LIVE! Ask Us Anything - Mastering the Market: AI Trends, Interview Tips, Remote Career Strategies, and Negotiation Tactics

There's no filter on today's episode! Mary and Laura went LIVE to answer your questions.

We're dissecting the fascinating rise in job creation and the contrasting tech sector layoffs, providing a nuanced understanding of these industry-specific movements. Get ready to sip your coffee and join us in a candid conversation that reveals the complexities behind the employment headlines and what they mean for your career trajectory.

Imagine a future where AI is as commonplace in the workplace as your morning cup of joe. We're not just forecasting the tech industry's rebound; we're also discussing how embracing AI is crucial for staying ahead in your career. 

With personal tales from PodFest and insights from Fizz's 2024 hiring predictions, we'll guide you through the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, the significance of transferable skills, and the ongoing revolution of remote work. 

When it comes to climbing the corporate ladder from your home office, knowing how to outshine the competition is key. 

We'll share strategies from the San Diego Business Summit on making an impact remotely and reveal the art of mastering salary negotiations and handling counteroffers with finesse. 

Listen in for real-world stories and expert advice that illuminate how to assert your value and negotiate for more than just a salary. Whether you're aiming for that next promotion or negotiating your dream job's benefits package, we're here to arm you with the wisdom to become the CEO of your career.

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Transcript

Mary Brandt: 0:02

Welcome to the Redefine Your Career Journey Podcast, where we help career minded professionals like you become the CEO of your career.

Laura Bashore: 0:11

I'm Laura Beishore and I'm here with my co-host, mary Fiend Brand. Together, we have over 25 years of experience in career development and coaching.

Mary Brandt: 0:19

We're thrilled to share our insights and expertise with you on this podcast.

Laura Bashore: 0:22

Grab your favorite cup of coffee, tune in and let's start the show.

Mary Brandt: 0:30

Hello, hello, we are live. Wow, Laura, it's been a hot minute since I've been live or since either of us have been live. I can't even remember the last time I went live. Maybe it was when Buzzsprout did the analytics the 2023. I think that's the last time that I went live on LinkedIn. I'm really excited to be here because, as you guys know, I love going live. Let's start with some introductions. Hey guys, I'm Mary Fiend Brand, co-host of the Re-Defined your Career Journey, and I'm here with oh, did I do that? Right, that way?

Laura Bashore: 1:11

There you go, there you go. I'm Laura Bechor. I'm Laura Bechor. I am the co-host of the Re-Defined your Career Journey podcast and, to your point, mary, it has been a while since we've been live, and I'm used to being live audio at this time in the morning, not with video, so forgive me in my dark cave. It's raining here, though, in San Diego. You know it's time for the atmospheric river.

Mary Brandt: 1:44

Right. Do I need to send you a boat? I've got two kayaks in my backyard. What do I need to send you? I understand San Diego is a disaster zone. We've got flooding going on and it's a serious. I mean we're laughing right now, but it's pretty darn serious.

Laura Bashore: 2:02

It's pretty serious. Yeah, we're working with some nonprofits to get funds out to some families that have been devastated by it, but on the flip side of it, I've got a whole week lined up with my children in the house, and so you know, just put special thoughts out there for me, because let me wrap it.

Mary Brandt: 2:22

You get your kids in the house for a week. Oh, that's going to be fun.

Laura Bashore: 2:27

Yeah, exactly so much fun, so much fun yeah.

Mary Brandt: 2:30

Well, you guys, we're just really excited to bring back our ever popular Ask Us Anything episode, and so we want you to drop your questions in the comments about anything career related, so resumes, interviews, personal branding, working with recruiters Excuse me, linkedin, of course, you know what's the job market look like and I think, laura, what we want to kick the show off with is what is going on in the job market, and I think on Friday there was some big news and we were all talking about that. Do you want to kick off the episode today?

Laura Bashore: 3:11

Yeah, yeah. It's so interesting because in our first episode of January, we're like we're going to talk about job market, but little did we know that going into the latter last week of January and beginning of February, we'd have crazy statistics. That is something that everybody's talking about right now. So, if you haven't heard, the US economy is on fire right now. So we were projected to add 187,000 jobs. However, with more than double that, with 353 jobs already in January. So it's just I'm being asked all the time, you know what's the job market like? And I'm glad we're going to talk a little bit more about that today, because you know the answer to that really is depends.

Mary Brandt: 4:06

It always kind of depends, right, it always depends on the industry location and I think that's interesting that the job market you know they added what 353,000 jobs in January, because in one of our podcasts we also talked about that in the tech industry, by January 17, there were like 10 tech companies laying people off and astronomical numbers. And I believe wholeheartedly that that's actually the fallout of the pandemic, because the pandemic hit us and tech was such an important role for people to work from home the zoom, the video and all of that so they hired, hired, hired and now we're balancing off. So I want to talk a little more before we get into the ask us anything questions. I want to talk a little more about that tech industry venture.

Mary Brandt: 5:02

Fizz, which is an industry leader for jobs and careers in tech, release their 2024 tech industry hiring predictions and poll results, and here's what they said following a challenging period marked by significant layoffs starting in 2022, continuing through 2023. The contributors are cautiously optimistic for 2024 with in 2023, there were 240,000 tech jobs lost and at the beginning of 2024, just last month in January we continue to see layoffs from like Amazon and Google and Microsoft. However, despite all of that, they're optimistic that we're going to start seeing hiring in tech, specifically tech, continue to come back to life. Let's say so. If you're interested in that, we will put the article link in the show notes. But I thought that that was interesting that we have all these layoffs and I think it's balancing out, but they really feel like it's going to stabilize and and have moderate hiring growth in 2024 for the tech industry and I feel like that's an industry that I get asked about a lot.

Laura Bashore: 6:21

Yeah, well, and I think, because you know we used to think of, the tech industry is very linear and it's not like that anymore.

Laura Bashore: 6:29

You can come into it at different spaces, just like in our episode when we were talking with Kyle and so about how there's different ways to be within the tech industry. You don't necessarily have to be the person who's providing the tech skill set Right. So that's one thing to. I have had my last three clients talking about the job market, right. One of them is somebody who's at the sea level in Silicon. One of them is a client who was looking from transitioning out of the service restaurant industry and into SAS, so selling selling software as a software, as a vision. And then my other one was somebody who was transitioning out of oh gosh, I can't think of it now because I haven't had enough coffee, but my whole point here was I have three different clients within the last month and a half who are transitioning into different industries, doing something different within their field, and it's really hones in that the market is yours to move through as long as you know what your transferable skills are. I guess that that was my main point.

Mary Brandt: 7:51

You've got to know what your transferable skills are. So I just was working with a woman, just a consultation call. She went from HR and she just took a position in tech.

Laura Bashore: 8:02

And I feel like oh, that's very different.

Mary Brandt: 8:04

Like HR, you get certified and trained and all that, and now she wants to move into tech. So I and I wonder, laura, why we're discussing this, how AI is going to play a role in these tech, in the tech industry, because the companies in 2024, I think it was like 83% already said that, yes, they're going to implement some type of AI in their business, and something like 37% already happened, right, and so I'm wondering how AI is going to play a role in the job market.

Mary Brandt: 9:48

Well, to your point, even with we were just at PodFest right Just last week, which has been same to me, I feel like that we coming back with really, really we had our first professional sleepover and that was so amazing, being at PodFest and being in person, because, you guys, we live in two different states and, just for our viewers, like we realized, we met on LinkedIn but we've only been in person, I think, four times. Four times.

Laura Bashore: 10:18

Yeah, and then we just did a crash course full on sleepover, everything, and it went well. So that was good. We have lots of fun stories to share about that. But what I wanted to say was I was not surprised, but I guess just I was aware of how much we were all discussing AI and how much all of the different speakers that we went into see are the panels were discussing how to integrate this, and this was at every level. And then I even went in to see the one of the ex CEOs of TEDx at a chair.

Laura Bashore: 10:58

Thing got changed at the last minute, but what did she end up doing? She's like, well, let's talk about a hot topic, and she just opened up her laptop and pulled up chat, gpt and then started showing, or showing how you can integrate with that and how you can start to make a persona and talk back to it, and so it's just interesting to your point, if you don't think that AI is important in your job, you're going to be behind. It's one of those things like when the computer came. This is what we're doing now. We're going to get on board, yeah.

Mary Brandt: 11:31

Yeah, and that's what I related to is that you're going to be a dinosaur. If you're not now, you don't have to use AI in all of your life. But as a career professional, as a business owner, you should be wrapping your head about how you can use AI, because, especially if you're a career professional, if you're going even in HR, how can you use AI to be more efficient? Right, and so.

Mary Brandt: 11:57

I really feel like it's the computers all over again, right? Oh my gosh, the computers are going to take over our jobs. No, they're not. They're going to enhance our jobs. Look at us now. I mean, I lived through that. I learned how to type, you guys, and not on a keyboard, on a typewriter, let me tell you, computers have made everything easier. So we've got Jerry joining us. Love your glasses, mary. Thank you. These are Papers. They're Oprah's favorite.

Mary Brandt: 12:28

I don't get anything to say that I know it's the new pencil. What's the new pencil? The AI, maybe. But talking about work, the landscape of the job market, another big topic is remote work. It's here to stay. Folks and more companies are embracing it. It took a while. I mean literally. It took, I want to say three years, 2020, right.

Mary Brandt: 12:56

I mean it's been here, but for it to be a mainstream. So we're going to see little change in the job market and the work from home levels. It's going to become where working from home is five times more common than five years ago in 2019. Of course it is, and furthermore, with the tons of faster growing companies.

Mary Brandt: 13:18

They're going to adopt the flexible working patterns that the career professionals want, because in order to attract top talent, you need to have some kind of flexibility, even if it's hybrid. But I feel like everyone I work with, they don't want to be in the office five days. They don't mind like one day, but maybe two days, but they do not want to be in an office five days a week. So the caveat being that flexible work refers to how people work rather than the work they do, and I was just on an audio event with Andy Foote, which some of our listeners might know.

Mary Brandt: 13:55

He's very active on LinkedIn and we're asked, as a co-host, to bring up two news worthy stories that we want to talk about. Well, I brought this one and we couldn't even get to the next one, because everybody wanted to help her with her work.

Laura Bashore: 14:14

I was just at the San Diego Business Summit and I was on their panel talking about how to manage hybrid work and, to your point, the level or the depth of the questions that I was getting from the audience really shows that people are trying to make that shift of understanding that this is the new way of doing work.

Laura Bashore: 14:38

I found that one of the big concerns, both for employees and employers, was how do you move up, how do you get seen, when the whole point is to try to be as efficient and seamless as you can, and so it's difficult for them to understand. How do you make yourself stand out and not become something that's coming as a nuisance? And so what we discussed was the leadership needs to set up what those boundaries are. So, for example, some decisions were being made within this organization and they were being made on site, and leadership felt like well, if the other people wanted to be here, they could have shown up and they would be in the decision, which then discredits those who may be contributing a lot, but because they're present as a there, you're discrediting it. So we talked about setting up a set time, because I agree it's important to come in and get that FaceTime. You can't just be completely remote unless it's an organization. In my opinion, that's really been doing it before pandemic.

Mary Brandt: 15:53

Like Zappier? Isn't Zappier 100% remote? Oh, I think there's some feedback Might be on your end. So Jerry's joining us. Jerry, we're gonna get to you in just a moment.

Mary Brandt: 16:10

So the whole point of remote work one question that we get asked a lot is what can I do to stand out? How, getting promoted as a remote worker and being in front of your boss and the boss's boss and the people that make the decisions, it's really important. So if all you're doing is working at your desk at home and you're not interacting on this, if you're on a Zoom call, put your camera on. Let them see your face right. If there's an opportunity for you to go into the office, go into the office.

Mary Brandt: 16:43

On a personal note, even if you're not a remote worker, being seen by the right people is important. So I'm not gonna say who, but there's someone that works the night shift. If you know, you know and their boss said, going to the day shift will get you in front of a different group of managers that can help you get promoted. Okay, so even just in this situation, moving to a different shift is going to help this person get in front of a different set of managers. I'm talking like plant managers, operations managers, and their boss was saying I think this is the right move for you, so it's about being in front of the right people. And Laura, oh my gosh. So I'm really passionate about this because I was listening to like a master class and I don't remember all the stats, but did you know that your skill set is not the most important thing to get you promoted? The visibility is being in front of the people was like kind of higher weight than your skill set and I was like bingo.

Laura Bashore: 17:54

Yeah, I do know that because that is how I navigated my career. I would get asked all the time by my colleagues how is it that your ideas are getting put forward? Or how is it that you're not even in the office as often as I am, but you're up for promotions or people are looking at you and it's being strategic with your FaceTime, figuring out who are the people I need to be in front of, and then how do I get myself in front of them in a productive way? You have to have something to say, you have to have a reason for being there, and so it's just my personality is I'm observant, but I'm only observant to a point. When I know that I need to be speaking up and that I'm not doing it, I kind of mentally check myself and say, okay, how am I gonna get in on the conversation now, because I need to be in on the conversation. So it's kind of knowing that it's that whole. Don't wait your turn, be strategic and get your points across FaceTime not FaceTime on your phone.

Mary Brandt: 19:01

Facetime with your manager?

Laura Bashore: 19:02

No, yeah yeah, not on your phone.

Mary Brandt: 19:07

Yeah, the other question that we I think that we get asked a lot is interviews Like how do I prep for the interview? And we had a question like what one of the questions submitted prior to the show and thank you for submitting it is like what's a great question to ask during the interview. So, laura, do you wanna kick us off with that?

Laura Bashore: 19:29

Yes, absolutely. Before I do that, I'm just sharing that we're live. I'm just making sure real quick.

Mary Brandt: 19:37

So forgive me, I'm not being rude on my phone.

Laura Bashore: 19:40

I'm not being a millennial on my phone, okay.

Mary Brandt: 19:42

You do that. You know what I'm gonna talk about, jerry. Jerry joined us and he accepted what he thought was gonna be his last job. Here's where the story goes, laura. They waited a month for me to start Okay, that's okay, there's onboarding and all that.

Mary Brandt: 20:00

Two days in, his manager was already irritated that he was asking questions. There was zero training, zero onboarding, and then he got fired on Friday. So, first off, jerry, I'm sorry that you went through this, because that's awful. I think there are probably some red flags, like did we ask what the onboarding was? Did we ask what training? And not knowing the company, the industry or any of that, generally speaking, I wanna know what the onboarding is. Who am I working with? What's the turnaround, my processes, where's my checklist? Right, I'm a checklist person. I need to do this, this and this. I'm not. I don't think the red flag is they waited a month, because it does take time to dot your eyes and cross your T's when you're hiring someone all the paperwork, but that there was no training, okay, he just said it was a large nonprofit.

Laura Bashore: 20:58

So, with nonprofits, yeah, you can see both Mary and I go. Oh okay, so we support nonprofits a lot. I'm on a board of a nonprofit here called Classics for Kids in San Diego and I also contribute to a lot of them. But both Mary and I have worked closely with nonprofits before, sometimes on the inside, maybe through contracting, and sometimes on the outside through partnerships. Yes, but Non-profits are notorious, for things are bootstrapped and you're going to walk in and find that your training is bootstrapped as well.

Mary Brandt: 21:39

Processes are minimal.

Laura Bashore: 21:42

Well, I want to kind of back it up to what you were saying, mary, where you were asking me to talk about the interview. So one of the things, jerry, is a great question to ask, because don't get discouraged by the industry, like we need people who are great to be inside and on profit so that they can thrive but how we can make sure that we also thrive there too and aren't just thrown in and then expected to have miracles occur and then, when they don't, within 30 days, taken out in the interview, ask what's your onboarding like, what's the training like, what can I expect so that I come in ready to hit the ground running? And at that point they may have said well, it's going to be a lot of shadowing. As somebody who's come into organizations with shadowing training, I can tell you I went from corporate into a state and federally funded organization that got a lot of funding from nonprofit stream. So it was similar in the vein of we had people who had been in there for a long time and it was kind of like you're just going to shadow and learn it.

Laura Bashore: 22:51

I took a binder and I just started writing everything down. And it's funny because when me and Mary first met. We had a conversation about doing this both at our jobs, before I just started making my own training manual. So you kind of, when you see it's not happening, you kind of take control in that way and then start asking people to give you those answers to the questions that you have, create that manual and then instead, when that conversation came up with your employer, you might have been able to say, hey, you know what? There wasn't a clear process. Here's what I've started to put together. Did you want to review that? And maybe we can come up with something and get things really on track. So that would be excellent.

Mary Brandt: 23:35

He says that that's what he did, then it just might not be the right nonprofit for you at this time, but nonprofits are known for bootstrapping and not having all their processes in check. So it's really important I always like to talk to other people in the office as well, because even if they don't say something verbally, you can tell by their body language. If they're like oh yeah, processes are really good here, but they don't elaborate, then that's probably a red sign, right? So let's continue on the interview questions.

Mary Brandt: 24:16

Laura Are there any interview questions that you think that someone should ask, or that you're like okay, I know that this is your thing.

Laura Bashore: 24:31

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it shows that you're going to be collaborative from the onset and it almost like how we're always talking about. You got to negotiate your salary, which we'll talk about here in a minute, but also you have to have a question for the interviewer, so I like to keep a couple of them on stock on hand, right. So a great one is I like this one that's been put in here, which is how could I impress you in the first three months? You're kind of asking them what's the expectation. So that saying what is the expectation, you have to understand that your verbiage is really important when you're in the interview, and by saying how can I impress you, you're asking what you can do for them instead of what they can do for you. If you say expectation, now you're talking about what they can do for you and in their head they're turned off and they're thinking well, I brought you in for an interview, so I'm doing that. So I think that's a great one to ask.

Laura Bashore: 25:34

The one that I always ask because I want to know what's going on is when are you looking to make your decision? It has helped me from not spinning, you know, and having many sleepless nights after an interview thinking when will I hear back? When will I hear back? You know I am, I'm just doing so. You want to know when you're going to hear back and that's the way you can ask it without getting too involved. And off of that question, I've had people who are interviewing me. Let me know. Hey, it's down to you and one other candidate. I'm going to open the door for me to say oh well, what other questions can I answer for you that maybe you still have about me, since it's down to me and one other person.

Mary Brandt: 26:26

Like can I object on that? Can I say when you, when you said, oh, it's down to two people, right, you know? A question I like to ask are there internal candidates applying? Because that lets you know a lot of times people realistically right, oh yes, we have internal candidates. So then I'm like, okay, you know, a lot of times the companies post the job, put people through the interview and I'm just being honest, with their attention being on hiring the internal candidate, but they have to publicly post that.

Laura Bashore: 27:06

Yes, because you have to. For many organizations there is a rule that well, it's a rule you have to bring in seven people. So, whether or not you already know who you're hiring, you still have to bring in seven other candidates. You can't just go with that one. So, depending on how on the up and up the organization is and how much auditing is done with them, yeah, so they're going to go in and do their due diligence because they need to make sure that they are CYA, cya I also like.

Mary Brandt: 27:43

I don't think that you said this question I like. The question is why is this position open? Is it a new position? Did someone leave? Did someone get promoted? I want to know what created this opening, because I think that can really provide some insights. Maybe it's a new position because of growth or a different path that they're taking or a different service they're offering.

Laura Bashore: 28:10

Yeah, so on that, I would research the company first and maybe I would rephrase it to say hey, I saw that this is possibly a newer position. Is that based off of your guys' growth? The only reason I ask that is because if you leave that question to open-ended, you might make them feel like they're on the hot seat and you just have to be really skilled in your conversation. Yeah, I'm afraid so, because the best way I can say this is the more skilled interviewer, right, so the more confident you are in that. That's a great question to ask. But if you're nervous about your interview, I might caution that, just because you could lead yourself into stumbling over it and it could completely backfire. So I think practice and then, yes, that's an excellent question, because you do want to know what's going on in there, and it also helps to weed out the red flags, like you were talking about earlier.

Laura Bashore: 29:13

Absolutely I think that's good too.

Mary Brandt: 29:16

Well, let's move on to our next question that was submitted. But before we do that, if you guys want more information, you want to learn more about those tricky interview questions and how to answer those. We did a whole podcast on that and that's episode three. So just go to redefine your career journey we're on all major platforms and check out episode three to learn more about how to answer those tricky interview questions. So Ann Small said doing your research and being confident. I can't tell you how many people just think they're going to go in and do the interview with no prep.

Laura Bashore: 29:55

I'm just like well, yeah, it's when people give you that answer to why do you want to work here, and then they say my skill sets a line with the job description. So is everyone else that?

Mary Brandt: 30:11

we're interviewing. Give me the more Hopefully right?

Laura Bashore: 30:14

Yes, we have Right. Hopefully. That's why you're here.

Mary Brandt: 30:18

Well, let's go to the next question that was submitted. Is you know what and I know you've come across this, laura where clients like they're looking for a job, their company they're working for, they had a review or they asked for a raise. They showed all this work they're doing, they increased the bottom line, they brought in new clients, they streamlined the process, and their boss says, oh, we can't offer you a raise at this time, it's not in the budget, basically saying we don't value you. And so you're like, okay, and you go look for a new job and then you get an offer from a new company We'll call it the Kauai Coffee Company. They offer you a job making more money and you go back to the Folgers Coffee Company and they say, oh well, we don't want you to leave, laura, we can offer you a 5% increase. I know what I say about that, laura. That's a big no, would you like to? I say it's a no because they didn't value you from day one.

Laura Bashore: 31:28

Yeah, I agree. I don't have the stats pulled up in front of me so I can't quote exactly who it's from, but what I can say. If you just Google this, you'll find it too. Those who accept a counter offer from their current employer usually end up leaving within the next 12 months anyways, because you're reasoning for wanting to leave in the first place. Of course, money was tied to it, but it's exactly what you said, which is that they are not being valued.

Laura Bashore: 32:03

I just pulled up the step because, you know that we'd like to give you stats.

Mary Brandt: 32:07

We back up what we say with references, articles and stats. So around 50% of the people that accept a counter offer leave for a new job within 12 months.

Laura Bashore: 32:21

So, yeah.

Mary Brandt: 32:22

So my, our answer is no. If they didn't value the work, if they didn't value you and the work that you've been doing. And you went in and, you know, showed them the work, showed them the proof. You had a professional conversation and they were just like sorry, can't do that. And then all of a sudden, 30 days, six weeks, two months later, when you come back and put in your resignation and they want, all of a sudden they have a magic pot of gold and they're going to give you that raise.

Mary Brandt: 32:49

I'm sorry. Exactly, you're trying to save your butt because you know how hard I work and what I bring to the table. You should have appreciated me and valued me when I came to you.

Laura Bashore: 33:00

Exactly, yeah, yeah, that's 100% on point. I have another question that came through about salaries.

Mary Brandt: 33:12

Is that alright, if?

Laura Bashore: 33:13

I bring it.

Mary Brandt: 33:14

Yeah, let's go into salaries.

Laura Bashore: 33:18

People talk about salary negotiations. So one of my clients was asking me he was going to a new company. So he does. He's in the entertainment industry and he does the cloud space for setting up events, making sure everything's going off the way it needs to, and it's being brought into a company that's kind of trying to get some market saturation. You know they're trying to be the disruptors really excited about it. And they offered him a salary. That he told me. He said, laura, I've been listening to you, you know I follow what you're saying. And he said but really at this point I like the salary, I'm comfortable with what they're offering me, it's a good salary. And he said but I remember you told me I should always be negotiating. I have no idea what I should be doing. And so I talked to him about negotiating outside of money.

Mary Brandt: 34:19

It's not always my favorite thing. Actually, I prefer to negotiate time off Right In the corporate world.

Laura Bashore: 34:28

We talked about yes. And so we talked about, okay, maybe you won an extra week of vacation. And he's like, well, honestly, that's really not something that I'm interested in. And I said, okay, well, tell me about some of the differences, because, although you like the salary, there's got to be some differences between what's going on. And then he said, well, you know, the stock option because this is a newer organization is not commiserate with the stock option that I had at my previous employer.

Laura Bashore: 34:59

I said, there, it is, that is what it is. And he said, well, they've been upfront that they don't have the ability to do that yet. And then I said, well, you know what it sounds like you're going to be building out this whole team, this whole operation is that I think what we need to do is set the standard of I'd like a 90 day evaluation, because after 90 days I'm going to have more responsibilities, I will have built up a team, things will be functioning here, and at that point we should be able to project where we're going this year. Once we're there, I'd like to renegotiate salary and take a look at those stock options again. So he went in and did that and so he's got that happening and I love that.

Laura Bashore: 35:47

When my clients are saying they're happy with the salary that's coming in or they're doing like a 180 transition and they know that they need to prove themselves a little bit in this new space. 90 day evaluation, get it in writing in your offer. Let's get that going because it's really going to make a difference and help you continue to feel valued at your newer position.

Mary Brandt: 36:13

Back. I love all of that 90 day evaluation. One of the things that I actually have always negotiated was a little bit on pay, but more so was and more so it was time off for me, Right. So.

Laura Bashore: 36:31

I would do that too. I like time off.

Mary Brandt: 36:33

So I negotiated time off twice. So when I was working at a Bishop's school, I negotiated that I started with four weeks of vacation time and after working there, my first year, and how, yeah, yeah, people are like what I'm like. You just have to ask vacation is a soft cost. It's not a hard cost. Exactly, exactly.

Mary Brandt: 36:54

And so I negotiated four weeks off, which is what the C level people got, and they were like I go well, I worked for the head of school on the board of trustees. I'm C level, so I want my four weeks.

Mary Brandt: 37:04

And then it was so frigid busy after my first year, I negotiated an extra week. So I was like, look, this time right before graduation, so what I phrased it or I packaged it right before starting in April at a private school. You've got awards and senior night and more awards night, and you've got sports banquets, and then you've got graduation and my office was in charge of a lot of that Diplomas, ordering diplomas, right, all that. So I was like, look, I need a week off before that last push to the end of the year. So I negotiated an extra week, so I have five weeks vacation and so I just want to really enforce that to me. For me to pay is important, but time off like that is super important, so I have enough time to take off for whatever I want vacation.

Mary Brandt: 38:01

But I also negotiated when I worked at a bank. I went in and I said, well, I had four, five weeks vacation. And the CEO is like, well, our CEO's are our C level, start with four weeks. Can you do that? I can start with four weeks.

Laura Bashore: 38:18

but just know that I love it. I could start there. Sure, I'll start.

Mary Brandt: 38:24

And I know that that might sound far fetched, because the standard is two weeks and that's just not enough. I just it's not. I agree.

Laura Bashore: 38:33

I agree it's not enough. So I think there's a lot of space we could do around salary negotiations, and if you're looking for help on that, you know, reach out to us, go to our website or drop us something here, because it's important to understand how to navigate those things, and it's not just always about money.

Mary Brandt: 38:54

Yeah, and the special request, mary Brant and Laura Bechore, let me see, let me have the podcast on YouTube so I can watch you on TV, because she wants to see our beautiful faces this early.

Laura Bashore: 39:05

Well, we are it's coming. It's coming down the pipeline.

Mary Brandt: 39:09

Yeah, I'm live on my YouTube station, but we do have some announcements coming up I don't know in the next six weeks and we will have a dedicated YouTube channel for our podcast soon. But thank you, and you are the best. We will talk after the show, of course. So we've talked about interviews, we've talked about remote, we talked about salary negotiation, we talked about the job market, we talked about nonprofits and the questions that you really need to ask before you even get your foot in the door.

Mary Brandt: 39:42

I've got a question for our audience Would you like to see us once a month? So, if you're watching the replay, awesome, type in hashtag replay Drop your question, because Laura and I will go back and answer your questions and we want to know do you want to see us live once a month? Whether it's interactive. You know you guys asking your questions, but we really I think what we miss, laura, is that interaction with our audience, and so we're doing this to provide guidance to our network, and so we want to know do you guys want to see us once a month? Let us know. What else do you want to add to today's live episode, laura? What are the questions.

Laura Bashore: 40:27

I just want to offer this up that we are still dropping this on our podcast. So, although we are streaming live, this will be available later this afternoon. So a little bit later than you guys are used to, but you're still going to get your Monday fill of Laura and Mary and all the career advice that we can offer up, and I also need more coffee, I agree.

Mary Brandt: 40:51

So Jeffrey says I'd love to see you twice a month, okay. And Ann says yes, once a month would be great. Can we take a poll on times? We can absolutely take a poll on times. A little piece of advice with your thinking of, you know, doing a podcast, doing a live show, doing an audio event, it always has to be at a time that works for you because otherwise you won't show up, it'll be too tedious. But yes, ann, laura would probably like it a little later because seven o'clock her time's a little early. We're trying to reach at least you know the plethora of people that we can reach, so but we will do a poll. Thank you, ann. I'll go ahead and get that dropped it up. I love this. Jeffrey's like coffee. You're like you guys see my cup best day ever, because this is the cup being. This coffee cup is.

Laura Bashore: 41:46

That's good. That's a good sign. I like it, yeah, and I think the last thing that we'll say before we sign off for today is so look, I'm wearing this little Buzzsprout shirt. I just wanted to say that Buzzsprout is an amazing platform host to use for your podcast. So if you're thinking about getting into podcasting or switching over to something that's easier, if you're not extremely tech savvy, come on over to Buzzsprout. I love that. Mary and I met them when we were at the pod fest last week and we are beta testing an app for them, so you can have all the great stuff that you need as a podcasting host at the touch of your hand, and I really love it so far. So shout out to Buzzsprout, and I love this.

Mary Brandt: 42:37

And it was amazing. We got to meet some amazing business owners, career professionals, and for me it was the networking and the sessions where we learned, like I am now listening to a couple new podcasts. I listened to one this morning while I was getting ready and I have to go back because there was two nuggets in there that I have to create a post about. Two nuggets that were so amazing, and one of them has to do with perfection. Done is better than perfect, right, I say that all the time.

Mary Brandt: 43:08

I get it a little differently and I am like, ooh, I like that twist. Anne says I am with Laura a little later helps, and Anne is in Texas, so it is already later there. It is like almost 9.42. It is an hour ahead, I think. And yes, anne, we have a referral code, so let us save you a little money. Do some introductions, whatever you need. We will send you a DM and give that to you, because they are an amazing platform. I feel like pricing and features, amazing, to start a podcast Amazing, absolutely All right.

Laura Bashore: 43:45

Let us go get some coffee. You guys can listen to the replay. You can watch the replay or listen to it on our podcast platforms, wherever you listen to your podcast. And thanks for tuning in. It has been your morning with us, mary. I will talk to you later.

Mary Brandt: 44:02

Yeah, so make sure to subscribe out and we will see you next time we go live. And thanks, laura, it is time for a coffee refill. All right, if you enjoyed the podcast, show us some love. Please rate, review and subscribe to our podcast, and if you have any feedback, go ahead and share that with us too, because we want to hear from you, and don't forget to visit our website.

Laura Bashore: 44:26

You need to find your career journey so it can help you take the next step in your career.

Mary Brandt: 44:30

We will see you next week with another episode was to help you redefine your career journey. Until then, stay focused, stay motivated and stay caffeinated.