Professional Success Podcast

Host Sheila Boysen-Rotelli talks about finding your purpose and your passions. It feels like such a massive challenge and can definitely be scary, but Sheila shines a light on how this is something that everyone deals with and a great method that makes it less daunting. Sheila paints a picture of how to align these two together in a way that brings you fulfillment in your work!

Episode Highlights:

• Make a list where you write out your passions; what gets you out of bed in the morning; what drives you
• Financial motivations come in many different forms, but it's important to understand why you have those motivations
• Don't let others tell you what should or shouldn't be your passion; it's specific to you
• Figure out your "what" or your "why"; whatever fuels you to pursue your passions
• Go deep inside of your current role at your job;
• What do you like or dislike? What impact does your role make on your company's goal? Your goals? How does this all make you feel?
• Look back on your past roles and ask yourself the same questions
• You will start to see some common themes as you look at your current role and past roles
• Figure out the level of challenge that your role presents to you;
• Would you like more of a challenge? Are you bored? Do you feel unaccomplished? Do these challenges go against your desired life balance?
• Once you pick apart the different aspects of your passions, you may realize that they won't make you happy as a career
• Your purpose and your passions can coexist without showing any correlation at all
• Following your purpose is the best way to find a job that you enjoy; your job should not make you miserable
• It is very possible to follow your purpose or passions with side-projects or work outside of your job
• Consider volunteering, connecting with others that align with your passions or purpose, or interviewing those that are in roles relating to your purpose
• Base your life decisions on the passions and purpose that drive you to do what you do every day

3 Key Points:

1. Decide what you are passionate about in life. These are the things that give your life direction.
2. There is an emotional element behind all of your passions, but behind your purpose is your "why." These two things don't necessarily have to be related.
3. Purpose should act as your leading motivation. Whether it's with your job or side-projects, following your purpose will bring you fulfillment.

Tweetable Quotes:

• "Go a little bit deeper and figure out what's really important to you." - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "It's really about figuring out who you are and what you are specifically passionate about." - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "You could get it done but do you really want to be putting 60+ hours a week?" - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "When you lead with a purpose, you can figure out whether or not a job is going to help fulfill that purpose or not." - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Resources Mentioned:

• Contact Sheila at [email protected]
• Fast Track Your Job Search: fasttrackyourjobsearch.com

On today's episode, host Sheila Boysen-Rotelli talks about how to cope with stress, building resiliency, and the importance of taking a pause when things get tough.

Episode Highlights:

• Resiliency can be built over time because it's based on support and our behavior.
• Resilience is also based in our biology and how we react to "fight or flight" situations.
• Stress often induces negative emotions that can make it harder to cope.
• It is possible to think or act ourselves into a better mood.
• It's easy to externalize things, but externalizing things makes it harder to be resilient.
• Mindfulness, gratitude, and taking a pause are tactics to improve resiliency.
• Mindfulness can reduce the negative emotions that come from stress.
• You can be grateful for small things, and it can be helpful to write them down in a designated journal.
• Taking a pause can be helpful in moments of high stress.

3 Key Points:

1. While resiliency is based in biology and our gut responses to tough situations, it can also be built over time.
2. Resilience can mean the difference between being successful in today's environment, or being held back by ineffective ways of doing things.
3. Mindfulness, gratitude, and taking a pause are tactics to improve resiliency.

Tweetable Quotes:

• "The only thing in life that's constant is change." - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "People who demonstrate resilience believe that they have the potential for control over their lives." - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Resources Mentioned:

• Contact Sheila at [email protected]
• Fast Track Your Job Search: fasttrackyourjobsearch.com

On today's episode, host Sheila Boysen-Rotelli takes us through her tips for making a job search successful by focusing on three distinct areas: your job and career targets, desired work environment, and business reality.

Episode Highlights:

• Focusing a job search can make the process significantly less stressful.
• There are three important components for a successful job search: job and career targets, work environment, and business reality.
• It is worthwhile to take the time and energy to take charge of your own career instead of letting it happen to you.
• Ask yourself questions about what you really want to do, and be open to new ideas that you find exciting and inspiring.
• Sheila suggests using a tool like O*NET Online to find career paths that suit your interests and skills.
• Narrow your job titles or areas down to about 10, and then whittle them down further by investigating whether or not each one fits your values.
• Work environment includes geographic location, whether or not you'd like to work in an office or from home, what the pace of your ideal workplace is, etc.
• Culture is an important factor in work environment as well.
• Business reality is filtering your job and career targets and desired work environment through the lens of practicality.
• Sheila recommends using a salary website like Glassdoor to investigate whether or not a career is financially feasible for you.
• Clarity about your targets will help you speed up your job search.
• Sheila suggests finding 10 companies that have your desired job positions to look at as targets.

3 Key Points:

1. There are three important components for a successful job search: job and career targets, work environment, and business reality.
2. Assessing business reality involves filtering your job and career targets and desired work environment through a practical lens.
3. Focus is vital to making your job search effective.

Tweetable Quotes:

• "A successful job search isn't just about finding a job, it's about finding the right job." - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Resources Mentioned:

• Contact Sheila at [email protected]
• Fast Track Your Job Search: fasttrackyourjobsearch.com
• O*NET Online

On today's episode, host Sheila Boysen-Rotelli discusses the importance of having a personal brand. She takes us through the SWOT exercise for assessing yourself and your career: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Episode Highlights:

• A personal brand is a widely recognized perception of an individual based on their experience, expertise, actions, and achievements over time.
• Personal branding is the effort of presenting your personal brand to the world.
• Developing your personal brand is essential to your professional development.
• Finding a personal brand requires making space to tune into yourself and reflect.
• Get to know your strengths and weaknesses.
• Ask yourself what situations have brought out the best in you.
• Be aware of what your personal SWOTs are: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
• When assessing weaknesses, it's important to be as honest with yourself as possible.
• Threats are external factors that might be getting in your way.
• Sheila recommends creating a visual representation of SWOT for yourself.
• Sheila recommends asking a trusted friend or coworker to look at your SWOT analysis and give you their thoughts.

3 Key Points:

1. In today's world, people are overfocused on their personal branding and not enough on their personal brand.
2. When crafting a personal brand, it is important to create space to self reflect and ask yourself hard questions.
3. SWOT will help you get a comprehensive view of what you already have going for you in your career, and what you need to work on.

Tweetable Quotes:

• "A personal brand revolves around what other people say about you; your personal branding revolves around what you say about yourself." - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "For every weakness, think about a way in which you could overcome it." - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Resources Mentioned:

• Contact Sheila at [email protected]
• Fast Track Your Job Search: fasttrackyourjobsearch.com

Host Sheila Boysen-Rotelli explores the evolving world in the wake of the COVID-19 restrictions. She evaluates the necessity of deliberately focusing on our daily regimen. Listeners will receive insight on the changes necessary to cultivate a healthy mindset and a game plan for advancing their careers.

Episode Highlights:

• Host Sheila Boysen-Rotelli encourages listeners to view the occurring pandemic as an opportunity to shift mindset:
• • While it may have caught many off-guard, this can be a chance to reinvent business and career tactics
• The pandemic has increased the general levels of psychological, financial uncertainty, but this can prompt us with the challenge of taking steps out of our comfort zones.
• Over the past two decades,I have seen certain steps that are crucial to reinvent our careers:
• • Pursue a diverse portfolio of options, and become a well-rounded professional, derived from passions and grounded in our own experiences.
  • Embrace liminality: being comfortable with having set our pasts behind us and an uncertain future ahead. It is a necessary stage of transitioning forward, and allows us to collect our thoughts and self-reflect
  • Get started on working on something new, outside of the norm.
  • Begin connecting with dormant ties in your network.
• While weaker ties can be a fresh set of eyes, they can be slightly less motivated to provide assistance
• Dormant ties are those that we've been close to, but have lost touch with, and they can provide the balance between familiarity and the novelty of ideas
• It can be difficult to advance careers in this time of social-distancing, to do so:
• • Ensure that your job is still headed in the correct direction -- be sure that you are working in the job that you want to do long term. Look for ways to achieve autonomy, mastery, and purpose in your work.
  • Cultivate future-forward skills -- skills that will be useful not just now, but those in the future. Seek out skills you identify with, research them, practice deliberately, reflect on that practice.
  • Get better at being strategic -- avoid falling into traps like recency bias, and look to apply the tools that you learn on a daily basis
  • Master time-management in a time where it can be difficult to set concrete boundaries.
  • Manage your mind -- taking time to incorporate intentionality and mindfulness can help to foster a healthy mindset

3 Key Points:

1. Although the pandemic has shifted the literal manner in which people are working, socializing, and connecting, the foundational structure of the way people can advance their careers has not changed.
2. Focusing on connecting with older, "dormant" ties can be a source of both comradery and freshness of ideas.
3. While person-to-person interaction may be limited currently, this can be an opportune time to look inward and develop lasting changes toward a healthier mindset.

Tweetable Quotes:

• "Even in happier times, career change is never a perfectly-linear process." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "What is it that you do outside your day-to-day that is helping you to expand your options?" – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "Down time is really crucial… for sustaining the cognitive process to fully develop our thoughts and our goals." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "The most common path to career reinvention includes learning something new." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "Find an opportunity every single day to practice the new skills that you've learned." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Resources Mentioned:

• Contact Sheila at [email protected]
• Fast Track Your Job Search: fasttrackyourjobsearch.com

In today's episode, you'll learn why you can't just apply to jobs online if you want to have a productive job search. Hear important tips about how to invest your time wisely during a job search and more effective ways to find your next job.

Episode Highlights:

• Many people think the best way to find a job is to apply to jobs online. This makes your job search harder!
• Applying for jobs online feels productive, but really you're checking a box and not being strategic.
• Applying to jobs on job boards can be one of the least productive things for job seekers to do.
• Make sure you are investing your time wisely.
• Preferably you have a list of target employers where you know you want to work. This will make it easier for you to customize your application.
• Focused targeting allows you to pay closer attention to what specific companies are looking for.
• Tweaking your resume will take less time when you're focusing on specific targets.
• Apply with tailored materials that will fully support your candidacy for the role you're applying for.
• Applications are stored in application tracking systems. If you don't use the right keywords in your resume, no one will ever see it.
• Application tracking systems pre-qualify candidates.
• Most of the time you'll find the right keywords in the job description itself.
• The most important keywords are the job title and location.
• Most employees prefer local candidates.
• The higher up you get in an organization, the more likely they are to be open to relocation.
• The best way to start this process is with some specific employers in mind.
• Employers tend to really appreciate internal referrals.
• Take a quick look at your LinkedIn network and see if anyone within your connections works there or knows someone who works there.
• The "spray and pray" approach is one of the worst approaches to job searches.
• There are many places where you don't have to apply for a specific job in order to post your resume.
• Many job seekers think it's a numbers game, but that's not the best strategy.
• Job boards can be useful for research.
• Look at how many jobs your target employer posts each week and do some tracking.
• You can get creative to find the information for the hiring manager.
• Once you do get a name you can try sending them an email to share your enthusiasm and qualifications for the role.
• If you are currently unemployed, spend an hour a day applying to jobs online. Spend the rest of your time networking.
• Employers love to be followed on social media.
• 40% of jobs are filled by employee referrals.
• Do some offensive Googling. Google your name every week. This allows you to see what employers find when they search for your name.

3 Key Points:

1. Applying for jobs online is much less phttps://professionalsuccesscoacing.ck.page/roductive than many people think.
2. Try to connect with a contact or an employee referral whenever you find a job that you are really interested in.
3. Spend most of your time networking during your job search.

Tweetable Quotes:

• "One of the biggest mistakes I see is spending too much time on the computer clicking that apply button." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "It is important to customize your resume and cover letter for each job application." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "Having a friend or an acquaintance that works at a target employer can often be the fast track to a new job." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "There's a lot of information you can collect when you look at a job board." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "Try to make a personal connection with someone outside of just applying to jobs every single day." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Resources Mentioned:

• Fast Track Your Job Search Online Program
• Claim your free six-step job search success workbook here

In today's episode, listen into the audio from a recent webinar about how to have a successful job search even in the midst of a global pandemic. Hear important tips about how to prepare for video interviews, how to network from home, and more.

Episode Highlights:

• We are dealing with unprecedented circumstances right now, but companies are hiring and people are landing jobs every day.
• You can use smart stories to talk about the virus during your job search.
• Write out talking points of stories that exemplify productive aspects of how you're handling this challenge.
• Companies are switching in-person interviews to video. Video interviews differ a bit from in-person meetings.
• If you want to land a job, you need to continue engaging in these processes no matter how long it takes.
• Do your research before the interview.
• Make an effort to form a bond with the person on the other side of that screen.
• Prepare your space and practice for videos. You don't want interviewers or hiring managers to see a messy environment.
• Opt for a neutral background with good lighting.
• Practice talking to the camera.
• Ask for specific information about the hiring timeline. Also ask if the position will be remote until the pandemic is over and how that onboarding process will proceed.
• Expect the unexpected while people are working from home.
• The number of virus-related job postings are increasing.
• You can still network virtually and ask your contacts to meet up for a virtual coffee chat.
• Join an online marketplace for gig workers. Update your online portfolio.
• Make sure your social media profiles are complete and represent you professionally.
• Learn to get comfortable with video.
• Make sure you're coming off as professional and engaged as possible.
• Be patient with the recruiter and hiring manager.
• Think about investing in a video conferencing tool.

3 Key Points:

1. These are unprecedented times but people are still landing jobs.
2. Communicate your interest in the job you are interviewing for as clearly as possible.
3. Take extra steps to prepare for a successful virtual interview.

Tweetable Quotes:

• "Companies are hiring and people are landing jobs every day." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "The key is to do as much research ahead of an interview as possible." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "Your goal is to leave no doubt in a hiring manager's mind that you want to be there." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "This is also a great time to really reflect on and consider your transferable skills." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "Appearance matters just as much in a video interview as it would in person." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Resources Mentioned:

• Fast Track Your Job Search Online Program
• Claim your free six-step job search success workbook here

During this episode we're going to talk about how to speak about gaps in your LinkedIn profile. Learn the importance of getting out in front of gaps in your resume and how to approach voluntary and involuntary gaps differently.

Episode Highlights:

• Lead with an explanation of your gap.
• There are two types of gaps: involuntary gaps and voluntary gaps.
• Research shows that even if you do have gaps in your work history, employers are still very willing to consider working with you.
• Explain what the gap was in a simple 1-2 sentence explanation.
• Let your employers know that the gap has been resolved.
• Employers are human and understand there are reasons why people step out of the workforce.
• Give them the information they need to understand what's happening in that blank space in your resume.
• When you fill the gap with a positive explanation of what you were doing with your time, it can help to offset or mitigate negative perceptions.
• When you have an involuntary gap, it's not recommended to talk about your reorganization or your lay off directly in your LinkedIn profile.
• However, coming up with an explanation you can share in an interview is a good idea.
• Involuntary separations are trickier than voluntary separations.
• Account for your time during your gaps.
• For example, you can include volunteer work you've done during your gaps. You can show that you're keeping your skills up to date.
• You can take online classes to add skills to your profile.
• Show how you've positioned yourself to return to work.
• When you have a career gap, sometimes employers are concerned that your skills might not be up to date.
• Training helps you to tell a different story on your LinkedIn page.
• LinkedIn allows you to add a section to your profile that lists courses and certificates. You can also add your educational experiences in your Experience section.
• Move away from short gaps.
• After a few months, you can offer consulting and advisory services.
• To be a consultant you just need one client or one contract.
• LinkedIn allows you to list positions by year instead of by month to make short gaps less obvious.
• Manage negative perceptions that might come up on your LinkedIn page unintentionally.
• Pay attention to the message that your LinkedIn profile sends.
• Signal that your skills and experience are current.
• Communicate why your gap exists in 1-2 sentences and then move on to communicating your value.
• Focus on your value because that's what will get you hired.

3 Key Points:

1. When you have a gap in your resume it needs to be addressed.
2. Account for your time during your gaps.
3. Move away from short gaps by offering consulting or advisory services.

Tweetable Quotes:

• "If you have a gap in your LinkedIn profile or on your resume, it's going to be obvious and it really behooves you to get out in front of it." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "Know that if you have gaps, you are not alone." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "Employers really want to see an accounting of what you've been doing even if it's education, volunteer work, or other things that you've done." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "Whatever your area of expertise is, there's an opportunity for you to offer value through advising or consulting." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "Manage negative perceptions that might come up on your LinkedIn page unintentionally." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Resources Mentioned:

• Fast Track Your Job Search Online Program
• Claim your free six-step job search success workbook here

During this episode we're going to talk about how to deal with rejection. Learn several effective strategies for managing rejection during the job search process that will help you to ultimately find the right role.

Episode Highlights:

• Often rejection is part of the job search. Don't let rejection hold you back from your goals.
• We must learn how to overcome rejection.
• This process involves a lot of non-responses or negative responses. It's not personal to us.
• You need to reach out to someone an average of seven times before you get a yes. Many people are reluctant to follow up multiple times.
• If you depersonalize rejection and look at it as a numbers game, you know you're one step closer to yes.
• Put your energy into connecting with referrals and networking your way into companies that you're interested in working for.
• Think about the number of quality contacts you can make.
• Build relationships during your job search.
• Be very clear about your goals. The clearer you are, the more your referral or connection will be able to help you.
• Use your professional value proposition.
• Take care of yourself to manage rejection. Do things that are fulfilling to you other than just looking for a job.
• Journaling can be an effective way to process your frustration.
• Consider finding an accountability partner to check in with on a weekly basis.
• It helps to have someone to process your experience with.
• Remember that rejection is part of the process.

3 Key Points:

1. Clarity is extremely important during your job search.
2. While searching for a job, manage your emotions and make time for self care.
3. You're not alone and rejection is part of the process.

Tweetable Quotes:

• "Ultimately your goal is to find that right role, that right job opportunity." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "Sending out applications in response to job boards or online isn't the most effective way to go." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "The more clear you are about your goals, the more someone's going to be able to help you." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "Write out your frustration and you'll often find that you feel better." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "When you know what you want and where you want to go and what you have to offer, your job search gets so much easier." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Resources Mentioned:

• Fast Track Your Job Search Online Program
• Claim your free six-step job search success workbook here

During this episode, you'll hear a brief overview of what The Professional Success Podcast is all about. Host Sheila Boysen-Rotelli introduces herself and tells us about her professional background. Welcome to a place where you can learn about how to advance and grow your professional success by designing a career that you love.

Episode Highlights:

• Host Sheila Boysen-Rotelli coaches purpose-driven individuals to help them develop their personal brand, articulate their strengths, and find fulfilling careers that they love.
• Sheila is a master certified career coach, author, and a professor specializing in leadership development and career coaching.
• She brings extensive HR experience in private and public organizations to her coaching.
• Her corporate experience included recruitment, leadership development, and performance optimization.
• She has personally undergone three major career changes.
• She has received the highest level of certification as a Master Certified Coach from the International Coach Federation and she has a PhD in organization development.
• Sheila uses a solution-focused approach that helps individuals uncover their passion, assess their leadership aptitude, identify their values, and then apply that information to their lives and work.
• This podcast will focus on all things career with short impactful episodes that will be released weekly.

3 Key Points:

1. The Professional Success Podcast is about designing a career you love.
2. Host Sheila Boysen-Rotelli brings her extensive background in HR as well as a doctorate degree and the highest level of coach training to her practice.
3. Each episode will cover topics relevant to people working within corporate America.

Tweetable Quotes:

• "I am tremendously passionate about helping others to find their purpose in their work." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "I bring my corporate knowledge and my own personal career transition experience to provide a uniquely relevant perspective to my coaching." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "Since becoming a certified coach over a decade ago, I've actually worked with over 900 clients in all areas of industry." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "I bring the perspective of both sides of that job search table, so to speak." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• "I will be focusing on all things career in this podcast, including things like information on resume writing, interviewing tips, career advancement advice, etc." – Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Resources Mentioned:

• Contact Sheila at [email protected]