Career Cohort Emily Wong

📢 Note: This episode wraps up season 6. I'll kick off Season 7 on April 10th. Until then, please enjoy this and other episodes from season 6 and beyond! 

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"If you have a lot of training and you have a culture within yourself of training and development, you're going to be more successful, I think, in life and in your career, and you're going to have more job security."—Adam Corn

Adam Corn has been designing, developing, and implementing innovative training programs for government agencies and tech companies around the globe for 25 years.

After serving as an Intelligence Officer, Adam completed his federal service as a professor at National Defense University at Fort McNair, where he designed and taught Master's Degree-level courses focused on counterinsurgency and critical infrastructure protection. In 2015, Adam transitioned to the private sector, where he has spent the past 7 years building cutting-edge global physical security and L&D programs for Google, Fitbit, Facebook/Meta, and GoFundMe. 

Early on, Adam saw an opportunity to improve learning and development programs—which were typically canned, generic, and not focused on the company's or their employees' specific needs. 

He knew this was a gap he could fill, and he now works to create engaging and effective learning & development programs using principles from TV commercials to keep them interesting and memorable. He believes everyone should have access to training that is fun, joyful, and effective.

A fierce employee advocate, Adam understands that investing in training and development is a surefire way to success in life and career. 

In this episode, Adam talks about:

💡 How to influence learning & development programs—even if they're outside of your assigned business unit.

💡 How to create engaging and effective training experiences for your teams.

💡 How to use humor and psychological tricks to engage learners in training experiences.

Resources:

Connect with Adam Corn at www.linkedin.com/in/adamcorn1/

Connect with me, too!

If you need help articulating your career experience in a resume, LinkedIn, or interviews, connect with me at emily@wordsofdistinction.net and I'll send you a link to schedule a free discovery call to assess your needs. Or visit my website, www.wordsofdistinction.net

⭐Loved this episode? Please leave us a review and rating on your favorite podcast platform⭐

Anne Janzer is an author, nonfiction book coach and blogger who explores the science and mystery of writing as a means of communication. She is the author of "The Workplace Writer's Process" and "33 Ways Not to Screw Up Your Business Emails," among other excellent books on the art of writing.



Anne conceived the term “Servant Authorship,” which is the idea of writing with the reader's needs in mind. She outlines the importance of this approach as the foundation of effective communication—to get out of our own heads and connect with our readers. 



She shares power tips to rewrite and tune our content with the reader in mind, prompting us to think from the perspective of the recipient. Anne also encourages us to use ChatGPT as a tool for brainstorming ideas—but NOT to rely on AI for our final written work. 



In this episode, we discuss the following:



1. How to write with a servant leadership approach to engage readers—especially those who are reading our resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles.

2. Tips to make emails more concise, effective, and respectful.

3. Advice re: how to use Chat GPT and other AI tools without sacrificing authenticity.



Find Anne at AnneJanzer.com and sign up for her newsletter. You’ll get consistently excellent tips to improve your writing.



For resume writing services and career advice, visit my website, wordsofdistinction.net, and sign up for my newsletter.

"Be willing to put yourself out there and be willing to take some criticism. Take risks and make your own luck by being strategic, explicating your goals, asking questions, and pushing yourself beyond your scope of work." - Zach Wong

When Zach Wong, a UCLA mechanical engineering student, confronted his fear of rejection and embraced opportunities to take calculated risks, he not only landed a rewarding internship—those experiences set him up for future success.

Now graduated and applying his skills full-time at a leading space technology company, he shares his hard-won knowledge on how to prepare for college internships, the importance of developing relationships with professors and leaders within the organization, and how to demonstrate leadership and soft skills during interviews—even when your experience is limited.

Zach is forthcoming about the challenges he faced—including those that were self-imposed—during his early internship preparation and experience. But with guidance from mentors and his determination to make his own luck, Zach learned what was necessary to not only land—but THRIVE in an internship.

He stresses the importance of starting your research on career opportunities early, developing relationships with professors, and having stories ready to tell during interviews.

𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧:

👉 How to prepare for and overcome your fear of rejection during the application process
👉 Strategies for developing technical and non-technical competency stories for interviews
👉 Tips for making an impact and standing out as an intern

If you can get people to set aside their agenda to help you, you're pretty darned amazing—and you're a leader.

In this episode, you'll learn:


1. How some of my clients demonstrated leadership and got promotions to leadership roles despite not having a formal title
2. How *you* can demonstrate leadership without a formal title
3. Strategies to rally people beyond your direct reports to help you achieve your goals


BY THE WAY...

5 Steps to Get Moving and Land a Fabulous Job

If you’re struggling to get started or gain traction on your job search,  I offer a free, downloadable guide that can help!  

The guide is for you if you’re struggling to get started or gain traction on your job search, and I have to tell you, I’ve already gotten a great response from a number of job seekers.

The guide is called: 5 steps to get moving and land a fabulous job, and it’s definitely for you if you’re struggling to actually get started on your job search and then manage your time around your search.

When you download the guide, you'll also get 4-5 emails with follow-up tips, tricks, and challenges to help you move forward in your search. And you'll even get access to my resume samples.

So if you need a little extra fuel to help you get moving toward that fabulous job, head on over to launchyourjobsearch.com and download the 5 steps.


Connect with me:

For more tips and advice for your job search, I post regularly on LinkedIn (emilysfwong), Instagram (@yourresumecoach), Facebook (@careersemily), and Twitter (@careersemily)

You can also follow my blog, sign up for my monthly job search tips, and schedule a free discovery call at www.wordsofdistinction.net.

Loved this episode? We'd so appreciate a review and/or a 5-star rating. We provide an ad-free experience, so your support helps us reach new listeners and attract rockstar career experts so you can stay current on the latest tips and trends.

Thanks so much for listening!

It's time. You can break through the glass ceiling and reach the C-Suite.

In Pooja Dang's decades of experience coaching women leaders, she's seen patterns of self-doubt, fear of failure, imposter syndrome, and the disease to please emerge over and over. Mindsets that get in the way of women reaching their full potential.

She also saw a gap in practical, strategic advice specific to women and the challenges they face in the professional space.

Her book, SHE Rises, was born from a need to fill that gap and share her proven strategies with a broader audience of women.

In this episode, you will learn:


How to move beyond perfection, grow as a leader, and become an invaluable asset in the workplace.
How to uncover what your boss really means when they advise you to be more of a "strategic thinker."
What behaviors demonstrate strategic thinking and how to put them into practice.

Pooja is a women’s executive and leadership coach working with ambitious women looking to break through the glass ceiling and into the C-suite—or move up a few rungs on the career ladder.

She's the coaching powerhouse behind the rise of over 500 female leaders into more money, more recognition, and more influence at startups and companies such as IDEO, Meta, and GoPro. With proven scientific strategies, transformative behavior tools, and a no-BS approach, her mission is to see more women living confidently at the top of their game.

To read more, connect with Pooja, and find more advice like this, visit www.wordsofdistinction.net

Get clear on who you are and what you have to offer so you can attract the right opportunities and maximize your career potential.

Here's what I cover with Erin Thomas in this episode:


1. The importance of understanding and articulating your unique value proposition and professional brand.
2. The importance of being authentic and aspirational in your personal brand.
3. The importance of networking and building relationships with people who are aligned with your brand.

Erin Thomas is a career and executive coach who helps high-achieving leaders land their ideal jobs and maximize their peak earning years. A former HR exec, Erin is a social justice advocate and ally who has been named a top career coach and a 50 under 50 change maker.

To read more, connect with Erin, and find more advice like this, Visit my website, www.wordsofdistinction.net