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