How can ambitious job seekers convey their personal brand to land their dream job? w/ Annette Garsteck

Tune into my conversation with the amazing Career Coach Annette Garsteck, when she provides valuable advice on how ambitious job seekers can convey their personal brand to land their dream job.

We dive deep into:

💡How a jobseeker's LinkedIn profile can automatically brand them

💡How job seekers can brand themselves on their résumé

💡How the job interview plays into branding

💡What other things a job candidate can do to convey their personal brand

💡How we can break down the biases and barriers that hold our income (ours as women) hostage to the gender gap 

💡How we can pivot to a new industry, all while getting paid what we’re worth

Annette is the Founder of Annette Garsteck Career Consulting, a coaching firm that guides ambitious women on the path to accelerate their careers, transition to a new industry, and get paid what they are worth.  Annette is a recognized expert and speaker on women empowerment and has delivered keynote workshops in multiple career advocacy masterclasses and business resource group panels.  She is a certified Senior Professional Career Coach and a certified Lean In Circle Leader, an initiative of the Sheryl Sandberg & Dave Goldberg Family Foundation.  For the past 20 years, Annette has developed top leaders at some of the world’s most prestigious companies, such as Cleveland Clinic, FedEx, and Jo-Ann Fabrics. 

Get in touch with Annette Garsteck:

• Website: annettegarsteck.com   

• Email: annette@annettegarsteck.com  

• LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annettegarsteck/  

• YouTube: https://bit.ly/wklyvideos  

• Instagram: https://bit.ly/IGAG  

Get in touch with Brigitte Bojkowszky:

• Join The EMBODY YOUR BRAND Challenge: https://courses.bridgetbrands.com/courses/embody-your-brand
• Website: https://www.bridgetbrands.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bojkowszkyb/ 
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bridgetbrands  
• significant women book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0927YG1FH

Get in touch with Brigitte Bojkowszky:

• • Website BridgetBrands: https://www.bridgetbrands.com
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bojkowszkyb/
  • Book Significant Women: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0927YG1FH
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BridgetBrands
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brigitte.bojkowszky
  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bridgetbrands
  • X: https://twitter.com/BridgetBrands
  • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bridgetbrands

👉 Download Your Entrepreneurial Branding Starter Checklist: https://courses.bridgetbrands.com/f/entrepreneurial-branding-starter-checklist

Transcript

Bridget: 0:12

Today my guest is Annette Garsteck. Annette is the founder of Annette Garsteck Career Consulting, a coaching firm that guides ambitious women on the path to accelerate their careers transition to new industry and get paid what they are worth. And that is a recognized expert and speaker on women empowerment and has delivered keynote workshops in multiple career advocacy master classes and business resource group panels. She is a certified senior professional career coach and a certified Lean in Circle leader, an initiative of the Sheryl Sandberg and Dave Goldberg Family Foundation for the past 20 years Annette that has developed top leaders at some of them worlds most prestigious companies such as Cleveland Clinic, FedEx, and Jo-Ann Fabrics. I warmly welcome Annette Garsteck. Welcome to BrandsTalk.

Annette: 1:19

I'm so excited to be here, Bridget. Thank you. Yeah. I'm also excited

Bridget: 1:23

to have you as my guest today to shine a spotlight on job seekers who try to

Annette: 1:32

land their dream job,

Bridget: 1:34

and you are helping them in your pursuit as being a coach, because there are many job seekers out there that think that branding is something that only applies to businesses. But actually we know branding and in specific personal branding is how we want to be perceived by others. So in the case of a job seeker being perceived by the hiring company in a certain way, and it's very often a make or break for getting a landing that job. So how do you bring awareness to your client that is about branding, about their personal brand's, unique blend of, skills and the capabilities we have to know how the expertise. And the personality, personality they bring to the table. So it's really about what they communicate to them to outshine the competition, land and job. And isn't it really like about telling a story? So telling stories, is that what makes a lasting impression

Annette: 2:41

of us? So how do you see that? Yes, I do. I see personal branding, especially for job seekers as an evolving story, a story that they can clearly communicate to the recruiter, to the hiring manager a story. That is visible possibly before they've ever even talked to somebody. So a brand, their story is visible on LinkedIn, it's on their resume, it's their professional email address, it's their, profile picture on their LinkedIn accounts. So it's all these different subtle ways that they communicate who they are and the value that they'll bring to your organization. And, , I don't cover it specifically as branding. During my coaching, Bridget, I talk to them about their value. Mm-hmm. their stories because a job seeker is full of anxiety, anxiety, that they're not good enough, that they're not gonna get back to work fast enough. That they're never going to be able to leave this toxic environ. They're stuck in. And so I don't wanna add this level of, oh gosh, now I have to learn personal branding. So I infuse it throughout my process and help guide them to a better picture, a better profile story, a better resume, and then how to tell their story when they actually meet with someone and either interview or are in conversations over Messenger text. Okay. So

Bridget: 4:18

that's beautiful to infuse the meaning of personal branding by stories and by other means that you help them with elevate their personal brand. They already have a brand, but they are not aware of it. So correct.. What is the method you use to help them brand them or elevate their brand?

Annette: 4:41

Yes. So I, I start at the beginning with them. We take a step back and we think about what's important and a lot of what is important to them is part of their personal brand. So if it's important to this particular job seeker that she is seen as an expert or that she is a natural helper, she's always helped people, then that becomes part of her brand. How do we infuse into all of. Pieces of marketing, that they are a natural helper and that they're, they're one of the good, good people, right? They're gonna help their coworkers, their their company. And then the other part that we do is I help people remember their successes. Mainly my clients are women, Bridget, we tend to think that we're community oriented team members and that we do what we have to do to get our job done. And if we do that, somebody will notice us and promote us, right? Mm-hmm., at least in the us that's of the story we're told from being very young girls to being young women. And that's not exactly true. But we tend to act like it is, and then we don't track our successes. So it's so fun when we can talk about what kind of improvement did you show? What ways did you reduce cost? And we start to quantify their successes. And then those go on the documents. They go in LinkedIn, they go on their resume, and that's the basis for the great stories. Do you wanna know how I reduced costs by $50,000? Do you wanna know how I improved the average speed of answer in my contact center? Those become really great stories and why people pick up the. To call and interview my candidates. And I think they

Bridget: 6:29

also come across much more confident and competent because you're not comparing yourself with others. You are looking at your own track record, what you have accomplished in the last five, two years or six months. And that helps you to come across in a completely different way. When it comes to energy, you are much more motivating, inspiring. Yeah, you come across much more competent,

Annette: 6:54

right? Absolutely. So, so,

Bridget: 6:55

uh, How can we because you said you are helping them become visible before they even talk. So how can we, Yeah, How can we improve, let's say our LinkedIn profile? Because a lot of job hunters or companies that are hiring are going nowadays on LinkedIn, so how can we present ourselves in the best possible

Annette: 7:20

way? Mm-hmm., LinkedIn is a tool just as email is a tool just as your smartphone is a tool. So it's very helpful to, first of all, view it that way. And second of all, showcase who you are. So let's not hide behind. I don't show my profile picture until I'm connected to someone, or I'm not gonna dis display my last name. So my first tip is, Open it up, don't hide and be there. Be loud. And then the second part is to have a complete profile. Start with your picture. Start with a background banner. Start with an engaging headline, and then talk about who you are and what you've done. And. Don't be afraid to showcase that you've won an award or where you got your education at or some women are tend to be embarrassed that they haven't finished their degree yet. That's okay. Put down there that you've started your education and you're still pursuing it because that shows that you're a continuous learner and you're always interested in proving yourself. So be there and, and have it open and. Don't hide behind it is my first tip for LinkedIn. And then the second part is to use it as a tool. Engage with people, connect, comment, or share your different thoughts on something because that shows that you are again learning and that you are part of a community and you're interested in growing.

Bridget: 8:57

Okay. This is one way of how to present our. To, mm-hmm., all the companies

Annette: 9:03

out there that are hiring right now

Bridget: 9:05

I see a fit with, but then there's the next step. We are sending resumes to this company, so how can we best shine

Annette: 9:14

in a resume. So in a resume, you wanna shine like we talked a little bit before by highlighting your accomplishments, seeing numbers, seeing figures on a resume really is an attention grabber. And people stop and they look and they read. The statistics show you have about seven to 10 seconds to grab somebody's attention with their resume. It's short. And we have the attention span of a goldfish, right? So you want to do something to stop them and make them look, and when they see a number, they'll stop and look. And then they'll go back and they'll be like, Oh, what's the context of that number? Great, let me, let me call this person. Let me get her on the, Okay. I

Bridget: 9:57

love the expression having an attention span like

Annette: 10:00

a goldfish . Seriously, they might actually have a longer attention span than humans right now, . But I think

Bridget: 10:08

it's more about really being short, precise, and to the point with the right keywords. That's

Annette: 10:14

correct. So what instead means That's it. We shall use, So you want to use words., it's easy for you and I to think that we would wanna use words that describe us or describe the person that is the job seeker, but you actually want to use the words that are in the job description you are applying for. If they talk about somebody that has a project manager focus or a project manager mindset, those. Need to get into your resume. The job description that your hiring company or your future hiring company has put out, you know what that is? It's a wishlist. It's a wishlist for their ideal candidate, and you wanna reflect that you have everything that they wish for. And so you wanna include those keywords in your resume. Okay, so we have included

Bridget: 11:11

all the wish words, in the resume. We are chosen and we are invited for an interview. So how does the job interview play into branding and how does that help me to land the job? What can I do

Annette: 11:27

in an interview? Yeah, the interview is, It, you're like halfway there Once you've gotten the interview, Once you're in front of someone, you are definitely on your way. So you wanna do a couple of things. You want to be your best. You in an interview. You wanna be prepared so that you're not feeling anxious or nervous, and then you want it to be a conversation, so you don't wanna feel like you are being interrogated by the interviewer and you don't want to interrogate the interview. Like this list of 30 things you wanna know about this ideal job and company, and then being prepared is your key because it allows you to have. That conversational flow, it's great because you can then say, Oh yeah, let me tell you about this time when I did X, Y, Z. Let me tell you the specifics and then let me tell you the outcome. So if you have your stories rehearsed and prepared, then you just come across as you and not some nervous job seeker that is so desperate to get this job. She'll do just about anything. Yeah. So

Bridget: 12:35

preparation is the key here as. Yeah. Yes. Alright, Annette. Annette in German language. Annette in English

Annette: 12:44

language. Love it.. Bridget: So I would like to talk a brand, and I would like to know from you why you have started your business. You started

Bridget: 12:56

Annette Garsteck in 2017 teen what I remember, Yes. Yeah. So why did you start your business? What was the intention and What is your big why

Annette: 13:07

with that big business? Sure. My big why. Is to help the women that used to work for me in corporate America. So that's always my intention, helping those women that thought they weren't enough, that were sure that there was some reason they couldn't be successful, and move forward and give them the confidence to find what they really hope for and wish for, and not just to stay stuck in a job. They've been there for 10 years. And I have casually helped friends and family for years interview prep, work on new resumes and it was my husband that encouraged me to hang my shingle and start a business and try to formally help women do what I had been doing informally for years. Yeah,

Bridget: 13:57

sometimes we need others to see our strength and where our purpose is in life in order to like, Okay, actually this is it. That's what I'm here for. How I can best serve in, in my life, in this life, and where I can leave a legacy. So Correct. Yeah. So the journey from being an employee to become an entrepreneur, how easy or how difficult was it for you to start

Annette: 14:26

your business. So the year I left corporate america, I ended up consulting the following year for somebody that I had built a business relationship with. And that gave me the confidence to see that there was a need for companies, there was a need to fulfill. a special role when companies didn't wanna hire for it. Just to be paid for your knowledge, which I had never considered before. I always thought getting paid for my knowledge meant I should get a new nine to five, and that had worked for me for 20 years. So it was a different mindset. And then I think the hardest part of the journey for me, Bridget, is just figuring out how to communicate who I am. My value and how I can help people. And that's been a longer journey because I tried different things on, I didn't like them, they weren't quite right, and then I had to try and find something new and I finally feel like I've done that now, only five years later, I feel comfortable that I can communicate how I can help you and how you and I can work together.

Bridget: 15:37

That's beautiful. Yeah, so you also say your mission is to break down the biases and barriers that hold our income. So here we talk about women empowerment and us as women. So we, we hold our income hostage to this gender gap. So how can we turn that around? How can we use that? Or how can we resolve the problem, let's say like that? Is it become allies? Is it to collaborate rather than compete as women? I'm sure there's a lot of women out there that also feel alone in their career endeavor. So how can we do that? Do you have

Annette: 16:21

any. I have some pointers. There's, there's some things that are not gonna be up to us to break down the bias. I don't know that you're going to be able to change someone's bias that a women, a women's place is in the home and she's not worth as much in the office. I don't know that you or I can change that in others, but we can do something to change our own situation. So I would say, I'll give three tips. So the first tip is to talk about the money. There's no, there's no metal earned for keeping your salary secret. Talk with your cohorts. What are they paid? What is their. Salary for this particular role. Do your research to find out what the value is in the marketplace. LinkedIn has an awesome salary calculator. So you just go linkedin.com/salary and then what LinkedIn does is they show you jobs that are and what they're paying currently and then here in the US. Colorado, California and New York now publish job salary ranges on open positions. So it's a good idea to go check your worth in one of those three states to see what it is. And then the other thing that you can do to., break down that bias and get your gender gap or your gender pay gap a little bit shorter than it was, is to negotiate. And how do you negotiate is that you don't accept that first offer that's given to you for a new role. Listen, if a company resends an offer because you negotiated, you don't wanna work for them, they're showing who you are they, or they're showing you who they are. And that's not what you wanna do. And then the second part of negotiating is you want to negotiate in your performance review or your annual review. Don't just settle for that three to 5% merit increase, show your accomplishments and negotiate. And then the third part of negotiating is don't. In that same role for 10 years. The research shows that there's compensation compression after you stay in a role for more than two years. So keep moving, keep progressing, and negotiate, and. Those three tips should help you personally. And then if you teach those three tips to somebody else, then you're gonna help them. And this can be a ripple effect that we're not in competition with each other. Women can actually help each other. We can collaborate, we can calibrate where we're at, and we can push each other to do better and do more for ourselves. Mm-hmm.. Bridget: So thank you for the That we get paid what we actually worth, because I think there's a lot of women out there, myself included, I was the same, struggling with self worth, deeming our lights and feeling we do not deserve it even though we deserve it. So we have like upfront before we can go into such a negotiation at all and demand what we are worth how can um Push through such limitations we put on ourselves. Mm-hmm.. So I encourage women to have a journal or a notebook or a diary and write down every day one thing that you were happy you accomplished at work. It could be something personal too. But if we're gonna focus on closing our gender pay gap, then write down something that you did amazing at work today, and then a couple weeks after you've written it down, I want you to. Back and I want you to quantify it. So I had a really good day at my call center job today. I took 45 calls and then once you have some time that passes, when I go back, I could be like, Oh, I remember that day. I specifically helped this customer do this, or I specifically helped this particular salesperson make this sale, or I answered those 45 calls in less than 60 seconds. My average speed of answer was high. As you can tell Bridget, I came from a contact center background, but quantifying those things will help you. So if you have 20 days a month where you have written something down good, and then 20 days a month where you can quantify it, then when it comes time for that raise negotiation, you can say, Look at my numbers. The, This is what I've accomplished. I've made this sort of impact. I've touched, 45 times, 20 customers a day. That's a big deal of people you've made an impact on. And your supervisor, your manager, will be like, Wow., that's a big deal, and then it will help them see what you're worth. I often was able to work with the numbers and the pay scale that I was offering people, and I was able to move money around to find extra percent or two for those people that were doing the best job for the department and for the company. Wow.

Bridget: 21:42

This is great because I also see that when you are doing such a journaling, Journaling about what you did great over this many days you also generate a lot of different stories you can tell.. Annette: Yes. That's something that you, And then when it's time to interview, you're ready to go. You've got this great idea. And that's part of this special project that I'm working on. Bridget, I haven't really told a ton of people, but I'm working on writing a book that teaches women how to do. These practices that help set you up for success in your career without it being overwhelming or you thinking and spinning for a whole weekend I don't wanna update my resume. I don't remember what I did. If it becomes a habit and we do it for ourselves every single day, then those sort of self-doubts and ways in which we talk to ourselves that aren't friendly will go away and we'll know how amazing we are. Cuz we've already told ourself every single day last. How amazing we are. So do you already have a launch date for your

Annette: 22:52

book? Okay, so my goal is to launch on my birthday, which is next year, so January 28th next year. That's when I plan to have everything done and launch. Okay. I would

Bridget: 23:04

love to read this book and we need to promote

Annette: 23:06

it.. Sounds good.

Bridget: 23:10

Good. Yeah. You also guide women on their path, not only out of their current job, but maybe also into different, or into another or new industry. Mm-hmm.. So how do you help them apply for a job in another industry while getting paid what their worth, at least.

Annette: 23:34

You know what they really yes. Yeah. What they desire, right? So this is part of. My favorite part of my job is working with women to help them understand that they've developed a skill or a competency and that it's valuable in another industry. So if you are on LinkedIn for any longer than five seconds lately, you will see that teachers want out of the classroom. They love their students, they love the children that they teach, but all of the other. Industry stuff has been really hard on them, especially the last two years., Let's use a teacher as an example. A teacher is probably one of the best wranglers of people, right? Have you seen better people management than in teachers? No. No, you haven't. So we talk about all these different transferable skills. People management, time management customer. Teachers have to talk to people above them, their administrators, the board of directors, and yet they have to somehow manage this little six year old that doesn't want to color when everybody else is coloring. So I help people think about what they do in their current. And then how does that translate to their next job? And the super fun part is finding new roles that interest them and then writing the transitioning. Resume and talking about the skill they possess in a way, like we talked about before. That's the wishlist of their future company and their future job. So it's just realizing what you already do and how good you are at it, and then translating it into the new language of the new industry that you wanna pursue. Sounds

Bridget: 25:27

awesome. Thank you so much, Annette. You are living in your sweet spot. You are a thought leader and you are definitely a personal brand. So what is that singular thing that makes you unique in this space of career coaches? Why should someone come to you and not go to anyone else? What is so particular

Annette: 25:54

about you? I think what's particular or different about me is that I've been there before, so I was a, I started my career as a temporary, I didn't even work for the big Fortune 50 company. I just, At their building for almost two years before someone noticed my value and, and then asked me to apply. So I have been there where I didn't know what I was worth, I didn't know what I wanted to do, and I took myself from that place to eventually being, know, the manager of a whole department and. Working on big projects that were enterprisewide. So if you want somebody that knows how it feels, then I'd love, love, love to work with you. And I also have some big sister tendencies, Bridget, so I will definitely guard you and protect you. I, if that's, called for if we need that. Bridget: Great. Thank you so much. And , do you have any helpful advice now for those job seekers, especially the women job seekers. Advice that they can take action now to become their best version? To convey their personal brand? Yeah, to convey their stories they have to, they need to tell to win their dream job. Do think that one action you can take right now today is to call on somebody that's been influential in your life and tell them what you desire. Tell them what you're seeking. If you can do it today and then do it tomorrow, and then do it the next day. The best opportunities, the best matches are when somebody that already knows how wonderful you are tells somebody. That needs somebody wonderful in their life about you, and that's where you feel the most fulfilled. So don't be afraid to just conduct a job, search online and apply for 300 jobs on LinkedIn. Get talking to people, and especially somebody that loves you already, and they will help you find your next opportunity. Great.

Bridget: 28:16

Good, Annette. Are you willing to ? Are you willing to share any experience that was a major learning for you, a detour that was significant in the way it shaped you and maybe still shapes you today? So is there anything you would love to talk about that might be helpful for our

Annette: 28:39

audience? I will. I'll tell the story about , a major bias that I was dealing with in the workplace and actually one of the most profound experiences that caused me to leave corporate America. I had this spectacular boss, Frit. She was amazing, and her boss was fairly new to the organization and was hard to get to know, so she was new. Nobody knew her very well, and so she called my boss her direct report and me into the same meeting, and by the end of that meeting she had my boss and I, who were perfectly aligned at all times, turned against each other. and I walked out of that meeting like, how could my boss throw me under the bus? But the reality was, is that somebody else's influence had done that. And so when I took a step back, I was mad. I was so mad. But I did, I stopped and I took a step back. and about three days later I'm like, We can't let this woman do this to us. And she is a classic Queen Bee. So if you have not read Cheryl Sandberg's book, Lean In, You need to specifically to learn about the Queen Bee. So the Queen Bee is this woman, and I think we talked about her before Bridget, but she doesn't., her place is preserved unless she keeps other women down. Mm-hmm.. And so if you work for somebody like that, or you think that you work for somebody like that, now is the time to figure out if you're gonna try and reverse the damaging personality that that person has in your world. Or if you're going to opt out and go somewhere else with a better culture. I chose to opt out because I could tell that this Queen Bee was so strong that it wasn't gonna be a place that I could grow and thrive and move my team full of women forward. So it was a huge moment for me, and I still have a good relationship with the woman that was my direct boss and that Queen Bee is still in place and making. an impact we'll say at that place of business, but maybe not the impact that is so helpful for her team members. Thanks

Bridget: 31:13

for sharing that experience with us. That helps also a lot of people in such a situation, how to deal with it and how to go forward with that. Yes. Good. Are there any final thoughts on this particular like either job seeking or pivoting into other industries. Is there any final thought that you would like to share

Annette: 31:35

with us? I would like to remind people. You already are enough. You're already a great worker, a great employee, a great friend a great colleague. So don't lose confidence in what you have to offer. You're just in a transition. You're in a weird position right now where things don't feel as as certain, and that's okay because out of. You will grow and you will find something even better. And so know that, know that you're worth finding something even better. I love

Bridget: 32:11

that. Thank you so much. That's so inspired. You're welcome. All right, so before we wrap up our live show, I would like to do a game with you, I would like to do some rapid Fire terms. I will throw out a term mm-hmm., and you hopefully answer something top of., Annette: Are you ready? Okay.. I hope. I hope I'm ready. I'm ready. Oh, I'm sure you are ready,. Bridget: Okay. Story.

Annette: 32:41

Mm. Personal brand success. Achievable for everyone.

Bridget: 32:48

Self-worth

Annette: 32:50

Mm. Self-belief.

Bridget: 32:53

Mm-hmm. Women Empowerment.. Annette: Mm. Strengthen numbers. Okay. And brands. So what does a brand mean to you?

Annette: 33:07

Ooh, brand means to me that you're authentically your true self.

Bridget: 33:13

Beautiful. All right, Annette, where can listeners find you to get in

Annette: 33:18

touch with you? I mainly hang out on LinkedIn. How shocking, right?. So you can find , you can find me right under my name. Annette Garsteck. And then I also have an Instagram account as well. And that's at Annette Gar, Stuck. And if you visit me at any one of those places, be sure to say hi and connect with.. All right,

Bridget: 33:43

good. Annette, thank you so much for being my guest today on BrandsTalk. Having you here was a true pleasure to learn how ambitious job seekers can convey their personal brand to land their green job. Thank you so much, Annette.

Annette: 34:00

Thank you.

Bridget: 34:01

Thank you.