Talee Potter:
Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us tonight. My name is Talee Potter and I'm a member of the Class of 1997 and a member of the Alumni Board.
Talee Potter:
I'm also proud to say that I, along with Amy Cohen, Class of ‘85, am the co-chair of the Brandeis Women's Network. For those who don't know, Brandeis Women's Network is a relatively new organization. Our mission is simple is to provide and build connections between Brandeis women.
Talee Potter:
Since our formation in June of 2018, our network has grown tremendously. We have a vibrant Facebook group of over 1300 women which you can find by searching BrandeisWomen, one word, on Facebook and we also have a LinkedIn community. It's Brandeis University Women's Network. We've been thrilled to offer a variety of programming to the entire Brandeis community such as tonight's event with Pamela.
Talee Potter:
Before we hear from Pamela, I have a few housekeeping matters to share. First, we will be reserving time at the end of the discussion for questions. If you have questions, we're asking that you post it in the Q&A and not at the chat function. We will not be checking the chat function for questions. That being said, we expect many questions and we'll do our best to address them in the limited time that we have. Also, this event is being recorded and will be available after the event.
Talee Potter:
And now, I would like to turn the program over to Pamela Weinberg. Pamela is a certified career management coach and personal branding strategist working with individuals in all stages of career development. She specializes in helping people make career transitions and has had success working with a myriad of populations including millennials, women in transition, and career changers. Helping clients build their personal brands to become the standard candidates or professionals in their chosen fields is what she does best.
Talee Potter:
Prior to becoming a career coach, Pamela co-wrote the best-selling New York City parents’ resource guide, City Baby. The book is in its fourth edition and has been published in Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Chicago and D.C. Always an advocate for moms, Pamela's book is frequently parenting topics and was often quoted in the media in New York City family life. Pamela's a 1987 graduate of Brandeis and resides in New York with her husband, also a Brandeis graduate, and her two children. And without further ado, turn it over to Pamela.
Pamela Weinberg:
Thank you so much, Talee and Amy and Nikki. It's been a pleasure working with all of you to put this together. I am going to now share my screen so we can get started on pandemic habits.
Pamela Weinberg:
I'm going to be talking tonight about pandemic pivots. This is a topic that has come up so often with my clients over the last year. It's unbelievable. It's been almost a year but it has been. The times as we all know have been incredibly challenging and with every challenging time also comes somewhat of a silver lining.
Pamela Weinberg:
What I have found with my clients during this time is that people have really taken the time to think deeply about their careers, their lives. Working from home has given people a lot more time to reevaluate and of course, people were sadly laid off, furloughed. It has been a time of so much turmoil.
Pamela Weinberg:
But what's happened because of this, it's really allowed people to do things with their lives that they may have never thought they could do like move to another city, drive cross country, go to grad school, get additional education, and of course, pivot to a different career because they've had the time to really think about what works best for them.
Pamela Weinberg:
I'm going to start by talking a little bit about the job market as it stands today and in our pandemic that we are hopefully coming out of soon.
Pamela Weinberg:
The East and West Coast have really had the brunt of job cuts unfortunately. Employment in the U.S. is 11 million below pre-pandemic levels. Hiring is via Zoom or phone and this is really something if you think about how many people have gotten jobs over the last year or six months and have never been in their new office, have never met their boss in person. This is all going on via Zoom. I don't know how that's going to really shake out in the long term.
Pamela Weinberg:
I saw on the news yesterday that Mark Zuckerberg said that he anticipates 50% of Facebook work force to be working from home over the next five to 10 years. I think that our life and work as we know it may never be the same.
Pamela Weinberg:
Let's move on to our pivot. We don't know where we're going unless we have our roadmap. Here's our pivot roadmap.
Pamela Weinberg:
The first thing that everyone wants to do when they're thinking about any kind of career change is what are your objectives, are you looking to pivot, are you looking for a new job in the same field, are you looking for a different career altogether. Maybe you're looking at all of these to see which options fit you best. Then you're going to do your research, and we're going to talk a lot today about how to do that kind of research, how to make that work. And then finally, creating a plan of action surrounding your search and that's going to include a lot of the tools of the trade that you need in order to be prepared for a job search.
Pamela Weinberg:
So let's get on with it. Before we talk about why pivot, I wanted to just take a minute to explain what a pivot is. For those who might not exactly know. What a pivot is versus a career change is a pivot allows you to take your transferable skills, the skills that you have from your current career, and make a shift into a new or related direction.
Pamela Weinberg:
The nice thing about a pivot versus an all-out career change is that a pivot typically allows you to move laterally, doesn't make you start over from the bottom rung of the ladder so that allows you to continue to hopefully earn around the same amount of money, continue with the same amount of seniority or title rather than starting over with a change. That's really the difference between what a career pivot is and what a career change is. Pivoting to a different career, it's usually a career that has more of an adjacency.
Pamela Weinberg:
Now that we have that described, this is what we're going to go through today in order to start your pivots. We're going to do some self-inventory, some assessments. We're going to create an action and productivity plan. We're going to fill in some knowledge gaps.
Pamela Weinberg:
Making a pivot, as I said, you'll be able to utilize a lot of your transferable skills but there may be some skills that you don't have that you need to get, how do you know what those are and how to get them, we're going to talk about that, how to perfect your elevator pitch, one of my favorites, so that you know how to talk about yourself with whomever you meet who's going to be able to be in a position to help you, and finally have a resume and LinkedIn profile that is going to help position you well for pivoting to your next career.
Pamela Weinberg:
In thinking about your pivot, as I said, the first thing you want to do is some self-assessment. You want to rediscover and think about your passions, interests, and strengths. I think as I said earlier that's what started to happen a lot during the pandemic that people have really had the time to really evaluate like, "Do I like what I'm doing? Does this fit me?"
Pamela Weinberg:
I know for myself I graduated college in 1987. I've had three or four careers since then. The career that I chose as a recent college grad doesn't fit at all what I'm doing today. A lot of people are like that and maybe this is the first time in however many years you've had a minute to say, "Wow. Do I still like this? Does this just still fit who I am? Or are there other things that I've always wanted to try and maybe this is the time?" Thinking about what do you like, what are you good at, taking stock of your priorities.
Pamela Weinberg:
This is when I start with a new client. This is the absolute first exercise that I do, a career values exercise. What are the most important things to you in a career? For a lot of people, money comes high on the list. For others, working for a company that has a mission they can agree with. Flexibility, collaborative environment, a company that provides professional development. The list can go on and on. Personal for everyone, and this is something that I would really urge everyone to do who's thinking about a career change or a pivot to really think about what you're looking for in that next job.
Pamela Weinberg:
Finally, assessment tools. There are so many great assessment tools out there that you can find online. TypeFocus is one that I really like and the other one that I love is called CliftonStrengths. I have a lot of my clients do CliftonStrengths. I've done it for myself.
Pamela Weinberg:
What CliftonStrengths does, it comes back after a long series of questions, comes back with your top five strengths, and a really long interpretation of what those strengths are and how you can utilize them in your career. I think it's an excellent tool to really learn what strengths you should be leaning into for your job or for your pivot.
Pamela Weinberg:
Next, we're going to get to research and preparation. You've gone through your assessments, you've thought about your skills, you've thought about your interest, you have your career values down, and you're going to put all those together in a hopper and see what comes out for you. And after doing all those exercises, you'll probably have some idea of what you want to do next.
Pamela Weinberg:
It may be more than one thing. You may come out with three different industries that you're interested in, three different types of jobs or a specific list of companies that check a lot of those boxes for you. You'll keep honing that list. There's some really good research tools...
Pamela Weinberg:
Actually, by the way, I had told the gang when we started that I will be creating a PDF of this so that you will get these resources. You don't have to worry about taking notes or writing them down, I'm probably going to throw a lot of resources out there, but you'll have them sent to you after the presentation.
Pamela Weinberg:
Some of the tools that I like to research industries and companies. One is called vault.com, another one's glassdoor.com. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a great one that has lists of fastest growing careers actually by zip code and areas. You can really see where you live what the fastest growing careers are. And to nobody's surprise, two of the fastest growing industries and sectors are healthcare and tech. The BLS website also lists careers that are friendly for career changers. They really have a wealth of information on that website.
Pamela Weinberg:
Informational interviews. This is probably one of the most important ways to find out if a job or career is for you. How do you know if you're pivoting from marketing in a pharmaceutical company to marketing in a nonprofit? What skills do you need? What's important to know? And how to make that pivot? How would you know what the answers to that are?
Pamela Weinberg:
Through your research on the Vault and the Glassdoor but also through setting up informational interviews. Informational interviews are just that. They are for information. That's your opportunity to ask people who have the jobs you may want, what is that job all about, what does it take, what are the skills that are important, what are the things I need to know, what skills may I not have that I need to have. And that's where the next part of this comes in.
Pamela Weinberg:
You might need an advanced or an additional degree or at least classes in your interest area. There are many community colleges that offer this. There are many online options now like Udemy and Coursera where you can find classes in tons of different interest areas.
Pamela Weinberg:
A lot of my clients who are looking to pivot find that what they really need to get more advanced coursework in is anything in the tech area. Maybe learning how to use SQL, maybe learning more about CRM systems, maybe getting some advanced help with Excel. A lot of the classes you can find online are free or low cost and they're terrific ways to bolster your skills and also bolster your resume in looking ahead at a pivot.
Pamela Weinberg:
I always like to practice what I preach and I had a lot of downtime during the pandemic when my business got very, very slow and I decided that it would be a good time for me to take classes in my interest area. I've always helped clients with resumes, to edit resumes. I never loved writing resumes from soup to nuts then I thought this would be a really good opportunity for me to increase my resume writing skills. So I ended up taking a class and getting certified as a resume writer during the pandemic. That's a great way for me personally to bolster my skills and my interest area and be able to have something new to offer. That's a little bit of a pivot for me as well.
Pamela Weinberg:
We are going to now enter into the phase of what we need to do in order to prepare for our job search. This is what we're going to be talking about in the next part of our presentation tonight. We're going to cover what's important in a resume. We are going to talk a bit about LinkedIn
Pamela Weinberg:
Business cards, we're not going to talk so much about because no one's really in person right now, but I always used to say and hopefully we'll come back to this that even if you're not employed, it's really great to have a business card if you're going to networking events because it really does help to professionalize you when you're asking someone else for a card to be able to give a card of your own as well.
Pamela Weinberg:
You want to line up references in advance of your job search. Let the people who you would use as references know that you're in the market for a new job and make sure that they're aware that they may be getting a call from a potential new employer.
Pamela Weinberg:
Develop, we're going to talk about developing and creating your elevator pitch next and then we're going to talk a little bit also about smart volunteering as a way to try out a new career and get additional skills.
Pamela Weinberg:
Elevator pitch tips. This is something that everybody needs to know how to do and something really everyone needs to do really is people tend to feel like on the spot, I don't know what to say, I don't know how to talk about myself. That's why it's really important to practice. Practice in the mirror, practice on your friends or family members no more than a minute.
Pamela Weinberg:
What do you want to say to someone who literally you could see in the elevator or see in the hallway of your building or your neighbor getting your mail who you know is in a position to help you? Again, we'll go back to our example of moving from pharmaceuticals to nonprofits. Your neighbor is the head of a nonprofit. You want to talk to them about what their experience is in a nonprofit and tell them a little bit about yourself. That's what you want to think about.
Pamela Weinberg:
What's your goal in the elevator pitch? What do you want to get? Do you want to get information? Do you want to get an in person... Do you want to get in a meeting? Do you want an introduction to someone else in their company? What is it that you want?
Pamela Weinberg:
You want to introduce yourself. Give a sentence or two about who you are, what makes you unique, and again, what your goal is. You want to exchange your contact information. That will be where your business card would come in handy or you could just exchange cell phone numbers or emails.
Pamela Weinberg:
Be conscious of your nonverbal communication. People tend to remember more of how you present yourself even than what you're saying. Be sure to smile, to be friendly, to make eye contact. We're not shaking hands right now. But make eye contact, smile, and be yourself. Let your personality shine through in your elevator pitch.
Pamela Weinberg:
Always remember you have to change it up depending on who you're talking to. It's always about what your goal is in thinking about your pitch.
Pamela Weinberg:
Looking for a job whether you're currently employed, whether you're unemployed can be really lonely and stressful. That's part of this whole process and we know we've had a lot of this through our time even working from home during the pandemic.
Pamela Weinberg:
I've thrown in a couple of slides about stress reduction and a slide about building confidence which are two things that are so important to really focus on in your job search or your pivot.
Pamela Weinberg:
Stay organized on your job search. I'm a big fan of pen and paper. I like to make lists but I really think for staying organized in your job search, the best way to do this is through spreadsheets. Just create a spreadsheet for yourself that's going to have the names of your contacts. You're pivoting to a new field. Who are the people you know in that field? What are the companies you're interested in in that field? Have a list so that you know where to refer back to in doing your network. We're going to talk a lot about networking coming up.
Pamela Weinberg:
Have another sheet where you're keeping all of your jobs that you've applied for organized. When did you make the first contact? Who is the contact name? What was the date of your last contact with them? And what's the followup?
Pamela Weinberg:
That will really help you stay organized and on top of it because you should hopefully be having a lot of these meetings, a lot of job applications, and it's going to be really hard to stay on top without an organized list.
Pamela Weinberg:
Carve out job search time. Yes, looking for a job is a full time job but it really shouldn't take eight hours of your day. I always say to clients, "I'd rather you apply to three jobs where you know someone at the company than apply to 30 jobs all day long." Whatever your schedule is, maybe you're a morning person, maybe you're more of a late afternoon person, what's that window that you're going to put into your calendar that's going to be your nonnegotiable time to look for jobs. You're going to get alerts, hopefully, and I'll talk about that, too, alerts every day from Indeed or LinkedIn for job searches that you've saved.
Pamela Weinberg:
Make sure that when you get that alert in, you're going to work on that for those couple of hours, and then you're done for the rest of the day because it ends up just causing a lot of stress, pressing refresh, refresh, refresh all day on LinkedIn.
Pamela Weinberg:
If you have those alerts set up, you're getting the newest jobs right away, and you can log off and do something else that's maybe job related. Maybe as I said, taking a class, maybe having that networking call. Make sure to take breaks during the day, exercise, take a walk, call a friend, have a cup of tea. You really need to stay refreshed and recharged.
Pamela Weinberg:
I love the idea of having a job search buddy. I have two clients who are now working together one hour a day. They might not even be talking to each other but they'll be on FaceTime each doing their job search. It could be like, "Hey, can I just read this to you?" Or "Hey, what do you think about this job for me," or... It's a great way to feel connected and to not feel as lonely in the job search world to have a job search buddy.
Pamela Weinberg:
Building confidence. This is really important for job searching whether you're looking for a job in your field or looking to pivot or looking to change careers. If you're out of work, especially, we tend to really lose confidence, the longer we're out of the workplace, the less confident we often feel. What can we do to combat that?
Pamela Weinberg:
I love for my clients to list the three accomplishments they're most proud of and this has so many great applications. One is makes you feel good about yourself. I like people to put it on a post it, put it in their phone, tap it up on your refrigerator. "These are the things I'm most proud of that I've accomplished in my career." These three accomplishments will hopefully come up again and again when you go and get a job interview and someone says, tell me about yourself. You just like to have those three accomplishments to pull out.
Pamela Weinberg:
Develop a board of directors. Along with that job search, buddy. I love the idea of a personal board of directors. This is a group of people who know you well, know you from maybe a work environment, from a volunteer environment, maybe they're a friend or a peer or former boss. These are people who are in your corner. These are the people who you can say, "Listen, I saw this job. It's a pivot for me. I'm afraid it might be a stretch. What do you think? How do you think my skills match up? How do you think I should approach this? And what do you think... What kind of goals should I set for myself for this pivot?"
Pamela Weinberg:
These are people who can help keep you accountable. Accountability is also one of the hardest things if you're looking for a job. No one's telling you what to do, no one's giving you a due date, no one's saying you need to apply to three jobs every day. So your board of directors can help you with that accountability. I think it's really useful.
Pamela Weinberg:
Gain a new skill. I told you about myself gaining a new skill during the pandemic with my resume writing. The pandemic's a great time to gain a new skill and think of a skill that will help you pivot to your new career, whatever that is, as I said something that's technology based, maybe it's blogging.
Pamela Weinberg:
There's a million different skills that people can pick up that would help them in thinking about what they need for their pivot and through these informational interviews that you're having with people about your career pivot, you'll probably get a sense of what skill you might need to pick up. This is a great time to do that. That also helps build your confidence and is something you can put on your resume as well.
Pamela Weinberg:
Volunteer and make a difference. I think volunteer work is the thing that's probably the most rewarding for so many of us and even though a lot of the in-person volunteer opportunities aren't as readily available now, there are a lot of volunteer opportunities you can do online. I love the idea of smart volunteering and smart volunteering means you are volunteering in a way that helps to build the skills you want to build.
Pamela Weinberg:
When I first was a parent at my child's lower school, I wanted to get involved so I volunteered and they needed volunteers to fundraise. I was a terrible fundraiser. I hated it. It was awful to me. I wanted to still be a volunteer but I was like, "This is not for me. I need to volunteer to do something where I feel like I can really make a difference and give back but also enjoy it."
Pamela Weinberg:
So I ended up volunteering to write this school newsletter. Why was this good for me? I was starting a blog, I was writing City Baby, it gave me great writing practice and it allowed me to volunteer in a way where I was making a difference but also feeling good about myself.
Pamela Weinberg:
If you want to do a volunteer opportunity, think about it in those terms. What can I do to give back but also to build a new skill for myself that I will enjoy and will help me again on my resume?
Pamela Weinberg:
Moving on to resumes. When you're sending in a resume now to apply for a job, typically it's not Pamela Weinberg in human resources being the first reader. Typically, if you're applying to a medium or to large company, the first person reading your resume is not a person at all. It's an applicant tracking system. An applicant tracking system takes your resume and looks at your resume, looks for the keywords in your resume that match up to the job description. That is why using keywords in your resume is so important.
Pamela Weinberg:
How do you know what keywords are? By looking at job descriptions for the types of jobs you want., say you're looking for a job as a marketing director, I would say look at six different job descriptions for marketing director. go through them with the highlighter and I will guarantee you that you will start to see those same key words popping up in all six job descriptions. That's how you know which words to use in your resume. The same goes for your LinkedIn profile as well.
Pamela Weinberg:
It used to be back in the day when... I remember when I graduated college you always had an objective on your resume. Objectives are out, professional summaries are in. If you want to have something at the top of your resume, it would be a professional summary which, of course, has those all-important keywords and would give a description that's a great place also for your top three accomplishments. What are the things in your career that you're most proud of that for a pivot would be transferable to whatever career you are pivoting to?
Pamela Weinberg:
Keep the resume format simple for the same reason that you're using keywords for the applicant tracking system, you're keeping your resume format simple for the same reason. The applicant tracking system can't really read your columns or your boxes or your pretty colors. They can just read the words and you want to make sure that you have it in a simple format that is easy for that applicant tracking system to read.
Pamela Weinberg:
You want to proofread like crazy. A trick for me for proofreading a resume or a cover letter is to read it out loud. I always read it out loud because I think reading out loud is a way that you can really hear it the way somebody else is reading it. Not only proofread with your eyes but proofread by listening to it out loud.
Pamela Weinberg:
I like Times New Roman font for resumes. Arial is another font that people use. You just want it to be a font that's universally easy to read and accepted.
Pamela Weinberg:
Keep your resume to one page. This is a good guide if you've worked for 10 years or less. If you've worked for 10 years or more, you certainly can go on to a second page.
Pamela Weinberg:
I saved the best for last. This is what I really learned a lot about in my resume class was about using metrics. I learned that pretty much every bullet point can have a metric attached to it. You need to have a metric on every bullet, I don't know. But metrics are really important whether it's a numerical, increased sales by 250% or it's a qualitative metric in another way, shape, or form on your resume. Think about really quantifying your bullet points. It's more of the, "Show me, don't tell me school," resume writing.
Pamela Weinberg:
My other one resume tip that I want to share is my philosophy in creating a resume, and this is really I think so relevant for a pivot, is I like my clients to create a resume that's going to talk about where they're going rather than where they've been. What does that mean?
Pamela Weinberg:
You are creating a resume that supports your pivot. You want to pivot from one type of career to another. You want to make sure that the transferable skills that are applicable from the career you're in to the career you're transferring to are front and center on your resume so that it makes it easy for the person reading it to see you in that role. It's really creating a resume that's more strategic.
Pamela Weinberg:
I promised you a little talk about networking. Nothing more important really than networking in getting a new job. What my clients hate most about looking for a new job, probably networking. It's hard. People don't like to have to ask people if you like they're asking for favors, they have to get on the phone, they have to write a letter or LinkedIn, "And what if I'm rejected?" Yes, yes, yes. But it must be done.
Pamela Weinberg:
Eighty percent of all jobs are gotten through people who we know. That's a tremendous, tremendous number. When I gave the example before, I'd rather have clients apply to three jobs through a connection than 30 jobs without one, that's what I mean. You have much higher odds of getting into the right pile through a connection. Networking, you have to do it.
Pamela Weinberg:
Know what you are looking for, as I said, going back to our elevator pitch. What's your ask? What are you asking of the person you're networking with? Are you asking them to review your resume to see if it reads well for this type of career? Are you asking them what types of publications should I be reading in order to prepare for a career in this field? Are you asking, "What skills do I need?" Know what you're asking for.
Pamela Weinberg:
Make it easy for people to help you. I'm going to say that again. Make it easy for people to help you. People want to help. If you call someone and say, "Hi, I'm looking for a job in pharmaceuticals. If you hear of anything, let me know." They don't know how to help you.
Pamela Weinberg:
Instead, "Hi, I'm looking for a job in pharmaceuticals. I see on your LinkedIn that you're connected to Pamela Weinberg. Would you feel comfortable making a connection to her because I'm really interested in a company she's working with?" You're going to make it very easy for them to say, "Sure, let me just write up a quick email." Make it easy for someone to take the action in order to help you.
Pamela Weinberg:
Followup. We're going to forget about business cards for now. Followup and keep in touch. Networking is a two-way street and it's about building a relationship.
Pamela Weinberg:
I'll tell a quick anecdote. When I became a coach, I didn't know anyone else who was a career coach. This was 12 years ago. I really didn't know. I knew I wanted to coach people and I knew I wanted to be involved in the university world like I am now. I speak a lot to colleges and universities.
Pamela Weinberg:
I knew this one woman by reputation. She was an author and she was very well known in this field. I was like, "You know what? I have nothing to lose. I'll reach out to her on LinkedIn. She probably won't respond. But I really want to talk to her and see if she could give me some advice in how to break into this industry. I just wanted to chat with her for 15 minutes."
Pamela Weinberg:
I did reach out to her and believe it or not, she answered, and we set up a coffee date. I said to her, "Lindsay, I'm so thankful that you decided to meet with me. You didn't know me from anywhere and I didn't think I could help you in any way and I'm so appreciative." She's like, "You know why I answered you?" And I said, "Why?" And she said, "Because I saw that you wrote City Baby and I'm pregnant with my first child."
Pamela Weinberg:
It wasn't just what she could do for me, it was what I could do for her. I just want everyone to keep that in mind when networking because, you feel like, "Ugh, I'm calling this person. I don't want to have to ask them to do me a favor, to do something for me." It's a two-way street. There will be a day down the road when that person is going to need something from you, you don't know what it is.
Pamela Weinberg:
I didn't know that that's why Lindsay suggested meeting with me, but it turned out that we have had a fantastic relationship for the last 12 years because I just reached out blindly to her on LinkedIn.
Pamela Weinberg:
I really recommend you think about that always with a note, always with the reason why. And we'll talk more about LinkedIn. I think it's coming up in our next slide.
Pamela Weinberg:
Join professional organizations. You're all here through Brandeis alumni network. Tap into the Brandeis network. I know Talee said that there's groups on Facebook. I know there's a women's LinkedIn group. Use those as a way to find people to network with who may be in a field that you want to pivot to. What a great place to just ask a question.
Pamela Weinberg:
When I was becoming a coach, as I said, I didn't know anyone. I went on to LinkedIn and I found some coaching organizations. I joined a LinkedIn group, a coaching group, and I asked in the chat box, "Does anyone have any advice for me on what kind of certification to get?" And I got great responses back. You can just utilize your professional organizations whether it be something like an American Marketing Association, whatever your profession is, there's multiple professional organizations for you to join in order to get advice and meet contacts.
Pamela Weinberg:
I became very involved in ICF which is the International Coaching Federation over the pandemic. A lot of organizations have shifted so much of their programming online via Zoom and other things whether it's networking, whether it's coffees, whether it's webinars that provide additional information. I've met so many people, so many coaches who are in my field who I've learned so much from. It's a great way for you to meet people by joining a professional organization and signing up for some programming. Another terrific way to build your network.
Pamela Weinberg:
LinkedIn. impossible to be engaged in a job search without utilizing LinkedIn. You want to have a great profile, you want to have an appropriate photo that is a professional photo of you. I don't mean professionally taken. I mean you should look professional in your LinkedIn photo. It shouldn't be like a Facebook picture.
Pamela Weinberg:
You can have a creative headline. LinkedIn is very intuitive and if you have a LinkedIn profile, you will get... The default of LinkedIn your headline will be your current job. I like to be a little more creative. I created a headline for myself that has more of the keywords in it so that if someone is searching for career coach or personal branding, hopefully, they'll come upon my profile.
Pamela Weinberg:
If you take a look at my LinkedIn, you will see that it's a few different slashes that really explains the umbrella of what I do to work with clients. I recommend doing that for yourself as well. Have it be describing you rather than a job title.
Pamela Weinberg:
Professional summary. Again, as someone who loves branding, this is a super opportunity to talk about yourself in your summary here. You really have an opportunity to talk about your pivot. Why are you pivoting? What's your pivot about? What skills are you planning to use in order to pivot? Tell your story. This is a great place to tell your story.
Pamela Weinberg:
You want to have keywords on your LinkedIn profile the same way you do on your resume, the same types of keywords so again, if a recruiter is searching to fill a role on LinkedIn, you hope that your profile will get seen by recruiters.
Pamela Weinberg:
Recommendations are wonderful to have on your LinkedIn profile as well. Former bosses, colleagues who've worked with you, very easy to ask them for recommendations through LinkedIn.
Pamela Weinberg:
You want to connect like crazy and you want to connect with people on LinkedIn with a personalized note. I won't accept a connection anymore without a note. Tell me why you want to connect with me. "Hi, Pamela, I saw you on the Brandeis webinar. I'd love to connect with you to keep you in my network." Whatever it is that you say, give people a reason to connect. Let them know why you want to connect with them.
Pamela Weinberg:
Use LinkedIn to connect with your former bosses, colleagues, peers, classmates, people who are in industries that you'd like to be in. They say on LinkedIn 500 connections is the sweet spot that you have a really broad network to work with in order to find people who may be able to help you with furthering your own network and your own informational interviews.
Pamela Weinberg:
Follow companies. Once you've done... At the beginning, we spoke about finding companies that you're interested in, you can follow those companies and those industries on LinkedIn so that when you log on to your LinkedIn, you'll be getting the news of those companies in your newsfeed.
Pamela Weinberg:
The search feature on LinkedIn is fantastic. Search for jobs, search for contacts, search for groups, search for people you may know. And there's a million groups on LinkedIn to join. I've talked about the Brandeis group. Any industry you're interested in nationally, regionally, internationally. There are so many groups to join and just by doing simple search, you'll be able to find those.
Pamela Weinberg:
Finally, and then we're going to have time for questions. Final tips for managing your pivot. I think I've stressed this so much. Know your pitch, know what you want, know how to talk about yourself to others in your informational interviews.
Pamela Weinberg:
Set goals for yourself, maybe through your personal board of directors, through a job search buddy, an accountability coach. Set goals for yourself for how you're going to approach your search but also be patient. A typical job search takes three to six months. I'm finding during the pandemic with my clients it's really six months plus. Just realize that. Be patient, take those breaks for yourself during the day, and be flexible.
Pamela Weinberg:
You may have a few different ideas on your pivot. You may have to go a little further afield or maybe now's not the time and you're going to get another job at a company that's more aligned with your values. Be open. Try to be more flexible during this time as well.
Pamela Weinberg:
If you keep all of those in mind, you will have a successful pivot. I'm happy to talk to anyone further if anyone has any questions about their pivots as well. As I said, this is a list of some of the resources that I mentioned during the talk today which you'll all be getting a copy of. And this is my contact information.
Pamela Weinberg:
Over here, you'll see that there's a job search freebie. I think someone may be putting this in the chat for me while we're doing the Q&A. I'd love for everyone if everyone wants to sign up to get some more information in their inbox about searching for jobs during this time.
Pamela Weinberg:
I think we're going to open the floor now for questions and I think someone's monitoring the chat box and if we have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.
Talee Potter:
Yes, Pamela. This is Talee. We have some great questions. And first of all, thank you for a wonderful, very helpful, and detailed presentation. It was really great.
Pamela Weinberg:
I'm so glad.
Talee Potter:
Some questions have come in. What advice do you have in self presentation if you're applying for jobs and you're beyond the conventional hiring age? Let's say you're in your mid 70s. What advice would you give to someone in that stage in their career?
Pamela Weinberg:
I work with a lot of people who are... I'm 55. I'm considered someone who is older as well. I'm not going to say that there's not age discrimination because I would be not being truthful. It is definitely harder.
Pamela Weinberg:
What I would say is whatever your resume is you don't have to put on every job back to 1980. Try to make it as current as possible with whatever jobs you have, skills you have, and go through your network. That's going to be your easiest path to a job is to really speak with a network, with people who know you, who worked with you and know what you're good at and know your value.
Talee Potter:
Thank you. You posted some great resources for people to review after the session. Specifically, you posted two assessment tools. Are those free to use?
Pamela Weinberg:
TypeFocus has a lot of free tools. CliftonStrengths is 49.99.
Talee Potter:
Great. You spoke about job boards and filters like Indeed. Is it better to apply directly through the website of the company? Or is it okay to apply to Indeed?
Pamela Weinberg:
It's a great question and I actually asked a couple of... I've gotten this question a lot during my presentation. I actually went to the sources and asked a few hiring managers what their opinion was on this.
Pamela Weinberg:
This is what I've learned. For a smaller company, apply directly through the company. For a larger company, it doesn't matter. You could apply through Indeed or through LinkedIn or through the company portal.
Talee Potter:
Great. You gave great advice about obtaining new skills and an expanding scope of your experiences. For those of us who are overstretched with life responsibilities like child rearing and full time job while job searching, what advice would you give if you can't do those things? If you're just not able to balance and add a new language or travel safely in addition to everything that you're doing in a day job? What advice would you give to that individual?
Pamela Weinberg:
If that individual is looking to pivot or looking to gain new skills but just didn't have the time to do it because they're working full time, I don't know this is so individual to this person but I'll just give my general spiel, I'm a big fan of learning on the job. If there's a way to gain new skills in your current role, that's a winner to me.
Pamela Weinberg:
Whether it's even teaming up with someone in another department and having them mentor you during a lunch hour or taking a coffee break together, most people are still working remotely, so that they could tutor you or teach you, give you a little tutorial in another area so that at least you can feel conversant in that in applying for new jobs or networking.
Talee Potter:
Great. Now, there's a few questions about LinkedIn. One individual is concerned about sharing their information publicly and posting too much on the web. Is that an overreaction? Or is it okay? How much is it okay to share on LinkedIn with it being appropriate and not putting a person at risk?
Pamela Weinberg:
I'm not sure if they mean putting them at risk for...
Talee Potter:
For security, for appropriation of their identity or...
Pamela Weinberg:
I personally don't think it's a risk on LinkedIn. That I wouldn't worry but I was thinking more a risk for their current employer to see that they're on LinkedIn and maybe change their profile to look for a job.
Pamela Weinberg:
But if you're concerned about privacy, there are really strong privacy settings on LinkedIn. It defeats the purpose a little bit because you want recruiters to find you on LinkedIn, you don't want to have all those restrictions. But if you feel more nervous or trepidatious, then you can put on privacy settings so that only people who are already in your network can see your can see your full profile. That's a way to handle that.
Talee Potter:
LinkedIn has a feature that shows your interest and types of jobs that you're looking for. Do you recommend people use that feature? The user may only choose up to five. What are your thoughts on that?
Pamela Weinberg:
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Because LinkedIn, again, it's very intuitive. If they see you clicking on certain jobs, they're going to send you more jobs like that. It's great to have those if you're in the job market. It allows LinkedIn to really be more selective in what they send to you.
Talee Potter:
LinkedIn and other filters that you referenced before. Job websites have numerous amount of postings. Some of them are jobs that have already been filled or are just out there for fishing. Is there a way to tell if a job posting has already been filled by an internal candidate or if it's a real posting?
Pamela Weinberg:
I like to do both and look at the company website and look at LinkedIn because sometimes one's more up to date than the other. That's definitely a way to tell. By law, companies do need to post jobs even if they are, they think, going to be filled internally. It is tricky.
Pamela Weinberg:
I've run into that a lot with clients honestly. I don't think there is an exact way to know but I would say by toggling between the company's website itself and a LinkedIn or an Indeed, you should get a sense of whether it's old.
Pamela Weinberg:
And when I have people search on LinkedIn or Indeed, by the way, this is just an aside for any job search, I like them to only look at jobs that are posted within that week, three days, or day because anything longer ago than that they've had, I'm sure, filled or have the quota of applicants. It's really important to apply early.
Talee Potter:
Asking for recommendations whether for jobs or grad school can be daunting. Any tips on how to best approach that type of ask?
Pamela Weinberg:
I think people always like to be flattered. I think either getting on the phone or writing a lovely email saying how important this person has been in your life and how much you've learned from them as a mentor or a boss and that you're taking this next step and you would love to be able to utilize them as a resource or a recommendation if they'd be willing to.
Talee Potter:
How does one get over the guilt of being out of work? Or how do you best present yourself when you are out of work and feel uncomfortable by it?
Pamela Weinberg:
I think because so many people have been laid off during a pandemic by no fault of their own just because of the pandemic and the economy, I don't think there's a stigma there right now about being laid off.
Pamela Weinberg:
What I would say, again, to go back to that confidence building piece, to really think about what their accomplishments are, so that they can continue to feel good about themselves and draw on those three accomplishments that they have and also to think about what can they do to build their resume in this time that they're not employed.
Pamela Weinberg:
Again, it's like smart volunteering whether it's doing some freelance projects or consulting or taking a class online because a hiring manager is certainly going to understand someone being laid off but a followup question can be so, "What have you been doing over the last eight months?" You can certainly say, "Looking for a job," but it's great to say, "I've really tried to take courses to up my skills in this," or "I volunteered at this organization to really be able to give back and make a difference." It's great to have something to fill in that gap.
Talee Potter:
What are your thoughts about using search firms where you know that they're doing the filtering or the reviewing of the resumes before the company even sees them? What are your thoughts about those types of jobs?
Pamela Weinberg:
I think a search firm is great. I believe in trying everything you can. Typically, you're not paying them. The company's paying them. You have to just remember that you are not their client, a company is their client, They're looking to fill a spot.
Pamela Weinberg:
However, I think that you should leave yourself open to every possibility whether it's through your network, whether it's through a recruiter, whether it's through former people who were in your network somehow or former bosses. I think you should really take every opportunity you can and one that's viable. Why not?
Talee Potter:
What would you recommend for someone who has been searching for a job daily for months since the COVID layoff? They're open and flexible for different jobs. They've been heavily networking and applying for many hours each day but still can't find anything and he needs to find something as a stopgap to make ends meet. What would you recommend?
Pamela Weinberg:
Be patient, be flexible. Those were the two things that I said. Two things, one is I really have seen an uptick in the last two weeks on my clients getting interviews and getting hired. I do really think that things are getting better. So you should feel good about the fact that you've put in... Don't allow yourself to think that all of that work has gone to waste. If you've spent eight months networking, sending out resumes, building relationships, something will happen and will come to you.
Pamela Weinberg:
If you're at a place, of course, where you need income, you could always go and do some temp work. That's a way to have a stopgap, even part time work that you can just earn some money and still have time to look for jobs and do an interview.
Talee Potter:
Back to the resume presentation, what are your thoughts about including your college graduation year on your resume?
Pamela Weinberg:
I guess it depends how long ago you graduated. I'm assuming this is probably from someone who graduated when I graduated.
Pamela Weinberg:
You don't have to include it but it's usually pretty easy to figure out based upon your work history somewhere around your age, but I do know that a lot of people leave it off if you're over a certain age. I don't have an opinion one way or the other. I think it's fine either way.
Talee Potter:
What would be a good way to ask for references from current colleagues if your job search is secret and you're still employed by your current employer and you don't want your employer to find out that you're looking for another job?
Pamela Weinberg:
Well, if you don't want your employer to find out, then it's hard to ask current colleagues unless they're trustworthy and if you feel comfortable asking them. I think if you have one trusted colleague where you're working, you could certainly let them know that you are trying to look for jobs and ask if it would be okay to give their name and then maybe give another reference from a former boss or even someone who you've volunteered with or been on a board with. Companies understand that you're not going to give out the name of your boss if you're still employed. No one would ask you to do that.
Talee Potter:
Great. Just one or two more questions. If you're interested in learning while you're employed, expanding your skill sets, any tips on how to balance your day job, your child rearing, or your other responsibilities while trying to... Applying for jobs in the middle of the night, is that okay? Or is that frowned upon? How do you balance it all?
Pamela Weinberg:
Applying for jobs in the middle of the night, I don't think it's frowned upon. You could also just set a timer on your emails and have it sent out in the morning or have it all teed up and then just press send in the morning so you're more on that schedule. It's hard especially with children. A lot of kids are doing remote school and you're working full time and looking for a job. I really understand the difficulty, being pulled in so many different directions.
Pamela Weinberg:
I think it's really about having boundaries around everything and carving out, whatever it is, an hour a day if you can or maybe two hours on a Saturday to carve out that time that it's just going to be dedicated to job search so it's not bleeding into other parts of your life.
Talee Potter:
Great. This is wonderful. I'm going to turn the program now over to my friend and colleague, Amy Cohen.
Amy Cohen:
Hi. I'm not sure if you can see me but I'm hoping you can hear me. I just wanted to thank you, Pamela, and everyone who attended for tonight's event. Pamela, this was just filled with practical advice so thank you very much for that.
Pamela Weinberg:
My pleasure.
Amy Cohen:
It was great. As Pamela mentioned, we will be sending out a link with a recording of tonight's program as well as links to the resources that she references and you should look for that in your email in about a week.
Amy Cohen:
In addition, as both Talee and Pamela mentioned, we have a very active Facebook group with over 1300 members and we also have a LinkedIn group and we encourage you to join those groups.
Amy Cohen:
We have a variety of coaches specializing in different fields as well as executive recruiters in our community on Brandeis Women and we were working to post on our Facebook page a link or a section where you can go and reference and find those people.
Amy Cohen:
Again, I encourage you to look for us BrandeisWomen, one word on Facebook, and Brandeis University Women's Network on LinkedIn. Check your emails and your social media. We are planning some events for Women's History Month in March and for the spring, we've got a lot of good stuff coming. I encourage you all to be well and to be safe and to have a good evening.
Amy Cohen:
Again, Pamela, thank you so much. We really appreciate you taking the time to speak to us all tonight.
Pamela Weinberg:
Thank you. It's a pleasure doing this with everyone and thank you also to Talee and Nikki for making this happen. It was a lot of fun working together on it. Thanks, Amy.
Amy Cohen:
Okay, bye-bye.
Pamela Weinberg:
Bye.
Amy Cohen:
Bye, everyone.