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ETC Consult
Specialises in the following key areas:
Career Discussion
Job Search
Presentation Skills
Career Guidance
Curriculum Vitae (CV) Writing
Interview Skills
Career Discussion
This module was
designed for clients who have a fair idea of what they would like to do but, before proceeding they would like to get another
opinion from specialists in the career field and maybe some other guidance into career areas that they had not thought
about. There are no questionnaires, aptitude tests or personality questionnaires in this
module. The client and one of ETC Consult’s Occupational Psychologists meet at ETC
Consult’s Offices and pursue a discussion on the client’s background – education, examinations taken,
results, hobbies, interests, achievements in sport, music, drama, travel, work; how the client describes him or
herself. The Psychologist then asks the key question “what are you thinking of
doing” after which – going on the data garnered in the discussion and the Psychologist’s knowledge of the
careers sector gives his or her opinion as to whether the client is making the best decision and – if the opinion is
positive - will suggest the best route to take to realise the aspiration or – if the opinion is negative – will
suggest alternatives. The duration of the Career Guidance Programme is about one
hour.
Job Search
Our Job Search Programme incorporates the essence of our Career Guidance Discussion, CV Preparation and Interview
Skills Programme.
In it a Client meets with one of our Occupational Psychologists and
discuss the Client’s background – education, training, experience, skills, knowledge, personality, values,
aspirations.
The Client is then given tips on how to write an effective CV and what skills to practice for coming
interviews. Finally, once the Client knows what jobs to pursue; knows how to write a good
CV; knows what skills to practice for successful interview performance the Client is given advice as to identifying employers
by first deciding on what sector to address e.g. the construction sector and then potential employers in that sector e.g.
Sisk and at this point the Client starts to send cvs to such employers.
Presentation Skills
At one time Interviewees for Sales
jobs were the only people who had to make presentations as part of the interview process. Many more Interviewees nowadays are requested to do likewise. In the first
part of the Presentation Skills Programme ETC Consult prepares Interviewees for such assessment first by outlining the
purpose of the Presentation; then outlining the format of a good presentation whether it a PowerPoint, overhead projector,
slide, flipchart or just a straightforward stand-up presentation with no audio-visual aids at all. Secondly, ETC Consult gives the Client a topic on which to prepare the Presentation with a list of follow-up
questions. Thirdly the Client is given time – usually about 30 minutes to go and
prepare the presentation and answers to the questions. The fourth stage is the
Presentation itself and the answering of questions session. Finally, in the fifth stage
ETC Consult’s Occupational Psychologist gives feedback on performance and advice on how to fine-tune and practice the
necessary skills between the training session and the real Interview and Presentation event.
Career Guidance
This
module is for individuals from age 17 upwards who do not know what career they should pursue in life.
There are four stages in the programme. In stage one individuals
taking this module come to the offices of ETCConsult and complete a general information questionnaire which takes about 20
minutes; an Occupational Interests Questionnaire which takes about 30 minutes; 6 Aptitude Tests which take about 3 hours and
a Personality Questionnaire which is not timed but usually takes about 45 minutes. The
General Information Questionnaire enables the individual to give his or her biographical, educational and work experience (
however short); the subjects they liked most and least in school; hobbies and interests. This is untimed but usually takes
about 20 minutes.
Here is an example The Occupational Interests Questionnaire which
has about 200 items on it – all of which relate to activities associated with different jobs/careers and the individual
is asked to indicate on the answer sheet the degree of interest he or she would have in each activity if it formed a major
element in a career. The purpose of the exercise is to establish interest only so
statements from the individual like “ I would love to be a doctor but I would never get the points to get into medical
school” are irrelevant at this stage. All that we are interested in at this stage is
what the individual is likely to get a kick out of. The 6 Aptitude Tests are timed and
there are right and wrong answers. These tests cover the most common aptitudes associated
with job performance i.e.
Verbal Ability; Numerical Reasoning; Abstract Reasoning; Mechanical Reasoning; Space
Relations and Perceptual Speed and Accuracy, The Personality Questionnaire has nearly 200
questions which are very short and straightforward . All that the individual has to do is read the questions and choose the
most appropriate response from a choice of 3 possible responses. This part of the exercise
takes about 45 minutes. In stage two ETCConsult staff score the responses to all of the
questions and present the results of the Occupational Interests Questionnaire, the six Aptitude Tests and the Personality
Questionnaire on three separate charts. In stage three the individual returns to
ETCConsult offices to discuss with one of ETCConsult’s Occupational Psychologist what is represented on the charts and
the individual’s background – school, college, home, experience of work and how the individual spends his or her
time.
This stage takes about one and one half hours. In stage four
ETCConsult’s Occupational Psychologist writes up a report in which the charts are interpreted against the background of
the individual and the current and future work environment and suggestions made to the client as to the specific careers that
he or she should give serious consideration and how to get into them. The report – a
very straightforward document - is then sent to the client for implementation or for further fine-tuning and then
implementation as the individual desires. The fifth stage is validation.
Every year
ETCConsult contacts a random sample of clients who have taken the programme five years previously to see how satisfied they
have been with the programme and results to date show a satisfaction rate of 85% of those who have responded.
CV Writing
In this
module a client needing a persuasive, focussed and effective Curriculum Vitae comes to ETC Consult’s offices and meets
one of our Occupational Psychologists. Psychologist and Client discuss the position being
targeted – and it is best to have a specific position rather than sending a general, vague CV to companies in the hope
that a Human Resources, Line or General Manager is going to pore over it to see what role they can put the author
in. The Psychologist asks direct questions about education, training, examinations,
qualifications, skills, knowledge, aspirations; experience, achievements; aptitudes, level of general ability, personality
and then goes off to write the CV from scratch. From the date of the initial discussion to
the date that the CV is ready is about one week at which time the Client returns to ETC Consult to read it and suggest, if
necessary any changes. Once the Client is happy with the finished product he or she
receives a hard copy original and a floppy disc version which can be fine tuned for other positions at a later
date. The main purpose of a CV is to get an interview and the success rate of our clients
in this endeavour is 90%.
Interview
Skills
ETCConsult provides two types of one-to-one interview skills training to
clients who have been, or expect to be, called for interview. The first type – our
Comprehensive Interview Skills Programme - is spread over two sessions each lasting approximately one and a half hours and
separated by a 10 to 14 day practice period - and is designed for people who have some time to prepare and practice for the
interview. The second is our Emergency Interview Training Programme and has been designed
for people whose interview is imminent and they do not have the time to come for the two-session programme.
For the two-session programme a client comes to ETCConsult’s offices and meets one of the
Occupational Psychologists.
They discuss the job in question and then the Psychologist interviews the client for the
position scoring his performance on an Interview Evaluation Chart against 9 key criteria. The Psychologist then gives feedback to the Client on how he has performed and then proceeds to inform the
client how to answer – with examples - the questions in a more persuasive and effective manner and how to acquire the
new skills through practice at home. They both agree to meet again in 10 to 14 days time
whereupon the Psychologist again interviews the client for the same job; scores his responses on the Interview Evaluation
Chart and again gives feedback on performance. If the Client has done his or her homework
there should be a marked improvement in performance whereupon the Psychologist gives guidance on fine tuning the
client’s performance. Usually, these two sessions are sufficient to bring a
Client’s performance up to a level which will result – all other things being equal - in the client being chosen
for the targeted job in preference to the other Interviewees. In our Emergency Interview
Training Programme we run the two sessions together in a 3 hour session leaving the time between the session and the day of
interview as the practice period. The success rate of our clients from both programmes is
80%.
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