Certified Financial Planner, finance expert, entrepreneur and Founder/CEO of Financially Wise Women, Brittney Castro, recently joined PBA’s Co-founder, Brittany Dolin, on Instagram Live to discuss ways to make oneself invincible in the workplace–focusing on motivation, negotiation, and personal development in the COVID climate. Here are some of the greatest takeaways from their discussion.
Tips to Stay Motivated
One main issue that the two businesswomen discussed was the importance of remaining motivated in one’s job search, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brittney Castro began by posing questions related to what one should do to remain valuable in the workforce through career changes and staying motivated while searching for jobs. While Brittany Dolin mentioned that the job market took a huge hit because of the pandemic, with the amount of PBA jobs decreasing and the number of applicants increasing, she mentioned that jobs seem to be on the rise in more recent months. Still, the market is competitive, which makes staying driven and working hard to improve your chances of landing a dream role more important than ever before.
Brittany Dolin suggested starting with resume improvement, continuously taking into consideration what you look like on paper from a competitive standpoint. She also discussed the importance of tailoring your resume to each specific job you’re applying for, highlighting the skills that would align most with each specific position to increase your chances of being hired. In addition, she suggested reaching out to outside sources for resume help. As she mentioned, PBA is happy to take a look at your resume and provide feedback or refer you to someone who can really elevate it. Most importantly, “learning to be adaptable is crucial,” she said. One of both Brittney Castro and Brittany Dolin’s best tips is to continue to network–even if you don’t think it will go anywhere. “It’s so important whether you are job seeking or not to keep networking and growing your network,” Dolin said. “It’s interesting how opportunity often comes from those relationships without you even knowing it. You could meet somebody in a networking group or Zoom networking event and 6 months later it could turn into a job offer. It can be intimidating but it’s so important to really put yourself out there as much as possible.” Agreeing with Brittany’s discussion of connections leading to jobs, Brittney Castro added, “so much of my success in my career has come from meeting people, a genuine interest in others, and not always meeting to get the end result of ‘what are you going to do for me in business?’ Build relationships, meet new people, learn, feel inspired, and it always turns into something.” Putting the best version of yourself forward on paper with a solid resume in combination with developing genuine connections will go a long way to aid you in achieving your career goals.
Personal Development & Career Enhancement
After discussing how to stay motivated to secure jobs, Brittney Castro asked Brittany Dolin for some advice for individuals who already have career stability but wish to enhance their positions–whether through a raise or a promotion. Because of conditions regarding the pandemic, anyone who has remained employed or has secured new positions is fortunate. As Brittany Dolin said, “if you have a job right now, even if it’s not ideal and it’s not your dream job, be grateful because there are so many people that aren’t working. It’s really tough when you don’t have a job and you keep applying and you keep interviewing and it’s really discouraging, and it also affects your confidence.” Still, she emphasized that confidence is key, and provided some tips to remain confident and passionate toward accomplishing your goals. A first step, she suggested, is to talk to a recruiting agency like PBA to give you advice and open up some potential opportunities. “I always tell anyone we’re working with feel free to reach out to our team, let’s have a conversation,” she said. “We’re always here for you– not just from the standpoint of getting you a job but from an emotional standpoint because finding the right job and securing it is a very emotional process. Anything you can do to feel confident is important.” While confidence may take some practice to acquire, it is so important when it comes to advocating for yourself–whether you deserve a raise, a promotion, or want to search for a new job. Brittney Castro suggests taking this difficult time, whether you have job security or not, to work on ourselves. Positive personal development on various levels such as physical and mental wellbeing will go a long way when it comes to having the confidence to make new career goals and achieving them. Even if these personal developments may seem unrelated to your career goals, they can be crucial in elevating you as a professional candidate and really do affect your ability to make money and be confident in the workforce. “From a business owner perspective–I feel good, I do good,” Castro said.
Negotiation
As Brittney Castro and Brittany Dolin discussed, understanding the basics of negotiation will go a long way to elevate your career success and ensure that you remain content with your career path and jobs you take on. First, as Brittany Dolin pointed out, you should contact a recruiter if you’re seeking a new job because chances are that they will do most of the negotiations for you. For those negotiating for themselves, she emphasized the importance of understanding your worth. She also discussed the importance of establishing upfront some precedents in your contract, such as periodic performance evaluations, that will help you in the future as you aim higher with your career. It’s also incredibly important to make sure you know what constitutes as fair compensation for any role you’re applying to. “Understand the market value of your role,” she said. “Talk to people who know the market in the same industry. Having the salary conversation is important. Understand what you should be making depending on the market and try to get a little higher.” Brittany also emphasized that negotiating and asking for raises and fair compensation is still imperative, even in a pandemic. “The worst thing that can happen,” she said, “is that they will deny your request for the time being, but there’s no harm in asking for more compensation.If you’re already in a role and you’re asking for a raise, it’s really important to be specific,” she said. “Be specific with your ask. It’s really important to go into the conversation knowing exactly what you want and how you got to that number.” To understand what asks and desires are appropriate, she suggests doing market research, understanding what your role is worth, understanding where you’re currently at now, and gathering proof to display why you should be making more. “It’s scary to negotiate–it’s scarier to not get the compensation you deserve.” As Brittney Castro pointed out in response to Brittany Dolin’s advice, practice makes perfect. “It’s like a muscle,” she said. “You practice, you keep doing it, eventually it’s not scary, it’s just part of business or part of work. The worst thing that can happen is they say no.”
You Can Do It
While the COVID job climate is providing new challenges for professionals, there are still many ways to keep yourself motivated to reach new goals and conquer new feats in the workforce. Using this advice and reaching out to staff at the Pocketbook Agency could be your first step to being successful and accomplishing your career goals.