Business
Ep. 51 — A young employee gets a mediocre performance rating in her first job and transforms herself into an influential human resources leader and career strategist / Madeline Mann, Founder, Self Made Millennial. Three months into her first corporate job as a market research analyst, Madeline Mann got her performance review and it was a nasty wakeup call. Always an academic high achiever, Mann was stunned to see her mediocre work scores. “And it really was a moment of me realizing, ‘Wait, I do need to work harder. I do need to find more ways to contribute,’ says Mann. ‘I wasn't in those meetings jotting down a bunch of notes of, how am I going to look up these terms later and ask a bunch of questions.’ I was just kind of clueless and aimless.” Mann realized she just wasn't motivated by her job and through some serious soul-searching, discovered that her true passion actually lay in human capital management, i.e. people. Today, Mann is thriving as a human resources leader and career strategist. She’s known for her rapid-fire career advice videos on her popular channel "Self Made Millennial." Mann’s work has been featured on Business Insider, Newsweek, and more. She was named a Top 50 person to follow on LinkedIn, and a Top 10 YouTube channel for job seekers. Mann currently also serves as Talent Development Manager at Inspire. Her HR focus could not be more perfect given the coronavirus. According to Pew Research Center, the U.S. unemployment rose higher in three months of COVID-19 than it did in two years of the Great Recession. Today it’s at a record 11.1%, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mann says she's helped hundreds of people find jobs despite these grim trends. [Hear Excerpt Below] “The number one question I'm asked is, ‘Is there even a point in applying right now?’ Or, ‘When should I start pursuing opportunities?’ And those questions break my heart because the answer is yesterday, right? You should still be pursuing opportunities,” says Mann, “But the thing is, a lot of people, it's a different landscape, things are shaken up, they don't know if the company had layoffs or not. They don't know if they're still hiring. They're posting job descriptions, but does that mean, was that just automatic? And, ‘Oh, I had an interview, but then I haven't heard back. But is it okay to even follow up with anyone during these conditions?’… I want you to move from a planning mindset to an experimentation mindset. Just try things, keep moving during this time, don't freeze, don't be in this constant getting ready stage, because while you're doing that, other people are getting these jobs.” Read the Transcript Download the PDF Chitra Ragavan: Madeline Mann began her first job as a market research analyst as she was wrapping up her master's degree. But the super driven academic had a disastrous six months on the job. Humbled by the experience, Madeline went into her second job searching for what truly motivated her to perform and to succeed in the workplace. Hello everyone, I'm Chitra Ragavan, and this is When It Mattered. This episode is brought to you by Goodstory, an advisory firm helping technology startups find their narrative. Chitra Ragavan: Joining me now is Madeline Mann, a human resources leader and career strategist. Madeline is known for her rapid fire career advice videos on her channel, Self Made Millennial, which has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across all the major social media platforms. Madeline transformed her own experience as an HR and recruiting leader into advice on how to empower ambitious professionals to fast track their careers. Madeline's work has been featured on Business Insider, Newsweek, Thrive Global and more. She was named a Top 50 person to follow on LinkedIn and a Top 10 YouTube channel for job seekers. Madeline currently also serves as talent development manager at Inspire in Los Angeles. Madeline, welcome to the podcast.