Ep 310| In Design jobs - Timing Matters a lot

A product designer and a UI UX designer often lag the understanding of this terminology called timing. It all matters what you do and when you do. Okay, most of the things what you do, it is not going to be covered in this podcast. In this podcast I'm going to tell you when the timing when it comes to design job search, when it comes to applying at the right time, when it comes to cracking out the design sal design task and getting the good salaries or maybe even submitting your project projects at the time everything really matters on when you do it. Okay, so in this podcast I'm going to tell you what all the common mistake which designers do when it comes to switching the job at the wrong time and when is the red flag that they have to highly move for another organization. And 61% of the professionals regret not switching jobs at the right time due to the fear and uncertainty whatever they have in their career. LinkedIn Career Insights 2023 says that strategic job switch will lead to up to 50 percentage pay increase. Guys, on average inflation is beating us with 10 percentage every single year. Okay, so understand improving your salary is a vital part of the game. 30 to, I mean 30 to 50 percentage pay increase is there for an average guy. Glassdoor Insight says that. So listen to this podcast, you will be able to get a clarity on why it is a very very vital skill. Okay, foreign to this episode. Thank you for connecting here. We are going to see the signs of timing. Okay, first of all I would refer you to a book called when whn. Okay, it's an excellent book. You guys can go and purchase it in the online or anything you can find out and you can read about that. Because everything in our life moves at a certain pace and timing. If you understand that, you can able to plan your career ahead properly and then you can able to take the right action at the right time. Because I really stress upon this word right time. Because if you're not doing the things at the right time, what happens is the effort, what you're putting will not convert as a result. Okay, let's talk about the first point. Mid career professionals and their mistakes. See, mid career professionals always lack this clarity. Like what they are missing, what are the need to change the job? They don't have the clarity why they have to make the job change. When we ask them salary is low. When we ask them salary is low. The real reason is not always salary salary in fact is the third or fourth reason. Okay, the first reason is are you having enough respect and are you being appreciated in your work, the energetic appreciation and encouragement towards your organization. If it is not happening, you will be triggered to move to an organization, to other job, other organizations. Okay, so that is the first reason. Second is the kind of promotion and the other activities, whatever they're giving, like let's say they give you more responsibilities, they give you enough projects, they keep you engaged. I talk about this word engagement. The third thing comes the salary. Okay? So if these two things are happening and if this still the salary is low, you will not feel the need to switch to an organization. See guys, it is very important. Some of our students who have joined our program, even after five years or 10 years or 15 years, they are still feeling stuck because of this one reason. The highly the job is not inspiring. Maybe they are not doing the code role and they are not getting the enough encouragement and support and encouragement from an appreciation from the team. For that reason they're switching the job. Hardly, hardly, hardly. When I go and deeply analyze the students real need, it is only the salary is the last part of it because they're already earning 10, 15 LPA if they're in that particular range. So think about that. The second thing, what I have to tell you about the timing is peak, trough and recovery. See, your career always works in a cycle. There will be a cycle where you'll be in the peak. Okay? There will be a place in your career where it will be tough, likely very low. There will be a period where you will be recovering. Same thing happens in the hiring cycle of the recruitment industry as well. Okay, so understand when is the hiring happening? Every year and it starts every financial year and it closes, a new hiring and cycle starts. So ideally in this period, if you're listening to this podcast, December and January is going to be a high new hiring because the US and UK clients for Indian service based industry will always be opening up a new project or maybe they will be closing the new project and they'll be taking new initiatives. So it is your responsibility also to understand when the hiring cycle happens and you apply on the peak or you apply on the recovery, there would be a lot of companies will be recovering from the depth. There will be a lot of companies will be recovering from the different realignment process. What is happening with the other merger? Like let's say many design studios and organizations and corporates are getting merger right. Many product based companies acquiring certain company, they're realigning so they would be opening more vacancies. So you will have to apply on that particular timing. So understand this guys by applying more knowledge into this, you will be able to see a far more clarity in your career forward. I would recommend you to go to my YouTube live and you can find this particular skill in a more deeper way. 1 hour 45 minutes. I've detailed it out and I kept it open for public. In fact I took a three hours class for my students and in that one and a half hours I kept it as an open public so that they can able to learn it. Okay, it's there available in the in the YouTube live. You can go and detail have it. This podcast is a quick nutshell of it. Okay, so the second point what we are discussing is a peak. So understand when is the peak of the organization's hiring. When is the trough, like let's say the down. Okay. And then the recovery. Based on that understanding, you will be able to take your actions accordingly. Jagdish, how should I understand this? You have to talk to the people in the LinkedIn about that organization. You have to ask the right questions to the HR about the organization. Then you will be able to come up with the clarity in this. Okay, there is a separate podcast I've recorded also which is which is called asking quality questions and what questions to ask for a hiring HR or recruiter or a designer. You can listen to that podcast. So the third important thing is power of beginning and endings. See, as a fresher, you need to understand that each and every time when you're hired new the start of your career is a very, very good time to ask for more projects, more roles, more promotions, more salaries. That is the right time. If you're going through the career, maybe that would not be the right time second project or third project because your trust in other things will be established and you will be getting some consist. But when you're quitting the organization, like let's say, hey, I've got a new opportunity, I'm switching for another opportunity from this organization. Then the company will ask why they're saying I'm not having very confident projects here. My salary is also low. So then they will try to negotiate with you to give you a better project, a better salary. Hey, you stay here, we'll give you 30% more than what you're already getting in the organization. Or maybe we'll try to match the same salary. You'll be here. So you need to understand when to ask the right question. If you go and ask randomly with your boss this question, what happens? You will see what will happen. Okay, that will be the wrong timing. So timing Matters a lot. Whenever you are starting up a project, it is very very idle to ask sir, your boss, let's say your design lead or somebody. Okay, you ask, hey, is this my requirements? Okay, this is my objectives and deliverables. Am I really asked to do deliver? Is this my exact deliverables which I'll be also what you call getting out? Okay, fine. If I deliver this properly, on time, with this quality and this kind of a system, what I'll be getting as a reward, Will I be getting more projects like this? Will I be promoted to manage a team of two, three people? Will I be moved into another vertical to help more big design teams? Will I be able to create a system out of it? Ask your deliverables rightly. Because after you deliver the project, people don't care. All they want is a project from you. That's it. All they want is a deliverable from you. That's it. And when you ask for promotion at the last of the project, they'll tell, okay, you do one more project, we'll see. Okay, let the April comes, we'll check your bonus. No, during the start of the project, you ask this question, sir, what are the expectation can I have? Then people will tell you honestly what they have planned for you. This is a very very important question. And you need to ask it right in front of the project at the start of the moment. So when is very, very important, guys. Because when is a very very underrated word. Timing. Timing matters a lot. If you ask this question after delivering a three months project intensively, working day and night, what is the benefit you're going to get anyway? You're going to learn the skill, that is okay. You're getting a project in portfolio, you're getting experience, it's fine. But the end of the day, how are you able to convert that as an opportunity to trust your career? That is the big question which you have to ask. Okay? So please understand guys. Because a lot of people don't pay close attention to this kind of timings. And they don't ask the right questions at the right time. So that you will be failing and missing out good opportunities. Okay, so I'll tell about the red flags. Let me recollect the three things, guys. First, I told you about the mid career problems, okay? Second, I talked about the peak, trough and recovery time of you as well as organization. Third is the power of beginning and endings. Okay? At the end of the project when you say like this, you can also ask for promotion. Hey, you asked me to deliver this. I Delivered this. Come on, give me the opportunity, give me the project. You even you don't have to ask. People would automatically recall that and they will automatically call you. Or maybe you can refer your email or refer your organization role strategy by delivering this. What is the output which you're getting? Okay, so that is the most most important thing. So now let's talk about the red flags. First of all, whether you're growing or not, whether you're getting a support or seeking or not, if you are not getting that opportunity, that's the first red flag. The second red flag is your misalignment with personal and professional values. Like let's say if your personal values is different. Like let's say if your professional value is honesty, if your professional value is attention to details. If your professional value is like let's say aesthetics and improvement. If your professional value is to create a usable product, your professional values be to make the product sustainable. This is the values personal values. If you also value nature, sustainability, then see the last value, whatever I told you is matching with your personal. If your value is towards speaking truth and being honest, See your design value is also matching so many times. What happens is your professional life and personal life are very very interlinked. Particularly in a field like design and creativity. It will be stripped nakedly shown to the people. Whatever you do, you can't act here. This is a field where people can only act to or else this field will repel you. Or else you'll be staying in a very substandard service oriented labor jobs getting 20, 25,000. If you wanted a high paying career in this, you have to align your values from the day one very clearly. Okay, so because of the misalignment you can find out that job is not right for you. Third, you have a lack of motivation. Your learning curve is stopped. You're not growing, you're just doing monotonous tasks. That's a high red dollar you have to jump for another organization. Fourth, evaluate your factors with respect to potential team dynamics. Salary, job satisfaction, work life, balance, everything. Try to map out that factors. Try to put a tabular column and write down 1. Growth. Second, dynamics of the team. Third, salary. Fourth, job satisfaction. Fifth, work life, balance. Sixth. In the next 10 years, how I'm going to be. Once you evaluate it out of a 10 scale, you will know that the average scale is only 6. Then you will have to improve it to 8. Find the organization which is going to give you 8. Find the organizations which is going to give you 9. Don't find your organization which can go to 5. That's again going into what you call batshit, right? Even though the salary may be high, the salary is not the only determining factor. Guys, please understand that, okay? Even if you go for the job, like let's say they're giving you 2x but the rating for you is only 5, what will happen in 3 months? You will run out of the company. Money is not the real factor. I'm telling you guys, people who are already working in the job will resonate with what I'm saying. Okay, people in the freshers who are listening to this podcast, they may be thinking, hey Jagdish, I just need job here. I don't mind all these things. No, please don't be in that immature way of approaching your career. Because you're building your career with a solid foundation. So you need to be very mindful of these things. Okay? Yes. So this is the four red flags. The first is lack of growth and opportunities on mentorship and support. Second is misalignment of your personal and professional values. Third is declining your motivation and flattening your learning curve. The fourth is evaluating the parameters with respect to potential team dynamic, salary, job satisfaction, work, life balance. Understand this. Okay, so how to identify the hiring cycle? First of all, I told you about the financial year cycle mid the quarter, right? The three months quarter, the three months quarter, the four months quarter, you can able to find that down. And also the mid year booms are very, very high, particularly for the hiring periods. See, companies receive 40% of the job application within the first two peaks of the first two weeks of the posting. This is a very, very crucial time for hiring. You can set an alert in LinkedIn guys, okay, or maybe job or maybe Glassdoors or maybe any other platform. Whichever you're actively searching the moment when the alert is popping in your notification, make sure your email message is all notified properly. With that immediately in the next 10 minutes itself, you can able to apply for the job. So people will see your applications first. If they like you, they'll immediately call you for the interview. See, it does matter. When the hiring cycle starts, you can able to do it. Okay, you can use many AI powered tools, guys like let's say LinkedIn job insights. You can find that and you can create an alert. Second is you can create some kind of a calendar alert by using Zapier. You can also create a Google Calendar and also you can alert with a calendly so that automatically you'll be getting notified in your Google Calendar or iCloud Calendar or anything. Okay, There is a tool called Hunter IO. You can find a key decision makers for the organization by discovering that and creating outreach. Because you have to know what is the real role, real opportunity and real potential. What is available in that particular role. By using a tool called Hunter I.O. you can find people and you can take a key decision makers. Who is the real decision maker in this role? Maybe the HR person. Whoever is recruiting you may not be the decision maker. He's just a third party guy or maybe he's just one small HR intern. Okay? But the decision maker is a design lead. So if you bring your communication to these people automatically, you will be seeing a clarity in your job search process. From the day one you know clearly what are the expectation in the role so that you can align. If it is not aligning from the day one itself, you can retract back. It saves your time. So think about it. Next you can use a tool called Angellist. Okay? It will explore you to show the high paying growth startups, particularly if you are a beginner. If you want to explore your career in the startup way or maybe experimental design like let's say AI generative, AI biomimicry, all these things you can go, okay, and there is a tool called Pyjama HR and there is a tool called Glassdoor Insights and there is a tool called. There is one more tool which I forgot. Okay guys, I'm just putting you the five. One is the LinkedIn job inside. Next is the Hunter IO Angellist glass doors, Pajama HR and you can do this automation using calendly and Zapier on all these tools. Okay? It is very simple. So what are the strategies for doing this? See first of all think about your transferable skills. Whatever your earlier organization has, whether you are designer or a non designer or anything, this is still applicable. Make sure your portfolio is reflecting that. That is the two things I would highlight to make the strategical jump. Okay? First, make sure the transferable skills are very clear for your new role, whatever you're looking. Second is your portfolio should reflect that. Very, very nice. If you wanted to rewrite your portfolio, do it. Because if you're not doing it, you will not be able to get the job. Let me tell you what are the neuroscience behind this decision making thing. See your brain plan, your brain's planning and decision making hub drives your career timing properly. You can use your visualization and affirmation to enhance decision making confidence in our students. In a document which I used to ask them to Fill There is something called affirmation. Every day when they say 5 to 10 times of affirmation. I am a designer earning 20 lpa. I am a designer earning 20 LPA. I am a designer earning 30 LPA. Soon they will become a designer earning 30 LPA. It's very simple. Okay, so that visualization affirmation is very important. You can use many time management principles like eat the frog, pomodoro technique. All these things is okay. But you need to plan your career first and then you have to activate your brains by taking a decision making based on the strategic timing. Once you apply this guys, automatically you will be able to get your job whatever you're aiming with the salary and the work life balance and the location preference and the comfort of your home. Or maybe if you want to travel from your home or something, you can plan it very very well. Because everywhere in India design openings are happening. It's our responsibility is to gain the clarity and understand what is really happening in the market and when the hiring cycle comes and how do we approach it with a clear strategy. Once you do this guys, there is nothing to stop. Okay? I wish you all the best and if you wanted to attend my next upcoming webinar, I would also highly recommend you to click the link below to come and see how we are doing. I'll break down the six step process in the coming Sunday. How you can able to 3x your paycheck being a designer in just 90 days. If you're a fresher, how you can able to get started and at least reach 6 LPA in just 90 days. So why don't you just try that webinar and see what's happening. Okay? And this may be having a very very high price point later guys. So now we are having a superb affordable prices so that every one of you can take out your pocket and just pay it right away and come for the webinar. Because when you pay money you will be serious because lot of free times we give and people are not able to come. But once we made this monetizable then people are coming with a so much of clarity and action and they're able to watch it till the end of the webinar and taking action. Okay, so come and join the webinar to know more about it. If you're finding this podcast is valuable, give me a best start heading in Apple and Spotify and see you take care. All the best guys.