Lessons learned from job-hunting
Episode 15 - Seven crucial lessons learned (the hard way!) from my job hunting experience
This episode focuses on 7 crucial lessons I learned the hard way from my job hunting experience. I'm sharing this with you, so you don't have to learn it the hard way. And to get you into the habit of investing in your career, I've started a Reset Your Career project. Together with episodes 12,13, and 14 this episode is a companion to my 31 Days of Actions to Reset your Career. The goal of this project I've created is to help professionals take 1 day at a time to develop new habits and take actions that will positively affect their career advancement and job hunting prospects. It's an opportunity for you to press the reset button whenever you feel ready and incorporate these actions into your life. At least give them a try! If you want to follow the final days of the project day by day, follow me on Instagram, Facebook, or my Company's LinkedIn page (the links are above in the show notes!).
1. Appreciate what you have achieved in your career so far.
Please write it down.
Say it out loud.
Tell your best friend.
Feel that great feeling inside? That's your action done for the day!
2. Call or meet someone you trust. Discuss your career with them.
When we go out socially, we end up talking a little bit - or a whole lot! - about our work. It's a suitable venting mechanism. Your social network supports you, champions you, and sometimes even offers some "devil's advocate" views, which is all very well. But career advancement, career transition, and your search for better opportunities at work may require a more in-depth, sophisticated even conversation. One that leads you to some significant findings, clarifications, and even making decisions about your next steps. Telling and getting advice from someone also makes you accountable for your journey ahead. And this is very good! I'm happy to be that someone for you. Happy to have a 1-1. No charge, no commitment. A free mentoring/coaching for you. It's what I do, and I'd love to support you.
3. Consider the pros and cons of job hunting solo vs. engaging the help of a coach.
Well, you all think I'm biased!? And you are right. I was removed from my career coaching services because of all the cons I found as a job hunter. I don't believe it's cheaper, easier or faster to advance your career as a solo agent.
For that reason:
I offer free advice: follow me and see how much you'll learn.
I offer a weekly newsletter: you will have my list of great articles, free templates, guides, downloads, plus a new episode from The Job Hunting Podcast every week in your inbox.
I offer services at different levels to get the help you need at various investment levels. And payment plans too.
Talk to me about my exceptional 1-1 VIP support (for those who need an extra helping hand nailing that senior role or professional project), where I split the investment into a retainer and a success fee. Yep, that's right. And why not? It makes sense to me; I wish there was someone out there with that service model when I needed it!
4. Make Leave plans for the rest of the year: book vacations and time off.
Planning your rest is just as important as planning your work and career strategy. Don't neglect it, even if you are in-between jobs. If you are on a budget, book a stay-cation, but find ways to treat yourself to time away from the daily grind.
5. Review your living expenses and monthly budget.
If you're about to leave your job, have left already, or are in any type of career transition situation, this is a must: review your expenses and reduce your budget. I am not a financial adviser; please consult one if you must. This is just common sense: regardless of your levels of savings, or if you received a great severance package, still it's imperative to plan conservatively for your frictional unemployment period, which depending on your career, age, sector, and other circumstances, could vary from a couple of weeks (low chance, but it happens) to over 12 months (low chance also, but it happens especially if you are a senior executive).
6. Reconnect with 2 important people in your network.
Now is an excellent time of the year to reconnect with someone special to you. A mentor, former manager, professor, old colleague. Find the time to re-build meaningful relationships that inspire and motivate you. This is not about what you want to achieve, your next job, or getting something out of your meeting. This is about coming out of your shell, learning, giving, and having a good life by surrounding yourself with great people.
7. Are you sleeping 8 hours per day? If not, start now.
There is no point getting ALL THE RIGHT THINGS DONE for your job application, then missing out on sleep. It's unfortunately prevalent for professionals to sleep less than they should. And people in-between jobs as well, due to anxiety and stress. You need to trust my system, follow this step-by-step project, and know that I have your back. You can contact me anytime with questions. Just leave comments below or if you prefer, send me a private message! And they sleep well, knowing your new job is coming!
Resources mentioned in this episode
Transcript of this episode
Hello everyone and welcome. I’m Renata Bernarde, the host of The Job Hunting Podcast. In this podcast I give you tips, advice and interview experts to help you nail your next job and have the career you want.
In this episode we will focus on 7 crucial lessons I learned the hard way from my job-hunting experience. I’m sharing this with you so you don’t have to learn it the hard way. See, humans are great learners, thousands of years ago, one of us learned how to make fire, and we learned from him or her. One of us made an arrow, a wheel, and we learned, and so on. Nowadays there is SO MUCH in terms of information, we are overwhelmed at times. I certainly felt that when I was job hunting. On the other hand, I could NEVER find the support and answers to the questions I had when I was in the thick of it. Things like: Is this normal, to have 3 board presentations in a role, for a CEO job? How much of my IP to I give in these long-winded executive search processes? Can I take time to think about the offer, and how long can I take before I need to get back to them? Why has it taken weeks for anyone to get back to me about my application? What to do when you are not sure about a role offered to you? Am I ready to jump ship? How can I be sure I will be ok if I decide to leave my job? How come no one ever told me it was this complicated, stressful? Is my resume good? What is the flow of communication like with recruiters? Why am I not getting interviews, if I completely meet the selection criteria? All of these questions are real and I now know the answers to ALL OF THEM. But why would someone know if they are job hunting for the first time in the last 5-10 years? And you won’t find the answers by googling! Believe me, I’ve tried! So, with my social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram and my company page on LinkedIn), and with my services to clients and students, I address all the questions from basics to the really complex ones.
And to get you into the habit of investing in your career, I’ve started a project called Reset Your Career.
Together with episodes 12,13 and 14 this episode is a companion to my 31 Days of Actions to Reset your Career. The goal of this project I’ve created is to help professionals take 1 day at a time in creating new habits and taking actions that will have a positive effect in their career advancement and job-hunting prospects. It’s an opportunity for you to press the reset button whenever you feel ready, and incorporate these actions in your life. At least give them a try! If you want to follow the final days the project day by day, follow me on Instagram, Facebook or my Company LinkedIn page. I’ll leave the links on the show notes for you.
Update from Australia: As you may know, I’m based in Australia
The Job Hunting Podcast will be supporting the recovery efforts in Australia. We are experiencing unprecedented fire destruction this summer so by supporting this Podcast, downloading, giving reviews and ratings, subscribing to the newsletter, you will be helping too. For details, please check the show notes.
Ok so let’s dive into our topic shall we!
Let’s talk about 7 crucial lessons I learned the hard way from my job-hunting experience.
1. Appreciate what you have achieved in your career so far. Write it down.
Write it down.
Say it out loud.
Tell your best friend.
Wanna share with me? Please do! Comment below or send me a message.
Feel that great feeling inside? That’s your action done for the day!
That's sometimes hard to start, but once you do, it's a really great experience! Give it a go! In the Job Hunting Made Simple course I provide a full framework to guide my students and ease them into this, creating their own Personal Career Portfolio. If you are interested in learning more about Job Hunting Made Simple, check this link: https://www.renatabernarde.com/jhms
2. Call or meet someone you trust. Discuss your career with them
When we go out socially, we end up talking a little bit - or a whole lot! - about our work. It’s a good venting mechanism. Your social network supports you, champions you and sometimes even offer some “devil’s advocate” views, which is all very well.
But career advancement, career transition, and your search for better opportunities at work may require a more in-depth, sophisticated even, conversation. One that leads you to some important findings, clarifications and even making decisions about your next steps. Telling and getting advice from someone also makes you accountable for your journey ahead. And this is very good!
I’m happy to be that someone for you. Happy to have a 1-1. No charge, no commitment. A free mentoring/coaching for you. It’s what I do, and I’d love to support you.
3. Consider the pros and cons of job hunting solo vs engaging the help of a coach
Well, you all think I’m biased!? And you are right. Because all the cons I found as a job hunter myself, I removed from my career coaching services. I don’t believe it’s cheaper, easier or faster to advance your career as a solo agent.
For that reason:
I offer free advice: just follow me and see how much you’ll learn.
I offer a weekly newsletter: you will have my list of great articles, free templates, guides, downloads, plus a new episode from The Job Hunting Podcast every week in your inbox.
I offer services at different levels, so that you can get the help you need at different investment levels. And payment plans too.
Talk to me about my special 1-1 VIP support (for those who need an extra helping hand nailing that senior role or professional project), where I split the investment into a retainer and a success fee. Yep, that’s right. And why not? It makes sense to me; I wish there was someone out there with that service model when I needed it!
4. Make Leave plans for the rest of the year: book vacations and time off.
5. Review your living expenses and monthly budget.
If you're about to leave your job, have left already, or are in any type of career transition situation, this is a must: review your expenses and reduce your budget. I am not a financial adviser, please consult one if you must. This is just common sense: regardless of your levels of savings, or if you received a great severance package, still it's imperative to plan conservatively for your frictional unemployment period, which depending on your career, age, sector, and other circumstances, could vary from a couple of weeks (low chance, but it happens) to over 12 months (low chance also, but it happens especially if you are a senior executive).
This is also why investing in career coach is a great option. Let's say the average frictional unemployment is 6 months (pretty common by the way). If you can speed up your transition by 1 month and reduce it to 5, then the investment in your coach is already a great one. Typically, I recommend investing half a month's salary (let's say you earn, $4k per month, invest $2k in a good career coach). And remember, your aim with that investment is not to learn a new skill to add to your resume! The investment is to get you a job, as fast as possible, that you want to do and it's leading you towards achieving your long-term goals!!
Now go on and cut out those lovely smashed “avos” for the time being! Home-made hollandaise sauce is healthy fat also and a great combo for your home-made poached eggs! If you want my recipes ask in the comment below!
6. Reconnect with 2 important people in your network.
Now is a great time of the year to reconnect with someone who is really special to you. A mentor, former manager, professor, old colleague... Find the time to re-build important relationships that inspire and motivate you.
This is not about what you want to achieve, your next job, or getting something out of your meeting. This is about coming out of your shell, learning, giving, and having a good life by surrounding yourself with great people.
7. Are you sleeping 8 hours per day? If not, start now.
There is no point getting ALL THE RIGHT THINGS DONE for your job application, then missing out on sleep. It's unfortunately very common for professionals to sleep less than they should. And people in-between jobs as well, due to anxiety and stress. You need to trust my system, follow this step by step project, and know that I have your back. You can contact me anytime with questions, just leave comments below or if you prefer, send me a private message! And they sleep well, knowing your new job is coming!
That’s all for this episode, my friends! Next week we will have the final episode for the Reset Your Career series! I look forward to sharing more tips and ideas with you then.
Remember to subscribe to my newsletter so that you get the podcast episodes in your inbox, together with important news and announcements from me, and some extra resources that I curate especially for my community.
Bye for now
About the Host
Hello, I’m Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I’m also an executive coach, job hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach professionals (corporate, non-profit, and public) the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress.
If you are an ambitious professional who is keen to develop a robust career plan, if you are looking to find your next job or promotion, or if you want to keep a finger on the pulse of the job market so that when you are ready, and an opportunity arises, you can hit the ground running, then this podcast is for you.
In addition to The Job Hunting Podcast, , on my website, I have developed a range of courses and services for professionals in career or job transition. And, of course, I also coach private clients.
Contact Renata Bernarde
I’m determined to help you! I want you to feel empowered, nail your next job, and have the career you want.
Be my friend: Subscribe to the newsletter and access free tools to help you advance in your career.
My free resources for job hunters: The Optimized Job Search: Weekly Schedule & Masterclass.
Learn more about my services, courses, and group coaching: RenataBernarde.com
Work with me: Book a time to discuss private coaching for you and achieve your goals faster.