Job Search With Claudia Miller

Claudia Miller: Yeah, I love it because I have a lot of, you know, sometimes where they’ll ask me, Well, how can I get to six figures? Oh, I need more certifications. I need to get my MBA or I need to pay my dues. All I need more work experience to get there. Yes and no. No. You don’t need an MBA for the most part.

[Music]

Zeke: I like to welcome everyone to another episode of the Let’s Gather Podcast. I’m your host Zeke and in this episode, I have Claudia Miller to speak about job search. Now, before we get into today’s episode I like to play this message, 

Nerds Talking The Podcast: Hello, this is Lafayette, and I’m Carlos from Nerds Talking The Podcast. That’s right. Where we talk about everything from UFOs, comic books, movies, streaming services, conspiracy theories, ghosts, video games and more. All on Nerd’s Talking The Podcast. You can find us every Friday with new episodes on all digital platforms where you find your favorite podcast Nerd’s Talking The Podcast. Now back to the show.

Zeke: I hope you have a nice day and enjoy the show.

Zeke: So thank you for  joining the podcast. 

Claudia Miller:  Hi, I’m so excited to be here. Zeke, Especially about some of the stuff we’re going to be talking about today. 

Zeke: Yes. Whoo! So like every podcast, what was your or describe how you’d like to represent it?

Claudia Miller: So I consider myself an ambitious person overall.

Claudia Miller: I, you know, I got good grades, get internships and was very involved in school. I had a full ride scholarship, so I expected to have so many job interviews and offers, and I was going to have connections to like the best one, because they’re going to be all fighting for me. And I unfortunately graduated with one interview and thankfully they offered me a job, but I clearly didn’t know something.

Claudia Miller: I was getting good grades, networking, internships, being active wasn’t going to be enough because clearly I’d only got one interview. So I needed to know how to figure things out. How do I get accelerated and how can I get interviews? How could I stand out? So that’s really what prompted me to start on this journey for me to figure out for myself.

Claudia Miller: And I, you know, I’m the only one in my family that really graduated from high school, really. So let alone master’s and bachelor’s degree. So I couldn’t rely so much on my family or neighbors or anyone I grew up because a lot of them didn’t have college degrees, so I had to figure this out on my own or had to lean on other people, which was in my in my network to figure that out.

Claudia Miller:  And that’s how I, you know, through trial and error. And it took me about four or five years. And that’s when I was able to successfully pivot into into different industries. I got multiple times at least 30k salary increases, and now I just help others, you know, get up to 100k salary increases and get jobs within 90 days or less. As a career coach, 

Zeke: nice. Nice. And before we get into all of that, how would you like to represent your origin story? 

Claudia Miller: I would say, you know what got you here won’t get you there. I love that book. And it’s really because you know what got me really good in school and I got good grades, wasn’t what got me to like job search or in my professional career.

Claudia Miller: So I had to learn a different set of skills network and really gather. And even then, you know, what got me to be very successful in my career is I had to learn different skill sets to be a successful business owner. So now it’s always like these new challenges for me and I always have to almost unlearn what I just learned in the past few years in order to get me to the next step.

Claudia Miller: And I believe it’s going to continue to happen. And I’m okay with that because I only use beliefs when they serve me. And once they don’t, I try to really design a new mindset that will serve me best. 

Zeke: That makes sense. So now let’s get into the topic at hand. So a lot of times when I am on this podcast with some of these people who are in college or recently graduated a lot, the first thing that comes to mind is what we do after college?

Zeke: So what can, things that students can do to help them before then and after? 

Claudia Miller: What I would recommend is obviously you want to be good, have good grades and network and everything, but what’s really going to get you like those job offers, which I wish someone had told me instead of having that crippling situation of only getting one interview is starting to understand and look at what you’re interested in.

Claudia Miller: So you can always go to the Office of Career Services, you can go to your student employment office. And I used to work at these offices and that’s why I know there’s a lot of free resources out there for students or recent graduates and really understand like what you want to do. And if you don’t just do internships.

So how can you start your job search? Well, work with a resume writer. For the most part, universities tend to have resume writers free of charge or for a very minimal amount. If you are, you know, maybe you work with them, maybe I had client tell me, you know, I try to go with the resume writer in my university and it didn’t get me any results.

Claudia Miller: Well, that’s when I recommend resume writing. Well, working with a resume writer. So I actually write resumes as well for my clients. And on average, for every ten jobs they apply to, they get anywhere between 2 to 4 interviews. It used to be hire before COVID. Now it’s a lot more competitive now, but it doesn’t mean you can’t get interviews.

Claudia Miller:  So that’s what I would focus on. So getting a resume writer and you’re like, Well, how do I know I need a resume writer? If you’re applying for more than ten jobs and not getting at least 2 to 4 interviews, you need a resume writer. And so once you have figured it out, okay, now you’re getting interviews. You want to start preparing for those interviews.

Claudia Miller: And I would actually recommend to do it before you even start interviewing. Most people start interviewing or preparing for their interviews 2 to 3, maybe a week before their interview is coming up. Usually there’s a short turnaround time. They’ll send you an email, say, hey, Zeke, we’re interested in interviewing you. Let us know your availability for the next week or two.

Claudia Miller: And, you know, even if you extend it out two weeks out, that’s only two weeks to preparation. When I work with my clients, I can work with them anywhere between 4 to 6 weeks before they start interviewing. So most candidates can’t compete with my clients. If you’re up against one of my clients, I’m sorry, but you cannot compete with them because they’ve already been working on this for at least 4 to 6 weeks.

Claudia Miller: When you most people tend to have a few days or at most like maybe two weeks. So it’s prepare for these interviews. What questions are they’re going to ask you? We already know they’re going to ask you the common interview questions. Tell me about yourself. What is your greatest weakness? What is your greatest strength? How would others describe you?

Claudia Miller: Like, these questions are always tend to get like 80, 90% of the time. They always get asked. So start preparing. How do you want to brand yourself? What do you want to highlight? What are some of those achievements? And if you’re like, I don’t even know where to start, well then that means you need to start networking before you even start interviewing or applying to jobs.

Claudia Miller: If you’re interested in a marketing coordinator role, for example, or an entry data analyst, well reach out to a current data analyst and you know, whether it’s on the campus directory, like past alumni, you can look up alumni, alumni and see who graduated from your university and just say, Hey, I’m an alumni, I’m about to or I’m about to graduate and I’m interested in a data analyst role.

Claudia Miller: I see you’ve been working now for at least a year or two and you also graduated. Can you tell me a little bit more about the interview process? What is the biggest challenge and what are some skill sets that you’re surprised you have to know for a data analyst role besides the obvious? And you want to gather this intel so that way you can leverage it when you’re interviewing and you could even reach out to like managers that are managing data scientists and ask them what is the hardest skill to hire for when looking for a data analyst?

Claudia Miller: You know what? You know. Can you tell me a little bit more about what makes a candidate stand out during an interview? What is your most memorable candidate that you’ve interviewed? Ask these questions. And I like to say that it’s almost asking for the answers to the test. Hey, I know what the test is about. What questions they are.

Claudia Miller: Give me the answers and then I’m going to craft and write and workshop an answer that I know is going to sound great during the interview process. So now that you know, what is the hardest skill to hire for, that’s what I would lead with. Oh, tell me about yourself. Oh, you know, I am a recent graduate and my background has been in data analysis.

Claudia Miller: I’ve been managing big data. But my greatest skill set and what I’m most proud of is I’m great at business acumen. I can speak to both technical and non-technical teams and I can write stories based on data, depending how we slice and dice it. In case let’s just say that these that the hardest part about data hiring data hours is someone that can be great at storytelling.

Claudia Miller: So that’s what you want to lead with because we already know that’s going to make you stand out from the competition and we gather that information through networking. So that’s what I would recommend for like recent graduates, if you’re or you already graduated like a year or two, you know, that’s how you want to start the process. And all of a sudden people are going to come to you asking interviews, getting job offers.

Claudia Miller: I have clients where they offer them the same job later that day. Like we know, Zeke, that you’re interviewing other companies. We typically have another interview scheduled, but we know we want you. Here’s a job offer, and if you study 24 hours and you stop agreeing with other companies, we will love to have you or even give you a retention bonus.

Claudia Miller:And that’s honestly, I wish somebody would have told me and that’s how I would start jobs or pitching differently had I just been recently like about to graduate.

Zeke: It’s very valuable stuff. I remember back in college people saying, go on LinkedIn, find your alumni. And just reach out to them. Since you have a common um thing, thing in common. 

Claudia Miller: And even like I said, same like same program all like you graduated from like the School of Business as well.

Claudia Miller: I did too. Or maybe you interned at a company and they interned as well. Or they currently work there that can also be another like hey Zeke. I noticed you worked at, I don’t know, PlayStation. I currently I turned there I was one of you have like a few minutes to talk a little bit more about how it is being a data analyst.

Claudia Miller: And I would love to tap into your expertise and insight

Zeke: Nice.

Claudia Miller: People are always happy to help. If you ask the right way and the timing, people are always happy to help.

Zeke: Definitely. And so let’s now let’s break all that down. So what is a job search? Because it is looking for a job. Well, what kind of like details just by need in terms of job searching?

Claudia Miller: It’s always helpful when you have a self at least an understanding of who you are a little bit.

Claudia Miller: So if you’re an introvert and you feel comfortable speaking to people, probably should not look for a job in sales. It tends to be very client facing. There’s a lot of negotiations happening. You’re going to probably have uncomfortable conversations when you try to like get a low offer discounts. So knowing yourself, even am I introvert, introvert, extrovert or both, Do I like numbers? 

Claudia Miller: Personally for me, I hate anything like detail oriented. So coding probably not a good field for me because I am. I cannot stand. I get burned out really quickly. I get I procrastinate because I hate that type of work. But if it’s related to sales and business and revenue and operations, all of a sudden I’m happy. I’m excited. But starting to know yourself and what classes did you like?

Claudia Miller: Which ones did you dislike? Why did you enjoy it? Did you enjoy public speaking? I love speaking in front of people. So again, I know that about myself. And if you are, you know, wanting to be a influencer, but you are afraid of cameras, you’re an introvert, you don’t like to talk to people. You don’t like to be, you know, all these other things like, Well, is that really the best avenue for you?

Claudia Miller: Maybe that’s to look at other sources or other outlets, and that usually happens through, again, networking, asking people, what do you do on a daily basis? What will most people be surprised about the role that maybe most people don’t know? I’m an introvert. Do you think this would be an ideal job for me? Would you consider yourself an introvert extrovert in asking those questions?

Claudia Miller: It’s going to give you a lot more insight and you’re not going to know what you want to go into. Some people might like, Oh, I’ve always dreamed about doing this, but most of us are like, I think I want to do this, or this was my major. I’m not exactly sure where I want to go or what company.

Claudia Miller: I just know that I want experience. I want to make at least a decent wage or some really good salary starting in one as far as exactly what I want to be in the next 15 20 years, I have no idea and don’t feel bad if you don’t have passion. My belief is that passion is really field by depending by how much we are exposed to.

Claudia Miller: So for example, I love being on podcasts now. Have you asked me before I started getting on podcasts like Claudia, is podcasting your passion? I would be like, I don’t know. I’ve never done podcasting. I have no idea. I know I enjoy public speaking, but I don’t know if podcasts do to me my passion. And guess what? I love being on podcasts now that I’ve done it and been exposed to it, but some of us don’t know a lot of our passions yet because we haven’t done enough.

Claudia Miller: And the way to find your passion or develop a passion is by exposing yourself to more take courses, take certifications, take trainings and workshops, expose yourself, and then say, do I like this type of work? Yes or no? And if so, why not? Why don’t I like it? Oh, it’s having to do with like very detailed stuff and I absolutely hate it.

Claudia Miller: Well, okay, that gives me a little bit more insight into what I should gravitate towards that I know I can thrive in.

Zeke: Makes sense if you know yourself,then  at least have a better idea of where to go in terms of which you want to do on a daily basis. 

Claudia Miller: Yes. 

Zeke: Yes. And then move to the next step, of our job search.

Zeke: Let’s talk about the interview and how to prepare for an interview.

Claudia Miller: So like I said, a lot of it comes to preparation, prepare for the expected and the unexpected. We know they’re going to ask these common interview questions, Start preparing your answers. Don’t think that you’re going to wing it. Or some people say, well, once I get in the interview, I’ll know what to say.

Claudia Miller: Guess what? You’re not you know, you’re kind of just you know, people tend to have tendencies that are giveaways that they’re nervous or they’re trying to figure it out and kind of wing it on the spot. And a good teller is if people are looking up or down or to the side, like, yeah, so that’s, you know, that’s usually a telling sign.

Claudia Miller: So instead prepare for those answers. And you know, look, on Glassdoor Glassdoor is a really great resource to look up interviews, interview questions either for that company or for that specific role. You can Google common interview questions for data analysts and pull up those questions. Do you know what you want to say? How to say it? And you know what is a good achievement?

Claudia Miller: And some of you might say, Well, I don’t have much achievement, Claudia. I’m barely graduating from college. Well, what are some projects that you’ve worked on based on the networking you’ve done? What is one thing that keeps coming up over and over again? Is it those soft skills? Is it that business acumen? Is it that special programing language that, you know, maybe you did a project on it?

Claudia Miller: So if they were to ask you, you know, tell me like, how do you deal with rejection, you know, in case you do want to go into that sales or marketing role or consulting? Well, they’re going to we already funded our research are going to ask us that question. Let’s start preparing for it. You know, how do I deal with rejection?

Claudia Miller: What are they what is the question behind the question? So most people think that when they ask, you tell me about your weakness, you should lie about it and say something like positive thing and make it look negative. But it’s really positive. And an example of that is, Oh, what am I? Family says that I’m such a hard worker, so I tend to work a lot and I, you know, tend to say yes all the time.

Claudia Miller: And I have to say no, that’s not a really weakness. What they’re really asking you with that question is, one, are you self-aware of your imperfections or maybe skill sets? You’re not that good at. Two, are you willing to be vulnerable and be able to, you know, discuss that with somebody else and share that? And Three what do you do when you do have a weakness?

Claudia Miller: Do you just say, Well, I’m just better public speaking? That’s just that’s just the way that I was made. That’s how I was born. There’s nothing much I can do about it or you that person and says, hey, I’m not the best at public speaking, especially when I don’t know those people. You know, I’m comfortable with like a one on one if I once I get to know them, but once it becomes three or five or seven or ten or plus and I don’t know people, I get nervous, I probably get sweaty, I get flashes and I get jittery and I tend to stumble.

Claudia Miller: And I just a lot of things happen when I have to do any public speaking. So what I’m trying to do is get better. So I just joined Toastmasters Group and currently, you know, working through that, I know it’s going to take some time. I’m not where I want to be, but I know it’s a matter of time of when I’ll get there.

Claudia Miller: That comes out genuine because it is true. I have a client where she said, You know, my biggest weakness is that I tend to be quiet. I am an introvert, so I will not be the loudest person in the room. I do have a lot of value to add and I do need to work around getting better, around speaking up, especially when I know I have great ideas.

Claudia Miller: And it’s funny because my husband is an extrovert, so what I’m doing is trying to, you know, make sure I hang around with more of his friends and I try to make it a goal of speaking up a little bit more than I usually want. And that’s how I’m trying to get better at it. Like, that’s again, these answers come out genuine and then there’s a story behind it because it is true and we’re saying, Hey, we’re not perfect, and don’t say like I’m a bad public speaker.

Claudia Miller: So I’ve been taking workshops and I public speak in front of like a thousand people, but I consider that to be my weakness. It’s like, okay, sure. So clearly you are not good at being self aware. You are not coachable, you seem to or want people to think you’re perfect, so you would never tell people when you need help or need assistance and you’re not going to do anything about it.

Claudia Miller: So you know, maybe you’re not a good employee for me to hire. I don’t need to know at all. I don’t need, hey, I’m perfect, but this is my first entry level job. Nobody wants to hire her that be genuine. Now, if your weakness is project management and you’re applying for a project manager role, that’s probably not a good weakness.

Claudia Miller: And I would even say like, maybe you should look into another role if that’s currently one of your biggest weaknesses.

Zeke: It also makes sense, definitely. And then let’s say we move on. Now we have the job. How do we negotiate? 

Claudia Miller: So understand. Yeah. So I would say it starts with mindset. I can give you all the best strategies, but if your listeners are thinking, well, how do I know I can negotiate or why would I negotiate?

Claudia Miller: I should just be good if I get a job, I have no experience. Another one is if I negotiate, I’m going to come off as greedy. What if they take back the offer? I should, you know, I shouldn’t rock the boat. So we have these thoughts coming up. Just even say, hey, negotiate your salary. And you’re like, I can’t.

Claudia Miller: All these thoughts are coming through. Shut them down and understand that. Because again, I can give you the best strategies, but if you’re not going to take action, there’s no point. So once you understand your mindset, you have to reframe it. I actually say that negotiating your salary makes you look confident and it’s a competence trigger. What that means is you’re good at having uncomfortable conversations and making them not uncomfortable and true it’s you know, when I see someone negotiating their salary, it tells me that, one, they understand their market value.

Claudia Miller:  Two they are confident. And three, they for me, it’s like based on that they’re more likely to be a team or a team leader or a leader overall. So Zeke if you negotiate your salary, you do it in a great way. And I was like, Yeah, you know what? We can we can give you that much. So we were happy to have you on board.

Claudia Miller:  If I have anything coming up related to contract negotiation, working with vendors or negotiating, I’m going to think about you over all your other peers because one, you did it with me. Someone trust you with more responsibilities, which exposes you more to more promotions and upward mobility. Why? Because you negotiate your salary. So once you change your mind and say, hey, actually not negotiating, my salary is going to parties you write about or it’s going to put me behind in my career, I need to negotiate, then that’s where we can move to next steps.

Claudia Miller:  And what I tell clients is I, I have talked to a lot of hiring managers, HR people, recruiters. And the most surprising thing is when they tell me when they extend a job offer, let’s just say we have a budget of $60,000 for a data analyst role. They’ll offer Zeke your interviewing. And I’m like, hey, I think you’re actually a really good candidate when we offer you 50 or $52,000. I’m not going to give you the $60,000 because if you negotiate that, I am still within budget I’ve allocated or the department’s allocated $60,000.

Claudia Miller: So you’re like, Hey, I want $60,000. You know what? We can make that work. Actually, that’s my budget. So that’s why I usually most hiring managers don’t tend to go on the higher end of that salary range. So know that there’s always money to table and they expect and anticipate you negotiating. So that’s why they don’t typically typically end up offering on the top end.

Claudia Miller:  Now if they if they do, then they’ll say, hey, you know what, actually, that’s the most we can do. Let me see what I can do about it. Or you can say, you know what, I totally understand? I mean, what had happened is cost, benefits where I think that it can get us to that number again, you need to have a plan.

Claudia Miller:  And the best way to have a plan is to prepare in advance and practicing. I’m the way I’m saying it comes out like, oh, it’s very conversational. It’s like, oh, as a matter of fact, it doesn’t sound confrontational. Does it sound like I’m nervous? Doesn’t sound like I’m being slimy salesperson It’s because I practice it so much I can comfortably talk about this, say it not bat an eye.

Claudia Miller: And I and I sound very nonchalant about it. I get towards practicing. So same thing with interview. Your interviewee answers. Practice them practicing, saying like, I’m actually looking for a salary of $70,000. Is there any way we can close that gap? Then just be quiet. Let them figure out how they’re going to close that gap. If they want to pay you in pennies to close that gap, $10,000 in pennies, I don’t care.

Claudia Miller:  As long as we can get to the number, I’m happy. Maybe they can offer you a $5,000 signing bonus, increase your salary by 2000 and give you 3000 in stock to get you to number. Okay, that’s fine. I guess that how is it going to you can get to number. Let them get creative on how they can close that.

Claudia Miller: So instead of them thinking, should we give them that 10,000? All of a sudden they’re thinking, How can I give them that 10,000? Maybe I have so much in salary, but maybe I can give them a signing bonus, a relocation bonus, maybe some additional stock options or a professional stipend, and that can get us to that number. We change and reframe the question, not if they should give me instead, how can they give me this amount?

Zeke: I would definitely take these notes into the future. 

Claudia Miller: Yeah. 

Zeke: So I want to take one step back and go back to interviewing.

Claudia Miller: Yeah. 

Zeke: So what questions do you ask the interviewer when you’re interviewing? 

Claudia Miller: There’s many different questions depending on the role of the industry. But I would know. One thing I like to ask is, you know, can you tell me a little bit more about, you know, your top employee within your department and what makes them a top employee?

Claudia Miller:  And that’s going to give you some insights depending on what you’re looking for. If they say, you know what, my top employee is the first one in the office, the last one out there, always working weekends, too, always there for everyone, you know, and they’re always so humble and, you know, they’ve been in the role for six years and, you know, they continue to do amazing work.

Claudia Miller: Then I’m like, okay, in order for me to be considered a top employee, I get to work weekends, nights. I have to stay the same role for six years and, you know, do everyone else’s work while everyone else gets promoted. Like, yeah, no thanks I’m, I’m not interested in to try to compete with that. But if they were to say, Hey, you know, my top employee actually is an avid learner, they do you know, they ask for different skill sets.

Claudia Miller: So I give them opportunities and one of them is trying to be manager. So I’m letting them lead team meetings and I’m able to do so because they’re do great job, They’re always looking to learn and they’re trainable and coachable. All of a sudden, you know, like this tells them more about the manager than any than the person itself.

Claudia Miller: And another question I like to ask is, can you tell me what is the hardest skillset to hire for this role? And or why are you looking to hire someone externally as opposed to internally? Use those answers in your closing statement? You know, I know I’ve been a great asset to the Department, especially since you’re looking for someone external, and I knew I could bring these specific skill sets and values and I can be an asset to the company.

Claudia Miller:  And as you mentioned, the hardest skill to hire for is soft skills. You know, one of the things that my greatest strength as well that I forgot to mention is I am great with people. I was vice president at my club and I also am, you know, I volunteer here or I go to church and I am able to help and serve other marginalized communities all of a sudden you want to highlight that skill set.

Claudia Miller: But again, it’s all about asking the answers to the test. It’s like saying, Hey, can you give me a reason why you should hire me? Yes. And they’ll give them their reasons. You’re like, Great, Well, I think you should hire me because to your point, I can deliver A, B and C and D, and you’re looking to achieve this.

Claudia Miller: I can help you get there. So that will be like my another recommendation to have towards interviewing. But again, it it all happens with practicing. And the last question I recommend all my clients to ask is, you know, Zeke, based on everything we discussed today, do I have your support in moving forward your next steps? If they say yes.

Claudia Miller:  You know what, Zeke? I think you’re great. I think you’ll be a great fit for the role. You’ll be hear from us. We’re going to move you to the next interview round. You’ll be speaking with my boss and blah, blah, blah. Now you can walk away with that interview. Okay, great. I have the next interview. I’m not stressing about it.

Claudia Miller: I’m not worried about like, Oh my God, I forgot to mention this or I shouldn’t have said this or I didn’t. I don’t think I answer that question very well or I forgot to address the second part. You don’t have to worry about that because I already told you. Yes. Your move forward now they say, You know what, Zeke?

Claudia Miller: We’re really looking for someone with a little bit more experience. I know you’re just graduating. Okay. Thank you for sharing that. Is there something specifically about someone that has experience that you’re specifically looking at? Well, you know, usually we want somebody with a little bit more work experience that’s familiar work in corporate setting. Thanks. Thanks again for that feedback.

Claudia Miller: You know, I may not have a job, but work experience, but I have worked in internships and I have worked in corporations or I volunteered or have been part of this mentorship fellowship program with corporations where they connect us with different mentors. And as far as my skillset, you know, if you’re worried about emails and everything, you know, we’ve taught, I’ve taught courses, I’ve also taken these trainings, I’ve taken this UdemyLlinkedin learning class on how to have email skills.

Claudia Miller: I mean, some of these things that employers say are a little bit absurd. But then again, I’ve had seen some first hires where they’ll send inappropriate things through work, emails that they shouldn’t have and they don’t know email etiquette. So if those are the the reasons why or let’s just say you’ve never taken a course I’m email etiquette, then you can send in your thank you email.

Claudia Miller: Thanks again for so much for the interview. It was really insightful. The feedback you provided because of your feedback, it really got me thinking. I went ahead and enrolled in this LinkedIn learning class where it talks about email etiquette, so that way I can find my skill sets and become so that way when I do work in the workplace, I have a better understanding of that, you know, corporate work etiquette that a lot of companies are looking for.

Claudia Miller: And I hope that, you know, this is just the beginning and I’m looking to go with a company that I can grow and really refine a sharper my skill set because I am ambitious, hungry, and I’m willing to learn and do the work that it needs to in order for me to be successful. Everything in life can be learned, but it’s just if you don’t know why, then I move you to next steps.

Claudia Miller: You’re not going to know what to say. So ask them.

Zeke: Makes sense. So a lot of repeating themes are practice and preparation. 

Claudia Miller: Yeah. Yeah. Preparation and practice. Well, like I said, that’s more than most people do. They don’t prepare me. Some of them I practice, but I guess I mostly practice up to two weeks. If you’re ingrained and subconsciously you’re trying to memorize these answers, all of a sudden you’re not worried about what to say.

Claudia Miller: Now you can focus on your personality. Building rapport. Zeke by the way, I saw that you have a podcast that’s interesting. I have a podcast. Can you tell me a little bit more about that? I’m I’m. How do you deal with like guest cancellations or, you know, do you repurpose content? All of a sudden you can infuse a personality because you’re not worrying what to say.

Claudia Miller: Now you’re you’re focusing on that person, reading their body language, focusing on your body language. And I guess I’m talking about little bit more and building that rapport that will really make you stand out.

Zeke: Nice. So now that we have the job, we did it for a couple of years and when it’s changed. How does somebody go about that?

Claudia Miller: So I would backtrack a little bit. And I always tell clients, if you’re an individual contributor, meaning you’re not managing people, even a team lead is an individual contributor, then you want to focus the first six months, I would say 3 to 6 months learning the job, then the 6 to 18 months making the job better. Your goals to always make the job better than what you came in.

Claudia Miller: So if it’s a ten days to process whatever accounts receivable, then try to make it. How can you get it to seven or eight, seven or eight days? How can we make this better? What are some of the bottlenecks? Is there a form that always missing information? Maybe you want to talk to that person before or that does the paperwork and then sends it to you saying no.

Claudia Miller: I want to tell a little bit more about your process if you’re able to find these numbers, because it does slow down. And I know that we want to make this process faster. So understanding that is really going to help you advance in your career, all of a sudden you to start seeing a lot of promotions, getting visibility towards leadership, but then you want to start thinking about it.

Claudia Miller: What is next on this job before you need to? So let’s say you’re a marketing coordinator and you want to continue marketing. You love marketing. It’s something you really enjoy. Well, the next step is marketing associate and start reaching out to marketing associates and look at job postings. What are the requirements for marketing associates? And then highlighting green the skills you have highlighted in yellow, the skills you sort of kind of have that maybe you don’t have certifications or you haven’t done enough projects and then highlight in red skill sets you don’t have and you want to make sure you have some red in there.

Claudia Miller: Otherwise there’s your staying stagnant and then look at, you know, is it something like required? Do you have the requirements if not start working on your requirements so that when when you are ready to apply to those jobs, you already had and build those skill sets, you don’t have to waste time another year trying to build a skill sets.

Claudia Miller: Even though you’ve been ready, you’re ready for this next role. So that proactive approach and preparation is really going to help you get ahead. So if you’re an individual contributor, the rule of thumb is anywhere between you should be in your job for 2 to 3 years at most, and then you should be moving to the next job.

Claudia Miller: If you’re like a supervisor manager, it should be anywhere between 3 to 5 years. And if you’re a director, a senior director, it’s anywhere between 5 to 10 years. And if you’re a VP, usually it’s around, you know, 10 to 15, 20 years or so, depending on the situation. But that’s a rule of thumb. So if you’ve been in your job now for more than three years as an individual, individual contributor, you start looking into what your next step is and then figuring out what you need to do in order to get there.

Zeke: Got it. And then let’s move on to how to get six figures. That’s 

Claudia Miller: Yeah, I love it because I have a lot of you know sometimes with they’ll ask me, well, how can I get to six figures. Oh I need more certifications, I need to get my MBA, I need to pay my dues, I need more work experience to get there.

Claudia Miller: Yes and no. No, You don’t need an MBA for the most part. If want to get a MBA. because you want to get an MBA, great. If you’ve done your research, you know that you want to become a chief marketing officer and 90% of them tend to have their master’s in marketing. Okay, maybe you start preparing and looking and try to maybe look for a company that will pay for your master’s degree so that way comes out free, but you want to make sure you create a plan.

Claudia Miller: And one the biggest mistake I see people, they’ll say, I want a six figure job, but I just can’t seem to get it. I never get interviews, I get offers. I also see them apply to jobs that are not six figures. And let’s just say they’re making 60. They’re applying to jobs that are 65 to $68000, and they expect to get a six figure or a $100,000 salary offer.

Claudia Miller: No, no, that’s not going to happen. And the analogy I like to use is it’s like trying to buy a Chanel bag at the dollar store. You’re not going to find a Chanel back at the dollar store. So you are not going to find a six figure job looking for 50 60K jobs, but create a step ladder. If you’re currently making 40.

Claudia Miller: And maybe the next job you want to get is 60 to 70. K again, you want to do that analysis of saint or audit. I have these skills. I don’t have these skills, but maybe I shouldn’t even start up. They said they need a requirement project management certificate. Okay. And that job is going to jump me to 70,000.

Claudia Miller: I’m currently at 40 or 50. Let me work on the next 6 to 12 months on that certification. So once I’ve been in my role for three years, I can apply to that project manager role and I’m going to look for project manager roles that are paid 70,000 or more. Once you have that project manager role, what is my next step?

Claudia Miller: Do you enjoy project management? Yes or no? Maybe you want to become senior project manager. Okay, that’s going to get me to like the 95 100 K and maybe I should go into a technology company because they tend to get paid more. What do I need to become a senior project manager at a tech company? Let’s look at job postings and see what I need to start developing now before I want to apply to that job.

Claudia Miller: Once you get to that job, well now you want to be director of Project Management Office and I get that step. And for me, I went from like making 36000 to 6 figures in about six, seven years. So like I said, I created that value ladder, that step ladder. I wasn’t make. I was there was a point I was making 42,000.

Claudia Miller: Guess what? I knew I wanted to make at least 75,000 at my next job. So I only focus on jobs that paid 70 to 75 K plus. I wasn’t looking at jobs making 50. I wasn’t looking at jobs making 60. I was only looking at jobs in applying to jobs making over 70. Okay, well, how do I know how much they’re making?

Claudia Miller: Well, LinkedIn and Indeed, you can filter out jobs based on salary. You can quickly go on the Glassdoor and see like what the salary range is. There will be a discrepancy like, for example, project management and project manager. I think it comes anywhere between 50 to like 120,000. So then I look at, okay, well what industries tend to pay more?

Claudia Miller: Oh, technology companies. Great. Let me look at their job postings. And then again, I’m going to filter these jobs based on salary. And then once I got my 75 K role, then I want to make 100 K what jobs? Again, it’s it’s a rinse and repeat process. And that’s how I was able to get there really quickly and getting there because I was intentional focus and I prepared and I beat the competition every single time.

Zeke: So again plan, so you will see a pathway and then work towards a path.

Claudia Miller: Yes. 

Zeke: And so with that how far should someone think about that, by when in college or high school saying this is what I want to do or say so, or like after they get their first job?

Claudia Miller: No, I mean, you can always explore. I mean, even if you get your first job, you’re like, Hey, I graduated my bachelor’s of focus in data analytics.

Claudia Miller: You got your first data analyst role. Start assessing, do you like this or not? Talk to senior data analyst. How are they doing? Do they are you looking for a job that’s work life balance? Well, ask them, do you have work life balance? Can you tell me how many hours do you work? You can talk to data, Senior data analyst across various industries.

Claudia Miller: Hey, you work at PlayStation. How is it being at an outside PlayStation? And again, you connect with people, just find them on LinkedIn and find a common denominator. Oh, we went to the same college, we went to the same high school. We’re from the same town. Oh, we worked at the same company. We followed the same organizations. I mean, there’s just so many ways that you can build a connection with someone and then start reaching out to them and asking questions again.

Claudia Miller: The more you start learning and being self aware. So it’s like, Oh, I hate doing this type of work at my job. Why do you hate it? Is it because it’s so easy? Is it because it could be better? Is it because it’s frustrating because of the bureaucracy around it? Is it because it has to do a lot with numbers?

Claudia Miller: Is it because it the process has been over, complicate it and they could be resolved really quickly? Like, why do you hate this so much or dislike it and then find the next job that you want to have to do? Much of that, the more we do of what we enjoy the the more we tend to be passionate about it.

Claudia Miller: We thrive in it, We get exposed to it, we’re excited about it. We make the process even better because we start chopping things that we don’t like and we start focusing on more things that we do like. And that’s how you accelerating your career a lot faster. So I would say like talk to people, ask them, Hey, can you tell me you’ve been a senior data analyst now for three years.

Claudia Miller: What has been your biggest achievement? What do you think has me like the biggest? What have you learned the most in the past few years? The senior data analyst that you wish you would have known starting out as the answers to the question asked them. And then like I said, if you’re like, Oh, I realized that I really hate doing this aspect of it and I’ve become a senior data analyst..

Claudia Miller: I’m going to be doing even more of that. Maybe I should consider looking at to other departments, other types of roles, maybe other industries that may not have to do that so much. Or maybe I should just think about other type of jobs that might be a better fit, because clearly this is just something I truly dislike.

Zeke: That makes sense.

Zeke: And then if somebody is coming to you for help, what should they do? To make the process easier?

Claudia Miller:  So if they if they were coming to me for help with. So I think at the end of the day, what I look for is someone that is coachable. So if you’re if you’re thinking, well, I don’t know if I can get a job because of the economy and how things are going and the unemployment rate and whoever’s president, I you know, I just I’m not going to be able to that’s why I haven’t gone ahead and that’s why I haven’t had a job.

Claudia Miller: Well, guess what? I can’t change that. I can’t change who’s president. I can’t change the economy. I can’t change where you went to school. I cannot I have no control over that. But if you are thinking. Hey, I want to work with someone that can help me. I know that I’m willing to learn anything. I know that maybe I just don’t know how to sell myself.

Claudia Miller: I don’t know how to approach it or what to do. But if someone just taught me or showed me how I would implement and take action, well, guess what? I can help you. Because I can help. I can. I already have the strategies. I’ve been proven and tested against pandemics and people with no experience, people with a lot of experience.

Claudia Miller: I’ve had stay at home moms who haven’t worked in 15 years, and after working with me, can get jobs within 90 days and get paid really good salaries. They don’t have to start from scratch. So if that’s all you need, strategies and execution, what to do and how to do it, I can help you with that. You are totally my ideal client because again, you have a different mindset.

Claudia Miller: Again, I know sometimes, well, I want this job, but I don’t. I didn’t graduate from an Ivy League degree. Okay, well, I can’t change that. You already went to school. You already graduated. Yes. Well like I know that there’s some people that work there. They don’t have Ivy League degrees, but I want to know how they did it.

Claudia Miller: And as soon as I know how to do it, I know I I’m willing to do anything to work at this company. Great. I can help you find those strategies. I know how to implement. We’ll work together and practice it until you are confident and ready to go and have those conversations. So if that’s that’s the most important thing mindset.

Claudia Miller: Everything else is like, Oh, I don’t have experience or I don’t know, I’m not an expert yet, don’t worry about it. Everyone has a market differentiator and it’s all about branding and how we brand the situation and what I mean by that is what I was looking for. My next job, I applied to a job and it said that it required a nursing degree or clinical background.

Claudia Miller: I do not have any clinical background or nursing degree whatsoever. So by paper I look already underqualified. I still applied. If you qualify for 30 40% of the job posting, go ahead and apply. So I applied to the job and they and I asked, you know, to have your support moving forward. Next steps. And they said, You know what, Claudia?

Claudia Miller: I think you’re right. But we’re looking looking for someone in a clinical background. It is. We’re a hospital, so you’re going to have to work with a lot of clinicians. And we really want someone that has that that acumen, that clinical acumen. They can really understand clinical terms. I totally understand Zeke. Thank you for sharing that with me.

Claudia Miller: Based on what we discuss and what your biggest objective or goal is for this role is to improve the patient experience. I can help you with the patient experience because I am your ideal client. I don’t have a clinical background, I don’t have a nursing degree. So if I can’t understand it, our patients can’t understand it, and I will work with the patient to really understand where those gaps and how we can fill those gaps in order to help them feel at ease and feel like they’re at a great hospital and their support.

Claudia Miller: And we want to be able to provide those resources to them. I got the job in a very good salary increase. Let’s just say I did have that experience and they’re like, well, Claudia, you know what? We are looking for someone that doesn’t have clinical experience or nursing degree. You know, thank you for sharing. It sounds like you’re looking to improve the patient experience and as a clinical, as a clinician and a nursing background, there’s a lot of medical terminology out there that’s hard to translate.

Claudia Miller: And I do this every day with my patients that I currently work with and even with my family members. They don’t have that clinical background. And I’m able to come in and really understand what that means and be able to translate that to someone that doesn’t have a political background and that’s why be an asset to the organization, because I can understand that information and I can speak to in clinical jokes to all our clinicians, our doctors, our physicians assistants and all the rest of the nurses.

Claudia Miller: And I can connect with them because I understand where they’re coming from. I can argue either side. It doesn’t matter. It just depends what side I’m in. And then I’m going to find a reason to argue that side. So either way you’re like, Oh, that actually that sounds good too. But again, I had preparation in order to build that argument, and I’ll beat candidates,

Claudia Miller: That had nursing degrees, clinical backgrounds, and I was still able to get a salary increase just because I had time to prepare and build that argument. 

Zeke: Nice and thank you for being on the podcast. So come on down to the end. So the last question will be what would you name your origin story? 

Claudia Miller: Okay, so that is a good question.

Claudia Miller: Like if I had to name my origin story is I guess, mindset or mindset designing my design your mindset like to achieve success because like I said, I grew up from humble beginnings. You know, my I grew up on food stamps. I was homeless at some point, like we lived in a homeless shelter. My mom and my dad had sixth grade education.

Claudia Miller: No one around me really had any college degree. I had to navigate like the whole FAFSA application. I my mom never took me to college tours or anything. I had to do this on my own. I have a rare blood illness that has no cure, and because it’s so rare and yet if you look this on paper, this is usually happens to marginalized communities and persons of color is, well, she should have been pregnant already at the age of 16 like that.

Claudia Miller: She grew up in poverty. Like that. Just makes sense. Is part of the statistic. You’re just in the stat and for whatever reason, God willing, you know, had me looking. He was looking out for me. And now I’m in a different mindset. I all I, I see abundance everywhere. I grew up in scarcity and yet I see abundance.

Claudia Miller: I’m grateful to just have pantry full of food. I’m grateful to live in a safe home. I’m grateful to have a roof over my head. And, you know, a lot of these things, like my past is still there and I had a very pretty traumatizing past. Like when I’m telling you, like, like the nice stuff, like the PG version of like, what was my upbringing?

Claudia Miller: But I don’t let that stop me. And it’s because I’ve really worked a lot and invested and done a lot of the work on helping my mindset. I see people that I grew up with where they’re thinking now I can’t get ahead. My parents don’t even have degrees. That’s why I don’t graduate from college or here’s why can’t do this because of where I grew up.

Claudia Miller: And we can either break those excuses or we can make Those are like our feel in order to do better and do better. No, I don’t have a network, so I need to go build one. Oh, I don’t know how to build one. That means I need to find somebody to teach me. I’ll read a book, I’ll read a course, I’ll watch whatever that is.

Claudia Miller: In order to gain that skill set to get me where I would need to be and want to be. So again, it’s a lot about mindset and, you know, come with that was being grateful. And of course now I found God. So it’s like I have a lot more faith in, you know, things where I didn’t have growing up.

Claudia Miller: But again, it all started with my mind. And once you know how to build a mind that serves, that’s when you start seeing success. That’s when you start becoming unstoppable. 

Zeke: Nice. Definitely. Got to changed how you look at the life and the world, and then it was easier to balance  not fighting two battles at the same time. 

Claudia Miller: Yeah, and I’m not talking about, you know, there are some things that are unfortunate systemic racism.

Claudia Miller: Like I’m not saying like, Oh, it doesn’t exist. That’s not what I’m talking about. It’s more of I can control me. I unfortunately, I can do my best, but I can do more in like activism and protesting in funding associations that are going to, you know, deconstruct the systemic racism out there. But I can’t do that if I’m in poverty.

Claudia Miller: I can’t do that if I’m in scarcity. I can’t do that if I don’t have time and resources for even my family and everything. So how can I get there? How can I get resources? How can I be successful in order for me to triple or quadruple or get disproportionate results and then fund and do the things that I want and I’m very passionate about?

Claudia Miller: Like it’s really understanding that difference. And, you know, again, having beliefs that serve you.

Zeke: Nice. So again thank you for joining the podcast. 

Claudia Miller: Thanks for having me, Zeke. 

Zeke: No problem. And we’re can people find you? 

Claudia Miller: They can go to my website at Claudia Tee Miller dot com. I’m also on Instagram at Claudia T Miller and on LinkedIn Claudia Tee Miller.

Claudia Miller: So if you want your listeners want more free content or they want to learn more, maybe their job searching or their year on reviews are coming now, I do a lot of give away a lot of free resources on my website, LinkedIn and Instagram, so that way they can follow along and listen to more tips. Kind of like what I share today and I help everyone find it helpful.

And if any person out there implements takes action, see success. Leave a review and let us know what you did and how it went, because I always love to hear these stories. 

Zeke: That brings another episode of the Let’s Gather Podcast to a close. Again and I like to thank Claudia Miller for being a guest on the podcast. For next week I have David Carlson to speak about his series. Harriet Tubman, Demon Slayer. I hope you continue to have a nice day and I hope to see you there.

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