Episodes

  • Lindsey Pollak - Rethink work

    Lindsey Pollak - Rethink work

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    Having a multigenerational workforce is not a new thing. What's different now is that as of 2016 we now have five distinct generations in the workforce. People are working and living much later in their lives. There are more Americans over 85 in the workplace now than ever before.

    My guest Lindsey Pollak and I discuss the impact on the office when you have that many generations working at the same time. Although generations are only one aspect of what people are, they impact how we work, communicate, experience the office among other things.

    Managing in this new environment can be challenging and according to Lindsey "...it's not about doing it all the old way or all the new way. It's about the combinations of having a toolkit that combines the best of every era's different ways of working to find a diversity of styles in your management toolkit."

    We discuss all the recent research about women leaving the workforce in large numbers in 2020 and the need for institutional and governmental solutions.

    Lindsey talks about her new book Recalculating: Navigate Your Career Through the Changing World of Work. It's your personal GPS to succeeding today and into the future because Covid-19 has upended job hunting and career planning forever.

    We discuss Lindsey's predictions about what the workplace looks like after COVID-19 and how working from home impacts career advancement and opportunities. Here are a few tips:

    Look at your culture and what is valued and think about how you can show your value.Get more comfortable tooting your own hornPersonal branding is still very importantThe relationship that matters most is your direct manager

    There are many young people who are entering the workforce during this time that never experienced the traditional experience of working in an office and those starting their careers virtually. "I think we have to really take time to mourn what we're losing as much as thinking about the future." - Lindsey

    You can find Lindsey Pollak here:
    https://lindseypollak.com/
    Preorder her new book Recalulating here: https://lindseypollak.com/books/recalculating/

  • Year-end wrap up

    Year-end wrap up

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    How to get started on your job search - bias toward action

    Making the most of a networking event with Caitlin Hooks - the tips hold true even for virtual events -

    Caitlin told us to

    • Step 1: Research thoroughly

    • Step 2: Engage pointedly

    • Step 3: Follow up strategically

    Basically - figure out who’s going to be there and who you want to meet, show up early, be prepared, do some research so you know what you want to talk about with people, and then afterward follow up with people you met to solidify the connection and keep the relationship going. BTW, much of this advice still applies to virtual events. That was episode 2.

    Episode 3 was all about Joining a job search group and my guest was my friend Ellen Dalbo. Did you know that people who took part in “job search work teams” got employed 20% faster than those using traditional methods? This is according to the book “Team Up!” by Orville Pierson. Churches run groups, there are MeetUps for every kind of interest and job field and if you’re local to the Raleigh area, join Back to Business. Back to Business – the growth of a community is a big goal of Back to Business, and we have been able to connect women returning to work after a career break with each other, and with employers. Joining a job search group is a point reinforced by Dr. Dawn Graham in episode 33 who said that a job search is a social event and we should talk about what we’re looking for so others can help us. I love it when it all comes together like that!

    And speaking of asking for help with your job search, this is a theme that Steve Dalton, author of The 2 Hour Job Search and I spent some time discussing. I love Steve’s take on why we have to get comfortable asking other people for help. The 2 Hour

    I asked Steve if The 2 Hour Job Search process still holds even in our covid-affected environment of 2020.

    Preparing for an interview with Al Dea was episode #4. Al says that before you walk into an interview, you should Craft Your Story. You should take the insights you get from your research about what this company is looking for in candidates, and come up with the narrative that you want to tell about why you are the best person for the job. He even says to think of yourself as a product on amazon.com - and be ready to sell yourself as a solution that the company needs.

    Jeremy Schifeling from Break into Tech describes the different tech roles - I love how he makes this so easy to digest and understand. Take a listen, this is masterful as he takes us through everything from business operations to Corporate development to Product management!

    Sometimes you need professional help to get your most important job-seeking assets in great shape. That’s when you’d call my friend Mir Garvy from Job Market Solutions - she’s an expert resume writer and LinkedIn profile writer. I called on Mir to take us through the process of working with a professional LinkedIn/resume writer in episode 7. Here’s Mir talking about how she helps clients develop a resume that will get past that Applicant Tracking System.


    Mir came back for an encore in episode 10 to provide us with some great Linkedin tips. Here are my 2 favorite tips for LinkedIn: (1) Have a compelling opening statement for your About section and be sure it’s keyword optimized. And (2) Tell the story behind your resume in your Linkedin profile and share a heartfelt reason why you do what you do.

    Glassdoor is a good source for company ratings and in E8 I talked to my niece Ellen Dunn who was an Account Executive there about how to make the most of Glassdoor in your job search. Ellen’s best tips: Use Glassdoor to prep for interviews because people share on that site the interview questions they were asked. Also, use Glassdoor to make sure you know your worth when you are negotiating an offer. If you’re going to convince someone to give you more money, you’ll need good data to back up your claim, and you can get that on Glassdoor.

    Now, in addition to negotiating, one thing you simply must be able to do as a job-seeker is talk about your strengths in a confident manner. So I spent some time with Damien Zikakis, a career coach based in Michigan, to talk about the StrengthsFinder assessment. Damien shared in episode 9 that we can make greater strides in our self-development when we focus our resources on developing our stronger talents into strengths as compared to focusing on fixing weaknesses or trying to develop lesser talents. If you’re interviewing for a job, Damien says that your ability to describe your Strengths and how you capitalize on them, both individually and as part of a team, will set you apart from other candidates. And that just might be the edge you need in an interview. So take the CliftonStrengths assessment and then lean into your strengths.

    Companies have been putting more effort into hiring more diverse teams, and I wanted to understand how this works for candidates. Danielle Pavlil, a Sr. Diversity & Inclusion Manager at SAS, and I spoke in episode 11 about leveraging uniqueness in your job search. I loved that title, which Danielle suggested. I also loved some of the information she shared which helped me understand the importance of being a voice for others to ensure that people with diverse gifts are recognized and appreciated in the workplace.

    In episode 12 I spoke with a technical recruiter named Dina Schweitschal about succeeding at technical interviews. Technical interviews aren’t something that every job seeker will encounter, but if you’re interviewing for a position as a software developer, you will definitely be put through a technical interview. Dina shared that candidates should be asking questions during a technical interview, rather than pretending they know everything. And for job seekers in general, you might be interested to know that only 5 or 10 % of people bother to write thank you notes after an interview and only about 15% write a cover letter. And, guess what? She actually reads cover letters and that can set a candidate apart if it’s done well. Now that’s info you can use in your job search right now. We talk with Dina about some ideas about writing thank you notes.

    If you’re returning to work after taking time off to stay home with kids, here are a few gems specifically for you:

    If you’re deciding if you should take the first job that comes along as you return to work, here are a few things to consider from episode 6. First, it depends on your motivation, so take stock of what’s compelling you to rejoin the workforce. Second, since every big choice we make involves a trade-off, be really clear about the trade-off involved in taking the job so you can make a good decision about if it’s the right job for you. Consider the positives and the negatives. And third, decide if this job might be the stepping stone to get you to your ultimate career goal, and if so, take it!

    In episode 13, my guest was coach Farnoosh Brock. Farnoosh is so smart and if you’re not following her on LinkedIn, I suggest you do so that you can benefit from all the great content about career success that she is sharing. Farnoosh and I talked about determining where the right place might be for you to re-enter the workforce if you haven’t had a paying job in a while. She gave a tip that has really stayed with me: in addition to taking an inventory of what you are good at, you have to consider if those particular skills you possess are skills you actually want to use. Yup. Just because you have skills in one area doesn’t mean that using them will make you happy. Good stuff, right?! Because we all know we’ll be better at something and more highly motivated to do a good job if we enjoy what we’re doing.

    And if you’re returning to work amid a divorce, please check out episode 18. This is my conversation with Sarah Hink, an attorney at New Direction Family Law in Raleigh NC. I know there are many women out there who are in a position of having to get a job as you go through a divorce. Sarah and I tackle the question of how getting a job before your divorce is final will impact your settlement, what happens if one spouse has been unfaithful and how to carve out money to use to upskill in preparation for returning to work.

    In March, when covid shifted how we work, live, learn, and look for work, I did an episode about adapting your job search to our new virtual-only world. 9 months later, it’s clear this is a shift that will impact hiring and the future of work permanently. Interviews became virtual-only and those in-person meetups and coffee chats that I’ve always felt were important for job-seekers disappeared. My best advice for finding a job in our current environment: continue to the network by requesting meetings / informational interviews with anyone who knows anything about the job you want to get. Also, get savvy on social media and build an online presence as a professional in your field. This will help you get those networking meetings that may lead you to that person who can advocate for you for the right job opportunity.

    If you’re wondering how on earth to reach out to people you don’t know to talk about career choices, and I know you are, take a few clues from my friend Nishant Motwani. Nishant was an MBA student that I met when I was working at UNC-Chapel Hill. He came to the US from India to pursue his MBA and didn’t know a single person in this country. His story is really inspirational because he needed a network and he set about building one. He was so good at it, he works at Google today. Well done, Nishant. That was episode 17 called How to Build a Network from Scratch.

    And for a different perspective of networking, I talked to my friend Adam Connors. He talked about the value of rekindling older connections with people from earlier in life. “There’s no better time,” he says. Corona has reminded us that our relationships are the most important things we have and encouraged us to continue to cultivate relationships. Sending someone a note that says “I’m thinking about you and here’s why” is a great way to get started.

    And if you want specific tips on doing video interviews or putting together a video resume, check out my conversation in episode 16 with Ryan Carey from BetterOn. Ryan let me in on a secret that your energy comes across differently on video and you should know how your energy translates on video: Record yourself doing a practice interview and notice how you feel as you do it. Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 for the level of energy you feel you are putting out. Then watch it back and rate it as an audience member. Ryan says you should push yourself to be an 11 on a 1-10 scale! Research shows that people won’t remember your message so much as they will remember how they felt talking to you. Your positive energy can leave them with a great impression. So take that tip from Ryan Carey and bring the energy!

    Job seekers: Be sure to look for your state’s free job-searching resources. If you’re in North Carolina, check out ncworks.gov for a job board, access to career coaches, and other resources. In episode 22, I spoke with Michelle Muir, the Regional Operations Director for the North Carolina Department of Commerce. She pointed us to career exploration tools, resume assistance, and job search assistance, including a job board and even scholarships that are available for retraining. I want you to find every resource out there, so if you’re in North Carolina, ncworks.gov is a good place to look for job search support.

    If you’re considering a career change or a return to work, I hope you’ll be as inspired as I am by Annie Francheschi. Annie joined me for episode 23 to talk about her book Permission To Try. If you’ve ever worried about what other people might think about your choices, you’ll want to hear Annie’s take on how much you should pay attention to other people’s advice.

    As covid wore on, I sought the help of recruiter Will Barfield to talk about finding opportunities in a tough job market. Will shared some great advice that he gave to a job-seeker who needed to pivot from a job in meetings and events to a new field.

    As a parent of 2 college-age kids, I spent a lot of time in 2020 thinking about the best way for them to approach college given the limitations Covid was forcing upon us. Taking a gap year began to look like a smart idea and using that time to learn software development skills at a code school and then working until fall 2021 made it an even smarter idea. So I recorded episode 24 with Jessica Mitsch, CEO of Momentum code school in Durham, NC, Mason Whitaker who is a graduate of the immersive software development program at momentum, and college admissions advisor Abby Bittler. Mason has had a stellar start to his career and it was fun to hear how learning the software development skill set and having a college degree has fast-tracked him to a leadership position. By the way, it’s not too late to join us at Momentum for a January start to this 16-week software development program if you’re a college student looking to take a semester off college until things on campus get back to normal. There aren’t that many meaningful things you can do with a semester off in 2020 given covid, but learning to code can be done virtually, so it’s a great option. Mason Whitaker tells his story and the role that his code school education has played in his success.

    If you’re a career switcher, I’ve got some great stuff for you! This is such a hot topic and so many job-seekers fall into this category that I did two episodes on this. The first was with Karen Weeks, SVP of People at OrderGroove. In episode 27, Karen gave some great advice for showcasing your transferable skills on your resume and talked a lot about the value of immersing yourself in the new field you’re making a change into.

    Dr. Dawn Graham weighed in with advice for career switchers too in episode 33. Dawn hosts the Sirius XM show “ Dr. Dawn on Careers” and is the author of Switchers: How Smart Professionals Change Careers & Seize Success. Dawn had so much great advice that you’ll just have to listen to it! But in the meantime, Listen Dawn talking about approaching your career as a social activity.

    And for all you working moms out there, don't’ miss my conversation with Christine Michele Carter. She’s an advocate for working moms and advises companies on how to hire and retain working moms. Christine shared the need to be constantly reframing the set of circumstances working moms are facing this year in order to survive. And, she told me it was OK that my kids' screen time approaches 11 ½ hours, so I loved that. Christine is awesome! She’s pushing for paid leave, flexibility at work, and other policies that will help working moms do everything we do.

    Austin Belcak was another amazing guest. He has tons of great ideas for job seekers and advocates that you reach out to 10-15 contacts at each company you’re applying to. Yes, 10-15 people per company! Here he is talking about why it’s more efficient to target contacts on the team you want to work on rather than targeting recruiters.

    There’s such a need for companies to be flexible with their employees right now, as people are juggling their kids' virtual schooling in many cases with their own work and an elevated stress level. When I saw the recent data about the huge numbers of women leaving the workforce, I reached out to journalist Sarah Green Carmichael to talk through the data with me. In episode 34, Sarah sheds light on these disturbing statistics and shares ideas about how companies can keep the women they have. Interestingly, Sarah Carmichael and Christine Michele Carter both cited a lack of childcare subsidies and the need for more flexibility as key factors for retaining women. We’ve got to solve this one. We need more, not less, women in the executive suites at our great American companies and if we can’t keep women in the workforce, we’ll never be able to increase our numbers in leadership positions. I feel so strongly about this: I started Back to Business to help women return to work after taking a career break because I want to see women with career options that fit our complex lives and acknowledge the importance of our role as mothers. Being a mother is perfectly compatible with being a successful professional.

    I have met so many interesting people doing season 1 of the Get A Job, here’s How podcast. It was a thrill to finish the season out with a truly inspirational conversation with Jamie Valvano. Jamie has such an eloquent way of talking about how she pulled herself out of a prolonged, difficult period of her life. She’s the daughter of famed basketball coach Jim Valvano and she really embodies his “never give up” spirit that we all fell in love with. My conversation with Jamie left me feeling fired up to articulate my vision and get busy making it a reality. Seriously, folks, take a listen. It’s episode 34 and it’s a good one.

    Thanks for a successful first year of the Get a Job, Here’s How podcast. We’ve all had to make adjustments in 2020 to how we do things and for me, it’s been a year of trying new things, like this podcast. I’m so glad you’ve been along for this ride with me and I hope you’ll continue to listen.

    The best way to stay in touch with everything going on here is to join the mailing list at Back to business. You’ll find it at www.backtobusinessconference.com Please also subscribe to the podcast and keep listening. I appreciate you!

    My plan for 2021 involves publishing a series of digital courses to help women returning to work after taking a career break. I’m excited to get them into your hands because I know that as our economy turns around we’ll want to be ready to seize the opportunities.

    Did you know after the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, we had the Roaring 20’s! As we near the end of 2020 and look forward to an end to the coronavirus pandemic, I’m believing for some Roaring 2020s! I can’t wait!

    Merry Christmas, y’all!

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  • How To Get Clear On Your Mission with Jamie Valvano

    How To Get Clear On Your Mission with Jamie Valvano

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    Jamie is the daughter of legendary basketball coach Jim Valvano and she’s got a fantastic story to share. Jamie has wonderful insight to share about adapting her dad’s practice of clearly defining a mission for their life and then going after it. She gets personal about identifying what her unique gifts are and deciding on a path for her life that put those gifts to good work. It wasn’t easy, either - Jamie has faced her own battle with cancer, been through a divorce and is the mother of a child with special needs.

    I was so inspired by her journey and loved the honesty and candor she puts into telling her own story. I can practically guarantee that after you listen to this episode you’ll grab your own notecard and put an amazing vision for your life down in writing. And once it’s written down, it will be hard to stop you from achieving all that you are destined to achieve!

    Find Jamie Valvano at JamieValvano.com

    Don’t miss her TedX Talk: What I Learned About Leaving A Legacy

  • Women Aren’t Actually Opting Out of the Workforce - They Are Out Of Options! with Sarah Green Carmichael

    Women Aren’t Actually Opting Out of the Workforce - They Are Out Of Options! with Sarah Green Carmichael

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    Sarah Green Carmichael is an editor with Bloomberg Opinion and a former executive editor at Harvard Business Review, where she hosted the HBR Ideacast. She recently wrote a piece in Bloomberg titled “Covid-19 Explodes the Myth That Women Opt Out” and she presents a compelling case for her conclusion that “When women leave the workforce, they’re not exercising their options — they’ve run out of them.”

    Sarah cites 3 factors that conspire to make it difficult for women to remain in the workforce after having children: inflexible workplaces, the reality that women shoulder more of the burden of taking care of running the house and raising the kids and bad public policy.

    Data released in the McKinsey Women in the Workplace 2020 report shows that in August and September of 2020, more than a million people dropped out of the workforce, and 80% of them were women. Furthermore, 1 in 4 employed women and 1 in 3 mothers are thinking about quitting or downshifting their work hours.

    The long-term implications of this trend are alarming. Less diverse teams, fewer women’s voices setting corporate policy, and a diminished pipeline of women for promotion to executive-level roles.

    Join Sarah and I as we explore the data, share our own personal experiences with work and talk through solutions that could help make the workplace a more female-friendly environment.

    Find Sarah Green Carmichael here:

    Covid-19 Explodes the Myth That Women Opt Out on Bloomberg

    More articles by Sarah Green Carmichael

    On LinkedIn

    On Twitter @skgreen

  • How To Seize Success As A Career Switcher With Dr. Dawn Graham

    How To Seize Success As A Career Switcher With Dr. Dawn Graham

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    As Dawn says, “Switchers are the future of work.” Meaning, everyone making a career or job change of any kind is switching things up in their career and will benefit from the ideas Dawn shares. As the job market trends away from traditional roles, job seekers need to be even more creative in the way they market themselves to future employers.

    Dr. Dawn and I talked about some of the specific strategies she recommends in her book for career switchers, particularly those returning to work after a career break. Join us as talk through:

    Spotlighting transferable skills (tip: “soft skills aren’t soft anymore”)Having a Plan A that is very specific and focused (check out Dr. Dawn’s Bullseye Brainstorming Worksheet on pgs 68-69 of Switchers - it’s amazing!)Making a stepping stone switch (a very effective strategy for career relaunchers in particular)

    Dr. Dawn also shares what she sees as the benefits of our current Covid situation to career switchers. This crisis has forced change on the job market and she sees some opportunity for career switchers in all of that change.

    As Dr. Dawn says, “clarity comes through action.” So if you’ve been thinking about making a career switch, pick up a copy of Switchers and listen to this episode of the Get A Job, Here’s How! podcast to get your action plan in gear.

    Here’s where you can find Dr. Dawn Graham:

    Her website: https://www.drdawnoncareers.com/

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdawngraham/

    Twitter: @DrDawnGraham

    Dawn’s TEDx Talk is a must-watch for career switchers: Your Next Job Is One Conversation Away

  • How To Be Effective As A Working Mom with Christine Michele Carter

    How To Be Effective As A Working Mom with Christine Michele Carter

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    We discuss the issues Black working moms are facing and she introduces me to the idea of “ambient belonging”. Listen up! You’ll learn a thing or two, just as I did!

    Christine Michel Carter is the Associate Editor for ModernMom, a Senior Contributor to ForbesWomen and her work has been featured in Time and Parents magazines. Big brands seek her out for her insights into how to talk to moms effectively in their advertising and how to hire and retain moms.


    You can find Christine on her website at https://christinemichelcarter.com/

  • How To Use Unconventional (But Effective) Strategies To Land a Job With Guest Austin Belcak

    How To Use Unconventional (But Effective) Strategies To Land a Job With Guest Austin Belcak

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    After first approaching his job search using more traditional methods like applying online to job postings, Austin Belcak discovered this simply isn’t effective. Now he coaches job seekers through his company Cultivated Culture on leveraging unconventional strategies to get a job even if you don’t have connections or traditional experience. Hint: It does not involve applying online!

    Find out what a “Value Validation Project” is and why it will truly distinguish you as a candidate who can add value to an organization. Also, learn why Austin’s strategy works beautifully during COVID times when we’re not meeting people face-to-face.

    Be sure to check out Austin’s website and the amazing free tools he provides for job-seekers at https://cultivatedculture.com/

    And Follow Austin Belcak on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abelcak/

    Tip: Austin posts daily on LinkedIn and his posts are always incredibly insightful and helpful.

  • How to Find Job Opportunities with guest Amanda Augustine

    How to Find Job Opportunities with guest Amanda Augustine

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    Amanda shares some creative ideas developed through her experience as a Certified Professional Career Coach and a Certified Professional Resume Writer. Amanda is also the resident career expert for TopResume and previously served as the media spokesperson at Ladders where she provided guidance for professionals looking to improve their careers.

    Amanda believes that job seeking is a sales and marketing exercise. You are the product, so being able to articulate what your brand stands for is critical. We also talk about some of the crowdsourced spreadsheets that have been created and circulated as people generously help each other out in this difficult job market.

    In this episode, we dig into the importance of building online rapport as you expand your network of personal and professional connections. Also, use your social media to spread the word about what you’re great at and focus on the value you have to offer.

    Don’t miss Amanda’s advice on the “Power of 3” - using job boards, recruiters and your personal network to uncover job leads - because relying on just one of these is not enough to bring you success in your job search.

    Here are links to the resources mentioned in this episode (with thanks to Amanda Augustine for cultivating this list!):

    This article provides a list of crowdsourced resources, as well as job boards and apps that focus on remote jobs: https://www.topresume.com/career-advice/find-work-during-coronavirus

    Some of my favorites are:

    Torch Capital spreadsheet (they actually recently moved it to a website)Upstream app-based community platform designed to help professionals give and receive help. You can download the app from the App Store.Ryan Robinson's Remote Job Websites Collection - 60 job boards in totalLevels.fyi, which verifies the open positions with the company hiring

    Receive a free resume review from TopResume here.

    To find professional associations:

    Director of Associations: https://www.directoryofassociations.com/

    To find a recruiter (without a Google search or without going through a job board/social media):

    i-Recruit: https://www.i-recruit.com/recruiters-directory.php

    To find networking events and job fairs:

    10times: https://10times.com/ (also available as an app)Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/d/online/events/Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Also, don’t forget to check with your alma mater’s alumni or career services teams. Many are hosting virtual events for alumni, including job-search specific events.
  • How to Negotiate an Offer with Vicki Bevenour

    How to Negotiate an Offer with Vicki Bevenour

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    My guest is Vicki Bevenour, an executive career coach with expertise in personal branding, communicating with strength, leadership presence and negotiation. Coach Vicki is the President of the RDW Group and the author of “Unleashing Your Inner Leader: An Executive Coach Tells All”. RDW stands for Results Derived From Within and represents Vicki’s belief that everyone has a powerful leader inside of them, which is also the premise of her book.

    Vicki talks about who should negotiate (hint: everybody!) and suggests that instead of interviewing, you are engaging in Business Evaluation Meetings when you meet with a potential employer. That evaluation works both ways - you are evaluating the company and they are evaluating you. Keep in mind that as you go through these meetings, you want to set yourself up for a successful negotiation. You can do this by having 20 success stories ready to share.

    Prepare your stories by thinking through (1) the challenge you faced, (2) the action you took, and (3) the result you achieved. These are your C-A-R stories! Use these on your resume and in your interviews / Business Evaluation Meetings.

    Negotiate when you have an offer - this is the moment when you have the power. In addition to negotiating salary, you can negotiate vacation time, your job title and level, benefits, bonus, tuition reimbursement, work from home days, cell phone reimbursement, training, and parking expenses. That’s a lot of things up for negotiation! So how do you go about it?

    Know your numbers: Check salary.com, The Muse, and Glassdoor.com for salary data. Also, poll your network so you know the compensation structure in the industry.

    When you receive a job offer, don’t accept it on the spot! Ask for 48 hours to consider the offer, then get back to them within 24 hours to initiate a negotiation. Don’t negotiate over email! Use words such as “This is a great offer and I have 3 questions.” Then remind them of your accomplishments (your CAR stories) and ask for what you want. After that, stop talking.

    Vicki shares tons of great phrases you can use in a negotiation as well as some good book recommendations and statistics about women and negotiation.

    You can find Vicki on LinkedIn and online at http://coachvickie.com/. Vicki’s book Unleashing Your Inner Leader: An Executive Coach Tells All is available on Amazon.

    Vicki’s book recommendations:

    Women Don’t Ask - The High Cost of Avoiding Negotiation and Positive Strategies for Change by Linda Babcock and Sarah Laschever

    Ask For It: How Women Can Use the Power of Negotiation to Get What They Really Want

    by Linda Babcock and Sarah Laschever

  • Put The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People To Work in Your Job Search

    Put The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People To Work in Your Job Search

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    Habit #1 is Be Proactive. Covey defines proactivity as “more than merely taking initiative. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.” He goes on to say - and I love this - “proactive people carry their own weather with them. Whether it rains or shines makes no difference to them.”

    Applying habit #1 to your job search:

    First, there is the taking initiative part. Of course in your job search you must be proactive reaching out to people to ask for their help in your job search. Be proactive enough to ask twice for the requests that are important to you.

    As a job seeker, you also have to be able to tolerate rejection. But if you managed to “carry your own weather with you” throughout your job search, it would hurt less.

    Covey also talks about how proactive people handle mistakes. They “acknowledge it instantly, correct and learn from it”, thus turning a failure into a success. As a job seeker, have you ever made a mistake? Maybe you were in an interview and answered a question in a way that made you wish you could have your words back. After the interview, be proactive enough to do a debrief with yourself to evaluate how you performed in that interview. If you made mistakes, spend some time thinking about exactly how you’ll do it better next time.

    Habit #2: Begin with the end in mind.

    Covey says “to begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.”

    Covey further explains this concept by saying that “ all things are created twice”, meaning that there’s a mental or first creation and a physical or second creation to all things.

    One way to begin with the end in mind is to create a personal mission statement. So that’s your homework: craft your personal mission statement.

    Let’s apply habit #2 of “Begin with the end in mind” to your job search.

    First, outline clear enough goals for your career that you know what kind of job you are looking for. You might think that applying for every job is a good strategy because it’s a numbers game and if you can get enough job applications out there, you’ll win the game and get a job. But you won’t. It’s not a numbers game. It’s a matching game. And those are 2 very different games.

    Second, apply the habit of beginning with the end in mind to your job search by visualising yourself successfully getting that job. Close your eyes and imagine what it would be like to get up in the morning and go to that job. You can also visualize success in an interview.

    Habit #3: Put first things first

    Put another way, it tells us to organize around our priorities. And Covey weaves these first 3 habits together masterfully by mentioning that “you can’t become principle-centered without first being aware of and developing your own proactive nature (habit #1). You can’t become principle-centered without a vision of and a focus on the unique contribution that is yours to make.”

    Covey says “if we don’t practice habit 2 (begin with the end in mind), if we don’t have a clear idea of what is important, of the results we deserve in our lives, we are easily diverted into responding to the urgent.” Amen to that.

    Planning can be hard to make time to do, because it’s not urgent. It’s one of those important but not urgent activities that you will have to be deliberate about carving out the time to make happen. Here’s the payoff: Covey says “I believe if you were to ask what lies in Quadrant 2 (those are the important but not urgent activities in the time management matrix) and cultivate your proactivity to go after it...your effectiveness would increase dramatically.

    Let’s relate habit 3 to your job search.

    If you’re applying the 7 habits to your job search, you will have a clear goal in mind of the job you want to get and you will prioritize your job search activities so you’ll remain focused on doing the important stuff.

    Planning your days and weeks can help you with the discipline to stick with the important activities and put first things first. Covey recommends setting weekly goals that are in line with the longer-term goals you laid out in your personal mission statement.

    Take time today to organize your next week. Write down your goals for the week and then build an action plan around them. Let that guide you to spend your job search time on high-value activities like connecting with people and having conversations that will help you uncover opportunities that you can get referrals for. Try it for a week and see if this makes a difference. I bet it will.

    Habit #4 is think win/win

    “Win /win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions. Win/win agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial, mutually satisfying. With a win/win solutions, all parties feel good about the decision and feel committed to the action plan. Win-win sees life as a cooperative, no ta competitive arena...win/win is based on the paradigm that there is plenty for everybody, that one person’s success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others.” Covey’s words there.

    Let’s apply this to your job search:

    If you’re in the negotiation stage for a new job. You’ll want to start off the conversation by saying “I am excited about this offer and I want to talk to you about the compensation, so that we can come to an agreement on the offer that we are both really happy with.” You are setting up a win/win if you start like that - both parties share the same goal.

    Habit #5 is Seek first to understand, then to be understood

    Covey talks about “empathic listening” meaning listening with the intent to understand. If you do this correctly (and it’s not easy) it requires that you as a listener get inside another’s frame of reference, see the world the way they see the world and understand how they feel. Covey says “you are focused on receiving the deep communication of another human soul.”

    Let’s apply this one to job searching.

    Say you are in an interview talking to a hiring manager who is describing challenges facing her team. If you listen, really listen and she realizes that you really understand her challenges I promise she will be interested in you as a candidate. Covey wants you to rephrase the content and reflect the feeling back to her so she feels understood. Once you do that and confirm your understanding of the situation, you might be able to offer some solutions, some new ideas to solve those challenges. What a way to stand out as a candidate.

    Habit #6 is synergize

    Synergy, Covey says, means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The essence of synergy is to value differences - to respect them, to build on strengths, to compensate for weaknesses. Synergistic communication means your approach conversations with a sense of excitement and security and adventure, believing the outcome will be significantly better than things were before.

    Covey also talks about the 3rd alternative in this chapter. The third alternative is a solution that is mutually beneficial and is better than what either party originally proposed.

    Here’s an example of synergy at work in a job search.

    You apply for a job that seems like a good fit. You’re excited to be invited to interview and when you start speaking with the company, they realize that your experience may be better suited for another role. This happens. Together, you work out the details of this new role and you take a job that you never really applied for in the first place. I just saw this happen and it’s a total win/win for everyone involved. For this type of synergy to occur, everyone has to be open to new ideas and willing to think creatively about where a person might be able to make the biggest impact in an organization. The role this person took did not even exist before it was offered to him. When this candidate presented himself, the company knew the time was right to start this new group and invite him to be the first person to take that role. Ahh, synergy. Love it.

    Habit #7: Sharpen the Saw

    Habit #7 is the habit of renewal. It’s called Sharpen the Saw. It’s all about as Covey says preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have - you.

    Work and education are evolving to a point where learning needs to be a continuous thing we do as professionals throughout our lives to maintain our edge and our expertise at work. Today we have at our fingertips lots of different ways to sharpen our saws.

    In a job search, you want to be able to demonstrate that you are a continuous learner. Make space on your resume for courses you’ve done recently. Talk in interviews about what you’re learning about the projects you're doing on the side to increase your skill set. Keep a journal of your ideas. Every hiring manager is looking for those continuous learners. Practice language that demonstrates that this is you. It’s a really attractive quality in a job candidate.

  • How To Be a Successful Career Switcher

    How To Be a Successful Career Switcher

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    My guest is Karen Weeks, SVP of People at Ordergroove in New York City. Karen is a career switcher herself, having started in theatre and now working in HR, coaching, and teaching at Baruch College in New York. She’s also got her own podcast called “Getting Off the Hamster Wheel.”

    Together, Karen and I tackle the challenge of making a career pivot. She’s got tons of great tips, including these 3 steps you can take to make a new start in a different career:

    Figure out why you feel stuck and where you want to goDetermine what skills you already have that you can apply to this new fieldStart talking about it! Do informational interviews, join organizations, read up, share articles and brand yourself as someone knowledgeable in the field.

    Let’s face it, changing careers can be tricky! Karen also offers advice for how you can actually show on your resume that you’re a person with a growth mindset who takes the initiative to learn new skills. If you’re going to start in a new field, you’ll definitely need to impress a hiring manager with your willingness to learn.

    Find Karen Weeks on LinkedIn or at Weeks247.com

    Listen to her podcast “Getting Off the Hamster Wheel” here

  • The 2-hour Job Search with Steve Dalton

    The 2-hour Job Search with Steve Dalton

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    The 2-Hour Job Search, or 2HJS for short, focuses on getting job seekers to the interview stage by providing detailed instructions on these 3 steps:

    1. Prioritize the universe of possible targets. Steve walks us through the creation of a LAMP list and tells us how to prioritize which companies to pursue first.

    2. Contact people who work at those target companies by determining who best to reach out to and how to do it in a way that maximizes the chances that they will be sympathetic.

    Steve has identified the 3 types of people who will be on the receiving end of your email requests: Boosters, Obligates and Curmudgeons. Find out why Obligates are the most dangerous! He’s also got instructions for writing a 6-point email to ask people who work at your target companies for their time doing an informational interview.


    3. Convince those people to be our allies and to help us get an interview. 2HJS includes specifics about how to conduct an informational interview, down to what you should talk about and how much talking you should be doing.

    One of the things I like best about this process is that Steve is not a guy who gives tips or job search advice. Instead, he provides the exact instructions you need to predictably land interviews over time. The 2HJS system is precise and efficient - Steve knows how long each step will take you and focuses his system on those activities that have been proven to provide the best return on your investment of time and energy.

    By the way, 2 hours is how long it will take you to set up the system on the first day. Getting set up involves brainstorming a list of companies, prioritizing that list so you know which ones to attack first and drafting outreach emails to people who work at those companies.

    The 2HJS is the ideal system for job-searching during a recession. It turns out the 2HJS was born during the 2008 recession as Steve worked with MBA students and identified a need for an effective system that produced results and included detailed instructions for every step of the job search process.

    Here’s where you can find Steve Dalton and The 2-Hour Job Search:

    The 2-Hour Job Search available at Amazon.com

    Find the system online at 2hourjobsearch.com

    Steve’s 2HJS LinkedIn Group is over 5,000 people strong! Find it here:

    The 2-Hour Job Search - Q&A Forum

  • How to find opportunities in a down job market

    How to find opportunities in a down job market

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    Are you wondering how to find a job in our current job market? This episode is for you. Will Barfield has been helping people find jobs in the Triangle and all over the country for years.

    Barfield Revenue Consulting (BRC) is a multi-faceted resource for both organizations and individuals in search of ways to increase revenue. Whether the need is to recruit and hire key talent, internal sales and/or recruiter training, executive coaching, or assistance with resume repair and job placement, BRC has the tools and the expertise needed to help raise your revenue.

    Katie and Will discuss how this recession is different from the 2008 recession and which NC business will likely bounce back quickly and which ones may have a difficult season ahead.

    They also discuss the need for improvement in online learning platforms for students in the times of COVID-19.

    Bart discusses various businesses who are doing well during COVID-19 and which ones have successfully pivoted their business model to adapt to the changing times. Some companies have risen to the top of the pack and it's been surprising that their business has grown during COVID-19.

    It is clear that young people today have never experienced anything like this pandemic and the pending recession. This is going to lead to a very different job market. Will points out how in this "new normal" you need to take the job that you have done and find the core things that made you happy and use that information to find another job like that.

    It is okay to ask people for help. If you've found yourself recently unemployed or looking for new employment don't do it on your own. Reach out to your network of professionals, friends, and family to assist you in your next chapter.

    Want more information or see the jobs posted on Will's website. Check out barfieldrevenue.com.

    Listen to Will's podcast "Raise Your Revenue" today.

  • How to Make the Most of an Uncertain College Year

    How to Make the Most of an Uncertain College Year

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    This will be an uncertain year on college campuses due to the Covid-19 crisis. After last spring’s abrupt end to college life as we know it, many parents and students are left wondering if paying the astronomically high price of college is going to be worth it in the 2020-2021 academic year. In this episode, we explore the idea of taking a gap year or deferring college until campuses are able to provide a safe residential experience for students including in-person classes.

    With travel off the table as a viable gap year option, my panel of experts and I talk through the merits of going to code school and then working for 6 months. I’m particularly excited about this idea as it checks all the boxes for me both as a parent and as a career coach: It enables students to have a productive year, gain a future-proof skill set and not only repay the investment in their education but also put some money away for the future. The financials make a lot of sense on this.


    Our panel for today's discussion includes:

    Abby Bittler, M. Ed., College Advisor at Optima EducationalJessica Mitsch, Co-Founder and CEO of Momentum Mason Whitaker, Project Manager at Sunrise Technologies.

    Abby coaches students and families through the college selection process, Jessica is the Co-Founder and CEO of Momentum and Mason is a code school and college graduate who is currently crushing it in the career category thanks to his software development skills.


    We start the conversation talking about the impact of COVID-19 on higher education. The college residential housing experience seems questionable and for that reason many students have decided to stay closer to home. The economic impact of the absence of international students in particular but also many domestic students will be a huge hit to colleges that were already on shaky financial ground.

    And with many people out of work, affordability is going to be at the forefront for parents in making decisions for college this fall. Jessica shared that the cost of college tuition in her life lifetime alone has gone up 160%. This could lead to a more a la cart approach to education where people may turn to higher education throughout their careers instead of just at the beginning. For example, 70% of the students who attend Momentum already have their degree but are coming back to learn new skills and sharpen their existing skills.

    Higher education was ripe for change before COVID-19, but now Covid-19 seems to be quickening the pace of change coming to higher education.

    In addition, many colleges were forced to do a very quick pivotto operating online and they were not equipped for it. This led to a rare glimpse inside college classes for many parents who were surprised by what they were paying for.

    One of the only things we can say for certain right now is that your experience at college this year will be very different. Some of the changes colleges are planning on making for this fall include:

    Mandating the wearing of masksIncreased social distancing in dorms and classroomsSmaller class sizesFully remote classes or a hybrid model with some in-person and some online classesTesting and contact tracing and quarantine dorms for sick students.

    This is where the discussion around taking a gap year comes into play and waiting college out a year starts to seem like a really good idea!

    If you are planning on taking a gap year, the first thing you should do is contact your university to find out what their policy is to ensure you don't lose credits or scholarships.

    Options for students taking a gap year:

    Because of travel restrictions, the typical gap year experience may be significantly differentResearch volunteer opportunities in your hometown Learn to code at Momentum's 16-week immersive software development program and then work as a software developer for 6-9 months.

    Momentum is handling their transition to digital differently than many schools. Since they are training students for a job, they treat their online schedule like a workday done on zoom instead of what many schools are offering which is some slides and an assignment. It's very structured and the teaching is live, a key differentiator from what passes for online learning at many higher education institutions.

    The Momentum program is a 16-week program with monthly start dates, including the next start on July 13th.

    Mason Whitaker went through code school during the summer before he started college. Now at 24, he's a Project Manager at Sunrise Technologies where he leads implementations of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for the manufacturing division of a worldwide service organization. He shares his incredible story of why he chose to attend code school and the impact it had on his college experience and career. Coding provided him with entrepreneurial opportunities that set him apart from his peers and enabled him to jump headfirst into a rewarding professional career.

    Find out more about how Momentum works

    If you're looking for options to be productive and spend your time and money wisely during an uncertain academic year, learning to code at Momentum is a great option and a great way to set yourself up for success for a lifetime.

  • How To Give Yourself Permission to Try with Annie Franceschi

    How To Give Yourself Permission to Try with Annie Franceschi

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    How to Give Yourself Permission To Try


    My guest is Annie Franceschi, bestselling author, speaker, and small business branding expert based in Durham, NC. In 2013, she quit a dream job at Walt Disney Studios to start her own agency, Greatest Story Creative®. Having branded more than 90 businesses, spoken for thousands, and released a #1 self-help book (Permission to Try), Annie is a passionate partner to entrepreneurs who want to unlock the value of their stories.

    Annie is a huge movie buff who worked her way into her dream job at Disney and then found the courage to quit because it wasn’t making her happy. She started her own business called Greatest Story Creative and now helps small business owners craft and tell their own stories.

    Annie and I talk about how she made the decision to leave her fancy job, move across the country and start her own business. In her unique style, she shares the lessons she learned finding the courage to make such a bold mo and how you can apply these in your own life as you think about making a big move.

    Back to Business is doing a virtual book club discussion of Annie Franceschi’s Permission To Try on Wednesday, July 8 at noon and Annie will be joining us! I hope you’ll join us too! Register for this free event here.

    You can find Annie at www.greateststorycreative.com

    Buy Permission to Try on Audible here, on Amazon here and check out the Permission To Try website.

    Join the Back to Business community by visiting us on the web and signing up to receive our weekly email full of job search advice and events.

  • How To Find Your State's Free Resources for Job Seekers

    How To Find Your State's Free Resources for Job Seekers

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    If you are job-seeking, I want you to be aware of every resource available to help you navigate your job search. Looking for a job is challenging in the best of times, and doing so during a global pandemic is especially challenging. You need to tap into every available resource to get help as you find your next opportunity.

    Today we’re going to point you to some really valuable resources that are available through the North Carolina Department of Commerce for job-seekers. Did you know there is scholarship money available for retraining, a fantastic job board and free career coaching out there? And if you don’t live in North Carolina, many of these programs exist in your state as well - these are federally-funding programs that are available in every state.

    My guest is Michelle Muir, the Regional Operations Director for the North Carolina Department of Commerce. Michelle manages a team whose mission it is to support economic development and job growth in NC through outreach, policy, program management and strategic operational management.

    Michelle talks us through these free resources for job seekers:

    NCWorks Career Center - available remotely now and scheduled to re-open for walk-in appointments after the July 4 holiday: www.ncworks.gov

    NCWorks Online - multiple online resources providing career exploration tools, resume assistance and job search assistance, including a job board that scrapes other job posting sites and includes additional openings that NC employers are required to list https://www.ncworks.gov/vosnet/dashboards/default.aspx?menuid=MENU_START_PAGE_DASHBOARD&pu=1&plang=E

    Workforce Opportunity programs - including scholarships for retraining which can be used for community college courses and vocational schools. https://www.ncworks.gov/gsipub/index.asp?docid=504

    Economic Development Partnership of NC - a public/private partnership that set up a job board in response to the pandemic www.edpnc.com

  • 12 ideas for the graduating class of 2020 to fuel your job search

    12 ideas for the graduating class of 2020 to fuel your job search

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    First, let’s celebrate your graduation. You did it! Congratulations! Let’s also acknowledge that this has probably not been the year you expected. I get it. I feel for you. And I’m here to help, so let’s get started with some ways that you can view this as a chance to shine in a world that really needs your light right now.

    Did you have a job offer that was rescinded? Keep in touch with that employer by dropping them an email every few weeks to see how they’re doing and tell them what you’re up to. When the hiring freeze thaws, you want to be the first person they think of to fill their open role.Call your school’s career center. Ask them for advice. Then do whatever they tell you to do! Seriously, these are the people who get calls from companies and alumni who want to hire people. You want them to know that you’ve been doing the work to find a job when an opportunity comes across their desk.Build a professional network. Call the alums of your school. Call your aunts and uncles. Call your parent's friends. Ask your professors for contacts. Here’s what you say: “I’d like to learn about your job/company/industry. How did you get started?How has it been impacted by the corona crisis? Here’s my plan for finding a job...is there anything else you think I should do? Anyone else I should talk to?”Write about what you know. Start a blog and publish on LinkedIn. You just finished 4 years of college, so I know you know stuff. Share your ideas.Upskill. Learn to code. Tech will rebound first in our economy and you’ll be ready if you can code. Get exposure initially through a free online course and then do a coding Bootcamp. While others are spinning their wheels, you’ll be adding the hottest job skills to your resume. Pay for it through an ISA (income-sharing agreement), but look carefully at this to make sure the terms are reasonable. Or get a job or two to stock away the money to pay cash: Deliver for Amazon, get hazard pay at the grocery store, deliver pizzas at night. You’ll be so much more marketable. This is the skill set of the future. Just please don’t add to your student debt load if you’ve already borrowed a lot of money!Build your own website. If you don’t know how, learn! Take some of those hours you spend online and learn how all that technology works. Try Wordpress. Even I figured it out, so I know you can do it! Add your resume, your blog, a research paper you wrote that you’re proud of, some of the pictures you’ve taken.Volunteer for something you believe in. Figure out what you believe in and work for it. You won’t earn money, but you’ll grow, you ‘ll meet people and you’ll have great references. Tutor kids online. Mow your elderly neighbor's lawn for free. See beyond yourself, even though this was supposed to be your year.Start a business. Figure out what people need right now - online sports coaching? Website building? Zoom lessons? My daughter is listening to a dad read Harry Potter to his son on a podcast - there is a market for what you know and what you can do. I see a need for someone to engineer online celebrations and graduations, as well as the yard signs that help us celebrate in lieu of parties now that we’re all staying home.Find an internship. I know you want a full-time job, but we’re all recalibrating our expectations. Get a foot in the door. Start-ups always need help. Work for free if you need to. Learn to manage money. If you learn when times are tight, you’ll be setting yourself up for success. Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover is my personal favorite. Establish long-term goals, do the math so you know how much money you’ll need to achieve your goals, and have a plan. You need a career plan and a financial plan. As we say in my family - Plan your work and work your plan.Come up with your own brilliant idea! You are smart and resourceful. Come up with 10 ideas of your own - you can do it! Become rejection proof. Check out this TED talk by Jia Jiang to see how he learned to deal with rejection and became unafraid of asking for what he wanted. Every job search entails rejection, so learning how to power through it will serve you well.

    Class of 2020 - good luck! I’m here for you. We’re all rooting for you and watching to see how you will turn this situation into an opportunity to show the world how amazing you really are. Try one of these 12 ideas to fuel your job search in a tough market and to use your summer to add to your skillset and grow as a person.

  • How to master answering interview questions

    How to master answering interview questions

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    How do you answer the question: "Tell me about yourself?" This seems like a simple question but many interview candidates lose the opportunity to maximize this question.

    Katie has asked this question in thousands of interviews and it is her favorite question because it told her so much about a candidate. She could get a glimpse into their communication skills, insight into what they actually did throughout their career, and how they thought about it. Also, when you ask this question, you get at a sense of how self-aware the candidate is.

    "Start off with the really important stuff. Tell me that you are what I'm looking for, and then tell me, you can tell me where you started your career." - Katie

    Focus on good transitions
    Your job is to help the interviewer make sense of the changes you've made in your career path. Focus on your accomplishments, not your abilities. Your path may not have been a linear journey, but you can focus on what you learned and how it propelled your career forward, and always end this section with "I'm here today because," and then tell the interviewer how your skills and experience that you've gained throughout your career make you the perfect fit for the job that you're interviewing for.

    Keep it brief
    Practice a 30-second version and a 90-second version of your answer to this question. You can use the 30-second version for networking and the 90-second version for an interview setting.

    Practice
    Practice your pitch by recording yourself on your phone or recording yourself on video. Find someone who can give you feedback to practice your pitch with as well. You don't want to be so professional that you're not enthusiastic.

    Don't apologize for any of the career moves you've made. Own every career move you've made, especially the ones where you decided to step out of your career. Mention it as part of your story and move on.

    As you go into your interview, know what this company values and work into your answer some things that will indicate to them that you value the same things.

    Use bullet point points for structure as you answer interview questions.
    Here is an example of how using bullet points when speaking help you communicate clearly during an interview. Why do you want to work at this company? I want to work here for three reasons, number one (your answer) number 2 (your answer) and finally number 3 (your answer).

    Here is my absolute favorite strategy for answering interview questions. It's the PAR technique.
    This technique involves using a Problem, Action, and Result to specifically address a question that has been asked. This is a very effective technique for any time you are asked a question that begins with "Tell me about a time when..."

    There are five different sections of common interview questions.
    1. Skills - they are looking to understand if you have the skills for the role.
    2. Teamwork - are you the kind of person they want on their team.
    3. Communication - evaluated throughout the interview.
    4. Values and motivation - what makes you tick?
    5. Work ethic - people want to hire people who will get stuff done.

    What if you are asked an inappropriate question in an interview? Respond like this: "This is a question I haven't gotten before, why do you ask?" That way, asking a question in response to that question, we'll put the onus back on your interviewer to really think deeply about why it is they're asking that question and where they want to go from there.

  • How to Boost Your Confidence as You Return to Work

    How to Boost Your Confidence as You Return to Work

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    "When we look at ourselves, we don't see the value that other people can see. Especially when we get a focus on, the "mom lens." We think everyone's going to view us through the mom lens because our life is lived through the mom lens, right? We're always taking care of our kids. We're always thinking about them. We're always worried about them."

    When it was time for Ellen to return to the job force she started doing what she called the indeed death scroll. She would say "I can't do that one." Not qualified for that one. Etc.

    In the meantime, she picked up freelance projects because she liked to keep busy. She learned Ruby on rails, a new programming language. She built a SAS and started a company. All while she was looking for jobs thinking "Who would hire me?" Ellen believes many women share her experience.

    She decided to go back to school to get her graduate degree. In hindsight, she feels it worked out well for her but she used it as her confidence crutch. She didn't need to do that to return to the workforce, that mentality was in her head.

    I understood the importance of confidence, so I really couldn't shake that feeling of how I could go from being so confident to not confident. That is why I founded You are techY.

    You do not know what flexibility is being offered until you investigate and pursue it.

    How did you start You are techY?

    You are techY grew organically from a local Raleigh, NC MeetUp where amazing women (mostly moms) would share their life and work story at the corner coffee shop.

    After hearing them say, "I worked in IT for 25 years or I have a masters degree in Computer Science, but I'm not really very techy", I would stand up and shout across the table YOU ARE TECHY! Tech offers meaningful, flexible, well-paid work and NO you don't have to learn to code (but I know YOU can). We have the resources and community you need to land your dream job!

    Tips for regaining your professional confidence.

    1. Write it down.

    Journaling is a powerful way to grow in your relationship with your own thoughts. Write down your answers for interviews. Visualize the success you want to have. Exactly what is the job look like that you want to have? What does it feel like to have that job? What's your commute? How are you adjusting at home? etc. Grow in your relationship with yourself.

    2. Do the work.

    Build your competencies. Do a little bit every day. Give yourself some grace, be patient, and you will get there. Get the skills that you need. Be selective and try to remain focused. Employers are not looking for people who know everything. They are looking for people who can learn.

    If you convince yourself, everyone else will follow. - Ellen Twomey

    3. Remember your victories

    Keep a file of thank you notes and meaningful experiences you can reflect on.

    Now that you know how to boost your professional confidence after a break in your career, go do it. I believe in you.

    Join her free Facebook group

    View her website for more information on courses.

    Listen to the You are techY podcast

  • How To Survive Getting A Divorce and Returning to Work

    How To Survive Getting A Divorce and Returning to Work

    · Get a Job, Here's How

    Podcast: How To Survive Getting A Divorce and Returning to Work

    I’ve met a lot of women who are returning to work in the midst of getting a divorce. Many of them never expected to be in this position and suddenly find themselves dealing with the loss of a marriage and the end of their career as a stay-at-home-mom.

    I’ve always wanted to acknowledge the challenges faced by women getting divorced and returning to work simultaneously, but never felt like I knew enough about it. Not to worry, my guest Sarah Hink, a partner at New Direction Family Law knows everything about this!

    Sarah and I talk about divorce settlements, alimony, child support, going to court and working it out. She’s seen a lot of women through divorce and seen that you really can come out the other side.

    Sarah and I tackle the question of how getting a job before your divorce is final will impact your settlement, what happens if one spouse has been unfaithful and how to carve out money for upskilling in preparation for returning to work.

    A friend going through a divorce shared this wisdom with me: In the midst of a difficult divorce she realized that it was completely up to her to carve out her future and that no one else will share the credit or the blame, so she better make it good.

    Anyone going through a divorce and trying to conduct a job search has a lot to deal with! Support groups can help with the emotional turmoil, so be sure to seek one out. And don’t forget that the steps of a job search still involve networking, having solid job search tools (resume) and presenting yourself as a professional. You can do it!


    You can find Sarah Hinks at New Direction Family Law at https://newdirectionfamilylaw.com/

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