Corporate Survivor with Mei Phing : Career Growth In The Corporate World - Ep175: Choosing your next job without jobhopping every 3 months.

Episode Date: May 21, 2023

✅ Get FREE GUIDE, newsletter, join career program 👉 http://www.meiphing.com ✅ Corporate Survivor™ is the ultimate career course for 9-to-5 working professionals, just like *you*, who want to enhance corporate world mindset, skillset and strategy so you can NAVIGATE + GROW your career with clarity, confidence & opportunities... 🚀 ⚡ 📌 ABOUT THIS PODCAST: Welcome to Corporate Survivor with Mei Phing — ex-Corporate Leader turned Career Coach & Founder of The Corporate Survivor™. On this podcast, Mei Phing shares her corporate world insights, experiences and wisdom so you can grow your 9-5 career with clarity, confidence and opportunities. ✅ WEBSITE ⮕ https://www.meiphing.com ✅ FREE GUIDE ⮕ https://www.thecorporatesurvivor.co/freeguide ✅ NEWSLETTER ⮕ https://www.thecorporatesurvivor.co/mondays ✅ CAREER COURSE ⮕ https://www.thecorporatesurvivor.co ⚡

Welcome to the Corporate Survivor Podcast, where we talk about how to grow your career confidence, build your skills and value, increase your salary, and the many lessons we learn in the corporate world. For more career support, click on over to www.mayping.com. This is Mayping, your corporate leader turned career coach. I hope you enjoy, like and subscribe. Have you ever started a new job and in the first few weeks or maybe even within the first few days, you start feeling like, hmm, I don't think this job is right for me. In this episode, I'm going to share with you what you can do before accepting the job offer

and right after starting your new job to really make sure that you're setting yourself up for success in this new role and to ensure that you're not job hopping every three to six months because it's not the most suitable job for you. So if this sounds something helpful to you, then let's dive into today's episode. And as usual, I love hanging out with you in the Corporate Survivor podcast. And if you you haven't already make sure that you subscribe to my career confessions newsletter which is the best place where you get coaching from me every single week exclusive tips as well as special offers that i only announce to my email newsletter community so if you haven't subscribed already then make sure that you do so at www.mayping.com and i'll also send you updates to our latest

podcast episodes. So today's episode is not so much about me, but it's about you. Now, we all know that job hopping is kind of a thing, right? A lot of people job hop for new opportunities, career growth. They really want to grow their career, grow their income, and that's okay. But that's not what we're talking about in today's episode. Today's episode is all about how you are so excited to start a new job, but the moment that you start in the company, you feel like this is

really not for you or you start doubting your choice whether you should even have joined this company in the first place. Now, there are two things that you can do and I'm going to break it into pre as well as post. Now, these are things that I've been hearing from a lot of new students in my program, The Corporate Survivor, and unfortunately, they only found me after, you know, being forced to quit their job. But essentially, what has happened, very similar cases happening to a couple of students already, which is the fact that they were very excited to start their new jobs, but within the first few weeks, they could not adapt. And they started having problems communicating with their bosses and managers because they couldn't really show that they understood what they were actually hired to do,

as well as really meeting expectations, even from the beginning. Now, this is probably a self-confidence defeating situation because obviously when you first start a new job, you know, you are very hopeful, right? It's a new beginning, you know, it's a new start, it's a place where you can showcase your experiences, showcase your achievements and so forth. In theory, in theory, that's what we all expect. But the problem starts is when you go in and you feel like you don't belong. Now, that's not a good feeling that I want for you and I'm going to share with you, as I said, you know, what I told my students as well. So the first thing is you really want to make sure that when you are looking for a job, you are not just going for any job. Now, any job

sounds maybe exciting. Any job could give you a job title any job probably could pay you the salary that you're looking for but the problem is is that job for you because I think sometimes right when you are so excited for the interview or you maybe really need this job or this company sounds so exciting you really like want to sign the job offer but the thing is that you never really considered whether like, you know, is this job for me? So an example I can give you is during the interview, are you asking questions? Are you really learning more about the structure of the team, right? The nature of the work that you're doing beyond the job description. Do you understand any of that? Because these two questions, the structure of the team and the nature of the work that you're doing and then the third bonus point is whether will you be getting guidance along the way. Now these three questions are really really important for you to ask during interviews to make

sure that you are getting into something that you understand, right? Because a lot of companies, they hire and they ask standard interview questions but sometimes I think that there's not enough depth there's just surface level, not enough depth as to the information that you will probably need as well to decide whether it's this for you. So I will give you a quick story so now, recently I had a client who joined my career course, The Corporate Survivor, so what has happened to her was she started in a new job for about a month. And when she started the job, or rather when she signed the job offer,

it was a very senior position. The pay was really good and she hasn't been working for a while. So she thought that, hey, you know, great pay, great job title. You know, I think that's something I can do. Now, the key word and the problem is that she thinks that it's something that she could do. Now this tells me that there is no clarity but probably more shiny object syndrome, right? You're kind of caught by the title as well as the pain. Now what has happened after she joined was the company was a lot smaller than she thought

and she basically had to handle every single thing. Now the problem is that based on her experiences and her achievements, it's not really something that she could handle. So basically, she has taken on a job that is way beyond her level. And within a few weeks, her boss told her that, you know, I don't think you are suitable for this job. I think you oversold yourself during interview. You maybe shared some experiences that, you know, you didn't really, you really couldn't do it, but you made it sound like you could do it. Now, that's probably not a very fair comment, but let's kind of like look at it objectively and really think about where did the problem happen? The problem probably

happened when you really wanted the role and you really didn't bother to maybe get more information to understand and really assess against your own personality, your own career level, and to what point you could actually upskill. Now, there are some situations where it's just beyond what you can do. Let's just be honest. It's just beyond what you can do, right's just be honest, it's just beyond what

you can do, right? So for example, if you're a senior executive and you sign up for a job to be a director level, managing a small team, now that's a big gap, right? Not saying it's impossible, but you'll probably need more exposure, more time to be able to do that. So this was really the biggest mistake and that's why the pre-assessment process, the pre-evaluation process is going to be very, very important to make sure that you do not get into a job that you already have like an impossible gap, like a huge gap that is going to take you a lot of time to try to patch together and this will quickly demotivate you within the first few weeks or maybe even within the first few days of the job. Now, that story is not to demotivate you.

In fact, there is a silver lining at the end of the story in which my client, after going through the lessons and the discussion that we have had on the most suitable job for her, now she is starting in a new role in a much better company in kind of the right career level for her as she continues to grow and adapt in the corporate world. So there is a positive story at the end of that but I just wanted to illustrate that story to you to tell you that sometimes the mistakes might have been made even before signing the job offer and you just really want to take note of that. Now, onto the second part of today's episode and I think this is probably the most underrated portion that a lot

of people don't think about in which how can you make the most out of the first 30, 60 and 90 days in your new job because I think a lot of people when they sign the job offer, they are very, very happy and excited. Then within seven days of joining a new company, that's when anxiety starts to come in. That's when imposter syndrome comes in. That's when you start wondering to yourself whether, can I actually do this job? Like, is this company the right one for me? And what exactly is going to happen? And exactly in that kind of like negative mindset space, when you join your company, the new company, right,

within the first seven days, you are kind of still in that mindset of like, I think I'm going to fail. Now, that's not a good mindset to have for any situation, particularly if you're starting a new adventure, right? You don't want to start with a negative mindset, but unfortunately, that's where a lot of people find their headspace in. So these few steps are something

that i would highly recommend and this is also something that i teach step by step in my career course the corporate survivor as to how can you really focus on gaining clarity confidence and competence within the first few months to make sure that this job is set up right and you don't fear or struggle unnecessarily. So here are some steps and these are the three-step framework that I talked about a lot as well. So now first thing is that you really want to make sure that you are scheduling alignment meetings with your new manager or your boss. Now the main goal of these alignment meetings is to make sure that the job that you have signed up for

and the information that has been shared with you during the interview, that is still correct. And that's really something that you are supposed to be focused on in this new job. So in my career course, in module one, I teach about how do you get clear about the corporate world,

the culture, structure, and people. So that's like phase one, module one, module two is really all about understanding the company that you have just joined and your role within the company. So basically, how do you fit in the corporate jigsaw puzzle? How can you quickly understand the corporate game in your new company? So there are some matrixes that I recommend that you complete, but at a minimum, I think that you should schedule an alignment meeting. You can call it introduction meeting at the beginning, but alignment meeting with your new manager or your boss to really

clarify as to, okay, when I joined the company, I understand that my responsibilities are going to be A, B, C. So like, is this true? And where can I get more information on that? So, first alignment meeting is super, super duper important to make sure that you are not lost. Now, a lot of people give up within the first few days or first few months, or maybe even, you know, first few days, first few weeks or first few months is when they actually don't know what their performance goals are. So, if you don't know what you don't know, then it's very difficult to find motivation to proceed, right? And that's just reality. Now, alignment meeting is the first step.

Now, the second step is that you really want to understand the structure of your team and your key collaborators and key team members who can support you. Now, here's one thing that you need to be aware of. Before you were hired, somebody else was doing the job. Like the work that you have inherited or are in your new roles and responsibilities, a lot of it didn't just like magically appear. In most instances,

you are actually taking on what I would call a replacement headcount, right? So maybe somebody has left or new responsibilities have popped up and they need an additional pair of hands. And that's how the headcount was opened to hire you. So what that also means is that in most instances, somebody else within the team would have been somewhat doing the work that you have been doing. So the second step is to really make sure that you master the people part. And that's something

that I teach in module two of my program, and personality types and this is where you need to understand your own working style your own communication style your own habits and make sure you find these collaborators or guidance you know on the job seniors or on the job managers who can really give you that the information that you need any historical background things that has happened before you joined so that you can really have the institutional knowledge, not just the technical skills, you know, to complete the checklist or to produce a report or to click on the systems, but really why some of these processes were created and who was actually involved. So all these will give you a lot of information as to how you can make better decisions as you approach the day-to-day work.

Now, this is really so underrated because a lot of people just jump into doing the task, but they don't know why this task was created in the first place. And what are we trying to achieve? So the what and why is way more important than the how. And that's something that on a step-by-step basis is something that I do teach in terms of the corporate skill set. But my point is, you really want to first identify in step two the person who is supposed to help you now after you have understood you know align the performance goals and understand your job and you have managed to

find the seniors or managers who can help you to better execute your job then the third step that you need to do is to really schedule performance. A rather weekly update meetings is probably the best way to call it. Now, there are two goals of these weekly update meetings. Now, you can schedule it with your manager, you can do it with your senior, or even at a minimum, like absolute minimum, you should be doing it for yourself. Now, there are two parts to this, and this is actually something that I teach in step two, which is get confident with corporate skills. There are two elements to this, and the

first element is self-reflection, right? It's about the assessment of your own skill set and maybe a little bit of mindset as well. So your own mindset and skill set as to where does your soft skills deficiency lie? So maybe after understanding the performance goals, right, after talking to all the people, you would have a much better sense of like, okay, maybe this one I know how to do, the other one I'm not really sure. So it gives you a very good base to really understand

as to what really are the areas that you need to work on. Maybe this job is something that requires you to coordinate with 10 departments and you're not very comfortable with that, sure. Then, you know, project management skills, organizational skills, communication collaboration skills, these are probably gaps that you need to work on, right? Or maybe in this new role, you really need to master two softwares or two systems and you're not familiar with that. Okay, great. Now that's going to be your development plan to make sure that you are spending time maybe every week or every month to really upskill

yourself and to also get feedback and get support in case you don't know how to operate any of these softwares so my point is only through self-reflection self-evaluation and self-assessment will you then be super duper clear as to what is actually potentially stopping you from performing really well at your job, right? So these three steps that I've just shared with you, alignment of goals with your boss, the second one is identifying collaborators who can really provide you guidance on the job, and the third one is the consistent self-reflection and self-evaluation to make sure that you are focusing your time and energy to upskill the technical skills or soft skills that will probably prevent

you from doing a good job. These three steps done in the right sequence will make sure that you will quickly adapt to the job as well as quickly perform and get recognized for your hard work. Now, these three steps are some things that I teach. I also think that a lot of people tend to skip them because they think that they just want to do the work. Now, if you do the work without clarity on why the work needs to be done, what exactly needs to be done and where your internal problems lie, then it's really not going to help because it's just a matter of like driving a car. But it's like you're driving a car really fast, but

you don't know where you're going. You're speeding, but there is no direction. You started driving without a map. So it's kind of like that. And if there's one thing that you need to know about the corporate world is that you know time effort and energy that's not everything that will make you successful so having the right strategy the right perspectives and applying the right timing is also equally important and these are usually things that probably you will learn from an experienced mentor a career mentor or somebody who has been there done that to, to really give you that perspective. Because sometimes, you know, the reality is that you don't know what you don't know. So in today's episode, I really aim to share with you some of the common pitfalls that I've definitely seen in, you know, private clients who have worked with me or students who have signed up for my career course. And I think that

these are recurring problems and I'm seeing more and more of these and more and more of students who end up joining my career course, they have some sort of career struggle that they have gone through. Either they felt that they made the wrong career decisions in terms of selecting a job or maybe unfortunately they have been fired or asked to let go. So this episode is a reminder to you that no matter where you are on your career journey, you know, struggles is not really something that you can avoid.

But what's really important is to learn from other people's mistakes, take proactive steps so that you don't end up making, you know, career damaging mistakes probably is the best way to say it.

So let me know what is your number one takeaway from today's podcast episode. So if you're watching on YouTube, drop a comment. I'd love to hear from you. And if you are listening on Spotify or wherever else podcasters are found, then you want to access the Career Confessions newsletter to subscribe for free. Then you can check out in the show notes or the description section below. So I would love to hear from you and let me know

what's your biggest learning or takeaway from today's episode. And I hope to see you in my email newsletter community. Till next time, I'll see you. All the best in your career.