How to Navigate Through Job Search and Career Path – an interview with the Author of YouMap, Kristin Sherri.

Finding a job is really hard. It seems it is becoming very difficult every day. In fact, it is as hard as catching the air.

When I was a job seeker, I would apply for different types of jobs. I would submit my CV to at least 20 job openings every day. That’s an average of 600 job applications per month.

The truth remains, nothing happened. It didn’t even work out. I became so frustrated that I lost the self-confidence and believe to continue trying. Perhaps, I felt I was never good enough to be hired.

Maybe if I had met Kristin Sherry a long time ago, I would have gotten a job. But the truth is, there’s still hope. If not for me, for other job seekers.

Kristin Sherry will be talking about the tips and advice to landing a dream job through her New Times Bestselling book, YouMap.

Hello Kristin! It feels so good to have you here. Just like everyone reading this, we would love to know more about you. I hope you don’t mind sharing about yourself with us?

Thank you, Chinedu. On a personal level, I’m married to my awesome husband, Xander, and we have four children. Professionally, I have a winding career path, from IT, to Operations leadership, Learning & Development and entrepreneurship. I was moving around trying to find what fit and just taking all of the opportunities that opened up for me. I started writing books in 2015 to share things I’ve learned to help others.

Your profile says that you were once a manager in a passionless job, but later moved on to find a purpose-driven success by aligning to your 4 pillars of career fit. Just like many employees out there, some are really going through a difficult moment in a job they have less passion for, can you share your experience in a situation like this and how you were able to put your career back on track?

In 2014 I started to get pretty frustrated at work. I had a good job but I wasn’t happy. A mentor helped me realize my values weren’t aligned with the work I was doing. I wanted to make a bigger impact in people’s lives, create connection and community and work autonomously on the projects that I felt mattered. I had no control in my work up to that point. Each person is motivated differently based on their strengths, values, the skills they enjoy doing and their personality and interests, so career fulfillment comes down to having this level of self-awareness to make better choices aligned to who you are and the value you can bring.

Your book – YouMap has been a revelation since you released it. There have been many testimonies from the readers. It must have really been effective for it to be considered as a bestseller. What is YouMap all about?

In a nutshell, YouMap helps you discover your four pillars of career fit (strengths, values, skills and interests) and then it walks you through how to determine what fits who you are, and then go after it through your branding and job search. If you’re a student, job seeker or career changer, it walks you step-by-step through that process. If you’re an entrepreneur, it helps you discover how to position yourself in your business and to customers. And if you’re getting ready to figure out your next half of life, it helps you figure out how you want to spend it. It’s really about seeing yourself more clearly and what will make you shine.

What has actually inspired you to write the book?

I have this crazy notion to try to change the world. :-)

What was the major reason why you wrote that book and has it been able to solve the problem it was designed for?

I had a lot of client inquiries from people who couldn’t afford to do the YouMap® profile with me one-on-one. I didn’t want this life-changing information to only be within reach of people with resources to pay for it. You can basically change your life for under $20 USD now. Even less if you buy the ebook. To answer your question, yes it solved the problem. I get messages from all over the world that people were able to change their circumstances by walking through the book.

What is the future of work in a few years to come and how will YouMap be able to solve future problems surrounding the work environment?

Wow, that’s a loaded question. I think in the future of work we’re going to see organizations become more flat, where workers can make decisions about their own work instead of a hierarchy of leaders making every decision at the top. We’re going to see an ever-increasing need for soft skills and emotional intelligence and I really don’t believe the current recruiting process does a good job of uncovering this. Resumes are just a complete joke in my opinion. We can do better. I think YouMap can also play a big role, the profile itself, in helping job seekers and hiring managers make better decisions. I’ve already seen the results of people using it to hire and those hires are a success. Currently, Leadership IQ reports only 19% of hires are an unequivocal success. I talk about the future of work in my 5 minute DisruptHR talk. You can watch it at bit.ly/DisruptHRBFLO.

Can you talk about other books that you have published as well?

My first book, Follow Your Star, is about the five success factors for women based on research and offers success super-charger strategies to next-level your career.

My second book is a quick, short read to convert job interviews into offers. It’s called 5 Surprising Steps to Land the Job NOW! My third book is YouMap and my newest book, releasing 20 Feb 2020 is called Your Team Loves Mondays…Right? It’s a complete guide for people managers to increase their people managing skills. I’ve started my 5th book for children. A book on discovering who you are. It will have my daughters as the main characters and take readers on a journey of self discovery.

Who are the people that can benefit from your books?

My books are always career-related. My mission is to help you love Mondays.

What should we expect from you in the next five years?

I have a lot of irons in the fire. Expect to see YouMap become prominent in companies and academic institutions to help with career management, hiring, team building and outplacement and I’m working on a couple of training programs for new managers as companion offerings to my new book.

What advice do you have for employees?

Always be learning about yourself and what’s important to you. If you’re in a place that doesn’t fit, keep making forward progress to get where you need to be. Don’t settle and camp where you are indefinitely. Daily progress will get you to your goal. That could be through learning, mentorship, networking, skill building, researching opportunities. Whatever it takes.

If the audience wants to contact you for your service, how can you be reached?

The best place is to connect with me on LinkedIn or through my website at www.myyoumap.com.

Lastly, where can the audience purchase your books?

All of my books can be found on Amazon or anywhere online books are sold. www.amazon.com/author/kristinsherry

Thank you, Kristin Sherry, for all you do to make the work environment a better place. I wish you all the best in your endeavours. 

Thank you for the honor! God bless you and anyone reading this.