JobTok: Level Up with Career Growth and Job Hunt Tips From High Achievers

Looking at the salaries, demand for Software Engineers nowadays, have you ever wished you had opted for computer science or some sort of programming course, rather than following your current path in operations, marketing, HR, or anything other than software engineering? Well, the good news is that you can actually make that transition even now, even if you are mid-career, and you might not even need to go back to college to make it happen.

Today we are speaking with Paolo Garde who made the transition to Software Engineering after eight years in F&B which is the food and beverage industry and in operations. He's going to help us understand how he went about making that transition, and what to expect if you decide to go down that route as well.

Show Notes available here.

If you work for a few years in the corporate world, you might have realised that the working world is divided into two kinds of people, generalists and specialists. And while it might seem that being a generalist gives you maximum flexibility, and maybe even the chance of getting to the top as CEO, the reality is that companies don't really run and cannot actually run without the help of a strong cast of specialists, HR people, lawyers, finance people, facilities, and maybe to an extent, even sales. And as such, specialist careers could well be a lower risk way of building a career, since these skills kind of always remain in demand in one way or the other. But on the other hand, it might seem very daunting to build a career like this, how does one stick to one thing for 20, 30, maybe even 40 years? What could possibly keep one motivated to stay in the same function for long enough to be valued and indispensable to the corporate world? 

Well, today we are speaking with Pallav Patni, who has spent his entire 20-year career so far in finance, and in fact, focused on the consumer goods industry. So we are going to ask him, what keeps him motivated and challenged and what are the lessons he would like to share from all of those years, building a career in a specialised function.

Show Notes available here.

If you're like me, you might wonder why everyone likes to do so much small talk before they get to the point. Why not just get down to business and just get the work done? So efficient, right? But what you gain from a transactional conversation with someone and what you might gain in the short term is actually hurting you in the long run?

So today we talked with Maita Gaerlan, head of Australia, network optimization for Sendle, whose ability to build quick claws and long lasting work relationships. It's something I've always admired. She seemingly is able to work with literally anyone, even those whom we might consider difficult to work with. So I'm going to ask her today how she does it so we can learn something from that and see how best we can do it ourselves. I hope you enjoy it.

Discussion Notes available here.

The feedback process in most companies isn't always the best but at least you get it eventually to some extent, you know what your boss and your team members think of you. And maybe you also get feedback from some of your peers from time to time, but do you know where you stand in the bigger picture?

Have you ever really wondered what your super boss or maybe leadership thinks of you? How do they evaluate when the time comes for performance reviews and what could you do to get noticed in the right way? Today we are really privileged to have with us, Troy Stevenson, who's the VP and global head of community operations at Uber.

And he's gonna share with us some of his career hacks while also giving us some really good insight into how growth company leaders evaluate talent and potential.

Show Notes available here.

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For those of us hunting for a job it’s usually a puzzle as to how we should go about negotiating the offer. Should we play hardball and risk losing the opportunity? Or do we just go with what’s been offered and maybe leave money on the table?

Well, today we are talking with Aki Taha, who was till recently leading recruiting for Netflix in Asia Pacific. He’s kindly offered to help us understand what goes on behind the scenes during the recruiting process and how to go about negotiating a job offer. We hope you could take a few things away and level up your negotiation.

Show Notes available here.

In today's world, it's no longer good enough just to do the work and wait for it to be recognized. We're always told that we need to communicate well and ensure that we project our work in a manner that others can understand and appreciate. But how exactly does one do that? Is it just about being fluent in the language or writing like a best selling author? Or must you join something like Toastmasters? Or take dramatics lessons to get better at speaking? or can anyone become a better communicator?

Well, today we are privileged to have with us Wen Szu Lin, a Senior Director of Community operations at Uber, and author of deliver, which is the book which has a lot of growth hacks on how to accelerate your career, he's always been a strong proponent of good communication, and clarity in communication. And he'll be sharing with us today his key pointers on how to immediately become a strong and effective communicator, regardless of your fluency in writing or speaking. Check this out and let us know what you think.

Show notes available here.

Ever wondered why some people seem to zoom ahead in their career, getting promoted seemingly every year, while the rest of us remain stuck in place, begging for promotions that come maybe once in three or four years? Today we are talking with Aviana Elisabeth Audrey or Vivi as she is known to pretty much everyone. Vivi is the recently-promoted GM for GrabFood in Bandung, Indonesia, and her short but stellar career so far is exactly the kind of example I was talking about. Check this out and let us know if you find something useful for yourself.

Show notes available here.

By the by, we have set up the CrazyTok community to with a mission to deliver quality professional content so you can accelerate your career, grow your business and build wealth.

Imagine you woke up one day and your manager asked you to take up an assignment in a new country. It’s a lot of young professionals’ dream to work in a new country. But what if it isn’t just any job. You are actually being sent to an unfamiliar country to be the first employee and set up the business from scratch. Would it feel exciting? Or scary? You don’t even speak the language! How’d you even do it?

Today we’re chatting with Amrt Sagar, currently founder and CEO of Carzuno, who recalls for us his time launching Grab’s transport business in Myanmar a few years ago. It’s quite a story. Check this out and if you like this, share with your friends and subscribe our show for more interesting episodes.

Show Notes Available here.

We have set up the CrazyTok community to with a mission to deliver quality professional content so you can accelerate your career, grow your business and build wealth.

Open LinkedIn on any given day, you'll find at least one post about being rejected or ghosted by recruiters and not only from one company. So, in a world where people are being ghosted or rejected hundreds of times even at traditional organisations, how does one actually stand out in the crowd of applicants? What’s really happening behind the scenes after you submit your resume? How does one get a foot in the door of an exciting early stage company?

We are chatting with the founder and CEO of Fynd, startup super-recruiter, Andrew Kim to learn what happens on the inside and to help us break down what it takes to get into a happening early stage company. Check this out and if you want to continue your discussion with Andrew, here's the link to his company Fynd - https://fynd.careers/

Show notes available here.

Before Covid, you often go to somewhere you meet soon-to-be mentor, business partner, colleague, investor or new friends, networking event. Nowadays, you don't go nowhere but meet those people virtually at home. Whether in person or not, we all know networking is very useful to make connections, improve career, extend your network and opportunities. In this episode, Letitia will be sharing what you should look plan and what benefits you could get from joining a network and how to maximize the values out of that. 

By the by, we have set up the CrazyTok community to with a mission to deliver quality professional content so you can accelerate your career, grow your business and build wealth.

Show notes available here.