Episode: 18 Amy Feind Reeves: Helping Professionals Find and Keep Happy Jobs

Apurv : Amy, thank you for joining our podcast "The Product Live". I am your host, Apurv Sibal, representing Best Views Reviews. We are a product analytics website that uses natural language processing algorithms to rank and rate products based on millions of Amazon reviews. Thank you again for joining us. Could you please introduce yourself to our listeners?

Amy : Sure, I'm Amy Fine Reeves. I have held various positions such as banker, project finance banker, global management consultant, corporate executive, non-profit executive, entrepreneur, board member, and philanthropist. About 10 years ago, I followed my passion and became a career advisor. I have just published a book called "College to Career Explained: Tools, Skills, and Confidence for Your Job Search." Before that, I had a formative experience getting out of college when I had a terrible time getting the one job that I really wanted, which was getting on a bank training program. I spent the year working as an admin, which was a great learning experience. I spent a lot of time talking to people who had gotten those jobs and learned what I had done wrong and what they had done right. The next year, I got that job the first year out of the gate, and I really loved it. It turns out the only difference was that I didn't know how to job search or interview. I firmly believe that those are things that do not come naturally; they have to be taught. My passion is to help people with their career, and my first love has been working with kids transitioning from college to career.

Apurv : That sounds interesting, Amy. What are some of the advice that you would give to a college graduate?

Amy : Well I grew thing um I would tell I'd like to let people know what jobs there are so for example when I see clients and as my book starts I like to tell people how to think about jobs um and if you even look usually I'll say to someone what's the what's the last thing you bought and usually it's either coffee or a t-shirt of some sort and if you go through buying a cup of coffee at Starbucks and you say what jobs are there usually somebody will say Barista um what's the most important job at Starbucks and it turns out the most important job at Starbucks is actually or one of the most important jobs I don't want somebody who works at Starbucks to call and give me a hard time but one of the most important jobs is the person from the real estate division who stands outside a potential site with a cattle with a counter and clicks how many feet go by because it's really really important if you're ought to be in the right space to get enough customers to walk by because that's what drives that business or maybe how many cars go by on a highway and there's also the people who at Starbucks in fact is backward integrated so they also have real estate people buying coffee plantations in all different parts of the world and people who run those plantations and people who do the logistics of hiring people to pick the beans and to get the beans transported all over the world and do the contracts to get them transported and work with Logistics people Customs people get them bagged get them roasted get them into stores they have people who decorate the stores they have people who curate the music curate what the products they're going to sell and if you really think about how to run that operation the number of jobs it takes to get you your coffee in the morning even a mom and pop shop you know there's people that sell business to business paper goods sales to get um you know the the toilet paper and the paper towels into the bathrooms at those places so those are jobs that you know once you think about it you know what jobs there are and the reasons why you don't know what jobs there are when you're getting out of college because nobody likes to talk about what they're doing when they're not doing it and it's hard to explain what you're doing when there's a lot of Industry language Etc anyway to go on with your question networking is a really big part of what college grads need to do and it's really scary for them so just explaining what it is that networking is which is really not scary it's just talking to people with a goal in mind and that goal is to get the person you're talking to to stay in touch asking them for their information and with ask that if a job ever becomes available at their company could you please consider if I reached out sending my resume in internally and in this day and age in most companies there are cash bonuses given for referrals so it really shouldn't be considered much of a bonus and a lot of kids a lot of people think network is something that you do in a suit in a in an office in a big conference room with a Martini in your hand or some other vision of what it might be and um it's not it's really just talking to people and talking to them about what you're looking to do so a concise elevator pitch is a is a good tool and something that should be done at um in any Starbucks in any in a backyard barbecue situation anywhere that you are talking to people

Apurv : So how did you get the idea to write this book?

Amy: Most of the work that I've been actually the experience that I shared with you and what I've been doing and I've put together a lot of tools through the years that have been effective for clients and uh really made a difference in a lot of people's lives and I really have loved working with my clients but I've also really enjoyed some of the volunteer work that I've done with different groups I work do a lot of work with young women of color and right now I'm doing a lot of work with first generation college students and helping them and getting my message out Beyond just my the group that I've been working with which is mostly my best marketing tool is really Word of Mouth which limits my audience my time is limited it's difficult to scale so this is my best way to scale and get my message out and be able to help people beyond the one-on-one way that I've been I've been conducting my business in the past 10 years and I really I do believe that this is something that I have a message and a passion and I can make a difference for people

Apurv : Well that's wonderful so like is reading the book enough for a college graduate?

Amy: I hope that reading the book there's worksheets there's really a basic methodology that I put together and and somewhat to my surprise it works not only for college students but also for all levels I have I have clients up to the c-suite because often people in the sweet sweet excuse me um have gotten there without doing a lot of interviewing you know when you're really good you get pulled from job to job to job by your manager and the idea of interviewing and talking about yourself and your accomplishments is a little bit foreign because you're not used to doing it so and also the other thing is that if you're at that level and you're working in the world of executive recruiters they're kind of looking for a round Peg and a round hole so if you're a operating partner at a private Equity Firm you might have had experience working as a CFO and it's a CEO but you don't fit very neatly into one of those categories so if you're looking to get off the road for example you might need somebody to help you you know maneuver yourself and your story to fit one or the other categories so my methodology which is for all of those levels boils down to three things and you can tell if you read my book or if you talk to me long enough that I was a consultant for many years because all of my methodologies boil into boil down into three points the first is that you need to understand what the job is and that's why I started with you and why I start my book with you need to understand what jobs there are how to analyze a company how to analyze a role and then you need to match your skills to what the job is what the job entails and then you need to prove that you want the job and that's a huge one that a lot of people forget because enthusiasm matters a lot and most people that I interviewed throughout my career and a lot of things a lot of people that are interviewing forget is that um you really need to do it in the interview and not wait for the email thank you not wait for the um the hard copy thank you because by then the decision's been made and it's hard for people to be really enthusiastic because they get nervous and they're anxious during the interview and anxious at being anxious is the thing as the enemy of enthusiasm but really my experience is a job always goes to the person who wants it the most and the way it worked more often than not when I was hiring working with the team we would hire a large number of candidates than a smaller in the second and third rounds and in the final round we have a small very small group of candidates and I bring my team in to say what did you guys think and inevitably everybody would kind of go they're kind of the same but this one wants it the most and the person who got it the most always got the job so that's a big part of what I try to tell people is specifically say why you want this job for this company and I still believe that that is the most important question that anybody can ask and answer in an interview is why you want this job in a really detailed specific and enthusiastic way

Apurv : Well that's some good advice so thank you so much Amy thank you all the questions that I had thank you so much for coming on our podcaster product live it was great having you thank you so much