3 weeks in, in fact this will be week 4 of job share and study.  It’s an interesting combination.  I don’t work on Monday and Tuesday’s so that I can complete my studies (Diploma of Professional Styling & Marketing Online) as well as continue to build my Image Business.

The good thing about having so much “personal” things to accomplish on these days, is that I am incredibly busy and don’t have time to think about recruitment whilst I am not at work.  But, I still get lost in the mix and struggle to keep my time managed effectively.  Especially when I have a list of “todo’s” to complete for the AICI Melbourne Chapter as we need to take a look the content of our website and try to work out exactly what do we want to achieve from it.  Suggestions are welcome

My own website has been negleted and is still under construction.  I guess there is no hurry for that, because I want it to be right when it does eventually go live.

So I’ve been back at work for 3 weeks now.  All in all one of the things that I seem to see everywhere and with everyone (and that includes businesses) is that there are many, many people unclear about their intents, goals and the image that they are projecting.  Some businesses are great at it, some are not so and seem to be completely unaware.  It’s interesting.  Because it means that the types of people who end up working for these businesses seem to be unaware of their self-image.  So, what affect will that have on their business?  Reputation is key to building a brand.  If you have a bad one, what is it going to do for you?  Personal brand is important.  You are what sells your business if you are in the front line.  What is your reputation?  Do you know?

For some out there, I’d say it’s worth taking a step back, take a look at yourself and figure out if you are being the best you can be and sending out the messages you want others to receive.  Not only that, when changing careers does the company you are interviewing with project the image that sits well with you?  Are the aligned with your goals and desires?  Are the people the type of people that yo want to work with?  Ask these questions and get the answers before you take the next step.  Need some advice on changing jobs?  Feel free to ask.

Susan

I never thought I’d see the day when I returned to recruitment.  Seriously!  Having worked on a project with Randstad to develop a recruitment system, working within an IT team etc etc, I hadn’t seen myself getting back on the ‘phone and recruiting.  But, here I am!  I have been “gently” persauded out of my recruitment retirement by some of my old colleagues from my Greythorn days. 

We are a team of women who collectively, have over 50 years of experience and for a recruitment agency that’s quite unusual.  I work part-time, (you heard me correctly LOL) as I still run my Image business outside of this.  Working part-time in recruitment isn’t easy, so I job share with Shelley Harrison.  I work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  Shelley works Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  It works well as we know each other’s strengths and how to manage our time effectively.  I’m pretty sure we will be a force to be reckoned with, so watch this space!

I’m recruiting within the Testing market, a bit of a change (but not too much) from the development space where most of experience lies.  It’s good to have a bit of a change and realistially, it’s not taken long to “get back on the horse” and get on with it.  I’m on week 3 (day 10) and have 2 offers for candidates already.  If I do say so myself, I think that’s pretty good going

The company I’m working for is RDBMS Resource Solutions, part of the Resource Solutions Group.  Feel free to get back in touch with me there.

I wonder sometimes how I actually manage to achieve anything – I get so distracted so easily it’s crazy.  I am sure that if I put more effort into actually crossing things of my to-do list things would be a lot simpler for me.  Maybe, the natural thing for me is to live in organised chaos?  I’m not sure?

I’ve taken a couple of leaps of faith this year.  Some of them have really got me thinking about my future.  For example, I accepted a “casual” position with George Gross & Harry Who as a Sales Consultant.  I was enjoying my role (even though retail can be particularly boring), but they sent me to work in David Jones concession store in Bourke Street.  Now, that got me really excited as I believed that I’d meet lots of like minded “fashionistas” and perhaps be able to market myself a little.

Not so.  The Universe also put in front of me a job share position with a recruitment company.  Now, I did ask the Universe for this some time ago and of course, you always get what you wish for.  So, upon accepting this part time position and letting GGHW know that I wouldn’t be availabe 3 days per week as of the 18th May, they since haven’t given me anymore hours.

That, I believe is a lack of respect.  I had honoured my 2 weeks notice (and more), yet they did not do the same thing back.  I really, truly believe that the Manager in David Jones just misunderstood my situation and panicked.  BUT it left me with NO income.  None.  Nothing… so being the creative little Miss that I am I decided to sell all of my clothes on eBay.  Well, not all of them exactly but everything that no longer fits, etc etc.

I’m proud to say that in the 2 weeks that I would have made $850 at GGHW I have made myself $2500.00.  BIG DIFFERENCE.  It’s truly amazing what you can accomplish when you set your mind to it.  So I am happy.  But again, I’ve been distracted.  I will get around to completeing my Masterclass course one of these days!

…I wonder if any of you fellow bloggers can assist me with a situation.

Finally, I have caught up with one thing and another and decided to get back on track with my blogging, the Masterclass Program amongst other things.

I’ve had all of my emails for this site redirecting to Outlook on my desktop PC, which for some reason or another I had a feeling it was about to crash and burn.

I bought myself an external hard-drive so that I could start to move all of my documents and ensure that I had back-up copies of all of the documentation that I have written over the last year (which is a lot, I have to tell you).  So, today I am moving things around and my PC tells me that there is low disk space.  I never really use iTunes these days so I figure that I’ll remove it and clear some space up.  I do this, then my PC decides it no longer wants to get past the “Windows XP” page…sigh.

I’m no techy, so I am supposing I’ll have to take it to a PC doctor to have them retrieve my files.  Another sigh.

Then I figured, oh well maybe I can at least retrieve emails by accessing them via webmail.  Alas, no.  It seems I didn’t elect to keep a copy on the web as well as send them to Outlook.  Now if you have gotten this far and I haven’t bored the living daylights out of you, do you or do you know anyone who would know, how I might be able to have my emails sent to my hotmail account (I’ve set this up to a point and it the test email and verification emails arrived in my webmail account), but any subscriptions etc are clearly still going to my Oulook which I can access….anyone out there that can give me some clues as to what I may be able to do (that won’t cost me an arm and a leg trying).

Many many thanks in anticipation.

Susan xx

It has been a very long time since I was last here on my blog.  So much has happened it’s just crazy.  When I didn’t win the $100,000 on Millionaire I was slightly tormented.  Particularly as I knew it wasn’t Johnny, but something stopped me from saying Joey.

Well, you can’t live a life of regret you have to keep moving forward.  Over the past few months I have been looking at my life, who I am and what I want to achieve and especially, what do I want to be remembered for.

I have been studying 3 different courses all year, non of which I have completed as yet.  The first course was Internet Marketing (hence the blog), the second to become a Professional Image Consultant and the 3rd to become a Professional Fashion Stylist.  All 3 courses are really enjoyable and I want to complete them, however, my committment strays as my full time job keeps me in front of a computer so when I get home, it is the last thing I want to do.

Also, the last year in the office has been a strange one.  Lots of people have been made redundant and I was struggling with the changes and the impact of having no-one in the office.  I didn’t think that the change would have such an effect on me, but it really did.

I questioned everything I was doing.  And the people who had been made redundant have since changed their lives and are doing what they have always wanted to do.  This year has seen a massive shift in consciousness and there is a critical mass of personal development happening underneath what we see day to day.  It’s very interesting.

I have since been made redundant (you have to be careful what you wish for as I did ask the Universe for it) and I am now taking the plunge to work for myself.  So, back to basics I am – starting at the beginning of my Internet Marketing course.  Going back over my assignments for my Image Consulting and Styling courses and I’m determined, more than ever, to complete these as soon as I can then get out into the world to sell myself.

Keep an eye on here for my progress.  There’s so much going to be happening!

When we were sent back to our room, we were provided (a very nice) buffet lunch.  Most of us were famished, but I didn’t eat much as I was starting to get nervous.  I knew that Episode One’s contestants would be getting ready to go in for their filming, so I was calculating how much time I had to ‘psych’ myself up!

Earlier in the day we had been given our spots, mine was seat 5, Episode 4.  However, after our rehearsal I was told to go into seat one, Episode 5.  That’s the last Episode of the day and in most cases can be the worst seat.  I did a big sigh as I realised then that during rehearsals we were still being ‘watched’ as to how good we are going to be in the chair. 

Inside the room we have a huge screen to watch as the Episodes are being filmed.  It was fun as we all worked together to get the answers, some of us knew the answers, some of us didn’t – really, we are on a par with one another in the intelligence stakes.  You either know it or you don’t, it’s really that simple.  There are ways to work out each answer. 

One of the chaps there, Billy (who is the double of Billy Connolly, and from Glasgow) and I bonded a little, he was great fun so we had a good chat and kept ourselves busy – not thinking about when it’s our turn too much.  I convinced Billy that I was going to win money on my show, he reckons I would too and wished me luck, he had to go, he was on next (and in seat number one too).

Billy went off to film his show and I stood outside with a cup of tea.  Eddie McGuire came past to do a tie change and gave me a wave and smile – is this another sign I wonder?

After what seems like the longest wait in history, 4 Episodes each take approximately 25 – 30 minutes to film (it’s fast, you are in and you are out of there) we eventually got called to the green room.

I have a chat with the others in our ‘team’ and say to them we ought to pass when we don’t know the answer (answer as many as we can), but try to keep the money in play so that one of us wins a large amount.  They all agreed.

Michael, the Contestant coordinator took my camera so that I could get a picture of Eddie and I after the show.  I could tell by looking at everyone in the room that they were all nervous, with the exception of Stephen who said to me earlier in the day “you don’t come on here to win money, you don’t expect to, but if you do it would be nice” – I disagreed with him but didn’t say too much.  I came on here to win.

It’s time.  Onto the set we go.  Nerves are setting in, but I know I’ll be fine.

We are all looking glamorous (well, as glam as us “ordinary” folks can get) with our hair and make up done.  The contestant coordinator ushers back into the studio, I happen to notice a 20 cent coin on the floor which I think to myself, I should pick that up for luck, but as I slow down I am told, hurry up, they are waiting for us.  Hmmm.  Is that a sign?

As Millionaire Hot Seat has a different way of working from Who Wants to be a Millionaire we are given instructions on how you move into the Hot Seat, then from there how you move into the next chair, or out the door should you get a question wrong.

Our team is all ready and in place for Michael (stand in Eddie McGuire) to come into the studio to start asking us questions!  I am in seat number 5 (which is a pretty good place for winning big money) and my turn comes around.  I am given a $50,000 question as my practice question…not fair I say, however, as we are only rehearsing I figure it can’t hurt to just have a stab at it. 

Now, I haven’t mentioned this as yet, but I created a Vision Board earlier in the week which placed me as the winner of $1,000,000 – and on my Vision board I had comments that said I would ‘know’ the answers to all of the questions.  I believe if I trust my intuition and ‘listen’ to what I hear, I will get everything correct.

The question was a tricky one and the answer that I ‘heard’ was France.  However, Michael said to me, you’ve lived in Spain and Italy is very similar – I’m sure you’d know if it was either of them.  I replied, well I know it’s definitely not Spain (the question was in relation to a medieval town, where was it) but it did sound like an Italian name, so I locked in Italy.  Wrong Answer!  Off I went.  But, we are only in rehearsals right – realistically, if  I hadn’t known the answer I would have ‘passed’ if a pass was available.

I didn’t listen to my intuition.  Another sign?  Perhaps, but I wasn’t too worried as I was completely convinced I was going to win.

Our rehearsals finished and we were sent back to our ‘room’ to have lunch and get prepared for the real thing!

Our team (Episode 4) are ushered into a ‘green room’ to wait until we are called into the Make-Up and Hair department.  I am surprised at just how un-flash the TV studios are….I guess they really don’t have tons of money!  And, it is cold, very, very cold!  My hands have never warmed up since leaving the house at 8:45am this morning.

Whilst we are waiting in the room we watch the rehearsals on TV.  It’s fun trying to answer all of the questions.  I was surprised no-one knew the answer to What is Australias national emblem.  The answer being Golden Wattle – I know this as you need to know these things to pass the Citizenship test for Australia.  Anyway, I digress!

Eventually, I am called into make-up.  The hairdresser said that my hair is gorgeous so she’s not touching it (all thanks to Kate at Claire Francoise Salon in Melbourne, thanks for such a beautiful job Kate!) so I hop into the make-up artists chair.

As we are told to come with our make-up and hair done, the make-up artist only adds to what I have on.  It’s good fun being pampered a little and to know you are sitting in the chair of our local Aussie TV Celebs!  I had a good chat with the make-up artist (being a Fashion Stylist I was asking about how to get my profile into TV). 

Once we are done, we are then ushered back to the studio for our rehearsal.

McShoes

Saturday, 25th July at 9:00am I arrived at the Channel 9 studios in Richmond, Melbourne.  I had slept reasonably well, although I had spent most of the evening trying to decide what to wear.  You are instructed to bring 3 changes of clothing (I am still unsure as to why).  I jazzed up my Navy Military Jacket that I bought second hand from Camden Market in London, my embellished jacket was my small tribute to Michael Jackson!

My hair was looking gorgeous and TV ready, I had my ‘big night out’ make-up on and was feeling COMPLETELY confident that I was going to go on and win some money.

Upon arrival, we are ushered into a room to be given our instructions for the day.  Michael, our contestant coordinator handed out contracts which explicitly state that we are not allowed to discuss what happens on our episode until it is aired.  So, in other words, I can only tell you what happened up to a point…….so more suspense folks, but I won’t keep you hanging for too long.  Well, at least I hope I won’t.

They film 5 episodes in one day.  There are 30 contestants, from all walks of life – a real cross section of the community.  There were some real characters, particularly Billy from Glasgow who is the doppelganger of Billy Connolly and sounds EXACTLY like him!  Lots of nice people, everyone there to have fun and get themselves on TV, with a small glimmer of hope of winning some money.

I was told that I would be in Episode 5, seat 4.  (If you don’t know the rules of Millionaire Hot Seat, keep reading my posts as I will post a link to the show when it has been aired).  After we had all signed our contracts we are introduced to another Michael (2), who is the stand in Eddie McGuire (host) for our rehearsals.

Michael (2) is quite a funny guy, in fact he loves my jacket so makes me get up and do a twirl!  Love it!  We are then instructed to follow Michael (1) to the studio to get ready for our rehearsals. 

We go into the rehearsals in our allotted ‘teams’, e.g. Episode 1 is up first and so on.  Being in Episode 4 I had the opportunity to watch everyone else and try to gage how to handle my nerves.  But, enjoying being a part of the TV production, I was loving watching what everyone’s roles were and where they fitted into the crew. 

It gave us (the contestants) and opportunity to bond more with our ‘teams’, this was great as even though we are in competition with each other, we are also in it together.

Ah, then we got called up for make-up.  This is a really fun part!