Something You Should Know - Toxins in Your Home You Really Need to Worry About & Cutting Edge Career Advice You Must Hear

Episode Date: March 25, 2019

Salt makes food taste good – maybe too good. We begin this episode by discussing research that shows how salty foods may make you eat more food than you planned and more than you should. http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/nutrition/a54074/salty-food-leadsto-overeating/ We are all concerned about toxins in our environment. However, it isn’t always clear which toxins are most worrisome and where they are. Dr. Gary Ginsberg knows. He is the director of The Center for Environmental Health for the New York State Department of Health, a clinical professor at the Yale School of Public Health and author of the book What’s Toxic What’s Not (https://amzn.to/2T64tAI) . Dr. Ginsberg explains what things you should really be concerned about and what to do to reduce your exposure to dangerous toxins. On television you’ll sometimes see a character get really angry and then clutch his chest and have a heart attack. Or you might see someone in a movie get some bad news and then have a heart attack. Does that ever happen in real life? Listen as I explore that. http://www.rxlist.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=141134 The world of employment is constantly changing. In order to get ahead and advance in your career you need to understand and adapt to those changes. No one has their finger on the pulse of the job market than Alexandra Cavoulacos, co-founder of The Muse.com and author of the book The New Rules of Work (https://amzn.to/2XULHQu). Alex joins me to share the latest trends and offers rock solid advice that can really help you. This Week's Sponsors -Fab Fit Fun. For $10 off your first box, go to www.FabFitFun.com and use the promo code: something -Trip Actions. Go towww.TripActions.com/something to complete a 30 minute demo and receive a $100Amazon gift card. -ADT. Go to www.ADT.com/smart to learn how ADT can design and install a smart home system for you. -Select Quote. Get your free insurance quote at www.SelectQuote.com/something -Indeed. Post a sponsored job for free at www.Indeed.com/podcast -Geico. Go to www.Geico.com to see how Geico can save you money on your car insurance -Capital One. What's in your wallet? www.CapitalOne.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on Something You Should Know, how adding salt could make you eat more food than you should. Then, how to protect yourself from the toxins in your food and in your home. We get more exposure to pesticides around the home than what comes in from our food supplies. As a matter of fact, we expose our children to more pesticides from lawn treatment and from what we spray around the house to get rid of ants and cockroaches. Also today, could getting mad or hearing bad news really cause a heart attack? Or is that just in the movies? And some expert career advice from the founder of TheMuse.com, starting with your resume.

Number one feedback I give for people's resumes when I'm asked to critique them is there's not enough numbers and impact in here. People do a lot of describing what they did, you know, responsible for blah, blah, blah, instead of saying, in my two years here, we increased revenue by X percent. That's the things that are going to get someone really excited. All this today on Something You Should Know.

As a listener to Something You Should Know, I can only assume that you are someone who likes to learn about new and interesting things and bring more knowledge to work for you in your everyday life. I mean, that's kind of what Something You Should Know was all about. And so I want to invite you to listen to another podcast called TED Talks Daily. Now, you know about TED Talks, right? Many of the guests on Something You Should Know have done TED Talks Daily. Now, you know about TED Talks, right? Many of the guests on Something You Should Know have done TED Talks. Well, you see, TED Talks Daily is a podcast that brings you a new TED Talk every weekday in less than 15 minutes.

Join host Elise Hu. She goes beyond the headlines so you can hear about the big ideas shaping our future. Learn about things like sustainable fashion, embracing your entrepreneurial spirit, the future of robotics, and so much more. Like I said, if you like this podcast, Something You Should Know, I'm pretty sure you're going to like TED Talks Daily. And you get TED Talks Daily wherever you get your podcasts.

Something You should know. Fascinating intel. The world's top experts. And practical advice you can use in your life. Today, Something You Should Know with Mike Carruthers. Hi, welcome. You know, we've talked quite a few times on this podcast about diet and losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight and all the things that are involved in that. But here's something, I don't know that I've heard this before, but it sort of sounds right.

It's according to researchers at Deakin University in Australia. And that is that salt increases how people perceive food and therefore makes them eat more of it. In the research, salt alone accounted for people eating 11% more food and calories, which over the course of a day is a significant amount, according to the principal investigator for the study. What's more, people who are particularly sensitive to fatty foods were pretty conscientious about how much they were consuming when the meal was low in salt, but when the meal was high in salt, much of their restraint went right out the window. So adding salt to food may make you crave more of it and eat more of it. And that is something you should know.

You ever get that feeling that everything around you is potentially dangerous and hazardous to your health? Germs, mold, food contaminants, pesticides, household cleaners, the power lines overhead, the cell phone in your hand, are they all going to kill us, or are we perfectly safe? Let's find out as we speak with Dr. Gary Ginsberg. He is a toxicologist and the director of the Center for Environmental Health for the New York State Department of Health and a clinical professor at the Yale School of Public Health. He is also co-author of a book called What's Toxic, What's Not? Hi, Gary. Thanks for being here.

So, what's the big picture view here? Should we be concerned? Do we need to be more diligent? Where are we with all of this? Well, the perspective we like to give people is that the exposure to toxic chemicals, if anything, has gone down over the past 15 to 20 years. It's a myth that things have never been worse than now. Our exposure historically to pesticides, PCBs, mercury, and dioxins was much higher 30 years ago than it is today.

So we've made a lot of progress. So people can be a little bit less worried on that front. However, the human experiment goes on. There's always new things, specialty chemicals that end up in our blood that are in consumer products or that are being released into the environment. So it's not that there is no worry. There is some things to be concerned about. And our book, What's Toxic, What's Not, tries to steer people in the direction of less exposure, less risk, and less worry. So what's on your big list of worries right now?

Well, there's the old traditional ones that everybody's probably heard a little bit about, but can still be misunderstood, like lead in paint, which is a big risk for children. Still, 300,000 children are lead poisoned every year from lead paint, which is a big risk for children still. 300,000 children are lead poisoned every year from lead paint, which is unconscionable knowing what we know about lead. But then you also have radon that comes in through the ground into some homes. That's the second leading cause of lung cancer in our country. And most people don't do the simple thing of testing for radon. There's carbon monoxide, which is a poisonous killer in homes that is totally preventable. So those are the big ones. People know about those. But then there are also the

things that people may not be aware about. Fortunately, there is a movement towards green cleaning materials, green building products, and that's helpful to cut down on our exposure to things like formaldehyde in pressed wood products. For example, when you buy kitchen cabinets or any kind of veneer furniture, things with particle board in it, that's releasing off-gassing formaldehyde into your home. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen. Some people are very allergic to it. The multiple chemical-sensitive folks really can't handle any kind of sort of pressed wood products, plywood products, which goes underneath flooring. So there's a movement away from those kinds of materials, but we still have them in our homes. Some of these things are easy to avoid.

It's hard to avoid some of them, though, like carpet materials. It's just right now we can't give people advice about how to cut down on some of the materials. But things like food contaminants, we can give clear advice about that. For example, we still have too much mercury in fish, and so we do have warnings for pregnant women and young children to eat less of certain fish and to eat more of other fish, to eat fish smartly. And so how do you do that? How do you eat fish smartly? More of what and less of what? Okay, no swordfish or shark for pregnant women and young children or nursing women. And to only eat a maximum of two meals a week of any kind of seafood or locally caught fish. That amount of fish consumption will still give women the omega-3

fatty acids that are beneficial to their health, still give them good nutritious source of protein, but will keep the levels of mercury and PCBs in their diet down to a manageable level so that it really will not be a risk to their child. We think that fish is still important for women to eat during pregnancy but just to moderate consumption. Let's talk about radon for a little bit because it seems to me that we used to hear a lot more about radon. I don't hear it talked about as much as before. So what's the state of affairs with radon? Well, every home should have a radon test, whether you're living in Florida or living in Alaska.

Radon is not something that you can predict community by community. We've heard of houses right next to each other, one house having a lot of radon and the next house not having any. So it's a simple one-time test. It's best if it's done in the wintertime. Everybody should test for it. And the beautiful thing about it is that if there is a radon problem, it's totally fixable, it's not a big expense, and then you can breathe a lot easier.

Just how dangerous is mold? Because years ago, you know, mold seemed to be much more benign. You know, if your food got moldy, well, you didn't eat it, and if you did eat it, it might make you sick. But then there was talk of black mold and this very dangerous kind of mold. So where are we with that? Mold is one of those big myth issues that are out there. The concern from the early 1990s from some evidence in Cleveland, Ohio, was that black mold can be deadly, quite toxic, damaging to the lungs. That part of the story isn't true. As a matter of fact, that study was retracted by CDC, Center for Disease Control, after they published it. So we don't think that mold is actually toxic and does damage to the lungs, but what the problem with mold is is that it can cause allergy,

and people can become allergic to it so that you don't want to have mold growing in your house. As we say, mold is a crop you don't want to grow. It can lead to sinus-type symptoms and allergy-type symptoms, and it could just make people miserable and feel like they can't stay in their house or in the office or in the school if those environments are mold contaminated. People don't have to test their house for mold. Usually the problem is obvious. You can see it growing or you can smell that mildew odor.

And it tells you you've got water damage somewhere, there's water coming in, or historically you've had water damage, and that's something that needs to be addressed. Throw out the materials that have been water damaged and start over with a mold-free home. So here's a question for a toxicologist. What is the difference between mold and mildew? Because you hear claims by household cleaners, for example, that say that it kills mold and mildew. They differentiate between the two. So what is, in fact, the it kills mold and mildew. They differentiate between the two.

So what is, in fact, the difference between mold and mildew? There really isn't any difference at all. Mold is what creates that mildew stain and mildew odor. Let's talk about food for a little bit, because, you know, you don't have to go too long before you hear another story about some contaminant in food or some bacteria in food or something. We'd like to think that the food supply is safe. Is it safe?

Well, the food supply is, and we're talking about chemical contaminants now, the food supply is tested by FDA. The FDA as an agency is strapped. They can't test everything. They can only test a small fraction of what actually is in the marketplace, but they try to get a representative sample and do a general scan, but they really depend upon outbreaks to find where there are hot spots of problems. In terms of chemicals, there was a pesticide called Tamek in watermelons in California and in the West in the 1990s, really led to the emergence of a concern over pesticides in the food supply.

The reality is that we get more exposure to pesticides around the home than what comes in from our food supply. The reality is that we get more exposure to pesticides around the home than what comes in from our food supply. As a matter of fact, pesticide use by suburbanites exceeds, we put more pesticides on our land, acre for acre, than farmers use in terms of pesticides. So we expose our children to more pesticides from lawn treatments and from what we spray around the house to get rid of ants and cockroaches. But back to the food supply, the biggest concern that we have is for mercury in fish and for dioxin in PCBs and old persistent pesticides that still come at us in things like fatty foods, so high-fat meats. There's many reasons to eat less of that. And one of them is that you get

more exposure to contaminants in the fattier foods, things like butter, heavy dairy, ice cream, and fatty meats. Well, that's interesting. I don't think I ever thought about that. The lower on the food chain you eat, it tends to be less fatty or less animal fat and less contaminants like DDT, PCBs, dioxins. These things don't break down in the environment. They just keep cycling through, and we are highest predators on that food chain, and we end up getting exposure to these things, and we pass it on to our children. My guest is Dr. Gary Ginsberg. He's director of the Center for Environmental Health

for the New York State Department of Health, a clinical professor at the Yale School of Public Health, and author of the book, What's Toxic, What's Not. And I want to talk about organic food in just a moment, Gary. But first, do you love discovering new products? Then you must try FabFitFun. FabFitFun allows women everywhere to discover new products and must-have brands. FabFitFun is a seasonal subscription box delivered four times a year

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Go to FabFitFun.com and use the promo code SOMETHING to get $10 off your first FabFitFun box. People who listen to Something You Should Know are curious about the world, looking to hear new ideas and perspectives. So I want to tell you about a podcast that is full of new ideas and perspectives, and one I've started listening to called Intelligence Squared. It's the podcast where great minds meet. Listen in for some great talks on science, tech, politics, creativity, wellness, and a lot more.

A couple of recent examples, Mustafa Suleiman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, discussing the future of technology. That's pretty cool. And writer, podcaster, and filmmaker John Ronson, discussing the rise of conspiracies and culture wars. Intelligence Squared is the kind of podcast that gets you thinking a little more openly about the important conversations going on today.

Being curious, you're probably just the type of person Intelligence Squared is meant for. Check out Intelligence Squared wherever you get your podcasts. Since I host a podcast, it's pretty common for me to be asked to recommend a podcast. And I tell people, if you like something you should know, you're going to like The Jordan Harbinger Show. Every episode is a conversation with a fascinating guest. Of course, a lot of podcasts are conversations with guests, but Jordan does it better than most. Recently, he had a fascinating conversation with a British woman who was recruited and radicalized by ISIS and went to prison for three years. She now works to raise awareness on this issue. It's a great conversation.

And he spoke with Dr. Sarah Hill about how taking birth control not only prevents pregnancy, it can influence a woman's partner preferences, career choices, and overall behavior due to the hormonal changes it causes. Apple named The Jordan Harbinger Show one of the best podcasts a few years back, and in a nutshell, the show is aimed at making you a better, more informed, critical thinker. Check out the Jordan Harbinger Show. There's so much for you in this podcast. The Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. So Gary, let's talk about organic food. Because on one hand, we hear that the food supply is safe, that the levels of pesticides are low, and yet organic food sales seem to be increasing all the time.

They're available in more and more places. So is buying organic just the answer to all of this? Well, organic is especially good when we're talking about dairy, because the hormones that go into beef production, you know, we think about the locker room chemicals that we don't want the steroids that professional athletes use. We don't want those in our children. Well, we also don't want those in our diet. And unfortunately, it's been banned in Europe and also in Canada, but in this country, still 80% of our beef production is based upon hormones. And the animals beef up, but those hormones are passed through in the meat, and we can get exposure.

There's no hard evidence of what exactly that's doing to us, but we know that there is some exposure, and that's why organic beef and organic dairy is really a good idea. Well, it's interesting that you just mentioned that, that we don't necessarily know what these things are doing, and I think that's true in a lot of cases, right? We don't necessarily have hard evidence that things are horribly bad for us, but out of an abundance of caution, it might be worth taking a look at. There's many illnesses that are sort of mysterious. There's been increasing rates

of reproductive dysfunction, increasing rates of certain cancers, increasing rates of certain neurological problems, for example, ADD in children. You know, we don't know where all of this is coming from, and so we can't attribute a specific factor in our diet, say, to a certain disease. Those kinds of things are hard to, those associations may be hard to pick out. So what we generally advise is prudent avoidance, which is if we know that there's a toxic chemical and that we know that there is exposure to it in the human environment and we know how to avoid that, well, why not be smart and take in less of that so that if there is a real risk that you're avoiding it?

Let's talk about household products, household cleaners, because I think that we like to think that these big brand name cleaners, because they're made by big companies and that they must be testing these things, that somebody's watching out for us on this front. Are they? Well, that again is one of the big myths in the human chemical environment is that our consumer products, we assume if they're sold in the department store or in the supermarket,

that they have been safety tested by a governmental agency and they are certified as safe. And Consumer Product Safety Commission is way too busy testing things like car safety and tire safety to test every product. There's thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of products, and they can't get to them all, and they don't even try. And so there are a lot of products in the supermarket with tiny print that has warning labels that says, gee, you really should have all the windows open in your house if you're going to use this product. But nobody reads that, and so we are exposing our families around the house to things that really are like lighter fluid. I mean, the amount of solvents, the amount of petroleum products that are in some of these things, it's like using lighter fluid to clean your carpet, in a sense. So we, in the book, talk about how to be a smart consumer, how to cut down on these kinds of contaminants and chemicals in your cleaning products.

So, for example? Okay, for example, your average furniture polish is hydrocarbon-based, is petroleum hydrocarbon-based, and that will lead to an off-gas and an odor and an exposure that can go for days. From your average floor polish and floor wax also, any kind of a coating. Varnish is the hardware store is full of items like varnish, paint thinner, contact cement, that really should, these have a lot of industrial chemicals in them that really should be used only with proper knowledge, proper protection of the hands and skin and proper ventilation. And those warnings are in tiny letters and most people aren't aware. There could be children in the same room, et cetera. And so, you know, the movement

towards greener products is a really good thing. And in general, there are some labels now, like the Green Seal label, that if it's been certified by that company, it's generally really low in contaminants, and those are good things to look for. What about things like power lines and cell phones and things people have been talking about for a long time? It seems like the evidence is either contradictory or missing, so where are we with things like that? The most recent evidence with power lines is that there still is a worry about a link to childhood leukemia, and so more and more municipalities are citing these lines to be EMF safe, but there's many lines that have been built over the last 50 years, which it's better

to live further from them than near them. In general terms, a distance of 300 feet, which is roughly a football field away, you back down to background. But in terms of things that people are overworried about, we would say pesticides in the diet was probably, you know, it's still fine to eat organic. That's a good thing to support. But there's probably not much risk from pesticides in the diet.

In terms of mold, black mold is not really as toxic as people worry about, but it's still good to get rid of mold from your house. Asbestos around the home, if you have some and it's not flaking and falling apart, it's probably fine to just leave it in place rather than paying for an expensive remediation. Another myth is that it's important to test your indoor air for chemicals. Usually indoor air testing, either for mold or anything else, is not going to tell you very much. And it's better to go based upon common sense. And what about cell phones?

Cell phones, you know, the studies have been mostly negative in terms of not showing a risk, but cell phones is something that's very difficult to study. The technology keeps changing, and the studies cannot keep up with the technology. The type of tumor that might be caused by cell phones, which is this acoustic neuroma, which is a cancer tumor behind the ear. That's a very, very slow-growing tumor. So it's difficult for the studies to show anything where what we're looking at is a tumor that may have been caused by a technology that's 20 years ago, but now our current technology

is much different, and we'll have to wait 20 years to test that. By then, the technology will be changed again. So we don't really know enough about cell phones. You know, it's good to have hands-free systems and not worry about it that much. But I would be a little bit concerned about children having a lot of cell phone use in the same ear. It's good to switch hands, by the way, in the same ear. And it's better to, you know, head towards hands-free devices. Well, then, isn't that true of a lot of things in your field of study where it takes a long time for diseases and symptoms to develop,

and it may take a while, 10, 20 years maybe, before you can actually make the link between this causes that? Well, some things, yes, some things, no. Asthma doesn't take that long. You know, certain types of cancer, like childhood leukemia, happens pretty quick. But certain, like brain cancer, takes a long time to develop. And so something that we worry about as a liver or brain carcinogen does take a long time. But, you know, there's a lot of reproductive risks that we get answers on pretty quickly

because there are studies of people that are eating fish that we can then see how their offspring turned out. And that's a, you know, nine-month study. So, no, it's true to some extent. But something that's changing as quick as cell phones, the technology, the energy levels, you know, where the towers are, that changes so fast that it's very difficult for any study to be telling you what's the current situation. Well, there's certainly a lot of concern, and there should be a lot of concern. I mean, people want to know what's safe and what isn't, and it's good to get it from a reputable source.

My guest has been Dr. Gary Ginsberg. He is a toxicologist and director of the Center for Environmental Health for the New York State Department of Health and a clinical professor at the Yale School of Public Health at Yale University. His book is called What's Toxic, What's Not, and you'll find a link to his book in the show notes. Hey, everyone. Join me, Megan Rinks. And me, Melissa Demonts, for Don't Blame Me, But Am I Wrong? Each week, we deliver four fun-filled shows. In Don't Blame Me, we tackle our listeners' dilemmas with hilariously honest advice.

Then we have But Am I Wrong?, which is for the listeners that didn't take our advice. Plus, we share our hot takes on current events. Then tune in to see you next Tuesday for our Lister poll results from But Am I Wrong? And finally, wrap up your week with Fisting Friday, where we catch up and talk all things pop culture. Listen to Don't Blame Me, But Am I Wrong? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Do you love Disney? Then you are going to love our hit podcast, Disney Countdown. I'm Megan, the Magical Millennial. And I'm the Dapper Danielle. On every episode of our fun and

family-friendly show, we count down our top 10 lists of all things Disney. There is nothing we don't cover. We are famous for rabbit holes, Disney-themed games, and fun facts you didn't know you needed, but you definitely need in your life. So if you're looking for a healthy dose of Disney magic, check out Disney Countdown wherever you get your podcasts. If you've been in the workforce for any length of time, you know it's a changing landscape. The days of going to the office from 9 to 5 Monday through Friday and working there for 30 years, those days are pretty much gone. There is no new normal, it seems. Things are changing fast and they're changing in lots of different directions. And it's important to keep up with and understand the way it all works. To help you do that is my guest, Alex Cavalakis.

She's the co-founder of the very popular career website called The Muse, and she's author of a new book called The New Rules of Work, the modern playbook for navigating your career. Hey, Alex, great to have you here. Hey, Mike, how are you doing? Thanks so much for having me on. My pleasure. So, we've all heard that the workplace is changing. So talk about how it's changing.

Where are we now? Absolutely. So when you are looking for a job today, one of the biggest things I think that has changed is there's actually a lot more choice, which overall should be a good thing, right? You can change industries. You can change functions.

It's a lot easier to either work remotely or learn about opportunities in different locations. But with that comes a paralysis of choice that has really made it hard for people as they're thinking about their next step. Before you would start, let's say, as a junior accountant and then become a senior accountant and go up the chain, but you wouldn't necessarily think

that maybe you could switch into something else. Now we're seeing people move between functions, move from nonprofits into for-profits, move from startups into large companies. And with that comes a different skill set they need to navigate the transition, to share how your skills are transferable. And that's things that job seekers need to learn to be successful in this new climate. And so how do people get jobs now that might be different than before? Or is it the same that we've all heard that, you know, it's better to be introduced by someone rather than just apply for a million jobs? I think it's always better to be thoughtful than to apply for a million jobs. But the idea that it's better to be introduced, although true, certainly if you have the connection, you should use it, I think also negates the experience of many people who don't have that network or that ability to get a direct introduction to a hiring manager at their dream

company. But what the internet has done is really given just access in a way that wasn't there before. And so for people who are thoughtful about, you know, this is the list of companies I'm interested in, or this is the industry I want to go after, they can actually find meetups and be introduced to people that they've never met before, or reach out to someone on LinkedIn with a message and maybe actually create a connection they didn't have before. So while leveraging connections is always successful, I mean, referrals are a top source of hires. I think what has been really a seismic shift in the last 10 years is that you can now actually create those connections for yourself and leverage them to get your next role. One of the things you just mentioned that didn't exist not that long ago is this idea of

meetups. So talk about that and how you find them and what they're good for and like that. Yeah, so there are meetups both in person and online, but most of the ones people refer to are in person that are these communities and often recurring events. They could be weekly, monthly, of people who care about the same things. So you could be an engineer who's really passionate about front-end code and meet up with other people

with that same passion. And not only do you get to meet peers or potential future colleagues or bosses, but you also get to learn. So it's a way to facilitate learning and development and networking in a way that's much more organic. And so you can go to meetup.org, there's actually a meetup.com. And that's a place you can go online and look up based on your interest groups and sign up and get updates as to when people are meeting. And you can also create your own meetups if you find there's something you already have a connection to other people. I know people who have met a few others in other companies, found an interest and been like, you

know what, we'll just do breakfast every Tuesday at 830 at this coffee shop. And that's a way to create their own organic community. There's so much talk now about entrepreneurship. Do you think that that's really a reasonable thing to do in the beginning? Or should you go work for somebody first before and get your feet wet before you start to strike out on your own? I get asked a lot about the timing of entrepreneurship. And I think there's a couple different schools of thought. One of the ways that I've approached it as someone who started my own company after only one job and one experience in the workforce is that I had an idea or a passion that I felt I needed to solve right now.

And if you are in that position and you can take that risk and make that leap, certainly I don't think you need to wait to do so. But if you know you want to start something and haven't had that idea or bug bite you yet, you certainly will benefit from your experience in the workforce. And it will help you be more successful to have seen how another organization works, what are the pros and cons to build a network. A lot of the top entrepreneurs I know end up hiring people who they used to work for in other places or work with. And that's an asset as someone who starts their own company. When I look back at my own experience, the only thing I wish I'd had a

chance to do before starting the Muse is actually work at a company that ran product management in terms of how you build software really well, even if it was six months to a year, because I started out with a company running product, and I had never done it before, and I had to learn it all from scratch. Let's talk about the resume because there's so many theories about you don't need one. Yes, you need one. It needs to be a page. It shouldn't be more than two pages. Here's what it should have on it.

Here's what it shouldn't have on it. The way I think about resumes, actually, I'll put it this way, is as a hiring manager, you're going to have a stack of them, either electronically or in person, and it's your chance to get someone's attention. And so the longer it is, the more likely they don't make it to page two. So if there's important things on page two, maybe you should take things off of page one. All you want is to get to that first phone screen. After that, you get a chance to show yourself, to talk about your experience and your skills. So a well-crafted resume, I think,

can really be an asset in terms of showcasing not just your experience, your skills. So a well-crafted resume, I think, can really be an asset in terms of showcasing not just your experience, but what are the skills? What's the impact you had on a business? One of my absolute top, number one feedback I give for people's resumes when I'm asked to critique them is there's not enough numbers and impact in here. People do a lot of describing what they did,

you know, responsible for blah, blah, blah, you know, led a team of X people. Instead of saying, you know, in my two years here, we increased revenue by X percent or our marketing campaigns became more successful in this way. That's the things that are going to get someone really excited to hire you because they just imagine you coming in and solving those problems for them too. Yeah, I like that because a lot of resumes that I've seen are just so dull. They just kind of sit there. There's no, as you say, there's no impact. And so if there's no impact there, there may not be any impact here. Exactly, exactly. And think of it this way. If

you're writing your resume in a way that looks like a job description, then what you're saying is this is what they hired me to do, not this is what I did. And so taking a fresh look at that, using action verbs, there's so many ways other than responsible for. You can use transform. You can use build. Words that show the, you know, start the sentence off in a little bit more of a dynamic way. And then even though some roles can be more challenging to share numbers, obviously sales roles are easier. I've seen people have a lot of success, for example, if you're on a support team, saying increased client satisfaction from

3.5 stars on average to 4.9 over my tenure, while reducing time per client, invested in writing a support forum so that clients could get faster responses on their own. There's lots of ways to show impact, no matter what your role. Talk about the interview, because I think that's the thing people fear the most. And yet, that's a gate you have to walk through. And if you don't do it well, you die. And so preparing for that seems to be pretty critical. Preparing for an interview is definitely critical, and I think a lot of people will get tripped up with nerves as they get ready for that, and so knowing yourself and where your comfort is and what you do under stress,

I think is really important. For some people, they forget all of their talking points. Others, they ramble on, and the most important thing to do is really to listen to the question first. I've actually seen this happen in a lot of interviews. My very first question is often, you know, I've read your resume, I've done my homework, so we don't need to go through your entire background, but please tell me about X, whatever thing I'm interested in learning more. And a lot of times candidates will immediately just tell me their entire resume. And it's because it's what they're expecting me to say, it's what they've prepared. But if we only have half an hour,

they've just spent 10 minutes on something I already knew, instead of giving me a chance to dig deeper. And so using really the time you have to showcase what you do best and answer the real questions someone has, and then have a couple questions in your back pocket as well. This should be a two way street. I know it doesn't feel like that, especially when you're stressed and looking for a job and you just want someone to give you an offer. But you also want to make sure that as you go through the process, you're learning more about the company, the culture, the team, so that when you get to the end, if you say yes, you know what you're getting yourself into. Since you have so much experience and you kind of sit in the middle of all of this,

what do you think are the biggest mistakes that you see time and time again? That's a fantastic question. I think there's a few points in the process where people go off the rails. The first is actually upfront. The biggest mistake I see people is what I call spray and pray, which is you just apply to everything. You click, you know, send it to 100 people, lose track of everything and don't really pay attention. When people apply to college, if they apply to college, they often think about, I've got my target schools, I've got my reach schools, I've got my safety schools, I know that I have different levels of, you know, likelihood of getting into different ones, and I'm putting my attention against them in a different

way. And yet when people apply to companies, oftentimes they just blanket apply to everything in the same way. So my biggest recommendation for people who are making that mistake is to have a short list of things you're really excited about and take the time to craft those applications. Write a cover letter, do your research, see if you can find a connection, reach out to someone on LinkedIn. And then for everything else, it's okay if you can find a connection, reach out to someone on LinkedIn. And then for everything else, it's okay if you don't want to put as much energy into it until you find out if you get an interview. You don't have to write a cover letter for every single job. But for the ones you're excited about, make sure you're putting your best foot forward instead of just, you know, throwing things to the wind. And then once people do get in the door, once they do

get to the interview process I find that preparation is another place where people will fall short a little bit one piece is being prepared for an interview and the other is being prepared for this interview with this company and people who come in and ask me things like so I don't know that much about your company like how did you start it it's fine I'm happy to answer that question. But that's also in 100 articles on the internet. They could be asking me a question that would give a lot more insight for them. And it would teach me a lot more about how they ask questions, their curiosity, etc. So whatever the right level is there, I find that it's an opportunity to really wow someone.

For example, if you're interviewing for a marketing job and you notice someone just did a big launch, you could actually say, congratulations, I noticed you launched this. The press release was really fantastic. How was the reception from the market? And that would show that you're someone who's not only invested, but does their research, which can only serve to impress people. There are people who need a job and maybe the job they really want isn't available. And they think, well, I'll apply for something else or I'll apply for, you know, I just need a job. What advice for them? Because typically the advice is go for what you want. Don't try to be, as you say, you know, pray and spray.

But sometimes people just need a job. Absolutely. And my advice to those people is get a job. Absolutely. I respect if you need that. You know, not everything is going to be a dream job. Absolutely. And my advice to those people is get a job. Absolutely. I respect if you need that, you know, not everything's going to be a dream job, not everything's going to be perfect. But ideally, you're doing something that's building towards what you want. So let's say that you work an hourly role at a company, whether it's in retail or something else, but you know, one day you want to get into marketing, is there an opportunity to start somewhere where they actually need a little bit of support doing that, or where they have a really

strong marketing presence and you might be able to learn from other people, that you can at least start developing skills that will make the next move get you closer and the next move get you closer. But prioritizing, I think this very much in terms of Maslow's hierarchy of need, make sure you are making money that you need to make ends meet, to pay the rent, make sure that you can cover your health care, like all of those things come first. And there's no shame in just getting a job if that is what you need. But if you know where you want to go, thinking a little bit about what will help you get closer can be a meaningful way to do so. One last thought on this is around some companies are really known for vocational training programs or rotational

programs or promoting from within. So for example, I know, you know, enterprise rent a car, a lot of people who start at the desk, you know, working with people as they come in to rent a car, end up managing, and then maybe going to corporate and they have actually a really good track record of promoting people from within. Looking for companies like that is another way to think about how you might want to grow, you know, compared to other opportunities you might have. Because you have such a unique vantage point in the world of employment, are there jobs, careers, industries that you see people really ought to look at

because it's really up and coming? And are there things you're seeing crashing and burning that people should stay away from? That's an interesting one. I think there's a lot of shifts in the workforce. And you certainly hear a lot of people saying, you know, learn how to code, go into data science, learn about AI, machine learning, and all sorts of technical roles. And certainly there's demand for that. And if you have the ability to go and learn that, it'll help you in the job market. But I do think it's a mistake for everyone to say, that's what I should do, whether or not it's a fit for me, I'm interested, or it's something that I feel would really work

with my strengths. Strong EQ, communication skills, management, ability to influence all of those roles, all of those skills are still critical no matter what industry you're in or what function. And developing that, I think, is what allows people to grow in their careers. People who are solely focused on the technical or hard skills side oftentimes have a harder time going up and getting promoted within a company. And so I do think that is one place that no matter what, you can develop those skills, that's those soft skills, the ability to communicate clearly, to give good feedback, to take feedback, all of those things. Do you think that there are

a lot of people in the workforce or entering the workforce who don't really know what they want to do, what they want to be when they grow up, that they're in the workforce because they need a job, but they don't really have a path in mind. And if there are a lot of people like that, what's the advice to them? I think the majority of people entering the workforce don't know what they want to do. That's what I hear the most. It's one of our most popular topics in terms of what we write about, what people like to read. And personally, what I get the most asks when people are looking for sort of coaching or

advice. And I think that goes back to what we talked about when it comes to the paralysis of choice, when there's so much opportunity. No matter what you majored in, you could do something. You know, you didn't narrow your choices, and therefore you have to discover a lot more. And my advice to people who aren't sure what they want to do next is, first of all, you do not need to know what you want to do, quote unquote, when you grow up. I think having a three to five year plan is absolutely sufficient. And that will change over time. 10 years ago, there are people

who are now in leading roles running social media for large media corporations where that wasn't even a field. And so you just cannot know where the world will take you or what opportunities will be created that might be an amazing fit for you. But you can look at the next few years and figure out what's something I'm interested in at least trying or learning. So really, it's just start somewhere that makes sense and then build from that rather than spend an hour or spend the rest of your life trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up. Exactly. Because what you want to be when you grow up will keep changing for most people. I mean, some people know from day one, they want to be

a doctor and they become a doctor. And that is amazing. And I wish I had that sort of clarity of thought from a young age. But for a lot of other people, they just know what they enjoy as they do it. And what I often hear is that people coming out of school think they know what they enjoy as they do it. And what I often hear is that people coming out of school think they know what they want. And they get that job, they work really hard to get it, they get the right major, the right internships, whatever it is, and they get there and it lets them down. Because they actually didn't spend enough time figuring out what the job would be like once they're there. And then after that first job is where they have their first sort of crisis of conscience around what do I want to do? I thought it was this. And that's okay. If you're facing that, other people have faced it before

you. You will find other things that are exciting and you will take that experience and be stronger in your career from what you've learned. One of the big buzz phrases, particularly among young people and people just entering the workforce, follow your passion, do what you love, the money will follow. That's what's more important than anything else is to do what you love. I disagree. Obviously, it's wonderful to love what you do. But every job, no matter how wonderful it is, has its good days and its bad days. And if you have a strong passion, whether it's a hobby or an area of interest, I think it's important to ask yourself, is this what I want to get paid to do? I know people who love to paint and who did it as a hobby and then decided to do it themselves

for work. And now it feels like a chore and they don't do it on the side anymore. They don't find it as fun. They don't get the same creative outlet because they get a commission. And that wasn't necessarily the right fit for them. For others, it might be hugely motivating, but I don't think it has to be your passion that drives you. You can also really enjoy your work, do a great job at it, be very committed to your company, and then go home and have a passion on the side. And that's okay too. And so being sort of realistic

about whether your passion is something you want to get paid to do is really important before throwing everything out and just jumping in. Great. And certainly with your website, TheMuse.com, you more than most have your finger on the pulse of what's going on in the employment world. So I appreciate you sharing that advice. Alex Cavalakis has been my guest. She is co-founder of the website TheMuse.com and author of a new book called The New Rules of Work, The Modern Playbook for Navigating Your Career. There's a link to her book at Amazon in the show notes. Thanks, Alex. Thanks, Mike. You sometimes see on television or in the movies, somebody gets some bad news or they get really angry and they clutch their chest, fall over and have a heart attack. But can that really happen in

real life? Well, Dr. Barry Franklin, author of a book called One Heart, Two Feet, has some startling statistics and some advice. And his first bit of advice is don't get mad because when you are really angry, your risk for heart attack in the next two hours is two to nine times higher. And bad news can really trigger a heart attack. Your risk is six to 21 times higher at the time of shock and it can stay elevated for the next four weeks. Having sex can be risky for your heart, especially if it is extramarital.

80% of heart attack deaths during or after sex take place in hotel rooms with people who are not spouses. And sports can cause a heart attack. If you are a very intense fan of a sports team, you could be in trouble. During the 2006 World Cup soccer matches in Germany, cardiac emergencies increased on the days that the German team played. That's it for this episode of the podcast. I'm Mike Carruthers. Thanks for listening today to Something You Should Know. Welcome to the small town of Chinook, where faith runs deep and secrets run deeper. In this new thriller, religion and crime collide when a gruesome murder rocks the isolated Montana community.

Everyone is quick to point their fingers at a drug-addicted teenager, but local deputy Ruth Vogel isn't convinced. She suspects connections to a powerful religious group. Enter federal agent V.B. Loro, who has been investigating a local church for possible criminal activity. The pair form an unlikely partnership to catch the killer, unearthing secrets that leave Ruth torn between her duty to the law,

her religious convictions, and her very own family. But something more sinister than murder is afoot, and someone is watching Ruth. Chinook. Starring Kelly Marie Tran and Sanaa Lathan. Listen to Chinook wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Jennifer, a founder of the Go Kid Go Network.

At Go Kid Go, putting kids first is at the heart of every show that we produce. That's why we're so excited to introduce a brand new show to our network called The Search for the Silver Lining, a fantasy adventure series about a spirited young girl named Isla who time travels to the mythical land of Camelot. Look for The Search for the Silver Lining on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.