Using
The Five O'Clock Club
From Home
A man who found the Five O'Clock Club books at his library near Denver
calls to ask if there is a local branch. A woman in Seattle who bought
the books at Barnes & Noble wants to know if she can attend our weekly
seminars. And a man in Phoenix who received Targeting the Job You Want
from his daughter also wants to attend.
It was not all that long ago that we had to break the news to these
folks that the Five O'Clock Club was pretty much beyond their reach—we
encouraged them to study the books and do the best they could on their
own.
All that has changed.
For years, the reach of The Five O'Clock Club—because of the
popular Club books—exceeded its presence, but the systems are now in place
that allow people anywhere to access the club seminars and expertise by
phone and computer.
There systems are now in place that allow people anywhere to access
the club seminars and expertise by phone and computer.
One thing Led to Another
By the mid-90's we were feeling increasing pressure to develop a
web site, but we didn't rush into that, until we felt that a quality product
was ready to launch—quality both in terms of form and content. The "look"
of the site had to match the "feel" of the club that our clients experience
in person. The response we have received leads us to believe we have achieved
our goal. The site not only looks terrific, but it contains abundant material
to help people engaged in job search and serious career planning.
All this did not go unnoticed. We have long been proud of our endorsement
by Fortune magazine (the Fortune magazine video on job search recommends
joining The Five O'Clock Club), but our web site brought us to the attention
of other prominent partners, e.g., FutureStep.com, the American Management
Association, Vault.com and Dreamlife.com, among many others. The links
that have been forged with these organizations have in turn brought heavy
traffic to www.FiveOClockClub.com —so much
traffic in fact that we had to find a way to make our weekly strategy
seminars available anywhere.
The Launch of the Virtual Branches
In the last decade,
tele-conferencing has come into its own, and this development has enabled
us to offer weekly club meetings on a nation-wide basis. Our Virtual
Branches were launched in February 2000, and the first tele-conference
group included executives from California, North Dakota and Maryland. The
two-hour meeting format of our physical branches is modified for the
Virtual Branches. The first hour lecture is not offered on the phone!
Instead, Virtual Branch participants receive a set of 8 audio tapes that
include 16 lectures on Club methodology; they can listen to the "topic of
the week" at their leisure and are then ready for the weekly
tele-conference.
Following the conference, Virtual Branch
participants can enter the Members-Only section of FiveOClockClub.com and
go to the private message board for their group, for further networking,
exchanging of rØsumØs, cover letters, ideas, etc.
"There is a benefit working
with a group whose members are in California, Florida, Massachusetts and
New Jersey. We have a great rapport over the phone and we e-mail
each other after the session is over."
Web Site as a Public
Service to People at Home
Anyone can
wander through the various departments of FiveOClockClub.com and tap into
vast amounts of useful information—without being a member! For example,
from the Home Page, click the tab How To Get a Job to find a menu of 13
substantive articles that represent the heart of the Five O'Clock Club
methodology. These articles cover job targeting, interviewing and salary
negotiations—and how to get off on the right foot on your new job.
Or, again from the Home Page, click the tab, Free Articles, to
access over 125 articles that have appeared in our monthly magazine, The
Five O'Clock News. You can copy/paste and read them at your leisure. They
are presented by year, alphabetically and by subject. Thus anyone with a
computer has access to a good introduction the Five O'Clock Club
methodology of job search and career management.
What $49 Will Get
You—At Home!
Purchase
of annual membership, however, makes at-home use of The
Five O'Clock Club a dynamic reality. From your own desk, membership gives
you access to service on three levels:
â As a member, you can sign up for the
Virtual Branch meetings, which come in packages of 10 sessions for
$400.00. (Of course you can sign up for the physical branches as well, if
you are near New York, Philadelphia, Chicago or D.C.) Virtual Branch
clients are assigned to small groups based upon income and seniority
level. Each session is moderated by a certified Five O'Clock Club
counselor, lasts for an hour, and is guided by the same principles and
techniques as the physical branch sessions. These are not general
discussions on job search topics; the purpose of the session is to move
you forward in your job search by helping you identify steps to take
during the coming week. As at the physical branch, you leave the session
with an assignment and pro-active coaching on how to do it.
"Our group counselor expects
us to recap what we've done and we get an assignment. The momentum
you get with The Five O'Clock Club makes the big
difference."
California Virtual Branch member Gene Moore was
one of the first to step forward to applaud career counseling by tele-conference. He finds that the telephone format
works well: "It's really been neat. I've been involved with other job hunting groups,
but they don't have the full breadth of job search regimen that you
have with the Five O'Clock Club. Reading the books and
listening to the tapes ahead of time helps keep us focused.
Our facilitator expects us to recap what we've done and we get
an assignment. The momentum you get with The Five O'Clock Club makes the
big difference. I've stagnated with other groups." And Gene finds that
there is a benefit in working with a group whose members are in California,
Florida, Massachusetts and New Jersey. "It gives us a different perspective on issues.
We have great rapport on the phone and we e-mail each
other after the session is over."
A Few Clicks to Get Expert Opinions
â You can take part
in the Members-Only Information Exchange. This is a valuable benefit for
clients who participate in either the physical or Virtual Branches—or who
don't attend meetings at all. It provides an opportunity to tap into the
expertise of industry specialists. While the Information Exchange is not a
way to get free career counseling, it is a source of insight and guidance;
it is a way to enhance and stimulate your research. The Message Boards are
moderated by seasoned career coaches, all certified in the Five O'Clock
Club method and members of our counselor Guild.
As of May
2000, the message boards include:
â Executives (for those earning
more than $100K), moderated by our Philadelphia Branch Manager, Phil
Gittings and our most senior Club counselor, Ellis
Chase;
â Professionals and Managers, moderated by Harvey Kaplan
and Joy Muench (our Branch Managers in Maryland and Chicago);
â Career Starters, moderated by Ruth Robbins and Jane Hyun;
â Attorneys (Alexandra Duran);
â Internet and New Media
(hosted by Club founder and president, Kate Wendleton); Financial Services
(Jim Borland, our Manhattan Central Branch Manager);
â Academia
& Not-For-Profit (Sylvan Von Berg and Margaret New).
And there are
private message boards for Virtual Branch participants to continue
brainstorming with each other after their weekly
sessions.
Members can post general questions on the message
boards and received answers from our highly qualified counselors within 24
hours; the answers become part of the permanent archive of the web site,
and can be accessed at any time in the future.
Since our Guild
of Career Counselors is growing, we expect to add many more message boards
within the next year.
Reach Out and Touch Someone
â You can get assigned to a Five
O'Clock Club counselor for private one-on-one coaching, if you feel you
need it. This brings The Five O'Clock Club method and counseling home to
you, because most of these match-ups result in telephone sessions—the
counselor may be in Maryland or Chicago, the client in California or
Maine. Many clients feel they need an hour or two of private counseling to
help them determine goals and targets, before joining a physical or
Virtual Branch, or as a prelude for searching on their
own.
Because you have become a member, we have information about
you that will help us find the right counselor for you. We will give you
the names of two counselors, to encourage "comparison shopping" (call each
counselor to get information on rates and schedules—and to determine
rapport). You can find their bios and photos by clicking on the Counselors
and Speakers tab on the Home Page.
Our counselors are trained in
Five O'Clock Club method and are committed to the ethical standards of our
Guild, which means that you will be charged on a per hour basis (no huge
up-front fees), and you are never committed to a minimum number of
sessions. The Club takes no portion of the fee charged, so there is no
danger of "fee inflation" that will be passed on to you.
One of
the reasons that, only a few years ago, people far from our branches had
to make do with the books, was the lack of counselors trained in the Five
O'Clock Club method. Our Counselor Guild had not yet come into existence.
But our certification process has been developed and refined over the last
few years—and seasoned career counselors have been attracted to our
program. Candidates for the Guild must study our 250-page training manual
and pass exams to be admitted. With some 50 active members of our Guild
currently, we are now in a position to meet the volume of counseling
requests that our web site generates.
Other Career Resources
Available
Through www.FiveOClockClub.com
The at-home Five O'Clock Club member should also click on
the Partners and Links tab on the Home Page, to see more than 20 companies
and associations that we have partnered with. At the top of the list
(and you'll have to scroll down quite a long way to see them all) is
the American Management Association. By clicking on their icon, Five
O'Clock Club members can activate their free six-month memberships in
the AMA.