Happy Monday, and Happy Malaysia Day!

With the abundance of 'LinkedIn gurus' and 'Gym bros' on social media, it can get harder to spot actual, usable advice and tips. Everyone can easily call themselves an expert in ABC and self-proclaim themselves as the go-to person for all-things in ABC.

Note: Now, we are not taking a jab at any particular person (or organization). Nor do we claim ourselves as the go-to expert for career advice (like, we don't know everything, and we also know that our advice cannot fit every single situation).

But we want you to see the way they market themselves on social media, and how you can somewhat steal their approach and tweak it for your own career growth.

First and foremost, you must believe in yourself.

Before anything else, you must have faith in your own skills and experiences that you have to offer to employers.

One thing that is similar to all these gurus and coaches on social media is that they ignore what other people say about them, and they focus on what they feel is their best strengths.

Now, we're not going to go into the discussion of whether or not their confidence is based on actual real strength, or if it's purely delusional. Regardless, they have strong enough self-belief that they have something to offer, and they go all out on it. Whether or not their audience believes them is out of their control.

The same principles that be applied to job searching and interviews - you must first believe that you are good enough for the job that you are interviewing and applying for. You cannot control how the employers feel about you. But it will be a lot easier to convince them to hire you when you yourself believe that they should hire you.

Learn their storytelling techniques to use in your interviews.

Did you ever notice how most of these influencers have similar scripts when writing about what they do?

This was me XX years ago. I was XXX and XXX. Then I decided to do XXX. And look where I am now.

Looks familiar?

That is similar to how people say you should use the STAR technique when answering interview questions. Situation, Task, Action, Results - a formula in storytelling to help you structure your answer in a clear way.

The self-proclaimed gurus also like to use a lot of case studies to showcase their work and results.

I did XXX and it got me YYY sales!

This ABC tool tripled my income for months!

I helped a client to do XXX and it generated XXX sign-ups!

This is both an important part of the STAR method (focusing on the results and outcomes from what they do), but also a way to play with the audience's emotions. By giving these testimonials and case studies, it helps future clients and customers to know what they are getting out of it.

The same thing goes for a job interview.

It's one thing to say that "I am good at leading a team", vs giving an actual example from your previous experience where you led a team and accomplished a goal.

After all, real life experiences and results can be an indicator of future performance, and people like to hear about actual outcomes (show them how good you are, rather than telling them how good you are.

Now, the next time you come across any of these posts on your feed/timeline, whether or not you believe in what they do/say, we want you to pay a close attention to how they say and promote their work. And see what you can learn and bring into the way you talk and promote your work to others.

[New] Are networking events really worth it?

Some people swear by networking events, attending one every month or so. Others avoid them like the plague for whatever reasons.

But, needless to say, networking events can play an important part in your overall career development, especially as a young professional.

Read more on the blog!

That said, we have one networking event that will be worth your time.

Join us for good coffee, delicious pastries, and even better conversation!

If you're not doing anything this upcoming Saturday (23rd September 2023), come and join us at The Vocation, Menara UOA Bangsar! It will be a very chill and casual event. Come and enjoy freshly brewed coffee, eat some delicious pastries, meet other like-minded individuals and learn from our esteemed panelists about how you can prepare yourself for your first managerial or leadership role.

Join us!

Until we see you again next week, here's a question for you to ponder for the week ahead...

What worries you the most about the future, and what can you do now to mitigate that worry?

Stay safe, take care, and stay awesome everyone.

Best,

Kejar Kerjaya

p/s - please help us by following us on Twitter & TikTok as we try to expand our reach, thank you very much!