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Episode 0043 Shownotes

Betting on yourself for your future

In this episode of the PostdocTransformation show, you’ll learn, why you must bet on yourself for your future! Knowing your vision of life and what motivates you at the workplace, recognizing and celebrating your small wins will reinforce you for and on your upcoming career leap. 

You’ll understand, how you can develop self-efficacy, so you believe in your capabilities to do whatever it takes to succeed in your new job role, company and industry or even as an entrepreneur. 

You’ll be encouraged to fail forward, to connect the dots, to set and tackle reasonable goals for yourself, to calculate risks by estimating a doable leap, so you can go all in!

Subscribe to our weekly show on your favorite podcast platforms: Why? Postdoc scientists & PhD students / candidates will learn the basics for their career transition from research into business & industries AND will get to know a company that hires early career scientists! 

About our PostdocTransformation show

Invest in your PostdocTransformation. Welcome to the seasonal show for scientists leaping into business. In every sponsored episode, we are happy to recommend employers of choice for you. Make sure to check your readiness to leap out of science with us for free, as linked in the show notes. For your career transition, we offer customized career transition e-courses and memberships, also at graduate schools all over the world.

Maybe yours too. And if your university isn't yet our customer, enroll in your free email course for career transition made simple as linked in the show notes. I'm your host, Professor Dr. Eleonore Soei Winkels, with my team who is rooting for you. And let's build your PostdocTransformation with this episode. 

[00:01:58] Betting on Yourself for Your Future  

Welcome dear PostdocTransformer to this solo episode, betting on yourself for your future. And I know that I am interrupting the beloved interview series with this spontaneous solo, but you know, behind the scenes, the topic of today is really not so spontaneous because actually I was discussing this with my students, the bachelor and master students of industrial and occupational psychology a couple of days ago, and I thought this is really something that I want to share with you as well.

Maybe I'm sentimental these days, but my oldest kid is actually finishing primary school. Yay! And she's embarking on her journey in secondary school and I wanted to create a legacy episode also for my children when they are ready to listen to my advice as they embark into their adult professional life.

And my last very selfish reason really is that I wanted to celebrate also my 5, 000 listenings, that is you listened to this podcast, the PostdocTransformation Show, 5, 000 times, maybe not you exactly, but at least you have listened to this one at least, and that really, It resonates a lot with me because I'm a techie at heart and you, as my customers, are on my mind .

So, I try to deliver something that you want to listen to. I just want to share my gratitude with you that you do so. I'm also sharing my Podbean badge. Recognizing my 5, 000 listening. If you want, you can see that in the show notes. 

So, now over to you, and that really is the perfect runway. Dear PostdocTransformer, you need to recognize and also celebrate your small wins on your upcoming career leap. Why? Because, Doing something new where you have no idea whether the things that you are doing are right or wrong.

And should you do more or whatever, should you do something else, you will have to recalibrate your key performance metrics. You don't know yet whether you are performing well or not. And that means you are dependent on external validation. Ideally from your leader, but essentially you need to be able to find the right questions, find the right metrics that help you to understand whether you are working towards your goal in the pace that is needed or in the direction or in the intensity or whatever.

So, this episode is called betting on yourself for your future, because this will prepare you to do whatever career leap you want to do, after your bachelor, your master, your PhD, or even your postdoc, if you want.

All right. So, without further ado, let's go into the two chapters that I've prepared for you. 

[00:04:53] Preparing for Your Career Leap

Let's start with the first chapter, preparations before you leap. For leaping into and thriving in business, be it employed or as an entrepreneur, right after your bachelor, your master, or PhD or postdoc, you will need motivation and satisfaction according to your vision of life. If you don't know what your vision of life is, please listen to our very first episode, how to check your readiness to leap out of science. And if you want to reflect on running your own company, listen to our episode 10, which is what makes a scientist a good entrepreneur, which is also linked in the show notes.

Talking about motivation, the more attractive your career goal is, the more you are motivated and determined to succeed, despite distracting temptations and or challenges that you will definitely encounter on your goal pursuit. This is really key. You need to be motivated, and if you don't know what motivates you, you need to dissect that, because motivators are different for you, for me, for everyone, and they may also change over time, so it really is worth it to look at your motivators, right?

Someone from my free email course, Career Transition into Business Made Simple, has asked me via the embedded form, what is a doable career leap? He was amazed that I leaped from neuroscience into IT right after my PhD. I really often joke with my students that I only use 10 percent of my psychology and neuroscience background working in IT. 

So to answer that question of what is doable for you, let's define career leaping. That is a lateral move for example, 

A, it's from science to business. Which is the majority of the listeners for this show because it's the PostdocTransformation Show for scientists leaping into business. It's your first time in industry. That is a whole new world, different to academia. Then it's the first time working in a company with business goals, it's totally different as compared to the lab that you have been working in. And it's also the first time in that job role. And to be honest, most of the scientists I know that want to leap into that role have never done this role and they haven't studied that. Or if they did study that, then it's more theoretical knowledge, but it has never been applied to a business context. So their first time in that job role. It could also be 

B. So from one industry to another, and that's probably my own students, the bachelor and the master students. So, that's when you at least have work experience in a certain industry, and now you want to work in a similar role or a similar company, but you know, they have industry experience. So they already know how it's like to be working in a nine to five, how it's like to live the adult life. And that certainly applies to my bachelor and master's students. 

And then C, that's from one job role to another. So that could be within the same industry or within the same company, but essentially it's more like moving along the supply chain of the company processes, so to speak, and it could be a different company or whatever.

You will eventually become a career transitioner in the realms of C, because, most experienced job seekers do this, right? And please note, from A to C, the difficulty of the career leap, i. e. the distance to leap, is decreasing, so it's more and more doable, right?

So, you really have to determine what you are able to leap into, so to speak, the distance that you say That is doable or not, because the better your estimate, whether that length, the distance is doable or not, the better you will have the potential to be successful. And by the way, you have to define what success looks like for you and how you would be able to measure that. Maybe it's not as measurable as you want to.

You have to think about what does this success mean to you, and maybe that is also changing today and in your future, depending on your life circumstances.

When I mentioned career leaping distance, I also need to talk about height, right? So it's a distance, but it could also be a different height if you are watching the video. So it's easier if you do not climb up the hierarchy while leaping. Okay. I didn't do that. Not because I wasn't confident that I could do, but I really thought that it's easier for me to sort of like career transition in a lateral way to sort of like understand the company culture, the business context, the business life cycle, et cetera, and to learn the name of the game. Also the unwritten rules of the name of the game, and also to network with the right people so that I'm able to understand what is key to be successful in that role before I lead people in that role. After you have career transitioned, in the first couple of months, if not a year or two, you will learn a lot of things.

The more distant, the more you have to learn. So compared to others who are more and better prepared to ace that new position, because they have already work related experience that they can sort of like draw from, you are rather the underdog and the hiring manager or the leader in your team has really been betting on you as you were convincing them to be the better choice as compared to others who maybe have the work related experience. So, they have been betting on you. So you better remember to continue and to play along, to bet on yourself for your future in that company.

Why? Because that person who said yes to your application and turned down other applications is taking a risk as you have painted a return on invest worth the risk of hiring during the job interviews that you had conducted during your career transition, and that without an obvious and applicable track record, right?

So, you better bet on yourself as well. And that is why I titled this episode, betting on yourself for your future. 

So, maybe you're now thinking, leaping into business, leaping into a new industry, into a new company, into a new job role, how can I prepare that? And how can I convince human resource representatives that I'm the better choice?

[00:12:45] Embracing Self-Efficacy for Success

You need to live and breathe self-efficacy. And this is finally the model that my students in real life are probably have been waiting for, so it's self-efficacy by Bandura. Bandura has 1977 and 89 thought about self-efficacy. that is the capacity to execute behaviors necessary to be successful. So applied to your career transition. You need to be successful in your new job role, your new company, and your industry. 

You can do every leap, as long as you can imagine and believe that you can learn whatever it takes to succeed. Alright, so let me repeat that. You can do every leap as you can imagine and believe in yourself that you can learn whatever it takes to succeed.

So, and if you know external naysayers, don't let their minimal imagination limit you in your own PostdocTransformation. Just because they cannot see, that doesn't mean it's not there for you. They can't and don't want to imagine big. Let them do that. And they won't be happy anyway for you if you do succeed.

Maybe they can't even appreciate and understand it. Leave them playing small and find people like you who can and want to work and live according to their vision of life, right?

How can you develop self-efficacy for your own upcoming career leap? Number one, when you accept a new challenge and succeed, you can gain mastery experience. Based on your successful performance from the past, you can infer your capabilities to solve.

As a scientist, you probably are inclined to do that anyway, you can observe direct links between your investment of effort and the success that is the return on investment.

So you can improve your expectancy judgments about your ability to perform well in subjectively related situations. For a new career transitioner, it's maybe a doable leap like this distance for a serial career transitioner like me, I would go a longer distance, but essentially it's. I am a big fan of data and statistics, and I would assume a scientist is also a fan of that. So that informs me always to decide what exactly I need to double down on to reach my goals better or faster. So the data is there. Make use out of that.

Number two, so for preparation, relatable role models are also inspiring and encouraging for you. So, when you observe relatable career transitioners from comparable backgrounds, experience, and skill levels who are succeeding or even failing in their new industries, companies, or roles, you can estimate your own likelihood of success or failure when leaping into and working in these business contexts on the similarity or difference you perceive between yourself and the person you are observing. Okay, and hopefully my students recognize that the more similar their role model, the better. It is the easier to transfer from them to you, so choose your role models carefully.

And that is why I'm so proud that for this PostdocTransformation Show, the last couple of interviews were always done with so many inspiring women scientists from different research backgrounds from all over the world, successful in business or academia and all my guests and I would be so happy if you could let us know whether their stories that have inspired you or are inspiring you to leap and let them know, connect with them, follow their footsteps, and that would really make my day because I really do hope that by bringing you relatable role models, you can step up into your PostdocTransformation more easily.

And once you have determined your readiness to leap and want to transition into business or industries, then you can enroll in your free email course with 10 actionable, bingeable email lessons until you start your job in business. You'll get 10 emails like this at zero cost. 

1) How to leap out of science. 

2) How to build your sustainable LinkedIn profile. 

3) How to read social media and network. 

4) How to research your favorite jobs and employers. 

5) How to do information interviews to get insights. 

6) How to create your customized applications with ChatGPT.

7) How to prepare your thesis from a business point of view. 

8) How to apply to your favorite employers. 

9) How to choose the right job offer. 

10) How to prepare for your new job

Enroll now for free.

Number three, that's verbal persuasion, something that can go a long way. If you, as a new employee, receive realistic encouragement based on your performance, that will help you more likely to exert greater effort and to become more successful than if you were troubled by self-doubt, right? And here's something that I always share with my students in real life. If you don't get the feedback, the encouragement you deserve for your effort and even for your success. You have to imagine to be your number one fan and coach. Okay, so how would your number one fan and coach encourage you and celebrate you? And that's why I have my recurrent affirmation for you:

Remember, you are a PostdocTransformer. You are highly intelligent, well educated, a bachelor, master, and maybe you have already your doctor under your belt, or you are a postdoc. You are internationally experienced, fluent in English, a leader and expert in your prior research field. You're resilient, brilliant in adaptation and problem solving.

You are eager to bring in the transferable and monetizable skills needed in many companies. To embrace the future and to become or remain an innovator in their markets.

I hope that you enjoy listening to this affirmation because it is really the affirmation that I have, not when I was leaping into business, but I would have needed.

Let's go to factor number four, physiological and or emotional arousal. So that is your energy level in your body. When you feel good, when you're healthy, positively aroused, this will boost your self-efficacy and your efforts to get to your goal, right?

And that's why you need to look and care for yourself as well. Those mental health and physical health are really your resources and they can naturally deplete when they are needed and strained for a long time. So you regularly need to recharge your life batteries. 

And actually, in order to improve my own health, I'm contemplating about a regular walk and talk live session where I invite you, my dear postdoc transformers to ask me all the career transition related questions while I am, and maybe you are also walking.

So. Maybe let me know via the comments or in your stories, or DM me whether that is something that my team and I should set up for the near future. 

But getting back to the meat of this episode, start betting on yourself for your future by improving your self-efficacy step by step.

How can you do this? Well, number one. Leave your comfort zone for a defined side project, which improves your chances to leap into a new career, and build and showcase new strengths while you are continuing on your academic degree. So that really means you should start preparing your leap while you are still studying, while you are still doing your PhD research, or even your postdoc project, right?

That could be one of the side projects that you are doing anyway. But with the bonus that this side project, which is defined in time and space, that it will help you for your future and not like all the other side projects that lead nowhere, essentially. You don't want to do this when you are already getting a paycheck for a performance that you don't feel capable of yet. This will also liberate you to test things out, and then you can celebrate the opportunities to engage in new meaningful pursuits, because it really is an extra thing.

And B, to stress the word defined in side projects, you need to value your own time and protect your energy and boundaries. You need to manage your own and others expectations and the impact on their life. And even if you prioritize your learning for your future, you are probably not alone in your life, in your equation. So, considering them and also catering to their needs will build your people skills, your strategic people leadership skills. This will, by the way, also build your strategic people leadership skills. 

And C, Embrace Failing Forward. Okay, so when we fail, that doesn't mean that it's bad. It can be bad if you don't learn anything out of that. But, if you learn from your failure, you are failing forward. So that means you are learning to bounce back and to recover from failure, which ultimately increases your resilience and you can improve better because you got early feedback.

Now, some practical examples, take a one day class in a skill you can build upon like applied data science. One article I saw recently was about how you can be a data scientist without studying IT. Most of the scientists I know are well prepared to be a data scientist in a company.

Okay, so try science communication to hone your leadership and communication skills in a more diverse setting. And really diverse setting is key here. When you're talking to other scientists in your field, that is a very high level communication and also deep dive. And that is probably not the right level of communication for other people, be they young, be they old, be they non related and be the key decision makers in business.

Another example is try teaching and learning in new technologically driven ways. So that is to understand digital opportunities nowadays. And again, let me know if you want to conduct a podcasting business internship with the PostdocTransformation Show, I have already become an affiliate partner for most of the software that I'm using. Capitalizing on tech is important. Having the state of the art of my podcasting gear is really key for me. I'm really grateful for being an affiliate partner for Podbean because that really is my choice of platform for hosting and monetizing. I can do dynamic podcast advertising, and I can do whatever I need to distribute my podcast to all the major podcast players.

I also love how inclusive their app is so that my listeners can even read the full transcript via the app or change the background so that it's a different illumination, etc. And as a professor of industrial and occupational psychology, and as a podcaster, I'm really happy to see that companies are using a podcast like from Podbean for external employer branding and internal upskilling and talent retention and communication. Podcasting in this day and age is really a contemporary communication tool because it can be consumed like you already experienced. Asynchronous in time and space, right? 

And sometimes success is really a matter of luck, right? So, I started to do interviews when I discovered Descript for my transcripts and I loved it, and then I realized that they have a remote podcasting software: Squadcast and all of my interviews I have recorded in Squadcast and then they had a nice integration and I was able to test that out for myself and that I, I really do love it. So sometimes your success is also bound by luck or driven by luck, but it can only be capitalized when you see the opportunity in that.

Learning whether it's useful or not in the future, this openness connect the dots that will help you to bet on yourself for your future, because you know that you are able to connect the dots. And you probably already know my social clips that I made with Descript because you watch them on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube shorts or whatever. And all the show notes are on ActiveCampaign, which has been from day one of my digital business journey, the centerpiece of my hub and spoke tech stack.

You probably know it from our website and free email course, and a lot of questions that inspire us to create new episodes have come through TypeForm. So this is our software of choice to create fun and engaging quizzes and forms so that I can collect information that I need to sort of like run this podcast for you in a way I do. 

So, long story short, why am I sharing this with you? I am showing you that I have built my self-efficacy in content creation because I started to post. That first post that I did, that helped me to gain momentum. The second, the third, the whatever posts I kept posting, I added new techniques like audio and video.

I added new imagery techniques. I added editing skills. I added whatever I added professional gear, but the first step was important. So that I gained momentum in my self-efficacy and of course, today with many years and thousands of content pieces as a guest in other podcasts, as much in my own podcast, and as a professor who also teaches online and hybrid, I have built self-efficacy not overnight, against all odds. I am 43 years old. Social media is not my native playground. Partly I was forced to do Instagram and I didn't really like it at the beginning, but I learned how to use that to the benefit of my students. If you have a bigger purpose, if you have a vision of life, then you will learn whatever it takes.

So check Descript out with my affiliate link in the show notes for launching your own podcast, video show, or even B2B for your internal communication and trainings. 

Upcoming podcast and new service: 

#CreatingReorganized

I am now ready to leap and expand again, and you will probably see that for yourself in a couple of years too. So actually I am preparing a second podcast called #CreatingReorganized. I have already tested that as a LinkedIn newsletter, so I think it's worth it.

I want to diversify and scale our income streams in our own entrepreneurial journey as PostdocTransformation. I always say that my first business model is probably not my last. 

But over to you again, set the right next goals according to your vision of life. If you know the vision of life, then from there on, you can reverse engineer to where you are today, right? So, you can build and sustain self-efficacy by setting reasonable goals for yourself.

Tackle one at a time. You can take calculated risks by estimating a doable leap. You can manage uncertainty and ask for help as you need it. Okay, so, that also helps you to look beyond short term wins and losses, and that you build self trust that you can achieve bigger, delayed gratification, another model for my students, if you stay persistent and focused.

And remember, again, success is never built overnight. 

When you look at my content creation process, that really is built on a lot of things, a lot of experiences.

And now, it's time to thank Company ABC who sponsors this episode of the Postdoc Transformation Show. I will now be reading the company's answers to one of six bold questions so that you can choose to apply. For example, number one, describe your most valuable experts versus leaders in your company.

Have they typically earned a doctor title? Number two, For whichever company roles or units do you encourage somebody with a doctor title to apply? Number 3. How would you describe your organizational culture in which your most valuable experts and leaders thrive in? To nominate an employer of choice so that we can ask our own formative bold questions, let us know within our free email course career transition made simple.

If you are a company representative, like in recruiting and employer branding, and now you want your company to be highlighted as an employer of choice for our audience, you can become a sponsor of a dedicated Postdoc Transformation Show episode. Just click on the link in the show notes, and now, back to the Postdoc Transformation episode.

Hey, PostdocTransformer, are you curious to ask professors, principal investigators, visiting scientists, postdocs, PhD students, and candidates some in depth life and career guiding questions? But it feels cringe, so you end up not asking ... 

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Stay focused      

Sort your priorities. Say yes to things that will help you achieve that. Say no to things that, don't lead you anywhere or distract you. Set strategic goals, step by step, what is doable in your reach, in your vicinity, and execute on a plan.

You will probably not execute according to plan, but a plan will help you to understand when you have to sort of like switch gears or navigate. And you can also budget your own resources much better if you have a plan. So that way you are more effective and also more efficient. And I bet that you don't have time to waste. Not with a PhD under your belt when you're starting with freshers from bachelor or master's levels. And personally, I'm building my own PostdocTransformation family first. And the reason why I'm doing all this digital stuff is to be able to work and win time and to scale in a digital way.

Right? So I am a very strategic and focused person and my main priority is to care for my kids. And I'm developing all my business arms around them as they are young and need me most. They won't need me in 10, 15 years anymore, that much. And that will be the time where I will be probably reaping all the things, that I have seeded now.

That's okay. I'm building my PostdocTransformation according to my vision of life. It's a marathon, not a short distance. So if you want to know a little bit more about goal setting as a psychologist, I could share that. Let me know in the comments, in your stories and tag me or DM me, if you want a dedicated episode on goal setting for your career transition, because I really do think that it is another topic that I can easily pull from my lectures in real life. 

Now you should also reframe obstacles as normal learning opportunities.

Failure is normal. If you don't fail, you don't learn. Very easy. I always teach my kids that if everything goes easy peasy, you are not developing, you are stagnating. So in German, we can rearrange the letters Fehler. Fehler, so F E H L E R, to Helfer, okay, so H E L F E R, so every mistake helps you to learn.

And here's something else that most of parents know and kids as well, growing pains, right? So when you are developing, growing, it probably hurts you somewhere here or there. And you have to learn to adjust to a new leg length or a new hormonal household,

you will face obstacles every time when you are moving beyond your comfort zone. Again, without failing, you are not learning. So, you need to think about obstacles in a constructive way. They are your helpers, they are your friends. So, if you are failing, it's not undermining your self-efficacy.

Maybe you can transfer from your quantitative research experience and capitalize on your scientific, less emotional way of thinking. Okay, so that was always one of my strongest virtues. When I was talking to people in business, they were like, well, how can you be so analytic?

And I was like, that's because I'm a scientist.

Think of testing your hypothesis and experimenting. What are the independent and dependent variables and how can you control for other factors to get the desired results? What are possible obstacles that you have to troubleshoot and bootstrap on your goal pursuit?

So, let's apply that to your career transition. How can you use your qualitative interview skills to learn from relatable role models?

There is an art of asking the right questions. If you like, you can learn from me how to conduct podcasting interviews with your role models, and we can create a win win situation for you to expand your comfort zone, but also by delivering new insights for other postdoc transformers like you.

And this way you can learn and prepare for your career transition into the right direction, industry, company, or job role, before actually you take the magic leap. 

And this was the end of chapter one, preparations before you leap, and now over to chapter two, which is hit the ground running.

[00:35:27] Hit the Ground Running in Your New Role

And now welcome to chapter two, which is hit the ground running. Whoo. So now let's fast forward to your first day in your new job. The more transferable skills you can apply to your new role, the easier is your adjustment to the new task. 

Okay, so here's again something that should ring a bell for my own students in real life. The more realistic you can imagine your new job role, the better you can prepare and manage your own and others expectations regarding your learning curve. Easy, actually, but how can you get a more realistic picture, right?

That is actually the job of the recruiter. But if you don't ask the right questions, they will probably not let you know. So if you know what you need, this will allow you to perform and to behave in ways that will lead hopefully to positive results in your work context. 

I said deliberately, hopefully. Because no one can control 100 percent for results. Neither me, nor you. There are always unexpected external factors that will hinder you to get the results you deserve based on your, but also despite your efforts.

You just have to roll with that and what leaders in HR people ideally look at is your effort. You can control your own effort in terms of direction, intensity, and duration, and how you were able to stay focused against all odds. 

And as a scientist, your winning story could be about, making your experiments work on old, below industry standard lip equipment.

I know what I'm talking about. Or you are asking the right questions to the right people at the right time, at the right place to inform key decisions in the future. 

And by the way, in the future of work, many job roles and business models are yet unknown. And industry standards change quickly. So, when you are ready to learn what's new without being burdened by the past, but now irrelevant industry knowledge and reliably show up and work, you can even stand out. Why? Because employees work attitude or rather the lack of it is a real problem for employers today.

I always teach my own Bachelor and Master's students for Industrial and Occupational Psychology who want to go into HR. HR hires for the right personality because that is a stable feature of the employee. Skills can be trained and ignored as needed to achieve the company goals.

So hire for the personality and train for skills.

Your effortful behavior is a transferable skill to all industries, all companies and all roles. And if you're now thinking, which business roles require research and teaching skills, you can find two inspiring PostdocTransformation Show episodes, 18 and 19, as linked in the show notes. 

Talking about the work attitude, your willingness to make the effort, analyze and solve problems, make an important sustainable difference for others, is more important than the result itself.

Okay, so if you are now proud about your first author paper, the poster or whatever, well, I don't even remember my papers from my PhD. Since day one in business, no one has cared about them. What mattered most was my ability to learn new things quickly and to be determined to reach the goal.

 If you are satisfied with your efforts and also your results, you are more inclined to continue in that new role, at your new company, the new industry. And that really is important, right? 

So you will want to stay in that role for at least two or three years to master your new work experience, to gain the feeling of self-efficacy. These two or three years will help you to understand the business life cycle and to build the know, like, and trust factor, will need to get promoted up the career ladder in your work context. 

Celebrate your wins along your PostdocTransformation

Don't forget to recognize and celebrate your small wins along the journey, because remember every new success is a building block in your PostdocTransformation and for your own self-efficacy in that new field of choice.

And just in case you have leaped into chapter two without listening to chapter one, I reiterate the following point, you need to hit the ground running and that's why it's easier to learn the company culture, build relationships with the key people, understand the name of the game, and also basically everything that is between the lines of the job description, without having to lead people who are more experienced in that context than you and without having a lot of overburning financial responsibility.

Apart from that, talking about leadership, leading early career scientists and students who are fairly homogeneous and a relatively slow paced context. It's also leadership, but you know, leading diverse people in a quickly changing business context has more facets and intricacies.

So, be humble and transfer your people leadership skills from academia to business . You can always lead people, even if you don't have people leadership on your job description.

And as I mentioned industries, if you don't know possible future proof industries, I highly recommend to you to listen to episode number four on the future of work for new PhD holders in business, but also the episode 22, which is working out your future, which are both linked in the show notes.

And if you are rather fearful of leaping into business, then also listen to the two episodes 16 and 17 on tame your fears before leaping into business, which again, are both linked in the show notes. 

Now, I really do hope that you have enjoyed also this solo episode of my PostdocTransformation Show, which is my way to show you that I'm walking my talk. When I say that you have to celebrate your small wins, I'm celebrating with this episode, my newest milestone in podcasting. I've been working hard the whole year. I try to do my best and I'm really happy to have achieved that. So with and for you, my dear PostdocTransformer, together with my PostdocTransformation team and also with the help of AI, I was able to have over 5, 000 listenings across all podcast players and I celebrate this.

And maybe you don't know that, but I have also celebrated my first 1, 000 listenings with a professional singing and recording session.

So the jingle that you're listening to is actually my own song and my own voice. Now to celebrate 5,000 and to encourage me to go further, I have invested into a professional podcasting microphone, which is the Focusrite Vocaster OneStudio to deliver the best professional quality from my home studio. 

If you are a content creator, you can benefit, you can benefit from my IT strategy experience. You can use all my affiliate links as shared in the show notes. I can also consult you on the tech and also on your business strategy. It goes without saying as a former IT strategist, I really had a lot of fun to integrate all my tech behind the curtain. One of my strongest virtues that I'm still drawing on today is as an IT analyst, I was the one to train others to use the software of the day. 

I built my PostdocTransformation as a digital business, and I chose ActiveCampaign to be the centerpiece of all my services like email cores, podcasts, newsletters, show notes, websites, sales page, merch shop, forms, whatever it is, as needed. As a former IT strategy consultant, I have high requirements on my tech stack, and ActiveCampaign is a must have recommendation.

I use it daily. If you want to create your own digital business with various lead markets and funnel options, DM or email me ActiveCampaign so I can share my experience and consult you. You can also use my affiliate links for perks launching your own digital business with ActiveCampaign.

Support us!      

Have you found this episode so far helpful for yourself? Well, maybe you can subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podbean, or wherever you get our show. And also share this episode with your PhD bestie because that would encourage us to help the underprivileged, underrepresented, and underserved early career scientists leaping into business.

This would also ensure that you don't miss a future episode. Also, Our subscription and listening numbers are key for finding the right sponsors for our show so that we can help you for free. And now, back to the show.

So now I am spiraling back by planning a second podcast called CreatingReorganized sharing a lot of tricks and habits that I have established for myself in my podcasting journey.

I'm really excited to again expand from my own comfort zone, finding new clients in the content creation scene, and I cannot wait to embrace failure as my friend to improve, I think it's a learning opportunity to learn from other content creators because I can maybe support them from a different point of view, based on my transferable skills as a mom, as a professor, and also business owner and podcaster, obviously. 

Maybe you haven't listened to yet to my second episode on how I capitalized on my PhD as a mom, professor and business owner. I encourage you to leap into industry, company and role of choice. The limit is your own imagination.

And maybe you will find that being employed bears a natural set of limitations for your own entrepreneurial business acumen. Even as a leader, you're going to be working within a system, with a system, not against the system.

So if you can do above and beyond, learn the name of the game, and build your own playing field. Because I want you to know, I trust that you can build your own PostdocTransformation according to your vision of life. If I can do it, you can do that too.

Hey, do you want to boost your PostdocTransformation and gain practical business experience? Click below to apply for a podcasting business internship with us!

And did you know that we offer deep dive e-course workshops and memberships at graduate schools? Maybe also at yours in the future. Ask your graduate school coordinator, whether they want to book my services so that I can deliver them to you 24 seven, 365 on your mobile device. 

And even better, if you get us paid by your grad school, we will pay you 50 percent recurring sales commissions.

So, you will earn money with us as we help you and your PhD besties to [00:05:00] transition into business. We can build our PostdocTransformation together.

So, we are at the end of this episode, and I would love to have you, PostdocTransformers, to contribute to future seasons. We have a PostdocTransformation show newsletter where we inform about upcoming episodes, or we lay out the planning for the next seasons so that you are able to forecast who you want to ask as well as role models, or maybe you want to ask a couple of questions certain guest that is upcoming. 

This PostdocTransformation show was brought to you by Prof. Dr. Eleonore Soei-Winkels

[00:47:12] Leveraging Podcasting for Internal Communication

Eleonore:

Hey, you're still here and you are a future HR or talent management leader. Well, I want to talk to you about a powerful tool that can transform the way organizations communicate internally. How about creating a podcast like this one in today's fast paced business world? Effective communication is the cornerstone of success, so how can you engage your employees, convey your company's culture and share knowledge in a dynamic, authentic, and accessible way?

Well, to me, the answer lies in podcasting, obviously. So picture this, a podcast tailor made for your organization, where you and your real employees and leaders share and updates in a conversational, engaging format. It's like having your own radio show, but with a corporate twist, absolutely branded. 

Now, why should you consider this as a future HR and talent management professional? Well, podcasts are accessible, so your employees can tune in during their daily commute while multitasking off screen or walking, and it's flexible and it can be easily repurposed in different formats and languages.You know what I'm talking about, right? 

So, it actually humanizes your organization and podcasts allow you to bring a company's culture to life. You can interview leaders, team members, and highlight what makes your workplace unique and connect with those team members who are far away or on parental leave when they are most receptive for your internal communication.

And in the era of AI generated communications, a podcast with your business leaders in real life is a real human way to reach your employees. You can inform your people every day, everywhere, on demand, and not just during the typical onboarding and promotion seasons.

Lastly, it's a platform for continuous learning, whether it's training materials, leadership insights, or industry trends. Podcasts keep your team informed and inspired. So as you prepare to step into the world of HR, talent management and leadership, consider the impact you can make by introducing a corporate podcast.

It's a game changer for internal communications and aligns perfectly with a modern work environment. So, are you ready to inform with a human touch create a podcast with me. I'm Eleonore Soei-Winkels, the host of the PostdocTransformation Show. Do you need inspiration? Well, you can get a list of free 30 sample episode titles to be customized for your company.

Thank you for reading our full transcript of this episode. 

For season 3 & 4 of the PostdocTransformation show, we will interview industry experts, leaders in the corporate world, but also companies serving early career scientists leaping into business. 

If you want to let us know who we should interview and bring into the show, please follow us on socials and also let us know via direct message. This way, you will also have a voice in our PostdocTransformation show. 

If you value our show, please share your favorite episodes with your PhD besties, share with us your career transition questions and suggest topics for future episodes. 

We also appreciate positive reviews and stories on all social platforms. 

Why? 

Because this show is for free, but we need sponsors to bring the show to you. So, please help us to help you on your PostdocTransformation.

All right, thanks for listening and I hope that you will watch our show and also listen to our show for the next episodes. And like I said, go back to the previous episodes. I think they have valuable insights for you.

Please ask away your career transition questions (connect with Eleonore on your preferred social), as we aim to create future episodes for our audience. We appreciate every one of you!

Until the next episode, 

Cheers, 

Eleonore & Team PostdocTransformation

Enroll in your free email course for your career transition into business! Especially emails no 2 & 3 focus on creating a LinkedIn profile and using LinkedIn to network for your career transition! 

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