Hey, Hey, ba fam, It's Mandy here with another episode of the ba Q and a thank you so much for sibmony. Your questions, y'all. I love to read them and I love to answer them. If you want to submit a question to have read on the show, hit us up at Brandnabission podcast dot com or slide into our dms. We are at Brandabission Podcast on Instagram and we are happy to take them. I keep saying we
because obviously Tiffany is here in spirit. Continue to send her lots and lots of love and virtual hugs, and we hope to have you back here soon.
Tiffany.
All right, let me jump on in. Today's questions are some of my favorite kind of take career questions. Y'all know I am the career queen, and I thank y'all because these career questions give me life. Oh, we have a question from Nick from IG that I cannot wait to answer because listen, I have seen a lot of people and it's crazy to me how much I've seen people spend money on resume writing. So Nix's question is, do you think it's worth paying to have your resume professionally done?
Oof?
Okay, Well, if you follow me on ig or TikTok, you know that I have a little bone to pick when it comes to resumes in general, not resume writers, but the actual document itself. Why are people so obsessed with resumes?
I don't get it, So, I mean, I do understand, obviously.
It feels like in the worldwide, you know, hunt for your dream job, it can feel like the one thing that you can control is your resume, and it's kind of become like the cornerstone of a whole application now is submitting your resume, and we all do it, like through the online application tracking system and all of that. So it feels really really important. And obviously, when you think about it, though, take a step back.
A resume is a list of previous.
Professional experience, and the whole purpose of it is to tell a future employer like, here's what I got going on, Here's where I've worked before and for how long, and my titles, and here's what I did while I was there. It's very very simple. Can a bad resume cost you a job?
Sure?
If your resume is really hard to read or it's really badly organized, and it's not simple for a hiring manager or a recruiter to quickly get those pieces of information I just talked about, then yeah, maybe they'll be quicker to just like skip past your resume in the pile. But it is not the most important thing when it comes to getting a good job. And I talked to so many people, especially women. I mean, y'all know how
I've been doing. I started out doing two hundred free career coaching sessions earlier this year, and now it's become a recurring thing for me. As I do career coaching. I have a group coaching cohort called the Mandy money Makers.
And when I tell you the biggest success stories among my coaching mentees and clients and from my Mandy money Makers time and time and from my own personal damn experience, which I think matters for something right time and time again, has nothing to do with the resume that's getting people these great jobs and big raises. It's about their people, skills and how and who they are able to connect with.
Now I want to stop you right there, because I feel like when I say that, people's responses usually, oh, it feels so gross, like is it really who you know? And isn't it just like all a boy's club, and you know, it's like the gatekeepers are keeping people out of it.
Like it's human nature.
It's human nature for us to want to connect with one another. And when we're thinking of having a human being sitting next to us and doing a type of work or doing a job, or we're thinking of referring someone for an opportunity where they're working with a human being that we know, don't you want to refer someone who you have like a personal connection with and you've actually known them or vetted them, or you remember having a great experience with them.
Like that's just human nature. I mean, the same way.
That we tell you, guys, the first place to stop when you're looking for referral for a financial planner or someone to do your plumbing or renovate your house or babysit your kids, it's talk to someone who knows someone who's great.
Isn't that the best way to get someone good?
So that also happens in the job market. And what I see for so many job candidates who are feeling stalled in their careers and like nothing, like they're applying to jobs and nothing is really getting back to them, is that that's all they're doing, and they're not focusing enough on building those meaningful professional relationships so that when opportunities come up down the line, people are thinking of them. And so that's why I do so much coaching and
work with people on their professional brand. And do people think of you when opportunities come up? And if they're not thinking of you, then how can we make them think of you?
And that's pretty simple.
Beyond just your resume, it's about being active on LinkedIn, for example. And I don't care who says LinkedIn is not worth your time and oh, it's just social media. Isn't social media icky? Like that's just all bs? Okay, it matters. That's where recruiters are hanging out. I was a hiring manager for five years. The first place I went when I was looking for people to recruit was LinkedIn. It's an incredible search engine for people who were looking
to work with other people. So don't sleep on LinkedIn, don't don't try to talk yourself out of it, don't play yourself. LinkedIn is where it's at. So being a bit more active there, reaching out and staying connected to former colleagues, checking in with people, seeing how they're doing. You know, writing writing content about what you're passionate about
so that your colleagues and peers can see it. There's so many other things that you can do that you actually are in control of besides just that little piece of paper your resume. So I know, Nick, your question is like, do I think it's worth it for people to spend money getting a resume professionally done? It's kind of bananas to me how much people are spending like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars, sometimes over one thousand dollars, two thousand dollars to get their resume done
in a cover letter. Do I think that's worth it? No, No, I don't. I think it's a lot of money to spend on a piece of paper, and I think it's a lot of money to spend on a piece of paper that really, in my experience, does not get will not be the final deciding factor to get you in the door for an opportunity. I think it's one of the factors. Do I think resumes don't matter? No, Yes, a resume matters. Like I said, it's a record of
your professional history. And I do think that hiring managers and recruiters take that into account.
But is it the only thing? Absolutely freaking not.
And I, like I said, I've seen it time and again to be considered for the juiciest, highest paying opportunities, especially at the senior level. So I'm not talking about entry level, you know, I'm talking about jobs that are not always posted. Do y'all know that seventy percent of jobs,
into one study, seventy percent are not even ever posted. Like, if you're only applying to jobs through job boards, LinkedIn, indeed, or whatever, you're missing out on jobs that are not even posted because they're being staffed and people are finding and recruiting for those jobs behind the scenes. Recruiters are finding people on LinkedIn or reaching out to their own network to find people as who are a good fit. They're going to former colleagues or their peers for referrals.
It's like happening in the human network behind the scenes. And if you're not involved in that human network, then you're really shooting yourself in the foot when it comes to your career. So don't play yourself. Resume matters, But it is not at all the end, all be all when it comes to those great career opportunities. And I will say it till I'm blue in the face. Don't at me, or you know what, do at me, come at me. It's fine.
I know what my personal data shows.
I know. I was on the phone with two bad three badass women last week who each got nearly two hundred one thousand dollars salary jobs. And I will tell you how many of them actually did it because they
submitted a resume through an application system. Zero zero out of three, three out of three women However, one hundred percent of my sample size got those jobs because their professional brands were strong, they were referred for those positions, people came to them with those opportunities, and then they brought their skill set. Then they submit the resume as an afterthought because the first thing that they wanted was
that human connection. And that's where these women, that's where they got the leverage, and that's how they positioned themselves for those great opportunities. And it wasn't a piece of paper neck. It wasn't okay, all right, Oh, I get really excited talking about resumes. Obviously, Let's go on to
second question. Missus C squared from ig C squared wants to know, Mandy, have you ever switched careers, and how did you convey that you're very well qualified even though you're in a different industry.
Have I ever switched careers? Yes.
I made a big pivot from being a personal finance reporter for Yahoo Finance to being an executive editor basically a content director for a startup called Magnify Money back in two thousand and sixteen or seventeen, I forget. So this was a big career ship for me in a couple different ways.
One, I was.
Switching from being an individual contributor. I had no one reporting to me. I only had to carey about myself. And I was going to be leading a team. And how did I convey that I was well qualified? Well, here's the magic bit for me in this whole career pivot. I had formed a professional relationship with the founder of
that company. We became really like colleagues. He was actually someone who I worked with as a reporter at Yahoo Finance and talked to him because he had a lot of experience in the credit in and he became one of my favorite people to talk to when I had questions as a reporter about the credit industry. So we had a personal connection and when he was looking for someone to manage his content team.
He thought of me, not.
Because he was like, oh, Mandy, she's been a content director for seventeen years, I should hire Mandy. It was this is what I'm talking about when I say the power of networking. It was Mandy. Really love working with her. She's smart, she does great work. I bet she could do this, and he took a chance on me, So I didn't really have to do a ton of convincing because it was like a mutual understanding that this was new for me and that I was going to have a lot to learn, and he was cool with that.
So I think when you were trying to pivot into a new industry, that is something to consider. Consider going for a company that maybe isn't the huge, well known, established juggernaut in your industry, but as someone who's a company who's just getting their start, maybe they're willing to take a little bit of a gamble on someone who's been untested in that particular way because they're all kind of being tested in on, you know, in new ways, and they're all kind of out of their comfort zones.
That strategy worked for me, and I remember being really freaking scared when I made that leap, you know, managing a team even though the team didn't exist yet and I had to build it from scratch. But doing things like hiring and firing and budgeting for different roles and learning how to ask for what I needed to succeed as a manager and all that magical, fun, stressful stuff scared the crap out of me.
Mm hmm. It shorted.
But at the end of the day, I think why it worked in my favor was luck.
One.
I was lucky, Lucky that I got that particular opportunity, Lucky that we ended up getting acquired that by a company that wanted us to do what we did best, and you know, just lucky in a couple of different ways, but also thoughtful in choosing a place to join where I felt and I was told that they were going to set me up for success, that I wasn't going
in there pretending like I had all this experience. That we both, like I said, mutually understood that I was going to be stretching and growing and that they were okay with that.
And I do.
Feel like when you're pivoting, it's important to have that mutual understanding so that everyone's on the same page, and that you're not going in there and having to, like I mean, fake it till you make it. It's a lot of it's just you know, oh yeah, fake it till you make it. It's all going to be fine. But sometimes it's not okay to fake it till you make it. Sometimes you have to have understanding from your peers and your supervisors that you have some things to learn.
So you need time before you're able to ramp up, you know what I mean. So let's see how else can you convey though, if you if you're in an industry, I totally get it. There are industries where you can't just get in there and learn as you go, Like I don't know, being a nurse or a doctor, you
kind of had to know how those things work. So for me, I think it's about how can you find and how can you speak to other people in that field and ask them for their advice on certain certifications or qualifications that actually matter that hiring managers are going to be looking for, and then find a way to pursue those on your own. I think that that makes
a lot of sense. And the reason I say talk to other people is because what you don't want to do is kind of like make up your own story in your head about what is required of a certain role or a certain company that you're thinking of joining. Actually talk to people who work for the company, or recruit for the company, or you are familiar with that industry who can actually tell you, oh, here's what I'm
seeing and here's what people really want. And then you can make a strategic decision, because you may have to finance at yourself whatever kind of certification or course or whatnot that you need. Then you can decide, Okay, this is going to have a good ROI a good return on my investment of time, money, energy, all of it. And I just don't want to see people spending money, time, resources, energy on something that actually will not move the needle
for them in that industry. So that's why I think it comes back to talking to people.
That's always the key.
Okay, I'm not going to be the one to tell you can just sit behind a keyboard and do a bunch of research on Google and Google your way to your dream career. No no, no, no, no no no no no no, You're gonna have to actually interact with other human beings. We're such rich sources of information and support, and it may feel a little uncomfortable for people who maybe aren't as used to being, you know, out there
and communicating with folks. But if you don't push yourself in that direction, then how are you ever going to grow?
Right?
So things should be uncomfortable, things should feel awkward and new, especially if you're someone who networking and getting information from other people and asking for help. If that's unfamiliar territory to you, practice makes perfect. Maybe just keep doing it, okay, and I promise you you will see the needles start to move in a positive direction if you just put your off out there. And that can be whether you're switching careers or you're just trying.
To pivot and move in your own company, you know.
All right, miss t squared, thank you so much for your question. Let me take a quick break and I'll be right back with one more question. Okay, ba fam, I am back with a third and final question. This one comes from ig ig user Nini says, maybe what do you think about making lateral moves in the same company? Okay, So when we say lateral, generally, what we mean is that you are moving to a similar level at your company. So probably your pay isn't going to increase so much.
But maybe it's a different department. Maybe it's a different team. If your company is really huge, there could be a bunch of your you know, types of team doing what you're doing, but for different departments. Maybe you're moving to a different department. I absolutely I don't think people consider pivoting in place enough when it comes through their career. We talk a lot about my last question, which is
career pivoting and how do you pivot. I want to start a new chapter, I want to do something different. How do I pivot out of this? It seems challenging. I like to talk about pivoting in place, so actually speaking to a supervisor through your company and letting them know, Hey, I'm actually wanting to stretch myself or grow in a new field or a new department. Is there any way that I can start to get experience in that field
or department at that skill set while I'm here? And it's actually really good for if you're a hiring manager listening to this, or you're someone at a company and you have sort of a position where you can influence hiring managers or something like that.
Remind them what a good retention method this is.
Okay, remind them that when you when your employees are feeling like they have flexibility within the company and that they can continue to increase their skill set, try different things, and things are staying interesting for them, they're less likely to move on, Like because it makes so much sense.
Someone is no longer interested in doing what they're doing, and if they feel like they're just encountering brick walls every time they look around the company for a way to kind of try something different, then hell, yeah, going to want to move on and leave. So I think a good retention strategy if you want people to stick around, is to constantly be talking to your staff and to your employees and making sure that they are feeling good
about the work that they're doing. And if they're not, then help them kind of figure out, Okay, well where can I be shifting and where can I be moving? That was the way that I approached management. I wish more people did that. For some it may seem like, ah, what's the point, especially if I'm not going to be making more pay But if you are someone who's wanting to try a different skill set or you're wanting to even get out of like a toxic like your toxic
work environment may just be isolated to your team. It could be a colleague, it could be a manager, and if you want to get out of there but still stay at your company, hell yeah, I would say look for the first opportunity that you can find where you're in a similar position but just on someone else's team. And you can do that by going to HR. You know, it's up to you. You guys, you know your HR
departments better than I do. But you may go to your assigned HR business partner, like they say, and kind of expressing to them that you would like to try things on a different team, or internally networking with your colleagues and making sure that you know first off the bat when new openings are happening on other teams, or so and so's about to leave, or so and so just turned in their notice and then you're like, ooh, I want that job, and make sure that you immediately
kind of go to that hiring manager or you get your application in or whatever and make sure that they think of you so you can get an interview for that opportunity. I'll say it again and again. Managers don't always have a plan for you. In fact, a lot of times they don't, and I mean like a career
plan for you. So it's really up to you to decide. Okay, once I'm in the door at this company, then it's up to me to kind of move my own game piece around the board to what suits me and benefits me both And for as long as what suits you and benefits you also suits and benefits the company, then it shouldn't be that difficult to kind of make those
kinds of strategic moves. And when you're feeling stuck and like there's nowhere for you to go in the company that makes sense for you, then it could be time for you to move on to a new company. But I like to at least know that I've explored those options where I'm at, And I'll go back to the idea of someone wanting to pivot into a new field or a new kind of.
Skill set or new career. It can be really great to.
Do that within your existing company because you're not just another name on a resume with a bunch of like professional descriptions next to it. You're a human being who colleagues have worked for, and colleagues can potentially vouch for, and they may take a chance on you in a way that they wouldn't take a chance on you if you were just another person with a resume in the big pile. They may look at that resume without your name attached to it and say, oh, well, they don't
have any experience in accounting. If they know you and your great experience in another department, they may say, oh, well, she's amazing, she can learn, you know, give her three months and she'll be trained up.
You see what I'm saying.
So definitely, don't stop yourself from thinking that you can't be entrepreneurial and like pivot in place at your company that you're at right now. It's definitely a possibility. I've done it before, I've seen other people do it, and I think that not enough people are thinking about it. All right, Thank you so much for your question.
That was a good one.
All right. That conclude Brand Ambission b a QA for the week. If y'all want to send it your questions, go to Brandimission podcast dot com and click ask us anything. You can also dm us at Brand and Mission Podcast on the Gram. Thank y'all so much. I'll see y'all next week.