Applying for a job can be an overwhelming experience, given the sheer number of available positions. Since the average job search lasted 22 weeks in 2022, most job seekers try to save time by weeding out postings they don't meet all the requirements for rather than submitting a bonanza of applications. According to iHire's 2023 State of Online Recruiting, only 26.4% of candidates admitted to applying for jobs they didn't meet all the requirements for in the past year.

Even if you are underqualified for a job, you shouldn't necessarily forego applying, provided you meet most job requirements. You may have utilized the skills an employer needs through other means, such as volunteering, that you haven't listed on your resume.

On today's episode of Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast, host Lori Cole explains how to apply to a job you're underqualified for and how to evaluate whether you have enough of what an employer wants when submitting your application. She also explains the ways you can incorporate volunteering experience on your resume to make you a can't-miss candidate.

Subscribe to Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast for more career advice. You can also find additional content on our YouTube Channel.

Construction metaphors are a popular way to describe the process of building anything worthwhile, and creating a lucrative career is no different. You begin laying a solid foundation by choosing the career path you wish to take, acquiring the necessary credentials (education, skills, certification, etc.), and earning an entry-level position or internship. Once you start working, you gain a reputation that can help your growth potential through technical and soft skills like communication, teamwork, and problem-solving. Career growth typically follows as you get more experience and show aptitude in your profession.

Today’s guest on Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast, Grant Bucher, built his construction career through that foundational work. He earned an engineering degree at Purdue University and leveled up his credentials by picking up his MBA from Indiana. During that time, he worked his way up the ranks with Shambaugh and Son, beginning as a summer intern while he finished his bachelor’s degree and eventually becoming a project manager before moving on to Weigand Construction. He joins host Lori Cole to discuss:

• How to become a construction project manager

• What a typical day looks like in construction project management

• What qualities he looks for when hiring someone to join his team

• How he pivoted into launching a political campaign

Listen to the full episode for more information on construction careers, and subscribe to Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast for more career advice. You can also find additional content on our YouTube channel!

Companies spend a lot of energy figuring out their employees’ strengths through their observations, performance metrics, and popular surveys such as the Myers-Briggs Personality Test. With the average hire costing $4,129, employers seek to understand how their existing employees can be best utilized to complement each other’s skills and avoid replacing them in a costly hiring process.

Finding the right job is a matter of matching the skills you possess with a role that consistently utilizes them. When your strengths correlate closely with the work you are doing, success typically follows. An analytical mind lends itself well to a career in data analysis; someone who can coordinate multiple tasks simultaneously may be well suited to project management, and someone with high levels of empathy could excel in therapy or social work.

On today’s episode of Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast, host Lori Cole shares the results of her own strength finder journey. Discovering her strengths was only half the battle, and Cole utilized artificial intelligence to gauge how they could make her a can’t-miss candidate on her (theoretical) job search.

In addition to her strength finder demonstration, Cole speaks with a fellow Certified Career Coach and Clinical Counselor, Caitlin Magidson, about her career path. She also discusses three red flags you should watch out for to avoid taking a job from hell.

Enjoy the full episode, and don’t forget to subscribe to Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast for more advice. You can also get more career content by checking out our YouTube channel!

Communication in the workplace often comes with its code. Meetings full of acronyms and infuriating jargon can irritate even the most dedicated employees. Still, communication is one of the most important soft skills to develop if you are going to advance in your career.

Effective Communication in the Workplace

Whether your job is customer-facing or behind the scenes, chances are you have to deal with people in your day-to-day role. On today’s episode of Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast, Career Coach Lori Cole delves into workplace communication. The show’s topics include:

• The art of active listening

• Mastering your non-verbal cues

• Zoom meeting tips

• Email etiquette

Beyond discussing these valuable communication tools, Cole also speaks with Abby Runk, Client Success Manager (Public Sector) with WalkMe, about:

• How she managed her career transition from educator to media specialist to customer success (and now client success) manager.

• What challenges she faced, and how she overcame them in her career transition.

• The role she sees AI playing in managing customer success.

• What advice she has for others looking to break into customer success.

Enjoy the full episode to learn the keys to effective communication in the workplace, and subscribe to Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast for more advice to help your professional life flourish. You can also view additional content on our YouTube channel.

Leadership skills involve more than obtaining a fancy title, and they apply to anyone who can raise the performance level of their teammates/co-workers. It is one of the soft skills that applies to employees at all company levels. Soft skills like leadership are extra traits that are less apparent than the technical proficiency to do the job, and it’s what separates good workers from great ones.

On today’s episode of Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast, host Lori Cole delves into leadership and how to build your ability (and style) to lift your cohorts, regardless of what role you serve in your company. Since soft skills are more challenging to highlight during your job search, Cole also shares tips on highlighting leadership on your resume and during the interview process. Beyond showcasing how you can become a leader in your organization, Cole is joined by Julie Perrine, Founder and CEO of Julie Perrine International (parent company of All Things Admin). The two speak about:

• Perrine’s career advice built from 13 years as a C-suite administrative professional

• How to become a successful administrative professional

• Her career advice to job seekers trying to forge their path

Enjoy the full episode and subscribe to Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast for more career advice. You can also find additional content on our YouTube channel.

According to an American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) survey, 78% of workers aged 40–65 have seen or experienced ageism in the workplace. That percentage is the survey’s highest since it began asking this question in 2003. This presents a problem as some retired workers are choosing to re-enter the workforce following the COVID-19 pandemic that caused financial strain on numerous savings accounts.

On today’s episode of Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast, host Lori Cole delves into age discrimination. For older workers changing careers, looking for a new job, or trying to re-enter the workforce, she offers the following tips for overcoming ageism early in a search:

• Age-proof your resume by including only experience from the past 10–15 years
• Remove the graduation date(s) from your resume and LinkedIn profile
• Consider utilizing a hybrid resume format

Additionally, hiring a professional resume writer may be a worthwhile investment that can help you get hired faster by ensuring the document highlights your strengths to a potential employer as well as possible.

Listen to the full episode of Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast for more insights on overcoming ageism in the workplace, plus the pros and cons of a company offering unlimited vacation and sales career advice from iHire Customer Success Director Molly Floyd. Additional content is also available on our YouTube channel!

Finding a career you are passionate about is the ticket to gaining career fulfillment. Passionate workers are more engaged and more productive at their jobs. However, workplace engagement has been declining in recent years, with the ratio of engaged to actively disengaged US workers sitting at 1.8-to-1, the lowest figure since 2013.

On today’s episode of Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast, Career Coach Lori Cole dives into matching your passions to your job. She walks through the process of obtaining career fulfillment through the following steps:

• Self-Reflection: Exploring your passions, interests, values, strengths, and skills.

• Research: Seeking roles, companies, and industries that match your passions.

• Experimentation: Stepping out of your comfort zone by getting hands-on experience to build skills in your chosen field (including internships, part-time work, and volunteering).

• Goal-Setting: Putting together SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals that drive you toward your desired result.

• Mentorship: Seeking people who got where you want to be and learning from them.

In addition to revealing the path to career fulfillment, Cole also chats with Todd Youse, KabaFusion’s Director of Talent Acquisition, about finding your passion at work. And, she shares which Artificial Intelligence tool she is utilizing today.

Subscribe to Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast for more career advice. You can also catch additional content on our YouTube channel.

Employees and job seekers gained leverage when the COVID pandemic threw a wrench in workplaces worldwide, and they weren’t shy about using it. According to our 2022 Talent Retention Report, 41.2% of employees voluntarily left their job between September 2021 and September 2022, and 42.6% of employers lost productivity due to worker turnover.

While the job-quitting rate is approaching pre-pandemic levels, candidates continue to use the job market to their advantage and have high expectations for how employers treat them. Our 2023 What Candidates Want Survey revealed the following:

• Nearly two-thirds (66.1%) of job seekers want to hear back from potential employers within 24 hours of applying for a job or sending follow-up correspondence
• 44.7% of candidates won’t apply for a position if the job ad doesn’t include the salary range
• Despite in-person work (36.3%) being the preferred work environment, 42.7% of job seekers listed remote work options as most important in their search

On today’s episode of Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast, host Lori Cole analyzes key findings from the What Candidates Want Report. The episode shares:

• The best way to research and negotiate salary during your job search
• The most effective method of maintaining contact with a potential employer
• How to prepare for a job interview using AI
• Career advice from guest Bill Bench, a long-time logistics employee and truck driver

Enjoy the full episode to learn how to get what you want from your job search, and subscribe to Find Your Niche: A Career Podcast for more career advice. You can also find additional content on our YouTube channel!