I have been wanting to do a podcast for so long and I am so excited to announce that the Classy Career Girl podcast is finally here!! Every week I will be answering your questions and replaying my interviews with successful business women so check it out!!
PODCAST: Click play above or right click here and save link as to download or subscribe on iTunes here on this link:
Show topics:
- Introduction to the very first podcast
- Interview with Dawn Stanyon: How to communicate effectively at work
- Reader Question: How do I dress, act and make myself memorable during an interview?
- Reader Question: How do I network with jewelry stores to achieve my goals?
Transcript:
Hi everyone! This is Anna Runyan from Classycareergirl.com and welcome to episode 1 of the Classy Career Girl podcast! I am so excited to finally put this podcast out because it has been something that I have been wanting to do for a very very long time! So what this podcast is going to be is a mix of answering your questions and interviews with successful business woman. I am going to start each podcast with an interview with a successful business woman and then I am going to answer your questions at the end of the podcast. I am getting so many questions from readers that I thought this would be a great way to get your questions answered in a more timely matter! I also will give you special announcements at the end too every week so you can always know the latest things going on in the world of Classy Career Girl. So to start off our very first podcast, we are going to listen to my networking challenge interview with Dawn Stanyon. Now also remember that all of the interviews I do on this podcast will usually be up on my blog where you can find the videos to the interviews and the transcripts so you can always follow along. I will also be doing a post when I put out the podcast so you and I will always link to the video and transcript as well as any other information that is mentioned in the podcast. So, with that little announcement, let’s listen to the very first interview of Classy Career Girl’s podcast with Dawn Stanyon!
Watch the video with Dawn and read the interview transcript here: Networking Interview #1: How to Communicate Effectively at Work.
So now let’s turn it over to answer all of your fabulous questions. Remember that I want to hear your question too! You can submit it on my contact page or send me an email at [email protected].
Our first question comes from Autumn and her question is:
“I am a high school sophomore and I am going to be going to National DECA Competition and I was wondering If you could give advice on how to dress and ways to make myself memorable and the proper business actions to take in my mock job interview.”
- How to dress. Definitely a suit jacket or blazer with some nice comfortable pants. You definitely want to be overdressed rather than underdressed because you never know who you might meet at this event and it will be a great event for college connections I would imagine! Plus there will be lots of photos so you want to be dressed professionally,. And you want to make a great first impression for sure. So I would recommend a blazer – doesn’t matter what color, you could do black or a tan color with black pants. That will just make you stand out, especially if others are not wearing a blazer.
- To make yourself memorable – I would suggest smiling and having a firm handshake. Look relaxed and comfortable and know that you are confident and you are going to nail the competition. You want to be memorable for this instead of being super nervous. This is GREAT practice for the future and think of it that way. It isn’t the end of the world if you don’t do great and you really have nothing to lose so go forward and put your best foot forward! I would also recommend having little business cards made with your name and email address. I don’t know if they advise you to do that in high school but that would be a great way to be memorable and stand out as well! Definitely be prepared with practice questions, go through some common interview questions and practice with your parents or friends answering the responses. Have some stories that you have happened to you and challenges that you have overcome in your life ready to talk about. Make it personal and everyone loves hearing stories so if you can weave stories into your responses that would be great as well!
- Proper business actions to take : be ready for a firm handshake and be ready with a nice to meet you response and look them directly in the eye! Also, be ready with some questions for them, get to know them and see what they do for a living. I am sure a lot of people are so intimidated that they are afraid to make a personal connection at your event so do it! Get to know them and why not ask for their business card so that you can stay in touch with them and maybe even do an informational interview with them in the future. A common question in all interviews is do you have any questions, if you say no, then you look like a know it all. You must always have some questions ready to go even if you don’t really care or already know the answer.
Our next question is from: Pink heart – (totally fine to be anonymous if you don’t want your name shared on the blog).
Dear Classy Career Girl, Love your blog! It’s great that you use that platform to educate and inspire young career women. I am a jewelry designer looking to get some of my pieces in local boutiques. How exactly do you think I should network with these store owners in order to achieve my desired goals? BTW, please feel free to use this question on your blog!”
I really know nothing about stores and jewelry design but I think basic networking advice should help you out.
I would just walk into stores that you want your jewelry in and start talking with the people in the boutiques. Ask them their names and be really interested in what they are selling and then when the time is right, start giving your elevator pitch and ask how you would go about getting your items in their store. You could even have some jewelry items on you that you are wearing or in your purse or even photos on your phone that you are ready to show them. Most people in their stores probably don’t have too many people coming in and talking to them so I am sure they would love to chat with you. You do have to know that they probably aren’t the ones that are going to make the decision because you will need to talk to their boss or their bosses boss so when you are leaving as them for the contact information for their boss or the store manager. Then send an email to the manager or ask them for a quick phone call or to grab a cup of coffee so you can learn more about their store and see if you can help them at all. I would just focus on being totally authentic and genuine and never try to sell or push your product but you are only building connectins. Then keep an excel spreadsheet of everyone you meet and always ask if they know any other store owners in the area that you can network with. Send them a holiday jewelry design for free for Christmas or an anniversary of the store. They will be very honored that you remembered them and it makes it look like you want to help and make a deep connection. Also, figure out where those stores owners go to network. For instance is there some big jewelry expo or monthly event that they all meet at. Get in that event and just start getting to know them and bonding over the love of jewelry that you all have.
I hope you enjoyed the very first Classy Career girl podcast! Remember to send in your questions so I can answer them on an upcoming podcast. Also, if you want to talk directly to me, I am offering free telecons once per month and you can sign up here:
http://www.classycareergirl.com/free-monthly-chat/
And I am super excited to announce my new training course starting soon that is perfect for you if you are stuck in a rut. It is called get unstuck and find the right career for you and you can get more information here:
http://www.classycareergirl.com/getunstuck/
I will talk to you next week!
