Mind Your Mindset: Tools for Success in Your Job Search and Career

My friends, today I want to talk about mindset. Now, I know that's a little bit woo for some of you, and I get it. I'm a scientist too. But I really, really believe that mindset is everything in your job search and in your career. I'm going to give you two different scenarios. One, we're going to start with a job search and how we can apply mindset to your job search. Second, we're going to go into how you can then carry that into your career. Or if that's where you are right now, you can take these suggestions and you can apply them in your career to really supercharge your career. So stay with me. We're going to go really deep on mindset, and this is definitely a little bit of a woo episode, but I think it's worth it. And there's a lot of great neuroscience research backing this up, so I'm not going to go into the research, but know that you can definitely deep dive into that. I'll link some of that in the show notes so that you can look. But positivity is everything.

I'm Karina Klingman, scientist turned CEO of.

A talent strategy consulting firm.

I've helped over 85 biotechs hire and.

Develop thousands of amazing employees. So I know what works and what doesn't work when it comes to landing a job and then excelling in it.

I created the Biotech Career Coach podcast to give you simple, actionable, step by step strategies to help you land your dream biotech job, then move up the career ladder. If you are exploring career paths, looking to learn about biotech, or simply strive striving to be the type of person who makes an impact and gets promoted.

You'Re in the right place. All right, first I want to talk about your job search. We get so many people coming into the collaboratory Slack community completely dejected. They are worn out, they are burned out. They are so downtrodden about the way the job market is. We talk to a lot, a lot of people in the space. Our other podcast, Building Biotechs, is really focused on speaking with people who are at pretty high levels, building biotechs in different verticals, business verticals, hr, you name it. We have heard the same stories over and over from our guests on that podcast, which is it's been a real crap year, actually more like 18 months. We know that and we know that the job seekers out there are suffering. We have seen it on both sides. We have seen that the clients that we work for at Recruitomics on the Talent acquisition side, they are not hiring as many people. We've also seen candidates who have gone through not one, but maybe two. In one case, three different layoffs or company failures in the past 18 months. And if you've gone through one, you know that that is really heartbreaking. Imagine going through three. Imagine three different companies that you came into, started to pour your heart and soul into, and they didn't work. For some reason, they had a layoff or they shuttered completely. That hurts on a personal level. So we understand that and we see that. What I'm going to give you are a few tools to come through that so that you can put your best foot forward in the job market. Because what I can tell you is that when somebody comes into an interview, their energy is palpable. If somebody is coming in from that place of dejection, from that negativity, we are going to feel that in the interview it's going to come through in the way they answer questions, in their body language, in their facial expressions, everything. So we need to be able to harness the power of thought so that we can come into those interview situations stronger, more upbeat, and therefore a more positive person that influences the interview team in a positive way as well. So the first thing I want to teach you is a little bit of a mindset shift. It's nothing huge, but it is a gratitude exercise. There is always something to be grateful in our lives for. Sometimes it's hard to find. I understand that too. Sometimes it is hard to identify. But if you visualize something you're really, truly grateful for immediately before you have an interaction, let's say an interview, that is going to come through into that process as well. Another thing you can do is to visualize success. So imagine that you've gotten the job, you're already working there. This person who's interviewing you, they're a colleague, they're a trusted friend. That also is a great mindset shift. Going into an interview. If you sit down and really fully imagine, embody the way it's going to feel when you get that job, it's going to remove the nerves and it's going to make you feel that you've already accomplished something which is going to come through in the way you interview. Those are a couple of quick little tactics that you can play, almost games you can play. Another thing I love is to get together with somebody who knows you well and can help you to see your good points. Sometimes it is hard when you've been laid off or when you have had maybe some rejections within the job seeking process to consider that you are worthwhile, that you have great redeemable qualities, that your skills are excellent. Let me be the first to tell you, if you haven't heard it already, that you are amazing. You have so much value. Your skills are very transferable if you're moving over into a new space. So internalize that for just a minute. Hear that? What's more powerful is to have a friend who can help you to see those things as well. So get a really positive friend. Think about the person in your life who's just like the most at beat, the most happy. I have a couple of folks that are my go tos and I'm not feeling great. I know who to call. So grab that person for yourself, talk to them, say, you know what, I'm trying to psych myself up for an interview. Can you help me with that? Just be honest with them, where you're coming from and practice your interview questions with them and say, hey, call me out if you hear me being negative. Help me reframe things if you know that I'm actually good at something that I'm downplaying. That's one really powerful way to do it. And it's really fun too, especially if you like the person. Another thing you can do is actually something one of our accelerator students figured out. We use ChatGPT in our accelerator program. I teach people how to use it to help them brainstorm for their resumes, for their LinkedIn profiles, and now for interviews. But what, what our student found out was this individual was feeling pretty down, feeling that their job search had been going on for a long time before they joined us and just feeling dejected and definitely communicated to us that it was hard to go and write their resume because they just felt so, so crappy. So the encouragement was, you know what, just take five minutes. Just, you can do anything for five minutes. Let's go out there and work on your resume for five minutes, put it into chat GPT, start to brainstorm things for headlines and bullet points. And what they said was that ChatGPT spit back such complimentary things about their resume. It was almost like a stranger just being like, wow, you're so great at this and this and this. And it had a mood lifting effect, which is so interesting. So hey, if you need a little pep talk, go chatgpt. Put your resume in there and just hear how awesome you are because you really are that awesome. Hey, I just wanna cut in to say that if you are enjoying this podcast, you may enjoy the Building Biotechs podcast from our sister company, Recruitomics Consulting, which is a talent acquisition strategy firm that specializes in helping small biotechs hire exceptional talent. In that podcast, we interview amazing people who are building biotechs. They are industry leaders in all different verticals, and it will allow you to explore career paths in biotech and to get to know companies that maybe you've never heard about. So if you are a biotech fan, you are exploring careers in biotech, I highly recommend the Building Biotechs podcast. We'll link that in the show notes or you can search for it on Apple Podcasts or anywhere else you get your podcasts. All right, back to our show. All right, moving on to your career. So let's say you landed that job or you have a job that you love and you're just feeling a little bit stuck. Maybe you're feeling like you're not very good at something, or you're not learning as fast as you should, or you're just feeling a little bit overwhelmed. There's a few things I have to say about that. First of all, know that the first six months of your job, everyone feels overwhelmed. You don't know everything. There's this beautiful learning curve that happens, and that's actually wonderful because that means you're growing, but it's a little uncomfortable. You don't feel like you're great at things. Sometimes you feel like you're bumbling around. Everyone else knows everything. That's normal. And that's a time to really embrace. Because after that, when you start to know everything in the job, then it gets a little bit more mundane. It's actually the fun time when you are still learning and growing. So know that that's normal. But if you're feeling uncomfortable about it and you want to reframe that period of time, that discomfort, that is where your mindset really comes into place. You could reframe it into simply, what an adventure, what a gift. That I am uncomfortable because it means I'm learning and growing. If I were not uncomfortable, I would be bored. That's one thing I do all the time. I think, you know what? At least I'm not bored. I would say that that's most of my job, right? Like, I've kind of go through my companies in a. In a constant state of like, oh, a little discomfort, right? Oh, I gotta learn this. I gotta do this. Oh, I. That's beyond my comfor own. I'm new at this. Even making this podcast is. It's scary. It's putting myself out there, right? It is not comfortable. But you know what? It's a gift. Cuz I am growing, I am learning and I am growing. So that is one really powerful reframe. But here again I'm gonna say enlist that super positive best friend of yours. My best friend is just the most positive, wonderful person I can think of. And when I need a little pick me up, it is never more than a phone call away. And it is as simple as I'm feeling pretty down on myself, I'm feeling like I'm failing at this or that and I just need a pep talk and usually that. Usually she's just a font of wonderful pep talky things. I am instantly soothed, I am instantly supported and that is so powerful. So if you have someone in your life, maybe it is your mom, your best friend, your little brother, it doesn't really matter. Somebody in your life who can do that for you is invaluable. Another nice trick when you're in career is to set up regular meetings with your manager. And you'll hear me say this a lot through all different topics, but I think meeting with your manager on a regular basis is one of the best things you can do for your career on so many levels. If you have a good manager and you lay out your concerns and you say, hey, I'm really enjoying XYZ in the job, but I feel like I'm really stuck and struggling and I'm not confident in this area here. This one area is really stressful for me because I don't feel like I'm excelling. That manager should be able to help you to put some tactics into place to learn, to develop, to grow in that one area that's really challenging for you so that you are set up for success if you are honest about that. But framing it again, not in a a way of I'm failing here, but this is stressing me out because I don't feel like I may be living up to your expectations or the expectations of the company. First of all, is that true? That's the story I'm telling myself, but is that true? And second, what can be done about it? So a good manager will help you to find. First of all, if that's not true and you are living up to their expectations, dispel you of that myth that you're telling yourself. Or if it is true, and you know what? Sometimes it is, sometimes you aren't living up to all the expectations. And that is just human. That is normal. That is human. But Aren't you glad you had this open conversation with your manager to get to the bottom of it? So if you are able to have that conversation with your manager and they say, you know what, yeah, we would love to see you excel in this area, let's get you some training, let's get you some support, some mentorship, whatever the need is. Let's get that for you so that you are set up for success. That's the power of a good manager. Now, not everyone has a good manager, and I recognize that too. But this is the point where you can start to understand if you do or don't have a good manager, if you never speak up and advocate for yourself and have those meetings, you're not going to know if you have the type of manager that is going to be able to support you through those hard times, those challenging things that you need to learn. But if you find that you don't have a great manager and that you are not getting the support you need, that is valuable data, too. We will address that in another podcast episode. I think that's a really valuable topic to think about managing up or managing yourself out. So understanding what you're dealing with cannot be done without having those conversations with your manager first. So get a regular cadence of meetings on the books. I recommend every other week at a minimum. If you have a really small company or you're in a small company with a smaller team, you may be able to get 15 minutes every week with your manager, and that would be so valuable to you. In other episodes, I'll talk about how to use those 15 minutes because it's not always going to be about solving for a problem or a gap in your knowledge. Sometimes you're going to be goal setting, sometimes you're going to be working toward a promotion. There are so many ways that you can use that time with your manager. But. But for now on this topic, that is where you can make sure that you are filling a hole that you see for yourself that is actually pulling your mindset downward, that is pulling you into a dark place because you feel like you're telling yourself a story that you are not excelling in your job. It may just be one area, one small thing, but that one small thing can manifest into a bigger thing within the context of your career that can hold you back professionally. All right, I wanted to leave it at that. It's a nice little short episode. I just wanted to give you a couple of quick tools that you can use whether you're in a job search or in your career to reset your mindset so that you can be successful. No matter what you're doing, mindset matters. The way you approach your work or your job interview matters. So take this to heart and if you have any questions, jump into the community. I'm always there to answer all of your questions. Thanks so much and we'll see you next week. Thanks so much for listening to the.

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