Episode 163 is live! This week, we talk with Margaret Heffernan in the United Kingdom.
Margaret has run five different businesses in the U.S. and the U.K. She teaches at several business schools in the U.S. and U.K. and sit on the boards of three organizations. Margaret has published five books including: Willful Blindness, A Bigger Prize, and The Naked Truth. She’s also given multiple TED Talks, and speaks at conferences and organizations around the world.
On today’s episode, Margaret shares:
How she was able to find fulfilling work, and tips on how you can too
Why we should stop looking at life as a contest with one another
Why willful blindness happens at work, and why we should adjust our view of whistle blowers
Tips on what to look for if you’re searching for a new company
Listen and learn more! You can play the podcast here, or download it on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.
Thanks to everyone for listening! And, thank you to those who sent me questions. You can send me your questions to Angela@CopelandCoaching.com. You can also send me questions via Twitter. I’m @CopelandCoach. And, on Facebook, I am Copeland Coaching.
Don’t forget to help me out. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and leave me a review!
Digital marketing is a hot field. It has been hot for more than ten years. I rarely share much about how to move into the field of digital marketing. However, I get many questions about it because a large part of my career was spent as a digital marketer.
When I first started, there were no specific courses you could take. Digital marketing is a career path that attracts entrepreneurial minded people. Advertising on the internet changes quickly, so those working in the field must constantly grow their skillset. These quick changes require marketers to be self-learners.
My background in computer engineering helped open the door to the digital world because I had experience building websites.
Initially, I became an affiliate marketer. Affiliate marketers help to sell products online for other companies, and then receive a percentage of the sales they generate. I built websites and created digital marketing campaigns to sell a number of products and services, including shoes for the website Zappos.com.
You need experience in digital marketing to become a digital marketer. It’s hard to land a job that requires experience when you have none. Affiliate marketing is relatively easy to break into. It gave me the experience I needed to get going. That led me to a full-time digital marketing position which led to more experience and more work opportunities.
But, things have changed quite a bit since I started. One notable difference is that early on, many digital marketers were generalists. There were fewer total professionals in the field, so each person needed to have a broad skillset that covered many areas. Now, there are more professionals, so many have more specialized roles. For example, one digital marketer may focus solely on placing and optimizing Facebook ads. In the past, this person would have known some Facebook, and a bit about every other social media website. Each person now has a more in depth knowledge of a smaller number of topics.
There are also more courses for digital marketing. Colleges offer them. Websites have them. There are meetup groups about digital marketing. The digital marketing community has grown.
If you are interested in switching into digital marketing, start by thinking like an entrepreneur. Look for free resources to get you going before you pile money into courses. If you prefer to take a formal class, check out www.edx.org. This site offers free online courses from schools like Harvard and MIT.
Look for a way to get experience, even if it means volunteering your time. In the early days of Facebook, I volunteered to setup and administer a Facebook fan page for a non-profit. It greatly increased my understanding of the site, and it gave me real experience that I could put on my resume.
Digital marketers are self-starters. When you’re making the switch, whatever you do, don’t wait for someone else to show you the way. Make your own path.
Angela Copeland, a career coach and founder of Copeland Coaching, can be reached at copelandcoaching.com.
Episode 162 is live! This week, we talk with Audrey Boring in Austin, TX.
Audrey is an independent marketing and advertising professional. She began her creative career as a copywriter, setting up her own freelance business in 2010. She has worked with clients such as Blinds.com, International Paper, and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. She also recently spoke at SXSW about “Building the creative career you’re meant to have.”
On today’s episode, Audrey shares:
What it’s like to be a freelancer
The pros and cons of freelance versus a corporate job
How to break into the social media space as a professional
How companies are using social media today
Tips on switching from a non-creative field to a creative field
Listen and learn more! You can play the podcast here, or download it on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.
Thanks to everyone for listening! And, thank you to those who sent me questions. You can send me your questions to Angela@CopelandCoaching.com. You can also send me questions via Twitter. I’m @CopelandCoach. And, on Facebook, I am Copeland Coaching.
Don’t forget to help me out. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and leave me a review!
I hope you had a wonderful, and very lucky St. Patrick’s Day. I know I did! In fact, I have some super exciting news to share with you today!
Amazon has added the Copeland Coaching Podcast to their network. This means that the podcast is now an Alexa Skill. And, you’ll be able to listen to the Copeland Coaching Podcast on any Alexa enabled device.
I’ve been testing it out on my Amazon Echo speaker. It’s super easy, fast, and best of all — free.
But, you may be like me. I had no idea how to add an Alexa Skill. So, I made a video to walk you through it. You can click the video above, or check out the easy to follow instructions below.
Get out your smartphone and open your Amazon Alexa app on your phone. Look at the top left hand corner of the app. You’ll see the menu bar. It looks like 3 horizontal lines. Click the menu to open it.
When the menu pops up, look near the bottom for the word “Skills.” When you see it, click it. A new page will pop up. Near the top right hand side of the screen, you’ll see a little search box. It says, “Search all skills.” Click in that box. Search for “Copeland Coaching.”
A new page will come up. You’ll see the Copeland Coaching Podcast on the screen. Click it. Then, click the “Enable” button.
After you’ve enabled the Copeland Coaching Podcast as an Alexa Skills, you can listen to it on your Alexa enabled device. Just say, “Alexa, tell Copeland Coaching to play the newest episode.” It’s literally that easy!
After you’ve listened to the show, it would mean the world to me if you would leave me a review. It makes the podcast easier for other people to find (really, it makes a difference!). While you’re in the Copeland Coaching Podcast on the Amazon Alexa app, scroll down. There’s a button that says, “Write a review.” Click the button and you’ll be taken to another screen where you can give the show a rating and a review. It’s quick and easy!
If you find that it’s not easy to do these steps on your phone, you can also try them in a web browser. Here’s a direct link to the podcast on Amazon.
Thank you for your continued support of the Copeland Coaching Podcast, and for your Amazon Alexa review! Each week, I interview an expert on the topic of job searching and getting ahead in your career. I hope you enjoy it!
If you have any questions about listening to the show on your Alexa enabled device, please don’t hesitate to send me an email. I’m happy to help out!
I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.
Also, be sure to subscribe to my Copeland Coaching Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in iTunes or Stitcher.
Applying for a job seems like a fair process. You apply online, and if you’re a good fit for the job, the company will give you a call. You’ll go in person for an interview and show your expertise. Then, the company will carefully decide who the most qualified person is.
When you don’t land the job, despite being extremely qualified, it can leave you wondering what you’re doing wrong. “Why didn’t the company hire me? What could I have done differently?”
The issue is, not everything is really as it seems in the world of hiring. There are a number of things the recruiter won’t (and often can’t) reveal to you when you’re interviewing for a job.
The hiring manager has a preselected candidate. Sometimes this person is internal, and sometimes they come from the outside. It’s not uncommon for the hiring manager to have someone picked out before you get there. But, the company continues with your interview. This is often because they need to meet their internal process requirements around hiring.
The position has been put on hold. I have seen this more times than I care to count. A company is midway through the hiring process. They have already started interviewing candidates. Then, something happens to put the brakes on the entire thing. Perhaps, they have run out of funding, and a hiring freeze has gone into effect. Or, it’s possible that the hiring manager has moved to another department, or has left the company completely. The big boss doesn’t want to move forward until a new hiring manager is in place, so they can make the final call.
The company is reworking the role. If a role is new, it’s possible that after the hiring manager conducted a few interviews, they realized that their expectations were a little off. Perhaps they want to find someone with a slightly different skillset. Or, they may have realized that the talent they’ve interviewed is a bit outside of their price range. Whatever the reason, they’ve pulled the job posting down and are going through the process to come up with a new, refined role.
The organization moves slowly. This one is always a big surprise. Perhaps you had a great interview and were told you would hear something within a week. Then, nothing happened. You assumed the job was completely lost until a few months later, someone from the company calls for a follow up interview.
Your best chance of landing a job is to practice and prepare. But, if you don’t receive a job offer, don’t assume it is 100% your fault. The company has a number of things going on behind the scenes that will impact whether or not you’re hired. Unfortunately, they will rarely disclose these issues to you.
Rather than focusing on failures, use them as practice to prepare for the next big interview!
Angela Copeland, a career coach and founder of Copeland Coaching, can be reached at copelandcoaching.com.
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