Speaker 1: It was literally like a phantom meeting on my calendar,
Speaker 1: and I was just like, oh, I'm getting right off today,
Speaker 1: and I'll be very honest the interviews that I was doing,
Speaker 1: all the things that you hear about some recruiters ghosting
Speaker 1: and not getting back and being kind of unprofessional, I
Speaker 1: did encounter that. I did not encounter that all two
Speaker 1: and a half years ago. Like it's a completely different
Speaker 1: job market.
Speaker 2: Hey, hey, va fam, it's your girl, Mandy Money and
Speaker 2: welcome back to Brown Ambition. Now, for those who are
Speaker 2: new around here, maybe you are joining us because you
Speaker 2: heard my interview on the Way Up with Angela Yee,
Speaker 2: or you recently checked out my interview with the incredible
Speaker 2: married to real estate stars Egypt Sharad and Mike Jackson,
Speaker 2: or you just stumbled across this show because you're like, hey,
Speaker 2: I'm ready to have a show that centers us in
Speaker 2: conversations about money, career moves, and everything in between. Regardless, welcome,
Speaker 2: you were in the right place. Today's episode is pretty special,
Speaker 2: and I know it's going to hit home for so
Speaker 2: many of you. I was recently on a coaching call
Speaker 2: with one of my beloved Mandy money makers, So for
Speaker 2: those who don't know. Mandy Moneymakers is the community that
Speaker 2: I've run, and it started out as a career coaching community,
Speaker 2: but really it's become a sisterhood. It is a group
Speaker 2: where women from across the country we gather together and
Speaker 2: we support one another through professional challenges. And I'm obviously
Speaker 2: I'm there to coach Mandy Moneymakers as they are negotiating
Speaker 2: their careers. And I mean like literally negotiating like compensation offers,
Speaker 2: but then just negotiating the ups and downs of our careers.
Speaker 2: And Lakeisha is one of the very first women to
Speaker 2: join the Mandy money Makers when I launched it back
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one or twenty twenty two, and Lakeisha
Speaker 2: came on the show because she had recently been let
Speaker 2: go from her job in finance and this was hitting
Speaker 2: out a top. This was back in February or so,
Speaker 2: and I wanted Lakisha to come on the show because,
Speaker 2: first of all, when you're a many moneymaker, I am
Speaker 2: showing up for you all the time, Okay. So I
Speaker 2: offered Lakisha like a half hour like quick coaching session,
Speaker 2: and I wanted to share it with y'all because what
Speaker 2: Lakisha's going through is so universal for what is happening
Speaker 2: in our economy right now. We're going to talk about
Speaker 2: the fact that she got laid off, We're going to
Speaker 2: talk about so much more. We're going to talk about
Speaker 2: the emotional toll of getting laid off, what it feels
Speaker 2: like to get underpaid and undervalued, how she's rebuilding her
Speaker 2: confidence in a job market that is was not kidd
Speaker 2: It is wild right now. And Lakeisha is also impressing me. Honestly,
Speaker 2: She's learned so much in the past few years. So
Speaker 2: she's dropping gems for y'all and talking about how she's
Speaker 2: been leveraging her network and how she has stayed ready
Speaker 2: for new opportunities to find her and has been able
Speaker 2: to make bold career moves even though it feels like
Speaker 2: the odds have been stacked against her. So, if you're
Speaker 2: listening and if you've ever questioned your worth, if you've
Speaker 2: been laid off, if you've recently been laid off, if
Speaker 2: you are worried you're going to be let go, or
Speaker 2: if you're just feeling stuck in your current role, this
Speaker 2: episode is for you. Let's get into it. Here is
Speaker 2: my session with Lakeisha. Thank you again, Lakeisha for sharing
Speaker 2: and being so vulnerable and ba fam. If you like
Speaker 2: what you're hearing, don't forget to follow the show on
Speaker 2: Apple podcast and Spotify and leave a review. It takes
Speaker 2: less than thirty seconds and it makes all the difference. Enjoy.
Speaker 3: I'm proud of you for coming to the group and
Speaker 3: saying you were let go, because that's definitely something that
Speaker 3: I know other makers have had happen and they've just
Speaker 3: not shown up and sort of like stewed in the
Speaker 3: I don't know what emotions, probably like a shame.
Speaker 1: Or shack isn't bare, especially the way it's happening, exactly
Speaker 1: the way that you see on TikTok, like a lot
Speaker 1: of times, particularly for me because I am one hundred
Speaker 1: percent remote. So it was literally like a phantom meeting
Speaker 1: on my calendar. I think that was Monday morning, or
Speaker 1: maybe it was Tuesday. It was January fourteenth. It was
Speaker 1: kind of like a phantom meeting, and I was just like, Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm getting laid off today because of the language and
Speaker 1: it's an important matters. Soon I said, oh, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: gettinglaid off today, and I reached out to one of
Speaker 1: my text one of my coworkers and I said, I'm
Speaker 1: getting laid off today, and she's like, oh, no, it's fine.
Speaker 1: I got the same message, and I'm thinking, well, I
Speaker 1: we're both getting laid off.
Speaker 3: Oh goodness.
Speaker 1: But it can be like a jarring shocking thing because
Speaker 1: it's like within a matter of like what maybe like
Speaker 1: a five to ten minute call, you get this notification.
Speaker 1: So I can see it being embarrassing shocking a lot
Speaker 1: of people in the team worst shell shock because a
Speaker 1: lot of the people have been there. I was the
Speaker 1: least tenured person everybody else fifteen twenty five, thirty five,
Speaker 1: thirty years. So wow.
Speaker 3: And you had been there for a couple of years, right.
Speaker 1: I've been there for two and a half years, almost
Speaker 1: exactly to the day.
Speaker 3: And you and I, like I coached you when you
Speaker 3: got that job. You were coaching. When did you join makers?
Speaker 3: You were one of the ogs, right, yeah.
Speaker 1: And so because from brown ambition, of course, I don't
Speaker 1: hold them up phone like a crazy person.
Speaker 3: You're not.
Speaker 1: Anything. I don't have like a ring, like actually I
Speaker 1: do have a ring, like it's just missing some pieces.
Speaker 3: Ye. The lighting is amazing, girl. I'm in my basement
Speaker 3: in the corner and it's dark and twisty down here.
Speaker 3: So don't feel any don't feel don't feel self conscious
Speaker 3: about that. Well, I want to use this half hour,
Speaker 3: but how do I I want to use this half
Speaker 3: hour in the best way possible, and I want it
Speaker 3: to be all about you and sort of like, what
Speaker 3: exactly is the challenge for you right now? I know
Speaker 3: and shared that you were let go from your job
Speaker 3: in finance, right or treasury kind of thing for a
Speaker 3: financial company I won't say the name. And it was
Speaker 3: like death by a thousand cuts, right. They had been
Speaker 3: laying off people, and so you felt that's the worst
Speaker 3: you feel it creeping up, right, So tell me it's
Speaker 3: been a couple of months since then, what's your what
Speaker 3: do you feel like your main challenge is right now?
Speaker 3: And like what's keeping you up at night? If anything?
Speaker 1: So the good thing is I was able to find
Speaker 1: another role internally with the same company, so they laid
Speaker 1: us off from January fourteenth and February fourteenth. I was
Speaker 1: extended an offer internally. And so I know it may
Speaker 1: seem like, well, why are we on the call? So
Speaker 1: it's a couple of things. I would No, it doesn't.
Speaker 3: I'm just saying I'm happy for you. Damn, I wish
Speaker 3: you had told us. Did you tell us?
Speaker 1: I thought I thought I said something, But I think
Speaker 1: also kind of like the climate of it. I was like, well,
Speaker 1: you know other people have but other people that I
Speaker 1: discovered that had been laid off, I was reaching out
Speaker 1: to them like separately, like hey, can do you want
Speaker 1: to review each other's resumes? And YadA YadA yadda, And
Speaker 1: so I did tell them, and I was like, Hey,
Speaker 1: these recruits will reaching out to me, Can I pass
Speaker 1: your name off to them? Kind of thing. So I
Speaker 1: may have said it in the group to everyone, but
Speaker 1: I know that the people that I was connecting with
Speaker 1: that had also recently been laid off, i'd spoken to
Speaker 1: them because I was like, hey, can I just kind
Speaker 1: of pass you off to those like external recruiters that
Speaker 1: have been reaching out to me?
Speaker 3: Well, you're so compassionate and you're almost to a fault,
Speaker 3: you know, I think that even to take this call.
Speaker 3: You were like, I don't know, I kind of should
Speaker 3: I take this spot because I don't know if I'm
Speaker 3: the right person. Like here, girl, if you don't come
Speaker 3: get this.
Speaker 1: Spot, Like I was, just like, so many people been
Speaker 1: laid off. You know federally and you know, corporate and
Speaker 1: even local government. But I was like, well, you know,
Speaker 1: I still do have some questions and some things that
Speaker 1: I'm working on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so what's your big question? Then what's your big
Speaker 3: challenge right now?
Speaker 1: So to your point, I did feel the layoffs coming.
Speaker 1: So and one thing that one of the many great
Speaker 1: things about makers is that you teach us to just
Speaker 1: always be looking. So I had even taken like a
Speaker 1: couple of interviews during my two and a half years,
Speaker 1: like before well almost two years before I felt the
Speaker 1: layoffs coming. So I'd always been in contact with recruiters.
Speaker 1: So even that the day they announced the layoffs, I
Speaker 1: hit control alt to lead. I'm like, I'm taking the
Speaker 1: rest of the day off, and I reached out to
Speaker 1: a recruiter who had reached out to me two days before.
Speaker 1: It's like, hey, it's the opportunity still exist. But with
Speaker 1: that that was just like entirely too far away. That
Speaker 1: was like an hour and a half away from my home,
Speaker 1: and they didn't want to do hybrid. And then my
Speaker 1: thought was, well, even if I talked them into hybrid,
Speaker 1: at any time, they could say no, we need you.
Speaker 1: In all five days and I just simply me and
Speaker 1: my eleven year old car just can't take.
Speaker 3: Three hours a day, and that's without trying to right.
Speaker 1: And you know the area I live in, so I'm
Speaker 1: in Maryland and so it's it would be close to
Speaker 1: DC where I was going, so there's gonna be traffic.
Speaker 1: So that was always a good thing. So I was
Speaker 1: always on the lookout. But here's the thing. When I
Speaker 1: got the role, It's a lateral move. And so what
Speaker 1: they did, they were really smart and crafty. What they
Speaker 1: did was our raises take effect March, and so they
Speaker 1: were like, well, since you were about to get a raise,
Speaker 1: and this is the lateral move, we're just gonna bump
Speaker 1: you up. What it was, so there was kind of
Speaker 1: like no room for negotiating a higher salary basically I
Speaker 1: and I did try trust me, but of course keeping
Speaker 1: in mind like, well, you're also about to get laid
Speaker 1: off and then I'll be very honest the interviews that
Speaker 1: I was doing, all the things that you hear about
Speaker 1: some recruiters ghosting and not getting back and being kind
Speaker 1: of unprofessional, I did encounter that. I did not encounter
Speaker 1: that all two and a half years ago. Like it's
Speaker 1: a completely different job market, So I'm thinking the recruiters
Speaker 1: are kind of being a little shaky, and I'm glad
Speaker 1: I took the role because the other role that I
Speaker 1: was seriously entertaining, they came back and said they went
Speaker 1: with another candidate. So even before I was like, they're
Speaker 1: definitely going to lay us off, I did want a
Speaker 1: higher salary, so that's why I was fine with looking.
Speaker 1: So now I feel like I'm in a position where
Speaker 1: at least for another year, right, because at this company,
Speaker 1: you have to stay in the role for a year
Speaker 1: before you post out to anything else, whether it be
Speaker 1: a promotion within the group or elsewhere, a.
Speaker 3: Job on different like internally somewhere else like you did
Speaker 3: for this one.
Speaker 1: Even if I still have to wait a year, which
Speaker 1: I'm not opposed to that because quiet as it's kept,
Speaker 1: I do see the value in my role in at
Speaker 1: least sometimes being in the office, so even if that's
Speaker 1: two days a week, so I would be opposed to that.
Speaker 1: So now it's kind of like I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: locked in for at least another year at this salary.
Speaker 1: And then this is a difficult year for everybody to
Speaker 1: be looking, right, because we have that's why I said,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna take this role while they're offering I'm
Speaker 1: not going to look any further. Because it's like we
Speaker 1: have the college graduates, we have the federal employees who
Speaker 1: sometimes have three and four degrees because they just kept
Speaker 1: going to school because it was being paid for.
Speaker 3: Interesting stories. Interpretation of the why what she wants today?
Speaker 1: I do always do that, but I just say because
Speaker 1: I don't, because I know these people love. I would
Speaker 1: say most of my friends are within the federal government,
Speaker 1: and they do fall into that demographic of I just
Speaker 1: went through a breakup, Let me go get a master's
Speaker 1: another master's. So like, they do have lots of degrees
Speaker 1: and not the amount of student loans right because they
Speaker 1: were paid for. And then there are other corporate peoples.
Speaker 1: So I was like, okay, let me play it safe
Speaker 1: because I like having gas, an electric, and shelter, and
Speaker 1: they had offered a severrance. So my ideal plan was
Speaker 1: I'm going to take this sovereigns and find another high
Speaker 1: painting job. How many were they offering, either fourteen or
Speaker 1: fifteen I think maybe fifteen, you know which, considering the
Speaker 1: short amount of time that I've been there, I don't
Speaker 1: think that I wasn't expecting that amount of servers at all.
Speaker 3: That's good compared to what I've seen, you.
Speaker 1: Know, yeah, comparatively because the last time with the layoff,
Speaker 1: they were basing it on tenure, so it was two
Speaker 1: weeks per year of service. And if that would have
Speaker 1: been the case for me, yeah, I would have had
Speaker 1: one check plus my on my PTO and whatnot. So
Speaker 1: now my challenge is I never answered the question is
Speaker 1: should I dedicate myself fully to looking for work elsewhere
Speaker 1: or gearing up for that year to look somewhere else
Speaker 1: within the company, or should I kind of like play
Speaker 1: it safe. Because then the other part is I was like, well,
Speaker 1: speaking of degrees, they have this program where if you
Speaker 1: take a certain major, they don't reimburse you, they just
Speaker 1: pay for it up front your company. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Nice.
Speaker 1: So I was thinking, well, you know, if I stay
Speaker 1: around another year, I'll be invested fully the four one
Speaker 1: K and the pension of though obviously my pension won't
Speaker 1: be a whole lot only haven't been there on.
Speaker 3: The pension and the four to one K, Like the
Speaker 3: vesting schedule deep to start over since you moved to Oka,
Speaker 3: no schedule for your four one K you're talking about
Speaker 3: for the match that they're giving you.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, to keep the match, which isn't you know,
Speaker 1: it's not a huge deal. But I was only like
Speaker 1: a I was only like a years and change away,
Speaker 1: So you know it's four.
Speaker 3: Years, so you would have had to work four years
Speaker 3: to get the match, right, that has been accumulating. Okay,
Speaker 3: that's a nice little carrot. I can see how that
Speaker 3: would get right.
Speaker 1: So then, and like I said, the pension that they
Speaker 1: have and so now I'm like, well, if they're going
Speaker 1: to pay for me to go to school, maybe I
Speaker 1: should get this masters that I was looking at. And
Speaker 1: like I said, the beauty of it is, it's not
Speaker 1: a reimbursement. It's a if you take within this you
Speaker 1: know this list, which is something that I was interested
Speaker 1: in any way, Like, I'm not making it fit into
Speaker 1: that list. Yeah, we'll just pay for it out right.
Speaker 3: So I'm just like, maybe, wait, so they would pay
Speaker 3: for it upfront? Okay, what are the strings attached? Would
Speaker 3: you have to stay there a certain amount of time?
Speaker 1: No, that's why I think I want to the only
Speaker 1: thing I would say strings here are the strings is
Speaker 1: they have certain schools and they're all real I shouldn't
Speaker 1: say real schools. They're all accredited, nonprofit, non for profit schools.
Speaker 1: So I couldn't just, for example, say oh, I want
Speaker 1: to go to University of Baltimore, Like there are certain
Speaker 1: schools that they have for certain majors. So I would
Speaker 1: say those are the strings. Oh, even if I wanted
Speaker 1: to go to University of Maryland, which they do offer,
Speaker 1: I could not go in the classroom. I have to
Speaker 1: do online, which is strings for some people, is not
Speaker 1: for others. You know, some people do learn better. So
Speaker 1: those are the only strings that I would say. But no,
Speaker 1: I checked, I double checked. I called HR. I've spoken
Speaker 1: to people who have been in the program, people who
Speaker 1: are in the program, took a break. People. We are
Speaker 1: almost done with the program, and there's no obligation of
Speaker 1: now you have to stay two years, three years, or
Speaker 1: what have you.
Speaker 3: That's unusual but great. I love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So this, I was like, let's think about this.
Speaker 1: Since I will potentially be staying for another year, let's
Speaker 1: make it work.
Speaker 3: And was this available to all employees or do you
Speaker 3: have to stay there for a certain amount of time? First?
Speaker 1: I think once you passed six months, okay, gotcha.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Hey, ba fam, We're gonna take a quick break,
Speaker 3: pay some bills, and we'll be right back. Welcome back,
Speaker 3: bea fam. Let's get back to the show. So we
Speaker 3: try to recap and see if I'm hearing things correctly.
Speaker 3: So in January, you were being let go from your
Speaker 3: position at this financial firm, but in tandem with that,
Speaker 3: you had already been in the running for another position
Speaker 3: at the company, and so it just so happened that
Speaker 3: those things overlapped, so you could have if you had
Speaker 3: been laid off, you would have gotten these fourteen weeks.
Speaker 3: But you had another opportunity pop up, and so instead
Speaker 3: of taking the severance and piecing out, you decided, you know,
Speaker 3: the job market is nuts. Let me take this offer
Speaker 3: and I'll stay within the company and I'll you know,
Speaker 3: ride out however long I can. And Okay. And then
Speaker 3: when you took that new internal role at the lateral move,
Speaker 3: and you were on track to receive a raise this
Speaker 3: march already, and instead of giving you an opportunity to
Speaker 3: negotiate compensation, they said, well, we're just going to give
Speaker 3: you like you're gonna get a raised soon, so we'll
Speaker 3: just keep your compensation where it is. Am I understanding
Speaker 3: that right?
Speaker 1: Exactly?
Speaker 3: So now you're at a place where you already thought
Speaker 3: you were being underpaid before, and they've so you're pretty
Speaker 3: much at a zero netnet zero like net net the
Speaker 3: same as far as your earnings. You're going to get
Speaker 3: a pay bump this month. How many percentage points are
Speaker 3: three percent? So barely cost of living and creating at
Speaker 3: the same place.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: So you were feeling underpaid before, you're still underpaid, but
Speaker 3: at least you have some job security, right right? Okay,
Speaker 3: So now you're wondering should I be?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 3: And also you have this challenge where you are tied
Speaker 3: to staying with this organization for the next year if
Speaker 3: you want to, like you, you're not allowed to move
Speaker 3: from your job. Obviously, you can quit and get a
Speaker 3: job externally, but if you want to stay with this company,
Speaker 3: you got to stay there for a year before they'll
Speaker 3: let you think about getting a promotion or moving to
Speaker 3: another situation. Okay, trying to get all the threads together,
Speaker 3: all right, So should you be dedicating your all to
Speaker 3: this now next year so you can make the most
Speaker 3: of it in in pursue that promotion or another role
Speaker 3: within the company or should you be spending part of
Speaker 3: your time searching for a job and trying to get
Speaker 3: on that out of there? All right, you've been through
Speaker 3: a lot, you have, and I think you've deserved some
Speaker 3: wusaw Like it's stressful as hell, even though it worked
Speaker 3: out for you, even though you were on the brink
Speaker 3: of being let go and you happen to get another opportunity,
Speaker 3: that's as stressful as hell time. And I know it
Speaker 3: was stressful because one, I've been there. Two you also
Speaker 3: have all this noise of the economy. And I know
Speaker 3: I was teasing you a little bit about it, but
Speaker 3: you're totally right. The job market right now is insane
Speaker 3: in a lot of ways. There are so many federal
Speaker 3: workers who are being let go now some of them
Speaker 3: have been brought back. There's all these lawsuits. We're not sure,
Speaker 3: but you know, you're also looking, like you said, to
Speaker 3: college graduation season and then you're competing with new graduates.
Speaker 3: Although I would say with your experience, what competition like,
Speaker 3: you're not going after You're not probably going after the
Speaker 3: jobs that they're going after. You know, yeah, big outside
Speaker 3: for they're coming an entry level. You've been in the
Speaker 3: game for how many years now, like you have twenty
Speaker 3: twenty girl, I know you're not gonna less some twenty
Speaker 3: two year old stress you out.
Speaker 1: No, well no, because this is just always the well,
Speaker 1: we could always downgrade this role, work them to death,
Speaker 1: pay them seventy five percent as much.
Speaker 3: Which you can't control, you know, yeah, there, I can't
Speaker 3: control that. But I want you to stand on the
Speaker 3: business of like your level of experience, you know, And
Speaker 3: I think that sometimes we can one, especially when you've
Speaker 3: just been let go. It's a knock to the ego.
Speaker 3: You already feel like you're underpaid. I know we're also
Speaker 3: tough on ourself, and I know you're probably thinking, I mean,
Speaker 3: even before that whole layoff situation, you weren't one hundred
Speaker 3: percent happy with the job there, if we can say,
Speaker 3: and at twenty years in, you're probably you know, I
Speaker 3: don't want to put words in your mouth, but it
Speaker 3: can be disheartening to feel like, well, damn, I'm I'm
Speaker 3: not happy here. Now I'm being reminded I'm disposable, and
Speaker 3: now they got me, you know, by the you know what,
Speaker 3: because they're not going to enter saying we're not going
Speaker 3: to give you a raise, what you're going to do
Speaker 3: about it.
Speaker 1: Right gladly happily said that.
Speaker 3: And you know, I don't think that you owe them
Speaker 3: anything in terms of loyalty. I do think that you
Speaker 3: deserve some time to just like you know, we've saw
Speaker 3: a little bit with all this like stress that's been happening,
Speaker 3: and you know, you've been in the new role for
Speaker 3: a month, and I hope that that's going well. But
Speaker 3: as soon as you feel settled, I do think that
Speaker 3: you should be keep doing what you were doing before
Speaker 3: when you got when you were afraid you're going to
Speaker 3: be let go, and reach out to those recruiters and
Speaker 3: in those contacts and keep them warm because of the
Speaker 3: state of the economy, because of the state of the
Speaker 3: job market, because you barely survived a layoff just a
Speaker 3: couple of months ago. I think at this and you're
Speaker 3: still with that company that almost let you go, and
Speaker 3: I don't know, but i'd have a hard time trusting
Speaker 3: them after that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's a that's a factor the only reason
Speaker 1: why nothing is secure, Like you said, but at least
Speaker 1: if it happens again, unless there's some big sweeping changes,
Speaker 1: they've showed their hand, so at least I would know
Speaker 1: what to expect as far as the severance package that
Speaker 1: they offer, So that's the only silver lining. But yeah,
Speaker 1: absolutely there's no there's no trust here.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna put a We have a comment in the
Speaker 3: chat from BRC. They said, do oh speaking about the education,
Speaker 3: do it? I completed BSN program.
Speaker 1: What's a BSN congratulations?
Speaker 3: I was able to work in complete online classes and
Speaker 3: when reimburse monthly sweets. I love that for y'all. Also,
Speaker 3: what would your degree be in? What were you thinking of.
Speaker 1: Pursuing, So saying about a master's in data analytics because
Speaker 1: that goes well with finance. Also considering the fact that
Speaker 1: a lot of times I wouldn't want to be part
Speaker 1: of the problem, but a lot of times they are
Speaker 1: looking to streamline solutions. So if you can, you know,
Speaker 1: streamline work, learning how to navigate stuff, if you can
Speaker 1: learn SEQL and you know, learn how to make programs
Speaker 1: talk to each other, then you know you're slightly more
Speaker 1: not only slightly more valuable. But these are things that
Speaker 1: I just in the course of my work, I'm just like, oh,
Speaker 1: wish I was better at this. So it's not even
Speaker 1: a matter of I think it's a good fit for
Speaker 1: me because it's not just a matter of this is
Speaker 1: how I would make more money, it's this is how
Speaker 1: I can get better at my function. And I want
Speaker 1: to learn more about this kind of thing against you.
Speaker 3: It makes you broadly more appealing in the moment. Yeah,
Speaker 3: how long would that take?
Speaker 1: Though, depending on how many credits I take a year
Speaker 1: to two years.
Speaker 3: Okay, so if I oh.
Speaker 1: Oh, I was going to say, probably, if I push hard,
Speaker 1: I could do a year. But being there, I haven't
Speaker 1: been to school in a while, I would start out
Speaker 1: on the more conservative credits and then if I find
Speaker 1: that I'm comfortable, like, try to bump it up.
Speaker 3: That's smart because life does be life. And I was
Speaker 3: going to say, when it came to the schooling, you know,
Speaker 3: especially with data analytics, I'm a little concerned about AI
Speaker 3: right now. When it comes to data analytics roles, I'm
Speaker 3: just not concerned, but I'm I want to stay open
Speaker 3: to the idea of and I think in the past
Speaker 3: few years, especially data analytics is one of the you know,
Speaker 3: it's one of the most popular like certificates or you know,
Speaker 3: courses that have have been prolific and a lot of
Speaker 3: people have taken them, and it makes so much sense.
Speaker 3: It's been applicable to so many types of roles, and
Speaker 3: there's all sorts of ways to learn about that, and
Speaker 3: you know, from free introductory courses to like full fledged
Speaker 3: degrees like you're talking about. I question. I would look
Speaker 3: at the program and basically ask that question of them,
Speaker 3: because I almost feel like the first leg up was
Speaker 3: to learn these different languages and learn how to make
Speaker 3: these softwares talk to each other or sorry, these you know,
Speaker 3: data systems talk to each other. The next level is
Speaker 3: going to be how do we learn with AI that
Speaker 3: can do these things for us? So what prompts do
Speaker 3: we give the AI to do this, you know whatever?
Speaker 3: And I'd be surprised if there weren't already some AI
Speaker 3: out there, And so I'm just like bringing that up
Speaker 3: as an idea to look into there is I don't know,
Speaker 3: I can't see.
Speaker 1: I can't remember if it was a full fledged degree
Speaker 1: or if it was a certificate, but there because that
Speaker 1: picked like three different interests and so they showed me
Speaker 1: the different programs within the interest So I think cybersecurity,
Speaker 1: data analytics and AI and so, like I said, I
Speaker 1: can't remember if it's a full fledged degree. I'm sure
Speaker 1: it is somewhere, or if it was just a certificate,
Speaker 1: because like I said, of course, I'm kind of beholden
Speaker 1: to like their universities and course programs, so that it
Speaker 1: might be a degree somewhere, but I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: they offer it or if it's just a case.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that sounds great, honestly, the certifications, I would say
Speaker 3: I would take full advantage of that because that's to
Speaker 3: me a form of compensation. Yes, I know some online
Speaker 3: programs can cost like thousands of dollars even for a certification,
Speaker 3: so you know, I I one hundred percent I think
Speaker 3: you should go for it. I also feel like because
Speaker 3: it's applicable to your career in general, will make you
Speaker 3: more attractive. That just gives me. Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 3: think that you could put your head down, you could
Speaker 3: put your energy into this course. But I am I'm
Speaker 3: never going to tell anyone to not keeping not keep
Speaker 3: their eyes open for new opportunities.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, as you're.
Speaker 3: Enrolled in this course and you're starting to learn more,
Speaker 3: you can already start putting on your resume.
Speaker 1: You know, Yeah, I didn't think of that. That's why
Speaker 1: you have put it in your letter.
Speaker 3: You know, bring it up in conversation. You can even
Speaker 3: when you're when you talk to those recruiters or contacts
Speaker 3: that you've been making, and you've been so wise to
Speaker 3: stay open. I know you had some shitty experiences with
Speaker 3: some of these recruiters because they do.
Speaker 1: We acting creater, and I will say that it was
Speaker 1: only one that was directly with a company. It was
Speaker 1: kind of shocking. It was so shocking that I went
Speaker 1: enrolled by the company to make sure. I'm like, this
Speaker 1: company still exists, right, because.
Speaker 3: I think otherwise it was like external recruits.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I would say, yeah, so the the people
Speaker 1: who were internal, like I said, it was just the
Speaker 1: one that was it was so shockingly bad. I said,
Speaker 1: let me just ride by this place and make sure
Speaker 1: it's still there, because that was like if LinkedIn had
Speaker 1: a reality show, that would have been it. But I'm sorry, yeah,
Speaker 1: but I was like, it had happens. But yeah, that's
Speaker 1: one of the things that I guess I was grateful
Speaker 1: for because I was like, oh, well, yeah, I've been,
Speaker 1: you know, keeping in contact and reaching out. And I
Speaker 1: had a couple of them, like even before this happened,
Speaker 1: reach out and it's just like, hey, you know, I
Speaker 1: remember it from the last time you want to Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll interview for it. So, like I said, that was
Speaker 1: one of all the good advice that you gave us
Speaker 1: to have immediately been able to reach out to somebody
Speaker 1: and they're just like, yeah, let me put some time
Speaker 1: on my calendar for tomorrow. Are you free? Yes? I am,
Speaker 1: so yeah. I'm going to continue to do that and
Speaker 1: then to keep the skills up to date, and then
Speaker 1: that forces me to keep my resume up to date, because,
Speaker 1: like I said, that's the problem that some people are happening, because,
Speaker 1: like I said, my team was full of long timers
Speaker 1: who have been there for like thirty thirty five years
Speaker 1: some of them, so to try to go back and update,
Speaker 1: I mean they have been in the same position, but
Speaker 1: most of them have been in this position for at
Speaker 1: least five years, So going back and updating five years
Speaker 1: worth of experience and projects and whatnot. Where I've tried
Speaker 1: to every at least every four months, like look at
Speaker 1: my resume. Have I been doing any projects? Can I
Speaker 1: reword things better? Also took advantage of the service, you know,
Speaker 1: because they always offer you like career transition service. So
Speaker 1: I had my resume rewritten by the internal placement specialists
Speaker 1: and out the external company that they you know how
Speaker 1: they'll give you, you know how, they'll give you like three
Speaker 1: four months of a career transitioning service when you're let go.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, so I did that.
Speaker 3: This most recent But you weren't technically laid off, were you?
Speaker 3: Or were you?
Speaker 1: I wasn't, but I was going to be. So I
Speaker 1: didn't get the new role until February fourteenth, So they
Speaker 1: had already prepaid for four months.
Speaker 3: Oh nice, I love a double dip.
Speaker 1: They had already preved for a Yeah, so they actually
Speaker 1: just sent me back the second rewrite of my resume.
Speaker 3: Great, So, were you able to get any of your
Speaker 3: severance payment?
Speaker 1: No, because my last day would have been March twenty eighth.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, it was one of those delayed things.
Speaker 1: Okay, god, yeah, yeah so it was. It wasn't right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: So it was kind of like a slow bar, not
Speaker 1: a slow burn, because it also gave people, you know,
Speaker 1: opportunities to look internal. But yeah, so my last day
Speaker 1: would have been March twenty eighth.
Speaker 3: Okay, gotcha. Wh I definitely think that you were You
Speaker 3: said that you tried to negotiate the salary. And they
Speaker 3: were stingy about it, right, like no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 3: Well then and at the same time, like the in
Speaker 3: terms of like traditional negotiating leverage, like they could be like, well,
Speaker 3: you almost didn't have a job.
Speaker 1: So that's exactly what that's exactly, but after what like
Speaker 1: that's exactly the pleasant corporate response. And I asked like, well, look, man,
Speaker 1: to try. So I'm going to try for trying.
Speaker 3: At the end of the day, just because you were
Speaker 3: let go does not mean that you don't have so
Speaker 3: many years of experience, Yeah, not valuable, and like we
Speaker 3: really need to stand in that and not let these
Speaker 3: external like literally some you know, some person in an
Speaker 3: office who had gotten their certificate and data analytics made
Speaker 3: an assessment and they were like yeah, like these dumb
Speaker 3: dumbs at DOGE who were deciding how to you know,
Speaker 3: to trim and trim the.
Speaker 1: Fat and then call them back like it's some dumb dumbs.
Speaker 3: Sometimes if all brings out, that would be a bad thing.
Speaker 1: We do need people with specialty.
Speaker 3: Doing the shape I'm doing the shave face right, really
Speaker 3: does his face It's great. No, you have to really
Speaker 3: know that in yourself Lakeisha.
Speaker 1: Because yeah, I'm trying to work on that. I am, You're.
Speaker 3: Getting better at it, and like it's not you know,
Speaker 3: I think you do know that. But in the day
Speaker 3: to day, you're gonna have an encounter with somebody, and
Speaker 3: I mean especially because you're a very open hearted person.
Speaker 3: I can tell, and you're very sweet and kind and like,
Speaker 3: I can see how that could probably impact you to
Speaker 3: have someone sort of treat you some type of way
Speaker 3: because of their perception of like what you deserve and
Speaker 3: don't deserve. But no, we have to really really know
Speaker 3: it within ourselves. And that's why I want you to
Speaker 3: keep those eyes open. Hey, ba fam, we got to
Speaker 3: take a quick break, pay some bills, and we'll be
Speaker 3: right back. Welcome back, bea fam. Let's get back to
Speaker 3: the show. Also, really, I think relationships are going to
Speaker 3: be crucial for anyone in this job market right now.
Speaker 3: I am before you know because you've been you've been
Speaker 3: under my coaching program for years now, but you know
Speaker 3: how how emphatic AM about building relationships, and it's only
Speaker 3: become that much more important in this type of job
Speaker 3: market where there's not as many opportunities. There's a lot
Speaker 3: of qualified talent that's in the job pool, and that
Speaker 3: just means it's more competitive, doesn't mean that you know,
Speaker 3: there's no hope of finding an opportunity. But if you
Speaker 3: want to speed up that process, building those relationships is key.
Speaker 3: And I wanted to spend a little bit of time
Speaker 3: I know where almost at that thirty minute mark, but
Speaker 3: I wanted to know if we could talk about like
Speaker 3: relationship building in this next you know, six months to
Speaker 3: a year and you're already doing great, you're in the
Speaker 3: makers and all that, but what else, how else can
Speaker 3: we continue building some relationships that might help you in
Speaker 3: that on the job search.
Speaker 1: So I did actually pull out all of my manly
Speaker 1: money maker up tools. I did have like difficult conversations.
Speaker 1: It was difficult at first, but telling people, hey, this
Speaker 1: is what's happening being let go and immediately got so
Speaker 1: many referral links. Even people internally were like, hey, do
Speaker 1: you want me to look on my team to see
Speaker 1: if they're openings. So that's the one thing that I
Speaker 1: did that I didn't do the last time, the last layoff.
Speaker 1: I reached out to people and like I said, I
Speaker 1: got so many referral links and so many leads and
Speaker 1: even people who have been with a company that were
Speaker 1: no longer with the company. They were like, well, let
Speaker 1: me connect you with this person that person. Then also,
Speaker 1: when I joined this team, I think the advantage over
Speaker 1: the last time I joined was the last time I
Speaker 1: was the only new person, and like I said, they
Speaker 1: were all long timers. This time there were two other
Speaker 1: people who came in with me, and so I immediately
Speaker 1: reached out like, hey, you know, we're all new, we
Speaker 1: might as well be new together. Do you want to
Speaker 1: form a separate teams chat so we can, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe share our notes with each other, share what we're
Speaker 1: learning with the each other. I've tried to be more
Speaker 1: active on LinkedIn, which you know is challenging for me.
Speaker 3: When you were telling people what happened, was it through LinkedIn?
Speaker 3: Were you emailing? Texting?
Speaker 1: I was. I was talking to people in person or
Speaker 1: in like reaching out to them via email, social media.
Speaker 1: So I don't think I ever made the announcement on LinkedIn.
Speaker 1: I did switch my open to work to public, but
Speaker 1: even like, I'm so hesitant, and I know it's horrible,
Speaker 1: but I'm even so hesitant to like utilize my connections,
Speaker 1: like within the sorority. But I was like, hey, so
Speaker 1: we got we got laid off the fourteen news. I know,
Speaker 1: and I know that cheap. Yeah, when we got laid
Speaker 1: off the fourteenth. The next day it was Founder's Day.
Speaker 1: I was with ad events like, hey, so listen while
Speaker 1: we're celebrating, while we're setting it off, and some of
Speaker 1: the people like, whoo, why do you say anything? I like,
Speaker 1: it just happened yesterday. Yeah. So in connections with and
Speaker 1: connections and so that was helpful as well. And I
Speaker 1: will say reaching out with that referral link or even
Speaker 1: having someone to speak to at the company, that also
Speaker 1: made things a lot easier because it's like, well, you know,
Speaker 1: it's a little bit of a leg up right versus
Speaker 1: somebody they pull off a LinkedIn and a referral link,
Speaker 1: an internal referral link. And I still went to there
Speaker 1: was a network event here not too far after, where
Speaker 1: I still went in person for the company I'm with.
Speaker 1: I still went to the networking event and networked, and
Speaker 1: you know, I know I can do more, but like
Speaker 1: those things were a whole lot for me because I know,
Speaker 1: you know me, I mean.
Speaker 3: No, you did what you could and that's just you
Speaker 3: did something and doing the something. I can coach all
Speaker 3: day and like encourage all day, but you're the one
Speaker 3: who's got to like put your feet on the ground
Speaker 3: and walk into that room. And as someone who you
Speaker 3: know has social anxiety and all the things and introvertedness,
Speaker 3: I get it. It just the fact that you showed
Speaker 3: up and you got out of bed and you put on,
Speaker 3: you know, a face, and you went out there. It's
Speaker 3: a beautiful face. Those cheek bones up. Yeah. Well, the
Speaker 3: hair laid back.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was like, oh, I'm gonna be on camera.
Speaker 1: Let me try to try to put on try to
Speaker 1: put on some makeup. Oh no, I did not inherit
Speaker 1: my mother on my sister's skills. When it comes to breaking,
Speaker 1: it's so embarrassing. I'm one of the I'm part of
Speaker 1: the black girls. Can't breed. Uh frigate.
Speaker 3: Breeding this get out of.
Speaker 1: Here, mind you. Like I said, I have all sisters
Speaker 1: and I still everybody else and I'm just like, no,
Speaker 1: he goes in someone's chair. I'm stimulating the economy. So
Speaker 1: I'm keeping another black business afloat. You are we need
Speaker 1: our Oh so yeah? But uh yeah so, but I
Speaker 1: but to what I can do better? I do remember
Speaker 1: you saying joining like organ like professional organization. So that's that.
Speaker 1: Now that things are a little more calm, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: look to do that now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's the spring and summer's coming along. You don't
Speaker 3: have to you know, you could join or not join,
Speaker 3: but just go, you know, and just be open to
Speaker 3: those Yeah, open to what could possibly happen. And I know,
Speaker 3: before I go into any like you know, quote unquote
Speaker 3: networking event now or even I was at a friend's
Speaker 3: like house party a while back, I didn't really know anybody,
Speaker 3: not a while, a couple of weeks ago, and before
Speaker 3: I walked in, I just said, open smile, open heart,
Speaker 3: open mind, be open to the love you're about to
Speaker 3: receive because you deserve it, and you bring good energy
Speaker 3: and people are going to be excited to meet you.
Speaker 3: And I think when we go in with that kind
Speaker 3: of energy, it stops us from like closing in and
Speaker 3: then yeah, this wall that people can feel, and it
Speaker 3: just sort of like you manifest that reality for yourself.
Speaker 3: You're afraid people are not going to want to connect
Speaker 3: with you, and then you go in with that energy
Speaker 3: and they don't, and.
Speaker 1: It's like a self sufferent like I knew it kind
Speaker 1: of thing.
Speaker 3: There you go, self fulfilling, prophecy, self sabotage, all those things. Yeah, okay, well,
Speaker 3: I'm really proud of you. I'm so relieved to hear
Speaker 3: that you were able to eke out a recovery. You know,
Speaker 3: got that role, even though I know it's not necessarily
Speaker 3: the raise you wanted or the the yeah, the compensation
Speaker 3: that you probably deserve. But at the same time, she
Speaker 3: lives to fight another.
Speaker 1: Day, right, And I'll never I'll never not be grateful
Speaker 1: for that. All the other stuff we can work on
Speaker 1: because there's still some people on my team looking so
Speaker 1: I like trying to help, Like, hey, have you looked
Speaker 1: at that? Have you looked at that? That is the
Speaker 1: only thing that I think I had. This is like
Speaker 1: the best team that I've worked on in my working
Speaker 1: in my adult career. Everybody messed so well. We just
Speaker 1: had to have one grumpy person but like that's fine.
Speaker 1: If you needed help, he was so happy help you.
Speaker 1: He wouldn't be happy about it, but he was gonna
Speaker 1: help you. But uh yeah, so that's yeah. So it's
Speaker 1: just one last person we need to find a job.
Speaker 1: Everybody else is like found something somewhere else. But yeah,
Speaker 1: now the things.
Speaker 3: Are for you to stay in tune with them and
Speaker 3: like you.
Speaker 1: Know, yeah, yeah journey yeah for sures Like ultimately, hey,
Speaker 1: like everybody has to needs to or wants to work,
Speaker 1: and the ones that don't need to are like the
Speaker 1: ones that are taking early retirement.
Speaker 3: Yes, and I mean you don't know where they're going
Speaker 3: to end up, and you know, if the tables are
Speaker 3: turned and maybe have something for.
Speaker 1: You next time, yeah for sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So just I feel like, go forward knowing that
Speaker 3: it's okay for you to keep looking. It doesn't have
Speaker 3: to be your full time job, but just do what. Honestly,
Speaker 3: if you just keep doing what you're doing, that will
Speaker 3: make you like so much more resilient and capable of
Speaker 3: having good things happen to you because you're staying open
Speaker 3: to them. You're putting yourself out there, You're making these connections,
Speaker 3: and honestly, in a job market like this, that is
Speaker 3: the That's what people don't necessarily want to hear, but
Speaker 3: that is the edge. Yeah, you're going to get is
Speaker 3: your connections in a time like this, and you're in
Speaker 3: a really great position where you're not building brand new
Speaker 3: ones right now like you're you're nurturing existing relationships that
Speaker 3: you've already been building. So I hope you're feeling more.
Speaker 3: I don't know tell me how you're feeling now, but
Speaker 3: I hope that you're leaving this call feeling proud and
Speaker 3: confident in your values that you can go forward and
Speaker 3: do what you gotta do.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I mean always, it's a pleasure. Thanks for letting
Speaker 1: me be one of the first, one of the first people.
Speaker 3: And how to go live it's okay, yeah, once.
Speaker 1: I figured that out right, And thanks for Like every
Speaker 1: tool that I've pulled out is something that I learned
Speaker 1: from being in the Mandy money Makers. So because I
Speaker 1: can't say that I would have had that same approach
Speaker 1: before being a part of the group. Before being part
Speaker 1: of the group, you know what, I would still be
Speaker 1: at the same toxic because I don't know, if you
Speaker 1: remember my team was you were the person that's like, yay,
Speaker 1: you should you should probably leave. Like when we had
Speaker 1: our first one on one, you say, so what are
Speaker 1: you doing about leaving?
Speaker 3: I was just like, oh, yeah, yeah, you.
Speaker 1: Should probably leave. Through the coaching and then like simple
Speaker 1: things that are simple, but things I wasn't even thinking
Speaker 1: of like a refreshed professional LinkedIn photo and refreshing the resume.
Speaker 1: Within three weeks, probably three and a half weeks of
Speaker 1: looking from our one on one call, I had found
Speaker 1: the position at this company and it was something that
Speaker 1: I would have never applied for. So just about every
Speaker 1: tool in my box I got from being a maker
Speaker 1: is not a paid advertisement, everybody, Yeah, honestly, ain't. Nobody
Speaker 1: can pay here hashtag not an AD, but it's very true.
Speaker 3: Also that should just show you that you are valuable
Speaker 3: and that you do have these skills, because sometimes putting
Speaker 3: yourself out there in the marketplace like that's when you
Speaker 3: can build that confidence because look how quickly you got
Speaker 3: that role. So I'm just I'm really proud of you.
Speaker 3: I'm happy that you're a Mandy money Maker, and I'm
Speaker 3: glad that we had this time together.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Anybody tuning in thinking about being
Speaker 1: a maker, you should totally join. I guess that's not
Speaker 1: an AD, but it's been very valuable for me.
Speaker 3: If you want to find out about the Mandy Moneymakers,
Speaker 3: you can go to Mandy money dot com. Also, I
Speaker 3: have a free career clarity workbook. Have you done the workbook?
Speaker 1: Yet it's like the long question I don't think I
Speaker 1: have now that I'm not a scatter rain, I need
Speaker 1: to go down to go through that.
Speaker 3: It's very it's very deep. It's like a journal almost,
Speaker 3: it's very deep. But the Career Clarity Workbook it's free.
Speaker 3: It's a free download. Twenty eight questions to help you
Speaker 3: build confidence, to pivot, upscale and take your career to
Speaker 3: the next level on your own terms. Check that out.
Speaker 3: Guest Lakeisha, thank you so much, Thank you.
Speaker 1: So much, Bye girl, take care, bye by everyone.
Speaker 3: Thanks Mandy, okay Va fam, thank you so much for
Speaker 3: listening to this week's show. I want to shout out
Speaker 3: to our production team, Courtney, our editor, Carla, our fearless
Speaker 3: leader for idea to launch productions. I want to shout
Speaker 3: out my assistant Lauda Escalante and Cameron McNair for helping
Speaker 3: me put the show together. It is not a one
Speaker 3: person project, as much as I have tried to make
Speaker 3: it so these past ten years. I need help, y'all,
Speaker 3: and thank goodness I've been able to put this team
Speaker 3: around me to support me on this journey. And to
Speaker 3: y'all bea fam. I love you, so so so so much.
Speaker 3: Please rate, review, subscribe. Make sure you're signed up to
Speaker 3: the newsletter to get all the latest updates on upcoming episodes,
Speaker 3: our tenth year anniversary celebrations to come, and until next time,
Speaker 3: talk to you soon via bye.