Find Your Dream Job: Insider Tips for Finding Work, Advancing your Career, and Loving Your Job - Ep. 083: How to Rebuild Your Confidence After a Layoff, with Jane Jackson

Ep. 083: How to Rebuild Your Confidence After a Layoff, with Jane Jackson

04/19/17 • 36 min

Find Your Dream Job: Insider Tips for Finding Work, Advancing your Career, and Loving Your Job

Losing your job—under any circumstances—is a painful, embarrassing experience, and it’s natural to be upset. You may feel like you’ve lost control of your life, or that you’ll never find another job. Plus there’s the stress of managing your financial responsibilities on a diminished income.

While it’s natural to be anxious after a layoff, you shouldn’t let panic drive you to rash decisions. So say this week’s guest, Jane Jackson. Instead, give yourself time to heal and figure out the next step in your career.

Jane suggests that you reach out to trusted friends and professional contacts to help you avoid catastrophic thinking and maintain perspective. These people can help clarify where you are where you are in life and what options are available.

Only after you’ve properly dealt with the emotional aspect of a job loss, should you create a plan to find your next gig. If you jump too quickly into the job search process, you’re likely to come across as desperate or needy to potential employers—a dynamic that will only lead to more frustration on your part.

This Week's Guest: Jane Jackson

Jane Jackson is a career and life coach who has worked with thousands of clients across Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Europe. She is the author of the Amazon #1 bestseller, Navigating Career Crossroads: How to Thrive when Changing Direction. Jane also hosts the Your Career Podcast.

Jane is excited to be speaking about branding and networking, at an upcoming CFO conference in Cannes. And, she recently launched the online career transition program, The 7 Steps Careers Program.

This Week's Resource

Ben’s resource this week is the blog post, After Being Fired, Answer the Job Interview Question: Why Did You Leave Your Job? from Job-Hunt.org, The post recommends starting with a positive statement and then explain the circumstances around your being fired in an honest, flattering light and then pivot to a positive takeaway from the experience.

Listener Question of the Week

Joining the Mac’s List team as a guest-host is Andrea Gerson, Portland-based career coach and principal at Resume Scripter. Andrea, Ben, and Mac answer Jasmine Ward’s question: "Should I send a cover letter even when the employer doesn’t specifically request one in the job posting?"

If you would like the team to answer a job-related question or if you’ve found a job resource you think everyone should know about email it to [email protected] or call at 716-JOB-TALK. If we use your question on the air, you will receive either a copy of our new book, Land Your Dream Job Anywhere or a Mac’s List Coffee Mug, your choice.

If you like this show, please help us by rating and reviewing our podcast on iTunes. We appreciate your support!

Opening and closing music for Find Your Dream Job provided by Freddy Trujillo, www.freddytrujillo.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Week's Guest: Jane Jackson

Jane is excited to be speaking about branding and networking, at an upcoming CFO conference in Cannes. And, she recently launched the online career transition program, The 7 Steps Careers Program.

This Week's Resource

Listener Question of the Week

If you like this show, please help us by rating and reviewing our podcast on iTunes. We appreciate your support!

Opening and closing music for Find Your Dream Job provided by Freddy Trujillo, www.freddytrujillo.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

BONUS: How Women Can Make a Successful Return to the Workplace, with Farai Chideya

Women are much more likely than men to leave the workforce to raise children or assist elderly family members. Unfortunately, after a prolonged time off, it’s not easy to on-ramp back into full employment. There simply is not much infrastructure to help women step back into the workforce. That’s why it’s so important to be prepared before you take your hiatus.

On this bonus episode of Find Your Dream Job, Farai Chideya, author of The Episodic Career: How to Thrive and Work in the Age of Disruption, explains what women should to before they take time off to lay the foundation for their eventual return to the workforce.

Her suggestions include:

Document all the work you have done. You're less likely to remember everything if you wait until you're ready to return to work.
Sit down with your current supervisor and ask them to itemize your accomplishments and highlight your skill sets.
Ask for the document to be added to your personal file and keep a copy for yourself.
Call upon your current network to let them know you are taking time off and you plan on returning.

You can find more useful job search insight in Land Your Dream Job Anywhere, now available on Amazon. To preview the first chapter for free, visit www.macslist.org/anywhere.

Opening and closing music for Find Your Dream Job provided by Freddy Trujillo, www.freddytrujillo.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next Episode

Ep. 084: Why Women Don't Ask For More Money, with Ashley Milne-Tyte

Studies show that many women don’t negotiate for salary as often as men during the hiring process. Guest expert Ashley Milne-Tyte says women leave money on the table all the time. Salary gaps between men and women often start at the beginning of their careers, because young men are more inclined to negotiate their salary, while women tend to accept the company’s initial offer.

Cultural conditioning and stereotypes are at the center of this problem. Talking about money can be very uncomfortable for many women, whether it’s due to lack of education about finances or fear that they’ll come off as greedy or “bossy.” Hiring managers, both men or women, may consider women pushy or rude while the same behavior from men is seen as normal.

However, there are various studies that show women negotiate very well when they are negotiating for someone else. So how can women take those skills and go to bat for their own benefit? Ashley recommends a book that has become her “negotiation bible: it’s called Ask For It, by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever. It can change a woman’s view when it comes to negotiating.

Techniques to help women ask for and get more:

Do your research. Find out what people in similar positions are making, pulling both national and local salary ranges.
Be calm and understand expectations. Know going in that you may get different reactions. Be calm, firm, yet friendly in your ask.
Don’t accept the first offer. It’s common practice to take a day to consider an offer. Use that time to come up with a reasonable counter-ask.
Have options in your ask. Whether you offer flexibility in payment schedule or other compensation instead of cash, be open but don’t roll over.

Women leave money on the table all the time. By understanding bias, doing your homework, and presenting a well-informed ask, women can negotiate for better compensation.

This Week’s Guest: Ashley Milne-Tyte

Ashley Milne-Tyte is a podcast host and radio and print reporter based in New

York. She has reported extensively for Marketplace, the public radio business

show, as well as local stations and smaller shows. Ashley teaches at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Her podcast on women and the workplace, The Broad Experience, has been featured on best podcast lists in

The Guardian, Fortune, and Entrepreneur.

Ashley will focus on conservative women in the workplace, and Executive Assistants, on her upcoming podcasts.

This Week’s Job Search Resource:

Ben’s resource this week is an article from Inc. entitled Why You Should Tell Your Coworkers How Much Money You Make. The article tackles the touchy subject of discussing salaries in the workplace, and considers salary transparency as a tool for uncovering unfair wage gaps.

This Week’s Listener Question:

This week, Kristin Schuchman, career coach at A Portland Career, joined the Mac’s List team as a fill-in guest host. Kristin, Ben, and Mac answer Samantha Marshall’s question:

“I've been working at my job for several years, and they have told me several

times that they would pay for me to go to grad school, but when I bring it up,

they push back or say they have to consider it. I really want to go to grad school, but I can't afford to do it on my own so this would be a really great opportunity — but I'm worried it will strain my work relationship if I keep asking. How can I advocate for myself and for this opportunity, while maintaining a good relationship with my managers?"

Stay up-to-date with the Find Your Dream Job podcast. Here’s how:

Get an answer to your job-related question on the air! Email your question to [email protected], or call her at 716-JOB-TALK. If we use your question on the air, you will receive either a copy of our new book, Land Your Dream Job Anywhere, or a Mac’s List Coffee Mug, your choice.
Share a job resource you think everyone should know about. Email [email protected], and tell him how it has helped you find your dream job.

If you like this show, please rate and review our podcast on iTunes. We appreciate your support!

Opening...