What are the 4 Key ingredients for a successful interview?


Hi everyone

As you may or may not know, I help people who are redundant to get back into work through my websites http://www.beatredundancyblues.com and http://www.beatredundancyblues.co.uk and my other blog http://www.beatredundancyblues.wordpress.com

I currently teach Blogging as an aid to recovery for the Recovery Learning Community, for the NHS, as a self-employed person. Tomorrow I have an interview to work for the NHS Staff Bank as an employed person. This means I will have two employed jobs and still be self-employed. In effect, I am applying for my own job, but as an employed person. I had to fill out a 15 page application form and provide 12 pages of supporting information. It took me about a week and a half to do this because of  working at my full-time day job.

There are 4 key ingredients to having a successful interview, the 4 Ps as I call them. Learn what they are in this video.

If you found this video helpful and you would like to see more videos you can subscribe to my YouTube quirkybooksTV channel by going to http://www.youtube.com/user/quirkybooksTV and hitting the subscribe button. I have 6 subscribers so far, 5 of whom are followers of this blog, thanks so much to Al, Ste, Mike, Mr Lattimer and Ralph. You rock!

Don’t worry if video is not your thing, I will still be writing lots of posts and sharing other bloggers’ fantastic posts.

Don’t miss my written post on Monday 26th of May, I have a treat in store for you, an Author interview with Ian Kane.

Write soon

Sandra

Exclusive Preview – Break Through The Barriers Of Redundancy Book Blurb


Hi everyone

I am still working on the final edit of my book and it is taking longer than I expected, but it will be worth the wait.

After a short break, I am working back in my day job again, and I start teaching Blogging as an aid to recovery on Monday 24th of February. I had planned to publish my book in February, depending on how long it took to edit it to a standard that I am happy with. Although I have people waiting to buy my book, I won’t compromise on quality, and I know they wouldn’t want me to. It looks likely I will publish it in March rather than February.

I now own the copyright of the book cover illustration and design, although credit still goes to my illustrator Victoria Warby for creating it. I think she has done a fantastic job.

Please note that the entire book cover is copyrighted and will be revealed in the future – For now, I can exclusively reveal the Book Blurb.

Break Through The Barriers Of Redundancy Book Blurb
Break Through The Barriers Of Redundancy Book Blurb

Break Through The Barriers of Redundancy Book Blurb: Copyright Sandra Bellamy/quirkybooks – Cover Illustration created by Victoria Warby

Coming soon to Amazon: My new book – Break Through The Barriers Of Redundancy To Get Back Into Work: – An A-Z ‘How to’ guide.

I am pleased to say that a link to my website http://www.beatredundancyblues.com has been added to http://thefilmorecv.co.uk/job-search-sites.php site, that is the sister site to http://www.jobmanji.com.

I would love to have your feedback on the blurb.

Always remember, your writing dreams can come true, if you work hard and believe in your abilities as a writer.

Write soon
Sandra

Celebrating writing successes and more for 2013


Hi everyone

Thanks for your lovely comforting comments during my time of illness. I will get around to replying to each one them when I can. I am still poorly but managed to write a post and publish it on my beatredundancyblues.wordpress.com blog site.

Despite being ill for a while now, in the post, I have focused on both my personal and professional successes for 2013. This includes writing successes.

As you are a huge part of my success, I thought you would like to read it so we can celebrate together. Here it is:

Hi everyone
I would like to thank you all for your continued support during 2013.
 
Not only have I accomplished a lot personally but professionally too.
 
Personal highlights include:
  • Receiving a Good Citizens Award from the police.
  • Meeting and speaking to HM the Queen at St James’s Palace.
  • Becoming a self-employed Tutor and teaching my first Blogging as an aid to recovery course – How to start a WordPress.com blog.
Professional highlights include: 
I couldn’t have done it without you.
 
I  would like to wish each and every one of you a Happy Christmas and a hugely successful 2014.
 
Stay positive
Sandra Bellamy

I would like to reiterate my thanks to you.

 

As I still have lots of work to do on my book over the next few days and need to get some sleep and rest, I won’t be able to comment, like or post as much. I will write as soon as I am able to, keep smiling, you are awesome.

Sandra

 

 

Launch of sandrabellamy.co.uk


Hi everyone

Today is a good day.

Cinnamon was given the all clear for his cheek wound yesterday afternoon. It is no longer infected and almost healed.

It’s my two year anniversary of being free from a not very nice person to me.

It is also the launch of sandrabellamy.co.uk

Here is a copy of my About Sandra Bellamy/Home page:

Welcome to the website of Sandra Bellamy.

Sandra Bellamy, Writer, Owner and Founder of quirkybooks.net and beatredundancyblues.com/.co.uky

A Writer and Redundancy Breakthrough and Employment Success Specialist by night, a part-time Tutor for the Recovery Learning Community, a full-time Fitted Bedroom Specialist in John Lewis by day and a volunteer Health Buddy. Sandra Bellamy has a range of skills, experience, knowledge and expertise that she loves sharing with others to advance their own career and their own learning.

Sandra’s life changing moment came when she was made redundant for the second time in 2009.

“When I was made redundant for the second time in my career, it changed my life. At first I felt my gut was wrenched from me, worried about my future, concerned about finances, bewildered and lost, I just didn’t know what I was going to do.

A couple of weeks later I began to feel relieved that it was over.  I thought about the negative aspects of the job I had just left and focused on what I could change about my life and my future career to make me happy. Rather than just being in a job that I was good at, I began to see and understand what job I was meant to be doing. I assessed –

What I was passionate about?

What made me happy?

What did I ultimately want to do with my life?

I came up with two answers:

  1. To be a writer
  2. To help people

I now do both of these.

I  have had:

I have written the course content for ‘Blogging as an aid to recovery – How to start a WordPress.com blog’ that I am teaching for the Recovery Learning Community.

My blog about writing is at quirkybooks.wordpress.com. I write all of the content for beatredundancyblues.com and beatredundancyblues.co.uk. and beatredundancyublues.wordpress.com. I have my own author website at quirkybooks.net that is currently under construction and I am working on my first two e-Books.

I help people who are redundant to get back into work via my two websites beatredundancyblues.com and beatredundancyblues.co.uk. These are free to use resources, that have access to lots of job sites, recruitment sites and courses sites from within the one site. They have a wealth of other useful information, help and advice. Including about job interviews, time management and health and wellbeing. beatredundancyblues likes to take a holistic approach to redundancy and getting back into work.

Redundancy changed my whole outlook on life and now I am a much happier and more fulfilled person, who believes in myself and what I was born to do.  I do not profess to be the best, just to enjoy what I do and to help others  as best as I can.”

I am still waiting on the test results from Daisy’s operation. She has another check-up tomorrow morning because she had some severe swelling when she was checked by the vet yesterday.

I hope you enjoy your fireworks evening and it explodes with loads of good things for you.

Write as soon as I am able to,

Sandra

 

 

 

Guest Blogger Sandra Bellamy On Sage One


Hi everyone

I am thrilled to have had my guest blog article published on Sage One – The accounting company.

It is called “Have you got the guts to run your own business?” Providing useful information for anyone who is unemployed and interested in knowing if they have got what it takes to run a business.

Here is the link:

http://uk.sageone.com/2013/08/23/guts-to-run-your-own-business/

Please let me know what you think by commenting below and if possible, by commenting on the blog itself.

Paul Lancaster asked me to write it, he is in charge of the blogging for Sage One and I met him at The Business Show in London in June. He is also an author for Wiley who write the Dummie books. http://www.dummies.com

At present, Wiley have a book proposal from me under their division of Capstone.  http://www.thisiscapstone.com Any positive comments I get on the Sage One blog itself, should help towards persuading them to publish me, so I would appreciate any help that you could give me.

Thank you in advance and many thanks for all of the lovely comments that I have received about this blog and about me. I appreciate your support, love and care.

Write soon

Sandra

 

I Have Been Chosen To Meet HM The Queen


Hi everyone

I am very happy and excited to have been chosen to meet Her Majesty the Queen, at St James’s Palace, on Monday 15th of July.

For those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you may already know this and a few of you I have mentioned it to in my comments. For the rest of my lovely blog followers, the last update I gave you, was that I had been invited to St James’s Palace in the presence of HM the Queen. I have since had a letter to say I have been chosen to meet HM the Queen.

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I have been sent a map of the inside of the Palace and have been told I am group 10, in the Queen Anne Room, to meet the Queen.

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There is a red dotted line to indicate which route HM the Queen will take.

There are instructions of what I should say and do when I meet HM the Queen.

I am going there, to celebrate CSV (Community Service Volunteers) 50th anniversary. I do voluntary work as a Health Buddy for CSV and got nominated by my Manager to go.

If someone had told me a few years ago, that in the future I would be meeting HM the Queen at St James’s Palace, I would have laughed and said they had a vivid imagination, or yes, in my dreams. But I did something very important in my life, I changed my attitude and my belief in myself.

When I was made redundant for the second time in my life, in 2009, this was the starting point of that change. I knew from then on, that I was born 100% to write and to help others who have been made redundant to get back into work. It was the start of my creative journey. However, needing money and taking on a succession of temporary jobs, that I wasn’t happy in, took it’s toll, and although I still had these goals in mind, I didn’t do much about them at that time.

By the end of 2009, I got a job as an Assistant Manager of a shop and a couple of months later I was promoted to Shop Manager. The drawback was, most weeks I would be working 60 hours a week instead of my contracted 40.

In October 2010, I got headhunted to work as a Sales Person for more money doing less hours and so I took it. After almost a year of working there, I decided to take a year out from work, to develop myself, my skills, my knowledge and expertise to grow as a person and to finally fulfil my destiny of writing and helping others to get back into work. During that time, I gained all of those and so much more.

Although I am working again in a retail sales job during the day, I have chosen to be in a job as a Sales Person not as a Manager, so my hours are stable and kept to a minimum. The pay is not great but I can focus on building two businesses around my two goals during the evenings and my time off. I now know what action to take to make progress with those two goals. I still have time to do courses and to develop myself as a person. I am continuing on the path to fulfil my dreams and you can do it too. I am living proof that dreams can come true. Never, ever, give up on your own dreams. Believe they are achievable and that anything is possible.

Be blessed with what you have,
fight for what you want,
believe in yourself,
helps others along the way,
take action,
change when you are able to
and never look back.

Keep looking forward because your future is in your hands.
Treat yourself kindly,
look after those who are important in your life,
allow yourself ups and downs,
you are only human.
Above all, love yourself, live life to the max and do what makes you happy over and over again.

Until next time, keep writing and keep smiling.

Write soon
Sandra

beatredundancyblues.co.uk Coming Soon


Hi Everyone

I am mega busy at the moment creating my beatredundancyblues.co.uk website, it will be very similar to beatredundancyblues.com with all of your favourite information pages but with a blog added for much more interaction with you. This way you can let me know what you like and what you don’t and what other help and support you need in your quest to find employment.

I realise not all of you will have been made redundant but when it’s officially launched and no longer under construction, I would still appreciate your feedback on the content.

Watch this space for the official launch of beatredundancyblues.co.uk

My web host who hosts beatredundancyblues.com has decided to stop people from using RVSiteBuilder  to build any new website by removing it from their system. As my site is built using this, I now have to get access to my site admin panel through a link. I was informed that eventually the RVSiteBuilder will be dis-continued completely. beatredundancyblues.co.uk was due to be launched at the end of this year but in light of this new challenge, I am creating it now and transferring it’s valuable information over to beatredundancyblues.co.uk. I have to do this manually and re-format it before adding it to the new WordPress.Org site for beatredundancyblues.co.uk

For those of you who are not familiar with beatredundancyblues.com and what is is about, here is an except from it:

This website is designed to give you easy access to a wealth of knowledge, experience and skills needed to survive redundancy and get back into work. No longer do you have to trawl through website after website trying to find the information you want, you can get it all here at the click of a button.

Make your job search easier by getting instant access to these sites at the click of a button. Find an area that interests you and get right to it.
This website is essential for anyone who is:

  1. Redundant
  2. Unemployed
  3. Changing Career
  4. Job Hunting
  5. Lacking In Direction
  6. Wanting Motivation
  7. Needing Help
  8. Looking For Support

I have to say that using WordPress.org compared to the .com version has been far more challenging than I thought it would be. What experience have you had with the .org version compared to the .com? Have you got any advice or hints and tips on how to get the best out of using the .org version?

To those of you who have given me blog awards recently, I will officially acknowledge them in the future but it will be at a later date that I had originally planned. Thanks in advance, I very much appreciate your support.

On thursday this week, I am going to an awards ceremony by the police to be awarded a Good Citizens Award. I feel honoured and humbled to be getting the award and thought I would let you know.

Write soon

Sandra