#TBCResults: From HR assistant for manpower agencies to senior project manager for a multinational logistics firm in 32 days
#TBCResults - 051 - Pauline: From HR assistant for manpower agencies to senior project manager for a multinational logistics firm in 32 days
Pauline’s Problem:
“To get a job offer with 50% increase from my previous salary."
“I have various experiences, most recent being an HR/Recruiter. However, I'm very much open to other opportunities outside HR. I'd like to ask for help to figure out what path do I really want."
In our first call, Pauline was worried. She didn't share a lot about herself or her situation, but she did share a lot of what she was worried about.
Specifically that she felt lost and needed help getting her career straightened out. She had been working for 4+ years but her salary was still low (< 30k) and she was starting to feel trapped and stagnant by her choices.
After a few more minutes of asking questions about her whole situation, I assessed the real problem.
“She had been taking jobs that she felt were the “right jobs” for a licensed psychometrician. Meaning it was always related to her having the license, degree, and background but now she wanted to move away from the space.
Problem is, she didn’t know what to do or where to look as she couldn’t see herself as an applicant clearly. She felt stuck. Which worried her and made her feel more stuck. ”
Which was how we ended up meeting.
The Bumpy Career’s Proposed Solution:
This was straightforward. I felt right away that Pauline had a lot of skills and experiences, she just wasn't talking about them properly on her resume or in interviews. Most likely because of the self myopia, where she couldn't see herself clearly.
Our main task was to audit everything about her past experience then see what kind of roles would be a great fit for her. Then work on her greatest weakness, which to me was her communication skills. This covered both her written and verbal skills, because it affected how she presented herself AND how she viewed herself.
Specifically, I pointed out that she still presented herself as a junior with little experience and a lot to learn, when she already had 4+ years of experience in a variety of roles and fields. She needed to work on her mental image of herself and how she talked about herself in the upcoming interviews and potential networking conversations.
Of course it's hard to hear that a complete stranger thinks you have a confidence issue, but Pauline absorbed the feedback and worked on it. She wanted to move her career forward.
Her goal was to get a job ASAP that paid better than her previous. My goal was for her to double her salary and move to a new environment that treated her as the senior individual contributor I saw her as.
Small obstacle we had to work around:
Pauline was currently unemployed. She had left her previous job without a next one lined up and was starting to feel stressed about it.
I assured her that as long as she put all her efforts into following my advice, she'd be starting her new job within the next 90 days.
Our Timeline and Work Done:
In 6 days, we had 2 1-hour calls as we:
✏️ Redid her entire resume and how she presented her past work, especially her most recent one where she handled the day-to-day problems of urgent staffing requests
✏️ Built a job hunting tracker that made her start thinking of roles outside of recruiting and staffing, as she had a lot of skills that she overlooked until we laid it out in her masterfile
✏️ Launched her LinkedIn properly
✏️ Interview practiced, especially as to why she left her previous job.
✏️ Practiced salary negotiation. Pauline had been working for 4+ years already and I felt she could ask for Php10k more than her current ideal. But we had to work on her getting comfortable asking for that.
✏️ !! Most important !! Worked a lot on her mindset as she was downplaying her skills and experiences too much. Building out her masterfile resume (which was 3 pages of solid experience, even after we cut a lot already out) made her see for the first time what a great applicant she was.
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The Outcome:
Before we even had our 2nd call, I told Pauline to start applying to anything she was interested in and see where it goes. We would work on her interview skills in parallel, just to really maximize her time.
In less than 2 weeks, she was going through multiple interviews and received an offer from her current job. Best part is it's a completely new type of role for her: a senior project management position for a multinational shipping and logistics firm.
So many firsts for her! I was beyond excited to hear this as it represented exactly what we both hoped for. A better paying job in a new type of role and a whole new industry!
As I write this, it'll be 7 months since she started working there, and every time I see Pauline post anything on LinkedIn, I feel so proud of her.
She put in all the work and effort to get herself to this new stage in her career and to change how she views herself, from a junior with a lot to learn to a senior with a lot to contribute.
Some words from Pauline herself:
So if you’re current unemployed and want to change your job role, reach out and let's see what we can do to get you there ASAP~
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The Bumpy Career is the career coach for the confused high achiever.
Meaning you're the type of person that if you know where to go and what you had to do, you'd be number 1 in an instant. But you're a bit confused today on exactly that: where to go and what to do.
That's where I come in.
We'll work together to give you a actionable roadmap to make your career live up to your expectations. If that sounds great to you, then book a call here and let's talk soon~