Frequently Asked Questions

Firstly, thank you for your question.  Secondly, there are actually two questions in your one question.

The first question relates to whether we have the skills, experience and credibility to assist you. 

While you always need to do your own due diligence, CFT has been in successful operation for more than eight years.  Our programs are now used internationally with literally thousands of clients each year from different life-stages.  Additionally, we train career practitioners internationally and accredit graduates in a joint venture with Swinburne University.  We have achieved outstanding success providing career development services to professionals from every industry.  We are confident we can assist you and guarantee our services.  See terms.

The second question is actually a money question - if you spend the money will it get you the result! 

The answer to this is YES.  Remember, you've invested around $50,000 in your education and have struggled to obtain the job opportunities you desire. 

Rather than asking, what is the cost of career planning?  You should be asking, what is the cost of NOT undertaking a career plan?

The fact is that your experience proves that just investing in an education doesn't get you a job.  And every day you are out of work you are losing money on your educational investment - money which you can never make back.

Once again - we are confident we can help you and we guarantee our services as testimony to our ability.

Thank you for your question. 

The money question is at the forefront of many people's minds as they consider their future.  It is interesting that so many people spend more time and money on a two week holiday than they invest in their future career.

Consider for a minute that your career is the biggest investment you will make in your life-time in terms of time (45 Yrs+ in your career) and effort. Your career will also have the biggest impact upon your wealth, happiness and lifestyle.

It makes sense that you also invest some money to get the advice and information that will assist you to feel more satisfied and empowered with your career, receive the remuneration that you desire and achieve the results that you deserve.

Instead of asking what is the cost of career-life information?  You should be asking, what is the cost of career-life ignorance?

Thanks for your question.

The best way to get promotion is to have your manager acknowledge that you deserve promotion. 

To achieve this you need to be producing and keeping a record of the results you are achieving in your role (ensuring they are clearly aligned with your position description). 

Having actual statistics (10% increase in sales), financial results ($150K increase in profit) or objective data (95% customer approval rating) provides clear evidence that you are producing significantly more than you are being paid. 

The pressure is then on for your employer to create the conditions for you to stay.

Thanks for your question.

You are one of many people who invest money for someone to format and type out their resume. 

Sure it looks nice, but for the most part, it won't be effectively selling your unique value proposition into the career path in which you're interested.

To do this effectively, you need to work with an experienced and trained professional who understands your industry and can assist you to articulate the significant experience you have in terms of what your new employer will value.

YES - this takes time and more money - but the result is well worth it.  For each month you are not in your chosen career path is costing you thousands of dollars which you'll never make back.

This is the best way to move your resume to the top of the YES file.  Don't waste time getting your resume re-written - it is costing you money!

Thank you for your question.

You have had a common strategy in the job market.  We call it the "Spray and Pray" strategy!

You've created a generic resume and now you attach it and email it to as many people as you can with the hope that someone will take interest and call you for an interview.

Well - the result you've achieved so far is indicative of how successful this strategy is!

However, your results are NOT indicative of how valuable your skill set is!  You have much to offer - but the skills to obtain employment are different to the skills required in your actual job.

All you need is to improve your job hunting skills. 

So give up the Spray and Pray strategy and:

1. invest time identifying what type of work you actually want
2. invest energy identifying your unique skill sets and achievements aligned with this work
3. invest thought writing a well considered resume and application
4. invest time identifying preferred employers (with actual contacts)
5. invest energy in writing personalised applications
6. invest emotion staying positive and resisting negative internal dialogue
7. invest thought in preparing for potential interviews
8. invest in professional help if you need it

Persistence and the right strategy are the only things standing between where you are today and where you want to be tomorrow.

Thanks for your question.

Firstly, the good news is that your resume is obviously working!  This means that you are selling yourself effectively on paper at least.

All you require is some coaching to transfer this into selling yourself in person.

A starting point for effective interview skills is to realise that the fundamental skill involved is not knowing the best way to answer questions but rather it is public speaking.

Many people struggle to sell themselves effectively in interviews simply because they have a fear of public speaking.  There are simple solutions to this issue.

Next is to realise that one of the patterns that leads to poor interviews is projecting your mind forward and imagining you won't know how to answer a question.  The usual cycle is to imagine yourself completely muddling up the answer and feeling really stupid.

The way many people deal with this is that they avoid adequately preparing for the interview as that way they avoid this little hullucinatory and painful cycle of thought.

This is not a helpful pattern to go through as it usually becomes reality.

Selling yourself effectively involves knowing the product inside and out!  That requires complete due diligence in preparing for the interview.

If you have any doubts about your ability to interview effectively - these need to be examined to identify the underlying cause. 

The good news is that once you deal with these issues they stop hampering your career development. 

Thank you for your question.

 You are not alone.  After teaching at university and also running workshops around the world - I've realised that adult learners, when they return to a learning environment, are plagued by the same issues that haunted them in elementary education.

• Will I look stupid if I get it wrong?
• My memory isn't that good - how will I remember all this?
• I can't express myself very well on paper, how can I cope with all the writing?
• etc. etc. etc.

The approach we use in our workshops is to reinforce the three domains for successful learning. 

The first is the cognitive side – spending the time regularly training the brain to recall information. 

The second is the behavioural side – ensuring that you have the self-discipline to study regularly using learning strategies appropriate for you. 

The third is the emotional side – ensuring that you maintain a positive state of mind and that negative internal dialogue doesn’t sabotage your efforts before you start. 

Your goal is to master all three.

Thanks for your question.

Firstly, it is a tragedy the number of people who have similar issues to learning as highlighted in your question.

Secondly, you are an excellent learner already - all humans are natural learning machines.  It is just that few people work out how to operate the machine effectively.

Learning is a skill that is often taken for granted.  Many people approach learning simply - if we look and listen for long enough somehow the information sticks and we have learned. 

When information sticks we call ourselves intelligent and when it doesn't we call ourselves...

Many people facing this question have a well developed pattern of struggling in learning environments.  Hence, consider how it feels to learn and what do you make this feeling mean?  Consider that the meaning you make of your past learning experience has a much greater influence on your learning success today than your actual ability to learn!