New Arrival to the US? Adapting to the Culture

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so
my guest today is raj subrameyer he's
the author of skyrocket your career
which is a terrific book and i'm not
going to say the the subtitle because it
includes the full spelling of the word
of the title of my podcast i'll do the
abbreviated version the no bs approach
to find your dream job be successful in
it and transform into a rock star he's a
tech career strategist focused on
helping people land their dream job and
become successful leaders he's a sought
after speaker at various conferences and
in 2021 he's getting multiple tedx talks
this year he's been featured in
different podcasts and publications
including entrepreneur authority
magazine
career addict and many more his website
is
rajsubra.com
and what he does is help tech folks land
their dream jobs and become successful
leaders raj how are you today how's it
going
i am doing good thanks for having me i'm
super excited to be here i'm glad to
hear that i would hate to see to think
of the idea that we had uh shall we say
kidnapped you and put you on the show
that you didn't want to be
here right
you know that'll be interesting right
and then you have to act as if you're
excited and do the whole show but yeah
that'll be an interesting story that'd
be an interesting story is right so raj
i i kind of get the idea
that um that's accent of yours is not
from brooklyn new york
and as such there's someone who came to
the united states at some point in life
um and um had to go into the
shall we say cultural
and communication all sorts of
differences between your country of
origin
and the us
and
learn to navigate the different
environment
am i am i interpreting this correctly
yeah uh so let's just start with setting
some context so first thing is yes i
don't have a
brooklyn new york
accent i do have a thick
texas accent
so
um that's what i have i'm just kidding
so they said the weird accent which
comes from my mouth is a mixture of my
southern indian
uh accent and my american accent it's
combining to some accent which is coming
out right now but i just live with it
because
people are able to pretend so i actually
do not care as long as they are able to
understand me so that's the that's the
important part right so
so i grew up in the southern part of
india and um
i was there i uh till my undergrad and
then i decided you know what uh i'm
gonna work
for some time in india and figure out
what i want to do in life and
as you may already know asian folks
usually have three choices when they
grow up doctor lawyer engineer so i
actually chose the engineer part
and engineer pat and i've been an
engineer ever since but the point is so
i worked for some time in india
and then i started seeing how software
was developed and how they release
software to the customers and i found it
fascinating that all the like all the
process
involved in it not just you know writing
code or software code to build software
so i decided you know what i want to
pursue my masters in stafford
engineering and that's what
took me to the united states and i still
remember this
moment vividly because
i came in on august 31st 2008
and on september 7th 2008
lehman brothers and for all the young
folks who are listening or watching this
podcast um
they were one of the biggest financial
firms in the world based in the united
states and they became bankrupt
overnight and that triggered the whole
recession that was like the highlight
and that happened a week
back in the united states so yeah
that's what brought me to the united
states and then
uh yeah the rest of the story which
we're gonna share yeah follows what
happened after this recession and what
are the different things which i
had to come across as well
it was your fault of course
exactly it was my fault right in and
it's funny you mentioned cultural
differences because i do have a funny
story to start off with to share with
your audience here
so
sometimes
things which you feel
are pretty common sense are not common
knowledge so what do i mean by that
so the first day on august 31st 2008 i
landed at the jfk airport okay
and then i get out of the gate and then
a person
passes me and he says how's it going
then i said yeah i'm doing good this is
my first day in the united states but i
started
describing my experience but he didn't
listen he just you know just walks past
me i thought huh that is interesting and
then i keep walking
you know inside the airport to get to
the exit
the airport exit
another person passes me and said hey
how's it going and then again i started
saying yeah it's going good today it's
my first day i've come here to do my
master's but yeah they didn't listen to
me they just you know keep walking past
me
i thought wow
why have people you know really weird
here
and then i come out of the airport and
there's this pretty woman i would say
like 30 35
she asked me how's it going then i said
you know what i'm gonna let her know how
it's going because i'm tired of people
ignoring me so i started walking along
with her and then
started describing my experience on the
flight and then i've come here for my
master's in software engineering i was
talking to her for 30 40 seconds while
walking with her and then she she said
hey what are you doing
then i said you asked me how's it going
so i'm actually replying to you
and then she
turned to me and said
you weirdo and then she left
that's when i understood that no one
actually gives a [ __ ] about you when you
say how's it going but it's like the
cultural difference right it's not i'm
not saying it's right or wrong but it's
just a cultural difference and me coming
from india as an immigrant i had to
learn all these cultural differences and
in an interesting or the hard way i
should say and
that was my pretty much my first
experience in united states
and it kind of wakes you up to the fact
that this isn't mumbai anymore
exactly this isn't mumbai
chennai or any place right because
outside the united states
this is a true story if you ask someone
how's it going
they would actually
stop
reply to you even if it's like 30
seconds or one minute they would
acknowledge it and say oh that's good
you know it went well and then they
leave but in the united states the
culture thing hey what's up hey how's it
going it's just like a culture thing
unless they're your friends or your
significant other
it's you know no one else really wants
to know how is it going it's just like a
slang it's like a cultural thing
and
it's the same thing with uh idioms and
phrases as well in fact quick another
uh funny or interesting story which i
think you'll get a kick out of it and
your audience will get a kick out of it
so i started working
uh in one of the largest insurance
company in the united states here
and i still remember this because i was
in this meeting and there were
20 people in the meeting
and the project manager had given me a
really critical task which i had to
finish and it was pretty complex
so at the end of the meeting she said
may the force be with you
then i said
cool cool that sounds good right and you
know then what's the next thing i did
i actually went and googled what the
what may the force be with you actually
means then i found out it was a star
wars reference this is the thing i grew
up in the southern part of india we
didn't grow up watching star wars and we
don't know all these pop cultural
references and and idioms and phrases as
well so
i know it sounds funny but this is what
people like me immigrants have to go
through in a foreign land not only
united states will be the same no matter
what foreign country you are and you
have to
listen
learn
adapt to the culture and you should be
ready to you know make a fool of
yourself because some it is going to
happen you just have to keep an open
mind and just keep learning and that's
where i think there's a difference
between some people where there's one
section of people who go through these
experiences like me and you know we
learn from it and we think it's funny
but there are another set of people who
are not that open-minded and then they
think the world is against them and have
a really bad experience in a foreign
land right so as uh
since i live in the united states i'm
talking about
united states folks so if anyone is
listening from there even you see an
immigrant
keep in mind that they have to go
through a lot of stuff and things like
this so if something seems weird asset
summarizing questions saying hey you did
this by doing this did you mean this
make sure you ask that somewhere in a
clarifying question because that will
help to improve your gaps in
communication as well yeah i know in
some cultures it's not appropriate for
the listener particularly i'll use the
example from systems you have a manager
who directs someone to do something and
of course they say i understand even if
they don't
yeah you can't say anything that
indicates um
you know lack of understanding uh you
can't ask a follow-up question it's
considered rude
true yeah yeah that's a cultural nature
actually the work culture i know it's
slowly changing right now as
people are getting you know more
uh open to the idea that people should
have should be given equal opportunity
answer questions and you know challenge
ideas but when i grew up
we had a hierarchical structure of
command like the military so
you have a manager then you have this
you know a senior guy or a girl and then
a junior person and then we have to
respect the line of authority so if you
question
our higher-ups then they feel offended
how come you're not trusting me i am the
boss here so we grew up in the culture
so with that kind of background when you
come to the united states for example
here
people have a lot of freedom of speech
so
you can actually you know challenge
ideas and
challenge the status quo but that's not
a common thing in in lots of
places in asia so that's another thing
we have to go through as well because uh
we actually welcome the opportunity to
ask questions but sometimes people are
so
used to
being
contained within an environment so even
if they come to the united states
they're not willing to open up because
they have the fear of being judged and
it takes a lot of time
to get out of it and that's why you
whenever you work with
people from different cultures make sure
you know give them an opportunity saying
hey raj
what what do you think about this what
are your thoughts on it right give them
an opportunity to come out and express
their opinions because not a lot of
people maybe outspoken like me and you
know but you know volunteer to give
their opinions as well so that is
something to think about and you've also
been in the u.s for a long time you came
at a younger age and thus for you
you got acculturated more easily
for those who come over who are already
in their 30s or dare i say even 40s
they've already been acculturated in the
asian culture
which involves obedience
and
subservience
and it's hard to deal in the american
culture and folks i'll simply say
you know having spoken to any number of
managers and organizations for years
you're afraid of being judged if you
speak up
trust me you're being judged if you
don't speak up
right
i think that two types of people
uh when at least come to immigrants for
example
the people who really want to adapt
adapt to the new new environment like
there's a saying when in rome do as a
roman still i was that type of person i
really wanted to soak into the culture
learn the right way of doing things
because i am in a foreign land and i
wanted to follow their policies their
procedures and you know
adapt to a certain extent in that
environment
but there are also another section of
people who do not want to come out of
their shell they do not want to change
again i'm not saying whether that's
right or wrong
but you need to be aware that there's
some people who are still
tightly
rooted to their culture and they're
still in that mindset which they had
when they were in their native country
and for those folks it takes a lot more
time to adapt to this kind of
environment so that's why that like two
types of people you need to identify
okay what kind of person i'm actually
talking to and that you'll know as and
when you know you start talking to
people you'll know whether
they are still sticking to their
to their
native country mentality or they're open
to actually you know change so that
you'll know when conversing with them
so
let me look at from the job hunter
perspective
for the job hunter um they're trying to
navigate a system that's u.s
centric and that
for me translates into
behaviorally they like to see certain
attributes
more assertive
freer communication
no accent
because americans are biased about
accents
how do you suggest people acculturate
or
get comfortable in a new environment so
they i hate to use this expression fit
in
but i don't have a better one right now
adapt that's probably the better term to
use to adapt to the new environment
because lack of adaptation is always
going to keep them on the outside
in playing small professionally
how did you adapt how do other people
adapt that you've worked with
i think the first thing is you need to
start trusting yourself start believing
in yourself and you should embrace your
difference
that's the first thing
where
success or
uh bigger opportunities our chance to
get bigger opportunities starts you need
to embrace your differences for me it's
my accent uh it's my culture it could be
it's my color right a lot of people
fight against their own identity i think
that's the number one mistake immigrants
make because they think man i have this
accent so that means i'm
bad or i'm not as good enough compared
to other people now
you just grew up in a different place
and a lot of the biggest leaders have
accents sunder pichai the ceo of google
is an indian dude from my place he has a
freaking accent does people
worry about his accent
no
he's the freaking ceo of google so
that's the mentality you need to have
start embracing your differences number
one
number two is educate other people and
given up an opportunity
about your differences so for example
when i was leading teams
i used to have different ways where i
could help
where i could make that
uh
a knowledge transfer happen between
cultures one of the things i used to do
was host potlucks for my team
once i was leading a team of 20 people
and uh
once in two months i used to have
potlucks where people bring their native
food
you're not allowed if you just buy food
you have to you know make your own food
and what that does is when you have food
from different
cultures and you share them with each
other it automatically opens up this
conversation saying wow this tastes
really good what spice is this
oh yeah this this is the garam masala
spice wow so do a lot of people in india
have that yes see now how food opened up
that channel of communication for people
to know
what other cultures do and the same
thing goes with greek or you know east
asian culture as well so first thing is
embrace your differences second thing is
educate people about your differences
because some people are afraid to ask
about your culture because they don't
want to offend you
and some people may do things without
knowing your culture which is actually
offending you so you have to volunteer
to say hey you know you doing this it's
not such a great idea because it's very
uh uh
it's a very negative connotation
especially for people coming from our
cultures right
and then the final thing
i would say
is
it's okay if you
mess up because you're not gonna know
everything at once when you're in a
farmland in fact yeah i came way back in
2008 and i'm still learning a lot of
stuff so it's okay that if you mess up
and then just ask or first acknowledge
yeah i messed up because you know i
didn't know this so you teach me
what's the right way to do it and just
keep learning and i think it's a
constant progress
right and
people who are native say for example
united states they also have to think
they also have to put themselves
in the other immigrant shoes and think
about how they are feeling for example
say
you jeff you go to
india
right
and
you are going to be in the same
situation where everything is so
different the food is so different the
culture is so different and you you may
not understand why people are doing
certain things and it's the exact same
thing b as immigrants have to go through
when we come to the united states so
look at people with empathy
put yourself in their shoes also think
about what they're going through so i
would say those are the four
kind of things which will really help
people
um
to adapt to change and from a job and
interview standpoint just be confident
in your story you own your story and
don't worry about your accent but be
prepared have a strategy in terms of
okay what stories are you going to share
how are you going to structure it and
and it's irrespective of whether you are
an immigrant or a native person it
doesn't matter it all comes down to
strategy and structure from an interview
standpoint
and i always think in terms of
in the workplace for example
one of the most powerful things is
having the confidence to be able to
present yourself as you really are
right and educating people along the way
because the self-confidence demonstrated
and saying you know i just want to
explain what i meant by that or
when you said that i associate it with
such and such
and
educating demonstrates the
self-confidence that allows your power
to really come out
and since when firms hire they look not
just for competence they look for
self-confidence
character chemistry maybe a little bit
of charisma they want to trust someone
it's easier to trust someone who has the
courage to speak up
rather than the timidness to be quiet
right
and it boils under the basics right it
comes into the basic even from an
interview standpoint
as a clarifying question just because
they asked a question it doesn't mean
that he immediately answered you'd say
so just to summarize so you were asking
me about a complex situation which you
saw right so
ask that question and then once you
answer say did that answer your question
or do you want me to you know add some
more details
be
think of it as a conversation like you
and me are having right it's not that
since a person person is older has a job
and you don't have a job it doesn't put
them on a higher plane
under your humans first and then
whatever career options you are in
whatever state you are in second so
think of it as equals and then have the
conversation i think a lot of people
have this mentality that if the
interviewer is your boss he's got and he
has control over you now it's about
having a conversation because they
really want to know how you can bring
value to the company and your
responsibility as a candidate is to show
that value what do you bring to the
table
if you articulate that during the
conversation and that's what it's all
about so once you see how when you shift
your mindset
okay this is just a conversation not
that he owns me or she owns me then the
entire scenario entire atmosphere
changes and of course
there are a lot of strategies that you
could do to you know ace interviews
which of course i have some i have a lot
in my book as well but the point is um
you
you could use them to have the
to have the upper hand especially the
first five minutes in the interview is
really really important because you have
to
show
your credibility show some value
immediately because people start making
assumptions about you after the first
five minutes and then their decisions
could be biased so that's why
there are a lot of things you could do
but on a whole what i wanted to mention
here was think of people as equal and
have a conversation an article with your
story and you can prepare for that
beforehand you don't have to
say that story for the first time during
the interview
even before coming to the interview you
can actually practice stuff like tell me
about yourself you know you're going to
get that question what are your
strengths what are your weaknesses tell
me about a complex situation you solve
what were the results tell me about
something you did which failed but what
do you learn from it so you know you're
gonna get questions like this like this
so prepare beforehand and appear more
confident
practice really will help you a lot
folks amateurs go to interviews and they
ring it
pros
know what's going to be asked you've
seen a job description you can
anticipate what they might ask
to validate that you know what you claim
to know vis-a-vis what they're looking
for
take the time to practice it makes a
huge difference
so and also research
you have to research the company because
if i want to hire you
i want to know whether you're proactive
and i have haven't and you have taken
the effort to learn about our company
you are going to get
you know questions like so
why do you want to work for our company
what what makes you interested in our
company
right that is one thing or you can open
up
the conversation like an icebreaker
conversation saying oh by the way
congrats i know you were on the news
because you just released this product
see now that's an icebreaker
conversation it shows that you did the
research and then immediately the
anxiety level in the room reduces a
little bit because now we have something
to talk about so uh practice as you as
we were discussing and then research
those are like two key things you really
want to do
why would why would i want to work for
you why wouldn't i want to work for you
you know and you list two or three
different things by the way right
exactly
so
for this person who's come to the united
states
um they're dealing with visa issues now
as well visa transfers
as well as the cultural shift
how do you recommend people navigate the
visa conversation obviously it's going
to surface at some point
what's what's the current thinking about
bringing up visa and what's needed from
an employer for transfer
so the first thing is
when
people look at your resume and
i'm taking india for example because i'm
indian
when they look at a resume that say
now it's 2021 but say
you came to the united states 2018 for a
master's they already assumed that okay
you probably need sponsorship so it's
not a secret
before you talk they already kind of can
figure out whether you need sponsorship
just from the resume that is number one
number two
is
you you
companies are ready to sponsor
your h-1b that's the work permit here in
the united states if you show value
if you show them how you bring value to
the company they are ready to sponsor
your h-1b especially right now uh this
year
you know it's a lot more uh
people a lot more open to sponsoring
than they get the right candidate so
the way you could convince them to make
them sponsor your h1b is again from a
value standpoint show them how
you can contribute to the growth of the
company have
build your personal brand when i say
personal brand have a social media
footprint on linkedin where you keep
posting you have you know you engage
with other people and then you take
extra courses
which is not just related to
your master's for example or undergrad
and then
show that you've attended conferences so
all those things
will actually help to convince the
employer to
uh sponsor a h-1b and in terms of how
you have the conversation
whenever you have the first call with a
recruiter
let them talk about the position you'll
let them know how you bring value and
towards the end
let them know that hey by the way
you know i'm currently say for example
i'm an f1 student visa and i would need
a h1b
uh sponsorship
uh if i work for your company just be
open number and frank about it a lot of
people wonderfully do not reveal that
and then towards the final interview if
they do really well and then say it and
then they say no we don't sponsor h1b
it's too late you know we wasted so much
time both of you so i would say
you don't immediately say
once you once you have a call with a
recruiter recruiter don't immediately
start with hey by the way i need h1b
sponsorship then people will keep the
phone down without even hearing what
value you bring to the table instead
tell them how you bring value what are
what is your experience and how you can
contribute to the growth of the company
and then they start digesting that
information and know that oh this person
is really good and then towards the end
say hey by the way i need h1b
sponsorship and be open and honest about
it but
say it towards the end so that it gets
you a chance to at least show your value
to the person and i think that's how
you can make people sponsor
your uh work permit and also when you
apply for jobs
it clearly some companies would clearly
say we don't sponsor or only green cards
or american citizens so that is a good
uh reference point that okay you
probably don't wanna
apply for those kind of positions
because they're really
particular about not sponsoring right if
they don't mention that then go ahead
and do it and uh they will
sponsor you and also if you go to
glassdoor you can look at reviews and
feedback about whether they actually
sponsor so you can find all those
information uh about the company even
before you get on a call and also you
can tap into your own network so say for
example i know a person in google in
my own network you can ask the person in
google saying hey by the way dude do
they sponsor h1b and that's
then that's a good reference point as
well okay they do and by the way google
does but uh but i'm just saying that
those are some ways where you can figure
out whether they sponsor h1b and the
second thing is to make them
sponsor your h1b as well
what sort of expressions
uh do
uh i'm gonna use india again uh people
from india use that don't translate well
into u.s culture
that need to be modified so could you
create the idiomatic dictionary
for our viewers and and listeners
oh man so
many people
do the need for i know so i can tackle
yeah exactly do the needful is one thing
but i can talk about this for hours but
quickly here are some examples of words
right especially say for example you're
coming from india to the united states
different words mean different things
again coming back to our to our
intercultural communication aspect which
we've been you know diving into
for example
people in india would say
yeah microsoft and google just had a tie
up
when they say taya they mean joint
venture so taya means joint venture so
there's a difference and then you would
say
people in india would say yeah i passed
out in 2008.
in the united states it means that
you've got
[ __ ]
got drunk and then you actually passed
out now passed out means graduated
so
we i graduated in 2008 so that's what
they mean when they say passed out
and
like this there's so many different
cultural differences where
in terms of words we use that's why so
for example to intimate someone
is
is to uh
uh uh describe something right so we'll
say
yeah be intimated to him that
he'll get the status report or you would
say you contacted him
that you've given the status report
right so
there's so many different words which
means different things and that's why
especially in email communication
if something sounds really weird
especially if you have distributed teams
and working with people from different
cultures
make sure you ask that clarifying
question hey raj
you said
you said
this plan is gone for a task
uh
what did he mean by that and then i'll
come back and say yeah i said
that means that the plan does not work
anymore so we say gone for a task that
means that the plan does not work
anymore it's a cricket reference so
those are some real life examples how
different words mean different things
and you need to ask a clarifying
question if something sounds weird
because you have to understand that
again different words mean different
things in different cultures and even
idioms and phrases for example with
people in the united states use idioms
and phrases in the email
keep in mind that not a lot of people
are going to get it for example this
product is the cash cow of the company
a lot of people in india would think
okay there's a cow right now
that's the product which gives them the
money so
make sure you know you're cognizant
about these things and trust me this
leads to a lot of miscommunications
um between understand what you're
consulting for
yeah yeah exactly
that's an example i try not to name
people and then they'll come back and
say what you're talking bad about a
company no i'm just giving an example
right because uh
uh again because of different
hierarchical structure and different
cultural differences there's so many
gaps in communication and as a leader
it's your responsibility to make sure
again ask that clarifying question
don't
don't assume
things and then me another good strategy
which i used to follow it is funny
because i can really talk about this
because i was an on-site coordinator
when i was working in india and i was
working and end up working for a u.s
firm from india right i was managing the
india team while working in india for a
u.s company and here
i was working for a u.s company and i
was managing an indian team so i've been
both sides of the coin so
i know this thing which i'm talking
about and these things are really true
um
and and
yeah those are some things you really
want to
uh
keep in mind for sure
so for the indian person coming to the
us
and we're now dealing with the
cross-cultural stuff
that shows up and they hear an
expression they're not familiar with
how do you help someone develop the
strength to ask the follow-up question
that allows them to get the
clarification
what was your experience doing that or
were you just always a two-ton gorilla
to use one of those american idioms
i wish no but i grew up as a shy
introverted kid
um until my childhood i was dead you
know i never used to talk to people but
then i had a trigger event during my
second year my undergrad and that's when
i decided to change my life so yeah i
didn't
i grew up grow up this way uh but
uh the but the point is um
can you repeat the question again
because
i was thinking about gorilla and now i
lost the train
how do you support someone how do you
coach someone into
having the strength to ask the question
right that's a great question okay yeah
no yeah i do have uh answer based on my
experience first let's get into some
interesting statistics
so based on research about 93
of your daily communication is
non-verbal communication
yeah and then we do head bob in india as
well but the point is you know
93
of your daily communication is
non-verbal which is
mind-blowing
that being the case
the way you react to people when they're
talking
means a lot and you need to pay
attention to it so coming back to your
question about how do you encourage
people to ask that follow-up question or
how do you you know identify those folks
you know who may not get it
look at their face facial expression a
lot of people
will just be nodding like this or
they'll you know they may just be
sitting still or you could see their
eyes crunch a little bit
you know or
they will be looking like this so all
those things
gives you a hint that okay there's
something going on so when you know and
as a facilitator as a leader it's your
job to actually pay attention to these
facial gestures and body language and if
you're in zoom
yeah have gallery view so that you can
see everyone's view uh
under at the same time everyone's body
language at the same time and see how
they're reacting and if you
see someone who has you know a funny
facial expression are nodding their head
make sure you you know follow up with
them saying hey raj by the way
uh just wanted to make sure you don't
have any questions
what i said clear to you
you don't have to say hey raj seems like
you're not clear about this can you let
me know what questions you have that is
one way of doing it or you can be
slightly subtle and say hey by the way
raj i just wanted to you know make sure
you you you uh got what we were saying
did you have any questions related to
that so
in that way you open up the conversation
even if someone is an introvert and you
know really
uh
scared about
being judged in a group of
in midst of group of people you give
them an opportunity saying hey rash uh
does this sound okay to you because
you know you'll be doing the task and do
you have any questions because i am here
all day man you could always ask me
questions so
show them some concerns show them some
love affection when you have
many people and that way they you
encourage
people opening up another thing you
could do which i used to do as well is
note down the names of people who you
think may not have got it based on the
facial expression and then after the
meeting follow up one-on-one with them
saying hey hey raj
you could slag them and say hey raj by
the way
in our previous meeting i just wanted to
make sure you got what we were saying
because this is what we were trying to
say and you summarize it in words and
then through slack they could you know
ask that clarifying questions right so
one is facial expression and stuff
during the meeting and if that does not
work uh follow up with one-on-one
conversations with them and that starts
encouraging people to you know
open up to you
and folks i'll simply say so much
professionally involves making
connection
and thus the more you understand
the more you take the risk in order to
ensure that you understand goes a long
way toward professional success let
alone on a job search and i got to tell
you we could go on for another hour
this is such a great topic right now
how can people find that by the way is
there anything that we haven't covered
yet that we really should
i think we uh delved on so many
different uh topics which i think
are really important um
and yeah
if there's just one thing of course as
you said we can talk about so many
different things for a couple of hours
one thing i would firmly advise no
matter whether you're an immigrant or
not an immigrant is to
build your personal brand because that's
the most important thing
right now in the post-pandemic era to
make yourself stand out from the crowd
because this is the thing if thousands
of people are applying for the same job
what is going to make you stand out from
other people that's where again i think
we were talking about this a little bit
but
your social media footprint other extra
courses you take the conference you go
to your blogging or speaking or any
other thing
extra which you do which other people do
not do will add to your personal brand
and it's really really important and
that's what is going to help you get
that dream job or advance in your career
uh in the post cove era so just
something to think about
yeah i'll concur with that when you
think about it folks your job is to cut
the line and get to the front
and be seen as the expert because people
know like trust and respect you without
ever having spoken to you before
in days of old it was writing the book
matter of fact it's currently writing
the book
that is used toward developing that
business card where people know you and
they believe that you're an expert you
don't have to write a book you can
appear on people's podcasts you can
write on linkedin
you know you become googleable there's a
lot of things that you can be do
that you can do to be seen as an expert
do those things
not just when you're job hunting but
throughout your career because that
builds up your library of
reference points where you can be
discovered
this has been great raj how can people
find out more about you and the work
that you do
so
all my life's work is on my website it's
at rajsubra.com
r-a-j-s-u-b-r-a-com
that's where they can find all my
writing how i help people and all
details about me and they can connect
with me as well
and uh another website is
skyrocketyourcareerbook.com
there you can download the first chapter
of my book for free so that you can
decide whether you know it's going to be
worth your time to buy the book and read
it so
that is something you could do and also
i have a lot of free resources for
people on their job search journey or
who want to grow i have some free
downloadable stuff from that website as
well so those are the two ways you can
definitely connect with me get a hold of
my book
and also of course i'm i live on
linkedin so anyone can ping me and then
make sure you follow me because every
day i post content related to different
topics we just talked about as well
fabulous raj thank you
and folks we'll be back soon with more
i'm jeff open the big game hunter i hope
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help you hope you have a terrific day
and most importantly be great
take care