This Is Woman's Work with Nicole Kalil - 049 / 5 Big Trends For Job Searching In 2021 with Catherine McLean

Episode Date: March 17, 2021

Are you looking or thinking about seeking a new opportunity? Would you like some help in formulating a strategy so you can hit the ground running? I’ve invited Catherine McLean - Tactical Career Coach and Owner of CM Career Coaching to give us a crash course on what you need, who you should be talking to, and how the COVID 19 pandemic has changed it all. I hope you are in or find a career that gives you the quality of life you deserve, while also tapping into your talents, unique ability and passion. But if you’re not there, take some of Catherine’s tips and go find that opportunity. Because doing what you love (although still work) is far better than doing what you don’t. So get after it ladies! This is Woman’s Work. To learn more about what we are up to outside of this podcast, visit us at NicoleKalil.com

Did you know that not only can you build your confidence anytime you want with the self-paced This Is Confidence online course, but that you can also do it with me? Over 12 weeks, I'll guide you and a small group of women through all of the confidence derailers, the confidence builders. I'll share tips, strategies, and stories you won't hear anywhere else. Basically, I'll be like your confidence Sherpa. So no matter which option you choose, you'll get lifetime access to our confidence-building community. Check it out on NicoleClill.com and get yourself registered. self-registered. I am Nicole Kalil, and welcome to our next episode of This is Woman's Work,

where it appears the goal of redefining what it actually means to be doing woman's work has become increasingly more important and necessary. According to McKinsey and Company, the pandemic and its economic fallout are having a regressive effect on gender equality. Not only that, but the consequences of women's jobs being 1.8 times more vulnerable. Think about that for a second. Our jobs as women are 1.8 times more vulnerable. And this will have a massive impact to the tune of a global GDP growth being an estimated $1 trillion lower over 10 years versus the $13 trillion potential added if action was taken now to advance gender equity. Their research shows that this regression will be costly globally, here in the United States, at the corporate level, and beyond. So what's happening? Well,

coronavirus has smacked us in the face with the reality that we still have a lot of work to do and a lot of progress to make, specifically in the areas of gender imbalances as it relates to care, which is really the unpaid work that we all do at home and with our families. Some people call it the second shift, and that's a topic for another day, but a very big one. Also in the areas of financial inclusion and pay equity. And finally, what aligns the closest with my mission and what keeps me up at night is the widespread biases and attitudes

about women's role in society. Coronavirus has made it clear that we still have work to do and that we as a society are still clinging to old expectations of what it means to be doing woman's work. I'm seeing this and hearing it in so many of my conversations. I know you're tired. I know you're frustrated. I am too. Maybe your partner isn't as engaged or supportive as you'd hoped. Maybe you're missing that friend or colleague, the conversations that activated your heart and your brain and allowed you to connect and socialize. Maybe you're feeling alone and that you don't have as much help or people to turn to as you thought,

and maybe your work just doesn't get what you're up against, and the pressure and expectations have got you to a breaking point. Is it really that hard to see why women are leaving or thinking of leaving the workforce at a significantly higher rate than men? I think not. And it breaks my heart. And I want to offer support, even if it doesn't solve any of those big problems, by talking about finding the right career for you. I've invited Catherine McLean to talk to us about stepping confidently into your career, specifically for those of you who are looking or thinking about seeking a new job. Catherine is a tactical career coach and owner of CM Career Coaching, and it's going to give us a crash course on what you need, who you should be talking to, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed it all. Catherine, thank you so much for joining us.

Hi, thank you for having me. You had shared with me in an earlier conversation that you're noticing five big trends as it relates to job searching in 2021. Can you share with us a little bit about what you're observing and what's changed as it relates to career searching this year? Yes, absolutely. So I think part of having a successful job search and being able to minimize some of the stress of your job search is knowing these trends, having them in your back pocket so that you can formulate a strategy where you can really just hit the ground running. So I have five trends I'd love to share with you guys today.

And I'm also going to give you a tactical tip for each one. I love presentations and conversations where you walk away and feel like, okay, I know what to do with this info. So the first one is really about setting job seeker expectations. So what we're finding is that the job search process is taking longer than it has before. And the good news is companies are hiring. We're starting to see lots of jobs being posted again, but the candidate pool is much larger because of all the layoffs and restructures and what have you. So it's really important that candidates set their expectations that a job search can typically take six to 12 months right now. And the reason for that is because the candidate pool is larger. So companies are sifting for more resumes and applications.

Another thing is companies are still trying to figure out how to do their work in 2021. So we've sort of figured out this whole work from home thing. But there are big goals and product launches from 2020 that companies are still trying to figure out and catch up on. So even though they are looking to recruit, they're also still focused on their day-to-day responsibilities. So things are taking a little bit longer. The other major piece of this is that interviews are taking longer. Video interviewing is here to stay, and that's a separate trend in a minute. But because of the video interviewing process, hiring managers are a little more hesitant to make that hire over just one video interview. It's hard to capture somebody's energy and really feel like,

this is the right person having never met them. So normally you would do a phone screen and maybe one to two in-person interviews. Now you're seeing that phone screen and maybe six to eight Zoom interviews. And it might all happen in, you know, two days where you have back to back to back with folks on Zoom, or it might be multiple Zoom sessions really drawn out. So I think just being prepared for that. And my tactical tip around this is just knowing this can help set your expectations but also get started now so if you are somebody who's just kind of thinking maybe I'll look for a job maybe I want to change paths maybe it's time for me to get back into the workforce I would highly recommend taking some very small steps quietly if you need to, but start working on your resume,

do a draft cover letter, do a mock interview over Zoom. You can do that with a friend, just log in and just make sure you're comfortable with this idea of video interviewing. So that's trend number one. So lots of good stuff in there. I've read in a lot of leadership books that you should hire slowly. And it sounds like COVID is sort of forcing that issue. And I love setting expectations because if, you know, if you interviewed for your last job four years ago, five years ago, and now you're doing it now and you think it's going to look the same, you might think that there's something wrong with you or that you're doing something wrong. And so having that more appropriate expectation, I think is helpful. Catherine, your opinion, would it be appropriate for somebody to ask in

the interviewing process what the timeframe is? So if like I'm a candidate interviewing you, could I ask, do you have an approximate time frame in which you want to make this hire or make this decision? Or is that not a good question to ask? I think that's a great question to ask. And I would encourage that pre-COVID and even now, at the end of every interview, whether it's a phone screen or in person or Zoom, you should definitely ask at the very, very end, can you tell me a little bit more about your hiring timeline? Or when might I expect to hear from you about next steps? Those are perfectly acceptable to ask, whether it's a hiring manager you're talking to or even your HR coordinator. That's really helpful. I think, I don't know, this goes back into that category of nobody taught us how to do this in high school or college. And you hear from some places that certain questions are

okay to ask or not okay to ask. So both of those I think are great, like you said, at any time. All right, so what is tip number two? Sure. So number two is all about career changes and part-time gigs. So even before COVID, there was this push and idea of the gig economy, where people are stringing together multiple gigs to sort of create a full-time workload comprised of smaller work assignments. And what we're finding is that whether it's from a job loss, whether it's just folks realizing, I don't really like my job anymore, it has changed so much, people are feeling what I call the pandemic push. And sometimes you're pushed out of your job and sometimes you choose to move away from your job. But people are really

focusing on how can I be happy with the work that I'm doing? Because of that, we're seeing people changing careers more than ever. So whether it's they can't find something in their current industry, or they're really trying to go after a passion of theirs, people are changing. So the tactical approach here is when you are looking for work, I would encourage you to check off a couple new criteria when you are going through those search filters on sites like Indeed, LinkedIn. So what I would do is if you're open to remote work, go ahead and choose that as a location filter. So you can put in where you're physically located. And then also, if you're open to full time remote work, add that on as a filter as well. The other thing is, if you're open to it, choose part time work, because this can be a really helpful way to get your foot in the door at a company. So if you're finding that your job search is taking longer than

you'd like it to, deciding to do some part-time work might be that way to get into the company or at least get something that can kind of string you along until you find that full-time position. So that is tip number two about changing careers and then people really gravitating towards this idea of part-time work and remote work. Yeah, that's really interesting. And you said it already, but I've heard from so many people thinking about changing careers altogether, like not just firms, but like industries or, you know, starting their own business and being open to part-time work, I think can expose you to different opportunities or, or different industries, or maybe take the part-time job. So you can start the business and have a little bit of

steady alongside a little bit of risk, that kind of combo thing, not just for the employee like to get their foot in the door, but also for the, you know, employee to try out a few different things. It's just, I hadn't thought about that, but that really resonates with me. Yeah. I think that people also right now are sort of getting used to this flexibility that we have with work from home, especially if you have kids and you're doing remote schooling. So this idea of sort of part-time work where you can be flexible and have a better balance, it's really attractive to people right now. And I hope that companies take note of that. And I think some are.

I don't think companies can go back to exactly how they did it before COVID. And if those companies that do, I think they're going to have a problem getting those really good hires. Yeah, I agree completely. I have observed some companies that are really trying to get back to, and I put in air quotes, normal as quickly as possible. And I'm like, oh, gosh, you know, it's never going to be like that again. Right. How do we embrace some of the changes? And then, I mean, I'm sure we're all looking forward to getting to the other side

of this, but the other side, is it going to look like it did before? Absolutely. All right. So next tip. Yes. Number three, A plus documents. Now more than ever because of that larger candidate pool, you have to have everything ready to go and it needs to be strong. So we're talking resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile. These are three things that you're going to need that you need to make sure are top notch. So when we're thinking about your resume, the biggest tip I can give is look at that job description, print it out, get out your highlighter, highlight those hard skills, the soft skills, even the cultural indicators of the company. So that corporate culture, what are they telling you? Are they telling you that they're a company that you hear fast-paced a lot? You might hear them say, you know, we really encourage open

idea sharing and brainstorming. So highlight all of those things and then figure out how you can organically get that information into your resume. You don't want to do a bunch of keyword stuffing, but you do need to get those keywords onto your resume as many as you can without lying or stretching the truth. So using the job description, though, as your clue, that's your treasure map that's going to help you get through that first process. And, you know, a lot of folks right now are talking about applicant tracking systems. And I think there's a lot of confusion around that. And I get it. It is a software system that companies use to

keep track of candidates who apply, store their documents. They do set parameters in there around what are they looking for in this role. So when your resume comes in, the applicant tracking system will kind of match up to what the recruiter put into the system and find out how much of a fit you might be. And that's just based off of information from your resume. Some people are saying that after you go through the applicant tracking system, the system itself might shut you out. I don't believe that. I believe that the recruiter is still taking a look at your resume. They're

still setting that criteria for who gets through and who doesn't. So while I think it's important to know that applicant tracking systems exist, and that's why keywords are important, I wouldn't be so concerned about beating the bots and like, you know, getting through, there's still a human recruiter there tied to that job and actively recruiting. So focus on the keywords. Don't let that applicant tracking system scare you too much. I also think that first, like top half of your first page of your resume should be really strong with, of course, your contact information, but then a nice career summary, a section of skills, and those are some great keywords right there, and then go into your work experience so that as soon as they open up your resume, it's right there at the top,

who you are, what position you're targeting, and what are your standout skills. That's the resume with the cover letter, sort of the same thing in terms of keywords. You want to also make sure though, that in that cover letter, you're sharing some sort of a connection story. So why are you connected to this company? Maybe you've just heard about them for the first time. That's totally okay. But you still want to sort of woo that company a little bit. Let them know this is why I'm interested in your company, in your position, and why I'd be a good fit. I think candidates often forget that. Yes, you're trying to sell yourself and you're explaining why you want to work there,

but you also need to explain what you bring to the table and how you can help them and why you want to do that. So keeping that in mind for the cover letter. And as far as LinkedIn goes, fill out your profile, fill it out completely. You want to make sure you have your photo in there. You want to make sure you have an about section. LinkedIn is all about keywords as well. So the more words you get onto your profile and filling out completely, the more you're going to come up in recruiter search results.

So I've given you a lot of tactical tips already about these three things and happy to answer questions. But another sort of tactical tip for this is if you're able to work with a coach, that's wonderful. If you're not, what I would recommend is you can use a free service like Grammarly to check your spelling, check your grammar, read your documents out loud. If you read them to yourself, you might catch a few things,

but reading them out loud, it tends to help you find any other errors. Have a friend or family member review it. So if they can't get a good grasp of what you've done or what you might be looking for, well, they're a great objective third party. So take that information and then try to tweak it from there. Yeah. I'm so glad you said that. That was going to be one of my questions. But how important it is when you talk about A-plus documents to have somebody and maybe multiple somebodies get a second set of eyes. I know when I write the way I talk, it makes sense to me, but then when somebody else reads it, they're like, wait,

what is this? You know, or what is that? You know, so getting that second set of eyes, both for grammar punctuation, but also just how does it read? Like, you know, is it engaging? Does it clearly explain you? And that brings up the second thing. What advice do you have? I think they're buzzwords all the time, attention to detail, right. Or detail oriented or hardworking or work ethic. Like I just couldn't remember when I was interviewing on a really regular basis, how often I would hear those words and like have to prevent my eyes from rolling in the back of my head. So how do you focus on the keywords and the buzzwords and also stay true to who you are? What is your suggestion there? So if I'm reading a job description and it says attention to detail

somewhere in there, but my attention to detail is just moderate. Like what do I do? What I would recommend is leave that out. If it's something that you don't feel like you can talk about because anything that's on your resume or in your cover letter, or even on LinkedIn, it's fair game for an interview question. So you want to make sure that if it comes up, you're able to tell a story about it. So if someone's going to ask you about attention to detail and you're going to go, oh gosh, don't put it on there. There's plenty of other skills from that job description I'm sure that you can talk about and get into your documents. If that's their number one skill that they're looking for, it might not be the best job fit for you anyways. Yeah. That's

a good point too. It's just reading through and rather than, you know, on your resume, trying to fit this job description that doesn't actually fit you move on to the next one. Right. Um, because at the end of the day, we would all be miserable in a job that doesn't play to our strengths or that has us mostly working in our weaknesses. Absolutely. I totally agree. Okay. Tip number four. Yes. Networking. So it used to be, we could submit our resume to a couple of companies, sit back, relax, wait to hear. Unfortunately, that is not the case anymore. You need to have a real multifaceted approach to your job search it's not so much who you know anymore what you know it's sort of about who knows you so you want to really think of yourself as a brand get yourself out there start networking

LinkedIn is the perfect place to do that. You can certainly attend, we used to do in-person networking events, but they have moved to some virtually. But it's really about engaging with your network, talking to friends and family, letting them know, this is what I'm looking for. Do you know anybody that I could talk to? The more comfortable you get sharing about your job search, the more doors you're going to find are opening for you. It's also, I read recently that referred candidates are two times more likely to get a job interview. So anytime you can talk to somebody

in that target company of yours, that's going to help you get a leg up over this larger candidate pool that we've been talking about. So this is a topic that makes people a little bit squeamish and myself included. I, the idea of going to a networking event is like, it just like really stresses me out. And I, you know, I'm someone that works in this field. But there are so many different ways of networking. And what I like to try to do is help people reframe this original notion of networking that can feel a little bit yucky and sort of reframe it to just having more conversations.

Because at the end of the day, that's what it's about. If you go into networking thinking I'm going to have to sell myself. And, you know, if I don't get a job at the end of that conversation, I didn't do it right. You're putting so much pressure on yourself. Just think of networking as the more people I can talk to the better. So on LinkedIn, just engage with that platform, start liking people's posts, start commenting. That's even better for your own visibility. If you can start sharing content yourself, that's a great way to signal to recruiters that, hey, I'm active on this platform. I'm passionate about my industry. You don't have to post every single day. You can post by sharing articles from your industry that

you think are interesting and add a little comment when you post it. Don't just share the article and leave it blank, but actually add a couple sentences. Here's this great article I read about 2021 hiring trends. My favorite is tip number three. What do you think? Right? So it doesn't have to be anything too scary, but get out there and start posting. And you know, if you attend an event, thank the event coordinator, go on LinkedIn, say I recently attended this, whatever event it is, you can actually tag the coordinator, tag the speaker. They love that because it bumps their visibility. So it's all just about getting active and visible on the platform. So that's sort of engaging with the newsfeed and sharing content. The other side of LinkedIn is all about searching for people. You can go to your university, your school, go to their LinkedIn page, click on the alumni button, and then you're automatically granted access to any alums who are on the LinkedIn platform. You can search by where they're located, what industry they're in. fellow Huskies in my example, I went to Northeastern. And so I can use that tool to find other folks in Northeastern that are in the role that I want and reach out to them.

And this feels scary too, but what I have found is keep it short, sweet, and specific. So hi, my name is Catherine. I graduated from Northeastern in whatever year. I'm pursuing a career in digital marketing. I see that you are a senior manager at XYZ Company. I would love it if you could tell me one to two things about what have made you successful in this role. Happy to correspond over email or if you'd like to do a quick 20 minute phone call next week, I'd be open to that as well. Thank you so much. So you're asking a really specific question. Sometimes when people network, they really broaden it and say, I'd love to hear about your career path, or, you know, I'd love to ask you a few questions. And it's just very vague. And it can be overwhelming for the person you're asking. But if I know, okay, they want to know two to three things

about why I'm successful, or they noticed on my profile that I moved from working in IT to now working in software development, and they want to know how I made that jump. That's something that I can really quickly type up in an email and send back, or I can choose to do the phone call with them. Yeah.

So keeping it short, sweet and specific. So a couple of things I just want to add is on networking. We did an episode a few months back with Julie Brown. It's titled networking. If anybody wants, she just really dismantled what I thought of networking and Catherine, what you alluded to, where we all just kind of cringe a little bit and really made it all about relationship building. And I thought that was great. And then Lindsay Steven has an episode about how to leverage LinkedIn. So in addition to the tips that Catherine gave today, that episode is all

about LinkedIn. So she can, you could listen in to hear a few more tips. When you were talking about people reaching out and asking questions on LinkedIn, I love that you said to be specific, you know, can you answer these two questions or, or whatever. I would also add to pay attention across all industries. Now there are free, you know, live events or a clubhouse or Instagram live or podcasts or whatever. There's so many ways to dig into both industries and people. Um, to just, to be mindful of some of those free and available resources. I love when people reach out to me and ask to pick my brain. It's just, I don't have enough time available to do that for everybody. And I feel guilty about it, but I, I always try to make sure they know about the

free and public resources that are available. So I'm not sure if that helps on that too, but. Yes, absolutely. And that was actually a part of my tactical tips for that one. So, you know, engaging on LinkedIn and then also looking for those free events because they are out there. There are also virtual career fairs and the beauty of all of these remote events is that you can attend now from anywhere. You're not limited to the career fairs that are down the street. You can attend a lot of these virtual career fairs, some free, some do have a registration fee, but yeah, taking advantage of all these different remote events and the knowledge that you can acquire and the people, you know, reach out to some, another participant that you see

commenting in the chat a lot, and you can message them separately and say, hey, you know, it sounds like we're kind of in this job search together looking for similar things. Do you want to chat? And now you have a job search accountability partner, maybe that you can at least kind of vent with and share success stories and share different resources. So I love that. All right. So take us home more on tip number five. Yes. So this is all about interviewing. Video interviewing is here to stay. I really think even beyond 2021, companies are going to stick with this idea of remote interviews. And so you've heard a lot of these tips before. You know, you want to be prepared, be in a quiet place, have a professional background, check your technology.

I think a newer concept is going to be doing as much as you can to get your energy through the Zoom call. So it might be smiling a little bit more than you normally would to make sure that you don't look like you're frozen. It could be talking a little bit with your hands, again, just to let people know I'm here, I'm engaged. Because a lot of those cues that you would naturally do in person, you're unable to do. Another one that I always like to share is in person, you might kind of nod your head and say,

yeah, yeah, I agree, right? And when you're doing that over Zoom, that actually interrupts the flow of the conversation. It mutes the person's microphone who's talking. So you're inadvertently trying to send a cue like, yes, yes, I'm listening, but you're actually cutting off the microphone and it can get a little bit awkward. So my tactical tip here are actually more about the types of questions you should be expecting in 2021. So the first thing is you should absolutely anticipate that questions about 2020 are coming up in your job interview. They're going to ask, how have you been affected by the pandemic? I had a client of mine was, he went through six rounds of interviews with a software company and they asked him,

what is the most difficult decision you've had to make in the last 12 months? So think about what you want to share. Also companies are going to ask, how did you help your organization pivot when this all started? And how did you show leadership, show creativity, flexibility? So think about your pandemic stories and again, kind of go through what you want to share. If you were laid off at the beginning of the pandemic and you didn't get the chance to help your company pivot, that's okay. But think about either what you did before you were let go, because you were still there, part of that team. And if you were truly laid off at the beginning, think about, okay, what have I done since then? Because we have all had to pivot in every aspect of our life. So those stories are perfectly

acceptable to share as well. The other type of question you should expect are questions around diversity, equity, and inclusion. So thankfully, this is now becoming a really well-known big topic for companies. Job seekers are looking for places that are open and inclusive, and companies want to signal to their job seekers that they are that type of environment. So you might get questions about what do those themes mean to you, diversity, equity, and inclusion? How do you foster inclusion? Tell me about a time you worked in a diverse environment. And keep in mind when you're answering these things, it certainly can be about race, but it can also be about gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and even generational gaps. So think about some of your past experiences

and how you might answer some questions around diversity, equity, and inclusion, because we are seeing trends of more and more companies asking about that. Yeah, I would add to diversity of thought and perspective and communication and personalities. You know, I think really that's the value for all of that work is that there is a diversity of thought and perspective and experiences and observations, and that's what makes an organization better. So I think, you know, from my experience, tying those together, I think can be really helpful. All right, Catherine, thank you for sharing those five trends. Um, I was nodding my head the whole time, trying very hard not to say yes and interrupt

you and all that. Um, but yeah, you're dead on. And I think these are all very valuable to know, but also your additional tips and tactics. I think any one of us could apply and run with. So thank you so much. For those of you who would like to learn more about Catherine, her website is cmcareercoaching.com or you can find her on LinkedIn. It's Catherine L. McLean. So Catherine L. M-C-L-E-A-N. Catherine, thank you so much for joining me today.

This was fun. Thank you, Nicole. All right. Whether you're looking for more autonomy, flexibility, upward mobility, income, growth opportunity, equity, whatever the case may be, I hope you're in or find a career that gives you the quality of life you deserve while also tapping into your talents, unique abilities, and passions. And if you're not there, take some of Catherine's tips, get started because we know the timeframe is a little bit longer than normal and go find that

career, go find that position, go find that opportunity because doing what you love is still work, but it is better than doing what you don't love. So get after it, ladies. This is woman's work.