Ep #287: Getting Hired (& Announcement)

Hello empowered principals. Welcome to episode 287. 

Welcome to The Empowered Principal® Podcast, a not so typical educational resource that will teach you how to gain control of your career and get emotionally fit to lead your school and your life with joy by refining your most powerful tool, your mind. Here’s your host certified life coach Angela Kelly Robeck. 

Well, hello my empowered leaders. How happy I am to be recording this podcast today. I have so much to share with you, so many exciting things. Today is the big announcement that I have been waiting and teasing you about for weeks now. But as you can hear, I’ve had to delay my podcast recording for a couple of weeks because I have had this nasty cold. I don’t know what it is or where I got it.

I do know it’s not COVID. I’ve tested three times. But I have had the worst cough, the most congestion. I have been a mess. I haven’t been able to speak clearly. I’m going to do my best now because I’ve got to get this podcast turned in. I just can’t hold it back anymore. So here I am with my cold. Sorry that I sound a little congested, but I feel so much better. I actually feel amazing. 

So a couple of things going on. Announcement number one is Summer of Fun. I’ve been talking about it. We are in full swing here. So by the time you’re hearing, this is already the end of June. It’s not too late to jump into the Empowered Principal® Facebook group and join in on the fun. Look, I could do an entire podcast on just the value of fun. Actually, I think I did a podcast on the value of fun. But it’s serious business. 

Making sure that you take time out to have fun and creating fun in the work that you do. Making hard things fun is how you enjoy your life, personally and professionally. I just want to say that even though we’re four weeks in, doesn’t matter. Because here’s what’s happening. If you join the Facebook group and you participate, you contribute, you post pictures of yourself having fun, you’re cheering other people on. We’re sharing ideas and engaging in dialogue about how to make the hard work more fun for all of us. 

The more you contribute into the group, you will be entered into a drawing. I’m doing weekly drawings where you’re going to get the beloved bag of swag. I had to bring that back by popular demand because so many people love the bag of swag. So we have new bags, new gifts inside the bag. You receive one of those. 

But here’s the amazing thing for people who qualify and win, you also were going to receive a coaching package from me for free. I’m going to tell you about that right now. So number one, sign up for Summer of Fun challenge. Get in there, have some fun, figure out how you’re going to create fun at your school and or yourself just to go out there and have a good time. Okay. That’s number one. 

But here’s the big one. Are you ready? Listen up. You guys asked for this for a long time. I’m finally ready and able to deliver it. In fact, I love being a product of my product so much. I want to be a coach who embraces and embodies everything that I teach. So I’m going to over deliver to all of you. I am so honored to introduce to you a second opportunity to work with me. 

So as you know if you’ve been listening to the podcast, up until this year I have only offered one on one coaching for school leaders. One on one coaching provides a premium coaching experience for my clients. Every session is completely tailored and personalized for you. That’s why I started this business with one on one. I wanted to make sure that I could create a 100% guaranteed results based program and experience for any kind of client working in any kind of school anywhere across the country. 

I wanted to make sure that my tools and techniques and strategies and what I was helping you with, I wanted to make sure that it was applicable to every school leader out there, no matter what. So I’ve done that for the last five years. It is basically the one on one package, it entails one full year of coaching. It’s a 30 minute private session of sacred time with me personally dedicated solely for you. For you to be heard, for you to be supported, and for me to tailor the tools that you need, customize them just for you so that you can get the fastest results. That’s what the one on one program has been about. 

It has been definitely wildly successful. I haven’t had a client who has been unhappy with the program, has not achieved the results that they wanted. Yes, that program was more private and confidential. It was a very exclusive VIP experience. I’ve coached this way for six going on seven years now. It’s been the most amazing experience as a coach and for my clients.

Because one of my philosophies in my business is a five star customer experience. I want every school leader who works with me to love the process and to see its value and to walk away from every session feeling better or knowing what they’re going to do, what steps are going to take every single time that they interact with me. Okay. 

So I want to say directly to those of you who delight in the one on one experience, I am going to continue to offer a limited number of one on one coaching opportunities to work with me for this upcoming school year because my calendar just got so full. I couldn’t serve all of the people who wanted to coach with me. So I’ve created a second offer. 

I am thrilled to offer this to you because it’s another way to work with me directly. It’s geared to those school leaders who thrive best when working with other people. So I’m so proud and honored and excited to share with you the Empowered Principal® Collaborative. It is my newest offer in the Empowered Principal® program. 

What it entails is one school year of group coaching with the most clever, smartest, savviest successful school principals in our industry. It’s a community of principals who truly understand what it means to be a school leader. It’s a safe and confidential place where you can share openly and honestly and talk about the truth of how it feels to be a school leader. 

It’s a mastermind with the best of the best principals. My returning clients are going to be showing up in this group, along with all of you who want to be a part of this. You will be continued to be supported every week. You no longer have to work in isolation. You’re not suffering in silence. You’re going to be collaborating with likeminded driven school leaders. Of course, you’re going to be coached by the best coach in the industry. That is me. 

I am the pioneer of life and leadership coaching for school leaders. No one offers. On the planet, no one offers what I’m offering. I’m literally the pioneer of this. I am literally bringing life coaching tools to your schools. This is the first person who’s doing this. It’s not been easy. It’s been a challenge. 

Now this group program offers it to the masses. Everyone has accessibility into the Empowered Principal® program. It’s a place where you can meet new people and make new friends, a place where you will feel included and respected and valued and understood and cherished. A place where you belong. 

So for those of you who have wanted to coach with me, but you felt like it was cost prohibitive, or your schedule didn’t allow it, or there was something holding you back from saying yes to coaching, now’s the time to join. You’re going to get the best of both worlds. Okay, this is a weekly group coaching program. We’re going to talk about any topic, life and leadership. There’s nothing off limits that I won’t coach you on if you want coaching on a particular topic.

You’re going to have access to other people in this group. So you’re going to be able to create friendships, you’re going to be able to connect and collaborate and network, develop those new friendships and be able to support each other every single day of the week. This is going to be a game changer in the school leadership coaching industry. 

I feel like this is a grand slam because I have a few limited spots for the people who really do want the one on one experience because it is magical. For some people, that feels like the safest environment to be in, especially if you’re a new school leader, and you’re afraid to talk about students or parents or teachers or your bosses, which are the people we talk about. If you don’t want to do that in a group setting, one on one is the magic sauce, okay?

If you’ve been with me for a while or you aren’t able to afford that VIP experience, it’s not a problem now because you have access to the Empowered Principal® Collaborative, okay. The group is going to be starting August 2 and running through May 29. So just put that onto your calendars.

What you’re going to need to do is I’m going to put a link in the show notes. It’s going to take you to a landing page, just to a website page, that’s going to talk about the Empowered Principal® Collaborative, you click on that, and you sign up and then you’re in. I want you to do this as soon as possible. 

If you are a yes and you know, you want to coach with me, this is the time to do it. Because I am going to offer for this first year only an introductory price that feels ridiculous. But it’s my way of showing my love and making sure that my program is accessible to every school leader, every single school leader on this planet.

So the cost of this program for the first year only, it will go up. For this first year, it’s priced at $997. So $997. It’s a one-time pay only. You pay it once. You’re in for the entire year. The best part when you sign up for this first year, you’re going to be grandfathered in at the $997 price for as long as you continue to renew being in the program year after year. This program will not disappoint. There is never a topic that we haven’t coached on right. There’s always something new to coach on. There’s always new levels, new devils as they say.

So when you sign up for the Empowered Principal® Collaborative for this year, the group coaching program at the introductory price of $997, guess what? You’re in for life as long as you continue to stay in the program year after year. If you quit and you leave and then you want to come back, the price will be at the price that it is, the current price. 

So it’s my way of showing love to the people who are quick starts, who have been ready to jump in, who are loyal to this program, and who want to be the best versions of yourself personally and professionally. That’s what this program is for. That is it. 

Now we have the best of both worlds. We’ve got the 101. We’ve got the group. There’s no school leader that cannot have a coach for the price of 997. Everyone has access to $997. You can pay me in full. What I recommend is that first year you pay out of pocket, get the school leadership experience, have some skin in the game. 

Then from there on out, I’m going to teach you how to pitch your district to provide you the professional development funds to sustain you in the program year after year. Because I promise you this, there’s never a year when a school leader does not need or want to have a coach to help them through the challenges and the difficult times and to help them learn how to make decisions and manage their calendar and get work life balance and to create the results you want for your school and to stop stagnating and to stop holding off on difficult conversations. To hire the ideal people, to manage your personal time as well as you manage your professional time. 

There are so many topics that we cover in the Empowered Principal® program that you are going to want to be a part of. Okay, enough of that. We start August 2. We end May 29. You want to be in this group. I want you there. If you are a listener, there is zero reason, zero obstacle in your way from getting on this page and signing up today. 

If you have questions or you want to just talk to me a little bit more, you need a little bit more information to make a decision, that’s totally fine. I’m going to add a link to the show notes which is going to give you access to my calendar. You can schedule a 15 minute Q&A call with me. We’re just going to jump on the phone. You can ask me whatever questions you have. Okay.

So I’ll be talking more about the program, but I want to get on to the podcast, but I had to share with you my exciting news. I know you guys have been waiting, and I have been waiting to offer this to you. I can’t wait to work with all of you next year. Let’s go. Okay. Okay. 

Now, podcast topic for today. I’m going to do a little rant out of love for my aspiring leaders. Either you’re an aspiring leader who’s never been hired before, or you are a leader who’s changing positions, and you’re unhappy with the interview process. Okay? This is out of love, as I say these things. So if you’re going through the interview process, and you haven’t been hired, and you’re feeling discouraged, I want to say something very directly to you. 

Now, if you’re listening to this podcast, and you’re not going through the interview process but you’re a school leader, this is still highly valuable. Because you’re the person who if you’re not hiring now, you will be at some point. You want to use this information to think as a person who is interviewing other candidates, who’s interviewing teachers, okay? So whether you’re the person trying to get hired, or you’re the person who is hiring, this applies. 

There are three things that you need to trust in order to get hired. Number one, you need to trust in you. So I’m speaking to the candidate right now. If you’re the candidate, hear me out. If you’re the person who’s hiring, I want you to trust in you. Apply this to both sides of that interview table. You have the skills, the knowledge, and the bandwidth to lead a school just as you are right now. You are enough.

If you’re out there applying for school leadership, you are technically qualified. You’ve done the credential. You’ve done the work. You have the certification, whatever technical hoops you had to jump through. If you’re out there interviewing, and people are scheduling interviews with you, you’re already qualified. You are enough as you are right now. You don’t need to read more books, go to more workshops. There’s nothing more you need to learn. Okay, hear me. You are enough. You are enough. You always have been enough. You are ready right now. 

Let me fill you in on a little secret. No one who’s in a school leadership position actually knows what they’re doing. We all look at other people and think well, they know what they’re doing. They’ve got their stuff pulled together. They seem competent. They’re confident. What’s wrong with me? It’s not true, especially when people are new. No one knows what they’re doing. Veterans do not know what they’re doing. 

I’ll tell you the difference. When somebody’s been in the job for a while and we look at them and we say oh, they know what they’re doing. The only difference between them and you is that the people who’ve been in the job a while, they have different thoughts about themselves and the job. They’ve just become more comfortable with testing out their theories, seeing what works, adjusting when it doesn’t work, and not making it mean that something’s gone wrong if they failed or if they didn’t achieve a goal.

When you are a school leader, you don’t know what’s going to be the right solution. You’ve got to create a theory, make the best decision, try that theory out to see does it work? Did it not work? Did it kind of work? How well did it work? 10%? 80%? 50%? Then we adjust the parts that didn’t work. We just keep trying. We just keep showing up, and we keep trying. 

We fail and then we try and then we fail and then we try and then something works. Okay, great. Let’s hold on to that and then throw out this other part here. Then we keep going. Oh, I lost my temper there. Oops, sorry. Had a bad day. Get up, show up again. That’s the only thing that’s happening is that the principals understand that we don’t have a magic bullet solution. We don’t have a one size fits all. All we do know is that we get up, we show up, and we show up as the best version of ourselves in that moment, in that day. 

We make those decisions. I’m going to be doing a podcast on your decision lens. I’m going to talk about that in the future here. But the truth is that you don’t need to know every answer or have a solution to everything. You just need to trust that no matter what, you’re going to figure out whatever comes your way. There is zero way to fully prepare for what comes your way in school leadership. 

Mark my word. When I signed up for school leadership, and I actually got hired, I had no idea I was going to be dealing with construction and contractors and raw sewage flowing down the middle of my school at back to school night. How could I have anticipated that? I had no idea I was going to be dealing with police officers and 911s. There was so much I didn’t know, and I didn’t even know I didn’t know. You can’t write the script ahead of time. It doesn’t work like that. 

It’s like parenting. When you bring a child into the world, you have no way to know how your child will respond as an infant, as a toddler, as an elementary student. What they’re going to go through in middle school, what they’re going to experience in high school, the decisions they’re going to make, the actions they’re going. You have no clue. Why would you try and solve for things that your child is going to do at 15 when they’re five months old? You just focus on five month old things. Even then you don’t know what they’re doing. You just get up and figure it out day by day.

Do you see what I’m saying? School leadership is the same way. You’re just a parent of a school trying to figure out the ebb and flow and the developmental progress that your school is making. It’s okay to not have the answers. No one has the answers. The people who are interviewing you, they don’t even have the answers. You’ve got to remember, they’re just humans, which leads me to number two. 

So number one, trust in yourself. The only thought you need to walk into in an interview with is I don’t need to have all the answers, but I do know, I trust that I have the capacity to handle whatever comes my way. I will figure it out. I will ask questions. I’ll hire a coach. I’ll join this coaching program. I will do what it takes to figure out the answers. 

Anybody who’s in the position, that’s all they’re doing. They’re getting up each day. They’re addressing what’s being presented, and they’re figuring it out along the way. That’s how they get the answers. That’s how you will get the answers. Stop telling yourself you’re not ready, you’re not good enough, or that something is wrong with you or you’re not ready. None of that is true. We’ll call malarkey on that. You just have to know that you do have the capacity to figure things out. The reason you know that’s true is because you’ve done it up until this point, okay? 

Number two, trust in the people hiring you. Now, if you’re the candidate and you’re out there interviewing, you have to trust the interview panel. You have to trust the humans on the other side of the table. If you’re the one doing the interviewing, you have to trust those candidates. You want to believe in them. You want to trust in them. That’s why you’re going through the interview process. 

So the people interviewing you are just as human as you are, and the people you’re interviewing, they’re just as human as you are. Nobody’s a robot. Nobody is perfect. Stop looking for perfection, and stop expecting perfection from either side of the table. These are people in the same field as you wanting to achieve the same goals. They are in education. 

They want to enhance the lives of the students in front of them. They want their leaders to enhance the experience of teachers. They want teachers to be the best versions of themselves. They want students to be the best versions of themselves so that the district can thrive so that we can all feel successful. We are all on the same team. 

Whether you work in the same district or not, we’re all on team education, which is helping the children, helping students, enhancing the quality of their lives by enhancing the quality of their thoughts, and enhancing the quality of teaching and learning the experience of learning. Helping them love learning. We all want that. So the people hiring you, interviewing you, they’re humans in the field wanting the same things you want. If you’re on the interviewing side, those teachers out there, they want to serve your school. Okay? 

So they want to believe and trust in you as the candidate, and you want to believe and trust in them. Now, I’m going to say something here because this has been happening with some of my current clients and with some of the people who reach out for support.

So if you’re walking away from an interview experience, and you’re blaming or accusing the panel in any kind of way. If you’re thinking they weren’t listening, they weren’t engaging, they were super tough on me. They were uninviting. They seemed bored. They’re interviewing with no intention of hiring an external candidate. Do you know how many times I hear somebody say they’re just going through the process of interviewing because they already have somebody in mind? 

That thought feels terrible. Why would you even go to an interview when you have zero chance? But that thought, you’re coming in with I’m going to be rejected energy. Ew, yucky. I want you to consider their perspective and what they are looking for as the interviewers. Think about what they need. What they want, and what their experience of you is. When you come in as a candidate, you have to understand, you’re going in front of other humans who have a STEAR cycle. 

They’ve got thoughts and feelings, and they make decisions and take actions based on how they’re thinking and feeling. That interview is an opportunity for you to consider what they need to be thinking and feeling in order to offer you a position. Stop being in your head about how you think and feel and start thinking about them. 

You need to decide what’s in your control. When you’re thinking that they were bored, they weren’t listening, or they weren’t engaging, or they were uninviting, you’ve got to decide what’s in your control. How can you be more engaging? How can you be more interesting? How can you stand out and be unique? Stand out on purpose. Trust that you are the one they want, and be the version of you that they want to hire. Stop blaming them for your lack of getting an offer.

What is in your control? Own your results. Stop blaming them. When you blame people and abdicate responsibility, you step out of your empowerment. It feels terrible. If you’re out of your empowerment and you’re going into an interview, that energy comes with you. Nobody wants to hire somebody who’s feeling disempowered, and then is blaming other people for their lack of results. Okay? Own your results, take ownership, be more interesting, more engaging, stand out of that crowd, be the best version of you every single time you walk into an interview room.

Number three, trust in the interview process. So many aspiring leaders reach out and tell me I’ve interviewed so many times. I’ve been doing this four months, and I just keep getting rejected. I don’t think I’m cut out for this. I don’t think I can keep doing this. I’m so discouraged. I cannot take one more no. It’s very dramatic. 

Here’s what I want to say to that. Welcome to the process, my friends. This is the process of getting hired. What I tell all of my clients is that the interview process is like dating. You’re both out there looking for the ideal match. Whether you’re hiring or you’re trying to get hired, you’re out there looking for the ideal match. They have to be a match for you, and you have to be a match for them. 

So you have to be the person who attracts the people you want to hire. You’ve got to be the person who attracts the people who want to hire you. You’ve got to be willing to date people that aren’t a match in order to find people who are a match. Thinking that the interview process should happen the way you want it to happen the very first time, or it should happen within a very strict time period, within a week or a month. When you’re putting all this constraint on the process, all that does is make you lose trust and fall out of belief. 

So the key is to keep going, to be open to the process, to trust that the no’s that you’re building up, the rejection letters, and sometimes they even ghost you. They don’t even tell you anything. You interview, and you never hear back from them again. So what. They weren’t your people. They were never meant to be your people. Your people are waiting for you. Keep going, trust the process. Okay. 

So in summary, number one, trust yourself. You have everything right now that you need in order to lead your school because none of us know what we’re doing. We’re just showing up being the best versions of ourselves, making decisions, and doing the best we can in that given moment. 

Number two, trust other people. I know it can be challenging because people hurt us, they reject us. They are not interested in us. The process of going through the interviews can be painful. Learn to navigate those emotions, feel them, cry, whatever you need to do to get those feelings out, and then get up and show up again. Be the best version of yourself day after day for as long as it takes. 

Three, trust the process. You will land a job if you keep going. If you keep showing up as the best version of yourself, the most engaging, the most interesting, the most charismatic. When you’re thinking about the people that you’re there to serve, when you’re in an interview, and you’re thinking to yourself, how can I serve them? What are they looking for? What is it I can bring to the table with the skill set I have? How do I help them have a better career experience?

When you’re thinking about serving those people and serving that new district in the capacity that is uniquely you, that is going to be such a better experience for you. Have fun in this process you guys. Interviewing doesn’t have to be super serious. It doesn’t have to be super painful. It can be fun. You can meet lots of people. You can have lots of weird dates. Right? You can create stories through this process. 

Now, the last thing I want to say is that if you are an aspiring leader, you are qualified to enter into the room of the Empowered Principal®, but I do want to speak with you before I say yes to you. So if you’re an aspiring leader, and you want to be able to get hired, and you want to be able to be in that room with other school leaders, what you need to do is click the link in the show notes that says schedule a call with Angela. I want to jump on the phone with you and talk to you before you get in that room. Okay? 

I just want to make sure that you’re mentally ready and emotionally ready to be in that room because I do curate this room to be the best of the best with the highest caliber people because we’re not messing around. We’re having fun. We’re getting our stuff done in a very empowered way. So I love you all. I’m so happy to have this second offer. I’m happy to help you get hired. If you want more information, just reach out. You know where to find me. Love you guys. Have a great week. Talk to you next week. Take good care. Bye.

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Empowered Principal® Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, please visit angelakellycoaching.com where you can sign up for weekly updates and learn more about the tools that will help you become an emotionally fit school leader.