Speaker 1: It's time for the big a qa a to b
Speaker 1: a q a. Would you say the big a q
Speaker 1: a man dude to be a qa with tiffin A.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I forgot b a qa b a
Speaker 1: q a. It's all about you have questions. We have
Speaker 1: answers about career, money, entrepreneurship, child, even your family and friends. Okay,
Speaker 1: and so you can ask your questions here. And although
Speaker 1: we're not your doctor, your lawyer, your therapist, or anybody
Speaker 1: legally that can give you advice, we're not giving you advice.
Speaker 1: We're just putting our two cents in this two smart
Speaker 1: brown girls. That's our disclaimer. So your grandma not us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but this is my favorite time of the week
Speaker 2: because it's been it's been a while since we've done
Speaker 2: career questions. We were on a little break, but we
Speaker 2: got some really juicy questions. As a reminder, if you
Speaker 2: guys want to submit your questions, the best way to
Speaker 2: do that is to either email us. I'm Brand Ambition
Speaker 2: Podcast at gmail dot com or you can slide into
Speaker 2: our dms. We are Brand Ambition Podcast on Nope, Yes,
Speaker 2: we are Brand Ambition Podcast on ig I'm a little rusty,
Speaker 2: all right, So the first question today comes from an
Speaker 2: anonymous email that we got. All right. This listener says,
Speaker 2: I am a forty five year old black woman making
Speaker 2: seventy five dots seventy five thousand dollars a year as
Speaker 2: a remote salesforce administrator. This is the most money I've
Speaker 2: ever made as a yearly salary. I also have great
Speaker 2: health benefits in three stipends that I can use to
Speaker 2: pay from mental health, through lifestyle, and education expenses, in
Speaker 2: addition to having my travel reimbursed. Plus I get RSUs
Speaker 2: every month or quarter.
Speaker 1: What's up to you? Just be clear?
Speaker 2: Oh, restricted stock units?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: So that means either she's on a monthly or quarterly
Speaker 2: vesting schedule, which means once a month or at once
Speaker 2: a quarter, she'll be able to actually sell those RSUs
Speaker 2: for cash she'd like to. Uh yeah, So, she says,
Speaker 2: I have only been this company for five months, but
Speaker 2: I desire to leave asap.
Speaker 1: Plus, I mean it's just like everything is great. It's
Speaker 1: amazing money, money, money. I hate this place.
Speaker 2: Anyway, I can tell you I desire to leave asap.
Speaker 2: My boss. My boss has been quiet firing me since
Speaker 2: about two months into my new role. The job history
Speaker 2: on my resume shows that I've worked mostly temp jobs
Speaker 2: that I don't stay at long. I am new to
Speaker 2: the salesforce ecosystem and desire to continue in this industry
Speaker 2: until I find the right fit. I would love to
Speaker 2: hear any job transition advice from you.
Speaker 1: Well, let's call her demure on demure way, Well, let
Speaker 1: me just because this is not my my I'm just
Speaker 1: going to jump in with like just some things that
Speaker 1: pop out to me that would make me a little
Speaker 1: worried that, Like, because she's forty five and that her
Speaker 1: job history shows that she hasn't stayed in many places longer.
Speaker 1: I'm assuming that that's going to play a role in
Speaker 1: finding new jobs because they might ask, well, what happened here?
Speaker 1: What happened here? And how come you didn't stay long here?
Speaker 1: Also being new to the salesforce ecosystem and wanting to
Speaker 1: stay you know that, you know, typically they're looking for
Speaker 1: a little bit more experience by a certain age. I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm not saying demure, I'm not getting on you.
Speaker 1: I'm just pointing out some things that would concern me.
Speaker 1: So I honestly, because career is where manny shines, I'm
Speaker 1: really curious about her advice with these kind of things
Speaker 1: that are kind of like and also too, I wonder
Speaker 1: what kind of quiet firing her boss has been trying
Speaker 1: to do. I'm like, what that kind of.
Speaker 2: Looks since two months into the role. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: my first question is are you really bad at your job? Like?
Speaker 2: Are there things you could work on? It's maybe a
Speaker 2: nicer way to.
Speaker 1: Be many said what the hell of around here?
Speaker 2: There's something that Demir is not saying worked mostly tempt jobs,
Speaker 2: didn't stay at very long. It's in the fact that
Speaker 2: you're newer to Salesforce. I mean that gives me a
Speaker 2: little bit of hope because the thing is, like Salesforce
Speaker 2: is it's the technology that powers so many companies out there.
Speaker 2: It's a very it is like a very broad sort
Speaker 2: of specialty to have, but it does take experience and
Speaker 2: I'm wondering if, like what kind of training, what kind
Speaker 2: of additional certifications can you get through Salesforce to be
Speaker 2: more valuable to the teams that you're joining. And Yeah,
Speaker 2: with this, I wouldn't give up, Like I think with
Speaker 2: this pay and with the benefits that you're getting, I
Speaker 2: don't want you to give up. I don't want you
Speaker 2: to let your boss quiet fire you. I want you
Speaker 2: to use this as a wake up call and get
Speaker 2: your ish together, because going back onto the job market,
Speaker 2: especially if they're going if it's from being fired, like
Speaker 2: actually fired, it's going to put you in a place
Speaker 2: of yeah, desperation in like lowercase D desperation. I don't
Speaker 2: know if you have savings or whatever, but in the
Speaker 2: sense that like you're not the power is not in
Speaker 2: your hands, Like you don't have that much power when
Speaker 2: you are on the job market and you've just been
Speaker 2: let go. I think you have a lot more power
Speaker 2: where you are right now. But I need you to
Speaker 2: not let your boss quiet fire you, but like get
Speaker 2: with your boss and try to be very open minded.
Speaker 2: And again, I don't know anything about the dynamics. Maybe
Speaker 2: they're terrible, maybe they're treating horribly. I do not know.
Speaker 2: But on the off chance that it's a skills gap
Speaker 2: situation where you're just not meeting the expectations that they
Speaker 2: have for the role, I'm going to need you to
Speaker 2: like get clear from your boss what you can do
Speaker 2: to improve, and then do what you can to improve
Speaker 2: and make sure there's a record of that. And I want. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's the first piece of advice. The second thing is
Speaker 2: I would definitely be job searching before you are fired.
Speaker 2: And it's always, like I said, it's always better to
Speaker 2: be job searching while you are employed. You're not as
Speaker 2: you don't have that I almost said stench, but again harsh,
Speaker 2: you don't have that.
Speaker 3: Like there is an air about like an aura, a vibe,
Speaker 3: a vibe.
Speaker 1: Yes, the mule we try to get to the gather girl,
Speaker 1: but not gave you too hard, unhinged.
Speaker 2: Maybe you should stop sucking so much, and maybe you
Speaker 2: start stop stinking of failure. Okay, but the air about you, Yes,
Speaker 2: the air about you when you are trying to explain
Speaker 2: why your resume has shown mostly temp jobs in the
Speaker 2: most recent job was only five months. Like that is
Speaker 2: giving red flags to the recruiter. It's giving you. It's
Speaker 2: a lot to explain, and unless you're really good at
Speaker 2: telling that story and spinning it in a way that
Speaker 2: helps the interviewer overlook that, it's just a big it's
Speaker 2: a big hurdle to overcome, it's a little bit easier.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that they still won't have paused because
Speaker 2: you are job searching just after a few months of
Speaker 2: working there. But at least you can say that there
Speaker 2: are things that you've realized, you know, once you've come
Speaker 2: on board, that have you know that the scope of
Speaker 2: the role has changed, or management has changed, there's been
Speaker 2: some sort of change, like you can quickly explain that,
Speaker 2: But don't spend a lot of time sort of dragging
Speaker 2: your current employer you want to. Like, my advice is
Speaker 2: always to focus on what you're most attracted to working
Speaker 2: for the company that you're applying for, Like, make it
Speaker 2: about them, not about your ex or you're soon to
Speaker 2: be X, just so that they don't leave you. Don't
Speaker 2: leave them with the sense that, oh, this this person.
Speaker 2: If they ever do quit, they're going to be talking
Speaker 2: crap about us. You know in a future interview. You
Speaker 2: don't want that kind of impression when you are interviewing.
Speaker 2: So job transition advice is to try to make this work.
Speaker 2: I don't. I also think that sometimes people are too
Speaker 2: quick to quit or walk away when things get tough.
Speaker 2: I think that and I'm speaking generally now because demure,
Speaker 2: I don't know much. I don't have that many details
Speaker 2: about your situation, but I have had to talk to
Speaker 2: people who are like I'm done with this. Da da
Speaker 2: da da da, And I'm like, well, really, like, let's
Speaker 2: actually look at the situation and have some tough conversations
Speaker 2: because a lot of people, like a lot of us,
Speaker 2: are not exactly like experienced in understanding how to ask
Speaker 2: for feedback, how to get feedback, how to ask for
Speaker 2: what we need to do our jobs more productively. That
Speaker 2: could actually solve some of our issues. And I'm those
Speaker 2: tough conversations they just take practice, and they take a
Speaker 2: little bit of coaching sometimes, which is what I'm here for.
Speaker 2: But uh, that's a tough situation. Demure. I hope that
Speaker 2: everything goes well. We need updates, I need more info,
Speaker 2: but big, big picture, look for a job while you're employed.
Speaker 2: It's always better. And two, if you're going to be
Speaker 2: job hopping and going into an interview, just own it.
Speaker 2: But have a story. You need to You need to
Speaker 2: be able to piece together the story of why you've
Speaker 2: been making these decisions to put them at ease and
Speaker 2: to eliminate any objections they have. And even a referral
Speaker 2: or like a personal connection to a place where you're
Speaker 2: going to be working can help you get over that
Speaker 2: hump of Okay, it's kind of like a secured credit card,
Speaker 2: like where you put a little deposit down and they're
Speaker 2: willing to give you a little bit of credit even
Speaker 2: if your history is poor. Like that can be a
Speaker 2: reference or a referral from someone who has worked with you.
Speaker 2: But best of luck to.
Speaker 1: Mere Yeah, and keep it keep see, keep in mindful.
Speaker 2: Yeah, unlike my tough advice to take it now, it's necessary.
Speaker 1: It's necessary. We're going to take a quick break and
Speaker 1: to come back. We's got another a juicy question, like
Speaker 1: I said, if you have questions to ask us, like
Speaker 1: although it's not legal advice switching, not just a little
Speaker 1: something something. All right, we'll be right back and we're
Speaker 1: back and blacker than ever. You gotta have a second
Speaker 1: question on Mandra I will read it. Okay, this is
Speaker 1: from Esmerelda. Okay, remember Hunchback of Notre Dame. But Disney movie.
Speaker 1: It was not that great anyway, but as Morelda was
Speaker 1: the part that Demi Moore played.
Speaker 2: What I just sorry I was I thought I was
Speaker 2: gonna sneeze. What are you talking about?
Speaker 1: No, I said, remember the Hunchback of Notre Dame. It
Speaker 1: was a Disney I mean it's a real thing. But
Speaker 1: also it was a Disney movie. They had turned it
Speaker 1: into a Disney movie, do you remember? And so anyway,
Speaker 1: as Morelda was like the character that Demi Moore played.
Speaker 1: She was like a gypsy. Anyway, I don't know. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying this. This lady's name is as Moreldo. As
Speaker 1: Morelda hit us up on She said, hello, I've got
Speaker 1: a question for Baqa. Please keep me anonymous or called
Speaker 1: me as Merelda, and I'm saying we call you as
Speaker 1: more of the girl. Evarella said, I worked for a
Speaker 1: bank and recently received a reduction in force noticed due
Speaker 1: to my location. I was given sixty days to find
Speaker 1: another internal role as the bank is focusing on other
Speaker 1: cities for their hubs. I was never asked to move.
Speaker 1: They have asked me to sign a release, a release
Speaker 1: of claims to get a severance package. What does that mean?
Speaker 1: A release of claims.
Speaker 2: Basically like we it's where you agree that you won't
Speaker 2: try to claim that they owe you more money or
Speaker 2: that you know it would use wrongful termination. Like basically
Speaker 2: what you can't you take away your power to sue
Speaker 2: them or you know, further any negotiations and that in
Speaker 2: exchange for that, you will get some severance.
Speaker 1: Okay, she said, I have several questions. Can you explain
Speaker 1: what a release of claims for health anyway? What a
Speaker 1: relation of wims for a sefference package? Meetings at a
Speaker 1: high level done Before getting the reduction in force, I
Speaker 1: was planning on taking a short term disability leave, but
Speaker 1: delayed it and now regret not doing so sooner. However,
Speaker 1: I did end up submitting a claim and it got
Speaker 1: approved just before my termination date, so at least I
Speaker 1: don't have to work during this period and still get
Speaker 1: one hundred percent salary. I applied for an internal role
Speaker 1: before getting the release of the reduction in force and
Speaker 1: had an interview that went really well. If I get
Speaker 1: an offer, I can stay with the company. My question
Speaker 1: is how can I try to negotiate for a higher
Speaker 1: salary given my situation. I realized I don't have much leverage,
Speaker 1: but I am considering leaving the company because I have
Speaker 1: enough savings to cover me for months and I need
Speaker 1: to focus on my health. This is a lot to process.
Speaker 1: Any thoughts and advice are greatly appreciated. You two are
Speaker 1: the best who.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, this is well, there's a lot going on here,
Speaker 2: and I'm glad that you were able to take advantage
Speaker 2: of your disability leave, even if it's not probably as
Speaker 2: much time as you wanted. Like you said, you have
Speaker 2: sixty days, so some chunk of that you're going to
Speaker 2: be able to take your leave, and then I hope
Speaker 2: you can focus on your mental health. I'm excited to
Speaker 2: hear that. I'm happy and relieved to hear that you
Speaker 2: do have some savings to cover you for several months
Speaker 2: in the event that you just want to focus on
Speaker 2: your health, which it sounds like you might, you know,
Speaker 2: need to, and that perhaps this is like a bit
Speaker 2: of a blessing in disguise that this has happened. But
Speaker 2: that being said, like if we take a part, if
Speaker 2: you take away the need for like disability leave from
Speaker 2: mental health leave just in general, like the whole like
Speaker 2: we're going to fire you in sixty days, so like
Speaker 2: here you go do your best work for us still
Speaker 2: because we can like still fire you. And by the way,
Speaker 2: like sign this release form, like I just it's annoying.
Speaker 2: I mean, in some ways it's nice to get a
Speaker 2: heads up, right. A common complaint for people who are
Speaker 2: let go is that it's like, Okay, tomorrow's your last day.
Speaker 2: Today's your last day. You got to go, And if
Speaker 2: you don't have any severance payment on top of that,
Speaker 2: it's like a huge slap in the face. So I
Speaker 2: would look really closely at your severance package. As a
Speaker 2: career coach, I love reading severance agreements. There's a lot
Speaker 2: to pick apart in a severance package. You want to
Speaker 2: look for things like non compete, Like you know, typically
Speaker 2: they'll have some language in there about whether or not
Speaker 2: they will have an issue if you move on to
Speaker 2: work for a competitor. It typically more applies to like
Speaker 2: senior positions, but not saying it doesn't exist. So I
Speaker 2: would look out for that. I would look out for
Speaker 2: what happens with your benefits, Like you'll want to figure
Speaker 2: out your Cobra benefits and in your case, like even
Speaker 2: if you decide to take some time off in between roles,
Speaker 2: like having that healthcare coverage will be necessary for you,
Speaker 2: it sounds like, so you want to figure out when
Speaker 2: that all goes into effect and how much it's going
Speaker 2: to cost you to continue your benefits moving forward through Cobra.
Speaker 2: Any Like if you have any equity in the company,
Speaker 2: any unvested stock, Like what happens to that? Are you
Speaker 2: forfeiting it? Can you exercise any stock options or sell
Speaker 2: any RSUs before? What will happen to that those benefits?
Speaker 2: If you do not, what will happen to your four
Speaker 2: to one K contributions? Any company matching? That'll all that
Speaker 2: should all be covered in your severance agreement. Let me
Speaker 2: see you can negotiate your severance like if if yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean for sure, Like there's always a case be made, like,
Speaker 2: especially if their severence package doesn't fall in line with
Speaker 2: like industry standards, you can do. If it's a pretty
Speaker 2: big bank, then it's very likely that there are news
Speaker 2: reports of severance packages at similarly sized financial institutions. And
Speaker 2: I have helped even my brother, you know, make a
Speaker 2: case for more severance. And in his case, I was like,
Speaker 2: be sure to compare comparable sized companies in the industry
Speaker 2: and what their severance was.
Speaker 1: How do you find it?
Speaker 2: So news reports are really helpful. Also, sometimes if it's
Speaker 2: a public company, they have to put that kind of
Speaker 2: information into their quarterly earnings reports. Okay, so you may
Speaker 2: find yeah, but typically it's a lot easier to do
Speaker 2: if you work for a company that is like being
Speaker 2: reported on by you know, business Insider, by Bloomberg, by Reuters,
Speaker 2: whatever these like news sites are. But if in the
Speaker 2: event that you're not, Like my brother worked for a
Speaker 2: smaller sort of startup. It was less than fifty employees,
Speaker 2: and he collected information from like peers, So he had
Speaker 2: friends working at other companies like that he'd met through
Speaker 2: his work that he could check in with and ask
Speaker 2: because at the time this was like the great tech
Speaker 2: layoffs of twenty twenty three or yeah, twenty twenty three
Speaker 2: that he was impacted by. There, unfortunately, were other layoffs
Speaker 2: that he could compare himself to. Well else, can I say,
Speaker 2: oh so the internal role? Okay, so how can you
Speaker 2: negotiate for an internal role a higher salary given your situation? Well,
Speaker 2: it's a reduction in force, so hopefully like that it
Speaker 2: doesn't reflect on and it sounds like it's location based,
Speaker 2: you know, it doesn't probably reflect on your particular like
Speaker 2: job skills or your contributions. So I would I wouldn't
Speaker 2: let that, you know, get you down, Like, I don't
Speaker 2: even know if at an internal level is the company
Speaker 2: so big does do they even know about this production
Speaker 2: in force? Or is it just impacting your team. Sometimes
Speaker 2: companies are so big and so global you don't know
Speaker 2: what's happening in like you know, Tucson's office, versus what's
Speaker 2: happening in like Boston's office. Like it can all be
Speaker 2: very like siloed, So that will depend. And if it's
Speaker 2: the case that they are not that aware of it,
Speaker 2: like I wouldn't highlight it for sure, But always, the
Speaker 2: best way to negotiate for a higher salary, including this situation,
Speaker 2: is to be looking for other opportunities so you can
Speaker 2: potentially have competing offers. Clearly, your current company, like your
Speaker 2: current salary, isn't as much of a competitive like a
Speaker 2: competing offer because you both have an expiration date on
Speaker 2: when that salary is going to be over. But if
Speaker 2: you're able to go out in the job market, do
Speaker 2: some interviews, you don't even need like a hard offer letter,
Speaker 2: but at least the ability to say that I am
Speaker 2: in talks with a couple, excuse me, one or two
Speaker 2: other companies and their compensation packages they start at X
Speaker 2: amount of money. That can give you a jumping off
Speaker 2: point for a negotiation. Doesn't mean that it's going to
Speaker 2: be successful, but that's always my go to tip is
Speaker 2: the best thing you can do is to get competing offers.
Speaker 2: And if this sounds way too exhausting for you and
Speaker 2: you just want some time off, and I would say
Speaker 2: use those savings, that's what it's for, but obviously have
Speaker 2: a bounce back plan from when you want to get
Speaker 2: back in the job market.
Speaker 1: Yeah, do you think like Harod being on disability for
Speaker 1: a little while is going to help it's going to
Speaker 1: hurt her own chances in the market.
Speaker 2: Well nobody. Well, I mean, you can spend your disability
Speaker 2: what however you want, like I got. I have definitely
Speaker 2: had mandy money makers who have taken advantage of like
Speaker 2: taking a short term mental health leave, medical leave, whatever,
Speaker 2: because they got approved by their mental health practitioner. And
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to like put like I don't think
Speaker 2: she even said it was mental health related, or maybe
Speaker 2: she should, I forget. But anyway, but then you can
Speaker 2: do with that time what you want to do. So
Speaker 2: it can be job searching, it can be you know,
Speaker 2: laying around and just getting some good sleep and talking
Speaker 2: to your doctors and all of that. But no, it
Speaker 2: shouldn't necessarily hurt I mean, I wouldn't go out of
Speaker 2: your way to mention that in a job interview. You
Speaker 2: can just say, you know, I'm taking a bit of
Speaker 2: a break right now to like, you know, sus out
Speaker 2: my options and I plan to you know, make a
Speaker 2: make a move here soon. And it's again about owning
Speaker 2: the narrative, like just own the story. Like I worked
Speaker 2: here for X number of years and I realized that
Speaker 2: I needed to spend some more time focusing on X,
Speaker 2: Y Z and I'm but at the same time, I'm
Speaker 2: very excited about what I could contribute to your company
Speaker 2: and what I can bring to the role. And just
Speaker 2: kind of say it with your full chest and don't
Speaker 2: apologize for it. Just own it and that can go
Speaker 2: a long way.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, if you've got questions that the answers as
Speaker 1: reallyast to career, business, entrepreneurship and money, honey, the b
Speaker 1: a q A has got you. You could slide into
Speaker 1: our DMS on Brandnavision Podcast on ig or email us
Speaker 1: at Branda Vision Podcast at gmail dot com, or even
Speaker 1: go to Brandavision Podcast dot com and there's a contact
Speaker 1: that's but there until next week. Wait before we go, Please,
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