Get a Job, Here's How - Farnoosh Brock - How to determine the best place to reenter the workforce

Farnoosh Brock - How to determine the best place to reenter the workforce

03/24/20 • 37 min

Farnoosh Brock went from electrical engineer and rising leader at a fortune 100 tech company to being a coach. Speaker, author and sales trainer in 2011 when she started her company, Prolific Living, her work around crucial conversations and trusted relationships inside the serving mindset framework has helped many businesses and individuals to raise their income, influence, and impact.

In addition to her latest book, The Serving Mindset. Stop Selling and Grow Your Business, Farnoosh is the creator of the Crack the Code to Get Promoted corporate leadership and advancement course, as well as the author of three health books and a wellness program. She is also an avid yoga practitioner, an amateur golfer, and a world traveler.

Farnoosh and Katie discuss that the first step to determining where to enter the workforce is to ask "Why you want to reenter the workforce."

Getting really clear on that helps you to get to know yourself, understand what's important to you at this stage and what is going to energize and invigorate you at your next role.

Sometimes people know what they DON'T want to do, but they don't know what they do want to do. To find the answer to this question, start by doing an assessment of your skills and abilities. Then ask if you are passionate about it. If you are both skilled and passionate that is an area to focus on finding a role. That's the intersection of your skills and passions. That is your zone of genius.

The statistics used to be that people would have seven different jobs over the course of their career, but now the numbers say that people will have seven different careers over the course of their working years.

As your deciding what type of work to go back to, it can be helpful to ask about each of your skills: "Is this energizing me?" That's a great question to really help guide you toward doing work that you're happy doing.

Farnoosh and Katie discuss that the first step to determining where to enter the workforce is to ask "Why you want to reenter the workforce."

Getting really clear on that helps you to get to know yourself, understand what's important to you at this stage and what is going to energize and invigorate you at your next role.

Previous Episode

Dina Schweisthal on the process of a technical interview

Dina has been in technical recruiting for 10 years and she's agreed to join us today to walk us through the process of doing a technical interview, and this is really important. It's different from a behavioral interview.

This is the part of the interview at a tech company where they will be actively testing your tech skills, and so you want to be at the top of your game. You want to know exactly what to expect and how to prepare and be able to shine in this part of the interview.

The first thing Dina would say is to ask your recruiter questions:

What to expect in the interview.
Who are you going to be meeting with?
If you can get their titles, if not, take their names and try to look them up on LinkedIn to get a better understanding.
Appropriate attire.

The recruiter is on your side and they want to see you succeed.

During the assessment portion of the interview, you will be reviewing your answers with the interviewer(s).

They are looking to see "Why" did you do it that way? But, also they want to see that level of excitement. They want to see how you think about everything. Eventually in the interview, you can expect to not know the answer. Clearly articulate your thought process to get there? Be okay saying, gosh, I don't, I don't know this, but here's how I might go and figure that out. Or here are some of the sources of information I go to when I get stumped like this.

Remember interviews are two-sided. It's not just them interviewing you, it's you interviewing them. Is this the person? Is this the kind of team you want to be on? The technology you want to work on?

Dina, besides being a master at technical recruiting, also does lots of other things, including being the author of a book, and I love this title. "My fat pants don't fit."

The book is being released in early to mid-June and is the story of her life. It starts on the worst day of my life and follows her on a journey of losing 150 pounds getting divorced, falling in love, falling out of love, and ultimately finding like self-love and acceptance.

Next Episode

How to Adapt Your Job Search to Virtual

1 - Learn how to ask:

Warming up cold emails: from Keith Ferrazzi in Never Eat Alone

• Use an interesting subject line: lead with your connection or your value prop

• Be Brief and Conversational: Write your note, then cut it in half

• Have a clear call to action: Request 15 minutes on the phone and offer suggested dates and times

• Be grammatically perfect

Sample email:

Hi Beth,

I have a favor to ask: I‘m looking to go back to work full-time and saw a Digital Marketing Manager position at BB&T posted on LinkedIn. I know you have successfully juggled work and family for many years and would love to chat about BB&T and see if you can share any information about the position that I've applied for.

I'm always up for grabbing a cup of coffee but if a phone call fits into your schedule better then that would be great too. I've pasted the job posting below. I've also attached my resume so you can get a feel for my background. Thanks for any help you can provide!

My request:

I have an interview tomorrow for a job at Company with Sean and I saw on LinkedIn that you are connected to him. Just wondering if you have any background on him and what he's like?

Thanks for the inside scoop!
Katie

Response:
I went to business school with him and worked with him right after school. He lives two blocks away from us. I’ll call him!

Tip for writing a great email; Write your email and then cut it in half

Use email finder websites like hunter.io to get your message through – this is not stalking!

2 – Master the 15-minute networking call:

Greet & Introduce
Be thankful
Position the meeting as valuable to them
Describe your agenda & confirm

Ask thoughtful, open-ended questions starting your questions with phrases like:

Tell me about...
My research shows...
Describe to me...
Why...

Ask about

New initiatives
Business drivers
How they got there
Career advice

This is not the time to ask for a job! You are building a relationship and gathering information.

Convey your messages and share information

What 3 things do you want them to remember about you?
Use your research to share information
Ask for advice

“Here’s my plan for finding a job in software development. Can you think of anything else I should be doing? Who else should I speak with?”

Wrap it up, take notes and follow up

End the meeting on time with a thank you & a reminder
After the meeting, immediately jot down notes
Follow up

Use your notes to write a personal thank you email

Follow up again after they’ve made an introduction, you’ve read the book they suggested, etc.

3 – Get Active on LinkedIn

Comment

Join Groups

Connect to people you don’t know

Connection request:

Hi, xx,

I’d like to connect so I can continue to follow your success.

Thank you.

Hi, xx,

I’m currently conducting a job search. I’ve always been interested in your company and would like to get connected so I can learn more about what you’re doing.

Thank you.

Now that you know how to adapt your job search to a virtual job search, go do it. I believe in you.