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Renata Bernarde
The podcast with Expert Insights for Navigating the Modern Job Market.
Hi, my name is Renata Bernarde. In 2018, I left my job to help others get their careers on track. My love for coaching started at a very young age. Over time, I realized that many professionals don’t know how recruitment & selection work, which negatively impacts their career progression.
Today I host The Job Hunting Podcast and I also have a series of career services for corporate professionals. My signature coaching program is called Job Hunting Made Simple, a roadmap teaching professionals the steps and framework to make career advancement simpler and less stressful.
Please subscribe, leave me a rating, write a review, and let the people you care about know about this podcast.
You can also learn more about me and my coaching services on www.renatabernarde.com
Do you want me to be a guest on your podcast? Speak at your event? Coach you? Reach out via email at www.renatabernarde.com, and let’s make it happen!
Financial Independence as a Key Goal of Successful Career Planning, with Paul Burrows (Ep 17)
I want this podcast to be a one-stop-shop for you: career enthusiasts, job hunters, veteran professionals facing career disruption and transition, rising stars who want to learn as much as they can to enable their career progression and goals. Here you will to hear from experts and professionals that came before you, are a few years or decades ahead and have great stories and examples to share on how they have achieved their career goals.For Paul Burrows, our guest today, the goal was to become financial independent and having the ability to make choices about where and when we wanted to retire, or how much he and his wife wanted to work. Read the full Blog on the WebsiteJob Hunting Made SimpleReset Your Career - Fast-Track Your Job Search in One Weekend31 Days of Action for Job SeekersFind Your Talents: Learn About Your Strengths, and Watch Your Career GrowJoin 5,000+ Readers of The Job Hunting Newsletter: Subscribe NowLear More About Renata's career coaching and coursesAbout the host, Renata BernardeHello, I'm Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I'm also an executive coach, job-hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach corporate, non-profit, and public professionals the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress. Watch the Episodes on YouTubeFollow Renata on Social Media:LinkedInInstagramFacebookX / Twitter
34:0312/02/2020
7 Ways Experienced Professionals Can Elevate Their Game for Better Career Outcomes (Ep 16)
In this episode we will discuss my final 7 actions from the 31 Days of Action To Reset Your Career Project. I left these ones for last because although they are just as important, they should follow on from the first actions, which are more the foundation steps in resetting your career. These ones are the finetuning and the next step up in building your leadership skills, and stepping up to elevate your game and be ready to take on new opportunities, responsibilities and new jobs.Read the full Blog on the WebsiteJob Hunting Made SimpleReset Your Career - Fast-Track Your Job Search in One Weekend31 Days of Action for Job SeekersFind Your Talents: Learn About Your Strengths, and Watch Your Career GrowJoin 5,000+ Readers of The Job Hunting Newsletter: Subscribe NowLear More About Renata's career coaching and coursesAbout the host, Renata BernardeHello, I'm Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I'm also an executive coach, job-hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach corporate, non-profit, and public professionals the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress. Watch the Episodes on YouTubeFollow Renata on Social Media:LinkedInInstagramFacebookX / Twitter
29:2505/02/2020
Seven Crucial Lessons Learned (The Hard Way!) From My Job Hunting Experience. (Ep 15)
In this episode, I focus on 7 crucial lessons I learned the hard way from my job hunting experience. I’m sharing this with you so you don’t have to learn it the hard way. And to get you into the habit of investing in your career, I’ve started a project called Reset Your Career. Together with episodes 12,13 and 14 this episode is a companion to my 31 Days of Actions to Reset your Career. The goal of this project I’ve created is to help professionals take 1 day at a time in creating new habits and taking actions that will have an positive effect in their career advancement and job hunting prospects.Read the full Blog on the WebsiteJob Hunting Made SimpleReset Your Career - Fast-Track Your Job Search in One Weekend31 Days of Action for Job SeekersFind Your Talents: Learn About Your Strengths, and Watch Your Career GrowJoin 5,000+ Readers of The Job Hunting Newsletter: Subscribe NowLear More About Renata's career coaching and coursesAbout the host, Renata BernardeHello, I'm Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I'm also an executive coach, job-hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach corporate, non-profit, and public professionals the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress. Watch the Episodes on YouTubeFollow Renata on Social Media:LinkedInInstagramFacebookX / Twitter
29:0023/01/2020
Creating Good Habits for Career Success: 7 “Must Do” Actions for Job Hunter (Ep 14)
In this episode, I focus on 7 habits you must create not only to help you find your next job, but also for you to have great confidence and success in your career. Together with episodes 12 and 13, this episode is a companion to my 31 Days of Actions to Reset your Career, a project I’ve created to help professionals make the most out of this month of January and take 1 day at a time in creating new habits and taking actions that will have an positive effect in their career advancement and job hunting prospects. This can be used throughout your career, year, it’s not a January-only strategy. It’s really an opportunity for you to press the reset button whenever you feel ready, and incorporate these actions in your life. At least give them a try! If you want to follow the 2nd half of the project day by day, follow me on Instagram, Facebook or my Company LinkedIn page. 1. Go for a 30-minute walk before or after workIt resets your mind: if you’ve been sitting all day or will be sitting all day, you need a breather.It gives you the opportunity to rest from work and worries: listen to your fun podcast (see my post for Day 8!) or music, or call your friend, or meditate.It gives you the opportunity to review your plans and make new ones: listen to your sector or professional development podcast (again, see post from Day 8!), think about your achievements for the day, or what you plan to do today.2. Post an article on LinkedIn aligned to your expertise.If you are following the 31 Days of Actions to Reset Your Career, you are now ready to start networking online, and sharing some knowledge with your network. You have a it all together. Don't be reluctant to start posting on LinkedIn, it is a really great way to get noticed by people who can directly hire you, or can advocate for you. So find a great article you have read recently - about your sector, professional interest – and share on LinkedIn:Add your own words: a couple of sentences to explain why this article is a great read;Add some hashtags to make your post reach out to those who are interested in the topic – LinkedIn is great at providing you with hashtags. 2 or 3 is all you need.Watch out for comments: if someone comments, you reply back. Don’t leave them hanging. This is about establishing new connections.And if no one comments, don’t feel bad! Establish a routine of posting every week, and you will learn how to establish better connections, and your network will understand the shift and start engaging more over time.3. Connect with all your professional connections on LinkedInWe are in constant transition and having to re-think how we actually keep tabs with technology and what is the simplest possible way to do things these days. So if there are important connections sitting in your contacts, which you are not yet linked to on LinkedIn, use this upcoming weekend to send them a connection invitation.4. Envision what your career might be like. Write it down.Writing down your goals and dreams is really important:It helps clarify your dreams, what you want to achieve.It motivates you to take action.Doing this “brain dump” exercise will clear your head; clear all the noise and confusion your thoughts have a tendency to create, especially on a Sunday evening!You will start your week with a huge weight off your back, and a new-found inspiration to put your plans into action.5. Follow 3 people on LinkedIn with profiles and careers you admireThe difference between Following and Connecting on LinkedIn:You should “connect” with people you know.You should “follow” people you do not know, but you want to see what they post, and want their posts to show up on your feed.Following is important because it allows you...
32:2716/01/2020
Six Powerful and Simple Ways to Set Yourself up for Career Success in 2020 (Ep 13)
In this episode we will be discussing the 6 actions I shared from January 3 to January 8. My intention is to create a short-term project for job hunters and career enthusiasts that can really shift the needle. My goal is for you to look back after taking these small steps and think wow, this has been a great month, I’ve made some important improvements, acquired new habits, tested a few new things I hadn’t done before. And that overall, it has elevated your game substantially. This project is supposed to be fun, easy, actionable, simple and the way I like things, that is, step by step. One day at a time.Read the full Blog on the WebsiteJob Hunting Made SimpleReset Your Career - Fast-Track Your Job Search in One Weekend31 Days of Action for Job SeekersFind Your Talents: Learn About Your Strengths, and Watch Your Career GrowJoin 5,000+ Readers of The Job Hunting Newsletter: Subscribe NowLear More About Renata's career coaching and coursesAbout the host, Renata BernardeHello, I'm Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I'm also an executive coach, job-hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach corporate, non-profit, and public professionals the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress. Watch the Episodes on YouTubeFollow Renata on Social Media:LinkedInInstagramFacebookX / Twitter
42:1909/01/2020
Two Unexpected Ways to Boost Your Recruitment Prospects and Career Advancement on a Budget (Ep 12)
During the month of January 2020, I’m sharing with my social media followers 31 daily actions to reset your career. These are small but very effective steps you can take to advance your career prospects this year. I already shared 2 actions, one yesterday, on the first day of the year, and one today. And we will go on, one day at a time, until the end of January.This will be fun! And also easy, actionable, simple and the way I like things, that is, step by step. If you want to follow the 31 Days of Actions to Reset Your Career, follow me on Facebook or Instagram.We will discuss in more detail the 2 actions for day 1 and day 2 on this podcast. In the next episode I will give more details and ideas on the next 7 days of actions coming up. My hope is that these ideas and step by step support helps you elevate your game, and keep motivated and energized as you pursue your career goals. I also want to promote the fact that it's the simple and easy to action steps that will make the biggest impact on your career prospects. Read the full Blog on the WebsiteJob Hunting Made SimpleReset Your Career - Fast-Track Your Job Search in One Weekend31 Days of Action for Job SeekersFind Your Talents: Learn About Your Strengths, and Watch Your Career GrowJoin 5,000+ Readers of The Job Hunting Newsletter: Subscribe NowLear More About Renata's career coaching and coursesAbout the host, Renata BernardeHello, I'm Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I'm also an executive coach, job-hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach corporate, non-profit, and public professionals the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress. Watch the Episodes on YouTubeFollow Renata on Social Media:LinkedInInstagramFacebookX / Twitter
22:2601/01/2020
What to Invest in When You Are Job Hunting: Options for 3 Different Budgets (Ep 11)
As this podcast is going live on Boxing Day, I thought it would be an appropriate time to check if there are any sales you can leverage from to purchase items or services to invest in your career in 2020, especially if you are job hunting. So, in this podcast we are going to look at 3 budgets, from super low to maxed out, and I’ll let you know what I would recommend you can invest in.Read the full Blog on the WebsiteJob Hunting Made SimpleReset Your Career - Fast-Track Your Job Search in One Weekend31 Days of Action for Job SeekersFind Your Talents: Learn About Your Strengths, and Watch Your Career GrowJoin 5,000+ Readers of The Job Hunting Newsletter: Subscribe NowLear More About Renata's career coaching and coursesLinks mentioned in this episode:Up to AUD$500 Budget (US$350)LinkedIn Premium ( free for 1 month then AUD$39,99 per month)Everlane (currently on "Choose what you pay" annual sale!)Banana Republic (Currently on 60% off sale styles)Austin Reed (has discontinued women's suits :( and not on sale at time of publication)Eventbrite - search for events where you liveMelbourne Knowledge Week 2020 (11-17 May and one of my favorite weeks in Melbourne!)Lean in Circles: find a circle to joinInsight Timer (free meditation app, also has guided relaxation for those days you just can't sleep!)Yoga with Adrienne (YouTube Channel)Up to AUD$1,500 (US$1,050) Budget All of the above recommendations, plusBook mentioned: Thinking, Fast and...
32:4825/12/2019
Your ”Best of 2019 Day” Holds the Secret to Your 2020 Career Planning (Ep 10)
In this episode we go a bit "zen" in search for our "Best of 2019 Day". Then we look at how that Great Day holds the key to what we need to focus on in 2020. So, the Planning for 2020 begins! And it’s not just a new year, it’s a new decade! I’ve put 5 actions – or you can call them mindset shifts, strategies – into a webinar format, and I’ll be presenting it LIVE at 11am every day from Friday 20 December until Tuesday 24 December, AEST. I’ve called it RESET YOUR CAREER: THE 5 Actions You Can Take Now for Best Results In 2020.Read the full Blog on the WebsiteJob Hunting Made SimpleReset Your Career - Fast-Track Your Job Search in One Weekend31 Days of Action for Job SeekersFind Your Talents: Learn About Your Strengths, and Watch Your Career GrowJoin 5,000+ Readers of The Job Hunting Newsletter: Subscribe NowLear More About Renata's career coaching and coursesLinks mentioned in this episode:The Imagineering Story : a tv series/documentary and inside look into the Walt Disney Imagineering company.Less, novel by Andrew Sean GreerAbout the host, Renata BernardeHello, I'm Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I'm also an executive coach, job-hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach corporate, non-profit, and public professionals the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress. Watch the Episodes on YouTubeFollow Renata on Social Media:LinkedInInstagramFacebookX / Twitter
11:5918/12/2019
What Is a Video Interview Like, and How to Prepare for It (Ep 9)
This episode is an interview with Brooke Young. Brooke has over 25 years’ experience across higher education, management consulting and the not-for-profit sector, where she delivered a range of strategically focused projects in the areas of marketing, digital solutions, organisational redesign, managed services and graduate employment. Brooke has held senior executive roles at the University of Melbourne, Victoria University and at Monash College. She is currently the President of the Aussie Hands Foundation and an Affiliate at Mercer. We discuss video interviewing:how different and how similar it is to traditional interviewing,how to prepare for it,what it looks in the back end for recruiters assessing candidates, andwhat it means for the future of job hunting.Read the full Blog on the WebsiteJob Hunting Made SimpleReset Your Career - Fast-Track Your Job Search in One Weekend31 Days of Action for Job SeekersFind Your Talents: Learn About Your Strengths, and Watch Your Career GrowJoin 5,000+ Readers of The Job Hunting Newsletter: Subscribe NowLear More About Renata's career coaching and coursesLinks mentioned in this episode:Australian Government Future Job Outlook ReportVieple video interviewing platformAbout the host, Renata BernardeHello, I'm Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I'm also an executive coach, job-hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach corporate, non-profit, and public professionals the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress. Watch the Episodes on YouTubeFollow Renata on Social Media:LinkedInInstagramFacebookX / Twitter
27:5411/12/2019
Positive Redundancy: Interview with Alistair Freeman (Ep 8)
Alistair Freeman wrote a post on his LinkedIn profile describing his experience job hunting, following his redundancy a few months ago. He started by thanking everyone that helped him, and finished off by offering to “pay it forward”. His post was sent to me by one of our listeners and I loved it. Alistair described the rejections he received, the ghosting he got from some recruiters, but also pointed out the power of networking and that it had been fun for him to reconnect with great relationships he had lost touch with over time.It is rare for someone to share redundancy stories so I didn’t think twice, immediately contacted Alistair and invited him to be interviewed for this podcast. And I am so happy he agreed, because he had so much more to say, and a few surprises that I really enjoyed hearing about, and I hope that you will enjoy it too.Alistair’s story of redundancy may be unique, but there are many lessons to be learned here, such as:to use the disruption of the redundancy to re-evaluate your lifestyle;to be open to new sectors and opportunitiesto have a positive mindset while job hunting, because it is a stressful experience.So if you are wondering how Alistair dealt with his redundancy, where he is now and what he learned in the process, listen up!Read the full Blog on the WebsiteJob Hunting Made SimpleReset Your Career - Fast-Track Your Job Search in One Weekend31 Days of Action for Job SeekersFind Your Talents: Learn About Your Strengths, and Watch Your Career GrowJoin 5,000+ Readers of The Job Hunting Newsletter: Subscribe NowLear More About Renata's career coaching and coursesLinks mentioned in this episode:Alistair’s LinkedIn PostAbout the host, Renata BernardeHello, I'm Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I'm also an executive coach, job-hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach corporate, non-profit, and public professionals the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress. Watch the Episodes on YouTubeFollow Renata on Social Media:LinkedInInstagram<a href="https://www.facebook.com/renatabernarde.co/" rel="noopener noreferrer"...
36:3304/12/2019
How to Attend a Job Interview When You Work Full-Time (Ep 7)
You want to keep it to yourself, but if you dress up to the nines, out of the blue, then take a 2-hour lunch break, it will be quite obvious you have gone to a job interview. Listen to the poscast where I tell a very sad story about what not to do, and how everything can go really wrong if you are not careful about job searching while working.Hi, I’m Renata Bernarde and this is the Job Hunting Podcast, where I try to help you nail your next job and have the career you want.If this type of content is for you, you are currently on the market looking for a new job, you are keen to get a new job, or if you want tips on how to advance or change careers, make sure you subscribe, share with friends and family who you think will like the content and I'd love if you could give me a 5-star review. Thank you!!About this episode: Three things you can try to do:If possible, take a day offPeople will know if you dress up better that day, so dress nicely every dayTry to book at the start or end of dayHave I done a job interview during work hours? Yes? Was it stressful? A bit, but not so much.The best way to do it in my view is to create an environment over time were you are excused from work every now and then to do personal things, as long as you are always able to catch up on work later, and keep on top of your responsibilties and KPIs, Remember your current work and boss are your best reference. Now more than ever you want to make sure your work is above bar.Maybe I have been lucky or it's my sector, but I was not micromanaged, and could take time out every now and then to run a personal errand, and catch up with work later, for example. I also never over-explained anything. For example, don’t say all the details of your medical appointment. Add to your calendar, give people access to your calendar, and then go. Period. I also always dressed professionally so that people never thought one day I was more overdressed than the other. If you read my 10 tips for making Job hunting Less Stressful and More successful, or listened to previous podcasts about building your brand (numbers 3 and 4) you will know by now that your next job can be found anywhere. A lucky person is a person prepared for opportunities. If your job requires you to be dressed more casually, then walk into the interview room and “destroy” with your confidence, exude leadership, and let them know you have been at work and need to go back to work so it explains things like a lack of tie or suit, for example.What you shouldn’t do:Over explain your lieCome up with complicated storiesHave a guilty attitudeTell people you are looking for a new job.Let's talk about the elephant in the room: you should NOT tell people at work that you are applying for jobs. No way, Jose! This is my opinion, but here is why I think like I do:Don’t tell anyone at work you are looking for a job. It may be fine for some people, but it’s a good rule of thumb to follow. It’s hard to keep a secret at work. You would be asking people to not tell anyone, when they have projects, deadlines and budgets on the line. It’s not fair for you to ask them that. Plus, if you don’t leave, you will be stuck there with them, and it will be awkward for everyone. They may start reconsidering your motivation and interest in your job, and it can negatively affect your ability to get an internal promotion or interesting project.Read the full Blog on the WebsiteJob Hunting...
21:1027/11/2019
The Secret Benefits of Failing at a Job Interview (Ep 6)
No opportunity should be lost when you have invested so much time and effort at applying for the role you didn't get. Let's find out how to make a lemonade of your lemon! Get to know recruiters and people in other organisations, departments, sectors: In the podcast I give a great example of someone who applied for a role even though he wasn’t convinced himself he was a good fit. Get connected to them via LinkedIn and keep in touch (schedule it!): I don’t recommend connecting with recruiters on LinkedIn. If you want to keep in touch, add them to your phone contacts, make a list on excel, but don’t add all recruiters to your connections on LinkedIn because what will happen is…listen to the podcast to find out. But you can and should connect with employers. Listen to the podcast and I will explain when.Visit other workplaces: to find out more about other businesses and finetune what you really want of a new job. Learn how I was interviwed once in a "fish tank" and that was very not cool! Become better at job interviews: less fragile, more resilience, better skilledAnd remember: failing at job interviews is common, much more common than we think. Examples:Politicians, like Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders – build relationships and became even more famousAustralian Former Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull’s first attempt at Rhodes was a decline: see the reference note for the interesting article about it. Anna Wintour had a messy career progressionMeghan Markle spent years auditioning.Read the full Blog on the WebsiteJob Hunting Made SimpleReset Your Career - Fast-Track Your Job Search in One Weekend31 Days of Action for Job SeekersFind Your Talents: Learn About Your Strengths, and Watch Your Career GrowJoin 5,000+ Readers of The Job Hunting Newsletter: Subscribe NowLear More About Renata's career coaching and coursesLinks mentioned in this episode:'Likeable rascal': Malcolm Turnbull's Oxford report cards uncovered from the archives About the host, Renata BernardeHello, I'm Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I'm also an executive coach, job-hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach corporate, non-profit, and public professionals the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress. Watch the Episodes on YouTubeFollow Renata on Social...
20:5220/11/2019
Something Important Most People Forget to Do When Going Through Job Interviews (Ep 5)
In my previous podcasts (# 1-4) we discussed the effect of stress and anxiety on how we perform at interviews, or anything we feel threaten with. I can be a tough conversation at work, a difficult negotiation, a presentation you have to give and so on. When we get re-wired to cope with stress, we can sometimes forget our manners. This can be a real problem when there is so much at stake during the recruitment process.Here is the thing: I’ve interviewed others as much as I was interviewed myself. And it has surprised me that many interviewees don’t follow up. At all. I am such a pro-active person that I cannot understand why one wouldn’t follow up after being called about a role, or better still, being on a physical face to face interview with a recruiter or employer. Even if you don’t do that, you have to at least, the very least, say thank you at some stage during the interview, but I would suggest a sandwich so add a thanks to your introduction and a thank you to your goodbyes. To get to the job interview is a major milestone for everyone involved. It’s like you have been chosen to be in the finals of a competition, in the Olympics, nominated for an important award. IF you don’t win the prize (ie get the job), it does not mean you are not a great candidate. It means you are so good that people spent valuable time researching you, comparing you against other candidates, and choosing you for them to spend time getting to know. Ok, so if you didn’t get the job you were not a perfect match for the role for one reason or another, but please leave this recruitment experience with the strength and positive reinforcement that you are on track. We will address taking you from good to great at another time, but you know what is not going to make you a perfect match? Not saying thank you! At least 3 times. Three times is my "go-to", folks. The 3rd time is you know when? When you Follow up!!! Right? So, you sandwich it at the interview, then you wait a few days - you should be the best judge of how long - let’s say 5 days, then you call them (my preference is always a call if you have the number) and thank them and ask for an update. Note here: they may have given you a time frame in which case you follow their guideline.Another thing to note: If you have an intermediate, a recruiter who is managing the selection process, call them immediately after the interview to give them an update. And thank them! And ask them to thank the panel on your behalf. Because he or she will have a meeting with that panel once all candidates are interviewed and the way he or she refers to each one of you will make an impact of the decision. She or he may say: "I touched based with all of them, Mary ask me to convey her thanks to you, she really enjoyed the conversation, I only reached John a few days later and he said all went well." What do you think that shows the selection panel? Who seems more interested in the role?Don’t over flatter people, no one wants that. In my view you should however acknowledge "the process". This is the process: you are a box of cereal, they are choosing a cereal, they think you might be it. So you are doing the marketing, and enchanting the customer is part of the game plan.So there you go: 3 thank yous, everyone. What do you think? Looking back have you done it? I sure learned along the way. I think really it was when I was on the other side of the table, selecting candidates, that I realized that there is an etiquette that I would expect candidates to follow.Also remember to adapt this to your situation, sector, or country, yes? This is very important. Although the message is universal, the culture and also how much you know/don’t know the people involved may influence how you decided to activate the ideas above.Below I've added links to research done by Amit Kumar and his colleagues at the University of Texas on the power of saying thank you, for both the giver and the...
15:1313/11/2019
Developing Your Personal Narrative - Part 2 (Ep 4)
In this podcast, I do have to finish what I started in Part 1 (podcast #3), on how to develop your personal narrative, aka personal brand, although you will be able to follow just fine if you found me here, but it may be worth going back and listening to Part 1.In Part 1 (podcast #3) I mentioned how I became obsessed with Roland Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse, and mentioned a paragraph that often comes to my mind when people ask me to write about myself, be it a bio, a LinkedIn profile, or resume. Barthes' horror about writing about oneself is my own, and I think it resonates with many people. Although I want my clients to learn to feel comfortable in situations where they need to speak and write about themselves, I never complain about helping them in reviewing and editing their resumes, because frankly time is of essence when we are job hunting and I sometimes things just need to be done quickly. And it is SO MUCH easier to write and critique someone else’s work, yes? So keep that in mind, if that’s how you are wired, and most people are, and find someone you trust and have great skills to help you. But you shouldn’t expect them to do all the work for you!! You HAVE to put in the effort, deep down you have all the answers, and you most certainly have all the knowledge about your experience, skills and strengths.So how can you write and speak comfortably about yourself in a way that enhances your personal brand? Well, the answer for me is also with Roland Barthes. You see, what Barthes is known for is his expertise in writing, expression and communication. He studied discourse and narrative, which is how we communicate in speech and writing. And he came up with five different ways in which stories are told. I will leave a link in the episode notes for you to read about the 5 different types, but I will focus on two in this discussion. First the one I think we use to diffuse the focus on ourselves, which ends up hurting our career progress, at least in my view. The other the one I ask my clients to move towards: it is comfortable, it is not bragging. I hope you will find it easy to transition to it, as I am confident it will have positive results in your career.So what is it that people do that is ineffective in building their personal brand? I believe people are most comfortable communicating in what Roland Barthes calls Hermeneutics. It’s a big fancy word. Don’t bother remembering it, but here is what it means: it’s the way in which we communicate by delivering breadcrumbs, clues, that we hope people will follow to make a decision about us. Examples in literature are the Bible – it’s all written in clues, same with most poetry. Most recently if you played the type of video game where you have to find clues that leads to other clues, it is all cryptique, difficult to understand. A work-related example: someone asks how your project is going, you answer: “well you know, it is what it is, the report made its way to the board, the presentation was done last Monday…” You may want people to read into it that: you are confident? That you do these things all the time? That the project is done? That the project is important because it was material enough to be presented at board level? And you may want the person to read into it that you are a good project manager, right? Wrong. No one has time for all that guess-work.And when you miss out on your promotion and think ” but I always delivered my projects on time, and did them excellently, the board was always happy with the results” it is all true, but it may not have been communicated well enough to the people that make decisions about promotions.There is another way of telling a story that is more compelling, without being a brag-fest. Barthes called it Semantics. It’s when words, visual cues, body language...
20:5606/11/2019
Developing Your Personal Narrative Part 1 (Ep 3)
In this Episode I share the first half of a presentation I did at a Conference in Sydney for the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (see link below). It was their Annual Leadership Summit and I was asked to speak on personal branding, but to avoid eyes rolling and having mining engineers opt to leave the room for a coffee break during my session, I decided to change the title to basically trick everyone. The topic is indeed about building your personal brand. So, there you go. Listen at your own peril!The content of my presentation is based on years of personal trial and error, research, best practices, and anecdotal successes and failures from clients, friends and co-workers.It’s something I am drawn to; I am really curious about how we speak about ourselves and why it is so hard. And I find that people around me come to me for support when they need to tell a compelling story about themselves. So, I keep investigating the topic, thus we now have a podcast, and these notes.It’s awkward to do it. To talk about one self. Even for the best storytellers out there, the best salespeople, to talk about yourself without feeling like a prick or actually being one, is really hard.Furthermore, having that clarity of purpose in your career is hard because you are so close to what you do, that you project the understanding of it onto other people. For example, we often hear that people will work really hard and expect to be promoted. And when eventually we find ourselves in a situation where we have no option but to speak about what we do, let’s say a job interview, we run the risk of sounding unprepared, or we may end up conveying it in such a way that denotes a false humility, which only makes matters worse. So, you end up digging a hole for yourself: you either end up not owning your success and leadership, or you share it in a way that is perceived as disingenuous.Another big error in talking about what you do is being very vague, or using inside jargon language few people understand. Things like “industry 4.0”, “internet of things”, “project management”, “agile”, “RPA”, “CX”. “SAP”, “business transformation” (this last one is my cross to bear!): many of the words floating around today are meaningless to most people.We will talk more about personal narrative soon in Part 2, so hang on and keep following the Job Hunting Podcast!Read the full Blog on the WebsiteJob Hunting Made SimpleReset Your Career - Fast-Track Your Job Search in One Weekend31 Days of Action for Job SeekersFind Your Talents: Learn About Your Strengths, and Watch Your Career GrowJoin 5,000+ Readers of The Job Hunting Newsletter: Subscribe NowLear More About Renata's career coaching and coursesAbout the host, Renata BernardeHello, I'm Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I'm also an executive coach,...
21:3326/09/2019
The Reason Why You May Be Struggling at Job Interviews (Ep 2)
If this type of content is for you, you are currently on the market looking for a new job, you are keen to get a new job, or if you want tips on how to advance or change careers, make sure you subscribe, share with friends and family who you think will like the content and I'd love if you could give me a 5-star review. Thank you!!In this Episode I talk about the importance of practicing for interviews by going to interviews! Nothing beats the real deal when it comes to developing the expertise in nailing an interview situation. So, waiting to play your cards only when you find the perfect job is a risky move.What you want is to have “built the interview muscle” and gain experience in being on the spot, talking about your skills, your experience, answering questions, etc. so that when the great opportunity or job comes your way, you are ready for it.In sum, you may be struggling with interviews because quite frankly you don’t have experience in doing them. And therefore, your stress level is blocking your ability to shine.Listeners will also learn that I have some bills to pay, but who doesn’t! All the bits and pieces are there, my friends, zero editing needed!Read the full Blog on the WebsiteJob Hunting Made SimpleReset Your Career - Fast-Track Your Job Search in One Weekend31 Days of Action for Job SeekersFind Your Talents: Learn About Your Strengths, and Watch Your Career GrowJoin 5,000+ Readers of The Job Hunting Newsletter: Subscribe NowLear More About Renata's career coaching and coursesAbout the host, Renata BernardeHello, I'm Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I'm also an executive coach, job-hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach corporate, non-profit, and public professionals the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress. Watch the Episodes on YouTubeFollow Renata on Social Media:LinkedInInstagramFacebookX / Twitter
13:1126/09/2019
How to Be Confident During Job Interviews (Ep 1)
The Job Hunting Podcast episode number 1 is out of the bag! In this episode my goal was to make you re-thing you stress and use it to your advantage.Hi, I’m Renata Bernarde and this is the Job Hunting Podcast, where I try to help you nail your next job and have the career you want.If this type of content is for you and you are currently on the market looking for a new job, or if you want tips on how to advance or change careers, make sure you subscribe, share and leave me a 5-star review. Thank you!Read the full Blog on the WebsiteDownload my “10 Tips” guide for job hunters We focus on three key themes during this chat:Focus less on your fear: everyone is as nervous and jittery as you are, the other candidates as well as the people interviewing you. The candidates, including you, all want the job. And the selection panel has the pressure of getting it right. There is a lot on the line, all around. Once you come to terms that this, that is that stress is the baseline for you and your competition, you can focus on other things.Sharpen your focus: relax into the situation, be yourself, read the room, use the stress to your advantage.Focus on your strengths, which is what got you through the door in the first place, and may be what the panel really need to know about you. Indeed, it could be what they need in their team.All while you learn about how I shrunk my skirt, and other bits of information you may or may not find useful!Job Hunting Made SimpleReset Your Career - Fast-Track Your Job Search in One Weekend31 Days of Action for Job SeekersFind Your Talents: Learn About Your Strengths, and Watch Your Career GrowJoin 5,000+ Readers of The Job Hunting Newsletter: Subscribe NowLear More About Renata's career coaching and coursesAbout the host, Renata BernardeHello, I'm Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I'm also an executive coach, job-hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach corporate, non-profit, and public professionals the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress. Watch the Episodes on YouTubeFollow Renata on Social Media:LinkedInInstagram<a href="https://www.facebook.com/renatabernarde.co/" rel="noopener noreferrer"...
20:1226/09/2019