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To thine own self be true! To find a career that fits, you have to go inside. Career Strategist Keyia Kersey recommends 3 steps for anyone looking to make a career pivot. Certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment, Keyia presents a strong case for why investigating your beliefs about who you are and what you want is the best insurance against a frustrating career and points you in the perfect direction.
Find a transcript by automatic software below. Please excuse any misinterpreted words.
Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of refractive podcasts. I’m Johnny G today. I am so delighted to introduce you to a very close friend of mine from way back in the day, right? To her name is Kia Kersey, and she is a career strategist. She’s worked in that area for quite a long time. Um, she actually studied, uh, I met her back through my human resources link. In fact, her master’s is in human resources management and organizational leadership. Um, she is also certified by the Myers-Briggs company for the Myers-Briggs type indicator. And so, uh, I thought that there was some really beautiful, a wealth of knowledge to bring to the listeners today on what to do when you get to a point where you realize that your current career doesn’t fit anymore, I’ve been there. Key has been there and a lot of listeners are there right now.
Speaker 1 00:01:48 And we know that what we’re doing today doesn’t fit, but it’s terrifying to think about starting career number two, right? Because first of all, what do we even like doing? What are people going to be willing to pay us to do that makes us feel good. And is it going to meet the financial needs of our family? Is it viable? There are so many facets to consider in this decision that what happens to most people is they say, well, the career, I mean right now is not awful. I don’t really love it, but it’s it’s okay. And they don’t move because they’re too scared of all of these variables. They’re scared of the, what feels like a momentous calculation to have to get into a career that feels right. Well, I’m here to tell you that I’ve been able to shift out of a career into one that feels right. Tia has done that as well. It’s not as complicated or as difficult. It’s a big project, but it’s not possible. In fact, it’s very possible. And she has some wisdom to share with the listeners today on exactly how to do that. So before we get into all the nitty gritty, how are you doing my love?
Speaker 2 00:02:58 I’m doing Johnny. I just want to start by saying thank you so much for having me on the show today. You’re such a rock star and I’m so honored to be here. And I’m excited. I’m excited to share with our listeners today.
Speaker 1 00:03:13 Oh, I listen. I’m excited to share all the giggles and laughter with our listeners.
Speaker 2 00:03:19 Oh, a lot of we do. Uh, okay. The audience will have to bear with us because we like giggling and laughing together. So we’ll have to keep it together. We will try to keep it together for everyone. I can’t make any promises, but you know,
Speaker 1 00:03:35 In fact, I want to tell everybody I’ve told this story,
Speaker 2 00:03:38 Uh, I’m not ready, but
Speaker 1 00:03:41 I need to tell everybody how I met Kia. So,
Speaker 2 00:03:44 Um, do it, don’t embarrass don’t marriage.
Speaker 1 00:03:48 Yeah. So back in 2008, I was working for Loews hotels at the time and human
Speaker 2 00:03:55 Resources. That’s right. Yes.
Speaker 1 00:03:58 And so I got invited to come do a lecture, um, at Weidener university.
Speaker 2 00:04:05 I love the story. I do love the story. It’s I do love the story.
Speaker 1 00:04:08 Yes. So I, uh, I’m wearing, oh, I went out to Weidener university and I, uh, I did this lecture on some stuff that we did. I don’t even remember exactly the title, uh, the topic. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:04:21 But you were, you were talking about the culture of the organization and that’s who you were. They was really like the culture. And what training was all about from the cultural standpoint? It was, it was neat. I remember. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:04:33 And so after the lecture was over this lady, she is tall and lean, right. She is tall and lean like a cartoon character. And she like hops up out of her seat in her business suit. Right. She is wearing business attire and she’d be like bounces over to me with all the earnestness of
Speaker 2 00:04:54 Powerful woman.
Speaker 1 00:04:55 And she likes sticks her handouts such force. And thank you so much for coming to do our lecture. I really enjoyed it. And my name is Anne. We have just been connected ever since
Speaker 2 00:05:09 That was a good, um, rendition of Kia, 2000 AI,
Speaker 1 00:05:15 Like from legally blonde, like she’s like, she’s just going to take over the world and like, nobody’s going to get in her way. And she knows, you know, she’s about to give me a perfume centered resume, you know?
Speaker 2 00:05:28 Um, I appreciate that story. That, that is true story. That’s exactly how I met. I was just like, he’s a rock star and he’s going to be my friend and guess what it worked. And you’ve been, my friend ever said, I mean, we have from taking planes to see each other, to drive it across country and see each other from Amtrak trains and see each other. We have been inseparable ever since. So love you
Speaker 1 00:05:53 Today. Uh, you just happened to have, uh, built career, uh, around helping other people with their own careers. And so I’d love to hear what you have in store for us today. Um, as far as how to help people in this moment of pivot in their life.
Speaker 2 00:06:10 Yeah. I love this topic because so many of us are either going through it or we have gone through it, as you said, at some point in our lives, but really when identifying the career, that’s the best fit for you when you’re trying to figure out what is my career passion, where is my niche? Where should I be? Um, there’s three things that I always recommend you do. Number one, discover your personality type, discover that discovering your personality type really will allow you to identify your strengths. I like to call them your super powers, super powers, because this is the thing we all have a super power. You know, if you’re, if you’re in a job right now or in a career right now, you feel like, eh, it’s okay. Or if you feel like I I’m really not, you know, doing what I want to do.
Speaker 2 00:07:01 You have not tapped into your superpower. We all have a superpower. And I so want for everyone to tap into their super power. The second thing that you really need to do is examine your core. And when I say examine your core, what are your values? Your beliefs, your lifestyle, what is it now? What do you want it to be? And the third thing is take that information, develop a SWOT analysis, a SWOT analysis, meaning your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. And I’ll go into that a little bit more, but analyzing that will really help you to move forward and make some steps that are right for your next career move.
Speaker 1 00:07:42 All right. Perfect. I love it. So, uh, all right. So step one, let’s unpack these bad boys and, uh, share with us some of the wisdom you have, uh, you’ve developed over the years around these.
Speaker 2 00:07:55 Yeah. So, you know, the first thing, your personality types. So as a certified, uh, NBTI practitioner or Myers-Briggs type indicator practitioner, I can share things from this NBTI lens. So, you know, the question is, um, you know, Y NBTI wait, let’s take a time out and stop for a second. Please stop. Let’s talk about this cup. I’m sorry, everyone. Let’s talk about this big relish cop that you put. All right. So for those of you who are not on YouTube, you have no idea what’s happening right now. Love your cop need to get one. I need to get one later,
Speaker 1 00:08:37 Literally like 20 ounces. It’s an enormous teacup. And it says relish on the rim because, you know, I relish my time with Kia Kersey. So
Speaker 2 00:08:47 I’m just pushing in this. I am relishing in this moment right now, so, okay. I’m going to try and of, okay. So personality type, right? Figure out what your personality type is. One way to do that is through a career assessment. I’m an NBTI practitioner. So I can speak from the NBTI lens, the Myers-Briggs type months. Um, so why would you use, I would say a Myers-Briggs personality inventory over all the other there’s so many you can pick and choose, um, NBTI, it’s a self-reported instrument. So that means that you select your own preferences. It’s nonjudgmental it. Doesn’t judge your personality type, um, but indicates how you prefer to approach a situation and interact with life. Um, it sorts people into, um, I guess it starts people based on their preferences. It doesn’t put you in a box and say, this is who you are, that’s your label. Right. So that’s why I like it too. And it’s also, well-researched, it’s something that is used worldwide. It’s been around a very long time and it’s the most widely used psychological assessment in the world. So that’s why you talk from that lens.
Speaker 1 00:10:00 Let’s go more into this. Let’s go more into Myers-Briggs. Cause you, you have people, uh, say all the time, oh, these are my four letters. And like, they don’t even say it’s Myers-Briggs but when you get those four letters, like, you know that it’s Myers-Briggs so what are your four letters?
Speaker 2 00:10:17 My four letters. I am an E N T J. And that just means that I am an extrovert. Um, I utilize the extrovert preference. I utilize the intuition preference. I utilize my thinking preference the most, and I utilize my judging preference the most. And I can tell you what all of those mean I
Speaker 1 00:10:40 Am. Um, I N F okay. Love it. What is F I can’t remember what F feeling. Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 00:10:51 So, so you’re, I N you said, right? So you, I N F J so you’re introverted, um, you’re intuitive, meaning you are more of a visionary person, right? You’re looking at the future. Um, you are make decisions that are more in line with your feeling, with your gut, your hunch, you have a hunch about something, you make decisions based on that feeling. And then as a J you’re a person that’s, you’re your pretty organized, structured person. Um, you like to do things in an organized where you like things on your calendar, um, as opposed to just being like, I’m just going to take things as they happen. You kind of liked to ensure that you have a plan in front of you.
Speaker 1 00:11:43 You know, it’s, it’s when I first did Myers-Briggs, um, uh, it was one of the first times where I ever stopped to think that maybe I am an introvert, because I’ve always had such a big mouth. Right. I’ve always been a talker, you know, and, and everybody, I remember I worked on a big team of like 22 people in HR, and we all got our Meyers-Briggs and they were like, well, but this, how can you, you’re not, you’re, you’re, you’re E you’re. You’re not an I, and what happens is due to some of like my upbringings and coping mechanisms that I developed for myself through adolescents or whatever I have, I learned that people like people who are outgoing and warm. And so I learned to do that, but it drains me. It does not, it’s not my natural state. Um, it’s something I learned how to do to cope. And so, in reality, when I’m around a group of people for a long time, uh, it just, I feel like I’ve just been beat up, you know,
Speaker 2 00:12:55 That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense because, um, if you’re E if you utilize the extrovert preference the most, then you’re energized. That gives you energy, that it should give you energy, but knowing that it drains you. Oh, yeah. You’re a true, you’re clear. You’re clear. I write, because I, it is my assumption then that when you have really time alone to think process strategize that that’s when you get your most energy. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:13:29 You know, there was this family trip that, that, uh, that my, my siblings planned that was going to be like 12 of us going to Billy’s. And at first I was like, oh yeah, that sounds great. And then like the closer we got, and I’m like, I’m not going, I cannot
Speaker 2 00:13:44 Not be
Speaker 1 00:13:45 Like, in this tight space with 12 people for 10 days. Like, it’s just going to kill me. Like I need, you know, anyway, so that’s not really on the topic of career, but it’s on the topic of like Myers-Briggs and how accepted it is and widespread, and well-known, it is. And so, um, why does it help someone who is interested in a career pivot to, uh, do an assessment, which could be Myers-Briggs, it could be any number of other assessments that help someone understand how they tick, um, talk to me a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 00:14:18 Yeah. Well, you know, when we talk about the different letters, um, and what they stand for, you gave a great example of what you were saying regarding, um, you feeling drained after giving these presentations or being around so many people. And what that means is that if a person is trying to assess their next step in their career, and they should really take a look at how they’re energized, when we talk about why my response and why look at how you’re energized, because if you find that you’re really drained after, you know, um, being around large crowds or talking with a lot of people, or in those types of situations, then maybe a sales role, um, a role where you have to be in front of people all the time, or kind of be in front of people to develop relationships, maybe not all the time, but maybe you want to think about whether or not that’s a good fit for what your preference is.
Speaker 2 00:15:24 And it doesn’t mean that you can’t do certain things, because if you want to do something, and this is a goal of yours that you have go forward, but if you’re tired at the job that you’re at, and there’s a reason why there’s a reason why you’re not feeling fulfilled and looking at those NBTI preferences will help you to figure out what your natural makeup is. For example, can you do me a favor? Do you have a pencil and a paper readily accessible to you? Do me a favor and just write your name, just write your full name. Let me know when you’re done. When you were writing your name, did you have to think about which hand you were going to write with? No. Exactly. So, uh, similarly, when you’re exercising your NBTI preferences, it’s not something that you have to think about. It’s innate and it’s natural and you are, we are our true selves when we’re doing things that come very natural to us. Right, right. So I like to look at it that way. I
Speaker 1 00:16:37 Want to, uh, you know, I want to hop in and talk about this because, you know, here’s, you know, when I work with clients who feel stuck in their lives, um, it’s not that I can’t write my name with my right hand. I can write my name with my right hand. And depending on how much effort I want to put in, I can write my name in a fairly legible way, or I could, uh, do it in a less careful way, but I can do it, but does it feel good? It doesn’t feel good. You know? And so this is a really nice corollary to, I love that, that the conversation is going this way because, um, I didn’t know. I didn’t know that being in front of people didn’t feel good to me. I didn’t know that putting myself in extroverted situations drained me, I had never stopped to investigate that.
Speaker 1 00:17:39 I knew it felt good when people responded favorably to me. And how do I get people to respond favorably to me, to go in front of people and charm them. So I was doing that. I was doing that. Um, and, and I just felt exhausted and just depleted at the end of every day. And so, as we look at what life needs to look like, whether it’s career, whether it’s the type of place I live, whether it’s, uh, you know, is my relationship working for me, whatever the case is investigating, what makes us tick is so key, because we may have made assumptions based on, uh, the societal most favorable mix of characteristics and be like, okay, well, that’s what I want. And we may have modeled an entire life around, um, situations that don’t feel good to us. That’s where I wonder why people are depressed. And we wonder why people feel angry at the world.
Speaker 2 00:18:46 That’s right. That’s right. And let me tell you, our introverts are our rock stars. Well, hello, Kevin, can I tell you, I, you know, as an extrovert, do I always think before I speak, I would like to, but sometimes I think I’m a very strategic person in what I say. I, I do think that I am very strategic in what I say, however, what I need, let me clarify, please. I can’t with that cop
Speaker 1 00:19:21 Look, I’m going to drink my tea. Yeah. I just got it.
Speaker 2 00:19:24 Send me one. I’m really actually, I’m just like, I’m jealous. This is real jealousy coming through. So you have to send me one. Okay. Or just tell me where to order it, or, um, what I want to say as far as, um, introverts really being our rock stars when I was saying was clarifying me thinking through things before I speak as an introvert. Um, I like to come to conclusions by thinking out loud. So if I was in a business meeting with a lot of people and the person leading the meeting, you know, um, was talking and I, I had a good thought about whatever that person was talking about. I would, I would outright jump in, or if the person said, what do you think about that? I would outright spit out what to my hair, or I would go through my thought process out loud, whereas an introvert would really go through their thought process in their mind and then say a polished conclusion, you know, at the end.
Speaker 2 00:20:29 Right? So that person is really taking in a lot of information. You know, the intro, the extrovert such as myself may continue talking, talking, talking to introvert is really taking all of this in and then coming to a well formulated response. I that, you know, as extroverts, sure, we come with well-formulated responses as well, but that different tactic is such a strength. And this is what I talk about when we say identifying our strengths in our superpowers, you know, extroversion versus introversion, extroversion versus introversion is how we’re energized. So we talked about how you’re energized, right? You’re energized and extroverts energizing around lots of people. An introvert is energized with that along silo time. Um, the next preference pair is sensing versus intuition. So that is how we take in information. So a person with a sensing, um, preferences, more so taking into details that are around them, right?
Speaker 2 00:21:33 So if they’re in a meeting, they’re taking in all of the detail information and they are trying to come to a conclusion more so for the nail, an immediate conclusion that we’ll be able to, um, mitigate whatever challenge the group is facing immediately or whatever challenge the project is facing immediately where the intuitive person is looking to the future of everything. They are the visionary. So they’re trying to come up with, um, their, they emit their minds immediately goes to how can we develop a process? That’s going to be last longing for the future. So an example of that be if you take your hand and put it in front of your face, a person with a sensing preference is looking at all the grooves in the lie, a person with intuitive preferences looking out in front of them. So the sensing person is looking at all the nooks and crannies. The, the intuitive person is looking out in the future. And one is missing something that the others is not missing, right. One is
Speaker 1 00:22:44 Not stronger than the other one is not better than the other. They’re not there, it’s a continuum. Right. And everyone has a certain, um, um, ratio of these two, right? Nobody, almost nobody. I mean, I don’t want to say that, but like the likelihood of you being 100% sensing and 0% intuitive is
Speaker 2 00:23:05 Like this that’s right. It is very unlikely. We all utilize both. Right. We just utilize one more than the other. So a person with a sensing preference, we’re probably do really well with something like data analysis, right. Because they are really analyzing a lots of detailed information, right. Where an intuitive person sure. They could do it, but it might be a little bit more of a challenge for them. Um, because they’re more focused on the bigger picture of things. I’m thinking worsen, it’s banking versus feelings, how we make decisions. So a person with the person with the, sorry, I’m trying, I’m trying, I’m trying, I was trying to turn off my camera. Don’t start off in here, the person with the thinking. So the person with the thinking preference is making decisions based on factual information, the person with the feeling preference is more so, like I said, making a decision based on their gut, their, you know, what is, um, what feels, right, right.
Speaker 2 00:24:27 So say if, um, two people were looking at a resume for a candidate say, uh, we were both recruiters. We were looking at a resume trying to decide if we want to bring this, this candidate on. Um, I may say, you know what? I needed a little bit more data on this candidate. Just a little bit more data. You may say, you know what, after reading through their resume, I think I really, I get a good feeling about this reason. My gut is telling me that this person, isn’t just your chat. You’re putting the patterns together and you get a gut feeling. I’m like, you’re blowing my mind right now because like, okay. So like
Speaker 1 00:25:05 I do, you know, I write resumes for clients. It’s one of the services I do. You know, one of the big focuses that I do is I say, listen, we need to control the, um, subliminal messages of your resume. How much white space is there on the page? How parallel is the formatting, right. Is there enough space between characters? Is there a, does it feel balanced? Like, does it fit? And I tell clients that by, you know, when you’re looking at 20 resumes in a row, when one is subliminally pleasant, it stands out. But so as you’re talking about like the resume example Kia, like it made me think of like, well, that’s why that’s such a focus of mine when I work with, because that I, you know, I find that that’s, I mean, obviously the content is very important, but also really recognize the significance of a well-thought out, uh, document that feels, and
Speaker 2 00:26:07 That’s just as important. And that’s a perfect example. That’s a perfect, because it’s what you’re saying and describing is just as important as the data that’s in it. But that, that’s why, you know, you’re looking through that lens, you know, is because of the preference that you have. You’re feeling preference when he comes in. I
Speaker 1 00:26:27 Would have had no idea. So I love, and then the last
Speaker 2 00:26:31 One, just, I don’t know how we’re doing on time. Cause we can talk forever. The last one I’ll be quick is judging versus perceiving. So a person with the judge listen to the podcast. I love mother good DRI I there’s a special place in my heart for mother Godrich certainly I will never forget when she had me over the house around the holidays. It was, I love mother Goodrich. Um, but it doesn’t mean judging. Judging doesn’t mean like, oh, we’re being judged today. God, is this, how does this, how does this, or your shape? What, what judging means is, um, you like a, a life that’s organized, you like to set goals, you like structure, you like making decisions that you can move on where a person with the perceiving type, uh, or perceiving preference is one who really likes to approach life as it comes.
Speaker 2 00:27:39 Right. Uh, doesn’t like to make the Bennett plans because they like to leave their schedules a little open so that there’s freedom for whatever life brings them. Right. Um, I’ll tell you something funny. So I, you know, looking at it this way, a person with a judging preference, if we had a picture of that person at their desk and they had a stack of papers next to them, they would be like pulling one paper off, finishing it, putting it to the side, pulling the next day. I mean, they’re getting things done where the person with the perceiving preference is probably like I have a lot of time to get this done. I mean, I have until next Wednesday, you know, I can get through this pile by night. That’s Wednesday. I’m going to take my time and get through the ball and they’ll get through the pile, but just a little bit more lax about flex, about their time there.
Speaker 1 00:28:34 So, so the, once you kind of have done an assessment and we’re specifically talking about the value of Myers-Briggs, but once you’ve done an assessment and you’ve kind of understood, understood what makes you tick, because again, the thing is to challenge the assumptions with an open mind, what the assumptions we’ve had about ourselves, our whole lives, because we may have been forming ourselves to someone else’s ideals and stopping to question. We may assume the fact that it didn’t feel good as an error in ourselves rather than an error in the path we’re taking. That really is someone else’s path. Right. So, yeah. So once we’ve kind of looked at the look at our superpowers and decided, okay, I don’t want to be in a job where I have to sit in my office all day, because that is draining to me to be alone too
Speaker 2 00:29:24 Much. Yeah. That’s scary. I had to, I ran out of my house this morning because I was like, I just don’t want to be by myself. So,
Speaker 1 00:29:34 And I’m not talking about me particularly. Right? Like that’s, you know, but then like, and let’s say, I don’t want a, that focuses too much on the nitty gritty. Um, I know that I really prefer high level conceptual work. Um, that feels exciting to me. Whereas like getting into the numbers or, or planning out detailed sub strategies is just draining for me. Right. So once you’ve kind of identified that we move on to step two. Now this is something where the listeners of this podcast can go ahead and roll your eyes. All of you, or all three of you listeners, uh, go ahead and roll your eyes because I talk about all the time, all the time. So tell me, what do you mean that you need to examine your values? If you’re looking at a career pivot,
Speaker 2 00:30:23 Here we go. I call it your core, your core consists of your values, your beliefs, and your lifestyle. And, and here we go. Your values. Do you value family time? Um, do you value here we go on road in the eyes. Do you value position titles? It’s okay. Do you value climbing the corporate ladder? Do you value educating others? All of it’s. Okay. Any of those things that I just mentioned is okay, but you have to be true and honest with yourself. It took me a long time to be honest about the things that I value. And I guess this is a time for me to be vulnerable. I value position titles.
Speaker 1 00:31:11 Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 00:31:13 You know, and it took me a long time to say that because I felt like I was being like, oh, really judging myself. Like, oh, that’s not a good thing, but it’s all okay. Whatever you volume is, it’s completely fine. Just be honest with yourself. That’s
Speaker 1 00:31:30 The thing. Yes. Oh my God. Oh my God. Like, I mean, when it comes to relationships, when it comes to how you raise your children, when it comes to setting your houses, financial strategies, like be honest, be honest. Right. Do, are you trying to get your kid into that preschool because it’s a loving decision based on, um, just based on love or is it based on fear? Is it if I don’t do this, uh, if I don’t do this things, aren’t gonna work out. Okay. Wow.
Speaker 2 00:32:12 That’s so powerful.
Speaker 1 00:32:14 I’m going to let myself down. If I don’t do this, my parents are going to judge me. If I don’t do this, I’m not going to be as good as my neighbors. If I don’t do I’m failing. Um, according to some life mission, I set for myself 30 minutes ago. And rather than I’m doing this because I have the means and it’s natural and it flows and it feels great to do this. You know, like there’s a D let’s be honest about that. That’s so powerful. Yes. And so bring it into your career. Like, you know, if you had a goal that you need to earn $150,000, it is that because of your values, maybe it is. If your values say achievement is necessary for you to feel satisfied. If your value say, let’s say adventure, right? Because let’s say you want to go Trek through Antarctic or climb Mount Everest, or you want to, you know, go do these things that cost a lot of money. So if you’re doing things that are aligned with your values, they feel good, but let’s say those. Aren’t my values. My values are family time. My values are serenity and peace,
Speaker 2 00:33:23 Educating others, training others, you know, in a career
Speaker 1 00:33:29 Where I can earn $150,000 at the expense of what makes me feel good. And so I have the money and I feel gross about it.
Speaker 2 00:33:37 That’s right. That’s precisely why identifying what your values are, are so important. The next thing is your beliefs. Do you believe that you should be working nine to five? Do you believe that you should be working weeknights? Do you believe that you should be working weekends? All of that is important when you’re looking at the type of job that you want to go into, there are certain jobs that are a little bit more demanding in those areas than other. There are certain industries in careers that are more demanding and those areas than others. So it’s very important that you’re looking at that when it comes to the things like what you believe leaves,
Speaker 1 00:34:16 It’s like, you’re selling out. It’s like you’re selling yourself out. And then you feel greater to yourself.
Speaker 2 00:34:21 That’s that’s precisely. And it ties right into your lifestyle. Exactly what you were saying. Um, do you want to live a comfortable lifestyle, a basic lifestyle? Uh, this all plays a part in your career decision, right? When it talks about finances, so values, beliefs, lifestyle, all intertwined, and it
Speaker 1 00:34:41 Comes down to questioning what we’ve accepted as true. Right? Because we all say, well, yeah, I want to make a lot of money because life is less complicated and it’s simple that way. Okay. That’s great. That’s great. That’s fine. Right? If that’s, but is that, is that really what your insight is telling you? Does your inside tell you that if you don’t make this money, you don’t feel good, right? Or is that just what you’ve heard
Speaker 2 00:35:05 And accepted it as your personal truth? You’ve accepted it because once you accept something, you also attracted,
Speaker 1 00:35:14 Right? It’s like people who get promoted into management jobs because they, they, they just, that must be good. It’s more money. It’s a bigger job. That must be good. But did you stop to ask yourself if that’s what feels good to you? Are you selling out what feels good to you for someone else’s ideals of good?
Speaker 2 00:35:34 Yeah. The other thing is that people will start to notice is that when you, when your values align with your career decision, your values, beliefs, your lifestyle aligns with your career decision. You also ignite this creative side of you, right? And then when you do that and you start creating, if money is something that you felt like, you know what I do, what would like more money, but I value this and money will follow. And I, you know, people, and I know it’s like a shallow thing. You hear that, but it is so true when you really start to tap into, um, your superpowers and your creativity and your values aligned with it, then the money will follow. I value family. I value position, title, I value, um, balance, you know? So at some point I really had to stop valuing or believing. I should say, believing that those other things were necessary in order for me to be successful.
Speaker 1 00:36:37 Right? Because it’s like a continuum, just like your eye, just like your four letters. It’s not that it means you don’t care about money. It’s like, it’s where does money? Where does your salary fall on your list of priorities? And maybe, um, five years ago in your life, money might have fallen in number three, the number three spot. And maybe you’ve had a shift. And today upon closer evaluation, maybe your, your financials fallen spot six or spot seven in your priorities. So it’s not that we’re saying, like, you don’t care about that stuff. You don’t care about getting promoted. You don’t care. It’s not what we’re saying. It’s that are your priorities in order, according to what feels good or is it someone else’s priorities?
Speaker 2 00:37:26 That’s right. That’s right. Spot on. And then the last thing that you should do when you’re looking to make that career changer, go to a different position, leave your current position, take all that information we talked about and put it into a swallow, a SWAT analysis. So again, SWOT analysis, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for yourself. So I’ll give an example, maybe for string, you’re a visionary person. You like to solve problems. You care about social justice issues. Maybe the weakness is that you don’t like micromanagers, maybe four under opportunities, a nonprofit executive role might be a good fit for you because you’re a visionary. You like to solve problems and you care about social justice issues. So maybe an opportunity is a nonprofit, one of the industries or roles that you look at, just one of them. I have a question
Speaker 1 00:38:26 About opportunities. Do we mean opportunities? Like the, like, like, you know, the nice way of saying things we’re not doing well, you know how, like in a business we’re like, well, what’s our strength and what’s our opportunity, right? Opportunity means like what you’re failing at or does this mean opportunity, like a new chance at something, you know, like, I just want to clarify that
Speaker 2 00:38:45 It’s both and thanks for the clarity. It’s both. And I’ll show you how so opportunities are on one. Part of it is what are the opportunities that fit in with your personality, personality type and your core, but then it’s also, what are you not doing that you could start doing in order to help you figure out where you want to be? Maybe an opportunity now is to start some informational interviewing. So once you identified some careers that fit with your personality type in your core, then you start doing, um, talking to people that are within those industries, with that title in that field to see if it would actually gel with you. Right? So it’s an opportunity for you to start exploring that, um, and doing that. It’s an opportunity for you to learn more about the organization or maybe to learn more about whether or not you’d be a good entrepreneur, right?
Speaker 2 00:39:48 If it’s learning more about an organization, then maybe you learn about the managers that are there. And if you were to be in a position, would you be micromanaged your weaknesses micromanage, right. If you, if you’re looking to explore entrepreneurship, this is an opportunity for you to start talking to other entrepreneurs, maybe in similar fields and to try and, um, get a real listic, uh, point of view of what that looks like from someone who’s already doing it. So I’m talking about both. Thank you for clarifying that. So I’m talking about both and then the last are the threats, the threats, you know, peers who currently have experience in that industry, you know, but, um, knowing your threats will help you to take action, right? So, um, do you need to volunteer at an organization? Do you need to, do you need to do some gratis work? If you’re looking to be entrepreneur, do you need to do gratis workforce or maybe do some things for free in order to obtain that additional experience? So identify
Speaker 1 00:40:54 A threat.
Speaker 2 00:40:56 That’s a good, that’s a good question. So the weakness and on this chart is something that, um, that you’re just not that you’re struggling with. You know, you, you, maybe you don’t, you’re not good at, so you, so if we talk about personality type, you have your superpower. When you have the thing you’re not so good at, right. Maybe you’re not the detailed person. Um, so that’s the weakness part where the threat I’m talking about external environmental things and weakness, I’m talking about internal things that are internal any to you.
Speaker 1 00:41:29 Okay. Yeah. All right. So threat might be like, for example, um, if I want a tech job, but I’m in a, I’m in a location where tech is not really a prominent industry, that’s not a weakness, but it’s not, it’s an obstacle that I had going to have to deal with.
Speaker 2 00:41:45 Yes. And you need to know that. Perfect. And you need, that’s a perfect example. And you need to know that, um, in order to make your career shift and make that change, you need to know all these things. So doing those three things, discovering your personality, type, your super power, your strain, um, evaluating your core, really assessing your core, developing that SWAT analysis, those three things. Once you do that, then you can say, you know what? You should, at the end of doing those three things feel so much more empowered and enlightened about your next career move. So I have to say that. And I would also say that that exercise of figuring out your personality type, once you’ve taken any assessment, it’s always good to sit down with the career professionals, such as yourself, Johnny, um, uh, you know, a career strategist such as myself in order to sit down and really unpack them information. Right? So, um, that’s where you come in, Johnny, that’s really where you come in, you know, for, for, for people to really unpack that information. Right. So that’s why they want to meet with you.
Speaker 1 00:43:00 All right. Well, that is, that is amazing. You know, I just feel like, uh, yeah, I just feel like so many people are floating in a lukewarm ocean and they just, they can’t see which direction to paddle in. And, you know, um, I tell my, I tell my clients, it’s, it’s on my website. It’s everywhere. There, there, there are a couple of tenants of my practice. You already know, and you already are, you already know you already, you know, but, but the answer is in the stillness, you know, that’s the thing. If you don’t think, you know, you need to get still. And when I say get still, you know, does that mean meditating? Sure. Right. But, but, but it, it means quieting all the external noise, quieting all the ideas you’ve absorbed from the outside and asking your highest, most wise loving self what’s true about this. Yeah. And then having the guts to, to, to, to, to run with that, once your, once your higher self tells you, what’s true having the guts to accept it and use it rather than saying, well, that was just my imagination.
Speaker 2 00:44:18 Yeah. Can I say this? You know, everyone has a, um, there’s always someone or people in your life who, who is your coach? Right. I have a number of people in my life who are my coaches who are like my curriculum. So you are, you are like the career counselors or the life coaches, coach, right. You really are. You really are. You know, you’re one of my, you’re one of my coaches, um, and my career coaches. And I appreciate you so much, you know, it’s just so enlightening. Every, just listening to you and listen to your responses is enlightening for me. So you’re the career coaches, coach.
Speaker 1 00:45:05 Thank you. I love it. I love it. Well, let me tell you something together. We’re like Vultron baby. We put them to them little lions together and we conquer the world. So
Speaker 2 00:45:14 Love it. Love it. Love it. Love care, bears, game your life. That’s what I tell her. Aim your light. Right. Stop for a second. I used to love care bears. I mean, literally brought care bears with me all the way up through college. Not going to get any details. Just saying
Speaker 1 00:45:36 I used to love care bears. Yeah. Well, if you want to know why I am the way I am. How about the fact that when I was like seven mother Goodrich redecorated, my entire room and care bears talking about like wall cutouts, a huge rainbow. That’s
Speaker 2 00:45:50 Not true to the ceiling. I love hard spreads everything. And it’s like, I mean a nurture. I don’t know. I love it. Love mother, mother. Good. DRI is always channeling her creative side to bring out the light to bring out the light in others. The other boys
Speaker 1 00:46:09 Had transformers and I had Kibera.
Speaker 2 00:46:13 Listen. That is all. That’s all good. That’s all good because I like caravans better. So that’s right. That’s right. More the guys that you get on board, they need to get on board.
Speaker 1 00:46:28 That’s right. Visionary. Anyway, I’m so grateful for you coming on. I have relished this experience.
Speaker 2 00:46:36 I gotta get one of those,
Speaker 1 00:46:38 This experience. And, uh, I, uh I’m so I just thank you for sharing everything with our, with our listeners. And if they would like to ask you some more questions about one of your sprigs, if they’d like to find out how to get our Myers-Briggs, uh, um, assessment done, or if they have questions about, um, career pivoting, or just want to ask you your advice, uh, or maybe it’s like someone that knew you in elementary school. And they’re like, oh my. Anybody who knew me from elementary school, please reach out to me because I love my, if you were in Mrs. Squires class with me, please reach out to me. Come on now who loves Mrs. Squires? You know what I’m talking to? How can they get ahold of you? So via email? Um, I go by Keyia, but my full name is Shakeyia, And then my last name Kersey, [email protected]. You can also link with me on LinkedIn, if that’s easier, just type in Shakeyia Kersey into Google and then a link with me on LinkedIn. Go to LinkedIn and link with me that way. You can also find me on Twitter. I’m ShakeyiaK on Twitter. I would love to link with you and talk to you and help in any way. All
Speaker 1 00:48:08 Right, my dear. Well, I am going to, uh, just once again, say thank you, wish you an amazing, amazing rest of the day. And uh, I just want to send you all like my love and my blessing.
Speaker 2 00:48:20 Oh my gosh. Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate you having, sorry. I didn’t let you finish because I’m so grateful. I appreciate you having me.
Speaker 1 00:48:30 You bet. You bet. All right, everybody. Well, as we wrap up same messages, always never forget to be good to each other and aim your light. Have a good day. Bye. You have been listening to refractive podcast, and this is Johnny G. If you’ve enjoyed today’s episode, do me a favor, give it a share on social media, or if you’re in the podcast app, give it a rating. If you’re on YouTube click, like it really does make a difference in the search results. I am a speaker, coach and facilitator based in Washington, DC, but I work in person and remotely with people who are ready to step with clarity into their most authentic life. If I can be of service, reach out to me, [email protected] have an amazing day. Be good to each other and always remember- Aim Your Light.
To learn more about the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment, email Keyia at [email protected] or search Shakeyia Kersey on LinkedIn. You can also find her on Twitter @ShakeyiaK.
For similar content, try The Courage to Change Careers w/Karen Barnard or Artist Stan Piotroski- A Life that Feels Right.
Contact host Johnny Guidry at [email protected]. For more information on coaching or to inquire about speaking engagements, visit www.refractivecoaching.com.
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