In this episode, Marc answers questions with his trusty sidekick, Elizabeth Rabaey. You can learn about her career pivots in Episode 020. Listen in for ideas on exploring the job market, transitioning from teaching, the relevance of resumes, and tips for competing against internal candidates!
Key Takeaways:
[2:14] Elizabeth shares her story, and how Marc has helped guide her to her latest pivot, which has worked out well. Elizabeth invites listeners to listen to Episode 20, and connect with her on LinkedIn to share experiences.
[3:25] Q1: I am 57 and have recently retired from teaching H.S. science. I am seeking a freelance, travel freelance, or consulting job. I love to write, but not for a corporation. I love to travel and compare educational systems to create learning activities. I tried to start an early-learning school, but did not get enough students. Can you help me?
[4:22] A1: Marc talks about teaching H.S. math. He said teachers live a very isolated life, and are disconnected from the world. Marc wants this former teacher to explore. Travel blogging is one choice. Marc challenges him to focus on exactly what his writing emphasis will be. Marc can share resources for travel blogging if you contact him.
[6:35] Marc says to do homework, and find the opportunities. Teachers sometimes suffer from ‘MSU,’ because they don’t have the background. By the way, there is a huge cohort of teachers about to retire. Marc says it will take a lot of exploration for teachers to choose a direction and follow it. It won’t be easy.
[7:16] Q2: I am looking for a resume writer. I have seen prices from $200 to $5,000. Man! Why such a difference? Am I wasting money if I’m paying ‘crazy expensive?’ What do you think?
[7:40] A2: The resume is not nearly as important as it used to be. It is a good idea for new graduates, spend a little for help with your resume. For high income executives, it might make sense to spend $5,000 for a resume. For most in the second half of life, the resume is not what gets us the job; it’s the personal connections. Marc suggests a book.
[8:44] The huge range of resume costs reflects the amount of work needed for it. If you’ve got a decent resume to start, you can do it yourself, or get someone to clean it up. If you have no resume, it’s probably worth spending $500 to $1,000 with a decent resume writer. Marc offers low-end and a high-end suggestions for resume writers.
[12:17] Elizabeth wonders about switching career fields. Marc advises job shifters to reframe their experience for the particular job they are pursuing. He recommends Jobscan.co as a reframing resource. Also, the Modernize Your Resume book. But making a transition requires working your network connections, more than your resume.
[14:31] Marc talks about a client who has recruiters reaching out to her through her LinkedIn profile, regardless of her resume. If you get past the recruiter, you are fine.
[15:24] Q3: I am interviewing for a position where I know I am up against three internal candidates. Do you have any advice for how to compete for a position when the competition are coming from the inside of the company?
[15:40] A: Understand that when you are going up against internal candidates, you are going to lose a significant portion of the time. The hiring manager will make the safe choice. They know what they are getting. Marc says, go for it. Why are they interviewing you against these internal candidates? That’s what you’ve got to find out.
[17:17] What is the real problem? If they have three internal candidate, and one external candidate, they are looking to the external candidate for some reason. They may be looking for different ideas. Look on LinkedIn and find out as much about that department and their recent hiring, as you can. Have they been hiring externally?
[18:10] Marc gives the example of Nation Instruments, who hire mainly college graduates, who either stay, 7-10 years, or their entire career. They rarely hire externally. Marc says: go for it, be aggressive, ask good questions, find out why they are looking at an external candidate, and don’t get your hopes way up. Marc cites Jim Camp.
[20:18] You have nothing to lose. Really do your homework, and ask great questions. “If I poke you here, does it hurt?” What you’re trying to do is get them to spill the beans, as Jim Camp says in his negotiating book, Start With No. Then you have a way to position yourself. When you don’t get a job, always get on LinkedIn afterwards and see who did.
[22:03] Next episode will be with Richard Eisenberg, Managing Editor of Next Avenue, talking about the origins of Next Avenue, and where it’s going.
Mentioned in This Episode:
Careerpivot.com
Contact Marc, and ask questions at: Careerpivot.com/contact-me
The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast
Modernize Your Resume: Get Noticed ... Get Hired, by Wendy Enelow
and Louise Kursmark
L. Xavier Cano, The Resume WhizTM
Chameleon Resumes by Lisa Rangel
Start with NO...The Negotiating Tools that the Pros Don't Want You to Know,
by Jim Camp
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In this episode, Marc says he has been getting tremendous feedback from his appearance on the Think, Believe, and Manifest! Online Radio podcast, and he decided to use it as an episode of the Repurpose Your Career Podcast. This time, Marc is the guest! Marc shares career pivot advice and anecdotes from his own career and the pivots of his clients, with host Constance Arnold. Listen in for a refresher course on how to plan for your career pivot.
Key Takeaways:
[1:31] Constance Arnold introduces Marc and he goes over his history at IBM, a startup, and his near-fatal bicycle accident, his high school teaching stint, his work with a not-for-profit, another startup, and his inspiration for a career pivot system.
[6:15] Marc says people are living longer, and are often dissatisfied with the direction of their current career, so they pivot incrementally to get where they want. The most common way to do it is to repurpose their industry knowledge or their business skills.
[7:45] Marc has an intern, Elizabeth, who found she wanted to change careers. She wanted to use her creativity. So she first went from permitting, to business development and marketing at the same company. Then she pivoted to a pure marketing role at a different company. Marc, in his seven pivots, used half steps. He explains that.
[10:02] To pivot, first, “know thyself.” You are not the persona you’ve taken on at work. As you prepare to pivot, what skills do you want to carry forward, and what skills do you want to leave behind? Marc uses a practice from Susan Cain’s book, Quiet, ‘restorative niches.’ Schedule into your day something that will restore you, for self-care.
[12:38] Sometimes you make a career pivot because you need the money. One in four people over 65 still have college debt, and it comes out of their SS. There has to be a balance between doing what society needs and doing what you want.
[14:43] The second step in pivoting is learning not to make assumptions. Marc calls this “MSU Syndrome.” Marc talks about assumptions he made when pivoting to teaching high school. Several of his assumptions were completely wrong. He uses an example.
[17:34] The third step is you’re not going to do this alone. Build a tribe — those people you can go to and reliably ask a favor and it be fulfilled. Who are those people? Many of us need a fan club. A fan club is those people around you who, when you’re making this change, and things don’t go right, they will cheer you onward.
[22:14] Ask your weak ties for advice, insights, and recommendations. Asking for advice is a compliment. People will rarely turn you down. Ask what should I do next? Is there anyone you can think of I should talk to?
[24:32] To help clients know where they want to go, Marc uses the Birkman Assessment. He finds out when they have been the happiest, and when they have been the most miserable, and helps them understand why. Be honest with yourself. Get a coach, or your spouse, or friend to advise you.
[29:33] LinkedIn is a valuable tool to find people who look, taste, and smell like you, and where they are working. There is wonderful information in LinkedIn. Represent yourself authentically.
[32:33] Someone looking for a career pivot has to be willing to ask for help. Be humble, be willing to move along and go with the flow. Marc gives some examples from past episodes of Repurpose Your Career.
[38:52] The possibilities are unlimited. Marc puts people on the podcasts who have made the transitions to say, yes, you can do this. There are a lot of people going through what you’re going through. And they found ways to accomplish it.
Mentioned in This Episode:
Contact Marc, and ask questions at: Careerpivot.com/contact-me. Marc is accepting new clients, so reach out to him. He will supply a link to his calendar to set up a call.
Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey
Think, Believe, and Manifest! Online Radio
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain
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Marc first gives statistics about the Repurpose Your Career Podcast so far. The show is in the top half on LibSyn, after seven months of availability. Marc thanks you, his listeners for your support.
Kay McManus is the Founder of K-Kan, Inc., a firm that provides, office, home, and record organization, as well as administrative, accounting, and business development services. Kay leads with integrity. She and her staff are detail-oriented, personable, supportive, and effective, whether organizing physical or electronic items, designing efficient storage systems, orchestrating a move, assisting with downsizing efforts, or serving as a company’s marketing rep. In addition to being an active member in the business-related and networking groups, Kay is involved with fundraising efforts for the American Cancer Society, other charitable organizations, and working on the family ranch. Marc says, “Let me confirm that Kay can.”
Kay discusses her beginnings, the various skills she developed along the way, and the happy accident of a layoff that got her started in her own business helping people organize files, accounts, homes, storage, and processes, in what turns out to be her dream career. Listen in for an inspiring journey to a career with purpose.
Key Takeaways:
[3:36] Kay has learned to be adaptable, to roll with the flow, and to distinguish a position or a job that will be truly valued, from someone that may just not be prepared to be organized at the present time. Kay has had to walk through a few fires to get to this point. It has been a journey she did not anticipate, but which has truly been a blessing.
[4:29] Marc attests that Kay is organized. He tells of a client he sent to Kay for help organizing her taxes and her house, who says it was the best money she ever spent.
[4:57] After college, Kay worked in business development marketing in tech, moved into sales, and then account management, where she did a bit of everything. The last employer, Spansion, came to an economic crunch, and laid off a lot of people, including Kay. The layoff propelled her to the idea of starting her own company.
[7:32] The remaining staff at Spansion became very overloaded, and managers who didn’t know how to do the jobs their people had done, started calling her for advice. She helped one, and got a referral to help others, as a freelancer. She saw how many skills she had, and came up with the name K-Kan, Inc. to signify her many abilities.
[8:31] Kay envisioned two parts to her business: the first part would be hands-on, and the second would be virtual, with assistants that would help in various areas. The challenge is always scheduling. Kay describes the kinds of organizing and design jobs she takes.
[9:28] 80% of the work is personal, and 20% B2B. In the office, Kay will manage email and marketing or follow-up calls for clients, and enter it into the CRM. For accounting, she will work with QuickBooks, Excel, Quicken, or Mint, and works with CPAs. Kay has been doing Marc’s books for over four years, about two hours each month.
[12:44] The mix of business client tasks is 60% virtual, marketing, or staffing a trade show, and 40% physical tasks on site. From helping organize and move offices, she gets referrals for organizing garages and storage units with remodeling and design.
[13:41] For design jobs Kay calls on two contractors to do the carpentry and finish work. She has three virtual assistants to do phone calls and other tasks. Working on contract rather than by employment allows them to choose their work hours, and frees Kay from constant payroll. Marc also has a contractor crew, including Kay, to help his ventures.
[15:13] Coming out of the corporate world, working with contractors was a change from having a staff. She started with one part-time staffer, but the need was not constant, and they decided an on-call situation would work better for both of them. Kay soon found others who were happy with an on-call agreement.
[16:14] Marc is getting ready to launch a Career Pivot online community. For many people, flexibility is more important than the money or what the job is. People just want to work when they want, and with people they enjoy.
[17:29] Kay expected to stay in the sales and management world forever. Instead, she had to take a hard look at her skills and talents, and truly what made her happy, and how she could be of service to people. She knows she is making a difference to others.
[18:19] Kay started K-Kan with the thought of its being a one-man-band. When she needed help, she learned to let go, and start working with other individuals. Now she not only works to support herself, but has the opportunity to give other people income.
[19:05] Kay wishes she had known better how to judge character, and be more forceful about managing individuals, to have the difficult conversations in a nice way, to be more effective as a manager and as a communicator.
[19:54] Marc cites Sherry Lowry, who coached Marc to identify the clients he wanted to work with, and the clients he wanted to repel. Kay also met with Sherry, who helped her understand it was OK to fire a client that wasn’t a good fit.
[20:35] Marc has only fired one client so far, but he identifies people as they come to him, if they will be a good fit, or not. Kay has a routine where she will do a complimentary interview, and at the end of the interview, she will either accept them, or refer them to someone else.
[22:20] Marc met Kay at Metropolitan Breakfast Club, where he also met others who have been on the show, all with a common theme of going on an entrepreneurial path, but not always for an obvious reason. Vicki McCullough, like Kay, was laid off, and, like Kay, is happier for it.
[23:02] Kay has really appreciated the challenges, and the opportunities to work with other people, and help them out, and she is grateful for the ‘kick in the butt’ that she needed to get out of a situation that wasn’t the best fit for her personality.
[25:01] Marc’s points: Kay listened to people when they said, Kay can, and she made that her brand. She evolved the business, and has surrounded herself with great support people who are not employees. Kay has multiple types of clients, so there is variety. Kay has figured out it is important to work for clients who value her service.
Mentioned in This Episode:
Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey
Marc is taking on new clients. Contact Marc, and ask questions at: Careerpivot.com/contact-me or call at 512-693-9132, and leave a message with your email address. Marc will respond with a link to his calendar, to find a time to talk.
Show Notes at Careerpivot.com/repurpose-career-podcast
Jennifer on LinkedIn: Jennifer H. Winter
(512) 431-8069 to reach Kay by phone
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Brie Reynolds is Marc’s expert guest in this episode. Brie is the Senior Career Specialist at FlexJobs, the award-winning site for remote work, flexible schedule and freelance job listings. She helps people empower themselves to find jobs that fit their lives by providing practical information, resources, and insights into flexible jobs and the future of work. With a background in human resources and career advising, Brie has 12 years’ experience working with jobseekers and employers, and she offers career hiring and work/life balance advice through the FlexJobs blog, media outlets like Fast Company, Forbes, and NBC News.
Marc and Brie start the discussion with an overview of the origins of FlexJobs, the growth flexible opportunities, how Brie got involved, and the types of work FlexJobs features on its site. They talk about the four measures of flexibility of a job, the types of companies offering flexibility, the types of jobs offered, and the reasons a person might seek flexibility in employment. Brie offers tips for preparing to apply for a job with flexibility, and how to make yourself stand out as a solid contributor.
Listen in to learn about the trend of flexibility in employment, and how you may obtain a flexible position.
Key Takeaways:
[3:08] Brie describes herself, and her passion for ‘job stuff.’
[3:42] FlexJobs is a job search service, with a few key differences, specializing in telecommuting and flexible jobs for professionals. All of them have some flexibility, and many of them are for remote work. This is FlexJobs’ 10th year!
[4:24] In 2006, Sara, the CEO and Founder, was laid off late in her pregnancy. She had founded a job search company in college, and also had held high-level positions. Looking for work, she wanted the flexibility to work from home. Flexible jobs were rare. She knew there must be others in her position. After giving birth, she founded FlexJobs.
[6:03] Brie is the Senior Career Specialist, and helps people learn about the flexible jobs market. She writes articles, hosts webinars, and has press and media interviews to spread the word, so job seekers can prepare themselves to find a job with flexibility.
[7:37] The world of flexible or remote work has changed dramatically, and a lot of that is due to technology. Marc is in Austin, and Brie is in Boston, and they are recording this podcast over free software. Marc is recording it on software that cost him $19.00.
[8:03] Brie started looking for flexible work about eight years ago, when her husband got on a rotational career track. Brie had worked as a college career advisor. Her first flexible job was as a customer service job working from home. She loved working from home, but not customer service. Someone from the company put her in touch with Sara.
[10:04] This recommendation from her co-worker to apply to work for Sara at FlexJobs was the best networking experience she had ever had. This person had worked at Sara’s earlier job search firm, before she had sold it. Brie interviewed, and found herself writing part-time at home for FlexJobs, as one of nine employees at the time.
[10:36] Brie loved it. It allowed her to offer career advice, and learn about this new way of working, to learn which companies were doing great at it, and what sorts of jobs were compatible with flexible work. The company moved around, and is now in Boston. In seven years she has gone from flexible, to full-time, and back to flexible part-time.
[11:40] Marc used to run a help desk for IBM, supporting 500 engineers while he took away their drafting boards and put them on CAD/CAM screens. He also used to train world-wide technical support people. He knows talking to unhappy people all day can cause morale problems. Certain people can do it, and others can’t.
[13:04] FlexJobs considers jobs that have flexibility in any of four areas: hours (part-time to full-time); schedule; telecommuting; and freelancing. They list jobs in 55 career fields; the type of work determines the type of flexibility. There are so many companies that offer flexible work, but not always to the same degree.
[15:40] FlexJobs offers a mix of employee and freelance jobs on the site. The freelance assignments may last six weeks to six months or longer, rather than being quick tasks.
[16:43] Marc now wants more control over when and where he does things, than over what he does. He wants to work less time doing what he likes to do. Brie sees that type of applicant, along with people who are looking to advance their careers and grow their responsibilities; also, people who want to take a step back for a while.
[18:02] FlexJobs has C-level jobs, telecommuting VP positions, and Executive Directors, and jobs with no advancement, just flexibility, such as customer service and data entry.
[18:32] Brie cites an example of a retiree who needed the flexibility to travel around the country in an RV. She found a behavioral coaching position for an insurance company, using her background in medicine. Others just want to transition to a different position or career, and take a flexible role as part of their pivot.
[21:13] Some people just start a new career and start as freelance, or part time, and work their way up to a full-time position in their new field.
[23:41] In applying for flexible work, consider if you have previous flexible experience. What skills did you use to focus? What software did you use to communicate with coworkers? Put these on your LinkedIn profile. Companies want you to be able to troubleshoot basic errors at home. Tout communications skills, and conferencing tools.
[28:09] Former entrepreneurs looking to transition back to the corporate world, bring great skills with them. Flexible work and freelance work are similar environments.
[31:08] Marc’s final words: To join the FlexJobs community, please click on the FlexJobs ad at the bottom of any of Marc’s CareerPivot blogposts. He is a proud affiliate of FlexJobs.
Mentioned in This Episode:
Careerpivot.com/episode-31
Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the Second Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey (Now available online)
Contact Marc, and ask questions at: Careerpivot.com/contact-me
Call Marc at 512-693-9132 and leave a message and email address.
Twitter: @BrieWReynolds
LinkedIn: Brie Reynolds
LinkedIn: Sara Sutton Fell
Please take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Give this podcast a review and subscribe! If you’re not sure how to leave a review, please go to CareerPivot.com/review, and read the detailed instructions there.