Getting To Know Flexcoach Thai Ngo

FlexCareers is passionate about supporting our employer partners and our community to be the best that they can be.  We offer a range of training and coaching services in areas such as career transition and outplacement, parental leave, return to work, managing flexibility, interview skills, leadership and management, positive psychology, and diversity & inclusion – to name a few.

In this series, we introduce you to our panel of FlexCoaches, each who offer a complimentary 30-minute chemistry session to our community.

1. Thai, tell us about your career history?

I wasted 3 years at university trying to get a qualification in IT. After racking up a huge student loan in something I didn’t enjoy, I decided I just wanted to work.

Without a qualification and any career direction, I fell into doing factory work for 5 years. Until one day I imagined my future-self; the realisation hit me like a ton of bricks. This was going to be my four factory walls that I would see for the rest of my life. So, I decided to go back to study but this time it was more aligned to my strengths — which was HR.

I was able to change the course of my career and have since been in recruitment for over 10 years; placing over 2,000 people in major organisations which include Telstra, Computershare, Exxon Mobil, Foxtel, Link Group, Department of Human Services, Australian Tax Office, NBN and many more.

Over the last 2 years, I’ve been honoured to be a guest speaker and share my story and knowledge at the major universities. Helping upcoming generations prepare to embark on their careers.

2.What was your motivation to become a coach?

I loved my job as a Senior Recruitment Partner. But my role has always been to find the top 5% of applicants to put forward for jobs and Hiring Managers — which meant rejecting a lot of people…

After reading over 500,000 CVs and interviewing 10,000 people; I saw so many people make the same mistakes again and again — I knew I had to do something.

It wasn’t because they didn’t have the skills, qualifications or attitude; they just didn’t know how to sell themselves. So, I decided to coach people about the recruitment blueprint and the hiring psyche.

3.Do you have any particular areas of coaching expertise? 

Self-Discovery

• Discover “your top sellable-strengths” which can lead to high-salary and proper rewards
• How to craft and use your very own capability pitch
• “Resume & cover letter re-engineering” in under 7 seconds

Interview Influence

• How to build authority without over-stepping it to become their #1 choice
• 1-hour interview dissection which leads to presence & certainty. It is a focus on voice, mind & body
• Decode the behaviour test – look at near-perfect scores to find your preferred career

Distinct Advantage

• Impact with power and tact using “the influence ratio”
• “The extra-points formula” – rather than lose points, you gain extra points
• Understand “the unspoken questions” and avoid the interview traps

4.What do you love most about coaching? 

It is extremely rewarding to see people unleash their potential and get the job they want. I believe that everyone deserves to work in a job they love and create a lifestyle they want. They just need a bit of guidance and it’s a great sense of fulfilment to know you’ve played a part and see people’s achievements.

This is the reason why I’ve created a community where job seekers and professionals have open discussions around careers; knowledge sharing of the highs and lows of job-searching and the chance to connect, share stories and wins.

5.How do you define success?

I’m going to take my favourite quote from Ghandi which states “the future depends on what you do today”. It’s about taking action, facing the walls and barriers in life and that feeling when you know things are going to change for the better.

6.What is your vision for women in the workplace?

Firstly, for women to feel empowered to get jobs they want without feeling stereotyped. Secondly, most of my mentors have been women so seeing more women on the executive board. Last but not least, to see more return-to-work mothers in jobs. Some of the greatest talents are sitting at home because there aren’t enough flexible jobs available.

About Thai

From humble beginnings as a Factory Worker, overworked and lacking real direction, Thai has now managed to take control of his life’s path and found a career that is the best fit for him. He is now proud to be a successful Business Owner, Career Coach and public speaker.With 10 years corporate recruitment experience, he has learnt to take the recruitment blueprint and break it down into its core structure. Providing deep insights on how and why you are marked and judged throughout the recruitment process. Explaining how the decision is made to hire an employee from the recruiters perspective.

Having interviewed over 10,000 people in his career and providing operational and strategic
recruitment expertise across industries such as Finance, IT, Telecommunications, Government, Utilities, Education and Mining, Thai’s coaching has helped individuals gain employment in corporate companies by providing clarity on career paths as well as arming them with insider-recruitment techniques to succeed.

You can connect with Thai for a FREE 30min chemistry session to discuss your coaching needs here.