AMA Austin hosted our monthly Virtual Power Hour event, “Job Culture: Finding, Keeping, and Advancing in Your Job,” where a panel of professionals shared valuable insights on hiring, negotiating, and interviewing. The group discussed everything from the importance of mentorship to resume tips and tricks in advancing your career. Read on to see what you missed!

Mediated by Daniel Lorenzo, the Director of Marketing for Let’s Eat, Grandma, the evening began with the important question, “what is it that would be a good job for you and why?” This can be determined by the “VIPS” of job hunting: aligned values, interests, personalities, and skills. From there, the panelists began sharing their professional expertise.

The panel included Lani Rosales, COO at The American Genius, Co-founder of Big Ass Social Happy Hour, Remote Digital Jobs (RDJ), and Austin Digital Jobs (ADJ) groups. Next, Emily Hawarny, Career Counselor at Texas State University. Then, Jeremy Shreve, Founder of Executive Drafts. Finally, Andrew Walizer, Talent Acquisition Specialist at Duolingo. The group worked their way through the topics of mentorship, resume tips, interviewing, internal movement, and salary negotiation.

“Mentorship is So Important”

Organizations like AMA Austin and Women Communicators of Austin offer the opportunity to enter mentor and mentee relationships that assist growing professionals in their career advancement. Keep in mind that it’s important to respect the time of your potential mentor as well as get to know them before the established relationship. Sending a courteous, yet straightforward email to inquire about potential mentorships is an important place to start.

Outstanding Resumes

Quantify everything! The panelists talked about the importance of moving beyond a listicle of job tasks and instead advocated for evidence of your impact. Tailoring your resume to each job application as well as including key performance indicators, signals to hiring managers that you are more than qualified for the job.

Ace the Interview

The goal is to be the best candidate from the start, not to simply avoid embarrassment. Solidify your position as the top option by,

1. Understanding how to walk interviewers through your resume quickly and effectively.
2. Differentiating yourself from your peers.
3. Asking engaged questions at the end of your interview.

Know Your Worth and Negotiate It

Whether you’re negotiating internally or for your new role, make sure you’ve done your research and remember to be confident. Even experienced professionals with many years in leadership roles face challenges negotiating salary, but despite your hesitation, do it anyway. There’s no harm in asking.

After the panel, each attendee chose a breakout room where they discussed the previous topics in greater detail, leaving the event with more personalized advice. 

Grow Your Career with Tools from AMA Austin

If you’d like to take part in an upcoming AMA Austin event, view our events page or consider registering for our next Virtual Power Hour event, “Women Leaning into Leadership”. We’d love to help you. See you there!