WEBVTT - The People Who Say They Can Save Your Career 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.960 I stress out about my career a lot, not just 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.480 the day to day of my job, but big picture, 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:12.160 long term stuff. There's a whole field, it's called career 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:16.160 coaching that claims it can help me figure this stuff out. 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:20.000 This week we decide to put career coaches to the test. 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:34.919 This is game Plan. Hi. I'm Rebecca Greenfield and I'm 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.919 francesco Leagy, and this week we are talking about career coaches, 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:43.640 those people who ostensibly can help you figure out all 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:46.559 of your work anxieties and what you want to do 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.040 with the rest of your life. This came up because 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:53.080 you and I, as we do, we're chatting about our 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:57.200 own work anxieties, and the things that bother us about 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.360 our jobs are just kind of nagg at us about 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:03.600 where you want to be in our lives down the road. Yeah, 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:07.679 I was telling you about how I feel kind of 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:11.720 stretched then, Like I do this show, which I like, 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:14.520 and I'm a reporter, which I like, and I've done 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:17.960 video stuff, and I've done just so many different things 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:21.920 that I don't know that I've ever really concentrated on 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.680 one thing to get really good at it. I think 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:27.240 a lot of people have that feeling of doing a 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.120 bunch of different things that aren't necessarily the one job 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:32.560 that they got hired for. And I have kind of 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:37.920 a related but different issue, which is as astute listeners 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:40.360 may have noticed the name at the end of our 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.680 creditist change, the person who is ahead of podcasts here 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:49.000 at Bloomberg is me. So it's cool that I got 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.640 this great opportunity and am in a role where I've 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.640 expanded my job, but it means that more of my 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:59.600 job now is about managing and things like doing this 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:03.680 podcast asked, which I also really like. Um, it's a 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:05.760 little bit at odds with it, Like I want to 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:10.400 keep making things because that's how I got here, but 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:13.880 it's harder because management is a job in itself. Yeah. 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:16.600 I think that's not an uncommon thing that I've heard 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:21.040 from people who shift into management that usually you are 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:23.680 qualified for management because you got really good at the 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:25.639 job you were doing, and then they're like, okay, we'll 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:27.960 put you in charge. And often that means you're no 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:30.120 longer doing the job you want to do, and you're 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.079 doing a completely different job than you were doing before. Yeah, 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:35.600 totally different set of skills and one that I want 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.880 to continue to grow and get better. At but as 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:41.679 with you, it's just sort of like raises these big questions. 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:43.760 What am I best at, what should I be doing, 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:46.360 how do I divide my time? Etcetera, etcetera. So I 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:49.360 was talking about my anxieties with a friend and she 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:54.600 suggested a career coach, which is something I've never taken seriously. 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:59.520 But the coaching industry is this huge industry that exists. 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:02.440 It's expo it. Over the last ten years, there's an 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:06.320 International Coach Federation and membership has more than tripled in 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.560 that time. And this is like a body that like 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.440 certifies people to do this job. Yeah, I know, I've 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.880 heard of career coaches, and I can remember one person 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.520 ever telling me that they saw a career coach um 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:22.440 when they were trying to figure out the next step 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:25.840 in their career. But yeah, it isn't It isn't something 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.480 that I would have previously signed up for myself. Yeah, 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:33.960 it does feel a little bit mushy. I've covered executive coaches, 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:37.840 which are like career coaches but for bosses and founders 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:42.000 and leaders, and they're kind of like therapists but for 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.120 your jobs. The one who comes to mind is this 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:49.040 guy Jerry Kelowna. He's kind of famous in the startup world, 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:53.400 and he was on the podcast Startup and he met 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:55.880 with the founders of Gimlet, which is a podcast company, 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:58.920 and they play a part of their session in the episode, 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:02.640 and it sounds like therapy. They're talking about his parents 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:05.720 and how he was raised and you know, resentments from 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:08.720 childhood and it gets really emotional and somehow this is 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:11.320 supposed to help the founder, you know, be better at 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:14.520 delegating tasks at work. So that's kind of my associations 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:17.080 with coaching. But maybe you know, what they say about 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:21.000 therapy is that like everybody could use a therapist, even 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:24.240 if you're not actively having a lot of problems in 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:26.479 your life, like there's probably something you could work through. 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:29.080 So maybe career coaching is the same thing. Like even 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:31.400 if your career is going pretty all right, maybe you 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:34.760 could use a career coach. Definitely. But the difference is 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:38.240 that therapists are trained and certified, and a lot of 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:41.080 coaching isn't regulated, Like there is that federation, but you 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:44.440 don't have to have a certificate. I think some universities 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:49.279 teach coaching now, but like the credibility is still fuzzy. 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:51.280 You don't necessarily know what the bona fides are of 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:54.360 the person that you're talking to. And even if they, like, 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:56.760 you know, even if they are certified as a career coach, like, 0:04:56.960 --> 0:04:59.400 what does that even mean. It's still such a nascent 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:04.640 industry that there probably aren't really enough safeguards to know. 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:07.360 It's like, you don't know exactly what somebody has learned 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:09.960 that gotten that certification, and you're spending money on this. 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:12.080 It can cost anywhere from like a hundred dollars a 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:16.159 session to hundreds of dollars a session, so you could 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:18.239 be throwing money away. How do you know when you're done? 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.400 How many sessions do you have? Just all very mark. 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:24.159 On the other hand, I think there's a sense that 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:26.840 there are certain issues that nobody else in your life 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.880 is really able to help you cope with. Like you know, 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:34.480 chatting to your friends inventing about your career is is 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:38.200 nice for letting us steam, but they can't necessarily give 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:40.560 you answers that are right for you. And you know 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:42.880 your actual therapist is going to help you with the 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:45.919 mom and dad's stuff, um, but they don't know what 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:49.760 your industry is about. So the idea of somebody who 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:52.960 gets what you do, who knows generally about getting jobs 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:55.919 and changing jobs and thinks about this stuff all the time. 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:58.640 The idea of talking to somebody like that in a 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:02.159 really focused way actually does kind of appeal to me. Yeah, 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:05.240 I find the whole thing incredibly enticing despite all my skepticism, 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.400 Like I really do you want this person in your life? 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:12.080 You want? We all want guidance, or at least I do. Um. 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:14.039 So the only way for us to really figure out 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:17.680 if this career coaching thing is worth it was to 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:20.120 check it out for ourselves. So you and I did 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:23.119 a little research and got a recommendation for a career coach. 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:27.160 Her name is Vicky Solemmy. She charges a hundred fifty 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:29.560 dollars a session, and a few weeks ago we each 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.919 went to see her to hash out our career agst. 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:41.200 On a Wednesday morning a few weeks ago, I went 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:43.560 up to the fourth floor of a giant midtown Manhattan 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:46.640 office building and into an empty conference room to meet 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.160 with my career coach. Hi, I'm Vicky so Emmy. I'm 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:51.760 a career expert with Monster and a career coach and 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.520 a former corporate recruiter. Nice meeting, Rebecca, We're going to 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:56.640 just dig in because at the end of the session, 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:58.480 I want you to feel empowered. I want you to 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.080 feel like you have action items, and that you feel 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:04.680 like there's a shift in um your perception in terms 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.960 of what you wanted to talk to me about. That pitch. 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:11.600 It didn't make me any less skeptical than I already was. 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:14.920 She was throwing around a lot of jargon where it's 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:18.680 like empowerment and action items. She was sounding a lot 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:22.280 like a motivational medium post. Before we met, Vicky had 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:24.240 me send her an email about what I'd hoped to 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.560 get out of our session and why I wanted to 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:29.160 see her. That was the first thing she asked me about. 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:31.880 She wanted me to tell her again why I was 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:37.120 there right now. Feel like I am a reporter and 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.640 I write, and I do the show, and I like 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:43.280 doing all those things, but it's actually really hard to 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:46.360 do any of them very well. That was the problem 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:48.520 I came in with, and she and I talked about 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:51.400 that for a while. Actually mostly I talked while she 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:54.800 typed everything I said into her laptop. I gave her 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.400 an entire history of my working life, from my first 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.000 job to how I got to Bloomberg. I told her 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.480 I went from being a blogger to a reporter to 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:06.200 hosting a podcast, and then I talked about my frustrations 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:09.520 from small things that happened last week, like being annoyed 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.200 a story went up later than I wanted. I just 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:14.640 wrote a story that went up yesterday that was like 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:17.000 kind of a big story for me, and I definitely 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.440 could have gone up should have gone up last week 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:22.160 for like the news cycle it'sbout Harvey went Stey and stuff. 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:25.160 Part of me is like I should have been on 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:28.160 this sooner, but it ended up being fun to bigger 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.040 picture of things like how I want our show to 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:33.600 be bigger and more successful. It's not as successful as 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.720 we wanted to be, as I wanted to be. Every 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:39.040 once in a while she would chime in with a question, 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:41.920 so what do you like most about it about doing 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.120 the podcast? Writing and reporting? What would you enjoy? Do 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:47.920 you thrive on the adrenaline now or no? Because you're 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:50.560 still methodical? Are you like that in your personal life too? 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:52.439 Ors on the work? Were you the type of person 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.080 in college I could like study the night before final 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:57.120 and that's when you worked best? Do you get bored 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:02.319 basically I was venting. It felt good, but venting isn't 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:07.280 something I usually have to pay for. How is this helping? Then, 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:11.800 after thirty minutes of talking, instead of asking me another question, 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:15.199 she told me her way of seeing things. I think 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:17.000 you're putting self in post pressure on yourself, but you 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:18.680 don't need to, and it'll be really liberating for you 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.400 just to like let it go. Um. But the question 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:23.280 is like, how do we do that? And it's one session. 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:26.280 When she said that, and I know that I'm going 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:29.120 to start sounding like a cheesy self help blog post, 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:33.120 it was an aha moment. My problem isn't that I 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:35.960 wear too many hats or I'm stretched thin, or whatever 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:40.800 other cliche. My problem is much deeper than that. Coaching 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:44.200 is kind of like therapy. By talking about one problem, 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:48.520 you can discover a deeper problem and then hopefully make progress. 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:51.719 But then it was like, okay, how do we solve this? 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:56.240 In forty five minutes, Vicky had some ideas. I think more, 0:09:56.320 --> 0:10:00.559 you can just liberate yourself from your own change. I 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:03.320 don't want say change, but like your own expectations. Like 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:06.439 it's great you have high expectations for yourself. That's incredible. 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:09.200 But I think it'll be easier for you even as 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:12.040 you progress in your career, to we'll look at your 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:15.320 resume in a minute to go over your accomplishment and 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:18.720 unlike a therapist, she did give me some as she'd 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:22.720 call them, action items to reach my goals. She told 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.440 me to find a mentor, to write down my accomplishments 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:27.840 in a Google duc and to reframe the way I 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:32.120 think about productivity. Let's define productivity for you, because productivity 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:36.640 for you is probably a published story, but productivity can 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.760 also be that downtime to just take a breath and 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:43.480 be like, I don't have any stories today, Like we 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:46.000 need to just I think reposition what that dead time 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:48.040 is to you, and maybe it's no longer called dead time. 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:51.520 After that, we went over my resume and that was it. 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:55.120 I left feeling like we had to accomplish something. Vicky 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:57.560 have given me at least four actual things I could 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:00.200 do in my daily life, but a couple of them, 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:03.640 like having a mantra, we're on the cheesy side, and 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:06.720 I wasn't sure i'd actually do them. One session is 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:15.280 probably enough for me. When it was my turn to 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:17.240 meet with Vicky, I started out by giving her a 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:20.079 rundown of my career background. Then I told her I 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:23.000 had recently been promoted. I said that with every step 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:25.840 up the ladder I took, I was doing more meetings 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:30.880 and emails and planning and less actual making things. She 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:34.080 asked how I felt about being a manager. Do you 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:36.760 like managing overall? Do you like managing a team? Lighting 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:40.400 the budgets? And you can be honest, there's a lot 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:44.880 of things about it I don't like, like like the 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:49.760 stuff you do. I mean the having to make decisions 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:53.760 about things I don't really care about that much, things 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:56.840 like contract details and planning out what to say in 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:59.920 a meeting with an executive. And I talked about hating 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.640 feeling like I'm constantly trying to solve a million little 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:06.520 problems and not succeeding. That stuff makes me feel really overwhelmed, like, 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:08.480 you know, just like my inbox and the fact that 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:11.080 people are waiting on me for answers to things and 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.920 I don't have them or I have forgotten about them, 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.920 Like that stuff really weighs on me. She gave me 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.880 her concise diagnosis. The further you go up, the more 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:23.839 removed you're going to be from the creative aspects. Right, 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.000 and that's the conundrum, right, because you love it and 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:28.360 you could tell just you get excited when you're talking 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:31.400 about it. She gave me some simple tips for managing 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.959 my time, like putting time on the calendar just to 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:37.120 work on the podcast and finding shortcuts for working on 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:39.760 other things. All of it was meant to create time 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.719 to focus more on the creative side of things. At 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:45.120 this point, she made a casual mention of going out 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:47.960 on my own and starting some kind of venture somewhere 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:51.120 down the line. But there are other opportunities, I think 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:54.040 within the podcast world where you can eventually, Let's say 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:55.640 we have this conversation a few years from now and 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:58.400 you're like, hey, biggy, I am producing and hosting my 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:01.280 own podcast, and I can do from home and write, 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:03.679 and I'm working three days a week. And guess what. 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:11.439 Just crazy? Yeah, full time podcasting, three day work weeks. Yeah, 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.600 that sounds amazing. But this was going off the rails. 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:17.200 I wasn't going to quit my job to become a 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:20.920 part time podcaster who works from home for all kinds 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:24.800 of reasons. So we were just indulging a fantasy. Then 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.439 we got back to talking some more about concrete waste 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:29.600 to clear space on my calendar, how I could go 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:33.080 to fewer meetings, delegate more responsibilities, and even develop an 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:35.600 f a Q sheet. If you're getting the same questions 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:40.480 or smart questions it's like Francesco's faques and then just 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:42.360 emailed to them, or if you have an Internet fight 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.120 that you can put it there. Then we were about 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:47.920 ready to get to the practical part. Vicky was looking 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:50.800 at her laptop, preparing to discuss everything on my resume 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:54.400 point by point, but she made the mistake of giving 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.640 me one more chance to talk. So do you feel 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:01.559 like you have a sense of an action plan? Well? Questions? 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:04.319 I wanted to ask you because you we only touched 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.520 on it really briefly, but you you know, you mentioned 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.160 this like going independent thing, which sounds like a total 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.800 fantasy to me. And I wonder if, like with your 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:17.800 other clients or people you've talked to who have who 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:21.040 who aren't just like you know, single and free to do, 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:25.280 free to take whatever career risks they want, Like how 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:27.440 do people Because for me, I feel like I would 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:29.360 always be in a holding pattern because I'm like, well, 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:32.200 I can't give up you know, health insurance for my 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:36.080 family and my son I can't give up like, you know, 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:39.080 a fairly you know, at least a comfortable salary, Like 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:41.160 I can't give up these things. But I might want 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:43.200 to go independent, but that might mean taking a pay 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:45.080 cut working the way back up, and I feel like 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:47.800 I end up in a sort of feedback loop. And 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:50.200 I wonder how people get out of that, Like what 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:53.720 do people do to like take the plunge or make 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:58.960 the decision like that I can do this responsibly. I 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:01.360 want to stop here first can. She gave me a 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:04.280 bunch of perfectly serviceable tips about how to build a 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.960 side hustle, what types of freelance work was available, and 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:11.000 how to get it. But again we've gotten off track. 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:13.680 This wasn't really what we should be talking about, or 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:16.880 even really what I wanted. I wanted to stay in 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.640 a secure job with health insurance, work in an office 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:22.360 with other people, do more of the things I like 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:25.040 and fewer of the things I didn't. But there was 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:29.000 something so appealing about that fantasy of freelance life that 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:31.360 I ended up talking to her about it for another 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:36.240 fifteen minutes. Finally, fifty minutes into an hour long session, 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:40.160 we started talking about my resume and that last ten 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:41.920 minutes turned out to be one of the most useful 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.360 parts of the meeting, because she showed me how I 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.840 was downplaying some big accomplishments like founding a section of 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.280 Bloomberg's website and how to restate them even though I 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:56.040 wasn't looking for a job. Updating my resume boosted my confidence. Ironically, 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:58.400 it made me feel happier about where I am now. 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:01.280 I just wish we'd spent more time on that and 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:08.360 less time on my freelance pipe dreams. So now we've 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:11.200 had a little time to let our sessions sink in. Uh, 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:14.880 and I'm wondering what we think about career coaching and 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.120 how helpful it is now. Becca, you were saying, um 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:21.040 when you talked about your session, that you did find 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:24.200 some of her tips helpful, and you came away from 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:26.080 it kind of with a more positive feeling. What's your 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:28.760 take now? So there were two specific things that I 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:31.520 thought were very helpful. First of all, she at the 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:33.960 end of the session went through my resume, and then 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:37.440 after the session sent back some edits which I found 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:42.040 really helpful. Like she told me to take out any 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:46.680 word that was like help contribute to or like help edit. 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:49.440 She was like, you can just say you edit, you 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:51.840 contribute to you can explain that you're part of a 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.040 team later. But on a resume, you don't have to 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:58.720 kind of cut off your knees. That's cut off your feet. Um, 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:00.560 you don't have to cut off anybod don't cut off 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.200 anybody parts for your resume. Um. And then she also 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:06.719 said to quantify things. So if I sat on my resume, 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:10.120 I write for Bloomberg, she was like, how often, how 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:13.400 many stories a week? How much time does it take 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:15.440 you to edit the show? Things like that to show 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:18.680 how much work is actually going in to the work 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:20.719 you do. So I found that really helpful. Um. And 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:22.400 the other thing that she said was that I need 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:27.200 to be better at redefining productivity and my being better 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:31.040 with downtime. Um. So one thing I have been doing 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:33.920 is trying to at the end of yoga classes day 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.480 for five extra breaths just to get more comfortable sitting, 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:42.240 which is actually incredibly painful. Well, paint aside, it sounds 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:44.359 like you actually took something away from it, But I 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:47.919 guess the real test is would you recommend career coaching 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.560 to other people? I think yes? What about you? What 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:53.679 did you take away from the session and would you 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:56.520 recommend it? So I'm with you. I really appreciated the 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:58.720 part where we kind of got down to it and 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.560 talked about my resume we could tweak. And what was 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:04.199 helpful to me about that wasn't so much that I'm 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:06.479 trying to shop around my resume. In fact, like I 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:09.679 had to update my resume at the very last moment 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:12.960 right before our session because I hadn't looked at it 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:16.080 in so long. But I really liked what she said 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:19.480 about just keeping a running list of your accomplishments, and 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:20.960 the best place to keep them may as well be 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:23.359 your resume, because not only are you going to forget 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:25.600 some of these details later when you need to know them, 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:27.760 but it helps you do your job better. I think, 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:30.919 to be aware that you're you're in the place that 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:33.440 you belong. You're in the place that you are because 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:36.640 you belong there and you've earned it, and to kind 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:39.320 of just have a little confidence boost whenever you needed. 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:42.000 She said something about reading it over on a bad day, 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:44.800 and I think that could be really helpful. As for 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:49.280 whether I would recommend it, you know, I also wasted 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.199 a lot of time in our session because I was 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:56.960 kind of like highly asking questions about things that I 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.880 thought were interesting, like what the freelance life is like, 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:03.600 but that weren't necessarily going to change my career. So 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:06.679 I think that for me, yes, i'd recommend it, But 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:09.440 I think maybe it's not like therapy, like it is 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:12.439 one of those things that if you're in a certain place, 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:16.200 like you want to change jobs but you don't know 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:18.520 exactly how to get a new job, or you want 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:20.919 to change fields, or you think that you would be 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:22.679 good at another career, but you have no idea what 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:25.160 it is like. You have some big questions, some big 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:27.600 crossroads that you're at. I think a career coach can 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:30.119 be good for that for somebody who's just needs a 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:32.240 little tweaking and the way that they're looking at their 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:36.280 current job. Um, I don't know, maybe it's maybe it 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:39.159 is best left just chatting with friends. I don't know. 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:41.320 I guess I just like talking to people, even if 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:43.879 I have to pay them. And now it's time for 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:50.080 half big Takes, Happy fake takes. If you have a 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:51.960 half big take that you'd like to share with us, 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.240 please call into our hotline. It's two on two six 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:58.960 month seven zero one six six Francesca, what's your half 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:03.040 big take? I have yet another commuting half big take. 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:06.720 So we've talked about commuting, We've done a whole episode 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:09.040 abou commuting, We've talked about how bad it is, and 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:12.119 we've talked about talking about commuting too. I feel like 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:15.359 so people come in and they just start cavetching about 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:18.239 how bad their commute was. Um, And this is like 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:21.160 annoying for some people, and it's necessary venting for others. 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:24.600 But this is what I think. When you had a 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:26.919 heck of a commute this morning and it was just 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:30.920 really something, and when you get to work after a 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:34.160 terrible commute, you feel like you have just been through 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:36.720 a war. And then you get to work and everyone's 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:40.280 acting like everything is normal, and you just want the 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:44.240 acknowledgement that you've just been through this nightmare. So I 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:48.240 feel like every office should have some kind of confessional 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:51.440 booth where if you need it, you can just walk 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:53.840 into this place. Somebody's always there listening, and you can 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:56.640 be like, first, I got kicked off of this one 0:20:56.680 --> 0:20:58.720 train because it went out of service, and then I 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:01.440 had to walk five blocks in the rain to another station, 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:04.040 and then that train was so crowded. I have to 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:06.720 live three trains pass and blah blah blah blah blah. 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:08.359 And you don't have to bother your coworkers for it, 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:10.239 but you can just get it out and start your 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:13.880 day and move on so that that experience is honored. 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:17.000