47 episodes

The Pop Your Career Podcast with Bec McFarland is all about bite-sized tips, tricks and advice designed to help you feel more fulfilled in your career. Tune in twice a week for short, sharp episodes that are a laugh to listen to. Bec makes career advice fun and she doesn't beat around the bush. She shares her best pearls of wisdom as an experienced career coach, human resources practitioner and self-confessed funny lady.

Pop Your Career with Bec McFarland Bec McFarland

    • Business

The Pop Your Career Podcast with Bec McFarland is all about bite-sized tips, tricks and advice designed to help you feel more fulfilled in your career. Tune in twice a week for short, sharp episodes that are a laugh to listen to. Bec makes career advice fun and she doesn't beat around the bush. She shares her best pearls of wisdom as an experienced career coach, human resources practitioner and self-confessed funny lady.

    47. Asking questions in an interview

    47. Asking questions in an interview

    Links I mentioned in this episode:


    Win At Work Membership



    47. Asking questions in an interview - Transcript

    [00:00:00] This episode is brought to you by my brand new membership Win at Work. Imagine having your favourite career coach in your pocket for less than $10 a month, except that you don't need to imagine it. The Win At Work membership is designed to support you in feeling more fulfilled by your career. It includes a private podcast where I'll be answering all of your burning career questions as well as a library of resources that I am updating and improving every single week. When at work is the place to be, if you're a heart-centered human who wants to wake up feeling pumped up for the day ahead. Get into your web browser and go to PopYourCareer.com/waw for more information and to sign up. Are you ready to win at work?

    [00:00:52] Hi, there I'm Bec McFarland the host of the Pop Your Career [00:01:00]Podcast. As a career coach, I'm most passionate about helping my clients to discover their own personal flavour of career fulfillment. In this podcast, we are going to be exploring ways that you too can feel more fulfilled by your work. So strap yourself in, get ready for the ride. The tips around here are fast and in abundance.

    [00:01:21] Hello. Hello. It's Bec McFarland here, helping you do better and be better in your career. Welcome to the Pop Your Career podcast. I'm so thrilled to have you here, but did you know that I decided to start a podcast in about 2016? Maybe? It has been on my mind for a really long time, and at the time I recorded I think two episodes and I popped them up on SoundCloud. I am sure that they are still floating around. They're somewhere if you want to go [00:02:00]and find them and embarrass me.

    [00:02:02] But this topic that we're talking about today has been on my mind since then because it was one of the podcast episodes that I recorded way back then when I had my first podcast, if you can call it that.

    [00:02:19] The topic is asking questions in an interview, and at the time I titled that podcast episode, Don't Interview Your Interviewer. And all these years later, I still feel the same. There's nothing like being on an interview panel and going through the interview process and getting to the end of the interview with a candidate and saying to them, do you have any questions for us? And then all hell breaks loose. This is where the nightmares really begin.

    [00:02:54] So the first mistake that people make in this section of their [00:03:00]interview is that they ask the questions that everyone asks. And look, if you're a seasoned interviewer, you will just do yourself a favor and answer these questions in your introduction so that they can't ask. The questions are always things like, When are you gonna be making a decision? When can I expect to find out the outcome of this process? And the other most common question is like, can you tell me about the culture of the team?

    [00:03:32] Now look, that in itself might be an okay-ish question, but there are definitely ways that you can phrase that much better.

    [00:03:44] In terms of the answer to the first question, when are you gonna hear back? How long is a piece of string? You'll hear back when we're, when we're done, right? You'll hear back when the process is finished, stop trying to push it.

    [00:03:59] [00:04:00] So the other really big mistake that people make in interviews is that they think that this is their opportunity to interview their interviewer. Now I get it right, it's a two-way street. The organization is interviewing you to find out if you are the most suitable candidate for the role, and you wanna find out some stuff about the employer to see if they are actually the kind of place that you wanna work. That's totally fine. But realistically, your opportunity to ask them questions and do your due diligence and go through the checks and balances actually comes later.

    [00:04:35] That's what happens between the

    • 8 min
    46. Why I hate resume objectives

    46. Why I hate resume objectives

    Links I mentioned in this episode:


    Win At Work Membership



    46. Why I hate resume objectives- Transcript

    [00:00:00] This episode is brought to you by my brand new membership Win at Work. Imagine having your favourite career coach in your pocket for less than $10 a month, except that you don't need to imagine it. The Win At Work membership is designed to support you in feeling more fulfilled by your career. It includes a private podcast where I'll be answering all of your burning career questions as well as a library of resources that I am updating and improving every single week. When at work is the place to be, if you're a heart-centered human who wants to wake up feeling pumped up for the day ahead. Get into your web browser and go to PopYourCareer.com/waw for more information and to sign up. Are you ready to win at work?

    [00:00:52] Hi, there I'm Bec McFarland the host of the Pop Your Career [00:01:00]Podcast. As a career coach, I'm most passionate about helping my clients to discover their own personal flavour of career fulfillment. In this podcast, we are going to be exploring ways that you too can feel more fulfilled by your work. So strap yourself in, get ready for the ride. The tips around here are fast and in abundance.

    [00:01:21] Hello. Hello. It's Bec McFarland here, helping you do better and be better. And today I am talking to you about one of my pet hates when it comes to resumes, and that is the objective section. Pretty weird thing to have as a pet hate or something that rubs you out the wrong way, but that's okay. As someone who has read thousands of resumes throughout my career, I feel like I am in the perfect place to have a really strong opinion on this.

    [00:01:56] So why do I hate the resume objective? Well, [00:02:00] because most time it's rubbish. Most of the time people are really clutching at straws and scraping the bottom of the barrel to get something to put in this resume objective section and most of the time it tends to be a bit of an embellishment or a little bit of fluff.

    [00:02:21] You know, like my objective is to secure a role in the Australian public sector where I'm able to contribute to the betterment of the Australian people. Wah wah wah. It's terrible. It's absolutely terrible. It just comes across as being so fake and brown nosing. In my opinion, most people's objective is the same thing, right? We're all trying to get the job. My objective is to get this damn job that I'm putting in so much effort to apply for. [00:03:00]That is one of the reasons that I absolutely hate it. I just think it's so fluffy and just rubbish and garbage.

    [00:03:08] But the other reason that I really hate resume objectives is that I feel like the people who do need them don't use them very well. So who are the people who need a resume objective? Well, the only people that I would suggest should include a resume objective are people who are undergoing some kind of transformation. So this could be, for example, if you are making a career change. It could be that perhaps you've had a bit of time off work and now you are returning to the workforce.

    [00:03:41] It could be that perhaps you are moving, maybe you're moving interstate or overseas. This is an opportunity for you to tell a little bit more about your story, to give a bit more of an insight into your personality, to tell them why you are applying for this job. Right?

    [00:03:57] We all know we've spoken about unconscious [00:04:00] bias before. That is episode 27, if you wanna check it out. We also know that employers are going to put two and two together and they're gonna end up with five. So they may see that you've had a gap in your career and make that mean something that it doesn't. Right? You can definitely use the objective section in your resume to give more insight and context, and when you do this well, it can really, really work in your favour.

    [00:04:28] The thing is this kind of information, you could actually include it in

    • 8 min
    45. Tell me about yourself...

    45. Tell me about yourself...

    Links I mentioned in this episode:


    Win At Work Membership



    45. Tell me about yourself... - Transcript

    [00:00:00] This episode is brought to you by my brand new membership Win at Work. Imagine having your favourite career coach in your pocket for less than $10 a month, except that you don't need to imagine it. The Win At Work membership is designed to support you in feeling more fulfilled by your career. It includes a private podcast where I'll be answering all of your burning career questions as well as a library of resources that I am updating and improving every single week. When at work is the place to be, if you're a heart-centered human who wants to wake up feeling pumped up for the day ahead. Get into your web browser and go to PopYourCareer.com/waw for more information and to sign up. Are you ready to win at work?

    [00:00:52] Hi, there I'm Bec McFarland the host of the Pop Your Career [00:01:00]Podcast. As a career coach, I'm most passionate about helping my clients to discover their own personal flavour of career fulfillment. In this podcast, we are going to be exploring ways that you too can feel more fulfilled by your work. So strap yourself in, get ready for the ride. The tips around here are fast and in abundance.

    [00:01:21] Hello, hello, Bec McFarland here helping you do better and be better in your career. So one of the most common questions that you could be asked in a job interview is tell me about yourself. And so many people get confused about how to go ahead and answer this question really well. There's a couple of things that I would say to you just in preparation for this.

    [00:01:51] The first is that you don't want to go all the way back to when you were born, okay? So ideally you want [00:02:00] to only talk about the last sort of five to 10 years of your experience, or perhaps highlight when you began working in this particular type of role or industry.

    [00:02:11] The other thing is that interviewers are definitely looking for you to provide a really well structured answer to this question, and so if you keep this in mind and you use the formula that I'm about to share with you, then that will really help you to show the way that you can deliver a well structured and well thought out argument.

    [00:02:36] So what is this formula? Well, it's the same formula that I use when I'm helping my clients to put together a professional profile section on their resume. And what this looks like is your skills plus your experience plus your relevant qualifications [00:03:00] plus your passions or your interests equal an exceptional professional profile or response to an icebreaker question, like, tell me about yourself.

    [00:03:14] Each of these different sections allows you to communicate something that's going to add value to this employer and is potentially going to persuade them that you are the most ideal candidate for the role now. There are some nuances to this. The first is that you can go through any of these four things or all of these four things in any order that you like.

    [00:03:39] You don't necessarily always have to deliver it as skills, experience, qualifications, and passions. I would suggest that in fact, you start with the thing that is going to be most relevant or most important to the position that you're applying. So if you know, for [00:04:00]example, that you are applying for a role where a specific qualification is mandatory and you can't work in that role without that qualification, then your qualification might be the first thing that you talk about. And from there you might go through and talk about some of the other elements.

    [00:04:21] Another thing I'll say is that if you don't have relevant qualifications, you can leave this section out. You don't need to highlight that you don't have relevant qualifications, and you certainly don't need to talk about any irrelevant qualifications that you have. Just leave that question out and follow through with the rest of the f

    • 11 min
    44. Dealing with Interview Nerves

    44. Dealing with Interview Nerves

    Links I mentioned in this episode:


    Win At Work Membership



    44. Dealing with Interview Nerves - Transcript

    [00:00:00] This episode is brought to you by my brand new membership Win at Work. Imagine having your favourite career coach in your pocket for less than $10 a month, except that you don't need to imagine it. The Win At Work membership is designed to support you in feeling more fulfilled by your career. It includes a private podcast where I'll be answering all of your burning career questions as well as a library of resources that I am updating and improving every single week. When at work is the place to be, if you're a heart-centered human who wants to wake up feeling pumped up for the day ahead. Get into your web browser and go to PopYourCareer.com/waw for more information and to sign up. Are you ready to win at work?

    [00:00:52] Hi, there I'm Bec McFarland the host of the Pop Your Career [00:01:00]Podcast. As a career coach, I'm most passionate about helping my clients to discover their own personal flavour of career fulfillment. In this podcast, we are going to be exploring ways that you too can feel more fulfilled by your work. So strap yourself in, get ready for the ride. The tips around here are fast and in abundance.

    [00:01:21] Hello, hello, Bec McFarland here helping you do better and be better in your career. Let's talk about interview nerves. If you are not nervous about going into an interview, you are some kind of supernatural being. Because everyone that I know feels nervous about job interviews. In saying that, I think that often your nerves can increase or become more intense, particularly if it's a role that you are very [00:02:00] interested in, and this can make things quite hard. So, what do you do about it? Well, let's talk about a few different options.

    [00:02:07] The first thing that I would suggest to you to do is to ask yourself the question of like, what have you got planned before your interview? Are you going to work? And then you're gonna have to leave work and jump in the car, and then race, race, race to get there.

    [00:02:21] And by the time you get to your interview, you're feeling quite flustered because of the fact that, you know, you haven't really left yourself enough time. I always say that you should absolutely leave enough time to get dressed, to prepare your clothes, to get yourself in the right headset to drive to the appointment or catch public transport, to find yourself a park, to walk from the park to wherever you need to be interviewed, and also to get abducted by aliens on the way, because you never know when you're going to get [00:03:00]caught in traffic or when you are going to make a mistake.

    [00:03:03] There are so many different ways that you could get stuck and find yourself running late. So we just wanna make sure that you've got enough time. I did a really dumb thing once. I went to a job interview and I found a park, uh, in a parking station, and I still had heaps of time left over because of the fact that I'd left so much time. Right?

    [00:03:33] And I sat in the car and I played Candy Crush to kill some time. And then finally I thought, okay, like I should probably get out of the car and go and find where I've gotta go. And so I got out of the car and I went out of the parking garage and onto the street. And it was at that moment that as I was looking around, I realized that the numbers in this street were a little bit cuckoo and they didn't quite [00:04:00] make sense.

    [00:04:01] And where I thought the building was not where the building was. It was actually all the way at the other end of the street. So I had to start walking and walking and walking. And by the time I got to that job interview, I was now like a sweaty, flustered mess. And I look back on that and I think, yeah, like I didn't allow enough time. Perhaps I wasted the time by playing Candy Crush in the car. Who knows?

    [00:04:34] But you will be so much less stressed and so much m

    • 9 min
    43. Should I make it work, or leave quickly?

    43. Should I make it work, or leave quickly?

    Don't worry! A little blip on your resume is not going to derail your career. If you've made an unsettling career mistake, accepted a job only to start and find out it's really not the one for you, this episode is a must listen. When people are in this situation they always feel isolated, confused and like they're the first one to ever make a bad career decision. But that's just not the case. And you don't need to stick it out and try and force it to work. Just move on and have faith that future employers will not care at all if you have that three month mistake on your resume - if anything it's a testament to your own self-awareness and strength that you made the decision to find something more aligned with your needs!



    Links I mentioned in this episode:


    Win At Work Membership



    43. Should I make it work, or leave quickly? - Transcript

    [00:00:00] This episode is brought to you by my brand new membership Win at Work. Imagine having your favourite career coach in your pocket for less than $10 a month, except that you don't need to imagine it. The Win At Work membership is designed to support you in feeling more fulfilled by your career. It includes a private podcast where I'll be answering all of your burning career questions as well as a library of resources that I am updating and improving every single week. When at work is the place to be, if you're a heart-centered human who wants to wake up feeling pumped up for the day ahead. Get into your web browser and go to PopYourCareer.com/waw for more information and to sign up. Are you ready to win at work?

    [00:00:55] Hi, [00:01:00] there I'm Bec McFarland the host of the Pop Your Career Podcast. As a career coach, I'm most passionate about helping my clients to discover their own personal flavour of career fulfillment. In this podcast, we are going to be exploring ways that you too can feel more fulfilled by your work. So strap yourself in, get ready for the ride. The tips around here are fast and in abundance.

    [00:01:24] Hello. Hello. It's Bec McFarland here, helping you do better and be better in your career. And I just want you to imagine you have applied for a new role. You got offered, you accepted, you've started, you've done your best to try and make it work, but you're really unhappy. You're feeling quite unfulfill.

    [00:01:53] Maybe the role is not what you expected it to be. Maybe the organization is not what you expected it to be. Maybe [00:02:00] there's some tension in the team. Maybe you don't like your manager. Maybe you have found that the commute is too long. You thought that it would be okay, but now you realize that it's actually impacting on yourself and your family life.

    [00:02:16] What should you? I get a lot of clients that kind of come to me and they've got a lot of concern about this, and they usually feel like they should do whatever they can to make it work. But often, I think that is not necessarily the best option. If you are feeling in the early stages of working for an employer that it's not a good fit, chances are things are probably not going to change.

    [00:02:42] Most people are really paranoid though about what it's going to look like on their resume. You started a job, you're there for a month or two months or three months, and then you move on and you get a job somewhere else. But honestly, I think that most of the time this is [00:03:00] just an unfounded fear. Of course, there are going to be employers out there who are going to discriminate against you because of the fact that, you know, they see it as being a bad thing.

    [00:03:11] But honestly, I think it's something that's really easy to explain. Much easier than a lot of other circumstances that you could be in. So what I'd encourage you to do is to definitely take the time to evaluate what's going on. Are there any slight tweaks or changes that you need to make that could improve things in your workplace?

    [00:03:32] Does it mean that maybe you could have a conversation

    • 10 min
    42. When you just don't know what to do next

    42. When you just don't know what to do next

    "You're not alone" is one of the phrases that is rolling off my tongue more frequently these days. So many clients are coming to me with this sense of worry, that they don't know what to do next. It's like a feeling of dissatisfaction with where they're at in their careers, whilst also having no idea about where they'd rather be. 

    If this resonates with you, I can assure you that you're not alone either. This is really common and honestly, it's one of my favourite adventures to embark on with a new client. Let's figure out what comes next for you AND help you to achieve it. 



    Links I mentioned in this episode:


    Win At Work Membership
    If you are interested in Career Coaching, book in for a free 15 minute consultation.



    42. When you just don't know what to do next - Transcript

    [00:00:00] This episode is brought to you by my brand new membership Win at Work. Imagine having your favourite career coach in your pocket for less than $10 a month, except that you don't need to imagine it. The Win At Work membership is designed to support you in feeling more fulfilled by your career. It includes a private podcast where I'll be answering all of your burning career questions as well as a library of resources that I am updating and improving every single week. When at work is the place to be, if you're a heart-centered human who wants to wake up feeling pumped up for the day ahead. Get into your web browser and go to PopYourCareer.com/waw for more information and to sign up. Are you ready to win at work?

    [00:00:52] Hi, there I'm Bec McFarland the host of the Pop Your Career [00:01:00]Podcast. As a career coach, I'm most passionate about helping my clients to discover their own personal flavour of career fulfillment. In this podcast, we are going to be exploring ways that you too can feel more fulfilled by your work. So strap yourself in, get ready for the ride. The tips around here are fast and in abundance.

    [00:01:21] Hello. Hello. It is Bec McFarland here helping you do better and be better in your career. And today I just wanna let you know you are not alone. What am I talking about? ? I get a lot of clients or potential clients who come to me, they book discovery calls, we jump on the phone and they say to me, Bec, I just have no idea what to do next.

    [00:01:53] I know that I'm not feeling particularly fulfilled by my current role or by my [00:02:00] current career path, but I am just feeling lost. I know I feel like a change, but I don't know if a change is the right thing to do, and I have no idea what that change would be.

    [00:02:14] Now when these people come to me, they are usually quite upset and quite stressed, and they also feel quite unique in this problem. Everyone else seems to know what they want to do. Everyone else seems to have the clarity, but I don't, and I always tell them. You are not alone. I get so many people coming to me with this problem. In fact, it's probably the bulk of the work that I do in my career coaching practice. As I've explained to you before, I don't usually work with people who are just looking for a pay rise or they're looking for a promotion, or they're looking for a way to get up the next rung of the corporate ladder.

    [00:02:56] I tend to work more with people who are driven by career [00:03:00]fulfillment and who are looking for ways to feel more fulfilled by their career. And as a result, these are the types of clients that come past my desk. Now, personally, I absolutely love it. These are first of all the discovery calls that I enjoy the most, but they're also some of the clients that I enjoy working with the most because I just think that it can be so exciting.

    [00:03:24] There are so many opportunities for transformation or for just eye-opening discussions, conversations, challenges. It for me is really, really fulfilling. I love being part of the process of helping someone to get really clear about what it is that they want to do. For me, like there's just nothing th

    • 11 min

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