The Job Hunting Experience

Episode 69 - The Job Hunting Experience, featuring Amber Knight

About our guest, Amber Knight

Ocean Swimmer, inflexible yogi. Passable cook and endlessly curious, Amber Knight is a senior commercial and marketing executive with over 20 years of experience in creative industries – specifically film and television distribution. Starting with a career in ad agencies, she has spent the bulk of her career with two of the world's most successful and respected media companies – the BBC and The Walt Disney Company. After being made redundant in late 2019, Amber started an MBA program with AGSM at UNSW and spent 2020 in a frustrating job search. Amber is going to be participating in my subsequent online coaching programming and is contemplating a portfolio career.

The pandemic and job searching

Redundancy and job searching are a reality to be expected by most corporate professionals at some point in their careers. But when a pandemic of global scale interferes, the experience can become heightened as the number of unemployed worldwide is at its peak.

In this episode of the Job Hunting Podcast, I interviewed Amber Knight, an honest podcast listener and someone who experienced redundancy during the pandemic. Amber has been job hunting during 2020, and we discuss her experience, frustrations, learnings, and the steps she has taken to keep herself resilient and on track to achieve her career goals.

Searching for a job in a time of crisis

Amber was made redundant at the end of 2019, a few months before the pandemic hit. She expected that she would find a job in 3 to 4 months, so she took some time off and went on an international family vacation before looking for work. In hindsight, Amber would have done things differently, even without the pandemic's impact, if she had better career guidance when she was made redundant. Examples are being more conservative with her family budget or understanding how long it takes to find another job in her sector and executive level. She has since learned these planning strategies by doing the Reset Your Career Program, my program designed for professionals who have left their jobs or are considering leaving their jobs and careers.

Amber mentioned she did sabotage her job search by spending too much time on online platforms such as LinkedIn and Seek.com, checking for jobs, and checking profiles. But she also did some positive strategies: she networked and kept in touch with former colleagues and peers.

In our chat, she mentioned how she discovered and binged on The Job Hunting Podcast and said how much the free Optimized Job Search Schedule helped her build her daily routine. Amber will be doing the Job Hunting Made Simple online course & group coaching program. This program is open for enrolment now, and enrolments close very soon on Monday, 22 February. So go to my website and check it out ASAP!

What difference can a career coach to your job searching journey?

A mentor and coach can get you started on the right track, check your progress, advise you on what to do until you reach momentum, and continue achieving your goals.

During our chat, Amber mentioned she didn't know what she didn't know, and this is often very true when it comes to job hunting and career advancement! If she had a dedicated coach from the very start, Amber says she would have done many things more differently. I can't wait for her to join the Job Hunting Made Simple course to provide her with the framework she deserves; this will be so exciting!

Job hunting may take longer than you think, and it requires knowledge of things that have nothing to do with your profession, discipline, and patience. I can help you in this process and guide you on the steps you need to take.

The Job Hunting Made Simple Online Course & Group Coaching Program

Job Hunting Made Simple is a 7-week online course + coaching program created by Renata Bernarde that shows you how to plan and advance your career in an intentional, inspiring, and fun way. It is a proven blueprint for creating a prosperous career and attracting your next job.

Looking for work and taking the following steps to advance your career can be a stressful and lonely experience. The information overload we experience every day drains our capacity to think and plan strategically for our lives, careers, and future happiness. The Job Hunting Made Simple program provides a framework to make sense of all the options, opportunities, and steps ahead in an intentional, inspiring, and simple way.

Job Hunting Made Simple was created for you if you are:

serious about your future career progression, but unsure how to achieve your goals
in-between jobs and not knowing if you're putting time and effort into the right strategies
returning to the job market after being without work for an extended time and feeling like the pandemic has taken away your confidence
with the same organization for a long time, and you haven't looked for work outside of your organization in a while. Or if you have, you've been unsuccessful.
ready to look for new job opportunities, but can't find the time or focus on doing it!
you feel overwhelmed and pulled in different directions, and you wish you had guidance and a framework you could follow.

Resources mentioned in this episode

Timestamps to guide your listening

Transcript of this episode

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.