Attract Career Wins by Becoming More You

We challenge the volume-first job hunt and show how clarity, confidence, and authenticity create real career momentum. We share brand pillars, storytelling tips, and reflection prompts that help you target fewer, better-fit opportunities without losing your voice.

• alignment over volume in job applications
• clarity on values, strengths and identity
• confidence rooted in fit, not performance
• authenticity as a practical strategy
• brand consistency across resume and LinkedIn
• storytelling that shows why you, why now
• quality over quantity in targeting roles
• redefining career wins beyond offers
• reflection prompts to guide next steps

If you've been enjoying the show or find these conversations helpful, we'd really appreciate if you took a moment to rate and review the podcast wherever you're listening
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CareeRise: www.careerrise.org

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Transcript

Welcome & Why Alignment Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And when there is alignment, it's so much easier to naturally be able to talk about, oh yeah, let me tell you, you know, why I want this job and why it why it fits with my own identity or where I'm trying to go in life, right? If there is that alignment, it's gonna be easy to talk about it. So I actually will encourage listeners to think about if it's hard for you to write that cover letter or write that personal statement because you don't know why, how it's aligned, then maybe actually it's not the perfect fit for you, and we need to analyze that too. You are listening to Coffee and Career Hour. We are your hosts. I'm Armina, and I'm MJ, two career counselors and friends chatting about all things life and career.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

So grab a cup of coffee and join us.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

If you're new here, we're so glad you found us.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

This podcast is a space for honest, practical, and reflective conversations about careers, growth, and finding work that actually feels meaningful.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

Before we jump in, if you've been enjoying the show or find these conversations helpful, we'd really appreciate if you took a moment to rate and review the podcast wherever you're listening.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Your reviews help us reach more people who might be navigating career uncertainty, burnout, or big transitions and help us continue building this community. All right, let's get into today's episode. All right, MJ. What are we talking about today for our listeners?

The Fulfillment Drought In Job Searching

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Well, it's one of your favorite topics blended with what I feel is like a lot of people's crisis right now. Um, meaning that they are not feeling fulfilled. They're not finding opportunities that they're excited about, and they're kind of just blowing through a bunch of things, hoping that something will stick and make them happy, which is pretty much whatever momentum journey speed they're going through, and they are sad because they are not collecting W's, which means wins, and that means career wins.

Manifesting Career Wins Beyond Tactics

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Oh my gosh, yes, that's loaded. You're right. It is one of my favorite topics, which is manifesting. And what we want to clarify today is how to manifest those career wins. Because yeah, unfortunately, as career counselors, it's not a positive space right now. The job search, the um opportunities, everything is so limited because of many different things that are going on in the world. So we're kind of seeing a lot of um lack of motivation, a lot of discouragement among our clients. And we want to bring a little bit of positivity into this space and a little bit of talking about how to attract those wins and what you can do beyond what you might have already been doing, which is applying to jobs and updating your resume and updating your LinkedIn and all the traditional things that you've probably heard us talk about on this podcast many times before. Um, and if you're doing all of those things and not getting the wins, we want to give a different perspective today.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

Yeah. I think it's easy for us to kind of go back to the drawing board of like, okay, let me organize my documents, let me retailer my resume, let me update my LinkedIn, let me reach out to some people, let me do all the things I would normally do to apply to a job. But there's still something there. There's some fog, there's some goo that's in the way that's not letting you get to where you want to go and you still feel unhappy. A lot of the times it's not about how beautiful or clean or neat or organized or action-filled or skill-filled your resume is, but it's about your authenticity in whatever work you're doing, your alignment with it, right? I I can't tell you enough how much if I wasn't, if I didn't have a passion for helping people in education, this job would probably all the jobs I've had are probably stuck. And I would have been super unhappy because it's a big misalignment with who I want to serve, what population I want to work with. And that's where we're seeing a lot of people get stuck because they're just kind of like throwing goo or a ball at the wall or spaghetti, right? Isn't it the isn't spaghetti the metaphor or something like that? Spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. And your job, your career isn't closed. You can't just try it on and see what fits well all the time.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

No, yeah. Uh, my favorite question is when clients will come and say, All right, so how many jobs should I apply to? And I'm like, okay, all right, let's take a step back because it's not about there is strategy obviously involved, and we talk about that strategy many times here on Coffee and Career Hour, but there's a little bit more magic behind the strategy that needs to be there as well. And when I say magic, I'm talking about alignment with the positions that you're applying to, that sentimental feeling that you get, like, I know this job is for me because of the passion that you have for that organization or the values that it they have, and it's aligned with your values, or you just have this inkling inside of you where you're like, this sparks something in me that I know I can do this, I'm good at this. You have to have that piece, that puzzle piece, in addition to the strategy for uh you to see results, and actually that's what makes career development the process that we've been talking about all this time. Yeah.

Clarity First: Values, Strengths, Identity

SPEAKER_03 5:45

I I tend to think that people find it easier to be like, okay, I'm just gonna figure out the passion later and I just need to do this thing. And that's where a lot of the times we get stuck doing the same type of role or in the same industry because we're so used to it and it's like work we're like okay at or good at, where we're like, okay, passion is for like hobbies or whatever. No, we're not people who are like, your job should be your passion a hundred percent, but also your hobby shouldn't be the thing you're looking forward to every single day because you hate your job or your career so much. There has to be a balance there. And you have to do a lot of inner work to figure that out. It does not happen when you're in a job search crisis. I will tell you that. That is probably the worst time to kind of look inward because your whole body is in survival mode. There are things that need to be done, people that need to be taken care of probably in your life. You need to feel fulfilled in some type of way, and you can't necessarily look inward at that moment. But along those times of when you're in your career or in a job, even if it's a um job that you're doing just to get income to survive, there's still opportunity for you to look inward and see where that spark kind of aligns to.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Absolutely. Uh, I love that you said where uh your job doesn't have to be your full passion, but it also shouldn't be something where you're like, I can't, I'm counting down to hours, I can't wait till I go home and then actually work on my hobbies and do the things that give me joy because that sounds like a miserable life, honestly. And that's why we're in this work, right? To help people not live that kind of life and find that balance. So, all right, Andre, like how would you say our our listeners can kind of get this process started so that they can attract those wins, they can attract that momentum in their job search process or in their just overall in their career development?

SPEAKER_03 7:39

Yeah, first you have to gain clarity. I think that's that's something where you kind of have to sit with yourself, feel out all of the emotions, all of the things. And if you're struggling with doing that alone, you have two individuals here who you can reach out to. I I tell people all the time career journey, career thoughts, career stuff is very scary individually, independently. Navigating this stuff on your own is not fun. Because you are your own coach, you are your own thought process, and it's great if you if you know, if you like that process and things like that. But I find that a lot of the time when people come and they're like, okay, I'm this this is, I just need to spell it out. They tend to feel so much better afterward. And it's why it's because they found clarity in the chaos. Because when you're in your head all the time, it's hard to really find that clarity in there. So first, we really need to sit down, be reflective. What works, what doesn't work, what do I like, what don't I like, what makes me excited, what doesn't make me excited, even if it's the smallest part of your day. Um, of getting lunch with your colleagues, okay, connecting with others is something that excites me. Maybe it's um, I don't know, creating presentations or content. Okay. Maybe not the facilitating the presentation, but the behind the scenes is something that excites you. Maybe you work with numbers, maybe the numbers and telling, giving the numbers a story excites you. Finding those pieces that aren't absolutely miserable are gonna bring you a lot of clarity. So that's like the first thing I would say.

Confidence From Alignment, Not Performance

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Clarity in this process is like, you know, one of the biggest pieces because when you were talking about uh getting out of your own head, I was literally picturing what um uh we would learn in our psych classes as an undergrad where we have the id, the ego, and the super ego. And it's like the tiny human, the illustration is like the tiny human um on each side of your shoulder and kind of giving you different messages. The one that focuses on the superego is telling you to do one thing, whereas the one that focuses on your id and your your basic needs and your ego and all of that is focused on another thing and you have all these conflicting messages. And if you don't get that out and talk to somebody who, like a career counselor who's neutral, right? Because sometimes if we talk to people like in our personal lives, our family, our friends, who might have their own ideas about careers or their own uh especially with family and parents specifically, they they have uh a lot of feelings towards you know their their family members' career goals. Um, and there's a lot of reasons for that, but that's why it's important to talk to somebody who's neutral, who can kind of help you bring everything down onto paper. I literally use paper and pen with my clients when when it's face to face, especially, but I'll just write down everything that I'm hearing and then I show them and they're like, Oh yeah, I also had that. Oh, that connects with that, and then it's like a puzzle that we're working on together. I love that.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

I always get nervous about the paper and the pen just because I I fear that people will think think that I'm like taking notes or something, and they're like, Oh my gosh, they're more focused on what I'm writing down. Um, but I do the same, but in my mind, I will take mental notes and then I'll let them finish, take a deep breath, because that's usually what happens. A huge, oh, that felt so much better, or I feel so much better. And I'm like, okay, what I heard is dot dot dot dot. It helps a lot. Um, you need to, you need to be able to unleash, uh let the water tip over, whatever it is, because you you can't continue on if you haven't looked at yourself in the mirror, right? Metaphorically, and like really face and seeing what's going on. You're gonna continue to feel unaligned and unhappy in your life.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Yeah. And you know what the clarity also translates to confidence. Yeah. Which you need, you need to show up in these spaces with confident energy because if you're not coming in confident, how is anybody gonna be confident in hiring you? Right? That's just the irony of it. And it's unfortunate because we need that job offer to validate us and give us the confidence. But really, it's like you have to believe in yourself at first. So the clarity comes first and then it impacts the energy that you go in with. And when you're going with confident energy, you're more likely to get responses. So this all kind of works together here.

SPEAKER_03 12:10

I will say with the confidence piece, you're gonna just then be who you really are. Like you'd be surprised. A lot of people tend to feel like confidence is the superficial thing we have in front of others to just be like, okay, like look at me, like I'm fine, I'm doing this thing and I'm good at it, and then I'm gonna go cry in my office. Totally done that before. But as I've grown in my career, it's something that others have said to me, Oh my gosh, I I I love your confidence. And now it's like, wait a minute, I was showing that just now. And it's because there is this sense of alignment in my life with my career, with my job, whoever I'm helping, whatever I'm doing, I'm teaching someone about career education, it naturally comes out. So see where those pieces come out for you. Is it the projects? Is it the thing? Is it the people? Is it whatever it is? The confidence is there. And I will say in an interview, it's probably one of the hardest things to have too, especially when you're looking to apply for different types of opportunity. Because it's like, well, I'm not sure if I'm confident to do this, but if you're sitting there in an interview, please know that they already like you.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

Oh yeah.

Authenticity As A Strategy

SPEAKER_00 13:18

You know how many job applications they get and they slift through those, you know. And if if you didn't stand out to them, you wouldn't have even been invited for an interview. So let that speak for itself. Absolutely. So clarity combined with confidence is your first step in attracting opportunities that are going to be more aligned and then getting the results that you're looking for. And you know, authenticity here as it is a career strategy too. So we're talking a lot about, you know, have some strategy with how you show up on paper and everything, but then be authentic to your own voice. And that's also part of your strategy, too, because it's not just like, all right, I'm just gonna show up and not think about how I'm presenting myself. You still have to think about okay, in these spaces, what what are the values that are that are needed to be shown here? And if you have those same values, then kind of making sure you're able to bring that up in conversation or come up, come into the space with that energy. And so it's it is a strategy, but being who you are and like comfortable with the things that you're good at and be able to talk about that with people, even coworkers, you would be surprised the opportunities that can come from just a coffee break conversation about things that you enjoy doing, and you never know. Maybe somebody's like, hey, I'm actually looking for somebody to help me do this, and you get a gig out of that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

Um, something everything you're talking about reminds me of Armin is your brand. This is where it's time to evaluate your brand. What are these key pillars about you? And do you need a new message or do you need to go back to the authentic message of who you are? It's all about your brand and it comes across the connections you have, right? Those conversations you have with your network. It comes across in your resume, your CV, your cover letter, your LinkedIn. They should all be telling the same type of story, the same type of person. So that is a strategy to help people also know who is the real you.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

Yeah, absolutely. Because at the end of the day, employers, graduate programs, whatever it is you're applying to, they want to connect with you as a human being. They want to see, can I work with this person? And it's not just about what you bring to the table, but it's also the character and the energy that you come into these spaces with. So the more you can show that, but first you gotta own it. Yeah. Right? You can't hide behind your shell and be like, I'm too shy to show this or to talk about this interest that I have. For a long time, I was shy to talk about manifestation, actually. I would never bring that up in in conversations because I felt like there's a lot of misconceptions about manifestation, and people might judge me and think it's woo-woo and it's like immature or whatever it is. But then, one, I've learned a lot about manifestation over the years, and it is actually goes a lot deeper. Um, but beyond that, you know, I got comfortable in my own skin where I'm like, this is something I enjoy, and I I bring it up all the time. Everybody knows that about me now, you know. I love manifestation, I love cooking, I love organizing, I love all of these things, and it always comes up in conversations, and it these authentic conversations lead to opportunities which you might never imagine could come your way. But you gotta own what it is that you enjoy and the person that you are so you can bring it into spaces with you.

SPEAKER_03 16:50

Yeah, a hundred percent. I will say when those things start to happen, you're gonna hear less noise, you're gonna hear less clutter, things will start to get easier in terms of what you want to do, what you don't want to do, things that pass you or that you didn't know about or that you wish you would have applied to will feel less like an attack or something like, oh man, like an internal personal issue of like, oh, I'm not good enough for this. You're gonna stop hearing all of that stuff internally. I can't tell you how much over the last five years that noise has started to go less and less and less because I feel grounded and I know how great I am at what I do, what I bring to the table and who I am in this job. Well, in this, in this career, I should say, in this field. So it it really does feel like a W all around and not just like, oh, I I got the interview or I got the position. It's I feel great as a human being doing what I love and I'm feeling more aligned with who I am.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Absolutely. MJ, what would you tell our listener who might be listening right now and thinking, okay, I get it, but you know, we're always talking about tailoring our resume to job descriptions, and you have to kind of work backwards from the job description and make sure you're highlighting the skills they want and so forth and kind of fitting into the box that they're looking for, but then maybe that takes away from somebody's authenticity a little bit. What would you say to someone who's questioning this?

Brand Consistency Across Documents

SPEAKER_03 18:18

One, I would say take a deep breath and stop trying to be what the employer wants to see. Because if you are working really, really hard to, and and this doesn't mean I'm not saying don't tailor your resume and your documents. Yes, please, please continue to do that. But if you are going above and beyond to like not even use your own language and there's personality removed from your documents for whatever this opportunity is, and you're just like, I don't know if this feels like myself or this feels very different, but I know it's what they want to see. Please stop doing that. It's almost like when we Armin, I started to see in the career space, people just started using AI to write their resumes and cover letters, and we're like, wait, where did the human go?

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

Where did that um that intro about yourself and your cover letter and the things that make this so much more personable go? Because those were the pieces that were missing. And that's where it's like, oh, well, I mean, anybody can be this person on paper, just slap on a different name and it could be anybody. And that personality's gone. So I would tell this person, if I go through this, if I talk to you, can I still am I seeing the same image or person across? Because if we're trying too hard to be like someone else or be a different version of who we are, that's not really our most authentic self. And who who are we is where I would go back to start with.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Yeah. Yeah. You know, this made me think of I hear this a lot from people applying to law school. And clients will come to me and say, What do I need to write in my statement to get into law school? I believe it. I believe it. And I'm like, you need to write your story. So then I'll ask, tell me a little bit about why you're interested in law school. And I had another application, an applicant who was applying to a different graduate program, and their personal statement was very just almost technical, just a very surface. And so then I asked this client, tell me a little bit about why you're applying to this program. And then the tears just went went down her face and how this program means so much to her because education and and everything that um she's been through to like reach a certain point in her life and how what that means to her. And I was like, now we need to talk about this. But the fact that you know people are willing to write whatever they think the admissions committees want to hear, when in reality the admissions committees just want to get to know you because you already have the qualifications to be admitted, right? Uh obviously, you know what the certain GPA requirements and things like that are, so you're making sure you're targeting uh programs that you would qualify for. But then what makes you stand out is your story, and it um I'm not surprised because I was also not comfortable sharing my personal story so much and job interviews and grad school applications, but I learned how to do that over time, and now sometimes I I look back and I'm like, you know, why? Why is it so difficult to kind of just be open about this program is so aligned with me for X, Y, and Z reasons? But I think it's because people sometimes just don't have the clarity even why they want that program, yeah, or it's not even aligned. I actually have to have that conversation with the client of like, are you sure you want to go to law school? Where is that idea even coming from? And maybe we need to take a step back because it doesn't sound like the way you're talking about it in your essays, it's not coming through why you're passionate about this field.

SPEAKER_03 21:49

Yeah, it's so crazy because you took me back to my undergrad days. I I like I like to say that I'm not an emotional person, like overly emotional. But I am. I like cry at everything. It's it's it's pretty wild. Me too.

Story Over Stats In Applications

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Um my poor husband.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

Our our our poor husbands. Um, it's you took me back to my internship interview as an undergraduate student. I was a research uh assistant, behavioral technician, kind of I coded behavior for a research project. That's that's what I did. And in my interview, the last question, or like one of the questions, it was the last one because I remember I left after this. It was like, why do you want to do this? Why did you choose psychology as a major? Why do you want to enter into this field? And I started talking about my mom. And look, I'm getting emotional right now because I talked about how she sacrificed and like worked so hard to give me my education. And I started crying as I am starting to do now, um, in that interview. And they like paused, and there were there were two women who interviewed me, and they were like, that is the most real answer we've ever had. And I was like, what, like 18? No, I was in college. I was like 16, 17 years old. And I remember leaving thinking, I just failed that interview because I cried. I was called like a few days later and I had got it. Um, the internship. But it reminded it exactly what you're saying about becoming me and like being clear, that took me back to like, I've always been that way, even from the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Yeah, yeah. Well, because you knew why you were applying to this field and why that internship mattered to you. There was already alignment. And when there is alignment, it's so much easier to naturally be able to talk about, oh yeah, let me tell you, you know, why I want this job and why it why it fits with my own identity or where I'm trying to go in life, right? If there is that alignment, it's gonna be easy to talk about it. So I actually will encourage listeners to think about if it's hard for you to write that cover letter or write that personal statement because you don't know why, how it's aligned, then maybe actually it's not the perfect fit for you, and we need to analyze that too.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

If you're new here, we're so glad you found us.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

This podcast is a space for honest, practical, and reflective conversations about careers, growth, and finding work that actually feels meaningful.

SPEAKER_03 24:31

Before we jump in, if you've been enjoying the show or find these conversations helpful, we'd really appreciate if you took a moment to rate and review the podcast wherever you're listening.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

Your reviews help us reach more people who might be navigating career uncertainty, burnout, or big transitions and help us continue building this community. All right, let's get into today's episode. All right, MJ. What are we talking about today for our listeners?

SPEAKER_03 25:03

Well, it's one of your favorite topics blended with.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

So that's where the career counselor comes in to have those conversations. But really, there is a lot of identity work that happens in any kind of application that you're submitting. But that would be the cost of being too polished on paper and not being connected with the positions that you're applying to, then you're less likely to get results and and hear back from employers, which is what we're seeing a lot happen these days.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

All right, Armin. Let's kind of fast track here to how do we go from me being me, you being you, our listener being our listener, to helping them get closer to the opportunities that are waiting for them. And I know, I know everybody listening, we know that the job market is not great. We know that. But we also know that when opportunities are meant for you, they tend to find their way to you. So what would you say, Arminet? Me being me, you being you, our listeners, being our listeners, how does that get them closer to the opportunities that are meant for them?

Quality Over Quantity In Applications

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Well, first I would say, okay, let's say you've identified your values, your strengths, and your identity. You know what you stand for and you know how this position is aligned. It's gonna be a lot easier for you to target those applications and those positions, and you're gonna be submitting less applications, right? And so you're out what you're submitting out there is gonna be more quality as opposed to quantity, which I can't tell you how many times I tell people it's quality over quantity, it doesn't matter how many jobs you apply to. What matters is are these right the right fit for you? And not only are you submitting more quality applications, but when you're in interviews or when you're in networking conversations, everything is gonna feel a lot more natural and a lot more rounded. You don't have to overly prepare your pitch and overly prepare and try to memorize every single response for that interview word for word, which is what we see a lot in our clients, is so much anxiety around how they're gonna answer a question or how they're gonna approach a recruiter or professional that like they're trying to memorize word for word, and it's like that is not gonna give you the results that you're looking for. So once you have clarity in these things, then these conversations are gonna be a lot more natural, and you don't have to have so much anxiety around that as well.

SPEAKER_03 27:47

I will say too, people like will listen to this and they'll be like, okay, cool, cool, cool, but just like give me the answer. Just tell me what I need to do. We're literally telling you what you need to do. And I I can't stress that enough because it is so important that you do this work before you get to the laptop, before you get to the keyboard, the job search website, and start sending out applications. I can't tell you how many times I've worked with individuals who like won't come to this realization till midway. And then they're like, man, I actually have this interview to for this thing, but I I I actually don't want to go. I I realize now that I it's not something that I want to do. And I just applied because I was freaking out.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:30

And now they're having this like rejuvenation of career stuff. And I'm like, oh my gosh, like this is great. But we need to kind of take it back. So really, really like on the practicalness, everybody always wants the practicalness of how of how to do the job search and how to get there is exactly what Armin is saying. Focus on your materials. Can we see you in that space? In those conversations, can we see you? Can other people see you because they'll want to refer you? If I hear that you love cooking and redoing homes and you want to do this, Armine, what if I were to tell you in the future, oh, I know someone who is gonna have a baby soon. They they're figuring out how they're gonna put their baby's room together. I can recommend you. I'm seeing the true version of you in here and I can think of opportunities. Remember that this also won't happen immediately. It's not like a like uh, you know, you go to the gym for two weeks and expect to see results. That's that's not how this works.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

You go one day and you're like, hmm, where's that muscle? It's not how this works.

SPEAKER_03 29:33

It it really does take time, and I think that's what people struggle a lot with too. But this is where you want to not do things out of like desperation. And I get that there's situations that will put us there where we need to do survival opportunities to get income. We get that. And please, we're happy to help you there too, because everybody needs income. Everybody needs to survive because until you've met all your basic needs, you can continue to move forward too. So we get that. But don't act out of desperation because then it's gonna feel all like chaos.

Patience, Survival Work, And Desperation

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Absolutely. And you know, employers, recruiters, hiring managers, admissions committees, deans, people are still people and they feel that energy, and whether you're coming in to this with clarity and confidence or not, you know. So, so you can't fake it till you make it in this situation.

SPEAKER_03 30:25

No, you can't. But what I will say too is to our listeners, you have to give yourself grace. And what this means is really redefining what you consider to be a career win. Because if you consider a career win to be every opportunity you've been offered, I can tell you off the top of my head, that's been like four. I've had way more wins in my career than four.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 30:47

And I say that confidently, like without a big head. I say that because I know that's true. So it's redefining what we mean to be a career win. It's not just getting the promotion in front of every single person or being employee of the month. It's not just the title or the thing or the whatever. You have to think about it very differently. Your mindset has to shift differently. The moment you speak or network with someone or have a conversation and you come out confident and you're like, yeah, I did that. That was my project, and I led that and it was awesome. That's a career win. The moment you say no to an extra thing because you're like, I'm good. I feel great, I'm growing without any guilt there. MJ is still working on that. That is a career win.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

Yeah, especially for early professionals or someone who's feeling like I gotta maybe get a promotion or it's time for a change. And um, I see this a lot where it's like wanting to say yes to every opportunity because they feel like they have to prove themselves, you know. Guilty. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:50

Guilty back then.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

We've had that conversation a lot together as well, but it's that sometimes saying the no is it's taking you more closer, and I know that's not grammatically correct, more closer. It's taking you closer to the right opportunities, it's giving your life space, it's giving your energy space to find the right opportunities when you're not bombarding yourself with projects and tasks that you're not really enjoying, just to either prove to yourself or prove to your boss or somebody else that you weren't qualified or cut out for this.

SPEAKER_03 32:26

Yeah. And that's where that momentum really does drive through. It builds through that identity alignment and that career alignment and not the internal and external pressure you're feeling.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

So, as we're talking about authenticity today for our listeners, we have some questions that we want to leave you with so you can reflect on where you're at in your careers and how aligned you are. And that first question would be where am I forcing instead of trusting myself? You can think about this in the context of your work, or if you're not currently working, think about this in the context of job applications or graduate program applications. You can even take it as far as your personal life and how you're applying this in your dynamics in at home, right? Where am I forcing instead of trusting myself?

Redefining What Counts As A Win

SPEAKER_03 33:21

Another one is what version of me am I hiding in my job search? Ooh, that one is deep. Dang. It it mm-hmm. I got no words. That one is. It is. I'm thinking about someone who can write it an amazing cover letter, but not show up as that same person.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:45

That's that's what's kind of coming to my mind visually. So what version of you, what version of me, this is the question for you, what version of me am I hiding in my job search?

SPEAKER_00 33:57

And the next one is what would change if I showed up more honestly? And I think this one gives us hope because now it gets us thinking about all the possibilities and maybe things that we don't dare to dream about because we are too focused on what's right in front of us and not thinking about, okay, if I were actually being my true self, what would I want to do? That's a scary question for a lot of us. But what would change if I showed up more honestly?

SPEAKER_03 34:28

And we want to leave you with when you stop chasing things and start aligning yourself, momentum will follow naturally.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

Hope this episode gave you something meaningful to carry into your week.

SPEAKER_03 34:40

And if you want more support on your career journey or just a career cheerleader, I'm here. Follow me on Instagram at Career Confident Latina for tips and encouragement.

Resources, Bootcamp, And Closing

SPEAKER_00 34:51

And don't forget, there are tons of free career mindset and lifestyle resources waiting for you at careerise.org. And if you're ready for deeper clarity and confidence, make sure to join the CCB bootcamp while you're there.

SPEAKER_03 35:05

We're always cheering for you your growth, your goals, and the person you are becoming.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Thanks for tuning in to Coffee and Career Hour. We'll see you in the next episode.