Breaking Work

Claudia has helped job seekers advance their careers or secure job offers for new roles. The right preparation can lead to a big raise or salary that is 20%-40% bigger than their previous salary. In this episode, we talk job interview preparation mindset and get into some topics around the career path. Listen now to hear why you should be changing jobs/employers every two years. Host Justin Dux. Editor RJ A production of CareerCloud.com

"You don't want to avoid it, and you don't want to go down the rabbit hole of negativity, you want a balance between identifying the situation and then answering it with actionable positivity" - Max Chan on answering negative job interview questions

After 11 months of searching, and several failed interview attempts, Max Chan finally landed his first job out of college, and he hasn't looked back since. With a background in digital marketing, and experience working for a company that went through an acquisition, Max eventually founded his career coaching company, Chan With A Plan, where he offers a combination of resume creation, cover letter writing, LinkedIn optimization, and interview preparation. There is also a newsletter, which is 100% free.

Today Max and Justin do something a little differently, and go over potential interview questions by giving both good answers and bad ones. The emphasis is on identifying questions that are meant to trip you up by opening doors to negative answers. Max and Justin do a great job of answering with examples from their own careers and experiences.

"It's normal to be nervous. Nervousness is really just energy and what you do with that energy can differentiate yourself in the interview process" - Frank Blake

Frank Blake has experienced more in life than most. He served as an army captain in Iraq, and was awarded the Bronze Star. After his tour, Frank hit the ground running in corporate america where he gained leadership positions in Fortune 15 companies, non-profits, universities, and start-ups. It was in those positions that Frank developed his knack for selecting, training, and developing the most talented members of high-performance teams. Armed with nearly 20 years of successful experience teaching individuals Frank decided to launch a course so he could impart his wisdom to even more job seekers around the world.

https://myjobology.com/

If his course were a book, this interview would be a synopsis which is found on the back cover or inside flap. Frank delivers with specific examples from his own life, and actually gets into some of the themes that he teaches in the course. Listening will inspire you to prepare because, as we learn in the interview, the more prepared you are going into an interview, the more confident you will be in it.

Promo code: careercloud - Career Cloud listeners get 50% off the course!

As a veteran himself, and in light of this year's Veteran's day, Frank is also offering the course 100 percent free to veterans. Simply fill out the contact form on Frank's page informing Frank of your status, and you're in.

"Assume for now that this will be the status quo for another year" - Tara Haelle (@TaraHaelle)

Freelance journalist, Tara Haelle has been published in just about every major media outlet. Her specialties include vaccines, pediatric and maternal health, parenting, public health, mental health, medical research, and the social sciences. She has authored two books, The Informed Parent and Vaccination Investigation (linked below), and even given a Ted Talk.

Almost every episode on Career Cloud Radio leaves you with practical advice on how to successfully gain employment. But if you're too tired, or you can't focus enough to execute the strategies you've learned, what good is the advice?

If you're searching for a job, you're either out of work, or not happy where you are currently. Many people are experiencing the same dilemmas and frustrations. So if you take away nothing else from this episode, know that you're not alone. The bad news is that, whether you like it or not, the constant thoughts, fears, and doubts associated with gaining employment will stack the deck against you over time. They crop up, and slow you down. Sprinkle in a global pandemic, and you've got a horrendous period in history that is exponentially worse for job seekers.

The good news is that there are ways to cope, which is precisely why we wanted to have Tara on the show. Her background aligns perfectly for this topic and if you listen, you will leave with a much better understanding of what you're experiencing and what you can do to feel better.

The first six minutes of this episode are a preface by Justin reflecting on how your well being is being affected by the pandemic and an introduction to Tara's article which this recording focuses on: Your 'Surge Capacity' Is Depleted - It's Why You Feel Awful.

"The longer you avoid your salary negotiation, the higher your price goes and you can drive away your competition" - Ellis Chase

Career Cloud Radio is filled with advice on how to

1. Find jobs
2. Apply to jobs
3. Interview for jobs

It's definitely a process and in some cases, can get quite lengthy and stressful.

There is, however, one topic that is often overlooked in the job search stratosphere, that people tend to skip over because it makes them uncomfortable, and that topic is salary negotiation.

Enter Ellis Chase, who could be one of the most experienced and distinguished guests we've had on the show. At ellischase.com you can see what he's done, what he's doing, and what others have said about working with him.

His site is quite minimalist in nature and is actually a nice break from the bells and whistles we have become accustomed to online.

Every episode is different, and the best ones generally sound more like a conversation than an interview, and that is exactly what we have here. If you listen to this episode in its entirety you will leave with four main takeaways: how to deal with the anxiety that almost everyone experiences during this stage in the hiring process, what to do, how to do it, and perhaps most importantly, what not to do.

Ellis mentions during the recording that he loves what he does, and it shows.

"What a lot of people don't realize is that 95 percent of the job search is marketing" - Marty Gilbert

Marty Gilbert is the Founder and CEO of NSENG, which stands for North Shore Executive Networking Group (Chicago based). Over the past 10 years, Marty has helped over 1,700 people find jobs as of this writing, by encouraging job seekers to think outside of the box when it comes to the application process. Prior to NSENG, Marty led a successful career in B2B technology with Motorola, STATS Inc, and Dentsu Inc. His award winning writing has been published in:

• Time
• Newsweek
• Business Week
• Fortune Magazine

In the interview Marty says "you don't decide to buy something from a TV commercial after seeing it once, but maybe after the 10th time." It is this mindset that Marty will instill in you as you embark on your own job search. How to successfully allocate your time, navigate LinkedIn, penetrate companies, and applying even when there is no job posting are all addressed. In addition to introducing job search strategy you might not be accustomed to, he is very inspiring, and will without a doubt give you confidence as you move toward your own job.

"It's all about putting yourself in their shoes and how you make them look good" - Beth Handler - Grunt (@bhgrunt)

Beth Hendler-Grunt is a career coach that specializes in helping recent college graduates gain employment. Her resume includes consulting across the gamut; from start-ups to the fortune 500, so it is safe to say that she knows how to 'wow' in a job interview. Beth's company, Next Great Step has helped hundreds of recent college grads successfully gain employment, and have been featured in several major media publications throughout the country.

Given this trying time, Beth talks about the hurdles recent college grads are facing as they are entering the job market, and gives examples of what you can do to cope with the fast changing job search environment, as well as what you can do to prepare and successfully execute job interviews.

She also discusses the role parents have taken to assist in the job search process. This is a terrific interview from someone who has their finger on the pulse of job searching strategy in 2020.

"Fail fast, fail forward, and fail cheap" - (@SeanCastrina)

Sean is an entrepreneur who previously held a self described dream job, but was unexpectedly let go. It was then that he arrived at the conclusion that he didn't want his fate to be in control of anyone but himself. He ended up starting so many businesses that you could call him a serial entrepreneur - a term you may have heard before. These businesses (many of them successful) ended up to be a starting point for Sean's coaching, speaking, and writing career talking about, you guessed it, entrepreneurship.

If you're listening to this podcast you may find yourself in the same shoes that Sean did, and questioning whether or not you should start a business, and that is specifically who this interview is for. Sean discusses what he has seen in his own career that may or may not yield a successful business venture. As we learn, entrepreneurship takes a certain determination, and competitiveness, that not everyone is cut out for.

"I encourage clients to go back through their careers and think about where they felt they belonged" - Ben Anderson

Ben Anderson is the second coach we have had on from The Handel Group and brings a wealth of experience to the show. A native of New Zealand, Ben is the only Career Cloud Radio guest who has successfully started, and brought a company public (wow).

Ben primarily works with executives, so this interview is littered with examples from executive job search processes so you can get an idea of what it's like on both ends of the spectrum (both getting hired and hiring). Ben breaks down exactly what he does with his clients in order to help them find the proper career path, as well as prepare for interviews. He also discusses the landscape of digital communication, and how it continues to evolve. Exercises, examples, and anecdotes, it's all in this interview, and we're sure that you will enjoy it.

https://bit.ly/careercloudradio-IU is the Inner.U link referenced in the show.

"I weave in language that eludes to pain points together with details that are unique to an individual" - Virginia Franco

We enjoyed having Virginia Franco on so much as a guest the first time around, that we decided to invite her back for another episode. Virginia is an accomplished writer whose work has been published in just about every type of medium. In addition to her past publications, she is also certified by the National Resume Writers Association, Career Thought Leaders, and the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches. She has a podcast of her own, too, which can be found on virginiafrancoresumes.com.

In this episode, Justin and Virginia get into the nitty gritty of resume composition and what you can do in order to stand out. Once you feel you've got a polished document, ready for submission, they discuss a variety of ways you can think outside the box in order to get your resume in the hands of a hiring manager.

Just a great, practical interview, no matter where you are in the job seeking process.