Listen to a career coaching call from inside Career Strategy Lab

Sarah Doody [00:00:00]: Hey there. I’m Sarah Doody, host of the Career Strategy Podcast. Many professionals are seeking more impact, flexibility, growth, and let’s face it, getting paid what they’re worth. But how do you unlock this in your career? It starts with strategy. I’m taking you behind the scenes of what’s working for my career coaching clients. You’ll hear strategies and action able, yet sometimes against the grain, advice for how you can be the CEO of your career and stop dreading Mondays. Ready to level up your career? Let’s get after it.

Erin Lindstrom [00:00:38]: Hey, y’all. Erin here. I am one of the CSL coaches, and today’s podcast episode is a little bit different. We’ve actually gone ahead and taken one of our weekly q and a calls from career strategy lab, and we’re bringing you in. Inside today’s episode, you’re gonna hear real questions and answers inside of career strategy lab with 2 of our coaches, Steph and Becca, and, of course, Sarah. This has been edited to take out any names. So if there’s an awkward gap, that is why. But we hope you enjoy this and find it helpful.

Erin Lindstrom [00:01:10]: And hopefully, it gives you a little sneak peek into what it’s like inside of CSL. And, of course, if you have any questions about joining us, you can always email admissions at Sarah, and we are happy to answer any and all of your questions. Enjoy the episode.

Becca [00:01:25]: Welcome everyone to our q and a call. If you have a question, formulate it, and we are here to support you.

Sarah Doody [00:01:35]: Alright. Let’s dive into this. You said you work in a wet lab and not directly with people conducting interviews. User you think I should still specify that further? That’s a good question. I think that it’s a question you would be you should be able to be ready to answer in an interview. So if people say, like, oh, tell me more about the research you did at Mount Sinai, you’re gonna have a great answer for that. I think to get into that in the compass statement may end up making this a little bit too long, but if research associate experience was very much, like, person to person type research, then I think it would be worth it to mention that in the Compass statement. But I don’t think we need to, you know, explain, like, the wet lab in the Compass statement.

Sarah Doody [00:02:35]: Let’s be ready to explain that, you know, at a high level in an interview. Yeah. You have so much great experience, though, and I think just by those tweaks, it’s gonna help you have that first one or two sentences, like, give a lot more kind of punch

Becca [00:02:56]: and Sarah to who you are and what you do. Awesome. Okay. I think that does it for your compass statement. Next up, we have I asked these questions before on resume. How many bullets are generally maximum? So this is a good question. In general, there really is no hard and fast rule here, so it depends on a few factors. I think one would be the overall, you know, context and content that you’re sharing in your resume because for some roles, you it just might require more bullet points than, let’s say, 3.

Becca [00:03:39]: On the flip side, we do suggest that you have a minimum of 2 to 3 bullet points. If we see a roll with 1 bullet point, we’re going to suggest that you add to that and provide more context. But we’ve seen some work experience with, I would say, 7 bullet points because sometimes it’s just necessary because your role was more extensive. You have a lot of, you know, receipts, measurable data, outcomes, benefits, etcetera to share, and it just simply can’t be shared with less than that. So it’s like a gut check and then a a brain check to make sure that the space that you’re taking up, if it if it seems excessive, is valuable if if that’s really serving you or if it could be trimmed to be more concise. So I think that’s a long way of saying it really depends, and there is no, set maximum

Student [00:04:39]: number. Is it okay if I provide a little extra context? I asked this question because, like, like I said in the beginning, I was, like, still, like I think that’s, like, the most difficult part, just filling up the work experience on the resume part. But I have been slowly doing it. Like, on the contrary, my current experience, I had a lot to say. So I think I have, like, 4 bullets. I wasn’t sure whether I would go more than that. That’s why I initially asked that. But right now, I stopped and went to the previous experience, which was in a design agency.

Student [00:05:13]: And it’s been a while, so, like, my memory has been a bit short, like, going over my previous work. And then I realized because I was in the agency environment, like, there there was, like, not many measurable incomes that I got when I was in there or even after that I left. And it was, like, mostly b two b, so it’s not available in the public space. So, like, I was, like, getting a little short on what to write. So I think I had, like, about 2 bullets of what I have done, and I was, like, trying to, squeeze my brain or struggling in a way to write more and was just curious, what the best practice was.

Becca [00:05:53]: Sure. Yeah. So I I’m not sure. And remind me, did we tag you in the circle post about writing action benefit statements for bullet points? Because I think that would help you. So that’s the first thing. But, also, 2 is is fine. I don’t want you to make yourself crazy, you know, trying to find a third one. But the reason why I’m asking about the circle post is that a lot of times, we think we need these measurable outcomes.

Becca [00:06:21]: And, of course, yeah, they’re beneficial, but you could also sprinkle them throughout your resume. They don’t have to be in every single bullet point, and you don’t always need them in order to show the the benefit and the outcome. So having 2 bullet points that maybe don’t include any, measurable outcomes or or metrics, let’s say, that could be just fine. It could be great, actually. So I you know, it’s understandable. Past work experience, sometimes we do struggle to remember what’s going on. And in that case, you know, sometimes it it veers in the territory of, like, sounding like a list of responsibilities. So we wanna encourage you to not go that route because that’s you know, it’s it’s easy to fall into that trap.

Becca [00:07:06]: So just making sure that if it’s a long time ago and you’re struggling to remember, we don’t want to hear just responsibilities. We wanna still provide outcomes. That could be as simple as, you know and I’ll I’ll tag you in that post just in case. But it could be as simple as boosted client engagement or, you know, increase without putting an actual number to it. Does that answer?

Student [00:07:34]: Definitely. That’s how that’s where I was leaning towards, like, making sure, like, I’m not just listing responsibilities. Like I said, I’m following the curriculum, on the Google Docs right now. So I read those cautionaries, but makes sense. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Becca [00:07:54]: Of course. And I just went ahead and tagged you in that post, so that’s encircle. Alright. Go ahead. Yeah.

Student [00:08:03]: Doody afternoon, everyone, guys. So my question is somehow related. I was about to ask I’m working on my portfolio section, and I have, like, big case studies. So, actually, I have 3, and I’m about to add another huge project which I wanna split into 2. So it goes up to 5 case studies, like 20, 30 slides each. Isn’t it too big? Like, what I would I wouldn’t want to, like, overload the hiring managers or whoever is gonna go through that portfolio. So what’s your what are your thoughts about that? How many case studies we can go up to?

Steph [00:08:47]: I don’t think that there can really be a limit. I think it’s gonna be really what you’re trying to showcase and what you’re trying to highlight in your portfolio. We say we’ve had people get hired with one great project in their portfolio, and that’s more than enough to navigate the job market. Typically, though, we see people averaging about 2 to 3, but then the longer someone’s career spans, they usually amass a few more. I’ve seen portfolios with 5, and then I’ve also seen people that have different types of portfolios. So if they’re trying to really go towards a specific sector, and maybe they’ve worked in Fintech, they have a portfolio that’s all related to their time in Fintech versus their time in EdTech. So there really is no one size fits all answer as most things in CSL are not one size fits all. It’s gonna be a judgment call on what feels best for you.

Steph [00:09:31]: But it is absolutely possible to get hired with one MVP portfolio project in your portfolio.

Student [00:09:38]: Thank you. Thank you, guys.

Steph [00:09:40]: Yeah. Of course.

Student [00:09:41]: I have a quick question about portfolio. I’m in the process. I kind of skipped ahead and was reviewing the, curriculum, because I’m in the process of potentially having an interview, and so I wanted to get, like, my slide deck ready. But if I were to submit a portfolio for review, it would it be okay if I don’t and, like because I feel like if I I already have something, and if I were to go back and redo, like, to include all the things that were included, It felt it feels like I’m going I’m, like, doing going, like, a step backwards. I was just wondering if it’s okay if I submit something for it to not follow a 100%, like, the steps.

Steph [00:10:33]: Yeah. So we do ask that if you’re gonna be submitting assets that you have gone through the curriculum because that’s what we critique on. We’re critiquing your assets based on what we do here in CSL with the curriculum. So we’ve had people upload a portfolio that they did in a boot camp before they even touched the curriculum, and we just immediately send it back. And we’re like, you gotta at least make some progress to the curriculum or utilize that template and kind of plug your information in there because then it creates almost quadruple the work for us to go, hey. Go back to the curriculum, look at this and do this, and then do this and then do this. Because the program is really meant to be, like, self paced the curriculum for for you, implement those changes as it feels best for you and your asset, and then you provide it back to UX. And we’re just kind of reinforcing that in guiding and directing.

Steph [00:11:17]: Does that make sense?

Student [00:11:18]: That’s right. But I’m yeah. So I meant that, like, instead of, like, I would look at what’s, you know, what’s in the curriculum and then, like, take out things that I don’t think would be helpful. And then Oh, yeah.

Steph [00:11:29]: If you wanna how you choose to showcase what’s in your portfolio, that’s your choice. But, we could also give feedback when we see it and say, hey. We’re missing this. We wanna see a timeline. Hey. We’re missing outcomes and lessons. So, like, if something’s removed and we think it’s to your benefit to put it back in, don’t be surprised that that’s feedback we give because we have done that before. And it’s all kind of about giving clarity through that process.

Steph [00:11:50]: But if you feel like we talk a lot about the user research side. So sometimes when people are doing UX design, they’re like, I didn’t do any of the research. I don’t really know how to speak to it. And they’re like, I wanna remove a couple of the slides. Maybe I’ll just do one that says, you know, I worked with the user research department, and then they provided me the research, and then I went from there. Totally fine. Instead of doing, you know I have these, almost Sarah user flows. It’s not user flows.

Steph [00:12:14]: User personas, and then I talked to these people, and I did 5 Zoom interviews. Like, maybe you cut out and trim out all that fat if it’s not applicable for you. Absolutely okay as long as it makes sense for your project.

Student [00:12:24]: Awesome. And then another question is, is anyone ever, like, do 2 options, 1 for interview and then one for, like, a full on portfolio side? Because for interviews, I think you only get to go through 2 projects max.

Steph [00:12:37]: Yeah. A 100%. People will basically build out kinda depends on your process, but I’ve seen people build out, like, a whole portfolio with all the details and all the slides. But then when they go to present it in an interview space, the company will say, hey. You’ve got 25 minutes present. And they’re like, okay. I’m gonna go ahead and hide this slide. You know, I’m gonna make these tweaks.

Steph [00:12:55]: So there are some changes that happen between, you know, the original MVP portfolio and what’s presented in an interview. Nothing wrong with that at all. It’s kind of like what we do with your resume. We’re, like, dump all the information on there possible, and then maybe for job x, you use this resume, and job y, you tweak it and use this. Portfolio would be the same.

Student [00:13:14]: Got it. And then if you were to submit 2 options for review, would that count as 1 critique or that count as 2?

Steph [00:13:21]: You have to submit 1 asset per submission, and you can do 2 per week. So if you had 2 separate portfolio assets to submit, like version 1, version 2, that’s 2 separate submissions, 2 items for the week.

Student [00:13:34]: Thanks.

Steph [00:13:35]: You’re welcome.

Student [00:13:37]: Questions? I have a question, but this is more of a personal career question. Is that okay if I ask here? Go for it. Oh, okay. My question is, if you were given I know this current job market is a little, crazy, but if you were given some options to take a job that is not really aligned to your future career goals versus to then just wait until you have, like, everything Doody. And then, hopefully, you would have more options. What what would be the best yeah. I’m just curious what your thoughts are on that. So to give a little more context, I have a friend, that is about to spearhead.

Student [00:14:34]: I don’t know how much I can, Sarah, but they’re in a car company, and they’re about to kind of revamp the whole branding and vision for this this new series of car EV cars that’ll be coming out, in the next few years, and they are going to need to hire UX designers. One of the problems with that kind of space is that there isn’t a lot of senior management support. And if I were to be hired for this position, I’ll pretty much be the only UX designer in that space. And for me, personally, I’ve worked in isolation the last few years because of freelancing and all that stuff Sarah the start up. And that is something that I’m really afraid to, like, go back into, and I really want to be on a team that’s, like, you know, has a more structured team with other designers and then other design leads that you can learn from. Yeah. I don’t know. So if it if it goes well, sure.

Student [00:15:43]: It’ll be a really, really big career thing for me. But at the same time, if if it doesn’t, I will pretty much be in a company that will have nothing to show because we don’t know if these things will be, approved when there’s no management support, if that makes sense.

Becca [00:16:01]: Yeah. That definitely does. Alright. Great question. Big question too.

Steph [00:16:07]: I don’t think

Becca [00:16:07]: that this feels to me like something that let’s talk about it a little bit right now, and then homework would be to kind of continue processing. And then if you can come to the mindset call tomorrow, I would highly recommend that because there’s multiple sides to this, and it’s certainly not just Sarah. But I think there’s an element here that is, you know, there there’s some fear. There’s uncertainty. Right? There’s things that are playing a part in your decision making that are more along the lines of it’s out of your control. And so our mindset is playing a part in here, you know, as far as determining whether or not this is the right step forward or, you know, something to not consider. This does definitely remind me of of somebody, and I don’t remember their name, but we had somebody in CSL who was making a choice to work for her brother. And it was not an ideal role, but it was you know, there were pros and cons to the situation.

Becca [00:17:13]: And so, Elam, what I hear is that there’s pros and cons to your situation as well. So this is going to be ultimately a personal choice and up to you, but we’re here to, you know, talk you through some of the the facets. The really big takeaway that I wanna just offer up is to check-in with yourself and make sure that you’re not sacrificing what lights you up because you’re afraid that options are limited. You know? On our side of things, I I mean, we’re continuously seeing people getting hired inside of CSL. There’s possibilities. There’s contract roles that turn into full time. There’s, you know, hourly roles that turn into salaried roles. There’s things that happen overnight where one day you you feel like there’s nothing out there, and I just got rejected all week, and then, boom, something clicks into place.

Becca [00:18:04]: So I wouldn’t step into this role if it’s more of, like, a a fear based decision. Right? We wanna help empower you to to make the decision confidently. But if there are pros that outweigh the cons, then certainly it could be the right choice for you. It sounds like so far in what you Sarah that there’s pieces that you would be sacrificing, and, you know, your desire to work no longer solo and and in isolation. It is I mean, that’s that’s valid. That is valid. You also mentioned that there’s not really any senior management support. So, you know, there’s elements here that I think this is all information that you’re processing and integrating so that you could really make a decision that feels correct for you.

Becca [00:19:01]: It’s not the end all, be all as well. I mean, we’ve seen people make decisions and and take roles while still pursuing their ideal or dream role. So there’s also, you know, that loophole, so to speak. So I guess what I’m saying is in this moment, I cannot say what would be the best next step for you, but I hope that this is just kind of getting those juices flowing. And then we can certainly talk about it more tomorrow because I think this is something to to dive a little bit deeper in as far as, like, the the mindset parts of it go.

Student [00:19:40]: Oh, awesome. Yeah. Thank you. It’s helpful.

Becca [00:19:44]: Okay. Great. And I see Steph put, a note in in the chat as well. So strategy side, Sarah, strategy side of me says take the job, get experience and things to create and add to your portfolio. Mindset side of me says for what? If isolation and risk are not what you want to move forward, maybe moving towards this position is not for you. And, continued conversations, reflection, thinking about what this would look like short term and long long term. So, yeah, I mean, this is for anyone because I’m sure that this is this is not happening in isolation. Sure.

Becca [00:20:22]: There’s plenty of people who might be listening to this recording later or who are even here right now on the call and have moved through a similar situation. It’s always helpful to you know, if if you’re interested, which it sounds like you are, to hear other people’s experiences and and feedback. And as you’re moving forward with this too, if you find it’s helpful to share this inside of Circle, you can bring it to Circle as well because, like I said, other people, you know, your professional peers who might have been through something similar that could be valuable there too. Alright, everyone. Well, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for listening. We will hopefully see you tomorrow on the mindset call, and, have a wonderful rest of your day.

Sarah Doody [00:21:09]: Thanks for listening to the Career Strategy Podcast. Make sure to follow me, Sarah Doody, on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or LinkedIn. If anything in today’s episode resonated with you, I’d love to hear about it. Tag me on social media or send me a DM. And lastly, if you found this episode helpful, I’d really appreciate it if you could share it with a friend or give us a quick rating on Spotify or review on Apple Podcasts. Catch you later.