The Five O'Clock Club

Job-Hunt Success Stories
Working the Method Pays Off
-by David Madison

We have always said, Don’t skip any part of the system! But we know that different elements of the Five O’Clock Club methodology have come to the rescue for different people as they have applied the methodology to their job searches. The following accounts are based on tape recorded reports of our job-hunters. We begin at the beginning—the value and impact of thorough assessment-and move on to hear of successes based on other fundamentals of our methodology. Pay close attention as Five O’Clock Club Clubbers, in their own words, testify to the value of ‘having 6 to 10 things in the works,’ ‘interviewing like a consultant,’ ‘reviewing your Forty-Year Vision’ and ‘sounding like an insider.’

Listening, Once Again, to the Seven Stories
When Roberta attended 9 sessions of the Five O’Clock Club a few years ago, “it was a real eye-opener for me to learn the strategy and the tactics. I found it so logical—it made much more sense than other job-search advice I’d been give.” When she found herself in the job market again, she headed back to the Club. “I started networking again, I rewrote my résumé, but I also redid my Seven Stories—and that, for me, was the real key.”

“Doing the Seven Stories a second time helped me focus once more. I had a lot of additional accomplishments. It actually opened up my thought process. I had always worked for big companies—the perks and the prestige were very appealing. But now I saw that I should be thinking outside the box more, and I realized I should be targeting smaller companies. So revisiting the Seven Stories helped expand my targets.”

Doing the Seven Stories a
second time helped me
focus once more and opened up my thought process.

Roberta stumbled across the website of a new company in one of her possible new targets, nutrition. She called the owner directly and assumed the role of a consultant from the outset: “My marketing mind started going. What are you doing now for promotion? How many customers do you have currently?” The owner hadn’t even hired a marketing person yet—he’d been trying to handle everything himself. He suggested that they get together, and during the first meeting she helped him rewrite the ad he had placed in the newspaper for a marketing person. “But he started calling me every day for advice.” The newspaper ad drew responses, but Roberta had already beat the competition—she was the one who landed the new position, to direct marketing, sales, public relations and business development.

She reflected on the broad impact of the Seven Stories exercise: “It helped me target personal goals as well: getting in shape, feeling healthy and feeling good about myself.”

Roberta’s second visit to the Five O’Clock Club lasted three sessions. The leader of her small group points to one of the main lessons to learn from her experience: “Anyone who says ‘I can’t create a job for myself’ should pay attention to this story.”

A False Start, at $4000
Larry was worried about his future when he lost his position as Director of Retail Operations for a consumer products company. “I was 54, and the prospect of a job search and possible career change was a real challenge.” So much so that he followed the suggestion of a friend and enrolled at an outplacement firm, despite the sticker-shock fee of $4000. “I found it somewhat helpful, but after three months I was still without direction in my job search.”

With the Five O’Clock Club approach to negotiating,
I ended up with a significantly better salary, stock and
benefits package.

When Larry found the Five O’Clock Club, he discovered at the outset that he hadn’t really done proper assessment. He booked a private session with his Five O’Clock Club coach and put full energy into doing the Seven Stories. “I discovered that I had significant experience and skills to transfer to my new objective, which was to move from operations management to product design.” With a refashioned résumé and a clear understanding of targeting by geographic areas, Larry focused on generating interviews at companies near his home. After years of enduring a 3 to 4 hour daily commute, he wanted to improve his situation in that respect as well.

“I was able to interview confidently, and the Five O’Clock Club approach to negotiating money helped greatly. I ended up with significantly better salary, stock and benefits package.”

Larry’s coach commends him for “applying Five O’Clock Club principles from the very start. He has a very diverse background, so it was crucial to really focus on the assessment, and rewrite his résumé to reflect the themes that emerged.”

Larry attended the Club for eight sessions. “I’m profoundly grateful for all the help you’ve given me. The Five O’Clock Club techniques are the best that can be found anywhere.”

“I no longer needed so many
massages and martinis to
make up for being so
miserable at work!”

Career Change:
Trusting the Seven Stories
Judith was a corporate tax lawyer with a large firm, and decided a career change was in order when she faced pressure to increase billable hours—even though she was already working 12 and 13 hour days.

Assessment at the Five O’Clock Club prompted her to build on her legal expertise, but to shift focus and environment. She decided to aim for a position in immigration law, but also kept a second interest in mind: could she somehow combine this with a marketing-related role? Her group coach at the Club commends Judith for the serious attention she devoted to the Seven Stories: “Her new direction didn’t come as a flash. It came through putting a lot of time, effort, thought and hard work into the Seven Stories. She’s a living example to someone who took the time to do in-depth assessment, and it paid off for her.”

Speaking up during the ‘information exchange’ at the Club also paid off. She was put in touch with an immigration attorney who was not only willing to meet with her, but who ended up asking her to help on a project—which turned into her new job. “The project was a way for him to check me out, and vise versa. I’ve started to specialize in employment-related visas, especially extraordinary ability visas and national interest waivers. It’s my job to convince the INS that people are so talented that we have to let them stay. So, in a way, I’m integrating my marketing aspirations, because I’m marketing people to the INS.”

During the first few months of her job search, Judith admits, she was too cautious and afraid to move ahead because of uncertainty about her future. Part of the cure for that, she suggests, is “to take action, even if you’re not sure. Once I started taking action, revising my résumé and calling people, I felt more sure. I waited for months to be sure, but it really doesn’t work that way. Talk to everyone, raise your hand during the information exchange.”

As is sometimes the case with career changers—especially someone coming out of corporate tax law—Judith took a step back on money. But she feels that she took a step forward in terms of the quality of life: “I no longer need to buy so many massages and martinis to make up for being so miserable at work!”

Judith attended 8 sessions.

Discovering What You
Really Like to Do
After more than a decade with a major investment bank, doing quantitative analysis in fixed income, Roger was bored. “I like to be intellectually challenged, and my job really wasn’t all that interesting. I felt trapped.” He came a few times to the Five O’Clock Club, but really wasn’t committed to work the method as much as he should have.

You only live once! The Seven Stories Exercise requires soul-searching, but you can discover what you really like to do.

He thought he’d found the way out of his dilemma when he was asked to be the CEO for an Internet start-up. Although he eventually ended up “turning out the lights” when the company collapsed, he recalls it as a “great learning experience. I put the business plan together, and I found it interesting to partner with people who were creating something new. Unfortunately I hadn’t done enough due-diligence.” Despite the positives, Roger admits, “the failure of the company took a big emotional toll and I lost a lot of money.”

Roger returned to the Five O’Clock Club and, this time around, decided to put full energy into making the methodology work for him, starting with assessment. “The Seven Stories exercise requires a lot of soul-searching, but that’s what it takes to discover what you really like to do. Any way you can get yourself to do that is quite wonderful. You only live once—you don’t have to work in a job you don’t like. And the Seven Stories is the best way to put together a good résumé.”

Meet people. Be persistent about it. Get over your fear
of talking to people you
don’t know.

In his role as CEO of the Internet company, Roger had developed a long list of contacts in the world of angel investors and venture capitalists. Networking intensively with these people, he was able to generate job interviews, and ended up with three job offers. He accepted a position at a small firm structuring global real estate investments, requiring travel to Europe and the Far East.

“I didn’t do any Internet résumé posting,” Roger points out. “You have to meet people, and be persistent about it. Get over your fear of talking to people you don’t know.”

Roger attended 8 sessions at the Club, and found the small group sessions a great stimulus. “The people in the groups have great experience to share, even if they’re not in your field. And they’re very helpful with résumés and cover letters.”

Turning Down Offers—with the Forty-Year Vision in Mind
Rose discovered the Five O’Clock Club in 1997, and has been using it ever since to help keep her life on course. She feels that the Seven Stories and Forty-Year Vision provide a solid foundation: “My approach and my decisions should always be aligned with these exercises.” And she followed Five O’Clock Club procedures throughout the process. She recalls that when she was job searching in 1997, she found one major opportunity by answering an ad, and another through a headhunter. When she answered the ad she used the two-column approach to demonstrate that she was a match—and she did her best to outclass the competition by “getting in” through contacts; she recalled that a former teacher used to work for the company and called him for help in reaching decision-makers.

And she did thorough follow-up. “I wrote letters to each person I met with—I really tried to address each person’s concern. I reiterated their expectations and showed how I was qualified.”

Rose received the offers she’d been working so hard for, but as she reviewed her Forty-Year Vision, she realized that neither one would position her correctly for her long-term goals. Her self-assessment, in fact, was pointing her in the direction of setting up her own business. In pursuing this dream, she affirms the value of Five O’Clock Club methodology. “I have found several Five O’Clock Club techniques to be very valuable in many different applications—whether it’s job-search, selling the services in my consulting practice or looking for partners and sponsors. Always play the role of the consultant: get information, assess needs, find out priorities, discover what skills and talent are in demand, then make a proposal.”

Always play the role of the consultant: get information, assess needs, find out priorities, discover what skills and talent are in demand. Then make a proposal.

The first step in our Four Steps Salary Negotiation method, that is, negotiate the job, holds true for the consultant: “Make sure,” Rose advises, “you know what they need—let them know you can fulfill that need, then you talk about money.”

And the fundamentals for finding interviews through networking apply to building a consulting business. Rose is the first to admit that research is crucial, but, above all, “network, cultivate relationships and keep in touch.”

Networking as a Consultant
Vincent discovered that he really hadn’t been networking at all, after calling almost 30 of his closest contacts to ask for a job. “I might as well have said, ‘Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist party?’ People get funny, they get nervous when you ask them if they have a job.” Vincent had lost his job as legal counsel for a Fortune 500 entertainment company. It had been his dream job, and he had assumed he would be there forever. But when the company hit a slump and cut 500 jobs, his position was eliminated.

Having been in his field for 20 years, he had assumed that his contacts would be his salvation—and they were, once he realized the mistakes he’d been making. After starting with the Five O’Clock Club he learned that networking means staying in touch with important contacts on an on-going basis, and approaching them as a consultant. Following the advice of his small group, he decided to recontact the people who had said, “No, I don’t have a job,” and changed his script completely. Vincent summed up his new approach: “Instead of begging, you’re trying to make the point: I have something to offer, I’m not asking for a favor. I want to give you something, form an alliance with you and build a friendship. Hence your question has to be: ‘Do you know of someone who would like to talk to someone with my skills? I have a lot of experience in music, videos, movies and the Internet.’”

In his new networking campaign, Vincent suggested getting together for lunch with one of his contacts—and approached the meeting as one consultant talking to another. “I went into the lunch upbeat and positive, described some of the clients I’d been working with. He was impressed and wanted to help me.” Within a couple of weeks the contact helped set up a meeting for Vincent, although there was no opening. “But it turns out there was a need. They liked me, I did well on the interview, and my friend had recommended me. They created a job for me.”

Networking means staying in touch with important people on an ongoing basis, and approaching them as a consultant.

Vincent had been out of work for almost six months when he arrived at the Five O’Clock Club. He landed his new job after only three sessions. His group leader recalls how he changed course with his networking: “He grasped what he was doing wrong. It’s the kiss of death to ask for a job—and he learned that you have to keep in touch people. Networking is not giving it just one shot with everyone.”

Strength from Numbers: Having 6 to 10 Things in the Works
Jason discovered the Five O’Clock Club after he was well under way in his job search. After losing his job he decided to put most of his effort into networking. “I called a lot of my contacts, and didn’t have problems getting interviews.” When he came got into the small group at the Club, however, he learned the value of follow-up and volume. In fact the second time he attended the group was right after an interview, and the group helped him draft a strong follow-up letter. Listening to the group on interviewing in general, “I became a more confident interviewer, and I got much better at the follow-up.” In fact the opportunity that turned out to be his next job came through a contact, and required three interviews before the offer came. After each, Jason strategized follow-up with the group.

But even while he was nurturing this situation to fruition, Jason kept generating more interviews. When the offer finally came, he was able to negotiate from a position of strength. “I got the offer by phone and said ‘I’ll get back to you.’ I was happy with the money—it was more than I had been earning before. But I had learned from my group that offers are negotiable, and there were some things about the package that I wasn’t happy with.” Because the company knew Jason was considering other opportunities, it adjusted the package to bring him on board.

His group leader complemented him on the push to get more interviews to be a stronger candidate—and for not losing momentum. “He came consistently. He never missed a session.”

I copied the old email message I sent to him and said: “If
anything has changed, let me know. I’ve been keeping up with your company and know I could do a great job for you.”

It’s Never Too Late to Follow Up
Maurice had been unemployed almost five months, having lost his position in Internet marketing with the collapse of the dot.com world. “At first, I was like a horse out of the stable—I sent my résumé to 300 people. I got a few meetings and interviews, but they all came to nothing.” This intense effort had consumed his efforts in the spring, and he decided to “take the summer off.” But by August he was getting worried and arrived at the Five O’Clock Club to try to turn things around. “I made friends in the group, and related to the things they were going through. But I thank the group leader as well—he wasn’t afraid to tell me what I should be doing to jump start my job-search again.”

Networking, according to Five O’Clock Club methodology, is keeping in touch with people on an ongoing basis. So Maurice’s task was to reconnect with people he had approached in the spring. In reviewing his sent-email archive, Maurice remembered a CEO he had heard months earlier at a breakfast panel. At the time they had chatted, and the CEO had asked for Maurice’s résumé—but he had heard nothing more. “So I wrote him a new email. I copied the old email message and said, ‘If anything has changed, let me know, I’ve been keeping up with your company and know I could do a great job for you.’”

Two days later Maurice received a call from HR. “I had two very long rounds of interviews, meeting with 10 people. I wrote follow-up letters to each one of them. I told them everything I could possibly think of.” He got the offer he wanted, but knows that he really didn’t get the chance to work the full Five O’Clock Club methodology—in the sense of having 6 to 10 things in the works. He now stresses the value of personal networking and following up, even after many months—and as an Internet marketing specialist he cautions against putting very much stock in finding a job on-line. “The job boards are useless—I got nothing out of a couple of hundred postings. Pursue very targeted networking and be persistent.”

And even after many months in the job market and only two sessions at the Five O’Clock Club, Maurice found great value in the Five O’Clock Club assessment exercises. “By all means do the Seven Stories and the Forty-Year Vision. They were really helpful—it was brilliant to do them.”

A New Job Soon after September 11th
Nigel lost his position in pension fund investing at a major corporation, but he wasn’t convinced it was really a disaster: his boss hadn’t been that great, he had a terrible commute and he was sure he could get more money elsewhere.

Nigel talked to as many
people as he could, which meant that a lot of people knew what he was looking for.
On the same day, two people
alerted him to the same ad.

Nigel arrived at the Five O’Clock Club ready to work the methodology. “I tried right from the get-go to have 6 to 10 things in the works, and I used all four techniques for getting interviews.” This was especially critical since he had begun his job hunt in earnest in the weeks preceding September 11th—after which many opportunities were put on hold. “The beauty of having 6 to 10 things going is that you don’t have all your focus on what appears to be the ideal job, because that can disappear.”

Trying to get 6 to 10 things in the works meant that he talked to as many people as he could, which meant that a lot of people knew what he was looking for. And on the same day two people alerted him to an ad that had appeared in a small trade journal. The new Chief Investment Officer at a major not-for-profit was looking for someone to focus on building up the private equity portfolio. “That started the ball rolling,” Nigel recalls.

He hit it off very well with the key decision makers at the not-for-profit, who asked him back to meet board members. In the wake of the September 11th attacks, it was difficult for members of the board to get to New York, so he was invited to interview on a train to Washington! An offer followed a few days later.

Nigel recommends being very well prepared for all the interviews you work so hard to get. “Of course you should anticipate all the questions you hope they don’t ask, but much of the time they never even come up. It’s very important to go in with a list of substantive questions. This can help initiate dialogue, and it separates you from the competition.”

Nigel attended 11 sessions at the Club and achieved all his objectives: he found nicer people to work with, eliminated the bad commute, and got the money he was hoping for.

Networking….and Surrounding the Decision Makers
Sonia was well under way in her career as an economist with a major Wall Street firm when her job was eliminated in a merger. She looked upon this turn of events, however, as an opportunity to try to break into the asset management world. She wanted a role that would give her more connection with people.

One of her contacts actually knew someone who worked at one of the firms at the top of her list, and she had little trouble landing a networking meeting. This new contact, Sonia reports, “was very gracious and lead the meeting. He said, ‘Since you are trying to make this transition, here are some ideas to help you get into the asset management world.’ And four days later, he even called me with the name of someone else in the company I should talk to.”

Go into the interview with a lot of substantive questions. This can help initiate dialogue and separate you from
the competition.

When Sonia made this call, she found an even more promising situation. There was an actual opening, and she was told, “This would be a great fit for you.” When she went for the meeting to discuss the “great fit,” she found out that interviewing for the position hadn’t even begun yet—and she resisted the temptation to jump right into the process. Recalling Five O’Clock Club strategies, she frankly admitted that she didn’t want to be the first person interviewed. Since the company usually took weeks or months to make hiring decisions—and since several of the key decision makers were due to be out of the office traveling—there was no opposition to Sonia’s suggestion.

In the meantime, she had “targeted broadly,” and kept other opportunities moving along—to the point, in fact, that she was about to receive an important offer. By this time her favored company had, in fact, interviewed a few other people, and welcomed having her come in to meet their management team. The interview was a resounding success—‘we really clicked’—but she was told that the hiring decision was probably several weeks away. “At this point,” Sonia admits, “I sent an email a little on the aggressive side. I said, ‘Your company is my top choice, but I have other offers.’” But she also re-contacted all the people at the company along the way who had helped moved her up the chain—and who had been championing her cause. “I kept the ball rolling with everyone. And after one final interview in which I met with five people, I was told I would get a call on Friday with their decision—and the call came after 3 o’clock. I accepted on the phone.” Sonia proved that the hiring process can be accelerated by having a lot going—and by surrounding the decision makers: “Keep networking and circling back.”

Sonia attended 8 sessions at the Five O’Clock Club.

Advanced Interviewing and Salary Negotiation Skills
Arturo was happy with his career in the not-for-profit world, but wanted to find a smaller organization with broader responsibilities. He answered an ad, via the Internet, that seemed to match his background perfectly. In fact, he didn’t even have to make a follow-up phone call: the organization called him right way to ask him to come in for an interview. Arturo has been attending the Five O’Clock Club regularly and had already been absorbing the techniques for interviewing and salary negotiation. “I used a number of things I’d learned here. I met with the president, and, after we’d talked a while, he brought in several members of his staff. I asked each one in turn, ‘What would you like to be able to say about the person in this position a year from now?’ As each one told me, I took notes. Later, I wrote emails to each one of them. The president also had a major concern about an upcoming computer upgrade. I called my own tech support person for some advice and send a brief proposal about the problem to the president.”

Arturo knew that things were going well, but he also wanted to negotiate the best salary. At the end of another lengthy conversation, the president finally asked about money. “But I said I didn’t want to talk about money. I said, ‘I think we should both have time to think about all we’ve discussed—and meet again next week.’ And I wasn’t going to leave without an appointment. I don’t know where I got my guts from! The president couldn’t believe I was refusing to talk about money.”

“I sent an email that was a
little on the aggressive side.
I said, ‘Your company is my top choice, but I have
other offers.’”

Before the next meeting Arturo did more research on not-for-profit salaries and on the organization and its sources of funding. When they met again they found that, initially, they were about $20,000 apart. Arturo finally suggested a compromise figure, provided there was a raise within a few months—and they had a deal.

Arturo attended 4 sessions of the Five O’Clock Club.

Becoming an Insider
Barbara arrived at the Five O’Clock Club with a solid understanding of what she wanted, and found that targeting and research provided a way to get there. With a strong finance background and a desire to move to warmer weather, she wanted to specialize in high yield bond analysis—working in southern California. “With this target in mind, I went to the library and researched in the Nelson Book of Investment Managers. I made a list of the key decision makers in southern California.” She generated enough response to justify a trip to the West coast for networking meetings. She got lots of feedback on her résumé by asking for it in her networking meetings, and received a key piece of advice that reinforced Five O’Clock Club methodology: “You want to present yourself as a member of the high yield bond analysis world.” Even though she had an MBA, she decided to strengthen her credentials by working on the CFA. Once she had finished the first level, she made another major attempt to find what she wanted. This time she uncovered a significant lead through the Bloomberg website. “I responded with my résumé, and included a cover letter with several bullet points.”

Barbara got a call to come to California for an interview. “But I wanted to get a feel for the situation before I made the trip. I asked to speak to the investment manager. I wanted to find out where they were in the hiring process. I wanted to know if he had any concerns about me. I also wanted to talk to someone who knew him—I wanted to find out what kind of a situation this really was.”

I asked the Five O’Clock Club question, ‘What would you like to be able to say about the person in this position one year from now?’ Later, I wrote emails to each interviewer.

“I did tons of research, not only about the company, but also about all the people I would be meeting with. I researched the backgrounds of everyone who worked in the high yield bond department.” It all paid off. Barbara got the offer she wanted, after seven hours of interviewing. “I just tried to keep in mind what I’d heard at the Five O’Clock Club about interviewing, ‘It’s showtime!’ They didn’t want to know my life story, they wanted to hear about all the good things I brought to the table. Because I knew so much about all the people I met, I kept the process conversational and friendly—‘I see you went to Kansas State.’ But I also made sure to ask what I’d been taught at the Club, ‘Where are you in the hiring process? Who are my competitors and how do I stack up?’”

Barbara attended 8 sessions.

Advancing the Job Search with a Consulting Assignment
Marilyn knew it wasn’t the right time to accept a job offer: she didn’t have 6 to 10 things in the works! But an interview had turned into an offer—and the hiring manager was eager to have her on board to replace an executive who was retiring. When he called to make the offer he asked, “When can you start?” She really didn’t like the company, the commute was bad and the neighborhood was worse. Still, an offer is an offer.

I don’t know where I got my guts from! The president couldn’t believe I was refusing to talk about money.

But why not propose a deal that would make everyone happy? Marilyn knew that thinking of this job as a full-time commitment would never work.. But accepting an eight-week consulting assignment might be a win-win scenario for everyone. For her, it meant cash flow and getting to put a title on her résumé that she’d never had before—although she’d done the work.

She negotiated flex time to ease the commute, allow time for interviewing—and for getting to the Five O’Clock Club on Monday evenings!

And the new assignment proved to be great opportunity on several levels. “I had been in the apparel industry, and just being in this new role outside apparel showed me how transferable my skills were. In fact, I discovered how much I could expand my targets as I continued my job search. Furthermore, I’m was really in a crisis-management role during the eight weeks. That can go on my résumé as well.” As acting-CFO she was also able to attend several industry meetings and rub shoulder with other CFO’s, thus expanding her network of contacts.

Marilyn has attended 9 sessions at the Club, and used the consulting assignment to give her job-search a boost. She later was offered two excellent CFO positions.

As the Five O’Clock Club says about the interview, “It’s
showtime!” They want to know what I bring to the table.

Assisted Serendipity
Margot had a successful career as owner of a retail business, selling a high-end luxury product. It gave her flexibility while she was raising her family, but “it had become rote. It was not stimulating in terms of using my intellectual capacities.” She went back to school and got a Master’s Degree in Human Resources Management—which boosted her into a new career.

She relocated out of state to accept a position as Director of HR in a corporate environment, but regretted being a long distance from her family. Three years later, in January 2002, when the position was eliminated, Margot was stunned. But she had already been sending out résumés—in fact, she had been testing the market since the Spring of 2001.

Having known about the Five O’Clock Club for a long time, she decided to sign up for our weekly sessions via teleconference, known as the Insider Group—and plunged into study of the methodology. “The tapes are wonderful. They repeat what’s in the books, but it’s another way of learning—they reinforce each other. Then attending the group was another reinforcement. The discussion brings the methodology into play.”

Margot had hardly begun her sessions when she got a call from a major not-for-profit to whom she had send her résumé nine months earlier, asking her to come in for an interview. She recalled that the job posting she had responded to was “perfect,” so was delighted by this ‘bolt out of the blue.’ It was a long drive to get to the interview, “so in the car on the way I listened to the tape about turning job interviews into offers. I had my 3 X 5 card and I had my pitch down. I was really working hard at doing it right.” It turned out to be a marathon interview, with the Director of HR and the department heads who were the key decision-makers. At the end, she was left alone with the HR Director, who offered her the job. “I was stunned. The Five O’Clock Club message is that the purpose of the first interview is not to get an offer, but to get a second interview—and here I had the offer!”

Margot was relieved that money was not mentioned. She was promised an offer letter after reference checks had been completed. “I went home and read the books and listened to the tapes on salary negotiation. It turns out that they had pretty rigid salary ranges, but I was able to get the top of the range, instead of ‘near the top,’ and I was able to negotiate on non-salary issues.”

Although the interview in Margot’s case had come almost as a gift, she credits a key element of the Five O’Clock Club methodology in doing so well on the interview. “The most useful thing I learned was that I was a consultant. That really took the weight off. It made me the person to get information, rather than someone who just had to provide a lot of information about myself. I was not passive. I was not being acted upon. And I had to chuckle after the interview. I found myself using the actual words I’d heard on the tapes—and they work: ‘What wakes you up at two o’clock in the morning? How can I help you? What are the biggest issues you’re facing right now?’”

Margot attended 3 teleconference sessions.

Mastering the Method Between Rounds One and Two
Claire is a senior marketing executive in the financial services industry. She lost her job when key roles at her company were transferred to another state, and remembers her fear in the months following September 11th. “I did the round of headhunters. I had cultivated relationships with quite a few of them, and they were more desperate than I was. Some had lost their own jobs and others had no searches to work on.”

Claire came across the Five O’Clock Club on the Internet and ordered Targeting the Job You Want. “I fell in love with the process. I became a real fan. The style of the books was very appealing, a combination of hope—the inspirational quotes on almost every page—and practical advice: ‘Do this because it works.’ I joined, got the tapes and books and followed the method religiously.” She also signed up for 10 teleconference sessions. “It was nice to know that there people just like me going through the same thing. The hardest part of the search is that feeling, ‘I will never get another job.’ But when you’re working with great people you realize that this is a business process, it’s a method. If you work through it, you’ll get to your goal.”

The headhunters were more desperate than I was!

Early in 2002, one of the headhunters who had introduced Claire to a bank in the Spring of 2001 called with the surprising news there was still interest. She had gone on several interviews in April and May, but had failed to ‘outclass the competition.’ Claire went back, and knows that her coaching by the Five O’Clock Club paid off. “I was much more on the ball about doing research, and interview follow-up. If I’d followed up as I should have back in the Spring, I might have landed the job then!” The new round of interviewing was much shorter, and she got the job offer.

Claire has a new perspective on job hunting. “I found out when I came to the Five O’Clock Club that I had never really done a job search before. You have to think of it as a strategic campaign. How do you get in? Who do you have to follow up with—pand how thoroughly?” And the assessment was a revelation as well. “The Forty-Year Vision helped me zero in on my ‘outside of work’ goals. In fact, I am now giving serious thought to turning one of my hobbies into a ‘retirement’ career.”

Claire received her job offer after attending 10 teleconference sessions; she combined these with several one-on-one meetings with the group coach.