Podcast with Dr. Kandis Boyd Wyatt, Faculty Member, Transportation and Logistics and
Lindsay Watson, co-founder of FIA NYC Employment Services, principal of Joy Fluent, LLC
How do you reinvent yourself during these trying times? In this episode, APU business professor Dr. Kandis Wyatt talks to Lindsay Watson, a career coach and business recruiter, about how to translate your skills and interests to advance your career. Learn why it’s critical for professionals to assess, understand, and quantify your value and accomplishments so you can properly market yourself to potential employers. Also learn the difference between a mentor and a career coach and why both are so important, how to pursue training and skill-building to ensure you’re prepared for the next step, and much more about how to reinvent yourself during this time of change.
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Dr. Kandis Wyatt: Welcome to the podcast. I’m your host, Kandis Boyd Wyatt. The goal of this podcast is to highlight our local heroes in our community, who are champions of important issues affecting us all, on both a national and international scale, from the classroom, to the meeting room, to the boardroom.
And so, today, we’re going to add to that very important discussion happening on a national and international stage regarding the importance of reinventing yourself. So today my guest is Lindsay Watson, she’s a global speaker, and Lindsay will talk about the importance of reinventing yourself during these trying times. So Lindsay, welcome to the podcast and thank you for joining me.
Lindsay Watson: Thank you so much for having me.
Dr. Kandis Wyatt: First, let’s start talking a little bit about you. There’s so many critical conversations happening today that pertain to switching careers and reinventing yourself, and I’m just really impressed by your background and also what you’ve done in this area. You’ve been communicating the importance of this topic for several years, and I’m sure today’s audience can benefit from you sharing your story. So can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Lindsay Watson: Absolutely. It’s so funny that you talked about the reinventing process. I was just speaking with someone and we were talking about the foundations of who we are and being able to take that and translate it to either a new industry or a new career trajectory. And I will say, I’ve had to do that several times over the course of my career.
So for the past 15 years, I have worked in the staffing and recruiting industry. And with that, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some fantastic clients, from start-up to Fortune 500. I help them find top talent and develop relationships with some of the most brilliant minds that I’ve ever come across and have had the opportunity to get to know, present company included.
And so I think that when you think about who you are as a person, and when it comes to the career perspective, the most important thing is to understand that you, as an individual, have skillsets and you have abilities, and that those skillsets and abilities can be applied to any industry or genre, if you would say, of where you would apply those talents.
And so what I learned through that is, I am not a recruiter, it’s the industry I work in. But at the end of the day, my strength is connecting people to people, and people to opportunities. And I do so by getting to understand the nature behind how companies work, what people need, and how to make that connection.
And to be honest with you, what I have learned, especially over these past six months is, that title can very, very different, but at the core of who I am, that’s really what I do. And so I’ve had the pleasure to be able to do so, in the recruiting and staffing industry. But even more now, I see the opportunity to use that essence of who I am and contribute it to other industries.
Dr. Kandis Wyatt: Wow. That’s great. What I just heard was, you connect people to people and people to opportunities, I think that’s awesome. Especially in this new environment where we have record setting unemployment, I think that reinventing yourself and just understanding what your skillset is, is really important. So can you start by talking about, maybe, some of the challenges you’ve seen with working professionals switching careers?
Lindsay Watson: Absolutely. Challenges are challenges until you overcome them, and then you have the tools that you need to be able to move forward. So I think the biggest challenge, if I were to split it up into two categories, it’s, one, having professionals understand what their value is.
And then being able to assess that value and quantify it, put it on paper, have that vision in front of you, so that you can see it and you can be able to communicate it with others. Once those two challenges are overcome, it’s just a matter of taking that information and presenting it to decision makers who may be in a position to hire, or deciding to start your own business.
So let’s go back to the challenges just a little bit. So when it comes to value, what I do find, and this is consistent through all levels whether you’re entry-level or super senior-level executive, is, you have to stop and assess what you’ve accomplished. It’s important to know what foundation you’re launching yourself from.
And a lot of times, most times, candidates that I speak with don’t realize how much they’ve accomplished and how much they’ve contributed to the organizations that they’ve worked for. So being able to work with someone and to help to quantify that data. So for example, increased revenue by 50% year over year, brought in new business that allowed a 10% increase in the internal staff hiring, reducing costs by 20%.
There are a lot of ways to quantify accomplishments and achievements, but it really starts with stopping to assess your value. Once that happens, and once you get the package put together, then you can go out and market yourself very easily because you know who you are and you know what you’re marketing. So it really does start with those two foundational items.
Dr. Kandis Wyatt: Wow. That’s great. Yeah. I think marketing yourself is something that they don’t teach you, at least when you’re preparing for a career. And so many times we focus on training for those skillsets that you need, but not necessarily training for marketing yourself. So in a perfect world, what training would be needed to help people start and succeed, and just become more versed, in reinventing themselves.
Lindsay Watson: So I will say I am very, very blessed to have had a fantastic, wonderful mentor. His name is Bill Brown. He’s mentored me, literally, since I graduated college and has helped me to really understand how to find my value and give back to others. So I use him as an example because having a mentor, someone who’s accomplished what you want, or someone who has a lifestyle that you’re seeking after, is so important. So that would be first and foremost.
Second, what I have learned over these past six months is the importance of hiring a career coach. I went to school, got my degree, and when I graduated college, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do. So I took a job in customer service and kind of found my way into recruiting, but I really didn’t understand that process.
So having a partner who has had experience working with individuals, to help them determine what their career path can look like, even if it’s more than one path per se, I think it would be very helpful. And at this time where things may be a little bit quiet, depending on where you are at this point, having a career coach and being able to have a conversation with someone who understands how to make those pivots, I think, would be very, very helpful, training-wise.
The last thing I will say is, when it comes to training specific to whatever career you’re pursuing, always look for the opportunity to get certificates. If you have a software that you can dabble in because you know that companies need X software folks to have used it, start using it now, start testing it out. You don’t need to be in a professional work setting in order to add to your skillset, especially if you know for sure what the industry you’re targeting is going to need.
We stress that a lot with our candidates. Because a lot of times clients, especially nowadays, if there’s a new software or a new application is being implemented, you’re not going to have three to five years of experience because it’s just come out. But if you have six months of experience doing it on your own, by the time you get to speak with a decision maker or a hiring manager, you’re going to have a leg up. So really look at opportunities to be able to add to your skillset, even now, while you’re waiting and preparing for that next opportunity.
Dr. Kandis Wyatt: So I have a follow-up question. You mentioned a mentor and you mentioned a coach. Can you briefly just help the listeners understand how those two are similar, and then how those two are different?
Lindsay Watson: Fantastic question. Yes. I agree with you, there are similarities and differences. So I think the similarities are: we all need wisdom, we all need counsel, we all need sound advice, and career coaches and mentors will definitely be able to provide that to us.
Typically, when we look for a coach or a mentor, we look for someone who’s already accomplished something that we want to accomplish, or someone that we admire or respect, even if it’s not a hard skill, maybe it’s a soft skill. So those, to me, would be the similarities.
The differences, and I could only speak from my experiences. My mentor has mentored me, not just for my career, and not specifically or exclusively, he hasn’t been trained to do so exclusively, but it’s really life. So I look at my mentor as someone who has integrity, who is honest, who is consistent, who is loyal. And so those qualities, in whatever he does, are the things that, really, I look to learn from him.
What he does and how he does, or how he uses those qualities, is almost secondary for me. And so his mentorship, for me, has been helping me to have my eyes open to see what my value and my potential is, and what I can contribute back to the world.
When you think about a career coach, career coaches really should be focused on, “Three to five years, what do you want to accomplish? What’s your goal, from a career perspective, and what steps do we need to take to get you there?” So those, to me, would be the biggest differences.
Dr. Kandis Wyatt: All right, thank you for that. So, especially in this new environment, and I kind of touched on this before, many businesses literally had to pivot, at a moment’s notice, to remain relevant and to remain successful. And so, if a business needs to pivot, then also, individuals probably need to do the same thing. So in this new COVID-19 global pandemic environment, in your opinion, has it shined a new light on career options not previously considered?
Lindsay Watson: That is a great question, and I will try and be brief with my responses. I tell you what, having worked in this industry for all of these years. First and foremost, to answer your question, absolutely, yes.
What we do see, from our industry’s perspective, and what we’re rejoicing at is, a lot of companies have been forced to go remote and realize, now, they can do it. So the work-life balance that so many people have still had a need for, but didn’t have, now the employees and the folks working for the companies have that. And it’s okay.
In the beginning it was absolute chaos because there were a lot of companies that did not have the structure to work remote, or they hadn’t tested it out. We’ve all had to learn over these past few months, but I would say that there is definitely a light shined there. Because there are so many fantastic people, who work so hard and give so much, and they need that balance, the balance between working and what they contribute at work, and then what they contribute at home and for their own personal lives. And so that opportunity has been there. And not temporarily, there are so many companies now saying, “We may keep this up,” or, “We may keep this option open for as many people as we can,” or, “We’re going to extend it.”
For example, Google just extended mandatory remote work until 2021. So there’s a light on the possibility, and the opportunity, for companies to have remote workforce. And I am a champion of that, work-life balance is a big part of what we instituted when we started the staffing agency eight and a half years ago, and it’s critical, it’s key.
Going to another category, in terms of how the pandemic has shined a new light on other career options. I have been speaking with people who have started their own businesses. They’ve decided that they’re going to go into consulting. They’ve realized that, where they’ve been working, they’re really not happy. And this is an opportunity for them to sit down and really assess what they’re going to do next, in a way where they’ll be happy and still be able to contribute to the organization that they work for, so we see a light there.
And we’re also, honestly, seeing a light on folks who are really determined to make a step up. So there’s a lot of fear and a lot of uncertainty happening with a lot of roles, and then there are also a lot of people saying, “I’m just going to go for it, I have nothing to lose. Tomorrow is not promised, I’m going for that C-level position,” or, “I’m going for that VP position, I’m going for it.” And so we do see light in many different ways.
Dr. Kandis Wyatt: I really appreciate what you just said, that is really inspirational. I read an article, and I hope I can properly state the statistic, they said that 40% of the future careers, between now and 2030, haven’t even been invented yet.
And so, when I read that statistic, it just really made me think that we are in a time of change, but it can also be change for the better. So I like what you said about how people are starting their own business, people are reinventing themselves in so many ways. And especially in this online environment, it just seems like you have to now have an online component of your business in some way, shape or form.
It could be from as little as scheduling, to invoices, or diving into deeper aspects as well. So I can definitely resonate with you when you say there is this important area that we need to tap into when it comes to just new career options.
So what are some of the critical soft skills that are needed to help others understand how to reinvent yourself? Because so many times, as I said before, we focus on the hard skills, or how to do something, but sometimes those soft skills are really what distinguishes one person from the next and helps you land that deal.
Lindsay Watson: Absolutely. I had a great opportunity to speak with someone just a couple of days ago, and what came out of that conversation was that we are not our industry. We are human beings with gifts and talents, and we may contribute those gifts and talents to industries for X amount of years, but we are not our industry.
And I stress that, and it may not sound like it connects, but it does. When you think about who you are as a person, the essence, the being, I talked a little bit about integrity, honesty, loyalty, all of those things. Those, to me, are those skills that are just built-in you, that come out of you when you use your gifts and talents, regardless of what industry you work in.
So I would love everyone to really be focused on their presentation, how they treat others, what they feel as though they bring, from a value perspective, when it comes to working as a team, because that’s going to be absolutely critical. You’d mentioned before, new technologies, new opportunities are going to be coming up, so we’re going to need a lot of team leaders.
And so those team leader qualities are things that you’re going to want to hone in on, and make sure that you have the opportunity to market, when you’re presenting yourself to a hiring manager or a decision maker. In terms of being able to work from home, in the office, being able to pivot quickly, I guarantee you over these past six months, anyone listening has had to pivot in one way or the other, and you’ve done so successfully.
Add that to your soft skill, add that to whatever it took for you to stay committed and focused and diligent and come out with a result that you can quantify. Those are the things that you’re going to want to really, really focus on.
Because at the end of the day, things are going to continue to change, but as jobs become available or as new technologies become available, you want to be able to position yourself in a way where you can say, “No matter what comes, everything that I bring, in addition to those hard skills, is going to make this work.” So this is a great time to sit down, and maybe write a list of those top skills, and really how you shined over these past few months in your pivoting.
Dr. Kandis Wyatt: That’s great. That is great. So another topic I want to talk about is, overcoming some of those challenges when it comes to reinventing yourself. Because sometimes, like you said, in the workplace, you might be typecast as a certain category or a certain type of person working in a certain area. So how do you handle inherent biases when it comes to choosing a career or switching careers? How do you suggest that one identifies inherent biases? And then how do you address these issues?
Lindsay Watson: That’s a great question. I have a couple of different answers, I shoot straight from the hip, so let me just jump right in if you don’t mind. So when it comes to biases, I know this is not a video podcast, I am a, just about, six foot tall African American woman. I grew up in a very, very small town in Connecticut, ended up working in New York City, on Wall Street, for several years. I’ve literally, career-wise, have grown up with bias surrounding me. I have found a way to not allow that to consume me, if a way. And to define that a little bit more is, I do my best to stay focused on what my goals are, what I can contribute, and always keep my options open.
One of the reasons that I learned that I am not my industry, or one of the reasons how I learned that is, I had to sit down and assess what I’d accomplished. And I wasn’t sure. So I actually took some time to put a resume together and I realized that, you know what? All of these talents and opportunities that have come, and the talent I’ve been able to contribute, I am a connector at the end of the day. And by learning and understanding who I am and what my value is, I’ve been able to keep the bias at bay, if that makes sense.
And so, as a result of being able to sit down and really assess and understand who I am and keep that bias at bay, I’ve had multiple opportunities to speak, I’ve had multiple revenue streams come in, and I’ve been able to pivot so fast that bias can’t catch up to me. It just can’t get me, because I know who I am.
And so with that, if there’s anyone who’s been working in an industry where they feel as though there may be some bias there, just remember, you’re not your industry. If you decide to pivot, understand what you’re bringing to the table and then do everything you can to present yourself in a way where the value shines above and beyond any pigeonhole that someone may be looking to get you in, at the end of the day.
And it is possible to do that, not saying that it’s easy, but it’s very possible. And I can only speak from my experience, but those things have helped me to really be ahead of the bias and not be consumed by it and really negatively impacted by it. So that would be my suggestion for starting points.
Dr. Kandis Wyatt: I think that’s great. That’s great. So as we begin to close this podcast, can you just give us some nuggets of wisdom? What are some resources that you’ve used, or you’ve provided in the past, to help individuals become more aware of how to reinvent yourself?
Lindsay Watson: That’s a great question. In terms of resources, there are two approaches that I am actively involved in, when it comes to helping individuals become more aware and help them to reinvent themselves. One is more internal, the other is more external, interestingly enough.
On the internal side, I am proud to be co-founder of FIA NYC Employment Services. We are a staffing agency, in business for almost nine years, and specialize in connecting experienced higher professionals to top companies seeking qualified talent.
In addition to staffing and recruiting, and because of this year’s recent events, one of our newest divisions is Executive Career Coaching division. Completely separate from staffing services, we work one-on-one with professionals to help them identify their goals, assess their accomplishments, and map out a strategic plan to help them get to the next step or phase in their career. We do so by offering resume and cover letter writing services, one-on-one career coaching, workshops and professional Linkedin or biography writing services. So we will work with folks to do complete resume rewrites.
We also do one-on-one career coaching. Thing I like about this we get to use the years and experience we have in staff recruiting and insight from employers around country and use it to help people who work with us from career coaching perspective. But we also give them an inside look into what employers and clients are really looking for.
The external side is Joy Fluent, LLC. And I’ll be honest, this business was birthed during my own process, just last year, of having to sit down and assess what I had accomplished, how I saw myself as an entrepreneur, and what I believed I offered as a career professional.
In addition to staffing and recruiting, I have found myself supporting small business owners by managing their digital media for almost 10 years. Over the years, I have learned that being able to tell your story, and then being able to show your story online, are two different things and that we actually need both.
So, Joy Fluent is a digital media company that specializes in helping individuals, companies, and brands be represented well online. We help these folks set up their online presence. This ranges from websites, to press releases, biographies, imagery, social media and more. We believe that having a solid and respectable online presence will support those career and business goals that we just talked about.
I will say these are just two ways I’ve been involved offer ways for folks to pivot. The number one thing I’ve learned above and beyond the services we offer is really, I’m learning that I’m positioned to help others in ways I never thought possible and never would have been able to do so without stopping to assess what I’ve accomplished and achieved and find way to quantify that and put it on paper, for others to see.
For me, this has been the truest way of reinventing myself. I hope this really serves as an encouragement to others. There’s so much happening right now but there’s so much opportunity to sit down and assess and find the value from within and once you do so and get it on paper you’ll be able to see it over and over again and be able to contribute to your economy and your community and as a result help others.
I promise you this, to everyone listening, there’s a lot of news and there’s a lot happening. But I can say, for our industry, we’ve never experienced a pandemic effect, but we have experienced recessions. We’ve seen what’s happened and we can help to give you some guidance as to what to be prepared for next, based off of what we’ve experienced.
So if you can find someone who understands the back end of everything that’s happening and can share that, I think that that would really be a great starting point for getting help on how to really reinvent yourself.
Dr. Kandis Wyatt: Wow. That’s great. And I think that’s a great point to leave on. So thank you again for sharing your expertise and your perspective on this issue. And thanks for joining me today for the podcast.
Lindsay Watson: Thank you so much. This has been an honor.
Dr. Kandis Wyatt: Well, wonderful. So again, this has been Lindsay Watson, on reinventing yourself. And I also want to take a moment to thank our listeners for joining us. You can learn more about these topics, and more, by signing up for the bimonthly newsletter. So until our next podcast, be well and be safe.
About the Speakers
Dr. Kandis Y. Boyd Wyatt, PMP, is a professor at American Public University and has over 25 years of experience managing projects that specialize in supply chain management. She holds a B.S. in meteorology and an M.S. in meteorology and water resources from Iowa State University, as well as a D.P.A. in public administration from Nova Southeastern University.
Lindsay Watson has more than 15 years of professional experience in the world of human resources. As an entrepreneur, Watson is co-founder of FIA NYC Employment Services and Principal of Joy Fluent, LLC. As a human resources professional, Watson is a relationship management professional and public speaker, with a passion to “connect the dots” in the world of staffing. She specializes in establishing and cultivating business relationships with clients ranging from startup to Fortune 100.
Watson holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts from St. John’s University. In addition to professional work, Watson serves as an active leader at her church in New York City. She serves on the Board of Directors for the American Heart Association, is one of Lehigh Valley Business’ “Forty Under 40” award winners for 2020, and is a “Volunteer Week Recognition-Communications” Recipient for 2020 by the American Red Cross.
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