Your views: our clients talk back

"I couldn't really talk to audiences at all. You gave me the confidence to speak to lecture rooms with hundreds of medical professionals and to live TV cameras. Now after a few talks I have the skills I need, plus it's become fun. My ICA feedback included 'You were great ... so compelling and such a positive ending'. I can't imagine how anyone discovering public speaking could move forward without your kind of coaching."
Diana Wilson, speaker for OCD-UK, a British Mental Health Charity

"Tony, Many thanks. [Name witheld] has made real progress and I am pleased to say that she passed her probation. I have every confidence that she will develop as a very valuable team member. I also understand that you may well be hearing from us shortly regarding some more work! Best regards"
Martin S., Risk Management Consultant, London

"Well, I have now had a chance to review the Influence Skills work we went through, and I have particularly taken onboard the work related to feedback. I have had a few situations where I needed to be a bit more diplomatic. And it has prevailed with success… So all good! I've also been thinking a bit more about roles and power. I used to come into work and just pump away at doing my job, but I now realise that I need to be more strategic at work. So I have been thinking about the people with power at work, and leveraging that power to influence. As a result, I've started to see things coming my way a bit more... so it's all very good! As such, I think our day has already proven itself in value... Thank you!"
Todd King, National Online Marketing Manager, AMP Capital Shopping Centres

"...[in] April I joined the Tokyo office of Accenture... this week I had my first presentation at work. I was thinking of what you taught me... [it] was a very useful experience."
Yordanka Velichkova, Consultant, Accenture, Tokyo

"Thank you! I feel I have learnt so much. [The coaching] has really helped me. I have passed your name on to loads of people at Disney. I do look over my personal objectives and affirmations and they do work and I also find myself ... [long list of competencies given]."
Juliette Dixon, PA to Vice President within Disney Consumer Products, London

"You'd think with an MBA from Portsmouth I wouldn't have had a problem communicating and building business relationships in English. What [Tony] showed me was how much more there is to it than just mastery of English. [He] put communication skills training into a cross-cultural framework and we looked at my behaviour, including voice, as part of the equation. I had been thinking that it was just my accent and lack of words."
Catherine Yu, Sweet China Plc., London

"Thanks for the presentation ... I went to another later on that afternoon which was (against yours) one of the worst presentations I've ever attended, and they could have done with some lessons from you and Tom!"
Sue Weakly, Head of Foundation Programmes, SOAS University of London

"I was thinking London would be much like Miami but things are so different, even in a big firm like mine. Thanks again for all your help and support Tony. It all feels so clear to me now where I'm at and where I'm headed from here."
Matthias C, Consultant, London

"I have worked with [Tony] on a professional level for the last two [years]. Tony is without a doubt, one of the best communication coaches in the UK, who works tirelessly to create a truly unique experience for City CV’s clients. He has wide-ranging experience and a refreshing approach, which is incredibly effective with individuals at all levels and from a breadth of backgrounds. Our 100% success rate in transforming clients’ interview competence and communication is testament to Tony's drive and talent. He continues to surprise me with the quality, extent and depth of his understanding - he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the communications field and a gift for quickly identifying how he can make a difference. Approaching each and every client with a fresh mind, he uses intuitive strategies to develop their styles - empowering them to make an impact. I personally have learnt a lot through my partnership with Tony and I hope it continues for many more years."
Victoria McLean, Professional Employment Interview and Career Coach, City CV Ltd., London

"I never thought of coaching but you made me think about the impact I have in the marketplace, which is particularly relevant for me right now."
Dr Matthew Williams, Associate Dean, Sydney Institute of Language & Commerce, Shanghai University

"Tony has been very good at analysing and taking into consideration my needs and wishes to build up a complete program and help me improve the areas I felt as being my weaknesses... I really enjoyed the way Tony teaches – not too academic, very clever and open-minded – which made the sessions highly interesting and helped me to improve my language level as well as my cultural knowledge and awareness of the cultural and linguistic differences among English-speaking countries."
Gwenaelle Boissel, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, London

"I've fantastic news - following a gruelling process includinng a further round of interviews following the assessment centre - I've been successful in attaining an internship for next summer with BarCap in Sales. I would like to take this opportunity to thank CityCV and all of you individually for your support which has undoubtedly played a part in this success. There is no doubt in my mind that Libby's work on my CV played an integral role in my application successfully passing the initial screening stage and that interview support and guidance from Tony and Victoria assisted in successfully mastering my approach to competency and motivational questions as well my overall presentation and demeanour in the interview room. I shall be advocating CityCV's services to my network and you will certainly be my first port of call for whenever I may require these services in the future. All the best. P.S. my feedback did mention that I could do with slightly slowing down my speaking pace - something we can continue to work on next time!"
David A, Finance Graduate, London

"It was very useful our reflection around objectives, leadership style and change last week. Many thanks."
[Name withheld], Senior Strategic Manager, Santander Bank, London

"I certainly have a lot to say about your coaching (all positive of course!). The thing that most impressed me is the style of your coaching and the compassion you have for the subject. It helps me to realise quickly where the problems are and how to improve them. Of course like many problems in life, there may be no quick fix and you are very patient to accompany me through the journey and most importantly to design effective ways to overcome them. Overall your professionalism and commitment towards coaching makes the whole learning process enjoyable and effective."
[Name witheld], Lecturer in Marketing, Middlesex University, London

"Thank you so much for taking the time last week to deliver such an informative and inspiring lecture. I am very grateful to you and am sure the law students found it very helpful. Regards,"
Maureen Spencer, Law Lecturer, Middlesex University, London

"I was highly impressed with City CV. With only two days to prepare for an interview I contacted the company and was booked in for two telephone coaching sessions and a face-to-face mock interview. The coaching provided me with a method of structuring each answer whereas I had previously just muddled through interviews. The consultant who undertook the mock interview gave me further advice about polishing my performance and by the end of the exercise I felt that I could respond confidently to any questions I might be asked. The interview went extremely well and after a few hours a member of the panel phoned and offered me the job on a salary exceeding the advertised pay range! The City CV staff were extremely friendly, professional and supportive and gave me the tools and confidence to succeed in my interview. I will certainly be recommending them to friends and colleagues."
Alex Pridgeon, Successful job candidate after coaching with Tony Corballis

"I just wanted to express my appreciation for the presentation you gave on Friday. I thought it was very helpful especially the element on presentations... My nerves and public speaking were connected in a way I was finding difficult to understand. But you took my understanding and mastering of these nerves several steps forward..."
Mulenga D Kaunda, post-graduate student at London Metropolitan University

"Tony does unique work. The time that he spent as a career coach on communication analysis with me led to quite a few revelations and provided me with quite specific areas to address and to grow. Highly recommended! ... [months later]... I was hired on Jan 17.... I made 150% in my first 3 months. So, apologies for the late reply due in large part to being incredibly busy and traveling, and thanks to you [Victoria of City CV] and Tony for your invaluable contribution to making this happen."
Vadim Roussin, Consultant Business Development Exectutive, London

"I never realised expanding my communication skills could be so much fun!"
Florence Lecuyer, Marketing Manager, Amazon.com, London

"I have known Tony for almost 4 years. He was my tutor when I did my MA Interpreting course... His knowledge of linguistics, training and assessment was amazing. Tony also has extensive experience in coaching – he runs a company called Corballis Communication where offers a wide range of coaching services. Tony is intelligent, hard working and dedicated ... he was always there to listen to our problems/difficulties in studying, and helped us to find a solution and therefore to achieve our goals; we all liked him also because he was a friendly and, of course, a very handsome guy originally from New Zealand! It was a pleasure to be taught by Tony and wish him all the best of luck."
Katie Poon, Policer Officer and Interpreter, London

"Tony, all I want to say is that I am lucky I got your coaching support, especially how you are flexible and always ready to help."
Dr Mohammed N Fazaa, Pharmacist of AL-Rawdah Clinic, Gulf Spectra and AL-Mandeb Contractors, Saudi Arabia Eastern Region

"I wanted to thank you for all your assistance with the coaching - it made a significant difference to both my performance & my confidence in the interview for the position with the FSA. You helped design a strategy to target the specific requirements of the job & the detailed feedback I received from the FSA after my assessment was that their only criticism was that I appeared too well prepared! The FSA had said based upon the interview I would have undoubtedly been offered the position I was seeking. Unfortunately I did not get the job based solely upon my performance at the presentation stage which was the only part I never received your coaching. I think the conclusion is obvious in that I am good a my job but not great at interviewing so the help of an expert like yourself can make all the difference. Your advice will continue to pay dividends for the rest of my career. I have since received three job offers and I am on the verge of accepting a position with a significant pay increase from RBS."
Saul Jackson, Financial Consultant, London

"Even though you think my English is good, I still had no idea I could actually address a conference in English!"
Dr Adela Torbado Martinez, Consultant Anaesthetist, Pamplona, Spain

"That has to have been the best speech I ever made."
Paul G, Marketing and Business strategist, London

"I think you rock."
Mohieb Dahabieh, Company Director of MoDa's Touch, Creative Director and Celebrity Publicist, London

"It is quite interesting that I'm now consulting for an orgnisation based in the north-west ... and I really admit I got strong comptency not only in English and business but also in terms of many other things I learnt from you and I want to say thanks."
Tae Sun Yeom, Gaming Software Entrepreneur, Korea

"Thank you so much, I'm absolutely over the moon with it! After all the trials and tribulations of searching for a job, it finally paying off is an amazing feeling. And obviously, thank you so much for your help, your training gave me the boost of confidence I needed! I'm actually supposed to be attending the assessment day tomorrow, so much less pressure on that now! I'll let you know how it all turns out!" ... [and later] ... "Hi Victoria and Tony, I realised that I never filled you in on the outcome of my job situation. Well, I am now a casualty broker in the energy department in London, starting on the 25th of July! It is the independent job I was going for, not the grad scheme. I apparently didn't get through the grad scheme round, but I'm fairly sure it's because Marsh decided that they wanted me for the independent role instead of wasting time and effort on finding someone else for it. Yet again thank you for all your help, this really is an absolute dream job for me, and I'll recommending you to anybody I know who is the position I was in not too long ago! All the best, and wish me luck!"
Tom D., jobseeker client of City CV interview coaching, London

"Hi Tony, Once again I would like to thank you for your help on preparing my presentation. Although I didn't get the job, the panel made very positive comments on the presentation itself. Best wishes"
Marta, Interpreter, London

"Tony was amazing... Really has helped lots! Has highlighted where I need to improve! When I get an interview, I'll have another session before!"
Mike M., investment banking job seeker, London

"Thanks for getting my department in the newspapers. We look simply fabulous."
Dominique Joire, Manager Gateway Clinic, British National Health Service

"I have learned a lot from this [training] course and I totally recommend it ..."
Roland Coudair, Banker, London

"I went to CityCV for help after being rejected at the interview stages of 3-4 different graduate jobs. After one session with Victoria, and one session with Tony, not only was I much better prepared to answer competency questions but my confidence had been restored. On the day of the interview every question asked by the interviewer we had covered the previous day and I found out 2 hours later that I had successfully got the job! I would recommend CityCV to any of my friends!"
Tom, jobseeker client of City CV Ltd. interview coaching, London

"Thanks for your support in achieving my professional and personal goals."
Roser Tarrias, Lawyer & Company Operations Manager, London

"I'm impressed by your report re-writing with [a] detailed understanding of [the] situation. I will contact you again."
Yoshiro Seki, Corporate Auditor, R&D, Toshiba, Japan

"Thank you again for your effort... extraordinary attention to detail."
Martin Altemeyer, Economist, Germany

"I think I have really benefited from your training. Yesterday there was a final meeting for validation of our programmes. The participants included the externals, the reps from different departments in Middlesex and the Chair of the group, the programme leaders, etc. My colleagues commented that I made a significant contribution by making the right points in the right way at the right time [...] Your coaching has really helped me to be more confident to speak in public. A big thanks to you!"
[Name witheld], Senior Lecturer, Middlesex University, London

"Dear Victoria and Tony, Thank you for all the help you have provided over the application for the role. It was very useful to develop my approach to the competency questions in such a structured manner, and for recognising the opportunity within every answer. It is a very useful strategy to learn and I will definitely incorporate it in my future planning for job interviews. Unfortunately I did not get any further with the application in question, but I recognise that my interview technique did improve and I may well call upon you both at some point in the future, when I get an offer for an interview. I would also certainly refer you to any friends who are keen to develop their interview technique."
Sebastien Hung, jobseeker client of City CV Ltd. interview coaching, London

"I really appreciate your support and I am happy to provide a testimonial."
Kunihiro Hayashida, Advertising Exec, The Asahi Shimbun Company, Japan

"Marvellous! You saved my life."
Dr Adela Torbado Martinez, (former) Bilingual GP, Centro Médico Vida, Spain

"Just a quick email to let you know that we are extremely happy with your work and think you’ve done an excellent job. I particularly liked the supplementary report you prepared since it shows all the thinking and work behind it and also proves useful for us to learn a bit along the way. Thanks also for your overall comments on the website design and tone of the copy. We are really glad that the message comes through as intended."
Catherine Lelong, Partner and Director, e-HotelServices.com, London

"I have been meaning to say what a great program/materials you wrote for the research project training for the pre-sessional... that whole module of work was excellent to teach from (very helpful for native speakers in fact). Anyway, my apologies for not letting you know earlier that I enjoyed teaching the unit and I felt much more confident delivering a program like that. It just took the headache out of my training. In the previous materials there was just a lack of clarity in both structure and direction."
Jennifer Routley, Lecturer and Teacher in EAP

"I got promoted to my first management position in BNP Paribas and it didn't come without a fair dose of unease. This Leadership Transition coaching that Tony does got me thinking more acutely and more strategically about what I was involved in, who I was involved with, and how I am involved, particularly when in comes to communication. It's really given me great confidence. I'm approaching my first 100 days yardstick with excitement now."
Lou Michel, BNP Paribas Investment Bank, London

"I firmly believe you are an excellent instructor."
Hua Kuei, IT lecturer, Taiwan

"In six months of applying for graduate positions with commercial property consultants, I attended a number of first-round interviews but proceeded no further in their application process. I found it hard to put my finger on what was holding me back from proceeding to final-round interviews as I felt that I was a confident candidate with a strong CV. Victoria and Tony showed me how to demonstrate all of my strengths in a format which employers could easily recognise. They helped in every aspect of the interview process, from the way to behave all the way through to having solid prepared answers to questions I was likely to be asked (and the questions really did come up!). I was recently offered a place with a leading commercial property consultant and was informed I had received the highest score in one of their final-round assessment days. I strongly recommend Victoria and Tony's services to anyone entering a highly competitive job market. Seek their advice early on, get ahead of the competition and don't waste any interview opportunity."
[Name witheld], graduate recruited in a major property consultancy, London

"I really have to say thanks a lot."
George Po-Liang Chen, Marketing Executive, Taiwan

"Your writing is fabulous - so clever. My bio is just right now. Thank you!"
Dina Jisr, Fashion Designer, Beirut

"Many many thanks for your generosity, Tony... I'm very much impressed by your many wonderful analogies."
Yan W, postgraduate student, Middlesex University

"... when I met Tony... He helped me improve my writing and presentation skills greatly. He's very patient and professional, especially inspiring! I learnt from him not only skills, but also his attitude and responsibility towards students."
Meicun Li, Director of Sales, BTG-JIANGUO Hotels & Resorts, China

"Thank you for meeting with me last week and for your constructive advice/feedback. I found the session to be extremely useful.
I also really appreciate your positivity and encouragement, so thank you again!"
Melissa M, graduate analyst in investment banking, London

"Sorry I meant to reply to this ages ago. I have done very well with my search for a job. I have recently been offered a place as [...] for Ernst and Young ... which I have accepted. I can't wait to start. ... Whilst they were challenging, I felt confident going in and they said it showed. Thank you for all the help you gave me, it was invaluable."
James S, accounting graduate, London

"[I am] very pleased with your work and it was done to a professional standard... and I thank you for that."
Shahla Vaziri, specialist teacher, London

"Many thanks. I really enjoyed the session and got a lot out of it. Thanks also for the feedback - I shall try and practise until it becomes second nature."
Ian, Marketing Director of an insurance company, London

"I hope you will go on with your academic literacies courses because you are the best teacher I have ever had."
Virginia F, recent masters graduate and published author

"Thanks Tony, I can't possibly fail having great tutor like you!"
Patrick, Engineering and Information Systems postgraduate student

"I just wanted to let you know that I was successful in my application and will be the new CEO of [insurance company - withheld]. Thanks very much for your help in coaching me for the interviews, this was invaluable and gave me the guidance I needed to approach the process with confidence."
Ian, company CEO, London

"Waiting for a contract for a business development manager role at international law firm SNR Denton. Without your support, I know the agency would never have bothered taking me. They've had me contracting for the past six weeks working on the prep for an arbitration case. Thanks, you star!"
Susan Miller, Legal Project Manager, Qatar

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