Think about female/male collaborations in entertainment. Most have become fodder for pop culture cheekiness – Donnie and Marie, Sonny and Cher, Captain and Tennille, Regis and Kathie Lee. After this week, the digital marketing community can tout a respected collaboration of CLICK’s own Kat Duncan and LeadPages’ Josh Braaten.
About a month ago, Kat posted a LinkedIn article. Read it, if you haven’t yet. The article inspired the collaboration of Kat and Josh (a.k.a., K&J… I really tried to come up with a Brangelina equivalent, but it feels too soon).
K&J designed an interactive evening of discussion, debate and advice for the MnSearch membership, centered on providing tips and perspectives on growing a sustainable career in the vibrant, but smaller-than-you-might-realize, Twin Cities digital marketing community.
The vibe was fireside chat… without the fire. Under the glow of a projector, K&J started their conversation, which quickly heated up with audience questions. Literally less than 5 minutes into the conversation, the audience jumped in with questions. I wish more events had that kind of energy and involvement.
Here are the top 3 takeaways:
1. Figure out what you’re worth. You might be in more demand than you think. Use resources like The Creative Group’s salary guide to get a sense of salary within the market, but also use some common sense and honest self-reflection to define your worth. Also recognize that you might not want to work for every company, so don’t just follow the money. Culture fit is just as important as money and title.
2. How about if you like your company, don’t want to leave, but want/deserve/need a promotion? Know your value and SHOW your value. Start by asking, what’s the business goal? What determines your boss’ promotion (and your boss’ boss’ promotion)? Focus on how you can contribute to that effort. Translate your achievements into dollars.
3. Someone asked about the appropriateness of coming off as “braggadocios” in interviews. This was an anonymous question. We cannot claim to have knowledge of whether this was from a Trump fan. The advice back – it’s about CONFIDENCE and AUTHENTICITY. Don’t be braggadocios really means don’t bullshit. If you don’t have an answer to a question, don’t make it up. If you lie or embellish and end up landing the job, you’ll be miserable. Be yourself and be proud of your accomplishments and success. Articulate success with confidence and authenticity.
K&J also talked about counter offers, but again READ KAT’S ARTICLE. It covers that part of the MnSearch conversation. An additional point of note we’d like to include here as a #4 takeaway:
4. Even if you accept a counter offer from your current employer, it will end up biting you in the ass as you climb the ladder within that organization. The higher levels of leadership may appreciate and value your work, but you’re most likely never going to be invited to the table of higher leadership. You’ve injured your leadership’s trust, and trust is very difficult to repair.
K&J left many more questions left unanswered. Our hope is that MnSearch will enable them to answer these questions in writing, to be posted at a later date. Or, perhaps more projector-side chats at MnSearch are in store!?