Episode 1: How It All Started

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | All right, so about a month ago, I was let go from my job.

00:00:11.120 | It took me a little, a few days to kind of gather

00:00:14.200 | my marbles a little bit in my head

00:00:15.880 | and figure out what's next.

00:00:17.120 | So what I first did was I made a decision

00:00:19.320 | that I'm gonna embrace my vulnerability a little bit

00:00:22.440 | and I'm gonna post something on LinkedIn.

00:00:24.480 | I finally come to terms with it.

00:00:27.720 | Took me about a month.

00:00:28.600 | I did a post and kind of helping people understand

00:00:31.160 | I'm unemployed, here's where I am in the process,

00:00:34.760 | here are the top jobs or skills or functions

00:00:38.200 | that I'm looking for that I would love to do

00:00:40.880 | and I kind of help people understand

00:00:43.280 | if I'm in it for a leadership role

00:00:45.600 | or a individual contributor.

00:00:47.520 | Again, helping my network understand specifically

00:00:50.960 | what I'm looking for and so they're better positioned

00:00:53.200 | to help me find something or connect me with someone.

00:00:57.120 | What was really cool was how many people

00:01:01.480 | responded to that post and to me it was a real lesson

00:01:06.480 | about how to utilize LinkedIn as a social media platform

00:01:11.040 | for careers and professionals and you'd think

00:01:13.640 | I would know that since I used to work at LinkedIn

00:01:16.400 | but beyond this side of it, it really hit home.

00:01:19.780 | So that post got almost 125,000 impressions

00:01:26.440 | 99 comments of which half of them were probably mine

00:01:30.960 | thanking people for their nice messages

00:01:32.960 | and then 23 were reposts and the majority of the reposts

00:01:37.960 | were not people directly in my network.

00:01:40.280 | Think about that, that's crazy.

00:01:43.240 | People see my post, they genuinely want to help out,

00:01:46.480 | a lot of people in a similar situation

00:01:48.720 | are unemployed as well and we're just trying

00:01:50.640 | to lift each other up and damn it

00:01:53.080 | if that wasn't just emotional for me.

00:01:56.300 | It was really, really cool

00:01:57.700 | and so I wanted to respond in kind.

00:02:03.300 | - Hey guys, right now the job market is tough

00:02:05.940 | especially for those of us in high tech.

00:02:08.340 | At the time of this recording,

00:02:09.660 | I'm also unemployed and I'm job seeking.

00:02:12.700 | Now recently I did a post on LinkedIn

00:02:14.660 | about my unemployment journey and I have been so moved

00:02:18.020 | and overwhelmed by the support

00:02:19.700 | of this wonderful LinkedIn community.

00:02:22.500 | It's compelled me to want to give back

00:02:24.220 | in a way that I'm most passionate about

00:02:26.340 | and that's through career coaching.

00:02:28.700 | Now just to be clear, I'm not a licensed coach

00:02:31.500 | nor am I a TED Talk speaker, far from it.

00:02:34.700 | I'm just someone who genuinely cares

00:02:36.420 | about the career advancement of my peers

00:02:39.500 | and I have successfully mentored people

00:02:41.220 | throughout my 20 year career in marketing.

00:02:43.420 | I'm going to make the most obvious statement of the day,

00:02:47.460 | the one that is most easily forgotten.

00:02:50.740 | Whether it's in our personal lives or career,

00:02:53.860 | we want to feel a sense of purpose,

00:02:56.900 | a sense of accomplishment.

00:02:58.780 | And that can be measured in a lot of ways

00:03:00.540 | but I believe that feeling valued

00:03:03.580 | and experiencing true joy and satisfaction

00:03:06.020 | are key indicators of having achieved your purpose.

00:03:09.820 | Now how often have you been at a job

00:03:11.500 | where you're just not happy?

00:03:13.260 | You can't pinpoint why but someone will say

00:03:15.660 | or do something that just triggers you

00:03:17.820 | and now you're just left picking up the pieces

00:03:20.180 | and wondering what happened?

00:03:23.020 | Or maybe there's a promotion

00:03:24.740 | that you've been striving to get.

00:03:26.940 | Three years pass and all you have to show for it

00:03:30.460 | is the same job title and now you feel like

00:03:32.900 | you haven't made the progress on your career at all

00:03:35.260 | and you've just wasted time.

00:03:36.740 | I want to help you break that cycle

00:03:40.220 | and introduce more predictability

00:03:42.220 | and accountability into your career.

00:03:44.620 | In our coaching session, my first goal

00:03:47.140 | is to help you rediscover things that truly give you joy

00:03:51.220 | and help you articulate your core values.

00:03:54.460 | Essentially, I want to reconnect you with you

00:03:58.660 | so you can be your true authentic self at work

00:04:01.460 | or help influence your environment so that you can thrive.

00:04:04.900 | Then secondly, we'll talk about what jobs

00:04:07.940 | or responsibilities you're interested in

00:04:10.220 | and map out the skills development roadmap

00:04:12.420 | to help you get there.

00:04:13.500 | If you're interested in meeting with me,

00:04:17.180 | I can probably handle a maximum of one session per day

00:04:20.460 | since I'm not doing this full time.

00:04:22.340 | So please express your interest in the comments below

00:04:25.020 | and I'll reach out to coordinate something.

00:04:27.020 | Now, if we don't connect and someone beats me to it,

00:04:30.540 | that's fantastic 'cause we're all in this together.

00:04:34.420 | My only ask is that when we meet,

00:04:37.180 | bring your true self.

00:04:39.100 | Come casual, I'll probably be wearing sweatpants,

00:04:42.500 | but do bring a spreadsheet so I can leave you

00:04:44.460 | with something tangible that you can reference

00:04:46.740 | for the rest of your life.

00:04:48.460 | Thanks guys and good luck and happy job hunting.

00:04:52.060 | - The response to that was also overwhelming

00:04:56.140 | and I get kind of emotional thinking about it.

00:04:59.220 | It made me realize how desperate we all are in this time

00:05:05.700 | and how more than ever we need to help each other

00:05:11.420 | 'cause the world doesn't have to be broken.

00:05:16.020 | This unemployment situation, yes it's market driven,

00:05:19.500 | but we as people, I believe we can do something about it.

00:05:22.820 | When I was talking to these people,

00:05:27.660 | some of them were directly in my network,

00:05:29.180 | some of them were not, there was a unifying theme.

00:05:32.580 | Aside of the fears of financial stability,

00:05:36.140 | that's a very real one by the way, right?

00:05:38.180 | If you're a single income earner,

00:05:39.940 | if you have health issues, you depend on insurance,

00:05:42.860 | maybe aging parents, that was definitely

00:05:45.860 | a top of mind one for everybody.

00:05:47.700 | But that aside, the thing I didn't realize

00:05:51.420 | is a fear of change, meaning you've been doing

00:05:56.420 | the same job, function, role for 15 years,

00:06:01.780 | 10 years, even five and it's kind of your bread and butter

00:06:05.020 | and maybe it's time to make a change.

00:06:09.300 | But changing fields is scary and that's when I decided

00:06:12.660 | to do this podcast.

00:06:14.740 | My goal is to help people find a job,

00:06:21.220 | whether it's in their existing field or a different field,

00:06:25.820 | by providing them with just true practical advice

00:06:30.620 | and insight about a role and the skills needed to qualify.

00:06:35.620 | And I would wanna do this by leveraging my network

00:06:41.340 | of people who are actually doing the work today

00:06:44.260 | and having a really practical

00:06:46.660 | and transparent, tangible conversation.

00:06:51.100 | And I wanted people to understand exactly

00:06:53.300 | what a job is all about, what hiring managers

00:06:55.900 | are really looking for beyond the job description

00:06:59.420 | and how you can start equipping yourself to do that.

00:07:03.020 | I'm thinking about people who are graduating

00:07:04.620 | from college right now, like they may not know

00:07:06.340 | what's all available to them and maybe they say,

00:07:07.700 | "Hey, I've always wanted to try a career in comms."

00:07:10.540 | Okay, well, did you realize comms has eight different roles

00:07:13.900 | within it, internal, external, crisis comms, legal,

00:07:16.540 | whatever it is, right?

00:07:18.060 | It's a lot broader than you realize

00:07:19.580 | and maybe it'll help inspire them to study something

00:07:22.260 | in school or land somewhere else or leverage their network

00:07:26.060 | to maybe find something specific

00:07:27.700 | now that they know their options.

00:07:29.500 | So that's what I'm gonna try to do.

00:07:31.380 | All right, so let's see where this goes.

00:07:32.580 | Wish me luck.

00:07:33.420 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Episode 1: How It All Started

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