For over 20 years, I worked primarily as a copywriter in the advertising industry. It was an interesting career, as I had to write on a wide variety of subjects, in a wide variety of styles, and get to know how to use different media to best effect.

Advertising is not just about writing slogans. I wrote a lot of long copy, which helped me learn to keep my writing tight and to the point. Much of it required solid research. All of it required an understanding of writing for a specific target market.

My training was in Journalism. I have a B. Journ from Rhodes University in South Africa, and a B.A. (Hons) in Linguistics. The degree training, and internships afterwards, taught me how to focus on the important parts of a story.

During my copywriting career, I opened and ran Peppercorn Advertising, a smalll, accredited advertising agency that specialised in smaller budgets. This taught me to look for innovative ways to save money, which invariably drew me into technological solutions. And broken computers, outside working hours in the face of a deadline, taught me almost everything I know about computers.

In 2001, I moved to London as my husband was transferred. In 2004, he got a job in the Netherlands, and we moved again. This taught me not to trust in permanence. Everything changes, all the time. During these years I have done a fair amount of freelance and watched the Internet grow.

Today, I am at Helium. And what I am learning is SEO, or how to make pay-per-click work. What I bring, is a lot of experience, insight, and a very open mind. These qualities I'm putting into the Computers And Technology Channel.

My passion is ...

Food

I know too much about ...

Moving countries

My childhood ambition ...

To be a famous author

My favorite memory ...

Zaq and Nisa sharing Zaq's kittens

Why I write ...

To communicate

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

The Internet

My first job ...

Intern: Radio Newswriter at SABC

My inspiration ...

Sunlight

Jobs & Careers > Job Interviews Dress for success: What to wear to a job interview

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Deciding what to wear to a job interview makes writing the interview-winning resume look easy! In about one tenth of a second, your interviewer will decide how attractive, likeable, trustworthy, competent and aggressive you are. Also, as Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov at Princeton University showed, the decision will not change much in the following minutes. More time tends to reinforce opinions. With one tenth of a second to make a good impression, appearances count. That's all the interviewer has to go on. Where to start? Unless you're in a suitless society (such as The Netherlands...

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