting the right things in the right place at the right time to fix something. I love being busy and useful. And needed. I like helping, I like knowing things and being able to do things that help other people. But mostly I like the buzz of busy-ness. Or I did. I stepped out of the ‘rat race’ ten years ago after seven years of trying to be a ‘people person’ in investment banking that wasn't focused on 'people' people and finding myself physically, mentally and emotionally drained. I wanted something different, something MORE. The space to explore and grow, time to read and learn, and opportunities to try new things. And more time to just be, to enjoy the present as much as, if not more than racing to the future and pitting myself against those enticing and increasingly dreaded deadlines. In the intervening years, I realised some of my dreams – I visited Japan, left London for sunnier skies, created a beautiful garden and adopted a dog. I also engineered a complete, successful and enriching career change. And I love my life. I’m surrounded by a life I chose and made real. So, how did I get to the point of feeling burnt out and being drained again? It’s been a phase since last year when I adopted an ‘I can’t go anywhere or do anything because of COVID, so I might as well work’ mentality. And I am aware that I’m very, very fortunate to have work available. In my line of business, it’s capricious, it comes and goes outside my influence, so when it came, I grabbed on with both hands and did not let go. But, many months later, after the adrenaline rush of being über busy has faded, I’m still working 10-hour days, waking up tired and feeling mentally burned out. Why am I choosing this? Because I am choosing it. I'm my own boss, literally and figuratively. Looking out of the office window and realising spring was arriving and my garden would be a beautiful and fulfilling place to spend much, much more time, something needed to change. I needed to change. So, I did something very simple. I stopped. I thought consciously about what I was doing and, more importantly, about why I was doing it. I wrote two notes on very bright, impossible-to-miss paper and stuck them on the sides of my screen – ‘just say no’ and ‘my time is precious’. They worked. Well, I like to tell myself they did. I took them down and showed them to clients to encourage them to take charge of their activities and define – and follow through on – best practice. I certainly put them into action and now intentionally plan my week. Do I slip? Yes. Do I try again. Absolutely. Considering how, when and what to say no to can be a challenging but essential way to improve your productivity and effectiveness in both the workplace and life in general. Remember to give yourself permission and time to reflect on what you’re doing and WHY. And if you have a moment, read this post Taking The Time To Think to help you on the way. And this one on How to Say No. If you’d like help with creating a more stress-free environment while navigating your career path, get in touch. And look at pictures of cute dogs to make you smile. Click ‘Book a call’ on the website for a free intro call or email me at louise@careertherapy.co.uk Why not follow me for more career confidence-boosting tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn Louise Newton Instagram @career_therapy_uk If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support, grounded in years of coaching experience - and real life. Check out my other articles on careers and confidence: Feed your concentration and More thinking less racing. Photo Matthew Henry on Unsplash

Speak up for yourself. If you don't, who will? 'Tell me about yourself' should be a very easy question to answer, but if we don't feel comfortable talking about ourselves, then at an interview or when networking, many of us stumble and either blurt out our life story or recite our CV starting from when we left school. Neither of those is the desired answer! Instead, we want to be communicating our brand and value. So, here is a simple, structured way to answer this question successfully. Let’s think about why the question is asked. Well, it signifies that you are several things: articulate and self-aware can select relevant information to share can communicate information clearly and concisely In addition, the answer gives evidence of achievements and sets the scene to talk further about your strengths and the results you deliver as the conversation develops. Back in 2019, I published a blog on how to approach this question, but many requests for help along the lines of “OK, I get that, but how do I actually write it?’ have come in, so here is a step-by-step guide. What you need to create is a pitch or value proposition that demonstrates what you bring to a role, how you generate results and add value. So, it’s just not about you as a professional, it’s about how you contribute to a business and have impact. There are various formulas you can follow, but this is my go-to and it’s been very successful with clients: Who you are (i.e. role or job title) What you do/cover Two or three of your key strengths A brief example or two of the value you bring/outcomes you generate Whistle-stop career journey/your career foundation What you are looking for in the future That’s it. Almost. You need to do all of that in no more than two minutes. It’s brief and concise, so think of it as just a few sentences. Here’s an example: “I’m a career and transition coach who focuses on helping people identify their strengths and use them to be happier and more productive at work. I do this by using key abilities in listening and asking questions (sometimes tough questions) to challenge clients to think in new ways and move out of their comfort zone. I’m action-focused and partner with clients to set and achieve goals that are both realistic and aspirational and I’ve helped over 200 clients move their careers forward. I’ve changed career twice and that’s what led me to my own practice, which has now been running for 10 years. Looking ahead, I’d like to explore how technology can help me connect with people and coach in new ways.” And this is 44 seconds when I say it out loud. Here’s another example: “I’m a sales strategy leader with over 25 years’ experience shaping the vision and strategy for telecoms and tech providers and translating that into actionable Go-To-Market activity. We operate now with a new type of client base and my key strength is championing new ways of thinking to engage digitally native customers, disrupt market norms and exceed customer expectations. I’m known for my ability to embrace ambiguity and operate in challenging market conditions and I’m recognised for navigating complex organisational structures and creating roadmaps that clearly define how teams and functions will collaborate to move forward and how that will feed into the bigger picture of business strategy. My career foundation was built at TechCorp where I came up through the ranks from computing sales before gaining broader experience in marketing, data and forecasting. I moved into telecoms eight years ago and have enjoyed the challenge of a new sector and have driven the UK business to outperform expectations by 26% over two years. In my next role, I’m keen to see how we can innovate around GTM strategies and transform how we engage with our customer base.” A little longer at 65 seconds but it’s still plenty of information to effectively answer the ‘tell me about yourself’ question and provide a springboard for a deeper conversation. If you need some help identifying your value proposition and putting your pitch together, why not get in touch for a session of Career Therapy? Click on Book a call on the website or email me louise@careertherapy.co.uk Why not follow me for more tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn Louise Newton Instagram @career_therapy_uk And check out this related post on your brand and for a comprehensive intro to developing your personal brand, I highly recommend Susan Chritton's Personal Branding for Dummies. If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter? It is packed full of thoughtful career support grounded in years of coaching experience...and real life. Check out my other content on careers and confidence: How do I talk about myself?, Unlock the Formula for Talking About Yourself with Confidence, Lost Your Voice? We’ll find it together and Are you struggling to talk about yourself? Photo by Alexander Mills on Unsplash

Talking about yourself takes a change in attitude. Use data - it's not boasting if it's true. Tell me about yourself. Seems easy enough to answer, doesn’t it? You know all about yourself, don’t you? Does “Tell me about yourself” make you cringe? That's not unusual, it’s a tricky question to get right – especially when you have limited time to answer and can’t really say: “That’s a big topic, what specifically would you like to know?” There’s also the added pressure that this question can make or break an interview or dictate whether a networking meeting is productive. Unlike a competency or experience-based question at interview, you can’t use STAR or other helpful models to craft a structured answer. Or can you? The answer is…Yes, you can. And you should. The ‘Tell me about yourself’ question really can make or break your connection with an interviewer or contact, so make sure you are prepared. Use these three steps: Step 1 – Focus ‘You’ is a big, fascinating topic. We all have a backstory, unique experiences and events that have shaped who we are and how we come to be where we are. But everything you are and have ever done isn’t needed here. You’ve got 1 minute or maybe 2 to get the main points across and make a positive impression. Use your time wisely. Having a ‘pitch’ or value proposition is how to do it. And an effective pitch starts with a tagline, a personal brand statement that encapsulates what you are and what you have to offer. Mine is ‘I help women in mid-later career be more career confident and trade ambition for enrichment.’ It’s what I do, how I add value and also tells you about the kind of person I am. I coached a recruiter recently and her pitch and CV profile start with ‘I help organisations find great talent.’ It tells you she’s experienced at recruiting and confident in her abilities. But, more than that, it tells you she works in partnership, doing what she does not for her own ego, but to bring great people together to move an organisation forward. Now, while self-belief and confidence are important, stating “I’m amazing” isn’t the way to start. Be more subtle, be a little humble (but not too humble). You may well be utterly amazing (or believe yourself to be) but there’s always room to improve, so weave your fabulousness into your story in more discreet ways. Making sweeping claims of how great you are will not help you build a connection and will turn people off. You’ll just come across as arrogant. And don’t make it all about you. It’s called a value proposition because it’s about how you can add value – by contributing to a business, by helping others, by connecting with people and sharing your knowledge and ideas. Focus on how you do that. Step 2 – Craft Three words to guide you as you set about crafting your PVP: – Relevant, Personal and Positive. Relevant Back to focusing, this time on what the person asking you the question is looking to find out. If it’s a job interview, then focus on the skills and experience in the role description and how you’d be able to add value. Look at the company culture and talk about experience and behaviours that would make you a good fit. Personal You are unique so don’t ‘bland’ that out by playing down your personality, background and experiences too much. An interesting fact about you could be the hook that catches someone’s interest and keeps it. Positive You want to be memorable, but make sure you’re memorable for the right reasons. Be selective and focus on something positive, an event or experience that has shaped your can-do attitude, your ability to empathise or pro-active behaviour. And be honest. Be truthful about how capable you are and why you’re there. We don’t have to be a trained professional to spot lies and bluster and even if we don’t know it, we have an innate ability to know if someone is being authentic or not. Step 3 – Practice (and practice and practice) Do you know how long 60 seconds is? Of course, you do. But do you know how long 60 seconds is when you have to listen to someone who isn’t saying anything that interests you? I recently ran a value proposition writing workshop with a group of internal recruiters and was astonished when they presented the propositions they’d been asked to create. Despite the guideline of 1-2 minutes, they went on and on and on until at 3 minutes, I cut them off. If you can’t articulate your value and capture attention in 30 seconds, it isn’t going to get better after 1 minute, let alone 3. Be concise. Less is definitely more. People can always ask you more questions, or if there’s an awkward silence, just ask “Would you like me to expand on that?” What they’d also not done was listen to what they were saying and how they came across. They’d written their propositions down, crafted them on screen or paper but then not spent any time practising how they sounded. And they all sounded like they were being read off the page. I sent them away and asked them to record and time themselves, to play back their statements and cut the extra words, to tighten their points up, to make sure they sounded natural, confident but humble, authentic and engaging. That worked. They’d got it by the final go-around. There’s a lot to consider when answering the ‘Tell me about yourself…’ question, so if you’d like some help, why not try a session of Career Therapy? It will help you be more confident in articulating your value. Click on Book a call on the website for a free intro call or email me louise@careertherapy.co.uk Why not follow me for more confidence boosting tips, tool and talks: LinkedIn Louise Newton Instagram @career_therapy_uk And here is how to craft your answer to Tell me about yourself. If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support, grounded in years of coaching experience - and real life. Check out my other content on careers and confidence: Tell me about yourself, Tell us why you want to work here and Are you caught in the cringe cycle? Header image by Daria Volkova on Unsplash

Convince your interviewer that you would be a good fit for the team and the business Picture yourself in an interview. You’ve got your CV highlights memorised, your STAR stories ready to roll, your active listening face on and confidence pose in place... and then you get asked one of the two deceptively simple questions most interviewees struggle to answer credibly: Why do you want to work here? Like its partner in interview angst crime, ‘Tell me about yourself', Tell us why you want to work here’ isn’t something you can hope to answer successfully without preparation. So, how do you prepare? Action 1: Memorise these three words and repeat them as your mantra CLEAR - CONCISE - RELEVANT Action 2: Follow these four steps to create a strong structure that will flow and content that will convince: Firstly, talk about the company – focus on two things about why you like the company, its work, its vision for the future, its strategy on X, its approach to Y Next, talk about what you will bring to the role – your experience, insight, skills and expertise - and interest/enthusiasm for the role Then talk about what the role will give you - an opportunity for stretch and growth, space to apply your expertise and innovations in a new setting Close with culture – say something about how you think the role, team and opportunity is a good fit for your skills and experience, but also that the culture of the company also fits with your personal values and career interests It’s a very similar structure to being asked ‘Why do you want this job?’, but in this scenario, you should focus more on steps 2 and 3 and give specific information about the contribution you would make in the role. Write your answer out, read it back and edit, edit, edit until it flows. Say it out loud and practise, practise, practise until it sounds natural (and not overly rehearsed). And check out what not to say to boost your confidence that you are on the right track. And remember, as with any interview question response, you shouldn’t offer an exhaustive list of everything, but a selection of the most relevant points and pertinent information. Clear. Concise. Relevant. If you’d like help drafting your question responses or some coaching to help you polish your interview technique, then why not get in touch? One session of Career Therapy is usually all it takes to show you how you can shine! Click ‘Book a call’ on the website for a free intro call or email me at louise@careertherapy.co.uk Why not follow me for more career confidence-boosting tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn Louise Newton Instagram @career_therapy_uk If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support, grounded in years of coaching experience - and real life. Read more posts on tool and tips for successful interviews. Check out my other content on careers and confidence: Does “Tell me about yourself” make you cringe?, 5 steps to building confidence and Want more confidence? Take control. Photo by Shubham Dhage on Unsplash

CVs are important and I spend a lot of my time writing about them and helping clients to have better ones. However, another vital element of anybody’s professional presence and job search is LinkedIn and if you are going to be on there, then you need to have an effective LinkedIn profile. So here are 11 tips to maximise your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is a primary source of professional connections and jobs 1 - Use an engaging headshot photo It’s easy to take a quick pic with smartphone technology, but putting some more thought into it will get better engagement with viewers. Remember, this will be the first thing that viewers and recruiters see, so make a good first impression and make it count. Using a cropped photo of you at a wedding is not what we are looking for! When you have the photo taken, stand in front of a plain colour background so there is no visual clutter in the shot. Lean against the wall with your shoulder, side on to the camera, fold your arms and tip your chin up a little. Smile. This pose creates shots with energy. When you upload it, centre your face and zoom in - don't hide! 2 - Stand out with a dynamic header image Replace the default grey banner image that LinkedIn gives everyone with a new, more dynamic and engaging one that reflects your industry or professional interests. Or if you can’t think of anything like that, some people like to use an anonymous image like a cityscape. You can download copyright-free images at www.unsplash.com or www.pixabay.com 3 - Update your URL If you still have the default address that LinkedIn give you, namely the one with numbers at the end, change it to a personalised URL without numbers so you are easier to identify. It's also easier to send to people and use as a link. Use underscore and hyphens if your name is already taken. For example, this could be http://www.linkedin.com/in/firstname_lastname or http://www.linkedin.com/in/firstnamelastnamecareercoach 4 - Use your header text space to full effect Optimise your professional presence and showcase your value by using the text below your profile headshot photo to catch the viewer's attention. Include your current job title (if relevant), but focus the text on your targeted role and key attributes to make the most of keywords. Research what’s appropriate for roles that you are targeting. Job ads are a perfect source for these. For example, someone looking for a Sales Manager role could have: Sales Manager | Revenue Optimisation | Leadership | People Management | Closing | Relationship Building Or you could write a dynamic tagline to reflect the value you add and the impact you generate. For example, Sales Manager | Recognised for delivering exponential growth across verticals Either way, for optimal search and readability, use 120 – 160 characters including spaces. 5 - Make the most of your About section One of the most important parts of your LinkedIn profile is the About section, where you get up to 2000 characters of text (2600 on mobile) to sell your professional self to the recruiter and hiring manager. You don’t need to write lots of text, four short paragraphs is a good target to introduce yourself, show what you bring, give a summary of your career story and make a pitch. Make it accessible. Use bullets to highlight key areas where you have impact and/or have secured achievements. Pack in the keywords and remember to close on a call to action. Tell your story using quantifiable results (where possible and keeping in mind privacy issues), which demonstrate what you achieved for the companies that you worked for. Unlike CVs, which are written in third person, write your LinkedIn About section in first person. That way, it’s a much more personal approach to telling your career story and connecting with your reader. 6 - Check dates and job titles on your CV and LinkedIn profile correspond This deserves a separate bullet as I see it five times a day. Your LinkedIn profile and your CV are your branding documents and as such, they need to be consistent, so double-check that the job titles and dates match. It may seem a minor thing, but it looks unprofessional and doesn’t give a good impression if they don’t. Plus, data shows that recruiters don’t like it. And we need to keep them sweet, don’t we? 7 - Use the Featured Media section One of the most recent additions to the LinkedIn profile is Featured Media where you get the chance to highlight projects that you have worked on. You can include all kinds of things, including PDFs, videos, websites, reports, blogs and news articles, so make the most of it and remember to keep content relevant to the roles that you are targeting. 8 - Skills and keywords Ensure you add all of your skills to the Skills section in your LinkedIn profile. Not only do they show what you can do, but they also work as keywords in recruiter searches. You can now have up to 100 (which might feel a bit excessive), but you can easily fill 40+ by the time you have included technical, business and interpersonal skills. Again, job ads are a perfect source for identifying these and remember to include the basics - communication, collaboration, relationship building and so on. As with your CV (which you are of course optimising by using relevant keywords and targeting to each role you apply for), use appropriate keywords in your LinkedIn profile for the industry/role you are targeting and refresh them to keep them relevant. 9 - Get other people’s help You’ve gone to all the trouble of having a dynamic and engaging LinkedIn profile, so give it a chance and put it out there by maximising your LinkedIn connections. Ask them for skill endorsements. And more importantly, ask them for recommendations, which are essentially professional references that will always be on display when someone looks at your LinkedIn profile. These are golden nuggets of evidence to show what a great hire you would be. 10 - Utilise lesser-used sections on your profile Most people focus on the About and the Header sections. However, to optimise your LinkedIn profile, add language skills (including fluency levels) and volunteering to your Accomplishments section. Also, add professional qualifications and online ones, such as LinkedIn Learning, to your Licences and Certifications sections. This gives your profile more depth, variety and also indicates your professional interests and ambition to develop your career. 11 - Grow your presence Be visible on LinkedIn. As with all social media, like, comment, reply, connect and share. Be present. Don’t do what most people do and just ‘be there’. It’s vital that you engage to raise your profile, as the more you interact with LinkedIn, the higher up search results you go. Do you know your stuff? Show it. Help people who could be your future clients, colleagues and employers. Write posts and articles or at least comment on those you share. Get your name and your profile out there and the LinkedIn algorithm will love you all the more and your profile will get more exposure. If you would like help to get the most out of your CV and/or LinkedIn profile, have a look at my other CV and branding blog posts or get in touch for a free intro chat and let's see how we can boost your presence. Click ‘Book a call’ on the website for a free intro call or email me at louise@careertherapy.co.uk Why not follow me for more career confidence-boosting tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn Louise Newton Instagram @career_therapy_uk If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support, grounded in years of coaching experience - and real life. And take a look at my LinkedIn profile - let's connect! Check out my other content on CV Writing: 4 tips for writing a 5 star CV and How to write a CV profile. Cover photo by Souvik Banerjee on Unsplash LinkedIn Icon by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

Lots and lots of 'why' questions help us find out interesting and useful things Why? It’s a powerful question. And the superpower of knowing your why is that it gives you a very strong sense of purpose. I’ve been asking ‘why?’ since I discovered books existed. My thirst for understanding the why of things was endless (to my mother’s annoyance). I remember being particularly perplexed about why an elephant was named ‘elephant’ and why there are different ways to say the same thing. Innate curiosity has at times been a curse. I was often reminded as a child to remember my place and mind my own business because not everyone wants to be questioned or challenged, especially not adults by a curious child who thought she was being helpful. Thankfully, being curious and asking why became one of my superpowers, my primary superpower, in fact. It fuels so much of what I do and why I do it. It drives me to learn, have a growth mindset and help other people do the same through my work as a coach. Many powerful coaching questions start with what – What’s on your mind today? What are you looking to achieve? What are the barriers to achieving that? What do you want instead? What else? But some of my favourites start with why – Why is that important to you? Why do you think that is? Why are you focusing on this? Why not? Why? Because I find they evoke deeper thinking. Why questions create space to look with open curiosity at motivation, assumption, reason and purpose. And they challenge the reactive or automatic things we think and do constantly, without stopping to understand why we do them or how they serve us. Curiosity isn’t just powerful in coaching, as Amanda Lang’s book, The Power of Why, shows. It’s something that can help us ‘overcome long-standing barriers’ so we can be happier and more fulfilled. Simon Sinek has made a career out of starting with Why. Good for him, he is amazing. His why is powerful but kind. Deceptively simple, but highly persuasive. He has this knack of lasering in and voicing what people are thinking and doing so in a way that makes you think, ‘why wouldn’t I?’ So, why are you doing what you are doing? Is it through habit or purpose? Is it because you haven’t thought about it or because you think it will be too hard to change? Why is a good question to be asking ourselves on a frequent basis. It keeps us focused on the important things, acting with intention and doing the things we want to do because we know why we are doing them. If you’d like someone to help you work out why you are where you are and what might be next, or if you’d like to be challenged to step out of your comfort zone (in a gentle but robust way), why not get in touch and see where a session of Career Therapy could take you? Click on Book a call on the website for a free intro call or email me at louise@careertherapy.co.uk Why not follow me for more confidence boosting tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn Louise Newton Instagram @career_therapy_uk You might also be interested in my article on trusting your gut instinct. If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support grounded in years of coaching experience... and real life. Check out my other content on careers and confidence: Know your strengths, Asking good questions and Are you in control? Black question mark photo Arek Socha on Pixabay Orange question mark photo Planet Volumes

Speak up - to yourself - to build confidence and a stronger sense of self “I want to say thank YOU. You have helped me tremendously. I particularly liked the exercise to record myself in front of the mirror!” I recently received this feedback from a happy client. She wasn’t happy a few weeks ago, though. She’d been pummelled in relentless rounds of interviews (12 rounds – I ask you!?) and then didn’t get the job. Worse, they took her ideas and didn’t even say thank you. So, feeling very low, she asked for a pep talk. I encouraged her to reconnect with her most successful self. We talked about moments when she had soared, was full of confidence and had achieved great things. I then asked her to go and talk to that woman in the mirror. She blinked. Then she stared at me. On a roll, I asked her to not only go and talk to that fabulous, happy, successful woman in the mirror, I asked her to record it. And she did. What she found was that my pep talk was helpful. Someone focusing on her strengths, reminding her what she was good at, what she loved. But her conversation with herself was the most powerful. She’d never talked to herself that way. Had never heard what she sounded like when her voice filled with confidence and passion lit up her face. I help all kinds of people with their communication skills – presentations, job interviews, giving feedback – and it’s interesting how many people don’t know what they sound like. And, more so, how many people don’t want to know. But whilst we can be our own greatest critic, we can also be our greatest fan. Self-coaching. Free, simple and very, very powerful. Why not go and try it and boost your career confidence? And if you feel you need a pep talk before or some help practising, then get in touch to start that conversation with your best self. Click ‘Book a call’ on the website for a free intro call or email me at louise@careertherapy.co.uk Why not follow me for more career confidence-boosting tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn Louise Newton Instagram @career_therapy_uk If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support, grounded in years of coaching experience - and real life. Check out my other content on careers and confidence: You can grow your confidence, Discover your motivation, A quick confidence boost, An investment in You and The mirror of confidence. Also see this one by Jim Dunn on self-reflection as a tool for growth. Photo by Alena Jarrett on Unsplash

The grass isn't always greener somewhere else. It's greenest where you water it I’d be happier if… I’ll be happier when… If only I had… It’s easier for them… You’re lucky… We hear these phrases a lot. It appears to be part of the human condition that we envy the lives we think others live, especially now in an age of envy-inducing unrealism seen every day on social media. But if wishes really were horses, then a lot of us (especially after the seemingly endless post-covid confinement) would be saddled up and riding off into our fantasy sunset. Daydreaming about a different life or fantasising about ‘what could be…’ are fine, good even at times when you need to switch off from a difficult situation, but… We have to remember that fantasies are not and rarely will be real. That’s the point of them. At an underwhelming 5’ 2” tall (about 1.58m), I’d LOVE to be taller. I dream of it (often), but it’s NEVER going to happen. I know this but it doesn’t stop me sighing in envy as those with just a few more inches in height look down at me. I don’t think my life would be that much better if I were taller (OK, well I do a bit, I am human after all) and so I don’t let it define my self-worth. It’s taken counselling, time and coaching, but I now live by the idea of: Change what you can change and have the grace to accept the things you can’t. Serenity Prayer (Even if it makes you feel churlish and you need to have a good sulk about it). Why? Because your grass is greener than you think. What I do and encourage others to do is move away from the idea that it’s easier for other people. It’s not. Well, it might be, but struggle is relative, and everyone has their own hills to climb. What I do know to be true is that the grass is not greener over there. The grass is greenest where you water it. Make time to look at the state of the grass where you are. It’s easy to dismiss after our home-bound covid experience where we’ve become overly familiar, bored and dismissive about our situation, craving something (anything) new and more. But try to look at your grass with fresh eyes. What do you appreciate about it? What could you appreciate more? What could you do to make that patch of grass grow and be greener? Maybe once you think about it for a while, the grass might look pretty good already and just needs a feed to freshen it up. If you need help seeing how green your grass is, why not try a session of Career Therapy? I can help you assess where you are and help you sow the seeds you need to make your grass even greener. Click ‘Book a call’ on the website for a free intro call or email me at louise@careertherapy.co.uk Why not follow me for more career confidence-boosting tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn Louise Newton Instagram @career_therapy_uk If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the Career Therapy Newsletter? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support, grounded in years of coaching experience - and real life. Check out my other articles on careers and confidence: Do you have Pro-Fomo (Professional Fear of Missing Out)?, Are you in the right position? and Want more confidence? Take control. Also see this article from Four Thousand Mondays on looking inside before outside to find your green grass. Photo by Ochir-Erdene Oyunmedeg on Unsplash