Hello, my name is Satasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud or the Order Kerni Whalbury and a waddery woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through.
As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Let's get into it.
She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that's You're you on as you build the career and the pay packet you actually deserve. Are you tired of feeling like no matter how much you budget, you just can't get ahead and wondering if maybe the answer isn't cutting back but earning more. That is literally my life. Have you staying a job that doesn't light you up, not because you want to, but because you're scared you're not qualified enough to make the move, or you're in luck?
Because today's episode is just where you need. I'm becksired, and as always, I'm joined by the woman who has made a career out of helping the rest of us level up ours, the brilliant Victoria Divine.
I am very excited about this Beck because I get messages every single day from people asking me like, oh, how did you career pivot? Like you went from psychology to finance, and like I'm thinking of doing something similar or do you know what?
I hate seeing when people say.
Oh, I'm too old, I can't change it, Like, what do you mean? You're forty and you don't want to change your career. You could be forty year old who has their bag in Korea and by the time you're retiring at sixty five, you've still got twenty five years of experience.
Sit down, Yeah, totally.
Like we change our careers on average seven times in our lives nowadays.
That's so good.
So like, let's just go, let's go. You want to change your career, you can do ever too. You can do it.
Don't get me wrong, It's going to be hard.
And I feel like right now, with the cost of living crunch, literally everyone is feeling it. We're all feeling like maybe we need to do something to get ahead financially. And I feel like our first instinct, kind of from my perspective, as it should be, Beck, when we're feeling financial pressure is to you know, cut back and look at our budget and work out what's going on.
We're going to maybe cut back on our coffees that we really love.
We're going to reevaluate our subscriptions and you know, tighten the belt. Maybe we'll go meet free mondays or something, right Like, we all talk about that, but realistically, go you can only cut back so far, Like that's only going to do so much. And like, at the end of the day, I'm pretty sure you don't want to cut back forever.
And ibeck, we love a coffee. We're probably now going to be.
Looking at finding a way to sustain a lifestyle where that's a reality as opposed to cutting back consistently.
Right, Like, we can do that for the short term, and that is fine.
And we go through seasons of life like you might have small children, or you might be you know, going through a period where you lost your job and you're getting back on your feet, Like we're going to cut back, We're going to be frugal for that period of time, but like, what if you don't want that.
To be your reality forever? Yeah, Like we need to make some changes.
And often I think the flip side gets overlooked because as women, we just don't think it's within our control.
We go, oh, no, that's probably not for me.
But like, the other side of the equation is earning more money, beck, And I'm not just talking about like picking up a side hustle or taking on a few more hours, or popping some stuff on marketplace, which are very good strategies in the here and now, but like for long term, maybe we need to be talking more
deeply about making really smart money and career moves. And one of the smartest moves you can make back when it comes to earning more money, is pivoting your career into something that is more fulfilling and arguably much more financially rewarding. Okay, when I talk about a strategic pivot, I think people are like, well, what the hell do
pivot me? Don't worry, like we're going to cover it in this episode, because I'm so sick of people gatekeeping being like, you could just pivot the hell's that mean?
Back right into what and like, how do you how do you do that? But before we get into the how a strategic pivot, if we look into the research could actually lead to you getting a pay increase of more than ten to twenty percent according to recent Australian
salary data. Also, I think this has been instigated and I've been getting a lot of dms recently because we had a money diarist on she pivoted into the tech industry, even though she wasn't like a traditional tech person, like she hadn't really worked in the industry before, and she definitely didn't tick every single box that was on the seacad right.
But the thing about her story and the cool thing that.
I was like, oh my god, like you're a queen, is she literally just put herself out there. She backed herself, She applied anyway, she talked herself into this job and was like, nah, I'm a really cool person and you
want me on your team. And now she's absolutely thriving in a brand new industry and she's earning honestly bank Remember I told you about her a couple of weeks ago, and she's not just getting like a massive salary, she now also gets like shares in the business and like, oh my god, that's so good, or because she backed herself. And I think so many times we often go nah, like they won't care.
Or no, they'll say no, why bother? Why not just apply? Just apply?
What if they say no, Beck, we can go get a coffee after exact, I can say no. We can learn from that experience. And I think so often we think that when somebody says no to us in a career situation, you go, oh my gosh, they think I'm completely incompetent. Yeah, girl, No, there's competition, Like it's twenty twenty five. The job market is hot. There are lots
of becks applying for that job. And I can almost guarantee the one that got it wasn't necessarily the one with the best resume that was like, oh my gosh, like look at this resume, Like it was probably the one that was like, you know what, I'm the girl that's going to put myself out there. You know what, I'm the one that is going to say and do exactly what I said I was going to say and do. Like the amount of times as somebody who hires other people, I look at a resume and I go holy snap.
And Ducks like that isn't ducks?
Yeah, I know, that is an incredible resume and I get them in and I go, wow, you are not the person I thought you would be, sure, And then like I look at another resume and I go, oh, it's probably not like perfect. But their cover letter was like nah, girl, you need me, And I'm like, oh, I probably should meet with this person, and then I end up hiring them, Like totally, It's not necessarily just about your ability to fill your resume. Don't get me wrong.
There are definitely going to be times where you're like, I want to be a doctor, like you can't not you know, dodge med school. Sure, And I don't want people being like, oh, Victoria's too flippant about this, Like yes, because I'm very much of the opinion Beck, what is the worst that could happen?
Exactly?
And if you don't get the job, cool? Could you provide me with some feedback around like why I didn't get it? And if they're a generous company, they will be like yeah, cool abc DN. Like recently I hired into a role for Zella and it was relatively competitive. There was a lot of really good applicants and it
got down to like a top three. I picked someone to join the business and the other two I ended up calling and being like, hey, I'm really sorry, like this isn't a good call because you're not getting the job that you want. But I wanted to like let you know that it wasn't because you were and I feel like I always owe this to women, especially like it wasn't because you were not good. It was because there was somebody who you know, meet the criteria and
went above and beyond. And I just wanted to share that with you, not because you wouldn't be a good fit in my business, but because like you deserve to know exactly why, because I'd hate for you to go home or have, you know, the weekend ruminating on like, oh my god, did I say something wrong? Because we all do that stuff, right, So not everyone is going to give you that grace, but assume that it wasn't
what you did. It was just competition is out there and there's always going to be someone who's really really really well fit for that job. And then don't take it personally, right, absolutely so well, obviously backtracking a little bit, put the link in the show notes to the Tech Money Diarist for you, So if you haven't listened to that,
you can go listen and be inspired by her. And another stat that we spoke about in her episode that I want to bring up, which is really aligned back to the conversation.
There's like one sided conversation.
I'm like, Beck, so many people don't do this, and like we need to talk more about this, right. But a stat that we brought up that you may or may not have heard about before is that men apply for jobs when they meet sixty percent of the criteria, but women they will only apply for a job and that will wait until they meet at least ninety percent of the criteria.
We need to stop waiting. We just need to go for.
A man and there or dad be for real, Like, what would a man do?
I think is a question that we need to ask ourselves when we are going through a hiring or recruiting process, that's your situation, what would.
A man do?
Like we ruminate over it all the time, Like I've done it with my girlfriends when they're applying for new jobs, or when way back in the day when I was like applying for new jobs, I'd be like, hey, bet do you reckon, it's like two forward of me to send a follow up email. I know what you mean, Like, I really like it's been a week. Do you think it would be rude of me to like follow up in the nicest possible way.
Would a man be like, Oh, I wonder if this is a man? Would ever ready send the email?
Girl?
Just just do it?
You know, absolutely absolutely they would have gone in to the workplace and started like you said you were going to call and you did it. Yeah, they would have set up shop before they even get a callback. So we need to start being a little bit more like that exactly.
And I guess today's episode I really want to be like a permission slip for you to just put yourself out there a bit more like what would Beck and they do like, or what would v tail Beck to do?
Yeah, exactly what I do. I would sit quietly and did not be I've even said that to you before.
I'm like, no, gol, you walk in there and say you want this, and I just true. Let's like reflect personally, how many times have you like ruminated over going Oh I need to talk about a salary increase or you know you've applied for some jobs recently because like we've spoken publicly about you being made redundant and having to apply, Like that process never feels good, right, Like it feels like trash. But how many times have you questioned yourself
during that process? And now you look back and go, well, that was silly, wasn't it.
I know, I know that is so true.
It is a bit disheartening when you think, like the I guess the way society views women is like, if you do that, you're bossy and a bit scary.
But if a man does it, it's like whoa who can really take owing that?
Yeah?
But you know, I think we just got to keep normalizing. We've just got to keep doing it and then one day will all be on an even playing field, hopefully. So just to get back on track here, I wonder, like, why is this so important to even think about career pivots right now?
So I think, obviously we're in the middle of a cost of living crisis, and so many of us are going, well, what are we doing? Budgeting is not enough? Like, and I can only make so many budgeting episodes that tell you to cut back before I feel like I'm not helping you anymore. Sure, like and it just it kind of does feel a bit condescending, right, like when you go, look, i'm really trying to get ahead. I'm listening to this
money podcast. I'm going out of my way, Like I need to tell you that sometimes budgeting is not going to cut the must it like, you can budget until the cows come home and you can do really, really well. But if you're like, well, actually be to achieve the lifestyle I want to achieve, I need to earn more money. Then maybe we're looking at a career pivot and I
want to hold your hand through that process. And I guess changing careers isn't just saying, oh, I need to change what I'm doing because I needed to start chasing my passion. Well, it can be like you could definitely be like, look, I've not been chasing my passion and
I need to pivot into that sleigh so cool. It can sometimes just be about going, you know what, like what I'm doing, what other jobs would I get the same level of satisfaction, but maybe a higher remuneration, Like how do I get paid more for the skills that I already have? Like it could be a very financially strategic decision. And that's kind of cool. So, beck, I told you before that people who change jobs can expect a salary increase. So maybe it's not even just a
career pivot into a different area. Maybe we're looking for other roles in our current area. Like you might be really happy, but if you've asked your boss, hey, can I have a pay rise and they've said no, I don't know. I'm sorry, mate, but I'm going to go fishing in a different pond that maybe has some bigger fish, Like and you know what, what's the worst that could happen? Beck if you jumped on Seek? Just how to look exactly.
It's not like marriage. We're not like exclusively in this relationship with our workplace where we're going to get in trouble for being on Tinder.
That's not the same.
Like we can go on to Seek and have a look at what else is out there. We could apply for jobs, we could inquire on jobs, we could look at the salary bands work out. Am I actually being fairly remunerated? Like so many people are like, oh no, I don't even want to look because like what if I'm tempted?
Yeah, goal, what if you are tempted?
It should be tempted.
Yeah, Like that's the point if I can tempt you with a different job. Currently the job you have is not doing what it needs to do, is it.
Yeah, exactly, so we need to go fishing.
But I told you before that from the SEEK data, we can expect a pay rise. But on the flip side, staying in the same role, research tells us that the average salary increase is only ever between three and five percent, right, And while that is normal and regular, the amount of people in my DMS, the amount of people in the shees on the money community that will go I definitely do not get three to five percent each year, Like I don't even get inflation victoria. Like I haven't got
a pay rise in three years. I haven't got to pay rise in five years. Really, it's usually exactly zero percent, exactly. And the amount of people that are seeing and I see this all the time, and it really frustrates me.
Even in my friendship groups.
They're like, yeah, they came around and said that like salary increases weren't in budget, but they're.
Going to review it in six months.
And then like a month later, their annual reports for their businesses come out and they've made a billion dollars in profit.
Sit down, sit down, so loyal to those people? No, totally, you owe them nothing. I don't care.
If you've worked in that job for ten years, we can move house.
Yeah.
Anyway, I think it's really important because staying put not saying just leave your job if you really love it, but staying put can actually cost you money quite literally over time. And while it's not about salary, always pivoting into a new role or a new industry back you could get better benefits or like more flexibility, or it could also fast track your career growth. So when you're thinking about your I guess career future, it's not just like,
oh hey, am I happy? Because you might be very happy. There are going to be so many employers that are like Victoria, why are you putting out episodes that are like are you happy in your job? Leave?
But like, you might be very, very happy.
But the question you need to be asking yourself is is this role like financially, professionally and personally setting me up for the person I want to be in the future, Like am I in the right position to be on the right trajectory? Like am I on the right path? Who do I want to be in three to five years? And like I'm not saying what is your career aspiration in three to five years? Like I'm saying, are you being set up to become the person that you want
to be? And Like, from my perspective, I can only answer that from like a personal side, Like I don't know what I want to do in business, girl, I don't even know you know what I want for breakfast tomorrow. But I do know that I to be financially comfortable. I do know that I want to live a lifestyle where I can go for a walk every morning with my husband, like stuff like that, where you're like, okay,
it's the lifestyle. Like in your lifestyle back, you really value your freedom and your flexibility and being able to like you know, EBB and flow here and that. Like the role you're in building towards more of that. And
it's not necessarily the job title. So if we're thinking about it from both sides of the coin, yes, So career pivots don't have to be starting over, like you don't have to go okay cool, Like for example, for me, I didn't go from working in psychology for a few years to going back to basics and earning minimum wage in finance, and like you don't have to do the same either, Like you don't have to jump into a graduate role, which I think a lot of people go, oh,
I will have to start from the very beginning, right, like I'll have to get my foot in the door. And that's not necessarily the case. Like for a lot of people. It's about stepping up because your current situation has given you a lot of skills and experiences and I'm telling you, girl, they are transferable. Absolutely, absolutely, most of the things are the same foundation. They're just maybe you need to learn a program or a piece of software.
So exactly you'll be fine.
Exactly.
I've literally, and I'm going to yap about this to the cows come home. I've literally hired someone you high sal She's on our team. She's been on our team for nearly three months, and she is a legend.
I adore her.
But she's come from a different area, a whole heap of experience not related to what we currently do. So she's like learning from scratch mortgages and that process. But I'm like, nah, girl, Like if you could wrap your head around all of that complex stuff. You can definitely wrap your head around finance and mortgage side of things,
like you'll be fine, exactly. Yes, you can learn, but she's learning so quick, and like, I think that's so important point out because you don't have to like start from scratch.
Yeah exactly.
So let's start with one of the biggest fears when it comes to this, changing jobs or careers means starting over for exactly, and it kind of feels like you've got to start from scratch, you don't know, like if you're dropping from one industry to another industry, it's like you're learning everything all over again.
But really it's, yeah, it's not the case.
No, And I think that you know how like people go to university or they go to school and then they get their first job and they're like, oh my goodness, Like most of my learning was done on the job, Like yes, you use your degrees or yes, you like have some base level knowledge, Like I couldn't have worked as a financial advisor if I hadn't learned finance, right right.
But I think that a lot of people really underestimate the interpersonal skills and the workflow management and the email management and like literally just like the tech elements of a job, and even just like managing relationships, like how to get back to people, how to project manage.
Like all of that stuff.
Skills like I don't know going back to like what this actually looks like, skills like communication and mentioned project management, and then like leadership and creativity and problem solving go.
They're valuable everywhere.
Like if you are doing that, you're moving maybe from admin to marketing, or you could be a teacher and you want to go into technology, or you maybe were working in hospitality and you want to work in HR. Like all of those things are completely transferable. Like the amount of stuff back I learned when I worked in retail about managing people's expectations and proper communication that I
use today literally life saving, absolutely, you know. And there's this thing that like Maca's employees, Oh, they have the best training and leadership programs and so like they're.
Hot property, you know what I mean. So let's kind of like break this all down. So how do you actually figure out what skills you already have that could get you into a new industry. So I want you to think of this not so much in terms of like, oh, but my resume is a little bit dry, like because you might have had like one job or two jobs, or you know what I mean. Like, I think so many times we just fall back to our job titles. But I want you to start thinking about your skills bank.
So I want you to not just think about the jobs that you've had, but the skills that you possess.
So there's a few steps here. So the first step is you're going to write down everything. You're going to list everything, not just the jobs, write down the tasks that you do, the projects that you do, the responsibilities you've handled. You can ask chat GPT for hand. She's very supportive your paid jobs. Maybe you've had some side hustles, maybe you've done some volunteer work or a UNI project or like a little passion project on the side. All
of it counts, literally, everything counts. If you've led, I don't know, a university charity drive, that's project management. If you started a small baking side hustle on the weekends, that's entrepreneurship. That's marketing, that's customer service. Like all of it makes sense. And this is where I think so many times we underestimate. You just go, yeah, but I just maked some cakes. Go No, you ran a whole marketing strategy to get clients like no, I just we undervalue what we do.
And you know what, people who are neurospicy.
So if you are on the spectrum or you have ADHD, you are more likely to undervalue your skills. Like there is science behind that, because you just assume everybody operates in the same way that you do and that's actually not the case. Like, and I see that literally every day of the week in you back, You're like, oh, yeah, I just have this little side pottery business. Go what like, And you'll be like, oh, it's just a thing I do.
It's just like it's not very important.
Go what like?
You started a whole host business.
You worked out how to source the stuff.
You go in and firing things like you're getting off your custom orders like.
Stop it, BD, I guess so empowered. You mean, like you look at it. Anybody else doing it you'd be like, you're running a whole last business and you're like, oh, I just do it for fun.
I Ceelia saying, well, that is so nice to hear.
The next thing we're going to do back, yeah, is filter? What lights you up? So obviously we don't maant to be doing jobs that make us want to cry every single day. Look at your list and highlight the tasks that you feel like energize you, the things you enjoyed, or the things that you felt really proud of, or the things that you just lose track of time doing so.
Like if you, I don't know, a few years ago, if you said to me, V do you enjoy spreadsheets, I'd be like, yeah, but like not that much, Like
they're not that good, Like there are means to an end. Girl, you are spending so long on like I would spend and still do, spend hours just fiddling with them, changing things, you know, crazy out what formula could go here, thinking about solutions like wow, but like clearly I love that, But I didn't want to admit that I loved that, But I would lose track of time I'm doing those things.
Right, And you would have thought, like that's the average amount that people love spreadsheets.
Yeah, like everybody does that too, right, Like you will hyper fixate on a particular formula, right, Gay, we're not all building macros.
Yes, yes we're not.
I thought everyone did that. It turns out not everybody does that. The next step is to match to real opportunities. So I want you to start go on Seek, go on LinkedIn, Like these are free platforms that so many people just avoid because they're like, oh, well, I'm not actively looking.
Now you are.
We are now start browsing real job ads in industries that excite you. So we're not saying go and apply it immediately.
You're just gonna have a look. Like, if you work in HR and you've been thinking about marketing, have a look at marketing job ads what skills and criteria are they actually looking for?
Because I think so many times we don't dive in.
We just go, oh, I've had no experience as a marketing director. I've worked in HR for the last fifteen years, like nothing. But then Beck, you might get into the nitty gritty of it and realize that the entire marketing director role or whatever. It's just an example, is all about project management and relationship management and all the stuff that you've actually been doing in HR for the last
fifteen years. And you could write a bang and cover letter and be like, Hey, I've got all these transferable skills and I can almost guarantee you these people are going to be like, oh, my goodness, this person is going to bring fresh eyes and also the skills we need reallyant. So we're going to look for common skill sets like things that you could transfer across and kind of compare your skills to what's currently in demand. Then the next step is kind of like where everything is
going to come together. You've done your research, you've had a look around, you've worked out hmm, I do want to go into this next level role. You need to actually translate all of that experience into achievements.
That makes sense because.
If somebody just applies for a job and they can't articulate why, like Beck, if you go and do a different role completely, I'm going to need to know why you want to move and I'm going to need to know why you think you're even a good fit, because right now your job title does not match what I'm
looking for. And like sometimes recruiters and HR they are that, you know, black and white, so we need to like question their process or question not in a rude way, but like go, hey, cool, you're probably not looking for me, but I think that you should be. Yeah, because they're just like, oh, I need let's say that I'm hiring a client services manager. Right, So that doesn't require you to have any particular degree. But I'm going in my job out I'm like, oh, I don't have the capacity
to take on a graduate. I need someone with like a couple of years experience. I might have my blinkers on and I might be looking only at somebody who has worked in the financial services space before, because that makes sense, right, Like I need a CSM. I need them to be good at their job. They have to have worked in my industry before. But one of my best CSMs actually came from the medical industry. Yeah, and
I interviewed her because of her banging cover letter. She's like, go, my attention to detail a second to none because I worked in the medical space and you can't mess that up. Like, oh, you're right, Yeah, that sounds good. Yeah, abso definitely let's have a conversation. So you need to be able to translate your experience because not everybody is going to do that for you, right, They're not going to read your resume and go ooh, that's a transferable skill. No, you've
got to tell them it's transferable. So many resumes out there that I have read just have a list of tasks. They're like, I managed a team, I answered the phones, run the social media accounts. But those tasks do not tell the person recruiting for that role what you actually achieved. And this is something that you should be doing with
every single resume that you write. But it's especially important when you're changing industries because you need to make your impact risk all clear because the recruiter they're not a mind reader, and they're not planning on doing a heap more work to kind of make this circle that looks like a circle fit into a square. They're going to go, oh no, I don't see it.
Whatever.
They want to see your impact in numbers, in dollars, in ours saved in percentages increased.
So instead of saying.
For example, I managed the social media of she's on the money, maybe you could say I grew an Instagram audience by forty percent in six months through an organic content strategy. Yeah yeah, yeah, it's who you're saying, Sorry, sorry, I want that person.
I don't just want someone who managed it.
I want someone who was active and actually helped grow it, because that's the point.
Right.
Sure, you can even honestly just use chat GPT, she's your best friend, don't just take her first answer, Like, we need to make sure that we are priming chat GPTs so that we can use her to our advantage. But it can take boring sounding task lists and then turn it into like punchy results driven wins by asking it to like rework bullet points into a skill's actions and then maybe results format. That way, it's easier to kind of hype yourself up from scratch because somebody else
is kind of rewriting it for you. Yeah, and like the way that I use chat GPT, if you have never used it, is like mine's called Clara. By the way, I didn't name her. I said hey, chat GPT, like what's your name? And she said you can call me chat GPT and I said no, no, no, give yourself a nice name. And she said, well, I would like to be Clara because I'm gentle and kind and very helpful. And I was like, pop off, queen, I love this view. So Clara, she truly knows herself. Clara to me is.
My unpaid intern. Ah.
She's really tenacious. She wants to help, but she doesn't get a lot. She's new here, so you need to say, hey, Clara, yours might have a different name, so like ask, actually, can people please, if you're listening to this episode and use chat jpt, please ask your chat GPT what its name is, and then if it says chat jupt, say give yourself and then message me I want to know what your chat GPT called themselves. But make sure you're priming it so you're saying, hey, I want to pivot roles.
I want to take all of these skills and make them transferable, like so that they can help in the best possible way instead of make this sound better for what purpose? Like give them the purpose, give them an understanding, because the more information you give it, the better outcome is going to be. And I think a lot of people just check it in and go, oh, that was interesting,
Like no, make it work anyway. I think it's a really big reminder that pivoting isn't just about being perfectly qualified, right. It's about showing that you already can solve problems and you're really good at doing this, and this new industry needs problem solved and you're really good at that. And if you can show that clearly and confidently, you're an immediate standout.
Like your resume is going.
To like automatically float to the top even if your background doesn't match that traditional path. So true, before getting into the meat industry, I would always just go in and do the work, like I'm not leaving a space better than I have found it. But I feel like you can still find.
A way with chat chipty with Clara to make that sound impressive. So use chat ChiPT, use Clara like she's going to be your best friendly. So if you're sitting here like me, thinking like, oh god, this sounds like you need to be very tenacious constantly.
Don't worry.
And you can make a Cole's mudcake a three tiered wedding cake. Okay, you absolutely can. You just need the right frosting. Frosting exactly. So let's say you've nailed your resume, Yeah, because you use chrat GPT and you took some confidence tips to VD exactly from VD whatever.
But exactly what would VD do? What would VD do exactly? So let's see you're at this point now, you're kind of ready.
You maybe a little bit worried that people won't get why you're making the switch.
None of their business, though, is that.
Well, that's very true. That's very true, and you know, I feel like I found this. It's always like people are kind of skeptical. They're like, are you just doing this is just like a holiday for you? Or you going to leave this industry? You're going to leave us at some point. You're going to like hope. So they're kind of getting scared, you know, I hope, So you should be.
Scared treating better and I won't think about leaving exactly. So yeah, what do you do, Like if you're just worried about like making the switch, about making the switch, but worried that people won't get while you're making the switch, Well, I think that it's hard because people are always going to have an opinion right right, like, and if we get a little bit deep, people want you to do well, Beck, but they never want to see you do better than them.
People don't like that.
And that's why tall Poppy syndrome in Australia exists. So sometimes you are going to tell people, hey, I want to pivot careers and they're going to go, oh, I don't know, Beck, that sounds really risky or that sounds really silly, not because it is, but because they wouldn't be willing to do the same thing. So think about
who you are asking for advice before you actually take it. Like, you can have these beautiful conversations with your friends and your family, but that doesn't mean that they necessarily get it. And I think you need to sit back and go, well, why am I doing it? Because it only matters what you're thinking. And if people are so worried about your business and not their own, it's because their own business
is boring. And if they started talking about their own business back, no one would care exactly.
And you know what I have done.
I don't want to always make this into a gender or because it is not, but there are so many times that I see a man starting in a CFO or CEO whatever it is role, and it's like, hey, this guy came from Cole's and I'm like, hey, we're at a radio station. You guys, theyone know that we're at a radio station, but no one questions that. She's like, here's someone who knows what they're doing.
You know me exactly.
So let's put a pin in it real quick, Beck, because when it comes to this, there are things that your resume can't say. So after the break, we're going to talk about how to make recruiters back you in your career pivot and back everything that you want to achieve, and why your cover letter is honestly your secret biggest power move.
Okay, guys, we are back and I'm ready. This is my biggest pet peeve when I like spend hours on my regime and then everything's in there. Everything's in there, it's nice and tidy, and then ask for a couple letter. I'm like, hey, if you please just read my resume, you'll understand why.
I'm essentral why.
Such a conversation in our community too, Because when I recruit, I always ask for a cover letter, and I have had people literally message me being like read the resume.
Yeah, and I'm like okay.
Or they'll submit their resume and like one of my team will email back and be like, hey, Beck, we receive your application, but we didn't.
Get a cover letter.
And they're like, oh, I'm not so nigue just go okay, cool, I won't consider you without one. That's absolutely fine. It's an interesting situation because I know that people are going to message me about this, like I still don't believe in cover letters. That's fine, you do you, But I think they are your opportunity to tell your future employer, especially if it is a role that is going to be relatively competitive, why you are the best person for
the job. They shouldn't just see your experience and go, wow, Beck's a big dog.
Yeah.
Like, if you say to me, we'll read my resume, you're assuming that all I'm looking for is a tick box exercise.
I'm not.
I'm looking for the right fit culturally. I am looking for the right fit who genuinely believes in my business. I'm looking for the right fit of somebody who thinks that they can add value. How is your resume articulating that to me? And if your resume does articulate that, I would say that your resume needs to be stripped back because you've put too much information in it and you need to put that information into your cover letter
and put your resume together. For me, a very good resume would have a standard cover letter attached to it, So you'd have your cover letter, and then you would I have your resume that kind of like just has the jobs and the achievements that you've had, but your cover letter that's the thing that says, hey, thanks so much for reading my application. This is why I know
that I am the best fit for your organization. Yeah, okay, Like the amount of people that I've hired and I cannot remember what is on their resume because all I cared about was like they're banging cover letter.
It's like, yeah, I do have one question. When I'm writing cover letters, I wonder how much candidness I'm allowed to put in there. So like say, for example, I'm saying, hey, guys, I you know, I'm just like maybe like little jokes here and there, or like little brackets. Let I love that. But that's but it depends on who you're applying That's so true.
So if you're applying for SES on the Money GOL, I want it to be as fun as possible. You probably know me from the podcast. You know the personality I have. But if you're applying for one of the big four banks, well we're probably not trying to joke around your h you know he's yeah like less he is more professional.
Confidence.
Yes, I think we need to read the room here and work out what is going to work. Which is why I genuinely believe that every single job you're applying for should have a different cover letter, like you can have your standard one that you have thought about and has the different points that you want to make and like all of that, but then I would be wanting
to tailor it to each circumstance. And girlfriend, if you are going to use chat GPT for this and think that great, I'll cut and paste this out and just email it to somebody and you haven't read it, and then it leaves in insert company name here, or it says dear director instead of dear Victoria or whoever you're emailing straight to.
The m I see, I see. I'm so sorry.
But one of the things in that job description that I said I was looking for was attention to detail, and you just told me you had none.
Oh my god, they're really outed themselves. Well that's funny.
If you you want the job and you aren't willing to read the cover letter like proof read things, I think that you're not putting your.
Best foot forward.
And if you can't be bothered to put your best foot forward in that circumstance, what am I going to expect from you when you actually work for me?
Fair? Cool? Sorry, No, that's so fair. So how would you recommend?
And I know it depends on the company, depends on the industry, depends on the job. How do you recommend We like, can you just keep like the body of your cover letter and then change like, oh.
Yeah, but totally Like if you're doing like a mass application and like all of the jobs you are applying for a marketing jobs like, it could be pretty bloody similar. Just make sure that you are taking that it's twenty twenty five Beck LinkedIn exists. Take the time to work out who you are addressing if it's not because like in my job ads Beck, it says address the letter to Victoria, so like I'm giving it to you. If that says in the job ad that there's a specific person, fantastic.
Otherwise you can say, you know, to the hiring manager and that's completely fine. But make sure you're putting the company name somewhere in that cover letter because it tells me, as the recruiter that this is custom for me, it's not just your stock standard one. And that's really helpful. But if we want to get a little bit psychology, a little bit science y, there is a lot of
science in storytelling. Storytelling is one of my favorite things to learn more about because Storytelling activates an emotional part of your brain. It is the way that people learn best people and for hundreds of thousands of years, we've learned through storytelling. Right, So to be able to intertwine storytelling into your cover letter sounds overwhelming, sounds terrifying. Right, I'm like, oh, you need to be now telling story what?
This was already hard girl? But when you tell a recruiter a clear, very confident story about your career, not just dry facts, you are literally making yourself more memorable, more trustworthy. They are going to be able to connect with you better. And you want that because the recruiter's job is to back you so much they think that you're the one that should be going into that business. You're not just handing them a list of skills and
going oh, I'm perfect. You're painting a picture of the future you're building, and then you're inviting them to imagine you being successful in the role. And especially when you're changing industries, you can't just rely on your job titles to be able to sell you.
Sorry, it's not going to work.
You have to connect the dots in a way that makes them feel something, anything, so that it gets them genuinely in your corner. That's why I think for me, a cover letter is never, ever, ever a waste of time. Yeah, when you use it properly, it's how you shift from being another name in the pile to being someone that they actually want to meet.
Like your cover letter, and I've seen it a million times before. Your cover letter shouldn't.
Say Dear Victoria, thank you so much for considering my resume. Please find it attached that my friend is.
Not a cover letter.
Sure, Like, yeah, it's a letter on the cover of your resume, but like it needs to be. Why do you want to work at cheese on the money? And if you can't be bothered, it's so cool? Like I'm not forcing you to apply for my jobs, right, like I'm not forcing anybody. But if you cannot be bothered, like you don't want the job enough? Will you don't care enough about the job because you're like, oh well, I'm not spending half an hour writing a cover.
Letter, Okay, No, worries don't cool fair enough?
Like pop off, queen. I just I don't see the point. Okay, So how do you do it?
How would we how do we actually storytell? So it's good to say storytell, but like what's that means? So the first thing we are going to do is use a hook. A hook works in so many different circumstances in video, like on TikTok, right, Like, let's use an example.
You can't a millennial pause.
You can't set a millennial pause, right if the millennial I'm scrolling on.
If there's not a good.
First like three seconds of that video, you're like, I can't bother with this one. They're not very engaging. H that happens with your cover letter, I'm so sorry, Like if I start reading it and then I'm zoning out, Like I try so hard to read every single letter, like I really do, because to me, I'm like they've spent the time. But like if I'm zoning out, that's not cool. But you want a hook, so please don't start with hello, I am applying for position of X
as advertised on SICK. Like recruiters read that five hundred times a day and it tells them not one thing about you. Instead, i'd open with like energy curiosity, maybe like a real alignment. So I've written down two examples and I'll read them to you because I think that they're really good.
Got a few tickets for myself. Are you ready? I'm ready, dear hiring manager.
As someone who's spent the last five years making complex systems around smoother, I am very excited about the chance to help your team deliver even bigger projects.
WHOA, I'm hooked. I've got another one. Yeah, dear hiring manager.
The first thing I noticed about your company was your obsession with customer experience, and I knew immediately that was somewhere I wanted to be.
WHOA, that's so good. Do you want those ones?
Or do you want Dear hiring manager, I am applying for the position of marketing director, as advertised on seek.
Literally as you were talking here, so odal.
So dumb, right, because you're doing the best that you can with the knowledge and skills that you have, but like you don't know what you don't know.
And we've all sent that email, we've all.
Sent that cover letter at some point that is okay, that's as what you had to do.
But if you know better, you can do better. And now you know better.
Yeah, So don't like crucify yourself for having not gotten jobs because you applied that way. Because I can almost guarantee somebody else had written a banging cover letter that made someone go, wow, get marine, get her in the door.
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, that's very true. And don't be because I've seen his thing.
Like you feel so embarrassed.
I'm kind of embarrassed now, but.
That's just what Nah. No one taught us how.
To you're doing is person in like school that's got you to do that exact.
That's what they told us.
But like they didn't know anything about psychology, they didn't know anything about storytelling.
Maybe they do nowadays.
So don't come at me if you're like a careers counselor and you're like Victoria, this is basic.
I do this every Yeah, well you're better than the one I had. She told me I wasn't going to be successful.
She told me that, like she was seriously doubting my ability to even finish your twelve?
Go what's actually really mean? We need to unpack that?
Remore shout missus Bullett still watching you. I'm still watching you.
Butlet how could you say that? It's awful?
And you know what I've said this, anyone that went to most school is going to be like I knew it was going to be her. I just know, I just know she's retired now, So it's not defamation either, because you know what is a defense to defamation, the truth. Whoa, I'm just salty about it now I'm talking about it.
So back to your cover letter.
Okay, the next thing you're going to talk about career pivot statement. Yeah, so one or two lines explaining why we're pivoting, So that comes after yeah, yeah, yeah, like, oh my gosh, I really want to be involved in your company. And then we need to acknowledge the fact that my resume is not going to tell you that I have experience, Like I've got experience, but not in this industry.
Right in the room, we're going to call it out real early.
So for example, if you were moving from like retail to marketing, you might say something like, and I've written this down. Spending years on the retail floor taught me exactly how customers think, what grabs their attention and what builds loyalty, and that instinct is what I'm now excited.
To bring to your marketing role. Yes.
Cool.
Then we are going to spotlight all of those transferable skills we talked about before, like.
Our transferable superpowers.
Let's call them and connect them to real business needs, because at the end of the day, people aren't hiring people just because you're like, oh, Beck's bomb, get her in my team.
I mean, that's what I did, but it's not what everyone does.
Right.
People are going to be like, our business has a need and we need to fill it. So you need to be I don't know, tap into that. So don't just list skills. Show me how do they solve the problem. Pick one or two strengths that you know this company needs right now and make it really obvious why you are the answer, and then end by offering value. Give value and you will receive it backback. Show that the
future you can actually help them. So your final paragraph is like the last chance for you to leave a lasting impression, So make it a really good, strong one instead of closing with paragraphs like I really hope to be considered or I would really appreciate the opportunity of an interview. All sounds like and literally everything right, But yes, yes, yes, yes, we've all written it.
I've all done it.
I absolutely If we go back through my old emails, I can almost guarantee that's how I used to do it. Yeah, absolutely so, Like we're not throwing shade. If that's the way you've just done it, or if you like, submitted an application yesterday was fine, I get it.
We all do it.
It doesn't mean that you're not going to be considered. It just means that we're trying to elevate how we position ourselves. Instead of that, we're going to say I'm excited to bring my leadership skills, creative thinking, and drive for operational excellence to help the company name scale sustainably through.
Its next chapter. Yeah, gorgeous.
Because the way that we've worded that is not like I want to be considered, it's I'm actually really excited to do this. I'm excited to do this makes them think that you're already in the role. It makes them imagine that you are the person there, not somebody knocking at the door. Like mentally, you're jumping the barrier. We want to jump the barrier consistently.
I feel like myself and everyone listening the batim will copy this word for words.
This is what I'm going to do. You can and I'm going to make a careers.
Like when I say this, our graphic designer Georgia is probably going to kill me. I'm going to give her all of these notes, and I'm going to get her to put them into a PDF that you can download for free on our website that gives you these tips and tricks and the examples of how you would put together a bang and cover letter, because like, you don't have to take notes. You probably already have because I haven't said that early enough in the episode, but if you have, like good student.
Yeah, absolutely, But I was just going to say, let's all agree to change one word each and then it won't look like we all copied each.
Other, but you can you could eat and real that just track g and be like, can you put this in my tone of voice? Can you like change this and update this?
Yeah? Okay, okay, so okay, now we're here. What if someone's doing all of this updating there as may telling their story, sending cover letters, but they're just not gaining traction.
It's really hard, right, Like your market is cooked.
Like obviously these are great tips and tricks, but just because you implement all of them does not mean every single person is going to call you back.
I don't want to.
Disillusion you into going oh, this is the golden ticket. Like, yes, this is going to help, this is going to boost your presence. But I don't want you to wait until you're feeling really stuck or you're getting crickets to be able to you know, take these steps, like take steps now, and remember that the way people respond is not your responsibility, Like, it's not a reflection of who you are, it's a reflection of who they are. If a recruiter isn't getting
back to you, I think that's rude. That is rude at the end of the day. Like if they have called you and said I'll call you by Friday and they do not, that is just rude. And that is fine, But that's not a reflection of your confidency or your capability, right, Like that is just them probably not managing expectations well, even though on their job ad when they applied for it, it would be managed client expectations.
Right.
So these are smart moves that can genuinely help you build your career pivot strategy right from the start. But like there's a few things I would also be doing. First, is like not knocking our confidence because the second you're knocking your com and so I would say that's the hardest thing to rebuild. Like, let's not do that. It's twenty twenty five. Let's just not do that.
Like we are bad us as we are so cool and we have each other's backs, like.
We're not just talking about like, oh I'm not good enough. Nah, that's in the bin these days. Let's actually just have a look at your resume. Do you have any skills gaps? Like, are there any technical skills or some qualifications you could get that might help that you feel like you're missing. If so, can you bridge the gap with like a quick online course or a short certification or even some self taught projects. There are platforms like and I've spoken
about this on the podcast before, Coursera. They do a plethora of free online courses or free units from universities around the world, Like you could go study at Stanford or Yale or have it and just do a course in you know, if you're moving into tech, there is a plethora of different tech units you could do.
That's cool.
Yes, you do need to pay at the very end if you want the official certificate, sure, but you can do the whole course most of the time and say you've done the course.
But not have the fancy certificate. If you want for free, great, who cares?
Like I did it.
I didn't pay for the certificate print out at the end, Like these things are very cool. It's actually how I learned to code our new website.
Oh I see that.
Yeah.
I just went and did a little mini course which was really cool. It was from some random university in the US. I don't know what they were, but it ticked all the boxes of what I was looking.
Can you get it later or do you have to do it on the spot you have to pay for it.
On No, it was like on demand, No, the sure you could I had.
I didn't try. Honestly, I didn't pay for it.
I was like I don't need the certificate, no if I just actually just needed the skill, Like I was like, I don't know how to do this, someone please teach me.
So that was very cool. That's really cool.
You don't need a full degree to pivot, like genuinely, sometimes there's like a little short course or like a small amount of learning, Like you don't need to go and be like, oh I want to work in business, I have to do a whole commerce degree, Like maybe that would help you for sure, but like sometimes they're a little fill the gap things that might help.
And then think about small the pivots first.
So if the leap that you're aiming for is feeling a little bit too big right now, I get it. Are there some stepping stones that we could take, like maybe a small sideways move that could get you closer to your goal and maybe build a little bit more credibility in the space or the field that you're going into while still earning money. And you did this. You went from one career and said, all right, I want
to go into media. The role that you have right now is definitely not what you would have got for a start, but you took a different role just to get your foot in the door in the industry right back, absolutely, and now you're doing the role that you never thought you would do.
Here we are not I sheese on the money.
I mean that's slay, but like I'm talking about like your full time professional gig.
Yes, like that's not what you thought you would be doing. God no, but so cool, Thank you so much. I do just have one really quick question. I have always wondered, like if there are things that you do on the side, say I like to do digital design or I've always been pretty good with Adobe, but I never monetized, never earned a job.
Sense is that valuable a man.
Skill?
Yeah? Great, it's there.
If hypothetically, let's pretend I'm your bossy, You're a big formal professional, forty hours a week job and I said, oh, Beck, we need to use Adobe.
What do you say, how to do that?
Great?
So do I have to train you?
True?
Yeah?
No, No, So that's a skill that as your employer, I would love to know about.
That is great. I don't have to train you for that.
Amazing.
Yeah, so you're saying, hold on, hold on, you're in this job and I've just tired you.
You can just do like small graphic things on the side as well as your job.
I mean, there's a whole conversation about, you know, your employer taking advantage of your skills, which you know we're going to put to the side.
But oh, I'm in a pinch. Can you help me put this flyer together?
Beck's going to say say, less, well, you're an even more valuable employee.
Yeah, do you know what I mean? Like, yes, you do.
And then the last thing, which I don't think lots of people do enough of Sorry about this double down on your networking. Eighty percent of jobs are filled through connections, not cold applications, right, So if you're only applying online, you, from my perspective, are missing a huge part of the market. So start connecting with people inside industries you love, not by begging for jobs, but by being curious, maybe asking
for insights and building genuine relationships. Now I've said this before, human beings love talking about themselves. Like if somebody you know, you're not messaging like big influences on LinkedIn, you're messaging people about their career.
Hey, beck, I saw.
Your LinkedIn and I think your career is really really interesting. Can I ask you a question? You're going to go, yeah, I love talking about me, do you know what I mean? Like, you're not thinking I love talking about me, but that's the feeling totally.
You're gonna go, wow, that's cool.
Someone thought I was cool exactly or just girls like we are all just exactly Okay. I'm really like this the networking thing I can get behind. I totally get it. I feel like I would be so honored if someone reached out to ask literally anything, just how's your day going? I'd be so stroked. So this feels like a good place to leave it.
It is, it is.
I feel like I've overwhelmed you with information. As I said, I'm going to make a PDF and upload it. It might not be on the website on the day that this drops, but keep your eyes peeled because the second it drops will make sure it's like in a newsletter or we like send out an email to be like, hey, our little like career pivot whatever we're going to call it,
Like it'll be more about just writing a banging cover letter. Yeah, like I'm going to do like how to write a banging cover letter guide and why you absolutely do need one. But girl, you don't need permission, you don't need a perfect resume. You just need a plan, and you just need to back yourself because nobody else is going to do it in the same way that you can do it.
If you don't back yourself, who the hell is going to see you and be like, oh, she doesn't even back herself, Like absolutely not, absolutely not, And honestly truth, Stuck in a job that you've outgrown, it's not just exhausting, it's expensive.
Expensive.
So next time you're staring at a job out and you're like, ah, but I don't really mean all the criteria. We are going to ask ourselves back. If some dudes saw this with my skills, what would he do?
Would he close the tab or would he already be halfway through negotiating the Salaryick? Exactly exactly, So we want to be backing ourselves. You are more than ready, even if you're not ticking every single box.
Exactly, Let's go get our money.
Yeah, exactly. If this episode gave you a confidence boost, it literally gave me one. I feel so empowered right now, or even just reminded you what a weapon you actually are. Make sure you're following us wherever you get your podcasts. We've got more career advice coming your way. Very absolutely we do.
We'll see you on Friday. Bye, guys.
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