Chan with a Plan

When to follow up after a job interview

Episode Summary
Max discusses how the follow up is essential in your job search strategy so you don't end up missing out on job opportunities you are interested in. Based on this past week's episode with Sara Curto on 5 innovative job search strategies to get your dream job.
 
TIMESTAMPS
[1:12] The importance of the follow up and how Max got his 1st corporate job out of university by following up
[2:56] Discussing when and how to follow up
 
RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS
Chan With A Plan
Chan With A Plan Facebook Group

5 innovative job search strategies to get your dream job

EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of Chan With A Plan, host Max Chan speaks with Sara Curto, a career coach for helping people find a career they love. In this conversation she discusses her 5 innovative job search strategies, to help you stand out from the pack and accelerate your job search to get your dream job.
 
QUOTES
“We have used [the video resume] very successfully with clients who are trying to break into an industry where they have little to no experience or making a career change. Now, this does not replace your resume, this enhances it.” - Sara Curto
“I am not a believer in a 40 hour job search, I don't believe your job search should be a full time job. In my experience, that's like the worst job ever, gives you like nothing, and then it's just soul sucking, and it's the worst, it doesn't lead you to a good job.” - Sara Curto
“You don't have to do fast food and get an overnight job because you think that's the only place that will hire you [if you have a big career gap]. We can address the gap, we can address your confidence and we can get you in a job you want. And volunteering is one of the best ways to do that.” - Sara Curto
 
TIMESTAMPS
[1:04] Meet Sara
[2:44] The current job search landscape
[4:34] Starting your own networking group
[7:09] Video resumes
[12:00] Volunteering
[16:21] Knocking on doors
[21:32] Taking advantage of everyday moments
[23:16] The importance of slowing down and being patient in your job search
[26:51] Main career challenge that Sara had to overcome to get to where she is today in her career
[32:01] One piece of advice Sara wants to provide to all job seekers out there, looking for their next career move 
[32:43] Contacting Sara
[33:20] Outro
 
RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS
Sara Curto Website
Sara Curto on Instagram
Chan With A Plan
Chan With A Plan Private Facebook Group

How to optimize your LinkedIn profile to accelerate your job search

EPISODE SUMMARY
Max provides his strategy on how he optimizes his clients' LinkedIn profiles to increase the amount of recruiters reaching out to them to generate more opportunities and accelerate their job search. Based on this past week's episode with Willena Long on how to succeed in your job search and get your dream job.
 
TIMESTAMPS
[2:15] Headline
[4:13] About
[5:49] Work Experience
[7:08] Skills
[7:35] Additional tips to optimize your LinkedIn profile to help it stand out
 
RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS
Chan With A Plan
Chan With A Plan Facebook Group

How to succeed in your job search and get your dream job

EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of Chan With A Plan, host Max Chan speaks with Willena Long, an Executive Career Coach and Senior Technical Recruiter for the past decade. In this conversation she discusses the role of a recruiter in the hiring process and what you should do when it comes to your resume and LinkedIn profile to get a recruiter’s attention to get you in the running to interview for your dream job. She also shares additional strategies that have helped her own clients land dream opportunities at some of the biggest tech companies in the world. 
 
QUOTES
“[When it comes to reviewing potential candidate’s LinkedIn profile] I'm going to skim at it first, so maybe 15 to 30 seconds to see if they are a good fit. If I can tell from the 30 second review, they have the titles, a few key details and keywords that are popping out to me, then I'll maybe give it a little bit more time and then do a quick reach out.” - Willena Long
“If you're putting yourself out there, it should be a job that you really want. So you should want to invest the time in tailoring each resume for those jobs. A lot of companies are looking for people that can highlight their brand and not just what you do, but who you are. And so when you're doing your research on each company, you should really be researching before you apply at each company and understand their mission statement.” - Willena Long
“I personally don't read [cover letters], but the hiring manager might. You're writing the cover letter for the hiring manager, more so than the recruiter in most cases. So the hiring manager is going to be more likely to read it than I would, but I wouldn't say it's a waste of time, always try to put one together if you can.” - Willena Long
 
TIMESTAMPS
[0:52] Meet Willena
[4:10] Explaining the working relationship between the recruiter and hiring manager when it comes to filling a specific role
[6:46] What happens after a recruiter posts the job description of a role
[7:37] Why you shouldn’t care how many professionals apply for a certain role
[9:35] Reapplying to a company if you were recently rejected
[10:26] Moving to the next level up in your career externally than trying to do it internally
[12:42] How recruiters look at LinkedIn profiles and how you should write yours to increase your chances of a recruiter reaching out to you
[15:59] The main part of the resume you need to get right if you want a response on your online applications
[17:07] Discussing appropriate resume length
[19:13] Additional LinkedIn strategies professionals should use to help them get noticed and land their dream job
[28:57] The importance of tailoring your resume for each application and how to do it effectively
[31:51] The importance of cover letters for job applications
[33:10] How long it takes to hear back from a recruiter after you submitted your application online
[34:12] Why you shouldn’t worry about the amount of applications for a role and apply anyway if it’s still open
[35:21] One way video interviews and advice on how to succeed at them
[38:00] Common interview mistakes professionals make
[43:14] Tips and advice for professionals looking to make a move this year and how they should go about their job search right now so they can get that next opportunity they are looking for
[44:06] Main career challenge that Willena had to overcome to get to where she is today in her career
[45:41] Contacting Willena
[48:18] Outro
 
RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS
Your Favorite Career Coach - Live Webinar Training Sign Up
Chan With A Plan
Chan With A Plan Private Facebook Group

3 steps you have to follow to start any new career path

EPISODE SUMMARY
Max discusses the 3 steps you need to follow in order to go from someone with no domain expertise in their dream career path, to getting the right knowledge and foundational experience needed for people to want to hire you. Based on this past week's episode with Annie Singer on why you don't need to take a traditional path to achieve career success.
 
TIMESTAMPS
[3:06] Work with people who are experts in your target field
[5:00] Create a portfolio of client work to showcase your abilities
[5:52] Spreading awareness of your new expertise through content creation
 
RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS
Chan With A Plan
Chan With A Plan Facebook Group

Why you don’t need to take a traditional path to achieve career success

EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of Chan With A Plan, host Max Chan speaks with Annie Singer, Founder of Reciple. In this conversation, she talks about her career beginnings where she ended up dropping out of high school due to unhappiness and mental health struggles and took a nontraditional career path to get to the level of success that she has today, consisting of completing 2 degrees, working in her dream field of marketing and starting her own business in an industry she is passionate about. The main message she wants listeners to take away from her story is that you don't always need to take the path that everyone takes in order to achieve your definition of career success. 
 
QUOTES
“I was kind of a miserable teenager in general. And I think a lot of it for me was mental health struggles, and I was depressed and felt very, very restless in school. And so, you know, I think I just had a different learning style than what they teach at high school, because you're really only getting one mode of teaching in high school. And that didn't work for me.” - Annie Singer
“It's okay to look at everything and say, my priorities have changed. And that's why I have burnout. I'm doing this because I want future me to be happy. But today me is very, very unhappy. And it's okay to take care of today me when you need to do that.” - Annie Singer
“Have confidence that you can progress your career, even if you haven't had the most traditional background so far.” - Annie Singer
 
TIMESTAMPS
[1:22] Meet Annie
[3:09] What made Annie dropout of high school 
[4:22] Getting buy in from her parents on dropping out of high school
[5:53] Annie’s plan after dropping out of high school
[10:22] Why the community college environment was better for her compared to the high school environment she left
[13:10] The break she took from community college to discover her ideal career path 
[16:21] Should professionals who don’t have a degree be worry that their career will have a ceiling if they don’t go back to school to get one
[17:39] The correlation between getting more advanced degrees with higher compensation packages and when should someone consider going for a Master’s degree
[21:59] Juggling work and studies for Annie’s Master degree and the experience of burnout
[26:45] Thoughts on taking a step back when you are not happy but believe you are so close to completing a goal that you don’t want to stop 
[31:28] How Annie transitioned out of corporate to start her own business
[35:30] Advice for building a lifestyle you’ll enjoy and staying the course when things are not going as well as you initially intended
[41:36] The biggest factor that Annie believed, contributed to her success in her career
[43:34] Main lesson Annie wants listeners to take away from her story
[45:06] Main career challenge that Annie had to overcome to get to where she is today in her career
[46:11] Contacting Annie
[47:03] Outro
 
RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS
Reciple
Annie Singer on LinkedIn
Chan With A Plan
Chan With A Plan Facebook Group

Defining the line between preparation and procrastination in order to achieve your career goals

EPISODE SUMMARY
One of Martina's quotes in this past week episode discusses how she needed to just dive into the deep end in order to grow in her career and Max elaborates on this in this episode of why too much preparation is actually a form of procrastination, and the main growth and learning you will get is actually by taking action and figuring it out as you go.
 
TIMESTAMPS
[0:40] Why the level of success you'll achieve is heavily correlated to how much action you take, not how much preparation you make. 
 
RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS
Chan With A Plan
Chan With A Plan Facebook Group

How to be a successful female leader in a male-driven industry

EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of Chan With A Plan, host Max Chan speaks with Martina Pichler, a transformational and empowerment coach for aspiring women who want to access their authenticity, creativity, and vision to create a luscious life of their choice. In this conversation, Martina talks about her 1st experience as a leader in a male-driven industry, where she had to manage a team that was all men that were much older than her, and what she did to gain their trust, resulting in building one of the highest performing teams in the company. 
 
QUOTES
“The number 1 obstacle for me, being a 1st time leader, was trust. So you come in, and they see that you’re younger than them, most of them were way older than I was, and then I had no experience in managing or leading a team. Also at that time, the company was downsizing a lot, so they also had a lot of fear, and that’s where trust comes in.” - Martina Pichler
“When you’re a 1st time manager, the 1st thing I would do is find yourself someone in the company you trust as a mentor, someone that you can ask questions, someone who is in a similar position, or had that position already and don’t be afraid to ask for help and support.” - Martina Pichler
“The biggest roadblock for me, was getting out of my comfort zone, and finding myself in the process, compensating for what I didn’t know, with what I knew I could really do, that I was really good at and figuring out what are my strengths and instead of focusing on what I didn’t know or on my weaknesses, I just leverage my strengths.” - Martina Pichler
 
TIMESTAMPS
[0:38] Meet Martina
[6:39] Advice on achieving work life balance where you can strive for your career goals but still have a personal life you can enjoy 
[7:48] Martina’s experience in her 1st role in leadership and how she had to successfully manage a team that was all men 
[15:58] Advice for 1st time managers
[25:00] Navigating workplace politics as a leader
[27:07] Common perceptions of female leaders and how to combat and overcome them 
[33:11] The impact Martina made with her leadership ability on her team before she moved to the next phase of her career
[34:55] Biggest career challenge Martina had to overcome, to get to where she is today
[37:07] How Martina became a transformational coach as the next part of her career journey
[39:13] Contacting Martina
[40:18] Outro
 
RESOURCES & RELEVANT LINKS
Martina Pichler on Instagram
Chan With A Plan
Chan With A Plan Facebook Group