40. On A Strategic Job Search that Works with Claudia Miller

Overview

Today I’m joined by Claudia Miller, a career coach who helps clients land interviews and jobs with impressive pay raises. Claudia offers a strategic job search approach with easy steps that gets results. If you’re in the midst of searching for your next role or want to be prepared for the next time you do, listen to this episode.

In the conversation, Claudia shares some of her tips to set you up for a successful job search and have you stand out from other candidates. It starts with having the right mindset and then spending time “sharpening the axe,” as Claudia would say. Preparation and practice go a long way to help you show up confidently and know how to handle any potential objections. My take is that Claudia is a champion for reaching for what you want for yourself and career, trusting you have what it takes or actively securing the skill sets for that next dream role, and deploying the right job search and interview strategy to command the attention you deserve from employers.

Thanks so much for being on and sharing your insights and expertise with us, Claudia!

More about Our Guest

Claudia helps career driven professionals get to the next level in their career. She’s helped clients get up to $100k in salary increases as well as flurries of emails from headhunters at big named companies like Google, Facebook and Nvidia. Her workplace expertise has been featured in Forbes, MSNBC and Thrive Global. Last year Business Insider put her in their global list of Top 23 Most Innovative Career Coaches.  

Topics Covered

  • We start with hearing what brought Claudia to her current work as a career coach and helping clients through the job search process to land new roles and higher pay. What motivates her is seeing how it can change people’s lives and livelihoods and helping women earn more.

  • In her work, she offers a strategic approach with easy steps that get results.

  • Why has the current environment prompted people to look for new roles? What Claudia is hearing is that employees know they have options, have started to question their employers if they felt they did not treat employees well during the pandemic, and the times have led them to reassess if they are really loving their work. On the other side, in such an environment, companies are struggling to keep their top talent.

  • In starting the job search process, Claudia starts with tuning into mindset and making sure clients believe they are empowered to make a change for themselves. She counsels them to listen to their self-talk and what can get in the way of them achieving their goals. She advises to start with the end in mind—what is your goal and what role do you want to land and at what company? And to be strategic and proactive in obtaining the needed experience and skill sets in creative ways to help you move in the direction of the targeted role.

  • Claudia importantly advises to get prepared. In her process, she talks about spending 80-90% of the time “sharpening the axe,” in essence preparing for the interview process so you walk into interviews confident and ready. And in the first 3-6 weeks of preparation, she works with clients on getting clear on the end goal: what you want and don’t want and what is negotiable and non-negotiable in a role or at a company.

  • In honing your target list, she advises doing your research both on roles, companies, and salary ranges to be strategic on where you will put your focus. Having salary data is important when it’s time to get into negotiations after landing your offers. Another tip—listen to the company’s earnings call. Claudia mentions this a couple of times and notes that it’s not a step that many take. In doing your research, it not only makes you more knowledgeable about the company fit for you, but it also arms you with information and data to help you stand out in interviews.

  • To prepare for interviews, she focuses with clients on core stories they can leverage in the interview process and preparing people for any objections they might face. One example of such a story is a time you had to learn something new. Another is a leadership moment.

  • Claudia also shares a question she has her clients ask at the end of any interview: “Do I have your support to move forward into next steps?” If yes, you can walk out of the interview not questioning yourself and wondering what if. You know you succeeded and are moving forward. If the answer is that they have concerns, it provides you the opportunity to pull out one of your stories and address objections, following up with asking again if they have any hesitation. It puts you in a much more powerful position at the end of an interview.

  • The biggest challenge people face through the interviewing process is selling themselves. That’s where preparation and practice come in. Claudia also emphasizes the importance of bringing into one’s stories data and metrics as supporting evidence for one’s past performance.

  • I appreciate how Claudia advises to also bring personal elements into interview conversations to make them more genuine and to build rapport. It makes it easier to connect human to human, which is especially important during this time of video interviews.

  • Some of Claudia’s pet peeves on job search advice: 1) find your passion (join the club!), 2) don’t rock the boat, just be grateful for your job, and 3) you must get more credentials before being able to go after that dream role. Be wary of these tips often heard from others.

  • I loved Claudia’s final piece of advice. Her motto: Do what others won’t to achieve what others can’t. She advises to understand what others do and then push yourself to do it better to stand out.

Resources Mentioned

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40. On A Strategic Job Search that Works with Claudia Miller

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