The Graduate at Work

Today Jai has the privilege of talking to Becky Meuller.

From the age of 10, Becky wanted to be a car crash test engineer. With an interest in math and science, she pursued college degrees in Mechanical Engineering. She received a bachelor’s from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s from Purdue University.

She landed a career-defining internship at General Motors when she was recognized for her leadership in a college extracurricular project on alternative fuels and car design. After graduation, her first job was at Transportation Research Center, a vehicle proving grounds and testing facility. Soon after, her dream of being a car crash test engineer came to fruition as she accepted a position at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety as a research engineer.

Since joining IIHS, she has led multiple teams to develop new car crash tests, presented research at international conferences, authored a dozen research papers, and periodically appears on tv, radio, and newsprint interviews as a crash test expert. Her personal mission is to share her story of successes and failures to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers to pursue their dreams.

Becky is someone who thinks ahead and plans accordingly, and a great example of the benefits that come from doing this. We talk about what it is like to know at such an early age what you want to know, the benefits and drawbacks. We also talk a lot about how to find mentors in the workplace. Becky graduated during another recession time after the 2008 crash. She shares her experience of finding a job during this time.

Becky's Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beckycgunn/

Jai's Linkedin Profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolandi-gevers/

Website:

www.thegraduateatwork.com

I am sure you have heard about the growth and fixed mindset from Carol Dweck's book Mindsets.

In today's episode, Jay talks more about this mindset and how it affects our ability to process and receive feedback.

Even if you know about the growth mindset and think you have it, chances are you can improve in this area.

If you make the effort to do so, it will change your life and your career.

Link to Mindsets book:

https://tinyurl.com/y73llza8

Jai's LinkedIn profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolandi-gevers/

Website:

www.thegraduateatwork.com

Today Jay speaks to Jill Johnson.

Jill Johnson is president and founder of Johnson Consulting Services – a management consulting firm specializing in strategy development. Her specialty is researching critical market forces and developing strategies to impact revenues.

She has personally impacted more than $4 billion dollars’ worth of decisions for clients located across the USA, as well as in Europe & Asia. Jill’s clients include a wide range of businesses and enterprises such as the renowned Mayo Clinic and the Salvation Army.

Jill has won numerous honors for her business acumen, leadership savvy, mentorship skills, and entrepreneurial successes. She has been inducted into two business halls of fame.

Jill is the author of the international award-winning books, Compounding Your Confidence and Market Forces. Her articles on business strategy have appeared in over 140 publications. She has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Money Magazine, Inc., Forbes, and Success. She is also a professional speaker.

I so enjoyed my conversation with Jill. She is clearly a very dynamic and successful lady. To me, her story shows the importance of excellence and paying attention to detail. Jill frequently mentors young professionals. Jill says it like it is which is a huge gift to the younger generation.

Jill's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jilljohnsonusa/

Link to book:

https://www.amazon.com/Compounding-Your-Confidence-Strategies-Opportunities/dp/0998423645

Jay's LinkedIn profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolandi-jay-gevers-17755224/

Website:

www.TheGraduateAtWork.com

As a fresh graduate starting work, one of your best friends will be humility. Yes, you heard correctly. Humility.

I think there is a lot of confusion out there about humility. Humility seems to be the opposite of confidence.

In this episode, I look at why humility is important for feedback, what humility is, and what it is not.

Jai's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolandi-gevers/

Website: www.thegraduateatwork.com

Dr. Yishai is a psychologist, and a coach to business leaders. He considers himself an adaptability hacker teaching other how to be adaptable.

His background, experience, and expertise in psychology has provided him with a rare window into the minds and motivations of people in the workplace.

Dr. Yishai leverages his deep psychological training and experience to help entrepreneurs and business leaders transform their challenges and exhaustion into energy, excitement, and excellence -for themselves and their businesses.

I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Dr. Yishai. We speak about how to deal with feeling overwhelmed at work. We also talk about when people should consider seeing a psychologist and how to find a good one.

Dr. Yishai's podcast: https://www.dryishai.com/podcast

Jai's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolandi-gevers/

Website: www.thegraduateatwork.com

There are two parties involved in a feedback interaction, the giver and the receiver. In the book Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen, the authors make the following observation “When we give feedback, we notice that the receiver isn’t good at receiving it. When we receive feedback, we notice that the giver isn’t good at giving it.

You, as a young professional, will mostly be on the receiving end of feedback.

In this episode talk about why it is important to focus on yourself as the receiver of feedback and not on the giver.

I am continuing the series of interviews with young professionals. People who either just graduated or are two to four years into their careers.

Today I have the privilege of talking to Paula Segovia.

Paula is a recent graduate of Boston University (class of 2019) with a degree in economics and a minor in Chinese. As a college student, Paula developed an interest in the digital finance space through her previous internship in Shanghai, China.

She gained experience in creating custom roadmaps for sales & marketing through her internship in Shanghai, China where she worked as a Business Development Intern for a mid-sized market access company. Through this experience and the digital revolution and widespread mobile payment adoption abroad, led her to her current role as an Account Manager at Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions sector in NYC.

Paula manages a wide portfolio of domestic and international financial institution clients and enables digital cash management/trade finance needs, delivering fundamental change and improvement in business methods, processes, and profitability. She is fascinated with the impact that technology has on establishing an increasingly digital future and global network, and is passionate about bringing those new solutions to life.

Outside of her roles, she is a proud New Yorker, first-gen college graduate, and an avid volunteer and music enthusiast who strives to add value.

Paula's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulasegovia1/

Jai's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolandi-gevers/

Website: www.thegraduateatwork.com

In today's show, I tell my own story of receiving unpleasant feedback.

It starts like this...

“Jolandi (that’s me) is the worst lecturer I have ever seen!”

This is the intro to a new series I am starting on the feedback we receive in the workplace. Your response to feedback will make all the difference. For the next few weeks, we will look at different aspects of feedback and what you can do to make it your friend.

Jai's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolandi-gevers/

Jai's email: [email protected]

website: www.thegraduateatwork.com

Joanna completed a Business Science degree majoring in Finance and Accounting in 2017 at the University of Cape Town. After completing a post-graduate degree also in Accounting she went on to pass her first Chartered Accounting board exam placing in the top 10.

She started her career working at Nedbank one of South Africa’s big 4 banks as part of their rotating graduate program. Joanna has had the opportunity to rotate to the Royal Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh; PKF, a public accounting firm in Johannesburg; the Nedbank Group Finance division including IFRS advisory and Transfer pricing; and is now working as a Credit Manager in the Diversified Lending space in the Corporate and Investment Banking division at Nedbank.

In her free time, Joanna enjoys swimming; spending time with friends and family and volunteers as the Social Media Editor for a charity based in her hometown.

A few things struck me about my conversation with Joanna. Joanna is highly intelligent and was a top student in her year. To place top 10 in the Board Exam is an incredible achievement. And yet the transition to the workplace was still challenging for her. No one is exempt from this challenging transition. But what sets her apart is that she has clearly learned throughout her years at college and from all the different activities she participated in there, how to face a challenge, how to adapt, and how to thrive. Joanna has always known that academics alone would not equip her for success. It is this mindset that I want to share with you.

Curiosity is the impulse to seek new information and experiences and explore novel possibilities. It is a fantastic trait to have for many reasons. It has been proven to be good for business for a variety of reasons and is therefore one of the top soft skills wanted by employers.

But today we are considering its benefits for networking.

Jai's Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolandi-gevers/

Website: www.thegraduateatwork.com