In this lesson you’ll learn

• when and why you should ask for more money
• what might be holding you back from negotiating
• the steps to prepare your salary conversation
• Michelle’s special tip on normalising money talk

How much do you earn? Would you tell me that? Who are you talking with when you think you’re not earning enough? Who do you get advice from on whether you should negotiate or not? These are questions circling in my own head, because I was raised with the imperative that money is something that we don’t talk about. In Germany it’s tradition to never discuss your salary with anyone other than your boss.

Talking about money in their immediate circle makes many people feel weird. Although publicly, the debate about the gender pay gap and lack of financial literacy for many women is now stronger than ever.

And when it comes to us personally, our own salary, we seem to lack a good benchmark, too. I hear women say that they either think that they’re way too greedy, or that they feel underpaid and aren’t asking for enough. Women all too often don’t negotiate their salary which at the end of the lifetime might be the difference between having or not having $1 million less or more.

That’s a shocking number and many start to entertain the idea of asking for more.

But if you have never negotiated your salary or anything else before, it can be a scary experience to do it. How do you prepare yourself? How do you even bring it up? Why is this so awkward? And even if we want to be compensated fairly and equally to men, sometimes the question remains: Do I really want more?

I’m so glad we get to learn from an expert today. Michelle Gyimah has over 10 years experience of working at the Equality and Human Rights Commission and holds a Masters in Human Rights from The University of Manchester. She teaches women negotiation skills to support them to get more of what they want.

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• pitfalls that come with working remotely and how to navigate them
• why employers and employees benefit from remote positions
• what it takes to be the one (out of 500 others) chosen for the position
• how to ace your first month in the remote job

Unless you’re working in a research lab or a manufacturing plant, chances are that you’ve been working from home much of 2020 and 2021. Maybe you’ve gotten used to your new routines and I’m sure some people really like their remote job. So much so, that they don’t want to go back to the office. 

But what does it take to land a remote position? 

And how do we make working from home work?

When my company asked me to work from home in March 2020, I was semi-prepared. I had a desk, a chair, and for this one year I could live without a big screen. But as the months went on, I started to notice what’s really missing: Seeing people in three dimensions. Meeting my colleagues in the hall, or having a workshop in person where we could stand next to each other while moving sticky notes around on a flip chart.

Working from home indefinitely isn’t for me.

But many people I have spoken to would love remote work to be their new normal. They like the flexibility that comes with it and that they save a few hours on commute. At the same time though, I also watched my colleagues getting more and more drained. 

Lunch Breaks and those short walks between meeting rooms were traded for back-to-back calls leaving little to no break to even get a sip of water.

And those hours they’re not stuck in traffic? All too often these were taken over by work, not spent with family or doing a little exercise.

How can we make remote work work?

That’s what I asked Juliana Rabbi, a recruiter-turned-career coach who has worked remotely for over 8 years now and helps professionals to land their dream remote job.  

Who might be a better expert to explain the ins and outs of landing a remote job and then setting ourselves up for success. Grab a pen and paper, because Julia gives practical advice on everything from boundaries to networking.

If you want to find out more about Juliana’s work or even hire her as your guide, go to julianarabbi.com or find her on LinkedIn or Instagram.

In this lesson you’ll learn

• the perspective shift that makes the difference between begging for jobs to being seen as the one and only choice to make
• the rabbit hole job search strategy
• what to expect in your job search and how to deal with rejections

Time to say goodbye. Sometimes we just want to leave our current company behind: maybe it's because we’re not very excited about the product or service anymore, want to switch over to a certain other reputable company, or we want to move across the country and have to find a new employer in that region. But what if we don’t want to just land any job, but one where we can be happy and fulfilled?

In 2016 I had enough of being bored-out at my job. 

About a year earlier there was restructuring in the company which made my original job redundant and put me on a new one that was dependent on others. If the new departments didn’t give us any project work, I had nothing to do. After almost 18 months of working at only 10% of my capacity, I pulled the emergency break. 

I started applying to new companies. Luckily, none of them even invited me to an interview. 

Yes, that's right: luckily. Because how I went about the job search wasn’t all that smart. I simply thought “Ok, this is what I’ve been doing, so let’s find something similar.”

Life was kind enough to block that path for me and instead nudged me to discover a whole new profession inside my current company. One where I could use my strengths and new-found passions much better than I ever could have in the other.

In today’s lesson with Jette Stubbs we’ll learn how much merit there is in doing things a little differently than I did back then.

Jette is a Career and Business Coach, and the host of the Happy Career Formula podcast. She helps people find out what they love doing most and sell themselves, whether they want a job, freelance service or business. 

If you’ve felt stalled in your career for months on end, the framework Jette provides and her ‘rabbit hole job search strategy’ might be just what you need.

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• what a personal brand is (and how else we might call it)
• the downsides to building a personal brand
• what misconceptions we need to correct (watch out for authenticity!)
• two steps to get started

When I look up the term ‘personal brand’ online, the search engine gives me close to 7 bn hits. That’s a lot of information on a subject even students seem to be concerned about these days. You’ve probably come across the term, too, and maybe you wonder: Do I need that?

Thinking about their personal brand makes sense for women in STEM. 

Without spoiling the details of this lesson, building a personal brand at work will help you advance in your career and build credibility within your company. 

Because you’ll be more visible. More known for what you know. 

Ketaki Vaidya is a Senior Software Developer for the Artificial Intelligence Team at Oracle India Pvt. Ltd. I invited her to the conversation today because she’s passionate about sharing her ideas on personal branding on LinkedIn and YoutTube. 

Through her interviews with others and her own experience at work, she’s learned what works and what doesn’t as we set out to build our personal brand.

Don’t worry. It doesn’t mean you have to post about your job on social media. 

As you’re listening to Ketaki sharing what building a personal brand looks like and what pitfalls you should avoid, I invite you to think about what you’re already unintentionally doing to build your own personal brand.

And then ask yourself: What might be one little adjustment you could make in how you show up at work each day? That way, you can more deliberately and intentionally influence how others perceive you so that you build your credibility and become the go-to expert.

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• what vacation research has to do with your resume
• how you can make your accomplishments even more impactful
• the experiences you should (not) include in your resume
• the 3 places on your LinkedIn profile that need to contain keywords

In 2016 I sent out about 15 applications for a new job in my field… and was invited to zero interviews. I tried solving the puzzle of landing a great new job all on my own. If that’s you, today’s lesson will give you specific advice on how to do it better.

Searching online to find a job winning resumé template might be starting at the wrong end.

You see, writing your resumé and cover letter for a potential employer is a form of communication. And the best communication always starts with the audience in mind. Their concerns, problems, and needs. 

“Making it pretty” might be a great pastime, but it’s an even greater procrastination strategy to avoid the hard work. That is doing research and adjusting the content for your application. 

I invited Virginia Franco for a conversation to help you make this hard work a little easier. Specifically, I wanted to discuss the attitude we bring to creating our “career marketing collateral” as she calls it, and how we can approach this strategically.

Virginia is a multi-certified Executive Resume and LinkedIn Writer. She writes documents for today’s online skim readers so her clients get invited for interviews.

If you’re in the process of updating your resumé, grab pen and paper, because you really want to put a bit of ease to the process with Virginia’s tips.

Oh, and don’t forget about your LinkedIn profile, but more on later...

Let’s learn from Virginia Franco.

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• what style is and why it matters
• the four steps to discover your own style
• which benefits you can expect when you figured it out 
• how you can do right by mother Earth when you figure out your style

In 2018 the then-new CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra, did something shocking. In fact, for a while it was *the* news that showed up most in my LinkedIn feed. She replaced the company’s dress code with a new version that is only two words long: Dress appropriately.

Knowing what to wear to an interview, on your first day, during that important presentation, or at a company event isn’t all that straight forward. I’ve found myself guessing more than once if I, too, need to show up in pencil skirts and high heels.

Especially when I was once told that I dress too ‘junior’.

Finding out what suits me, what I feel comfortable in, and at the same time sends the right message is an on-going journey for me.

Whether we like it or not, what we wear influences greatly how people think about us. 

And it’s not just a question I’m pondering. Gottfried Keller who wrote his short story “Clothes Make People” back in 1874 surely wasn’t the first. And you may have come across the pop-culture version of the story’s sentiment: “dress for success”.

That’s why I wanted to speak with Monica Barnett: To shine a light on how we can strike the balance between feeling good and making the right impression. 

Monica Barnett is the Founder of Blueprint for Style, a wardrobe styling and personal branding company based in Washington, DC. 

She has authored two books, has over 13 years of styling and branding experience, and is one of the best to help us understand the importance and power of the first impression.

I hope you enjoy the insights she shares on how we can find our style and why it’s worthwhile reviewing our wardrobe. But don’t open your closet just yet… because there are two important steps to take before we decide what to keep and what to donate.

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• why you might feel overwhelmed when starting in your first leadership role
• the aspects of team culture that help people flourish
• how to transition from doer to strategist
• shifts in experience you can expect when you step into that new role

If you’ve studied a STEM field, you’re used to being an expert. You either have all the answers or you’re confident you can generate them. What if that is taken away from you? What if you land in a role where you can’t, or shouldn’t, have all the answers?

Oh, the waiting. It was one of the hardest parts for me when I transitioned from being in an expert role to a more project based role as a change manager.

Well, the waiting and the not understanding what others talked about half the time, because I had never heard many of the words before.

The waiting came from being dependent on others for the job that I couldn't do anymore: providing background and insight, collecting data and information, and coming up with solutions or having conversations with other experts to decide on the next steps.

Not being the expert in the room anymore also means we have to shed that identity and understand ourselves and the role we play in the team differently. That can be hard, but it’s required for us to make space for all the other new tasks we have to take on.

That shift that Sue Parker calls going ‘from doer to strategist’ might happen when you stop being a Subject Matter Expert and become a project manager. Or when you take the step into your first leadership role.

In those new roles, holding on to our expert identity actually holds us back from doing great work. It might lead to a severe drop in productivity, cause us overwhelm, and frustrate the team.

That’s why Sue helps us understand what that transition looks like and how we can master it.

Sue is the Founder of Empowered Leaders in Tech & Data with a 15 years career in IT leadership to back up her experience. She’s all about helping leaders live up to their potential to wake up motivated, come home fulfilled, and make an impact. Sue is also the host of the Empowered Leaders in Tech podcast.

In this lesson you’ll learn

• the key mindset shifts that make landing your first job easier
• how to immerse yourself in the industry while still in academia
• what Max Delbrück and improv theater have to do with all that
• practical steps to gain clarity on what role you want and are suited for

When I was still at uni, I thought my only career choice was to work in a lab and later become a lab manager. That was 15 years ago and I now know that the roles available for scientists are infinite and ever changing. 

If you’re fresh out of uni or a few years into your career, you might feel a little paralysed by all the options. How do you make sense of the variety? And how do you know which path to take?

If you’re playing with the idea of changing career direction - or are looking for your first job after graduation - you’ve come to the right place.

Because today we’re talking to Dr. Holly Prescott, the Careers Adviser for Postgraduate Researchers at the University of Birmingham.

Holly brings structure and clarity to the big questions: What can I do to successfully transition from academia to industry? When should I start doing it? And how much work will this be?

These are important questions, because many young scientists feel like they missed the memo that gives them a clear direction after graduation.

They often say: 

“I have no idea what my mid- to long-term career plans are. How do I know if I’m going in the right direction if I don’t have a plan in place?”

The good news? You don’t need a plan. In fact, a plan might be the very thing that stops you from jumping on to the right opportunities. Or it prevents you from patiently waiting for the ones that may need to emerge over time rather than be forced into existence.

So if you’re a recent graduate looking to land your first job, or a seasoned professional thirsty for a bit of change in direction - take out a pen and paper, because Holly doesn’t hold back on good advice.

Follow our conversation as we talk about shifts in perspective and mindset that take the pressure off, how to immerse yourself in your potential future, and the steps you can take to match what you have to offer to what the industry is looking for.

Holly holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham, a Qualification in Career Guidance and Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. She supports postgraduate researchers to enhance their confidence, competence and knowledge around career options, career decision-making and recruitment processes.

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• what impostor syndrome is and why we can’t blame it for everything that’s wrong with workplaces
• the 5 types of impostor syndrome
• what you can do right now to feel less inadequate

In Catch Me If You Can, the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio has no issue posing for a job he has no training in or pretending to be someone he’s not. Some people want to be an impostor. 

For the rest of us, just feeling like an impostor or inadequate is one of the most uncomfortable feelings. What can we do about this?

Impostor syndrome and advice to overcome it is all over the internet. 

If you’ve followed me for a while you know that I don’t like us overidentifying with that label. It keeps us stuck and self-perpetuates every time we fall short of our expectations. The conclusion? We’re just not that great.

But the feeling is real. When we start in a new role, or encounter situations outside our comfort zone, we often feel not good enough. Why did they give me this job? I don’t know anything! 

What if I make a complete fool of myself when I present these ideas? I’m sure others would be much more qualified.

The list of negative self-talk goes on and sadly, it often stops us from taking on new challenges and growing our capabilities.

That’s why today we’re talking to Dr. Athina Frantzana, a former Geoscientist and Planetary Physicist who’s PhD research focused on exploring the barriers women face at work and how to continue to close the gender gap.

She works with organisations to build inclusive workplaces and offers coaching and workshops for individuals as well. One of her most popular services is her 'Managing Imposter Syndrome’ program.  

So who better to help us unpack what impostor syndrome is, the impact it has on us at work, and how to learn to manage it?

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• what executive presence is and why you really want it
• how preparation and courage help you to speak up in meetings
• tiny but mighty tips that ensure you’re visible even if you’re not the presenter
• how to shape the flow of a conversation for maximum impact

How do they do it? Sometimes we meet people who just seem to have it all together. When they join a meeting, things get done. When they talk to senior management, they get the resources they ask for. What’s their secret we wonder … and today, we’ll find out.

I was only five sentences into my presentation and he started making circles in the air with his finger, signaling me to hurry up.

For a brief moment I looked at him and the other senior leaders in disbelief. “Is he serious?”

I had a 20 minute slot. Knowing that time would be tight, I prepared a 10 minute presentation.

They kept me waiting outside for 45 minutes, because the previous presentation ran over time.

After my first sentence, the member of the executive board asked me a question that took another 2 minutes.

Presenting to senior management can be an almost outer space experience sometimes. No wonder we get nervous about it.

We put so much effort into our slides and talking points, and yet… It feels like something is missing. 

And might I remind you that those are the situations when we had time to prepare. Just think about all the other meetings you have.

Do you often stumble over our own words? Or present your ideas and feel like no one’s listening? Or maybe you don’t dare to speak up at all, because you’re questioning every thought you have.

Add to this online meetings and your name literally falls off the screen and you feel even more overlooked.

The key skill to build is executive presence. 

That’s why I invited Barbara Rogoski today to share her best tips on how to show up and speak up.

And let me put your mind at ease right away … it doesn’t mean you have to bulldoze over people, scream at the top of your voice to be heard or hold endless monologues.

In this lesson, you’ll find tips for small adjustments you can make to your behaviour sprinkled throughout like little easter eggs. My invitation to you is to listen and picture yourself doing the things Barbara suggests.

How does it feel? Are you getting curious to try them out? At the end, select one or two tips you want to put into action consistently and observe what happens.

What Barbara shares works. She coaches executives on communication all the time and has helped more than 100 TEDx speakers give their best talk. She’s also the author of Boring to Brilliant, A Reference Guide for Speakers.

I’m so glad Barbara joined me for this conversation as she really wants women to step up and speak up for what they want in their careers and in life.