leveling up your career w/ken coleman

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Hello, hello. Thanks for listening to Guidance Counselor 2.0. Listen, I want to give you a quick rundown of what this podcast is and what you're about to get into as you listen to these episodes. We had Guidance Counselors in middle school. We had Guidance Counselors in high school, but we didn't really have Guidance Counselors in college and now as professionals, we don't really have anybody to turn to to ask a quick question to learn something about the job search or to navigate your career. And so that is what I want this podcast to be for you. I want it to be a tool for you to navigate the job search and your career.

So that being said, I hope you enjoy this episode. And if you need to reach me, Taylor at vaco.com is how to get in touch with me old fashioned email social media at tdss and t d e s s e y n. And finally, please rate and review this in the app store because I want this to be discoverable for others so they can navigate their careers. Hope you enjoy the episode. Can give the people what they want who are you and then we'll just go from there, ma'am I'm not sure they want to know who I am, but I'll tell them because you asked me right okay, so They call me America's career coach bottom line is I am a broadcaster and author and speaker and I Exists in the professional space Simply to help others discover what they were created to do everybody on the planet was born to contribute, right?

Just very simple. And I'm trying to rebrand work. Works of four-letter word for so many people. Their experience or their environment has made them look at work as something they have to do to live, right? It's all about provision and paycheck and that's important. But I believe and I know you share this belief that there's purpose in our work. Actually specific purpose. In other words, if you were to ask someone, why does a hammer exist? Hopefully they'd be able to say to drive a nail. And all of us have a very strategic, unique purpose with our work. There's purpose in our relationships and purpose in our professional lives.

And I'm dedicated helping people discover what that unique role is. You are needed and you must do it. You have the ability to contribute to the lives of other people through your work. So we have a methodology, which I'm sure will unpack. But that's what I do every day, live on SiriusXM, syndicated radio, over 75 stations around the country, YouTube, and then we podcast all of that. Of course we write books. And the new book from Paycheck to Purpose unveils the seven stages that will take somebody from working for just a paycheck to working on purpose. And by the way, making plenty of money on the journey.

And so income impact is my jam. I love that. I love that. If you were people trickled in your lawn to what's going on Vincent, J.C. Derek. Yasmin, what's going on? Y'all, thank you again for hanging out with us this morning. So can I want to dive into the first topic? And again, we have 30 minutes. I feel like I think you and I could probably hang out for nine hours and talk about all of this stuff. So let's dive into the job seeker right now. So we're going through great resignation, great migration. I don't know. One of the Asians. But at the end of the day, there's a lot of people out there that are bad.

with, should I make a jump? When do I make a jump? Why should I make a jump? And there's a lot of comparison, comparisons of thief of joy. We talk about it all the time. So what's some advice you have for job seekers right now in this market? Well, the first thing is, is don't make a move just for money because that's going to wear off. You know, let's just be really honest. I think you could call this thing the great revelation too, because if you're a lot of people who took stock of their life in the middle the pandemic. I mean, there were two perfect storms.

One, the most forced change we've ever had in our lives came at us. We were sent home, either laid off or told to go work from home. Our kids came home. Everything stopped the way we used to do it, right? And it was this forced change. Now, understand briefly that most human beings don't like change because change requires us to confront the unknown and the unknown is terrifying. It's our greatest fear. All right. So that was one storm. Right. Forced to change. You didn't you didn't you didn't have it or not. That's right. Yeah. All right. So that jostles you pretty darn good. And the other storm was the pandemic itself.

The fear, the unknown, is this thing going to wipe out the planet? They're going to kill me is it going to kill my grandparents? We saw we saw literally tickers on the television of how many people were dying. So that can made us confront our mortality. So change and confronting mortality made us take stock. I think a lot of people, in fact, we're beginning to see this. I predicted this on my show a couple of months ago, we're beginning to see the data show us that a lot of people who left these jobs, if you look at July and August numbers, over 8 million people switched jobs in those two months.

A lot of people went to work for themselves. That tells me there's a lot of purpose involved with which what I teach, right? But a lot of people are just, hey, I'm leveling up. The best way to make more money is to change jobs because we have this unique job environment right now where companies are desperate for talent. And so they're paying more. They're giving free tuition. They're giving crazy benefits, all kinds of things. So here's my warning back to the initial thing. That's a little bit of context. My warning is if you chase just a paycheck that comes with a new job or a promotion, here's what I can tell you.

It looks good and feels good. All right. It feels good when we somebody else wants us. And tells us we want you. It feels good. We get to tell our friends and family, Hey, I got recruited by this company and they want it and blah, blah, blah, blah, And it looks good in our bank account because we get a bigger check. But here's what I can tell you. Both of those things will wear off in about six weeks, eight weeks, then what? Then you're like the people that call my show and go, can I made a job change? And it's not what I thought it was.

And I'm still not on fire. I'm not fulfilled or even worse. It's toxic or miserable. Mm. So don't just chase a paycheck. I want you to chase purpose. And when you do that. Paycheck will take care of itself. So good. And then for those of you who are watching, if you have questions, definitely ask. I mean, you get can to yourself per se for the next 30 minutes. So definitely any questions, please ask. But Ken, I want to dig into purpose. And I want to put some color around that because you talk about purpose. We talk about finding your why, Simon, Sinek, whatever. But can you break down the purpose side of things and what people need to be mindful of when it comes to their purpose?

maybe not even their career, but also their life. And this may open up another can of worms, but let's go and dive in. So here is your professional purpose statement. You were created to use what you do best, talent. To do work you love, passion. To produce results that matter deeply to you, mission. I'll say it again. I love that. When you use what you do best, to do work you love, to produce results that matter to you, you're on purpose. And so here's why that's really, really freeing for people. I think we talk about purpose and dream job, which by the way, that's also the definition of a dream job.

When you're using what you do best to do work, you love to produce real estate. That's a dream job because you are absolutely in a zone that's been called flow by Mihai Chiximihai recently passed away, spent 35 years studying this. It's like an ecstasy that you experience. We all know that. And we've seen people that we know, We go, oh man, they're just, they're in, they're in, they're in their flow. They got the juice. They were born for this. We've seen it if we've not experienced it. And here's the deal. When you catch that, when you see that, oh, it's as simple as me using my talent to perform my passion, to accomplish my mission, to use what I do best, to do work I love, to produce results that matter me.

Wait a second, Ken. I think there's probably multiple jobs, multiple careers, multiple opportunities for the dream job. Is that true? The answer is yes. But I think a lot of people hear words like purpose and dream job and it's really scary and intimidating and it feels kind of mythical or mystical and only if you lucky people get it. That's not simply not true. So that's what I'm on a mission to do is set people free that hey, it's not as hard as you think. It's really not to discover what that purpose is. Now the journey is hard. Yeah. All right, but it is simple to discover that unique role.

So then let's move into, let's move into the other side of the great revelation, which is the hiring side. I mean, hiring managers are sitting here across the country going, well, do we gotta pay everybody more? Like, do we gotta bring, do we have to be fully remote? like what are some thoughts that you have for hiring managers right now to impart on them? Like listen, here are some things that you need to be mindful of. Yeah, well, I think that's a really good question. And there's three layers to that. I don't have time to unpack them, but I'll just briefly tee this up. You have the attraction piece.

How do we attract great talent? Okay, because this for leaders, by the way, leaders, you are limited in your ability to be great based on the talent you acquire. I'm just going to tell you, Ken's just dropping some dimes. Well, it's absolutely true. All right, you just look at sports or old look at business. Listen, you go to all the leadership conferences you want to and read leadership books. Your leadership is limited by the talent. Yeah. So here's, there's three areas. I got to attract the talent. I got to acquire them. That means hire them, right? I got to get them to choose me as much as I'm choosing them.

And then I've got to retain them. Now retention is the game right now for leaders. It's people are playing musical chairs like we've never seen before. And, and so leaders, it's, you've got to be able to retain people. So that's the heart of your question. So I'm going to focus on retention, not the fraction and acquiring right now. But the retention piece is for, to keep people from leaving you or to keep people in the building, you've got to make sure that they are engaged. So how do you do that? Number one, let's go back to what I just said, talent, passion, mission. If you don't have them in the right seat of the bus right now, you better figure out how to get them in the right seat of the bus.

The right seat of the bus is where they are using their talent, what they do best, to perform their passion, work, they love a task, a role that they just love that. in the juice baby. And then the final pieces is they see the results of their work and how they are connected to their values. This is more important for millennials and mosaics than any other previous generations. So we start with that. All right, are they fulfilled? That's fulfillment is engagement. Fulfillment is one part of the engagement. The other part of of the engagement is, how do you treat these people? Do they feel seen and known?

Two differences, seen and known. I'll break this down. This is leadership gold. Because a lot of people go, kid, I'm so scared of leading. I don't know if I'll be a good leader. You'll be a good leader if you ask these two questions on a regular basis. How are you doing? And This is not a greeting in the hallway. You know it. Yeah. No, no, no, no. How are you? How are you doing? How are your kids? How's your wife? How's your grandfather doing? I heard he's got cancer. How are you doing? This is the personal connection. Okay. That is seen, okay? And known. I see you on paying attention to you.

I want to know more about you. Here's the second question. First one was personal, second one was professional. How can I help you win? Scene, known. Scene, known. Leaders, they need to be seen and known in order for engagement to truly take place. Because even in their sweet spot, as I described, where they are fulfilled in the work itself, if they don't feel seen and known as humans, there's gonna be a disconnect. them. And that's really important. Again, I could go off for 45 minutes. I'm trying to keep my answers quick. But that would be my answer to that question. I love that. Let's go to Dorian's question again.

If you have questions, please ask Dorian goes, good morning. Currently negotiating my salary. Props to you for doing that going to bat for you. My asking salary is 5k higher than their budget allows. Have you heard of companies raising their budget to hire somebody? Well, my answer, yes. Sure. Yes. Yeah. We'll also tell you this, just my two cents. I think if they bat night at 5K, you may not even want to work there. Yeah. And is it fair to assume that this is for a new position? Maybe Dorian, if you're still watching, is this for a new position or a position you're already at?

But Ken, do you want to address that on both ends? Yeah. I think that nuance is important. is postures really important this if this is if this is you going to your current company you're going hey I'd like a bump I think there's a way to handle that a little bit differently I think this is a new position I think I'll address it I'll address it that way here's the deal we are now in a a buyer's market not a seller's market and the buyer's market means it's good for people that are switching jobs. It is a job seekers market right now. Five thousand dollars is such a small number.

It's a dollar an hour. Yeah, I love that you broke it. You amortize that over a year for a company in a week. I would just say to them, hey, I am so grateful that you guys want me and I'm in, but here's the challenge. I can't do it. I mean, here's what I've been making. But you just got to lay it out there. You don't need to negotiate. I don't like negotiation. Negotiation is the wrong spirit and tactic. I think you just go, hey, I would love to be there. I can't do it for that. I can't come over for that. I've got to do this.

And you're just you're grateful. There is no tactics. There's none of this back and forth business. You have to have to have walkaway power. Quick story and this is key Dorian. You've got to truly be okay if they don't match the five. Yeah. Yeah. So the question Dorian is, are you willing to walk over 5k? Because if you're not, then that changes the way we do this. If you're not, you've got to go, Hey, could you meet me at 5k higher? Yeah. That's a different thing versus going, Hey, I can't do it for that. And then you just push the chips over and you let them decide what they're gonna do.

And I think right now, and again, Dorian did confirm. There it is. That's a new position. So, you know, I'll tell people, I tell people this all the time, like you have to come with some education on your end, right? I feel like right now people are just throwing out money. Well, my best friend got a $10,000 raise. So I want a $10,000. well, your best friend may be better than you. Well, Dwayne just told us he has no experience, so that changes my advice a little bit. Okay, go ahead. He says it's a new position and I'm new to tech with no experience. I don't think you got a lot of leverage here.

But what I'd say is, I would say, hey, I really, I would love to do it, I'm in, but if they're gonna get somebody else's a very competitive market too, and so if they're gonna get somebody else's, they're gonna train on the job, I'd want to know if I was on the phone with Dorian, I'd want to know, is there some on the job training? Feels like there is. Yeah. And then I would ask Dorian, is there a ladder? Do we see promotional opportunities? Have they outlined that? Have they also outlined where you're going to make more money in the days ahead? This is a real gray area with this new information here.

I'm leaning towards betting on yourself. And if the 5,000 makes that much difference in your personal life, you gotta fix your finances. Cause we talked about the 5,000 for the company. So this is a little bit of a gray, or do you agree with me on this? Yeah, I mean, I think too, and yeah, I do agree Dorian, I mean, I think that the junior market is so competitive and so saturated that I'm not saying work for free or like no discounted. I would say, listen Dorian, I would Google, just do some research, Google the average, The national average. If the national average is the 5K that you want, I would come to your employer like, listen, I'm incredibly grateful.

I love what Ken said. I think gratefulness, being kind in the job search is so underrated. Listen, at the end of the day, I talk about this all the time. Managers don't get their first choice right now in this market. So if you're second or third in your kind, they're gonna remember that, listen, I've talked to so many people that are like, hey, you got rejected and they blow up at me. I'm not even the manager and they blow up at me. Right? So if you're kind, come with it and say listen, Mr. Mrs. Manager, I am beyond thrilled with this offer and love to join the organization.

I did a little research. The national averages around 60k, I know this offers for 55. Is there any way we can get to 60? I agree and leave it at that. And just, but here's the deal. Stop talking. That's it. Yeah, because we got to know if Doryne's willing to let go of this opportunity. Comes down to him. Yeah. clear black and white strategy here. No. Got some nuances to it. But with no experience, I would do the research. I think that's brilliant advice. And then if the research shows that they're fair in their offer, I would ask it exactly the way Taylor said. And then I would take the deal whether they say yes or not.

And then I'd also, I love what Ken said, is that I would also ask them what does a promotional track look like? Like where could I be at in a year? That's right. Listen, that is so important. I tell people all the time, Taylor, please don't take a job that has no ladder, unless, unless by getting this job, it gets you on the industry ladder and you know you can hop over to another ladder. I mean, if it is the, if you have to have this experience, you can't get it anywhere else, then yes, take it. Correct. In other words, if you have to, it's the only way, the best way right now, burden the hand is worth two in the bush.

It's an old phrase. A lot of young people have no idea what it means to look it up. It's really wise. I know you've never heard it. Have you going now? Yeah, exactly. It's fantastic. Right. And so take the opportunity now. No, I love that. And then and then and Dorian comes in again. No, I definitely want the job of listen and I love that. Again, I will tell you this. These are decisions. This is completely gray. It's like Ken. It's like Ken. I've been saying like the negotiation is something that like is just not talked about a lot, right? salespeople like myself stink at negotiation a lot of times, right?

And so if salespeople are bad at negotiations, the job seeker isn't going to be equipped with that, right? And so again, Dorian, I appreciate you asking this question, because I think we kind of hit a vein here on negotiation. You know, listen, Barrett coming in, I've walked away from job offers for 2K. I know my worth. Love that Barrett. It's very senior in his career. John is John's up and coming. he has experience 10 K raise on 120 is way different than 10 count of 50. And I totally agree with that. But again, you have to know what you're comfortable with. That's right. This is very personal.

So I love the last two comments. You know, this is personal. Doreen just said, I want the job. So I think now that we know he really wants it. Um, I think he does your style the way you ask the question. I couldn't have worded that any better. And we see what they'll do, like get in and bet on yourself and go. Yeah, I love that. Any more questions, please throw them up. Ken, I mean, as you wrap up here with the next like 10 minutes, I want to kind of give this floor to you, right? And some things you're seeing in the market and some things you're passionate about, whether it be from the job seeker or the hiring we talked about retention.

I know there's a lot more information we can dive into. So I didn't know if there's anything you've experienced recently, you're seeing people really struggle with kind of with your show that you would like to share right now. Well, you know, listen, the tech space, let me just give some broader context. The tech space is as hot as it gets, right? That's where you are. And that's largely our audience, correct? I mean, they're pretty much in the tech space. So I think what's interesting in the tech space is, is that what I'm hearing and seeing is that the character qualities that you can add to your skills.

So let's call those, you got your technical skills and your audience knows more than I know about what, how to do it. It's shifting, it's evolving all the time. Okay, but they're in the middle of that. So of course, I've got to stay up to date on the latest shifts and training and certifications and all that. But I will tell you what I'm hearing and seeing because I have a great company called Betheltech. Betheltech is a big sponsor of my show. They've got a training program where they're training people in nine months online. Um, and they've got a 85% placement rate where they're placing their students into companies, starting salary average, 68 to $70,000 a year, year two, they're going to the sixth.

So I know what I'm talking about when I hear this. Here's what I would say. The soft skills, the people skills are the greatest. X factor separator from the competition. So if you're watching this right now, we write about this in the book from paycheck to purpose. There are five character qualities that if you are a zero on a scale of one to 10, right now you can become a 10 on all five of these qualities. Likeable, coachable, reliable, adaptable, honorable. We do a deep dive in the book. But here's the deal. If you can develop those soft skills, people skills, character traits, tech companies are looking for that.

It is the separator. It could take you from here to here. In leadership potential where you're still in tech, but you got the opportunity to lead and make more money and make more impact than you could ever dream of. I would tell that to tech folks. I think it's the differentiator. And here's why, I'm gonna be very candid. And this is not my opinion. This is what I've been told that Silicon Valley specifically has gone to Bethel Tech and they've said why we love your students is because you're also training them on soft skills, interpersonal skills, relationships in the office. Because let's just be honest, I'm not, I don't even belong on this, this, this video thing with all these smart tech people in the grand scheme of things.

But people smarts. I don't care what industry are always the differentiator. And I would tell you even more so in the tech space. Tech CEOs, tech leaders, they're looking for people who don't just have the tech skill, but have the people skills. This is a huge area for growth. Well, and I think too, so let me ask you this. What's your biggest advice? Like how can somebody improve their soft skills? Right. and like yeah, just give me that. And then we'll go to John's comment and Barrett's comment and then wrap up. So like what? So I'll do this really quick. So we get to John and Barrett.

Okay. So first thing I would do is you need to take inventory of your soft skills. Okay. So let's separate soft skills for a moment. And let's say we've got people skills and then we've got character traits. The people skills that I want you to take assessment of. And by the way, you can't just do this on your own. You can score yourself, but you better go get some feedback from people who will tell you the truth. Yes. All right, so I want to know, am I a good listener? All right, have somebody rank you, rank yourself, scale one to 10. Are you a good communicator?

And I don't mean public speaking. I just mean, are you able to have a conversation with people and come across clearly and break that stuff down? Because I know a lot of tech people have a hard time with basic communication. Okay, so let's just take an assessment. Where am I weak? Where am I strong? Now this is important. Where we are weak, I don't want you to spend a bunch of time trying to get strong in an area of weakness because you're not going to. Right. But what you want to be aware of is, oh, I suck in this area. So I need to take jobs or communicate with leaders and co-workers and make them aware that I'm aware that I suck at this and I look for assistance, hacks and helps.

I love that. I'm not going to try to be good at things. So my point is I want to be aware of it. So give an example. I'm terrible with administrative details. So everybody that works with me knows that. I tell them, I go, I'm absent minded at times, so I lose track of time. I'm a bit of a disaster. So I build in, watch, I build in accountability, and I build in support so that I don't create a problem. I'm not taking organizational classes. You know why? Because I suck at them. and I'm not going to be great at them. Embrace the suck. Yes.

By being aware of the suck. All right, so that's what you do. Now the areas where you're good in soft skills, now I want to focus on those so that I can be great. Yes, love that. Love that so, so much. And again, I want to stress with what Ken just said, go out and find somebody, whether it's a career coach, whether it's up your partner, Like really be open to feedback and find somebody who can give you unfiltered feedback because that's the only way to change. And I love that so much Ken. So a few more quick comments will wrap up. John, get the foot in the door and tech.

Yes, absolutely. I went from sub 50 to 102 years. Fifth job salary doesn't mean much in the long run. The experience. 100%. It's 100%. John's exactly right, which is why I think that, yeah guys got to take the job. Yeah, absolutely. Barrett comes in again. Barrett was a guest on my show last week. So go check out that episode. It was a fantastic conversation. Barrett, I appreciate you hanging out with us this morning. It's frustrating that the tech industry and general frowns on these kinds of discussions around pay. That's why I'm doing this dang thing. Equity, career ladder, and so forth. It's slowly changing, but needs to move faster.

Yeah, there's a big issue. And one of the drivers for me to do this morning show is to have people in tech on the show to talk about topics that no one talks about. And it needs to happen. It needs to happen. Let me just say that Barrett's right, but it's not just the tech industry. This is a leadership issue. The core of what he has just said here on the screen, this is a leadership issue and it's everywhere. That's because companies don't take how they value people as seriously as they need to. And by the way, it's changing now. They're getting a wake up call.

Cause people are going, if you don't value me, I'm out. So this is a leadership issue. Absolutely. Brandon Arvey coming in, hey, Ken, I appreciate the advice you provided me over the years on the radio. So I love that. Oh, thank you. Real quick, Ken, plug your book as we wrap up here. Yeah, well, listen, I wrote a book that bridges the gap for people who aren't doing work that they absolutely love, that they feel They were born to do. So if you don't know what that is, this book will help you figure that out. If you know what it is, but you're not quite sure how to get there, this book will help you out.

If you know what it is that you were born to do, you know how to get there, but fear, family, finances, past failures, holding you back, this book will help you. So anytime that you are here, and you wanna go here, whether it be in your health, relationships, your money, or of course your work and purpose, you have to give people a clear path so they can see how to bridge the gap. And in short, this book through the seven stages, get clear, get qualified, get connected, get started, get promoted, get the dream job, give yourself away. Seven stages that will take you up the mountain to your professional pinnacle.

I'm just going to tell you, there's no book like it, and it's as clear and as straightforward as possible. So no matter what stage you find yourself in, the book will help you get to the next stage. I love that so much. I love that. Well, again, Ken, I appreciate you a ton, man. Thanks for hanging out. Stay on the line real quick. And don't log off here in a second. But y'all, thank you again for hanging out. This morning with us, we appreciate a ton. Listen, go follow Ken. He puts out a just, the gobs of good information, obviously you can tell. but can I appreciate you?

Thank you for coming on this morning. Thank y'all for hanging out with us tomorrow. Tomorrow I have a software engineer from Twitch. He actually just got promoted this week. We got a passion for educating junior developers and getting them into tech. So that's tomorrow, 9.30 AM Central with CL. Tomorrow that, thanks again. I appreciate y'all. Have a good one. Hey, you did it. You listened to an entire episode, and I am very grateful, because you know why? There's a lot of podcasts out there. There's a lot of episodes, and I myself rarely finish an entire episode. So I appreciate you so, so much for listening.

Quick reminder, please rate and review this podcast in the App Store. I want this to be discoverable to others. And the only way that happens is if you take the time right now and rate and review it. Please, like right now, unless you're driving, then don't do it. So thank you again. If you need to reach out to me, Taylor at Vaco.com or at TDESN on all social media handles. And I hope you have a fantastic day.