A short interview from Clegg’s YouTube channel in which Alanna describes her job-search struggles before joining a coaching program (applying to ~20 jobs/day, feeling hopeless), the breakthroughs she experienced (greater confidence, clearer articulation of skills, peer support), spillover effects to family/friends, and tangible outcomes: she received nine job offers (three seriously considered) and accepted a role despite being pregnant — evidence she successfully negotiated and demonstrated value.
Chapters
I would like to say welcome to Alana.
Hi. Thanks for having me.
I wonder if you could take us back to where were you before we met? Like, where were you before the program? In your life, in your job search?
I wanted something and probably anything would have done right. And so it wasn't really about looking for the quality of job. It was, I set a number. I'm going to apply to 20 jobs each day. I'm just going to apply. I'm just going to go copy that resume, paste it. Even though I just uploaded it. Why can't the ATS get it right? Whatever, let's just move on to the next one. It just felt really pointless. And I felt like I was never going to get anywhere. And there was a lot of hopelessness, There was a lot of rejection. There was a lot of just feeling like it was a numbers game that I was just never going to win.
You decided to get coaching and so what were some of the breakthroughs you had through coaching?
Just a boost in self confidence. Just because your program helped me to be able to articulate the way that I truly am. Right. You helped me to articulate the way that my husband sees me or my friends or my colleagues. Right. And so then it became okay. So it's not that I don't have the skills that they're asking for. It's not that I don't have these qualifications. I do have those things. Maybe I haven't been saying it right. Maybe I just need to tweak my wording, but I am capable. And so now I just. Now I had the words and the way to talk about myself, the way that I could, I could impress them to give me that chance that I knew that I could just crush.
What were some of the other core impacts of the program that you experienced?
I still talk to the people that I went through the program with. Like, they got job. We were, we helped each other, like work through the mock. The mock sessions. How do I word this on my resume? And we gave each other cheers and we were excited when somebody else got a job, even when we were still searching. And so that's really cool. But even in my personal life, right? So as I go through this coaching and I'm, you know, my husband is like, so what exactly are you doing? What are we paying for? And so then he starts. So then he started kind of redoing his resume, right. And he wasn't necessarily looking, but he's just like, well, let's just see what happens. Right. And then he started getting all the benefits and even I have other friends that are currently looking for jobs and I just can't help but tell them all the easy tips and tricks and tools that we learned from the program to just help boost your confidence and get that return, return on investment for yourself.
Everyone wants to hear what was the result from all this hard work you put in in the program.
Ultimately, I received nine job offers total, three of which I seriously considered. And so again, using the tools that I learned from your program on negotiation and how do you talk to companies and showcase your interest without giving too much away? And so I ended up going with one that hired me even while I, they knew that I was pregnant at the time, which, I mean, how many places really want to do that, right? So that showed how much value they saw in me and how much they wanted me from versus kind of seeing me as a liability or someone who would come and go.
What I recall these, these companies that were giving you offers, they, they knew that you were pregnant and they would say things like, like, you know, we want to work with you, like we'll do anything. And I think one of them said, you are the number one pick out of everyone we interviewed. Everyone like on our team chose you as our number one. Let us know what we can do to get you in the door. Right? They said something like that. It was, how, how did that feel?
Oh my gosh. Words cannot describe how great that felt. To know that people saw the value that I could bring and that I was able to articulate that and it, and it was all me, like, right. It was only me in the room. And like they saw that. And so it was, it was phenomenal.
What would you say to people who are on the fence of joining this program?
The biggest thing that you can ever invest in, in your life is yourself. And this, just like Madison said, this isn't just for this one next job change. I use the skills now, obviously, obviously my husband benefited from them. I use them in performance meetings every year, right. I can showcase, here's my value, here is the glory formula for why I deserve, you know, a promotion, a raise or whatever. I use it to help my friends, right. In the next job that I get whenever it's time to move to another company. And so investing in yourself and the learning these skills is something that you're not going to regret and it's not something that's time bound and especially the network that you're going to get from this. Everyone wants to win with you. I don't think I met a single person in the program that was not super excited about any progress or helpful or gave feedback or tips and just honestly helped bring that hope with you so that we all went from hopeless to hopeful to successful together.
