15: Land Your Dream Career with Evangelia Leclaire

Chad:               In today’s episode, I get to speak with career coach Evangelia Leclaire. She’s going to teach us how to advance in our career by first advancing in our own self awareness and personal management and we’re going to talk about overcoming self doubt. We’re going to talk about overcoming comparison and how to clear our mind so that you can make more confident decisions regarding your career because those things tend to interfere. We have self doubt, we have comparison. We have all this clutter in here and it makes it much harder to make confident decisions regarding what we want to do as a career or what our vision really is and what we need to do next to get to where we want to be. She’s also gonna share how to use your voice to create who you want to become an where you want to go because our voice is the most powerful tool that we have in declaring to ourselves and other people who we are and what we want and it helps us to develop skills and it helps us to become that.

Chad:               She’s also going to discuss how to approach the job search holistically and what that really means as millennials. There tends to be an increase in turnover because we we really want a career that’s fulfilling to us and some companies aren’t providing to millennials what they’re wanting in their own professional development, but she’s going to share some really great tips for how as you as a millennial can enter a new job with the right mindset and with the right approach so that you can get to where you want to be and find success in that company. Evangelina has been helping people create their dream careers for the last 18 years and she’s currently a career coach and life strategist. She’s a student of positive psychology, self expression and spirituality, and she is enabled over 10,000 college students, postgraduates and working professionals to discover and pursue their career dreams and lifestyle goals. We’re going to discuss the importance of mindset and actionable things that you can do to train your mindset to be in alignment with your most important goals so that your thoughts and your emotions are matched up to what you’re trying to create for yourself and your career. So with that said, I welcome Evangelina to connect up.

Evangelia:         Thanks so much Chad, for having me. I’m really happy to be here today.

Chad:               I’m happy to have you because you have a lot of experience helping people in their careers and on this show we talk a lot about how we can connect up to a fulfilling career because it’s not enough to just have a good job. We want a job that we enjoy, we want a job that is a part of us and complements our identity and helps us feel happy when we go to work. And so I wanted to ask you a little bit about your background and what led you to do and what you’re doing today as a career coach.

Evangelia:         Yes. Okay. So my story is a little bit long so I’m going to try and shorten it down. So, uh, the way I like to start as I grew up. Yep. And in my adolescence I had some moments in my life at a very young age at age 12, 13 that had me reflect on who am I and what am I to do with my life and my career, and led me to be very proactive in seeking that and deliberate in searching for that. And in short, what that moment was, was, um, both my parents became ill, mentally ill, my father was no longer able to work anymore and he was a very passionate, successful businessman and musician and I’m pretty much he wasn’t able to work for a good majority of his career thereafter, his life thereafter. And um, that moment and witnessing my parents go through very trying times led me to become very self reflective and situationally aware and self aware of what’s next for me.

Evangelia:         So I took my challenges growing up and became very proactive and deliberate in my search. So throughout my high school I became very deliberate on like kind of seeking who I was as my peers and I were going through adolescence. And then throughout college, very much the same I experienced, I was on a journey to really figure out how I could Max out this opportunity that I had to go to college. My mom was making less than $24,000 and that’s really what our household income was. And so for me, it was all about maxing out this opportunity that I had to learn, grow and seek how I was going to grow as a young person, um, who sought out success in figuring out who I was and how I can be a value to the world. So, um, I came across an opportunity while I was in college.

Evangelia:         It was a trifold brochure called University of dreams. It sounded really interesting. I went to school at Fordham University in New York and the program was out in northern California and it was all about helping people discover and pursue their career opportunities. And it was built out with programming that included seminars, workshops of professionals that were working in silicon valley and a built in internships. So I flew out there and um, long story short, it was the very first program, the bubble, the tech bubble burst at the time. It was in 2001 in Silicon Valley and we were all left without internships. There were 75 of us and I became very close with the CEO and founder of the program and we went through a period where we were going to grow through this challenge and we created and we thrive through that program and shortly after, two years after I’m finishing out college and working in the financial service industry, I ended up working for. I’m going back and working for the program which is now called dream careers. And so for 10 years thereafter I helped build out a summer fall and spring internship programs that were, had the mission to inspire, Challenge and equip young people to discover and pursue their dream career. So I was very hands on and building out the content, the curriculum, the programming and working um, face to face with, with college students who were figuring out what to do with their lives.

Chad:               That’s really great. So what, what do you enjoy most about helping people figure out what to do with their lives and their careers?

Evangelia:         Yeah, I mean for me, what I enjoy most about it is that internal self reflection period that I and that space that I hold for people to really identify who they are, what they’re thinking and whether their thoughts are really aligned with who they are and where they aspire to be. Um, so you know, there’s the discovery process and then there’s the execution process and I’ve been asked this question as well, like, and I feel like I fall somewhere along the middle, like I like to get to execute and help people do the work, but I also enjoy holding space for people to travel, to truly know who they are and their potential in the world.

Chad:               You finally chemo, do you find that you mostly work with people who have no idea what to do as a career and you help them discover that or you or do you tend to work more with people who are. They’re pretty sure what they want to do, but they don’t know how to get there. What tends to be the percentage there?

Evangelia:         Yeah, so I’ve been doing this for nearly 18 years, so I’m in the first 10 years of my career. It was with the first group who was, it was all about discovery, um, and in the last eight years of my career, it’s been people who are at the point where they’ve worked for seven, 10 plus years and are now like, what do I do next? Like I’m there, I haven’t done this, like they feel the, the, the timeline is coming up and so they have a better idea of what it is that they want to do and who they are and now they’re faced with all the limiting beliefs and constraints that they have in their life and even in their thoughts to, um, to make the next step to get there.

Chad:               Hmm. Well, along with that, what is a common, uh, either limiting belief or other thing that tends to hold millennials back from being able to get traction in their career that you’ve found?

Evangelia:         Yeah. Oh, it’s so hard for me to pinpoint just one thing and I’m very sensitive to speaking to generalities related to this generation. Of course there’s the characteristics, but one of the common, a few of the common things that come across in my world have to do with self doubt. Um, it has to do with comparison or just being crippled by too much information and not knowing where to go. So a lot of it is, I think it could be cast under the, the self doubt and imposter syndrome.

Chad:               Yeah, definitely. I think and I think those things, they tend to go together because we, I know for me, uh, when I was struggling to get my career going, I would, uh, I had a lot of self doubt because I was comparing myself to other people and also because I had too many options. So it’s like because we’re plugged into all of this technology and the Internet today, we have a lot of options where like, wow, like there’s, there’s 100 different ways I could take my career and that can be overwhelming and being able to make a choice. But then along with it, we see we look at our friends and family and other people will know going after certain careers or obtaining certain levels of success and then we start comparing where I used to do that a lot, right? Compare and be like, oh, why am I not where he is yet? And that would then shut me down because I’m thinking that I’m supposed to be on the same track of somebody else. We all have our own unique tracks. Do you want to comment more on that?

Evangelia:         Oh my gosh. I mean you just hit it home right there. And what I’ll add to what you just said is so self doubt, right? That’s like the over arching. That’s the looming like the thing that shadows over us. But what is more problematic is that we’re so plugged into technology and it’s, we’re conditioned to, uh, we, we haven’t been a, we haven’t been able to control how we can turn it off and master our own thoughts and our minds and our time. So, you know, all of this feeds into one another because when we get on the phone or when we’re plugging into instagram or all these things, and there’s articles on this now, the different messages and images are coming up and the contents being fed to us and we’re not turning it off and we haven’t. Most humans haven’t mastered their own thoughts to be able to a stop and think about whether the thoughts are serving them and helping them get to where they want to grow instead 80 to 90 percent of the thoughts that we think are repeated and slash or are negative. And then on top of that, now the thoughts that we’re thinking are really influenced by what we’re seeing online. And that I think is just such a challenge for us.

Chad:               So there’s a lot of inputs and we’re not being taught how to filter that out. Um, that really ought to be a class in college for everyone. Uh, transitioning out to be like, how do you filter out all this input so that you can make a clear choice so that you’re not overwhelmed by all these different things. And you’re right, like we get on social media and it’s a great tool that we can use if we know how to use it, but if we don’t know how to filter stuff out than everyone else’s thoughts and emotions and now affecting hours and then it throws us for a loop and it makes it really difficult. What can we do about that? What’s something that you think helps people to overcome that self doubt and that comparison?

Evangelia:         Yeah. I think what’s most important is, especially in this day and age, is to. It really starts with having that clarity on who you are, what your values are, what you are passionate about, what your strengths are, what your talents are. Right? All the work that most coaches do with people at the onset, but then in addition to that, I’m building the habits and the discipline day to day to silence your mind. Wake up, silence your mind. Focus on again, affirming who you are, building in meditation, prayer to really, you know, focus on who you are, what you’re grateful for, what you aspire to do, what you envisioned for yourself, and the impact you’re going to make. So having a, a habit like that where you are silent and spend time with yourself before you turn on everything else in your day is number one. Number two is just time blocking your day so that you’re not, um, you’re, you’re not captive to social media and technology. Um, and then number three is setting alarms off during the day. This has been really helpful for me and also a lot of people that I work with and to kind of help you check in on what it is you’re doing and whether the thoughts you have are serving you and where you want to go and grow in your career and ultimately in your life.

Chad:               That’s really helpful because it’s one thing to say, hey, just make sure to check in and see if your thoughts are in alignment with your goals. But I mean, we all have a phone that we have with us all day long, so that’s really helpful to set an alarm on that phone to remind us, hey, are your thoughts right now in alignment with your most important goals? And that is just a very simple thing, but I could see that being very, very powerful and help because we’re not used to think, we’re not used to all of a sudden a getting out of the zone that we’re in and taking almost a, uh, like a fly on the wall perspective of ourselves and being like, okay, where are my thoughts right now? Are they in alignment? And so that’s, that’s helpful. Thank you. And, uh, I like, uh, you talked about how we just need to kind of be still and slow down.

Chad:               And that’s been really helpful for me as well because I, when I have days where I feel like I’m starting to get overwhelmed or my thoughts are getting less clear and I’m having a hard time making decisions, I realized that, oh, it’s been three days since I just took a few minutes to be still. Um, and so I try to remember to just take five minutes in the day to just be still and let you said either meditate or pray and you can just into clear those sorts because it’s, we feel as if we’re a, we get in that productive mode and it’s hard to break out of that. And we’re like, oh, I don’t have five minutes to spare, I have just have to get stuff done. I got to get stuff done, but we don’t realize that if we don’t take that time then we end up not getting things done as well. And we take longer to do it because we’re not focused. And how have you seen it help you when you’ve implemented those things?

Evangelia:         Oh my gosh. First of all, thank you for sharing that. And I love that. That’s something that you can connect on and it’s becoming more, uh, I think something that’s more popular even in the workplace to bring in self awareness and mindfulness, which is an awesome thing to see. Now how to answer your question. Yeah. I mean, I experienced day to day everything that my client’s experience, I’m not immune to, so I have doubt, I have the thoughts that are spiraling, I have anxiety and angst that take over me and where I want to go. And so what has helped me as well is one, just acknowledging that it’s there and I will experiencing it it again and then to just being equipped with the tactics to help me now for me when I am experiencing spiraling emotions of like, ah, like get it done.

Evangelia:         Like that constraint, energy meditation and prayer doesn’t work for me. Like I could, like prayer works more and more for me. Um, but what works for me when I feel like that is a walking and talking out loud because it gets. I already have so much tension and stress that walking and that physical movement helps me at least release some of that tension. And then affirming out loud and, or even praying out loud has worked for me because I am a vocal person. I’m, I’m not. Yeah. So I’m more of an extrovert. So I think it really varies for people and to know yourself and what works for you. Some people like to journalize when those thoughts happen. Um, that it all starts with self awareness and I cannot prescribe to one person what works for me. I can share what works for me, but we all very, because we’re all different.

Chad:               That’s really good to know because you’re completely right. That was some people. It’s to get to clear our head. We need to actually get physical and move our body and walk and exercise and it helps to center us. For me, you touched on it. For me, journaling and writing things out has been really useful for me because um, I like to do some vocal stuff too. But for me, writing things out has been my goto of like clearing out my head and being still and for you with walking. So I think that’s just a good note to kind of, uh, to go on with figuring out what works for you. We’re all gonna have a different approach to it, but experiment with a couple of different things and you just gave us some really good option, so

Evangelia:         thank you. Thank you. And I’m glad that we’re talking about this because there is no one size fits all and that’s where it all stems from like deep diving into yourself and ask it and that asking of yourself and not thinking that the way you do things is wrong because someone else who’s really influential says this is what’s working. Right?

Chad:               Yeah, definitely. Um, along with that, with there not being one size that fits all, uh, there’s. You talk about approaching a job search holistically. Do you want to explain a little bit about what you mean by that?

Evangelia:         Yeah. There

Chad:               are certain things to consider when we go about seeking a career that really fits us and it starts with us. It starts with that peeling back the layer and understanding your foundation that you’ve built for yourself, like your values, your passions, your skills, even your milestone moments that make up who you are that others could set people. I always use the word milestone moments. Like what milestone moments in your life have have been your greatest lessons and blessings and, um, have kind of came as validating evidence and guideposts of where you can go and grow and people that, that question is really hard to talk about here because people need a lot of deep diving into it. But I feel like we’ve all gone through instances in our life that helped influence where we want to go and grow, some of which we might need to let go of and some in which we might need to embrace as those milestone moments that are like, yes, this is the sign that I need to go deeper here.

Chad:               So, um, when I think of holistic, it starts with that foundation and then that internal compass and then looking at it extrinsically and thinking, well, what resources do I have available to me to help me figure out how I can bring that value and that passion and that skill and that strength into the world. So there’s that common approach that many coaches take and then we get into strategy. So the foundation is who am I? How do I think are my thoughts aligned to where I want to go and then externally what resources do I have available to help me get or at least figure out how I can get closer to where I want to go. And that’s external, but then there’s also the holistic approach, especially with the people that I work with now. They’re kind of like millennial customers and slash or like the older generation and millennials.

Chad:               It’s kind of like, well now we also have real life factors in our lives like finances, we have aging parents and, and financial security is something that’s really important to us as well and financial growth. So, um, I like to also look and ask those deep questions that are like, well, what are your finances look like and what are your financial goals? And considering that you may have children and slash or are anticipating having children, have you also considered that as a variable in your career and slash or if you’re a woman, have you considered that you not negotiating for a raise now can impact where you’re going to be when you retire? So that’s what I mean by holistic, it’s like I look at the financial aspect, I look at the health aspect as well, which is really important to me. I come from a background where I used to teach fitness and then um, and then also the career aspect and even the spiritual.

Chad:               So I, I kind of like didn’t really answer that question clearly, but it all falls under those buckets. You totally did answer that question really well because it, you explained to us how a getting a fulfilling career is not just about finding a fulfilling career. It’s about optimizing our health. It’s about figuring out our family situation in our relationships. It’s about, uh, yeah, the spiritual aspect. If that’s a part of our life, it’s about finding who we are, what do we think, what resource do we have available? So I like how you explain that because I think that’s, if anyone listening, you can use that to evaluate yourself, that as you’re going pursuing career success, know that it’s not just a job issue that is say you have to look at your finances, your relationships, all of it. And if you evaluate all those areas of your life, um, they’re all going to affect one another if you improve and finances is going to affect your confidence in your job.

Chad:               If you’re improving your family relationships, it’s going to affect your career. And so thank you for explaining that because I think that just helps us to know that when we are searching for a job or trying to better our career, we need to look at all the different aspects of our life so we can approach it holistically in that way. And so that’s, that’s definitely helpful with you. How has your, uh, how is your relationships influenced your career success? Because we talk a lot about communication and connecting with people on this show. So how has connection with people and your relationships helped you?

Evangelia:         Oh yeah. Oh, it’s such a good question and it’s something that I will share with you in that. Relationships are ultimately the catalyst to growth in a career. It’s a, I like to use the kind of can term and then I don’t, I don’t want to talk about like terms, but it’s like it’s not necessarily who you know, but it’s who knows who. You get yourself, who you add value to and who you are able to make yourself known to. And because we are in a world where we have a lot more loose ties in our relationships, those are great to have a lot of loose ties. Not really strong bonds. It’s, it’s important to have those loose ties and also like strong connections because they’ll certainly help catalyze your career. And for me that has been the case. I can connect the dots backwards and say, you know, one of the reasons why I ended up working at dream careers for 10 years was because I was very close with the CEO and there was a lot of common interest in the cause of the company that I was able to demonstrate, hey I want to be a part of this and I want to contribute and I want to add value.

Evangelia:         And even two years later when I was not a part of the company and I was working in the financial service industry, I contacted him at random and I said, hey, I’m at a point where I feel stuck with where I’m at. And then he said, hey, the stars are aligned. So it’s like building those relationships. That’s always relationship. So I’ve always been the catalyst even now with where I’m at and seeking to grow with what I’m doing, you know, me attending networking events, I do everything that I advise my clients to do, me attending networking events has ultimately reap the greatest results, but not just the attending of the networking events, but following up with those people that I really connected to their message, their cars, their company and um, and, and, and reaching out to them cold to say, hey, like I really connected with what you shared here.

Evangelia:         How can I help? Like where is it, where is there opportunity for me to contribute? And sometimes that just opened up the conversation. I didn’t even have to have a pitch. I didn’t have to share what I did. Um, and of course they see your linkedin profile and that that can reflect where they see if there’s commonality. So on the other side of it is you might have a very vast network, and I do, right? I’ve been doing this for 18 years, but there have been times where I felt very much alone and isolated and like I didn’t like I can’t reach out to these people like at or oh my gosh, I posted something and like I’m not getting any response back. Who am I? Where am I? Relationships. So there’s those thoughts that come up as well. And I ultimately believe that in terms of relationships, yes, they’re important, but your relationship with yourself and your faith and your vision into what you can contribute to the world is most important. If you don’t believe in that, and if you haven’t cultivated that relationship with yourself first, everything else is secondary.

Chad:               I liked that you brought that up. I’ve, I’ve, I’m really glad you brought that up because we can have thousands of people in our network and have this superficial sense that we’re really well connected, but we can feel totally disconnected if, if we don’t have that good relationship with ourself. And um, uh, for a time I, I had a period of time in my life where I was always seeking outside validation from other people with what I was doing and what I wanted to do and, and we shouldn’t need to have validation from others to feel good about what we did. Say We, uh, you mentioned like sharing content or something. If we created a video and put it on Linkedin and nobody watched her, nobody liked it. We should not need validation from other people to be like, uh, we should be able to just look at them and be like, I’m proud of what I did. It’s good. It’s let me go on and create something else. And um, how so with that, how do you go about having a better relationship with yourself? So that, because it does end up translating, translate into the relationships with have with others because how we connect with ourself will affect our ability to connect, connect with others, and then reach out and form mutually beneficial relationships. So how do, how do you go about creating a stronger connection with yourself so you don’t feel so isolated?

Evangelia:         I went through a period of doubt and this really came when I started growing on my own separate of working in a nine to five and I’m in how I served others. So I went through a period of doubt. Part of that was because I also had a child and I was raising a toddler and so I went through this period of crippling doubt for that lasted almost a year and I knew so number one, I was very self aware that my thoughts weren’t serving me. Um, and, and I felt a gap from where I was to where I wanted to go. And I knew I wasn’t forming the relationships that I wanted to form because I didn’t want to show up that way. Um, everything was functional and I was great. And what I was delivering to my clients, um, but I also knew that I wasn’t fully my best self.

Evangelia:         So that self awareness was one thing. I also believe that sometimes we grow through seasons and um, if you can have self awareness and self acceptance through a period of your life where you know you’re not your best self, you might be depressed or anxious or experiencing doubt. You may not want to show up in front of people at least being self aware and accepting that, that that’s your season is relieving. That’s number one. And then because I was self aware and self self accepting, I also took actions to help myself get through it. So I hired coaches I hired. Um, I, I, I sought out psychological health as well. I was like, what is something wrong with me? Um, and so I sought out that. And then I also began taking the action. So for me, again, my action was walk and talk out loud every day, affirming who I am and where I aspire to go.

Evangelia:         And then once I did that, I felt better to show up for my relationships. And show up with confidence to share authentically where I’m at because I now felt like, Hey, I now have this armor of protection. So if somebody tries to be like, Hey Lena, you’re acting really strange. At least I can be like, yeah, I accepted. I’m in a season of doubt and anxiety. I just had a baby. Whereas in the past I’d be like beating myself up. Or like I’d not show up at all. Or like if somebody commented on what I shared, I’d be really liked deflated by it. So I think self acceptance comes first and acknowledging your season. I’m giving. I can go into this.

Chad:               That’s golden. I mean that really is helpful. That, uh, it’s one thing to, it’s not a, yeah, that it’s not about just being self aware, but true self awareness and self acceptance and accepting a completely accept myself for where I’m at right now, what I’m experiencing, the emotions that I’m having, the thoughts that I’m having. But what can I do to get closer to where I want to be? And so because sometimes we think we feel guilty for being where we are experiencing something negative, but when we accept ourselves and like you said, you used your voice to affirm who you are as you’re walking down the street to affirm where you want it to be and that’s a really powerful thing to remember that our voice comes out of her mouth, it goes back in our ears and we hear it. And if our voices declaring who we are and what we want and where we want to be and who we want to become frequently enough, no one else can have an influence on us in a negative way that people’s thoughts of us are the stories that we put in our head, what we think they’re thinking about us can’t affect us because we are using our own voice to declare who we are.

Chad:               And that’s how we can then connect with ourself by talking to yourself. You just talk to yourself.

Evangelia:         Yeah. And it sounds crazy, but for you it’s writing. Write it because that works for you. I will. I, I have like 20 journals all over the place and like three pages filled out on each one because I, I tried to establish that habit. It doesn’t work for me. So for you it might be that for another person it might be just like thinking and meditating and affirming, but affirmations has a lot to do with it and accepting where you’re at and then affirming who you are and where you desire to be.

Chad:               Definitely. And Yeah, I’m glad that you reminded us that it’s, uh, that it just depends. You figure out what works for you as far as what version of talking to yourself works for you. Um, because it’s, it’s the people who talk to themselves the most are the less of the least crazy, the least crazy because they are, they’re constantly managing their thoughts and organizing themselves through either journaling like I do or like you said, when you walk and you talk. And so we think that that is, is what crazy people do, but that’s what sane people do because that’s what causes them to remain clear. And when they’re clear, they can communicate with people easier and they can have better relationships and they’re gonna have more career success. So it’s okay to talk to yourself. It’s okay.

Evangelia:         Yeah, exactly. I agree. And I’d put in the earbuds so that people around me would think that I was talking to somebody because I didn’t always have somebody to talk. That’s a good idea. Or I didn’t always have the money to dish out to like code on coaches and psychiatry.

Chad:               Yeah, we can, yeah, we can be our best a counselor a lot of times. And so that’s actually a good tip to put in the earbuds so you’re not getting worried that you’re bothering people or whatever. That’s really good. Um, so what, uh, let’s, let’s, uh, let’s, let’s talk about a situation where, you know, the, when I say millennial, I mean somebody between 24 and 36. I mean there’s a whole range and there’s a vast difference between those in her twenties and those in their thirties. But for that range, what advice do you have for millennials who just get a new job at a company and they’re wanting to kind of grow into leadership? They have some vague idea of where they want to go in their career, but how should they approach that because sometimes we’re afraid to take ownership for our own professional development and we’re hoping that maybe just our manager will see potential mass and then just promote us just because how do we take ownership for our own development and like how do we navigate through that when we’re brand new to a job and we do have a vision for what we want, who do we talk to?

Chad:               How do we approach that?

Evangelia:         Yeah. So I like to provide a plan for people, um, one being very aware of what are the goals and the values and what’s important to the company and to your managers and your team. So I like to start there because if we don’t, we can seem self serving. And it’s again, that those first 30 to 90 days are really important. So really beginning to help somebody think what are the goals of my manager and my team and what’s most important to the company. So starting there with that thought process and then understanding who do I get to form a solid, really solid relationships with here and of course it’s your manager and it’s your peers and then beginning to understand what they care about, what’s important to them and understanding what’s their communication style. So situational awareness first. Okay. And then of course with that, married between, with that is having a meeting with your manager where you would, if you’re depending on how organized your manager is or not.

Evangelia:         And again, I can’t really coach generalities, but ensuring that you have a meeting with your manager where you discuss communication, communication styles, you can understand how they communicate, where you can express your typical norms and style of communication. And you really break it down to one, understanding communication styles and differences because we all communicate differently then understanding, well, what is the frequency of report backs, uh, and, and, and um, and updates, um, what are the preferred channels of communication? And again, a lot of this boils down to communications. What are the preferred chat channels of communication? How often would we be meeting for updates and what to do typically want me to present in those updates, how would you like me to address challenges and conflict? So being able to sift through those questions because that really is the crux of where you can either tighten your bond with your manager and your team and slash or it can kind of begin to break down if you haven’t really determined those things.

Evangelia:         And then of course there’s the other bucket of things which are, what are the expectations and priorities? What are the top critical projects to work on? Uh, what are the deadlines and the deliverables. So again, I don’t want to sound very, like a lot of this stuff is mechanical and tact tactical, but it ultimately comes down to communication styles and projects and priorities and future goals. And how can we converge to ensure that I’m on the same page with here and I want nothing more than to be successful and ensure that what I can bring here really is aligned with our projects, our priorities and how we can all better communicate with one another.

Chad:               That’s a great way to approach it. Um, yeah, I, I, that, that meeting that you talked about, the conversation that you have with your manager of what’s our communication styles that will definitely set you apart because people often just, they just start communicating and they don’t become aware of, oh my communicating differently than this person then my manager. But having that meeting and getting on the same page and being like, I communicate like this. How do you communicate or communicate like this that’s going to really impress them that you are wanting to understand how they communicate so that you can make sure as an employee that you get the message across to them in a way that they hear it. Um, and then I like how you mentioned how it’s not about saying, okay, you under a company, this is what I want, this is what I want.

Chad:               You’re saying what are your company goals? What do you want? Because then you can figure out how you can align yourself with how do I help them achieve these goals and that is like you will be able to progress and get promoted as you show to the, to the company, to the, like you said earlier with your story, you’re like, I just told him that I was, I was really passionate about the vision they had and how can I contribute when a manager sees that an employee is passionate about the vision and the goals that the company has, they can’t help but help move that person up in the leadership because the company wants leaders who are passionate about that company’s goals and that vision and what the company’s doing. And when you show that you do care about that, they, it’s not just like, well, this is what I want out of my career, so you need to give me this and this. You’re saying, no, I care about what your goals are and how can I contribute and how can I help that become a reality. So that’s good to keep that in perspective

Evangelia:         and you’re demonstrating self awareness, situational awareness. You’re demonstrating that by, by, by showing, by having the conversation about communication and having the conversation about projects, priorities. Now Chad, of course, all of this ideally was also covered or at least was brush stroked in an interview before you’ve accepted the offer, but we all know like you don’t really know the company and deep dive until you’re in it. So it’s important to deep dive into this conversation and it’s either going to be prompted by your manager and slash or in some cases when it’s not, you plant the seed and you say, Hey, you know, I really would love to talk to you about how I can, um, really be at my best in and contributing to the company. I want to ensure that I am off to a really great start in that we have, um, communication to ensure that I’m really growing in a way that’s aligned with, with our team.

Chad:               On the flip side of it, how do the managers and the business owners, uh, communicate with or, uh, with these millennials who just came into their company because I know that there are, um, and it’s all right. It’s hard to generalize it, but there is, there tends to be the judgment that millennials have high turnover because they, they quickly decide that they’re not fulfilled in their career or this isn’t the right job for me. They have a harder time kind of sticking with something long enough. What can decrease turnover from the, what can business owners and managers to decrease turnover to help these millennials coming into their company feel as if they’re being taken care of. Because I know that as a millennial, I care a lot about my professional development and I care about my personal development and I want a company to help facilitate that development. I want to feel like this area for growth. I want to be able to go into a company, feel as if I can grow within that and there are people that are helping you to grow. What are some other things millennials want and how can business owners adjust to decrease turnover with these millennials?

Evangelia:         Okay, so I don’t think it’s just one solution. It starts with recruiting goes all the way to I’m hiring, training, onboarding and ongoing professional development and the compensation plans. So, um, there is no one. Again, I can’t pinpoint to one thing. I think it’s all of that and specifically what I’m passionate about and this is why I work with both the individuals and the businesses, is that mutual fit, that mutual alignment. And so sometimes a lot of companies will specifically hire people based off of whether they fit the job and of course the values, the culture, but what some companies don’t really dig into is what somebody and they, they could dig into this both in an interview and also continuously through out a. somebody having been an being an employee, like what are their dreams? What are their goals? What do they care about? What are their visions for their future?

Evangelia:         Because at some point reality is that those dreams are no longer going to be aligned and if they aren’t, let’s part ways. So that we’re all productive and that we’re all like bringing forward the best energy and people and, and, and a fit in our lives. But if they are, if dreams truly are aligned continuously, then we’re only going to grow stronger and grow together stronger. So I think that in addition to professional development, which of course, to answer your question, I think yes, businesses do need to place more emphasis on the l and d professional development and more so on the career coaching aspect because managers don’t always have the time and the capacity and slash or the ability to dive deep with their employees to ask them if their thoughts are aligned with the visions and the goals and slash or if they’re, you know, future visions and dreams are aligned with where they’re at with the company and if the companies helping them get there because if the company is helping you, if it’s in the meantime job that’s helping you get to where you want to go and it’s a great fit. But at some pint it’s not going to be. And um, I think that’s what keeps people either in jobs too long or in jobs too short because they haven’t really had those questions asked.

Chad:               That’s really helpful. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. That to simply just have a conversation with, with this, a new millennial employee and just be like, what is your vision for your future? What goals do you have? Because that can easily be over. And that is a really important conversation to have because that’s going to help a first of all, the, the new employee feel like, oh wow, they really care about my career goals and my vision for where I see myself heading. And also if the employee, if they have no idea what their vision is, well that’s a good starting point of the manager being like, okay, well he has no idea. We’re starting kind of from a blank slate. Let’s help build up a vision here so that he has a target.

Evangelia:         So you hit it on the head. That is so good.

Chad:               Well, thank you so much for our conversation today. I think you shared so much value with how to connect better with ourself, which is a really important thing that we don’t talk about as much because that is key to being able to connect with other people and you shared some really actionable tips on how to talk to ourselves better on how to either journal or or go and take a walk and talk and just be still and meditate and take that time to become more self aware because that awareness is the first step to being able to be clear enough to make confident decisions regarding our life and regarding our career. Is there anything else that you wanted to share with our audience?

Evangelia:         Yeah. I just, I mean ultimately my message is that I, you know, everybody has so much potential and we have the ability to grow, to meet that or to stay where we’re at and so find your champions and find your supporters because there’s not enough people out here advocating, but if you haven’t found them, you start with you and start with, you know, your ultimate belief and your faith that it’s possible. You know, you’re, you’re meant to be, be better and be greater. So.

Chad:               Well thanks for sharing that with us. Where can we connect with you and learn more from you?

Evangelia:         Yeah, the easiest way to get more contact with me is through my site careerreadysetrock.com/rebrand.

Chad:               Okay, great. And what, uh, what, what kind of services do you provide? Just so we’re aware?

Evangelia:         Yeah, so I provide one-on-one coaching, the, a to z of how to discover and pursue your dream career and then also coaching services and for any businesses that maybe listening, I also do business coaching for. I do coaching within companies for individual employees.

Chad:               Great. Well I encourage anyone listening and watching to take advantage of that because even jelly of really has some great tips for us today on how to advance our career and I know that if she works with you one on one, you’ll be able to advance that much quicker because you have that customized help because like she said, one size does not fit all. And so thank you so much for being on our show today.

Evangelia:         Thanks Chad. You are so awesome. Thank you. Yeah.