Next Career Move Archives - Beckie Thain-Blonk

Discover the 4 reasons why you need to hire a career coach

Career · Mindset · Next Career Move

4 Reasons Why You Should Hire a Career Coach

I often get asked, “How do I know if I need to work with a Career Coach?”

There are four reasons why you should consider working with a Career Coach.

1. You’re in a job where you feel stuck (or know you want a change) and you’re not sure what to do next or what your options are.

2. You’ve been on the job search for some time but you’re not getting the results you want. More specifically, you’re not getting first-round interviews at the companies you want to work at or job offers that match your expectations and market worth.

3. You’ve just been laid off. You want to process the job loss and make a plan for your next career move without wasting a lot of time.

4. You’ve just landed a new job and you’re not sure how to set yourself up for success.

In my practice, I help people in all four categories. My clients often arrive feeling stuck. Together we identify why and what the root problem is. For example, it could be a lack of clarity on long-term career goals, a job application that doesn’t convert or an under-developed networking strategy. Once we determine what to focus on, I help my clients create a plan with step-by-step actions so they can achieve their goal.

Throughout this process, I keep my client’s mental well-being at the forefront. My clients often arrive feeling defeated by some area of the job search. Unfortunately, depending on how long they’ve been at the job search, it can impact their outlook of what is possible for their future career. As my clients start to make progress, their confidence increases and they realize that their career goals can and will happen.

A Career Coach will help you refresh your job search skills and negotiate a competitive job offer.

Regardless of what category you find yourself in, another reason to hire a Career Coach is to refresh your job search skills. While you have been focused on building your career, you probably haven’t continued to sharpen important job search skills like how to optimize your LinkedIn profile, interview using storytelling techniques or develop a resume that is both captivating and results-packed. The job market evolves each year and a Career Coach will help you develop up-to-date job search strategies and give you the tools to stand out in today’s digital economy.

A Career Coach will also help you evaluate all job offers that you receive and give you guidance on how to graciously negotiate a competitive compensation package that aligns to your role and market value. This is an important part of the job search process, but one that is often overlooked. People tend to feel uncomfortable negotiating an employment package with their future manager resulting in either no negotiation or a negotiation that creates tension in an important new working relationship. A good career coach will guide you through the process so that you’re able to sign an offer you’re excited about and develop a strong working foundation with your new manager.

A Career Coach will help you prepare for your new role and coach you to be successful as you start.

After you land your next job a skilled Career Coach will help you prepare for your next role. In my work with my clients I help prepare them for their new role in a few different ways, three of which include:

Developing their 90-day onboarding plan and first quarter objectives. I work with my clients to prepare this plan and coach them how to have a productive discussion with their manager to gain alignment.
Creating a learning plan. The learning curve is steep when you’re starting a new job. I help my clients understand important gaps they have in institutional, process or industry knowledge and together we create a plan so they can quickly close those gaps.
Designing a networking strategy. I help my clients develop a networking strategy so they can build important internal partnerships and allies based on their goals and objectives.

How do I select a Career Coach?

There are many Career Coach’s offering their services out there, so it’s important to find someone who is a fit for you and will help you achieve results.

At the very least, the Career Coaches you evaluate should:

Have testimonials from other clients who have been successful in achieving their goals
Be able to push you out of your comfort zone and challenge you while keeping you engaged in the process
Have a defined coaching process that you will follow to see results

Most importantly, you need to click with the Career Coach’s approach, style and vibe. If you don’t, you’re going to have a hard time learning from them and working together.

That’s why I always offer an introductory call with clients interested in my one-on-one coaching programs. It’s a chance for you to see if I’m a fit and an opportunity for me to evaluate if you are a fit.

How do you – a Career Coach – evaluate if I’m a good fit for your coaching program?

My job as a Career Coach is to help you remove limiting beliefs, prepare you for each stage of the job search (or what we’ve agreed to cover) and do everything I can to help you hit your goals. But in order for this to happen, you need to come to the table with a few things too.

Here’s what I look for when I meet with potential coaching candidates:

Are you coachable? How will you respond when I challenge you or suggest that you approach something differently? If you’re open to suggestions and have a growth mindset, I want to work with you. If not, then I’ll probably pass.
Are you willing to put in the work? The job search is well – a job. Jobs don’t just land in your lap without effort. I am looking for people who have prioritized the job search in their weekly schedule and have set aside dedicated time to do the homework so that we can keep the momentum together. Spoiler: I have dropped clients who didn’t put in the required effort because I want to reserve my time for people who want to put in the work and land a job they love.
Do I think I can help you? If I don’t think I can coach you to achieve your goals because I lack experience or expertise in a certain area, I’ll say so. I am laser focused on connecting with people who I know I can help so I don’t waste both our time and your money.

Now that you’ve had the chance to learn more about how to find a Career Coach and how to determine if you’re ready for coaching, take a moment to reflect if now is the right time for you to partner with a coach and take your career to the next level.

Ready to hire a Career Coach?

If your answer is “Yes, Beckie!” then click the link below to tell me. Look for an email from me with instructions on how to connect. I’m really looking forward to meeting you and hearing all about your career plans.

YES BECKIE! LET’S TALK

The future is bright and I can’t wait to see what your next career move will be.

Let’s go!

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If we haven’t met, I’m Beckie. The Career Coach & Job Strategist for high-achieving professionals. I’ve coached hundreds of people to find and land a job they love. Previously I was a 3x startup founder and ex-management consultant working with Fortune 500 C-Suite teams. I have hired dozens of people in my past roles, I have run national recruiting programs, I have been rejected from dream roles at top companies and I have landed highly competitive jobs through the power of networking. I love helping high achievers create step-by-step plans so that they can actually achieve their career dreams.

December 16, 2022

Career · Interview · Networking · Next Career Move · Resume

3 Strategies To Get Noticed By Top Companies, When You Don’t Know Anyone There

I’m always impressed by people who are highly connected and have a long list of professional contacts on speed dial, ready to help and answer their call. So it has always concerned me when people say that your job search success depends on having a list of close contacts at the company you’d like to work at.

As a career coach who has helped high achievers land interviews and roles at companies like Google, Deloitte, Lululemon, Molson Coors and other organizations in a variety of industries without any secret connections, I know that you don’t need to have a vast network to land a job at a top company.

When you don’t know anyone at a company, you need to take a different approach to make sure your application skips the line so you can get in front of the hiring manager, the right way. Here are a few tips to help you stand out.

Skip the application portals to get ahead of the competition

Last year Google received over 2 million job applications. A recent industry hiring report indicated that 1 in every 140 Google applicants were hired for the job they applied to. In comparison, Harvard has a 1 in 15 acceptance rate so it’s 9x harder to get hired at Google than it is to get accepted to Harvard.

If your only strategy is to submit a job application through an online portal, then you’re not giving yourself every opportunity to stand out. Given the volume of applications that a hiring manager has to sort through, they rely on applicant tracking software (ATS) to score applications and filter to the highest matches before creating a shortlist to interview. To help you stand out ahead of the competition and to bypass the ATS, find out who the hiring manager is and reach out directly. This will ensure your application doesn’t get lost in the application portal and help you get ahead of the competition.

Communicate why you’re the perfect fit

It’s not enough to reach out to the hiring manager, you also need to clearly understand and communicate why you’re the right candidate for the job in a clear, succinct pitch. If you can’t do this, your application will just be tossed to the side.

To get good at knowing why you’re the perfect fit, you need to take a step back and study your past experience. What specific experiences, projects and past roles have prepared you for this job? What skills have you developed that you’ll use in this position? What past results have you achieved that will demonstrate to the hiring manager that you can not only handle, but excel at the job they’re offering? Use this information to craft a pithy, succinct pitch to demonstrate why you’re the right person for the job. You’ll need to be able to communicate your pitch as easily and casually as you rattle off your email address.

Before you reach out to a hiring manager, make sure you have your pitch prepared. Some of my clients had the opportunity to share their pitch less than 24 hours after reaching out to the hiring manager, so being prepared before you reach out is a must. When you carefully study your past experience as closely as you would the job posting or company website, you’ll increase your chance of speaking to a hiring manager, without a referral.

Make connections

Finally, just because you don’t have any connections at a company, doesn’t mean you can’t create them. Look for opportunities to build relationships with employees at the organization you want to work for by searching LinkedIn for mutual connections. Find the company’s page and then search for the people tab, here you’ll be able to see all your first, second and third degree connections to people who work there. Use this list as a starting point to gain warm introductions and build relationships.

Focus on building genuine relationships with people who you want to surround yourself with professionally. Don’t take a transactional approach by spamming your contacts or sending them your resume to pass on, take the time to build real relationships with people who you are excited to learn from. Then, focus on adding value back to your network.

Recently one of my clients followed this approach. She connected with someone at a top company to learn more about their role and background. During the conversation, her contact shared about a job opening that hadn’t been posted yet and invited her to send him her resume. My client didn’t even have to ask!

Getting noticed by a competitive company doesn’t have to be hard

When you’re willing to thoughtfully and strategically approach your job search, you’ll find there are many exciting opportunities that naturally will open up to you.

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November 22, 2022

Career · Networking · Next Career Move · Personal Branding

Networking Feels Dirty: Two Mindset Shifts to Help You Network with Authenticity

Networking is a game-changing skill that has the power to change your career trajectory. But according to research conducted by Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino, networking makes people feel physically dirty. Why? Because we all hate to feel like takers.

We know that networking is very important in the job search. Especially when 85% of the jobs are filled through networking and 70% of jobs are never posted. When you’re on the job hunt, the purpose of networking is generally to ask for a favor. Whether it’s insider information about the company or role, a chance to tap into someone’s network, or just another person to help brainstorm career alternatives, networking in the job search is about taking.

So how do we move beyond that yucky “I’m a taker” feeling and network with authenticity?

I’d like to propose two perspectives to consider; the idea of career seasons and the “pay-it-forward” principle.

After I became a mom, I realized that my career path and expectations needed to change because of my new goals as a mom. For this do-it-all career girl who actually enjoyed long hours on the job, the idea of taking a step back to focus on my family was strange and uncomfortable. However, my goals for myself as a mother outweighed this discomfort and fear of change. I had to finish the chapter of career Beckie pre-kids and turn the page to discover what career Beckie post-kids could look like.

One of the mindsets that helped me achieve this was the idea of career seasons. I told myself that this time with my kids was a season. As seasons come and go, so would this time with my kids. Soon, my kids will grow up and I’ll have more time to focus on my career.

We are ALL in a career season.

If you’re in the midst of a job search, this is a specific season of transition. Soon you’ll land a job and be out of the job search. Soon you’ll get promoted. Soon you’ll lead that big project. It’ll all happen. Rather than wishing yourself out of this season – embrace it, own it.

We all want to be able to do our part.

If someone offers us help, the natural response is to do something helpful for them in exchange. It’s a hard place to be when you feel like there’s nothing meaningful you can do in exchange. That’s why networking during the job search feels so hard. While we can say thanks, pay for coffee and offer to help by sharing knowledge or making helpful introductions, it feels small in comparison to the impact their advice and job referrals make.

That’s why it’s important to remember the pay-it-forward principle. While you may not be in a place to do something meaningful for your network today, I guarantee you’ll have a chance to do something for someone very soon.

If you take a step back and think about your 40+ year career, that’s a lot of time to do a lot of good for a lot of people.

While you may not be able to IMMEDIATELY help someone you’re networking with today, I guarantee you will be able to help someone else down the road.

Especially if you’re intentional.

So, for all my job seeker friends out there. Don’t be discouraged.

As you develop your networking strategy, send intro emails and meet for coffee, remind yourself that this is just a season. Soon, you’ll be on the other end and be able to help others make moves in their career.

Promise yourself that when the time comes you’ll do it and do it well.

My hope in writing this article is that you’ll feel encouraged and energized to shed that “yucky” feeling and network with your whole heart knowing that this is just a passing season.

With that boost of confidence, take time write down the names of 3 people who have helped you on your career journey. Spent 5 minutes writing a quick note of thanks and then press send. As you do, remember, you’re just in a season.

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