Corporate Survivor with Mei Phing : Career Growth In The Corporate World - BONUS - Q&A | Mini Trainings: Career Growth Challenge

Episode Date: March 29, 2025

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Hello and welcome to this bonus Q&A session I'm hosting as part of the 7 day career growth challenge with me, Mei Ping. So right now I'm going to answer a couple of questions that were submitted by members of my community and I'm very sure that you can relate to many of them because they are related around communication, relationships, getting visible, selling yourself. So every single thing that is extremely relevant and has already been covered in the mini trainings over the past seven days So I'll go to a question by question and I'll share the question Then I will share my answers and my perspective my guidance so that you can gain deeper insights as to why these Career problems are happening to you right now what you might be thinking a little bit wrong and What to do instead? Okay so first question,

what's the best way of talking about, do you tell me about yourself during the interview session? My interview went moderately bad due to lack of energy. So that was the question. Now first thing I'll say is that like if you find it very difficult to answer the tell me about yourself question, it tells me that you have no idea what your value actually is. So when we first started the 7-day training, I talked about why it's so important to be able to identify your job scope, to be able to identify what you're hired to do, because all these things will then be used to sell yourself for new opportunities, whether it's a promotion, it's an increment or job search. So by not doing the groundwork, now you have reached the point of I'm going to apply for a job and this is the question that gets asked in every single interview. Now you're struggling to answer. So I'll definitely go through the foundation, I actually take a pause and really look into

all the pieces of work that I've been doing, what have I achieved, what I've done well, because all those things will then need to go in when you're selling yourself as a professional who deserves that new opportunity and deserves to get hired. So this followers conclusion that the interview went moderately bad due to lack of energy

is definitely not the case, right? It's not lack of energy, it's lack of preparation. Because if you don't know what you're going to say, because you have no idea what your value is, you don't know what you've been doing at your current job and your previous job, your entire career is just a blur and now you're trying to memorize something for the interview, it definitely will not work. And when you don't know what to say, it feels very awkward, you're very stressed out, then obviously you feel like, oh, it's so negative, right? And guess what? The hiring managers, they are very experienced people as well. Like I've hired from junior people

all the way to director level. And a very experienced hiring manager will be able to tell that you lack preparation or you're just someone who is working hard but have no idea what you're doing. So if you cannot explain to me what is the value that you've been adding throughout your career in your current job and your previous job, how can you convince me that you will be adding value if I hire you

into my team? So that is the mindset of every single hiring manager, every single director, as well as every single head of department. So circling back, if you remember in the earlier trainings, I talked about when it comes to job search, right, when it comes to getting opportunities, what you want to show is you are competent. So by not knowing exactly how you've been adding value, you are missing this core component that decides majority of the hiring decision that you are someone who is competent, right? So when you cannot demonstrate competence because you cannot communicate during the interview process, then it kills off another element that is important as well,

which is you cannot demonstrate that you are a good communicator because you can say in your resume, they are very good communicator. But if I cannot see it in an interview as a hiring manager, I will not be convinced. Right. So your chances of getting the opportunity has just gone down. And the final element I talked about in the earlier training around the other piece of the puzzle that hiring managers want to see is collaboration, confidence, right? So if you're struggling to even explain what you've been doing, right, then if I hire you into my team, I will be extremely concerned whether you can communicate with other people, you'll be confident in the work that you're doing.

So all these things that you can see, right, they are just killing your chances of landing the opportunity, which will then mean no career level up, no career progression and no salary increment. So that is why we need to make sure that we've built the fundamentals, right? Everything that I have talked about in the seven day training is not for fun. It's not just a random idea. That's okay. That's cool, right? Let's just move on.

But every single thing connects together because the corporate is a jigsaw puzzle. Meaning if you struggle in one part, this thing will pop up in another area that you actually stop your career progression. Okay. pop up in another area that you actually stop your career progression. Okay, so for this follower, I definitely focus on taking a pause and actually going back and looking through how you're actually adding value in your current job, your previous jobs, as well as your entire career. And this is what you're actually going to talk about in the tell me about yourself, because the main goal is to show that you're competent and you're the right person to be

hired for the role. Okay, so let's move on to the next question. So there is a question around visibility, which I think is really important as well. So question, I have trouble getting sponsorship to move from the mid-level to senior level. So when this follow means sponsorship, it's basically getting endorsements. So one thing that you need to understand in the corporate world is that when you're more junior, from junior level executive to getting to like maybe manager level, it's quite easy. Most of the time, it's just based on your hard work and then visibility,

aligning expectations with your boss, every single thing that I've talked about in the trainings. Now, the challenge then comes is that how do I move from manager, right, to the senior level? So you're talking about like senior manager, director and head of department, those like really, really what you consider management and leadership. So this is where the things that you did not address as a junior, as mid-level, will now come back to haunt you. Because the time to get visible, the time to get endorsement, the time to build your network, the time to build your reputation, that you're someone that is worth promoting, that is an ongoing process. It's not a situation whereby, oh, I'm already stuck at this managerial role for seven years. What do I do now? How come I didn't get promoted? How come I still cannot get promoted?

That means that, you know, we are so focused on just reaching that title and then hoping that, you know, at some point, I'm just going to get promoted. So this to me sounds like a lack of strategy. So there are a couple of things that you definitely need. So the way that the follower articulated the question is that she said getting sponsorship to move from the next level, so getting endorsement. But what is not mentioned here is how is her boss involved in this process? Remember what I said in our mini trainings, your boss is the most important person in your career.

So therefore, this is the person that you clarify expectations, you align expectations, you make sure that you consistently communicate and you always make sure that you get visible to your boss. So it then makes me question, how come your boss is not endorsing you and pushing you for the next career level? Because for your boss to be able to do that, it's going to be way easier than you try to convince the other 10 people that is within your company to give you that endorsement. And I can tell you that if your boss and you know the head of department like within your reporting line thinks that you're very good, the chances of you getting promoted actually is very high.

And that was how I got promoted. When I got promoted to senior director at Senate Chartered Bank, it's a global function. A lot of people say, how did you do it? Because particularly at Senate Chartered Bank, people get stuck at the marriage level, like minimum six to seven years. But I did it in one year. but I got promoted in one year.

So how did I do that? It's actually understanding very clearly that if you want to position yourself up the career ladder for progression, relationship building, getting visible, ongoing communication with your boss, alignment and ongoing face time, right? With your boss, which is the most important person in your career. And then with the management team, but the visibility element is so important.

So we want to network for sure. Definitely want to reach more people. You want to work with more people. But the goal is not just more people. If the goal is to connect with people that actually can give you good feedback and to connect with the kind of people that your boss actually believes in their feedback, like it's someone that is related. So all these things are taught in the corporate survivor.

So that's why even alluding to the earlier question as well, we want to make sure that we have clarity on our job, where we have confidence and competence. And when you build your visibility, you need to make sure that you focus on the right stakeholders and more importantly, the visibility to your boss. So that when it comes to important elements, times where you wanna get promoted, you wanna up level, your boss is more than willing to push you because the sentiment you wanna get is like,

oh yeah, of course, maybe it's the person that I wanna promote because she's doing a great job, she can manage multiple stakeholders, she's running great projects, she can be a people leader, doing a great job, right? She can manage multiple stakeholders. She's running great projects. She can be a people leader, like all those things, right? The convincing, the selling yourself, as I said in the trainings, is that it's not just doing that 30 minute conversation around your performance.

You're not gonna think, oh, how am I gonna find people to endorse me and support me and sponsor me? No, no, no. It's throughout your performance here, okay? It's throughout that one year, right? Doing your work days, which is why even in my current program as well, like when we do monthly mentorship sessions,

I can see the members and the clients that actually perform the best are the people who attend the mentoring calls every single month. They're the ones watching the video recordings every single month because they are continuing to sharpen their corporate mindset and corporate instincts of learning how to clarify their work, right?

Getting confidence, competence, and how do you actually become visible? How do you actually remove problems with your boss before he actually blows up? So for this follower, what I would definitely suggest is to actually have a one-on-one conversation with your boss to ask, what does it have to take in order for you to level up and what are the things that you could do better because right now it sounds to me that you're probably thinking a lot in your head maybe trying to work hard but not necessarily be extremely clear as to what are the key parameters that you need to focus on for the up level. So I think that's what I would advise. Okay, so let's move on to the next question. So as you can see here, it's like,

when we talk about career progression, right? Career level up, growing your salary, yes. I mean, all those are, you know, ultimate goals, right? All those are really important. But the path of getting there really matters as well, because we can say they wanna make a lot of money, we can say they want to climb to the peak of mile-avers, but if the path there is filled with like potholes, filled

with like problems, filled with drama, so no matter how motivated that you say you want to get there, it's probably not going to happen. So we just want to make sure that we are really really clear on building the foundations and understanding how the corporate jigsaw puzzle is connected. And one thing that you might have noticed from both questions that were submitted is that the visibility element right, the wanting to sell yourself and knowing exactly how to communicate your value, that is actually done right at the end which is actually not a very good idea. Like you don't want to wait until the interview process when you

seriously want to get that new opportunity right, you really want to leave your company already to then realize that oh I actually don't know how to communicate my value. I don't know how to position and sell my value to make sure that the hiring manager understands that they should hire me. Or you already reach your point of like asking for a promotion and really working so hard at expecting that you are the next one to be promoted only to realize that, oh, actually people don't really see that I am the next person. So now this then becomes like a snowball effect, right? So you don't want to wait till the

snowball has turned into like a giant monster, to then realize that, oh no, what do I do now? So that is why even when I design my current program, so I have a current program called the corporate survivor, the way that we go about it is the three-step framework, right? So step one is get clear. Step two, get confident. Then step three, get visible. Now, this is a ladder. I would say that it's a gradual process that you really want to focus on getting your fundamentals right because in both situations as well, right at the beginning, you need to be very clear on how you're actually adding value, exactly how your work is contributing to the bigger team and being able to identify

that, being able to communicate that and making sure that your boss and all your clear and key stakeholders right within your job is aware and has given you good feedback would definitely increase your chances right of getting that promotion or salary increment within the company but that same knowledge and that same, I would say, yeah, that same knowledge and skill of learning how to position and articulate your value, that's something that if your current company can't give you the role, then I'm going to use the exact same skill to apply for a job, right, to position my value in my resume, LinkedIn profile, interviews, and that is the method that I teach as well. So, set very, very clear foundations. You need to have clarity, confidence and competence to know that

you can actually do not just your current job, how you're adding value, but also preparing yourself for the next career level so that you'll gradually get that endorsement. Then when you reach the get visible stage, right, where you're going to position your value, then there's going to be two space, right? First is internally within the company, and then second one is how you sell your value, then there's going to be two space, right? First is internally within the company. And then second one is how you sell your value to get that new opportunity externally. And that is why step three in my career program is where I teach get visible. We don't try to get visible before knowing actually what our job is supposed to be and what a good job is supposed to look like. So follow the steps, right? Get clear, get confident and get visible.

And if you can't progress within your current company, then there's also a bonus job search course that's also included as well that teaches specifically how to sell and position your value in your resume, LinkedIn profile, and interviews to get that next opportunity. So every single thing is connected. Like I said, the Coverage Week soft puzzle is connected.

So I just want to make sure that you see the connection that every single thing that you see the connection that every single thing that you're doing like from the start do not skip any steps do not skip any of the sequences because this is actually how you can have long-term sustainable strategic career success in the corporate world.