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Ever wish you had a mentor to help you become who you were meant to be? Crystal Ware is redefining what it means to become your best self, in business, life, and love and sharing everything she she knows to get YOU there faster.
Are you stuck? Feel like you are meant for more but not sure how to breakthrough? Every week, we will explore all of your questions on building a path to true happiness, achieving success and creating our dream life. Brick by brick, we will work through the issues and mindsets that keep us stuck, dive into finding our passion and how to take ACTION. Clarity (vision) + Confidence (Owning your worth) + Courage (to live life on your own terms and become your own CEO) propels you to your destiny. And the good news it: its all within you!
Each week, host, Crystal Ware, will bring you all of the practical wisdom to grow every aspect of your career and life including mindset, vision, goal planning, social media management, financial acumen and so much more. You'll also meet top business leaders, entrepreneurs, mompreneurers and innovative thinkers who invested in themselves and found their way success and happiness by leading on their own terms.
You were made for more, so start living like it today. Join us as we take action, grow together, and get inspired to reach for your dreams.
Crystal Ware 0:00:00
You welcome to the Get Clear with Crystal Ware podcast, the place where we get clear on our goals, own our with, and learn to be the CEOs of our own lives. I'm your host, Crystal Ware, lawyer and former Fortune 500 corporate leader who found the confidence to say goodbye to a lucrative career and start my own business. Now I'm opening up the playbook and sharing everything I've learned to get you there faster. It may not be easy, but it will always be worth it because you are made for more. So put on your big girl pants, jump on board, and let's reach for the stars. Are you ready to get clear?
Crystal Ware 0:00:38
I am coming in hot today with how to make big moves, crushing self doubt, going for that stretch job and exploding your career. Because I read a very interesting statistic recently, that when women see a job posting, they generally will not apply for it unless they meet 90% to 99% of the requirements listed on that job posting. While men are likely to apply when they reach 65% to 70% of the requirements. What does that do? It holds us back. It holds us back as women. It means that we are not progressing at the same rate that we are not growing, that we ware not stretching. That's why, in fact, it's called a stretch job because that's exactly what it is going to do. It's going to pull you out of your comfort zone zone. It's a job that you're not entirely qualified for, but that doesn't mean it's not for you. A stretch job will often challenge you and keep you fulfilled longer than other jobs because it takes you time to learn and familiarize yourself. So if you're sitting around asking yourself, what am I going to do next? I'm a little bit bored with where I am. I feel like I've reached a plateau. I've leveled off.
Crystal Ware 0:02:09
What is next for me then? It's likely now. Now is the time that you want to reach out and start looking for your next job. Whether that means it's with the same company you're already at, where you need to start facilitating and networking and see what's out there and see what can fit your skill set, but would be taking you to that next tier, or how to position yourself for another company and to be going out and interviewing for jobs that are not right there, aligning perfectly with where you are and what you've done and the kind of projects and tasks and other things that you've been doing. People often shrug off a stretch position because they feel like they'll be wasting their time because a hiring manager would never select them. Many women really are concerned with the time that it takes them to apply for jobs, whether they'll get a call back. There's a piece in there that has to do with Impostor syndrome, that I'm not really good enough, that I don't have what it takes, that I'm not going to be the right candidate. Then there's the fear of rejection. Will they call me? They won't call me. What if I get an interview and then they don't call me or I don't get a job offer? There's a lot of things that float around in our heads as women that keep us from just going out there and making it happen, for taking the chance, for just trying. And I come back over and over and over again to something that you should tattoo on your arm. If you have to cement it in your brain, in who you are, if you are there, you ware meant to be there. So what if you apply for some jobs and they never call you back?
Crystal Ware 0:03:49
That happens to people all the time. Even people that have 80 9100 percent of the qualifications on the paper, they don't always get a callback. So if you spend five or ten minutes of your time to go out there and try to obtain a job that you know would be great for you, that would stretch you and push you outside of your comfort zone, that's worth it. It's worth it for the chance that you succeed, that you get to that next level. That's not just about your job and your happiness and your growth, but it's about the money that comes with that and how we continue to grow and climb the corporate ladder and get to the upper echelons of where we want to be. But the most important part to me, and something I think that we as humans really thrive on, is growth. So don't let yourself stagnate. Don't let yourself get comfortable. When and why? And how should you be applying or going for jobs? Ask yourself, have you changed jobs recently? Are you finding any challenges in your current role? Are you bored at your current job? Do you dread going into the office? Do you feel like you have plateaued, that there is nothing left for you to gain?
Crystal Ware 0:05:03
Whether it's in your current role or at your company, you may have hit the peak, the ceiling of what your company has to offer for you. And if that's the case, you certainly need to change. If you're answering yes to any of these, then the stretch job is probably for you. It will help broaden your skills, motivate you, help you feel more satisfied, and just really change your happiness and satisfaction with your career. So you've got to go for those. You've got to find a way to get out of the comfort zone and just try. One of the things you got to think about is who do you know? Who can you network with if you find the kind of job that you're really looking for, but you're really worried about how to get in the door, you want to know who and how can you connect with other people that work there or who through a third party connection do you know? So you may not directly know somebody, but you might know somebody that knows somebody. Think outside the box to get those connections. I mean, that is how people really grow and get opportunities. Whether you're perfectly cemented and meet all the qualifications, or whether it's just any other job, a growth job, or just a transitional, a lateral move, people often come into positions because of who they know and their connections. That applies even more when you're going for a stretch job because you having a recommendation of somebody pulling your resume or your application to the top of the pile will be critical. But in this day and age where AI is taking over the world, a lot of HR groups are using AI to go through their applicant pools. So if you see on LinkediN or salary or any of the other job posting sites, if you see where they have thousands and thousands of applicants, listen, you know that HR people are not going through thousands and thousands of applications.
Crystal Ware 0:07:06
They are relying on AI to pull the keywords that they implement. So by looking up what normal qualifications are for a job, taking those qualifications, those keywords that you see in the job posting and using those keywords in your resume will help you get a better opportunity of being pulled to even have that first set of conversations. So using little pieces like this where you can build up and strategize those tips and tricks and hacks, if you want to call them that, these are the ways that you're going to stand out and get noticed. But remember, having 100% of a requirement, it's almost like a misnomer. It's not the right word. They're not truly requirements. There is flexibility in all that you see on the page and what they're going to be looking for. Oftentimes there may be five pieces that are kind of standard requirements, but the rest of those are flexible. If you've been in one industry and you're looking for a similar job in a different industry, how can you translate what you've done for this industry, for the industry you're looking to move into? Okay, it's those kind of things that you want to work through. And the more you can make a specific and targeted resume and cover letter to the position that you're stretching to, it will help you get the call. And once you get the call, then you have an opportunity to wow them with your skills, with your personality, with your communication abilities.
I just want to pause and say thank you to all the amazing people tuning in and making this show a success. And to share some exciting scoop I am opening up for the first time.
Crystal Ware 0:08:58
Ever, one on one coaching. We have two options available, the executive edge two week program and the Career Catalyst Six week program, which will use my proprietary earn it framework. If you're ready to propel your professional journey, crush your salary goals, or need someone to coach you through a big career decision, let's conquer it together. Limited spots for unlimited empowerment Links to sign up will be in the show notes and in the link tree on my Instagram and LinkedIn site.
Crystal Ware 0:09:29
See you there. You want to make sure that you are showing them opportunities and examples of where you have led, where you have succeeded, projects that you've undertaken, and things that are going to be similar enough, like the role that you're doing. And then you want to look in the mirror and say, where have I really risen to the occasion? Where have I taken leaps? Where have I been challenged and how have I overcome? How can I show somebody how I bridge the gap in my skills or knowledge quickly? These are the kind of things that people are going to be looking for when it comes to a stretch job, a move up. When I moved industries from being a broker to being a risk manager, I did not, of course, have the exact experience that they were looking for. I had the technical ability and I had the ability to adapt to different types of roles, and I was able to show them that my skills and my technical background were more than sufficient to meet the nuances of the job. I quickly got up and running and I must say, give myself kudos. Being humble doesn't pay the bills that I was self sufficient and quote unquote, paying for myself in the role. Within six to eight weeks. I had initiative. I knew where to find answers. I knew how to pull people together to run projects, to create relationships, and that was a lot of what the job was about.
Crystal Ware 0:11:10
So while I did not have firsthand experience in that type of role, I had enough traits, innate traits, personality traits, and then the technical ability, that it was a no brainer. And I then took that big leap in my career and was able three years later to get another promotion at another company where I was running the group. And so within four years, I had gotten two large promotions, translated, and went around and built up my skill set where I could take over a group ahead of a unit. At a big company, you always have to be thinking about the next step. What is your end goal? Where do you want to go? What do you want to do with the skills and knowledge that you're building for yourself? Where does that lead you? Sometimes you need to move around in transitional roles where they're not necessarily a stretch, but maybe they're going to stretch your technical skills. So the job position may not be a stretch, but the knowledge will be a stretch where you have to learn. So what skills and knowledge do you need to pick up, and why does this matter? And where do we see this often? When big companies have what they call high potential candidates, hypos. We especially see this in large companies where it may be an HR rotation, it may be some kind of finance or investment individual, and they will put them on a sort of rotational schedule where they go through the different finance groups over a six year period, building up their skills, taking on different projects, taking on different roles. And that's how they build up a candidate who may be able to be the treasurer, or may be able to be the second in the investor relations department, or may be able to be a CFO.
Crystal Ware 0:13:16
Eventually, when you go through and pick up those skills, you're not necessarily getting a promotion. It's not necessarily a stretch job, but it's skill building to give you a well rounded background. And that's equally as important as landing a stretch job. But coming back full circle to why this is important, because women, again, are so much more reserved in putting their self out there in roles where they don't feel they have 100% of the qualifications and they get stuck and they fall behind in their career. And that's where we see the gap in pay is growing. So where women under the age of 30, the pay disparity is only a few cents, under 10%, and then it grows to about twelve to 15% once you're in your 30s, lower forty s, and then once you get into your forty s, fifty s, we're seeing an 18% to 20% pay grab. And above, women are stalling out oftentimes because they just don't go for the next big promotion, the next big goal. People aren't sitting around. So if you know somebody and you see that they have so much talent, so much to give, so much capabilities, but they aren't reaching their potential, you be the person today that goes out and tells them you can do so much more. Have you thought about this? Have you thought about that? What about this kind of job? I know somebody that I can introduce you to. Push people out of their comfort zone and push yourself out of your comfort zone. We need to encourage others to seek mentorship, and we need to encourage others to come to us who have done it, who have been there, who have understand the role so that people can get out there and reach the next rung, so we can keep rising altogether.
Crystal Ware 0:15:11
We have to crush the self doubt telling us we don't belong, that this job is not for us, that we don't meet all the qualifications, we have to take what we do have, package it up in a really great package, learn how to communicate that, talk to each other, align the requirements from the job with what the skills and background and experience you have are, and make the move, because men are doing it and they are getting hired. And that position could very well be yours. I don't like seeing women fall behind, especially the amazingly smart women that I know are out there listening to this right now, asking themselves, what's next? So make sure you get out there and do that. Make sure if you're looking for the next big thing, that you find a way to get yourself confident. Embrace where you are, embrace what you have to give, and get out there and unabashedly go for it. Why not? You? You are worthy. You are worth it. You have a lot to offer. Find a way and make it happen. Okay? That is your goal. That is your goal.
Crystal Ware 0:16:26
To feel confident, to feel capable, and to go for the job. Go for the big job. Go for the big promotion. Go for whatever is in your heart that you know you deserve and that you know that you're qualified for and that you can do it. Because I know you can do it. All right. Until next time, we will keep going. Be on the lookout for more awesome insights on my course Salary wise that is coming out and that will go into so much more details about things just like this and help you put the pieces together in a very holistic manner. So if you know that in 2024, that is something that you want to do, that you need to get a promotion, that you need to get a big raise, this course is for you. It is the most comprehensive course on growing your career and getting a big raise that there is out there and we will be launching it soon, so be on the lookout for that. And if you have any questions, feel free to reach out until next time. You are made for more, so start living like it today. Thanks so much for tuning in.
If you want to create a career you love, get the salary you deserve and build the confidence to live life on your own terms. Sign up for My Free newsletter Where you'll get actionable tips to raise your worth, build your wealth, create freedom, and create a life you absolutely love. Head over to crystalworldmedia.com to sign up or click the link in the show notes and join thousands of others making their dreams a reality. Whether you are just embarking on the journey or well on your way, the worthful newsletter has something for you. See you next week.