069 Maintaining Momentum In Your Career

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local job seekers radio. I’m Andrew and I’m Scott. This production is meant to provide meaningful support to find great careers. Faster whether you’re working king or not. Hey Scott did you know that today’s episode is actually brought to you by the Anatomy of networking conversation. Really tell me more. It’s actually an e book it can be found on our website at job seekers radio DOT com. That’s amazing in today’s episode. We’re talking about maintaining momentum in your career earlier. This is something that we talk about networking because a lot of times people get into jobs on this has been true of myself. We get into jobs and then we think okay you know live. I got the job I wanted. There’s lots to learn here. I I have so much to do. I’m busy and we don’t network anymore. And so all those connections actions just sort of die on the vine and what. I’ve had to find out. The hard way is often in our careers. The the only way to truly maintain momentum is to keep that networking going not all of the connections. That I make for my future are going to be made in in the company. I’m working for right now so if I want a career that’s going to expand and grow and whether that’s moving up the food chain or that I’m I’m broadening the scope of what I’m doing. It’s a lot easier to keep that momentum going if I don’t stop networking we advocate that you take perpetually looking mindset mindset perpetually having your eyes open looking around always looking for the next opportunity not did you have to take it not that you have to find the perfect perfect situation. Although seeking is the fun the way to keep that as fun is to stop judging what you’re coming up in front of you know whatever is happening. The different opportunities thirties that present themselves. If we’re thinking oh well that one doesn’t look good enough for that one doesn’t fit well enough. We’re actually limiting ourselves to the possibilities. Instead of we stop judging and we really look at what could bring us some enjoyment. Were far more likely to find them. Enjoyment loyalty is something that many companies talk about in many job seekers or employees look for does it really exist. It does in my point of view. It does but you have to be realistic. Mystic about how that actually happens because the company will be loyal to you until they don’t need you anymore can’t afford you anymore and for are and I’m using air quotes business reasons they let you go or they reorganize and lay people off whatever that might look like in the specifics loyalty he is great as long as it makes sense and too often I talked to people who feel. They have shown their loyalty to their company. And it hasn’t hasn’t been returned and I would venture to say and I haven’t yet talked to any business owner or executive. Who would disagree with me that you are are? You should be loyal to yourself. I the company may or may not be able to show loyalty the way they talk about it and rather than spending your energy judging that be loyal to yourself yourself first. You’re the only person responsible to cover your needs. What does that look like loyalty to myself? I look at it in terms of active participation meaning. I’m actively participate in my career my satisfaction what I love about my job and see what I can do to do you more that than I am to say. Oh that’s somebody else’s responsibility. No I completely agree. There’s also the idea that the it kind of loyalty that I get my company should be reciprocated and without judging that concept I would ask that person coaching question is that true. Tell me about that. Why why do you think that way? What is what does that? Look like what are you expecting from that because whether you are delighted or disappointed by something as really defined why does the gap between what you expect it and what was delivered so if that kind of loyalty ends up being a certain expectation where you get disappointed. It’s because you had an expectation that wasn’t delivered. What was your expectations realistic? Is it even appropriate. Because if your expectation is is that they will be loyal to you in a very dispassionate way and they end up being more loyal to you as some companies that we saw during the great recession where they did everything and they could to avoid laying off people that meant they had to forego other things. If that’s the kind of loyalty that that you have experienced and yet your expectation was less personalized is then you would be delighted by that company. It’s always the gap between what you expect and what’s delivered. So are your expectations accurate. There’s there’s plenty of research out there. Studies on job place satisfaction. And how when your expectations are not met that you actually have higher anxiety Zaidi more stress it impacts you medically speaking in fact one of the people that I work closely with had a stroke on a Monday morning at the office.

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And so if you think about it what would have caused that. While strokes kept many different courses. The only reason I bring that up is because what did they say. Most suicides happen on Monday Mornings Mornings most heart attacks happen on Monday mornings to the list goes to the list is extensive and pretty exhaustive. That means if I’m not an active participant in my future future and I feel the company is GonNa provide me. Loyalty is going to impact me physically. Yeah it’s GonNa set you up for something you really don’t want to deal with I. I completely agree as a result. I think if we are able to keep our eyes and ears open at all times for any opportunity that comes up and I’m not saying any opportunity for job. I’m talking about the opportunities to talk. Talk to someone you to talk about. Something really are passionate about opportunities that may advance your skill set in a new direction that still job related but but is going going to give you a different set of experiences and therefore the knowledge that comes with them being open to those can really offset the negatives that were suggesting here here Having that realistic idea of loyalty I think is important to start. Opportunities come in many different forms opportunities may be presented to to you. I’m the type of person that I’m not ever going to not listen. I’m happy to listen. I’m having to keep my eyes open and listen to opportunity whether or not I go go depends on the opportunity. However I’ve seen people do this Scott where they’re like okay? I’m happy in my role. I’m doing really well. I’m not actively managed my career but I’m I’m satisfied satisfied right and so I don’t WanNa put the effort in to keeping momentum. I don’t need it and then an opportunity comes along and they say no I’m not interested. That’s fine okay. So you bring up a point. I just had a conversation with a colleague recently. Who is telling me her experience? In her current job she had been working for a competitor and very successfully successfully with that competitor for some time and she had worked with this guy who ended up being the chief retail officer for her current company. Who who contacted her at that time saying hey I got an opportunity? I’d like to work for me and I won’t go into the details of why that surprised her but just suffice it to say who’s at a much much higher level and so it surprised her that she would even be on his radar right. She turned him down because she perceived her current situation as being everything she wanted later on. He contacted her again and again she said no what was really interesting. was that then. She had found with a some change in the hierarchy where she used to be. She found herself in a very different situation. Something went south I don’t remember the specifics. But she did not have a positive experience and fifteen minutes after getting off the phone with someone about the the negative experience she got a call from this guy again so this time she was open to the possibilities and what we talked about was the fact that had she been open to it in the first place she probably would have moved faster and further in her career. Had she at least had the conversation in the beginning rather than waiting for the first try. Now it’s my observation that people don’t normally get three chances. She did art. Yeah she did you get one chance she did did it and she is now a VP for her company. Had she not said no the first time when could she have been VP. I mean it’s it’s anybody’s guess but but it. It was just a really interesting story that she got three chances and she took it up on the third one because her current situation had changed. I really value the advice of being open to who at least half the conversations to see what you might be missing even if you think it’s a company you don’t WanNa work for. I’ve had a lot of those. Two people identified a company right. They sit there in. This is business or some industry and our for anybody. As long as it’s not that one and then that one calls and not interested I would say go talk to him anyway. You have nothing to lose the time and maybe a little gasoline. If you have to drive things change they hire new people. New Leadership Company goes a new direction. What you heard in the past may not be the current reality the other the thing we encourage you to do is really evaluate your experience and trends in your industry that might require some analysis in evaluating yourself? You could take assessments. That means cataloging your experiences actively I encourage people to put their resume on some kind of rotation in their calendar. Every three to six months she should probably refresh shit. That’s a great great idea and then say okay. What have they done the last three to six months that extra incorporate in my resume? Even as you’re going through it start documenting project you’re working on was the pre. What was the action? What was the outcome? How do we measure success while that also gives you the perspective of coming back to see what you might be able to pare down to? It may be that. I put something on my resume that I felt very strongly about six months ago. But as I’m reading it now I realized that from a bigger picture a perspective that really.

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Isn’t that important space on a resume needs to be used very wisely so I love the idea of coming back to periodically early and regularly. There’s two things I recommend on resume side of things even though I’m not an advocate per se of resume back right as an effective tool but it is is a great place to catalog things and yes you can have kind of like a core master resume. That has everything on it which I actually like. I think a good so that’s great then I can so much easier to carve away exactly to add back in up so that do if you’ve got an exhaustive resume takeout anything if you’re making an application location. Take out anything that doesn’t apply to the job that you’re doing right now because if you give a four page resume for anything other than executive position it probably is not could be read by. That’s neither here nor there. Well this also means staying in touch with what’s happening in the industry. What the trends? What are the job title? Whereas the salary expectation where the salaries stories going which skills required to be successful in the future and kind of mapping that out so that you know am I on the right path might not on the right path? In which half half do I really WanNa take especially if you’re in a job type or an industry where trends are really talking about the future of the kind of working doing if you’re not moving in that direction that may become a liability for you so whether or not that need certifications or some other kind of short term training I would would say be on top of that of course as you go through and start cataloging some of these experiences you identify these trends. Yes some decision to make on. What sort of of experiences do I need to gain? Does my current company offered that or is there another role inside the company. I should be looking at or should I look outside sure. And if I can’t get hit that information or that train or that experience I need to get some training from somewhere. Yes and a lot of companies offer tuition reimbursement whether that’s an accredited college or certification through local industry groups. Whatever that might look look like a lot of companies actually offer that even and beyond the scope of your specific job right now so look into that as a benefit if you are employed looking at the the benefits that are available to you through your employer employer that brings up the idea of staying engaged with some leaders your industry or even in your career in a mentor capacity or even even becoming a mentor to somebody else can be helpful because as you grow in your career some of the things that might happen to you to maintain momentum is the leadership shit trajectory? It’s not always that someone can go their entire career and grow with momentum as an individual contributor even if you’re thinking of of moving up with an accompanying remember that there are fewer top jobs than there are lower level jobs and so those opportunities come fewer and further between the idea of of continuing on with a mentor. Means that you’re always talking about ways that you can develop regardless of your position and being a mentor puts you in that position nation of helping someone else so that they see you as the leader and as those conversations continue throughout your career. You’re helping to advance your career. I I cannot say enough about staying active with your mentor. Even if that’s just a quarterly e mail to say I’m thinking about you just reestablishing the contact helps you remember the things that you talked about. Actively managing those relationships is actually an exercise in networking. And it’s an opportunity for you to incubate those relationships over time to either decide that they’re effective for you or not effective for you as you go through in your career you’re probably GonNa have different people bowl. Come into and out of your professional life and I think about one of my mentor stat. I actually have not kept in touch with as much as I’d like to. And and one of the ideas that you and I talked about before we started is the idea of brainstorming and I was thinking as we started this recording about what kind brainstorming I could do with my mentor Dennis and and what that might look like and actually as soon as we’re done I’m going to send him off an email to say. Hey I was thinking about you because he would be the perfect person right now for me in my own career to brainstorm ideas on how I want to set up my future. Sure because he’s further down the road than I am and I. I admire him greatly. The idea that I am value to the people that I currently work for are can be augmented by this brainstorming conversation that I can have with my mentor by the same token as I give of my my own time time to others who asked me for my advice that also brings me benefit in from a different perspective. This is precisely why we even do breakfast. Club or even this podcast odd cast is to mentor.

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People in that capacity to help them gain momentum or maintain momentum in their career search. And that’s why we do what we do. It’s a labor of love really. I also really value your perspective on personal accountability and we talk about that in our breakfast club and it really is. How do we put that into practice? Because I will remind you what you tell me at breakfast club in terms of your networking commitment when I remind you of that at our next meeting. That’s not about me. That’s it’s about whether or not you’re holding yourself accountable. Because what I think doesn’t matter it isn’t about me on any level but I want you to know that I pay attention so you know so that if you hold yourself. Accountable that sense of accomplishment comes is just a reminder really on an accountability. I like accountability because I liked liked to know that somebody else is watching. That’s all I mean. I don’t need somebody to twist my arm to put me in handcuffs. Sure but I also think well. Let’s not go there. I also also think about going to the gym if I go with a workout partner. I’m far more likely to show up. Then if I don’t have a workout partner in it’s just left to my own sense of my own motivation because there are moorings that I really don’t want to go to the gym. So accountability is something that are mentors. Our friends our networking contacts can all help us with breath and there is nothing wrong with saying hold me accountable ask for it. Yes thank you Sir may have another and you know we kind of danced around it a little bit here but every every person that I know that has had good momentum in their career is always adding tools to their kit or clubs to the golf bag or whatever you WANNA call it. They’re always always working on something. They’re always learning new things or gaining new education. I have a colleague right now. She’s getting certified in instructional design. And what’s interesting. Testing is as part of our. We have a weekly meeting in our group that She’s talking about the things that she’s learning and I’m realizing not only what I benefit benefit from getting the same certification but she’s giving us the resources right now that she’s already I can start working on things from a perspective that and I didn’t know or coming back to a reminder of some of the principles that I received training on years ago in sort of forgotten it is a really beneficial. Show thing to get back into the learning mode. And that’s something we see top executives being quoted on is that they never stop learning. I think that’s good advice for for all of us. It’s a key skill. On today’s marketplace insurance is having the versatility and the capacity to learn new things and execute on that learning and and what I took away from what you just said is the value of having a peer mentor. Someone that’s in the same space as you but maybe has done something a little differently than I can learn from it. Apply on my job today. This is usually beneficial. If you’re lucky enough to work in an organization that that promotes learning take advantage of of it. I’d sort of kicked myself. I’ve had opportunities to get education with company and is it happens. I was in a job that I wasn’t really enjoying. I loved the work. Benign -sarily people. I was doing it for so I didn’t take advantage of that and that just held me back. It didn’t hold them back. Try to get the judgment out of it. I would say don’t pursue things I just on your own. That don’t interest you. I think that can lead to some self-defeating behaviors thoughts as well. Follow the things that charge you wab that that keep you motivated. Because that’s one way you’re going to keep your momentum if you’re in a job where they ask you to get certified or they give you an opportunity to do something that maybe maybe you wouldn’t have been interested in Jones. Judge that one either because it may be that that spark said new interest at you hadn’t considered and you never know where that’s GonNa take you. It’s it’s always important to pause and just consider what they’re offering you because in many of the organizations I’ve been with training was just done because it was something that had to be done for the business and that’s fine if you have a choice and you can take it or not take it then you have an opportunity then to make an evaluation of what that is is. It’s something that I wish I would have proactively done in many of the organizations I had been to say okay. Let me look at the menu if you’ve got one. Many companies don’t have menu of course are draining and I’d like to go this direction. And how can I make that happen. Build more proactive in the types of education that I pursued and the other thing is we can start. Start doing that at any time so any of our listeners that are thinking oh well you know it’s too late for me no it isn’t. It’s never too late to learn. You just have to be interested in doing it. And curiosity is is probably probably the thing that’s going to keep your momentum more than any other concept that you you face if you don’t have that menu from your company then there can be informal formal ways to learn and that’s based on what interests you and the choices you make it’s up to you. There’s hundreds of thousands of podcasts. Just like this one. Well well maybe no no ours is pretty special education available today for free in podcast world you can and you know come in and download things on leadership or finance or investing or whatever.

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Whatever there’s always something to be learned from somebody body else you might even decide to have your own podcast? I also think about audio books for those who prefer the listening mode of learning. If you’RE GONNA Ford audiobooks books. That’s great. Read them or listen to them. If you can’t your library may have audio books that you can check out. That’s really helpful for those of us who don’t have a lot of extra time to read at home. We can still get that reading done by going to the library. What does that take? I’m GonNa say the outside. Maybe thirty minutes of a your day. Go to the library. Check out an audio book and by the time you have to turn that back in you probably will have been able to finish it. Don’t discount the various opportunities that are available to you if you look at what schooling is schooling is paying somebody else to tell you to read a book and and to write a paper or take a test to validate whether or not what they told you to read in the book or what they said in lecture is really what they said and to validate that you’ve been paying attention when it comes to just reading a book Know someone who was talking to a psychologist at one point and and he was talking about how he ran all these self help books and various things on psychology and then the psychologist that he was talking to suggested that he probably had read as much as he would have had he been pursuing a degree on it. Self Education is absolutely option that we have. There are a number of workshops that are available to us either paid or perhaps through your local chamber of Commerce or or some other organization may be free of charge to members or are two people in the communities. There are all sorts of ideas that perhaps you haven’t known about because you haven’t known to look that brings up the idea of webinars actually. It’s a trend friend workshops if they’re an onsite thing or something that have to be scheduled and also all the time you have to go to this place. webinars are becoming very. Are you bic witness. Today you can get a lot of great training over the Internet and some of those webinars actually could lead to certifications so if it’s a paid webinar and and they have a series check it out whether or not that organization offers his certificate of completion for doing a series of webinars. You’d be surprised what’s out there there’s a large catalog also of online courses that you could take whether those are paid or free or something like core Sarah. I think it’s called where there’s universities providing in classes fro funding source. Yeah it’s amazing. How much content is now available for you to take advantage of? That doesn’t cost anything. And don’t forget to look at those disorganization no charge for some of it. Sometimes they offer things for free. So don’t pass those up and see if your company has an agreement with an organization like lengthen right access to Lincoln learning or whatever right. I know we get access to Lincoln learning through the library for free. So there’s a lot of ways you know there’s so many resources available sometimes. Sometimes it just comes down to what topic do I really want to know about so that I don’t get overwhelmed trying to learn too much at once and as your networking with people they may know of some of these opportunities already. So be sure that that’s part of your conversations. I think about the phrase that I heard years ago. I don’t think about what I don’t think about makes perfect sense as I’m having these conversations others can give me the idea. Maybe I’d forgotten that the library would would have those opportunities whatever it is. Keep talking to people. If you want to keep the momentum wintom going than networking is going to help along with everything else that we’ve mentioned. I had another client a friend of mine actually who was looking to make career transition and he relied on somebody in the industry to tell him you know you should get a certification in aws so he went and did that and got the certification and now. Oh He’s out doing the job search. Sometimes you’re right go to the people who are in the industry you WANNA be in to determine what is current relevant and in demand now so that I can get that training now to be ready to hit the ground running from the beginning. That’s why we’ve actually created the Anatomy of networking conversation. What’s up well? It’s actually an e book that helps walk you through step by step including companion audio for those of you. Who liked to listen to us on this wonderful podcast that’s Okay through the idea of how do I now work. That’s something that isn’t really common for a lot of people to understand and we break it down for you for steps. That’s that’s fantastic easy steps and it’s a free resource so if you go to job seekers radio DOT com slash zero six nine. You’ll find the show no notes and the anatomy of a networking conversation.

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e-book all right. They’re free to download. We encourage you to go there and leave some comments as well on this episode Please give me a little comment box at the bottom if you have any questions. There’s a contact US box there too. It’s just a wonderful website. You should spend lots of time time. Well thanks everybody for being here. We appreciate you. Investing your time and attention in job seekers radio head over to itunes and subscribe to get future episodes and while there you can also give out rate and review and give us your feedback there too. I’m Andrew and I’m Scott in the words of Sir Edmund Hillary. No one remembers as you climbed Mount Everest the second time. Thanks everybody bye bye.