Let's Think About It Podcast

Career Transitions: Clarity and Confidence Unlocked

• Morice Mabry • Season 2 • Episode 35

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Gina Riley, a renowned career transition coach, joins us on the Let's Think About It Podcast to share the secrets of successful career transformations. Learn how her innovative Career Velocity model has empowered countless leaders and executives to navigate their career transitions with confidence and clarity. From her own inspiring journey from Arizona to Sisters, Oregon, Gina opens up about her passion for storytelling and helping professionals articulate their unique value propositions.

Facing the uncertainty of a career change? Gina provides practical strategies to overcome those fears, especially in light of layoffs and professional setbacks. Discover how to craft a compelling unique value proposition with Gina's five-step process, starting with the insightful UMAP assessment. Through listener examples and case studies, we explore the profound impact of clearly communicating one's strengths and leadership experiences, ultimately transforming how clients approach job searches and interviews.

Beyond the practical steps, we delve into the emotional journey of career transitions and the importance of proactive career management. Gina emphasizes the significance of maintaining a strong professional brand, particularly on platforms like LinkedIn, to stand out in an ever-competitive job market. With advice on overcoming self-doubt and fostering self-improvement, Gina's insights are complemented by resources like her upcoming book "Qualified Isn't Enough." Stay connected with us for more empowering conversations that support your continuous growth.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the let's Think About it podcast, where we embark on a journey of thoughtfulness and personal growth. I'm your host, Coach Mo, and I'm here to guide you through thought-promoting discussions that will inspire you to unlock your full potential. In each episode, we'll explore a wide range of topics, from self-discovery and mindfulness to goal-setting and achieving success. Together, we'll challenge conventional thinking and dive deep into the realms of possibility. Whether you're looking to find clarity in your personal or professional life, or seeking strategies to overcome obstacles, this podcast is your go-to source for insightful conversations and practical advice. So find a comfortable spot, chill and let's embark on this journey of self-improvement together. Remember, the power of transformation lies within you, and together we'll uncover the tools and insights you need to make it happen. So let's dive in. Welcome to another episode of the let's Think About it podcast. I'm your host, Coach Mo, and I'm here with another amazing guest, and her name is Gina Riley. Gina, my girl.

Speaker 2:

What's going down? Are you ready to make some fire? Oh.

Speaker 1:

I am, you know. I am One of the first things I do, though, with my guests when they come on. Is you got to tell us where you're checking in from? What part of the country or the world are you here from?

Speaker 2:

I'm dialing in from a small town called sisters oregon, which is outside of bend oregon, which is in central oregon born and raised no, I was born and raised in Arizona.

Speaker 1:

In Arizona. Okay, so what's it like there, in that part of town?

Speaker 2:

So in the part of the neck of the woods I live now we have snow on the ground and it's ski season, so it's Christmas time, it's beautiful. When I was growing up in Phoenix, it was still quite warm and we didn't really get to wear too many sweaters.

Speaker 1:

Phoenix it was still quite warm and we didn't really get to wear too many sweaters. Nice. So tell my audience who you are, what you do and let's jump right into this conversation.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no problem, the quick tell me about yourself. So I am a career transition coach. I work primarily with leaders and executives who are planning a career transition or are experiencing one because of a layoff or some other reason. I have a career coaching model that I call career velocity. It's a nine-step model that I have constructed to help people manage their entire career transition, end-to-end, from creating their unique value proposition to the marketing materials, meaning the resume and the LinkedIn interview prep, job search strategy and a thought leadership strategy, and I am. I have converted all of my practice into a manuscript, which will be a book coming out September 9th of 2025, publishing with Advantage Forbes Books.

Speaker 1:

I definitely would like to explore that. But before we get into all of that stuff, I want to know initially what was the light bulb that made you switch to becoming this career transition coach. How did that happen?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a good question. I've always been driven like when they say start with why. What does Simon Sinek say? Start with why? My why is really about helping people communicate clearly so it enhances their relationships and gets them what they want If that means trying to transition into a new job, being clear about what it is that they do and who they are in the world.

Speaker 2:

And so the catalyst for me transitioning to becoming a career transition coach was when I was working and still I'm affiliated with an executive search firm and my friend who runs the company, the CEO, sherry Kitsowan of Talents Group, said hey, we have a lot of people that need help with resume development and some career transition coaching. And then, when I really started digging in, I spent a year and a half studying how to do it, and you know what I found out, coach Mo? I found out that most people have a very difficult time starting with the core, which is what is your unique value proposition or your UVP, and so I've developed a way for people to construct their storytelling bit by bit until they're able to answer the question tell me about yourself. And so, ultimately, I'm really driven to help people communicate better so that they have better experiences with their relationships.

Speaker 1:

That's nice and as a coach, you could probably relate to this. Especially with people in career transition, there's a lot of fear, like going into the interview, where do I apply, how do I apply? Do I apply, how do I negotiate? Just all of this fear so before, because I do want to tap into the unique value proposition. But let's start with the fear aspect and helping a person like start that new career transition and the fear that they're carrying. What's your methodology in helping them work through the fear and then moving through interviews or searching for jobs or whatnot.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, being confronted with a career transition can feel bewildering and overwhelming. I actually talked to an old friend today who said I am full of information. The question is, what information do I take and apply? Who do I trust? What information do I trust? And then, starting to actually do it, I help people get over the fear factor by first getting grounded in what it is they're going to talk about. And here's why, early on, before I developed the UVP process, what I learned from people who were having a difficult time is, especially after a layoff, oftentimes, particularly executives that I'm working with will have an outplacement package, and it might be three or six months and that's pretty generous. You get a resume, you get some coaching, but I've worked with people who had a resume developed for them and then they went off to start networking and they didn't know what they were talking about because they'd been with their company 26 years and they'd been a utility player.

Speaker 2:

So they've been moved around every couple of years and they're super qualified to do something amazing, but they couldn't say what. And then the fear creeps in, Then the doubt creeps in. Am I going to be qualified? Am I too old? Are people going to want me? There's all these things that start to happen. My remedy is to work on the unique value proposition. First, because what the heck are you going to be talking about that?

Speaker 1:

Okay, that's a great point, because I'm a man who knows about this stuff. So I actually wrote a unique value proposition for myself. I got a statement. I want to read that statement to you, okay, and I want your analysis, because this is what you do. I want you to give me some feedback on my unique value proposition statement that I wrote. Lay it on me, okay, putting you on the spot, okay, see what you got. As an executive and leadership energy coach, I help small to mid-sized educational institutions implement comprehensive leadership development strategies to increase staff and program retention rate. In my most recent coaching role with DOJ, I created an executive and leadership coaching program that had a retention rate of 82% and a growth rate of 36%. I accomplished this by integrating core energy leadership strategies and implementing active listening and powerful questioning strategies to drive team accountability and self-awareness. What are your thoughts?

Speaker 2:

Flipping, outstanding, amazing, really. That's really good. That's really good At the front. I could understand right away who you help, the size of organization, what your niche is, some of the specialties within the niche. I don't have that much to critique. I think it's excellent. Now there's different ways, though, to put together the unique value proposition. What you did was fantastic. I really felt like you gave me a highlights reel that helped me have a launching point to start asking you questions, and that's what you want.

Speaker 1:

Exactly so. My question to you, though, is, with this unique value proposition that I just shared with you, how do you help the average person develop this, who's never even heard of it before? What goes into this?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. So. I've got five steps that I implement with people. The first step is I have people take an assessment called the UMAP. If people are looking at the UMAP it's you go to myumapcom, m-y-o-u-m-a-p, and what you get with this terrific tool is you get your top five strengths from StrengthsFinder, which I'm sure you're familiar with. You get your values, you get your motivated and burnout skills and you get your personality, which is the UMAP uses the Holland because it's careers related.

Speaker 2:

And what happens is when my clients take this assessment and then they do a ton of reflection homework, we do a two hour debrief and I start to tease out some of the uniqueness that they bring to the table. And how do we know they're unique? Because a lot of people are like I don't know what makes me unique. Doesn't everybody else have these traits and strengths? No, if you take the StrengthsFinder, you're one in 33 million people that have taken it and the order of your strengths, one through five, is going to make you extremely unique in the order they appear. So I already can start building language week one just based on that. Week two, they do a leadership assessment and we do another reflection debrief based on homework and I tease out how they lead during times of change and transition, because, as you work with people, it's all about change and transition these days.

Speaker 2:

So I want to help them build stories down the line with their interview prep on how they lead people in teams. The third step is I have them download their entire career story, starting at college around that time of their life if it's not a college degree and all the way through to present. And they get to. I call it verbal vomit. They get to let me have it. They walk me through their whole career story and when I go and I streamline and synthesize it down to a handful of pages, I can start to help them pick out the themes and patterns of their career.

Speaker 2:

Now, coach Mo, when you're working with people, oftentimes you will likely find, as I do, that there's a repeat story in people's career histories, such as oh, I've been repeatedly tapped on the shoulder to take on a struggling project and a team in disarray, to turn it around, collaborate cross-functionally and then bring the project over the finish line.

Speaker 2:

To what great result. That might be a repeat theme for somebody as an example, right. So now I know what their uniqueness is, what their leadership approach is and some of those career themes and patterns teased out from their actual story. And then what we do is we create something called the three-thirds story. We break their story into three manageable chunks early career, mid-career and currently, just in simple bullet points based on their story, and then we segue into the tell me about yourself. As we know, job seekers are going to be asked a million times from recruiters and hiring managers and hiring teams. Tell me a little bit about yourself and I want people to be able to do that in less than five minutes and the way we get there is to build the UVP unique value proposition.

Speaker 1:

My UV that I just shared with you barely is a spinoff to introduce certain stories about my journey or my leadership style, or just about me personally 100%.

Speaker 2:

And one thing you could do, coach Mo, to even further evolve your tell me about yourself is you could start it with throughout the course of my career. What I am most known for is dot, or it could also be infused with. Over the course of my career, I have had experiences in these specific industries or niches. You covered a lot of it in what you said. It was excellent. Imagine if you started the entire thing with some overarching statement. So then you take them on the journey of all the rest.

Speaker 1:

True, I like that. So when you talk about stories, telling a story right, does a person need to create multiple stories that they carry and be prepared to talk through, or is it just one big story and learn how to break that story down into other?

Speaker 2:

avenues nuance I think a lot of people who are listening may have. I see the tell me about yourself is a standalone explainer for where you've been in your career. However, to your point, it should be slightly modifiable depending on the target audience. So if you're targeting slightly different jobs or companies that have different needs, you should be emphasizing certain things that would most appeal to that audience, and that means you have to have the executive presence to read the room right. But to further answer your question, interview prep is its own standalone activity, where you're taking an ideal job description or a couple, and you're translating that into behavioral questions for yourself. So you can start laying those out and thinking about which stories you're gonna pull from.

Speaker 1:

So I'm putting myself in the audience. I'm trying to make a transition in my career and I don't have time to tell no story. This is what I do. I do it well. Hire me right. How does the Strength Finder help me create the story, or a story of what you're talking about?

Speaker 2:

It is my opinion, just for a quick answer, that the StrengthsFinder isn't where you go for the answer. The StrengthsFinder underpins how you do what you do. It amplifies the way that you apply your expertise. So if you are heavy on executing themes that will show up in the interview stories, if you're heavy on relationship building themes, then you're going to be talking more about how you build relationships to get things done, for example, and influence people. So my answer to the I don't have time to build stories.

Speaker 2:

My answer to that is if you are sitting in a virtual or actual room, imagine yourself lined up in a line of chairs and you're one of five people competing for a job you really want, will you leave it to chance to not prepare your interview stories that tie directly to the job description? What are you going to do that? Because you must assume that the other four people sitting next to you are all minimally qualified and that means they have hit 76% 74% of what it takes to be there in the first place. What will throw it over the edge for the other 26%, which is what I call all the behaviors you're going to bring to the party If you're not ready to explain how you behave, how you lead, how you influence people, how you get the work done and the other people are prepared to do that. You likely will not be the one with the job offer.

Speaker 2:

So if you don't have time. It will put you at a deficit.

Speaker 1:

And I'm going to take it a layer deeper on that. I think the Strength Finder is a powerful tool that I utilize if you've probably never heard of it, but it's the Energy Leadership Index Assessment. So what that does, like you said, if you're prepared to share your story, right, when we're talking about going into an interview, there's things that get in our way, right. Fear, it's doubt, it's worry, it's anxiety right, All of these type of things gets in the way.

Speaker 2:

All the things, yeah, Energy it blocks our energy right.

Speaker 1:

The Energy Leadership Index Assessment helps me help clients determine how that energy is showing up. So then, when you have clearer understanding of what's really blocking your energy and how that doubt and worry and things like that is showing up, be your authentic self so that when you do talk about the strengths from the that you discover from the strength finders, confident being going into the interview.

Speaker 2:

Oh, absolutely. It's really about getting grounded in who you are. It goes back to who you are, how you naturally behave and how you work and deal with people and how you get things done and how you think about things, and then you're infusing that into the way that you describe how you're getting things done. So I do not recommend to people to show up to an interview and say something super generic yeah, on the StrengthsFinder, I'm strategic. Right that I say who the heck cares, because so many people say they're strategic or I'm an achiever, guess what?

Speaker 2:

It's the number one strength, that's the most common. So what do you achieve? How do you achieve and to what end? What are the results that you get? Those are the questions you have to answer in order to explain your value. So when you get into those interviews, situations and you're all tied up about in inwardly into your own mind and your brain, and you're not bringing out curiosity about what that other party needs, how will you know that you're the business solution for them? How will you know that you're worth whatever salary it is that you want to ask for?

Speaker 1:

You're a transitional coach, right, okay, yep, if someone is looking to transition into a new career job, there's a lot of resources out there.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh yes.

Speaker 1:

What separates you from your competition?

Speaker 2:

Thank you, thank you. So what makes me uniquely qualified to do what I do? So it's simple. I sit at the convergence of three big circles HR expertise at corporate. I worked at Intel for 10 years. I was an HR business partner, I was a recruiter, I ran the intern program, I got a master's degree during that window of time and so I have corporate experience. I also have executive search experience. I've led CEO, coo and CFO searches. I have been in the boardroom advising a board of directors on their recruitment process for the CEO, and I've been in the room managing finalist presentations and I've seen people win and lose the job right before my eyes. I've seen the mistakes and I have been a part of interviewing all of those people.

Speaker 2:

And then the third thing is I'm an entrepreneur who branched off, studied career transitions for a year and a half, reading 20 books, listening to 120 podcasts and creating career velocity. And now I write for Forbes coaches council. I have more than 12 articles that have been published. Beyond that, I've written at least 30 articles that have been published elsewhere and I have a book coming out. So all of that plays to my authority. And this year I was named a LinkedIn top voice, which is a really tough thing to get it. I'm now a blue badge, and so there are a number of things that make me credible. Other than the master's degree, I've got the UMAP certification as well, so there's a number of reasons why people?

Speaker 2:

may want to hire me, I would say people wouldn't want to hire me if they can't navigate the tough talk that I will give them the straight talk.

Speaker 1:

That's why you're amazing. But tell me a little bit more in deep depth about career velocity. What is that and how did you come up with that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's where all that study came from. I think at my core, I'm driven to create like programs and processes. I like to make sense out of chaos. And what do job seekers feel? They feel like they're in a monkey chaos when they're going through it. And so, as I worked with people in the early days before I created career velocity, I started to hear and see their missteps or the things they weren't having success with, and so, through that repetition, I started to distill down the things that would make the most effective career transition.

Speaker 2:

And it's hard work for people who really want to roll up their sleeves and go through this process. So it's a nine-step model. It goes along everything we've talked about. The first five steps is creating the UVP, the mid-level. It's a triangle model. So the next three steps is creating your marketing, your resume and LinkedIn. It's building up your interview stories and learning how to do the research. The executives I work with spend 40 hours preparing for a CXO or a senior level job, vp level job, and then, if they make it to the finals, it's easily another 20 plus.

Speaker 2:

So it's a lot of work. And then job search strategy is another component, and that's where most people spend all the rest of the bulk of the months that we work together doing. And then there's thought leadership, which I have found to be the way to be the most memorable for the long haul. What are people coming to you for? What are you known for? That's called building your brand. So when you're out of a job or you're starting to face a career transition and everyone says, go build your brand, that's not the day one you start just posting on LinkedIn. You need to figure out your UVP first. What do you stand for, what are you known for and what do you want to be known for? Because if you're making a career pivot, it's probably not where you've been, it's where you're going.

Speaker 1:

So what's up with the book? Tell me about the name of it.

Speaker 2:

Okay, I guess I could tell you the title of my book, since we're friends. So the title of my book took 17 pages of notes and time and I had a really difficult time with it because I was going to name it after my coaching program, career Velocity, and I did a 180. And what I realized?

Speaker 2:

is for you and I. We advise people in their careers, their professional lives overall and what we hear today, especially with all this spray and pray trying to apply to a lot of jobs over time, people will say to me I have applied to a hundred jobs in the last three months and I haven't gotten a single call back. I've had no interviews and I was qualified. I'm sure you've heard this too, this type of thing. So the title of my book is called Qualified Isn't Enough. Develop your story, land the interview and win the job.

Speaker 1:

Nice. How did you come up with that title?

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, it came to me in a flash. I had one of my best friends challenged me she's not in the career space at all and she said I really don't understand what career velocity is, and if I saw it on a bookshelf I wouldn't pick it up, and I thought that's rough, and so I just kept noodling on it and I think it just came to me in a flash. Honestly, it was a divine moment and when I hit on it I went. I knew I had it. I knew I had it.

Speaker 1:

When do you anticipate it to be published?

Speaker 2:

9-9-25. So September 9th 2025. And the reason for that it will be ready in Q2, but what I have learned is that it takes nine months to launch a book and do it properly, and so I thought this is a labor of love and this is my legacy, and I wasn't going to rush it.

Speaker 1:

You got to come back on the show and highlight it, that'd be great. Bring you back on tour and come on the let's Think About it podcast and show it off.

Speaker 2:

I'm going to write that on my calendar, so I'm keeping you to that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we're here now. I got you, you got to wear your maroon.

Speaker 2:

I'll wear my maroon.

Speaker 1:

What has been your greatest experience as being a transitional coach?

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh. My favorite experience is when I read people on week four. I'm reading back all the synthesis work from strength, the whole UMAP, the leadership approach and the career story, so that I'm starting to reflect back the themes and patterns as well, and it's many pages of notes. It takes me quite a while to read that out. We record it. And the best is when people are grabbing a tissue box and dabbing at their eyes because they haven't, they haven't been able to see it in themselves.

Speaker 2:

So one of my favorite people, my favorite clients, chief marketing officer for a company he was with for 20 years, helped grow it from 40 to 400 million and decided to voluntarily leave and just look for something else. And when I read everything back to him and he sat back and he caught his breath he didn't cry but he caught his breath and he said, yeah, that's me. And I said it's hard to read the label when you're inside of the jar and he said, yeah, exactly this is a marketing pro. That's my favorite is when people and there are a few, there are a few types of people who aren't blown away by that process and they have very specific strengths that you and I can discuss offline. But I can peg who will not be that impressed by the process, and it's a very small number of people.

Speaker 1:

As we close out, lasting thought Would you give to someone in your transition right now? Oh gosh.

Speaker 2:

I would say do not wait to get plucked out of obscurity. If you're in a job and you're thinking I'd like to make a career transition or I want to get promoted, or whatever is going on, whatever tape you're running in your head and maybe you're awesome, maybe you've been promoted before but you feel stagnant.

Speaker 2:

now do not wait to get plucked out of obscurity. Don't expect people to just find you, and if recruiters aren't calling you regularly or at least pinging you once in a while, your LinkedIn profile is probably not working for you. You're not signaling what your expertise is.

Speaker 2:

So if you have a stale resume or you have a stagnant LinkedIn profile, you're not out putting yourself out there in the ecosystem as a known and trusted brand. So that is what I would leave people with is to remember that just being qualified for something is not enough to land you the job offer. You may get interviews, but you may not get the offer because you haven't been able to express your unique differentiators.

Speaker 1:

Let me ask you this before we jump off, because this just popped into my head when a person carries self-doubt, it's that catabolic energy that I was sharing, right Afraid self-doubt, things like that right and they start going through the career transition. Does that show up? Oh yeah, in interviews and things like that too.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it can. Part of the coaching process is building up the confidence through the storytelling, and the other thing that I talk a lot about is executive presence. It's a topic that I spoke in Lisbon to the career thought leaders this year. I spoke at the National Resume Writers Association. It's other coaches trying to coach their clients, and executive presence is massively important, and one of the elements of the 17 is reading the room, and so what I'm talking to my clients about is you've got to be able to read the room and have that confidence and presence of mind to understand what those unique problems are. So you're drawing from the right stories, and when you shift your focus from just yourself to being a helper, it starts to take away the self-doubt because you're not concerned about how you're forming. You're there in service of an organization.

Speaker 1:

So what about this? I'm frustrated with my job. I can't wait to get out of this place. I'm just sick of the people there. They're incompetent. How does that carry over into the career transition A person that's coming with that type of energy?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's not a good place to be in and you cannot carry that into interviews. It's just, if you allow that to seep in, then you have to realize that the decision makers will pick up on that and be making decisions based on your behavior and only you can control your behavior and you have to decide how that's going to roll out for you. Working with a coach like you on their energy management is one possibility. Right, there are other possibilities as well when people are working with me. This year in my community there was a company that let 200 people go. It was like 20% of the workforce worldwide. Six were leaders that they wanted to give individualized, customized coaching for career transition. So I got hired to take on six leaders.

Speaker 2:

Three of the six coach mode showed up with a tissue box because of the pain. They many had been there 10, 15, 17 years. They had spent a large part of their career there. They loved their people, they loved their team. These were really great leaders. They were so awesome. These people are awesome. But for those three people, I gave them an option to delay their start time with me and just start the U-Map on their own. I gave them all the homework because I didn't want them starting from that place of deficit and loss they needed to work through the transition. I recommended that they buy William Bridges career or William Bridges transitions managing personal transitions book so that they could really understand the psychology of what they were going through and having to like deal with the loss in the morning and the anger and going through that trough of despair, so that they could then come back out and work with me towards the new tomorrow. And all three of those people also had a therapist.

Speaker 1:

So that shows the power of coaching and the value that we bring across all landscapes. How can you be found?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's easy. Two big places. One is I'm on LinkedIn every day. I'm posting four to seven times a week and it's simple. I'm just Gina Riley on there. I own my name there. I also have a newsletter on LinkedIn called Career Velocity and you can subscribe to that. And then Gina Riley Consulting and when you go to Gina Riley Consulting, at the top there's a masterclass button. It's green right now at this point and people can download it and listen to why you need a career transition, how you build your career transition plan. It comes with a downloadable workbook. Check your spam folder and it's not a sales pitch. It literally is. Here's a guide to help get you on your way and a lot of it is the moving parts that we talked about today.

Speaker 1:

There it is everyone. Miss Gina Riley, I appreciate you. Thank you so much for your time and your wisdom today.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, coach Mo. I'm so glad we met.

Speaker 1:

We got to do this again.

Speaker 2:

We're doing it again.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for joining me in this episode of let's Think About it. Your time and attention are greatly appreciated. If you found value in today's discussion, I encourage you to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Remember, the journey of self-improvement is ongoing and I'm here to support you every step of the way. Connect with me on social media for updates and insights. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook, at Coach Mo, coaching or LinkedIn, at Maurice Mabry, or visit my website at mauricemabrycom for exclusive content. Until next time, keep reflecting, keep growing and, most importantly, keep believing in yourself. Remember, the most effective way to do it is to do it Together. We're making incredible strides toward a better and more empowered you, so thank you, and I'll see you in our next episode.