24: Using your quiet strengths as an introvert to change careers

Nancy Ancowitz, author of Self-Promotion for Introverts®: The Quiet Guide to Getting Ahead, walks us through why introverts can struggle with networking, interviewing, thinking on the spot, and impostor syndrome when making a career switch.

In this episode of Career Switch Podcast, Nancy points out the quiet strengths you likely already have as an introvert to help you work through these challenges. She also shares techniques and her three-part formula for introverts.

Find Nancy Ancowitz at:

Website: https://nancyancowitz.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nancyancowitz

Amazon: Self-Promotion for Introverts: The Quiet Guide to Getting Ahead

Blog: PsychologyToday.com

Music credit: TimMoor from Pixabay

Podcast info:
What's your career switch? What do you think about this episode and the show? Tell us at careerswitchpod.com. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Transcript

Lixandra: Hi, everyone. I'm Lixandra Urresta, and this is Career Switch Podcast. This show is here to encourage you to take action with whatever career change you're considering or working on. Maybe you're trying to switch industries or professions or break out on your own and start a business. In some episodes, I talk to people who've made their own career switch, whether by choice or circumstance. They share the good, the bad, and the truth about their journey, including what worked for them and what didn't. In other episodes, I speak with experts who offer their best career advice on challenges that can come up during the process of making a career change. After all, it takes guts to switch things up, and it's not easy. However, it is possible. 

So, I hope you hear something in this episode, an idea, a suggestion, a piece of advice that'll spur you into action with your own career switch, whether it's taking that first bold step or trying something new. Welcome. I'm glad you're here. 

As an introvert, one of the biggest struggles I had with my career switch was networking. Reaching out to people I barely knew, or worse, complete strangers, and asking them to take time out of their day to talk to me and possibly help me was tough. 

Today, I speak with career advancement coach Nancy Ancowitz, a self-proclaimed introvert and author of the book, Self-Promotion for Introverts, The Quiet Guide to Getting Ahead. Nancy walks us through why introverts have a hard time with networking along with some other career change hurdles. And she offers skills that you likely already have as an introvert to help you work through them. She also shares techniques and her quote unquote introvert formula. 

Hi Nancy, thanks for joining us today. You write a career advancement blog specifically for introverts for psychologytoday.com. As a career coach, you also work with clients who consider themselves to be introverts. What challenges do these clients come to you for help when they're making a career switch to a new industry, profession, or breaking out on their own?

Nancy: One of the biggest things is networking because it's the idea of reaching out to new people, getting out there, forming new relationships, asking for help, asking for introductions. There's this vulnerability that happens if you're an introvert and extrovert possibly, but for an introvert, it takes a lot of energy to reach out. And it takes a lot of energy, particularly to go to an event with lots of people, because that can be an energy drain for us.

Lixandra: Yes, I can totally relate to feeling exhausted after a networking event with all the mingling and small talk. What's another big challenge for introverts?

Nancy: Speaking on the spot, let's say whether it's a job interview or just an informational interview or what we often call a coffee chat, the idea of somebody saying, so tell me about yourself. If you're an introvert and if you haven't practiced that, you haven't come up with your key points, you might just say the top level thing like I'm a lawyer. And that doesn't say much. A lawyer doing what? Working for what kind of organization? Or interested in what kind of organization? What type of law? It doesn't come naturally to most people. And for an introvert, it's extra hard because we like to think before we express ourselves.

Lixandra: And one more challenge that you've seen with your clients?

Nancy: Impostor syndrome. We often say introverts don't talk that much. I say we chatter up a storm, especially between our ears. And imposter syndrome, it's that feeling of, oh, well, there are all these other people that are better at X, Y, Z than I am, or they have more degrees or more experience. And there must be something you're doing wrong or you don't know enough. It's putting yourself down when there's no need to. And it really hurts your ability to promote yourself. It really hurts your ability to build your network and to come across confidently.

Lixandra: Why do introverts have a hard time with networking, thinking on the spot and imposter syndrome?

Nancy: I think it starts with, if you're an introvert, you recharge your energy during your quiet time rather than your social time. So how does that play out in these various scenarios? You need that time to think, to research, to write, to edit, to really get your thoughts together, to be at your best. A lot of it ties back to not feeling like we know everything about a topic, so not wanting to speak. And then also just that thing about reaching out to new people. There are many of us who really are just more comfortable in our cocoon and there's no need for us to go out and fly as butterflies. So there's some of that too.

Lixandra: So what are some skills or quiet strengths, as you call them, that introverts can use when making a career switch?

Nancy: Introvert strengths tend to be more in the writing, researching, listening, analyzing a problem on your own or one-on-one, building one-on-one relationships that are often lasting over time. So these are often typical introvert strengths.

Lixandra: How can introverts use these quiet strengths to work through the challenges you mentioned earlier, such as networking?

Nancy: Well, let's just start with researching. When you're going to reach out to somebody, you want to look at their background. Let's say on LinkedIn, you want to learn about them. You want to see who you may know in common. Did you go to the same school? Do you have similar hobbies? You're always looking for one of my favorite tools in life and in business is the Venn diagram. What do you have in common? How can you speak their language? It's just so essential. And then listening, who doesn't want to be listened to? So listening isn't only with your ears, it's also with your eyes. I've noticed, Luxandra, you excel at that. You're really a writer, a listener, an editor. You have those skills that are also incredibly valuable in the business world.

Lixandra: Thanks, Nancy. What about thinking on the spot? I imagine if you've done your research, then it'll help with thinking on the spot because you'll be informed.

Nancy: Thinking on the spot is super hard for an introvert and your best friend there is preparation. I mean, I know for me, preparation gets me grounded and that helps an introvert because we don't tend to think on the spot. It's not our strong suit naturally. that preparation can really help us. And then we can problem solve when we're grounded. So that all ties in.

Lixandra: Oh, okay. I see. So all the writing and editing where you take your time to respond to someone or to put together an introductory email, the research that you put into it, all that is a form of preparation that can ground you. Yes.

Nancy: All that can really ground you.

Lixandra: How about a way to handle imposter syndrome?

Nancy: One that I love, it's about self-talk. It's how do you speak to yourself between your ears? A lot of us have this running dialogue that we mentioned earlier between our ears, and it's often putting ourselves down. If you suffer that, as I do, as many people do, and many introverts do, it's speaking to yourself in the second or third person rather than in the first person. So you're about to go to a networking event. A lot of clients have said, I've got this. And I'll say, let's try it like this. If your name is Joe, Joe has this or she or he or they have this. There's something about that remove instead of being in the first person that helps. Another thing is reframing fear or nervousness into excitement has found to be not only grounding, but results in better performance. So those are two of the techniques I absolutely love.

Lixandra: Can you explain a little more on how to reframe?

Nancy: Yes. So if your self-talk is, I'm nervous about going to this networking event because everybody's going to judge me. or let's say you're going to an alumni event and, oh, I'm one of the least successful people, or even if I'm very successful, I could have gone farther. So that's the negative self-talk. The positive and reframing it is, instead of I, now we go back to the second or third person, in my case, Nancy is excited about going to this event. Nancy is excited because she'll have one or two wonderful conversations than go home, which would be an introvert's way of doing it. So it's speaking to yourself second or third person, and then you're excited rather than focusing on your fear. Your words become your reality.

Lixandra: I noticed you said one to two conversations. Is that something good for introverts? Instead of saying, like, Sandra's going to be meeting so many people tonight, is it better to keep the focus small?

Nancy: I say as an introvert, let's focus on just one or two really good conversations rather than trying to work the room and having 30 conversations that will just exhaust you.

Lixandra: So quality over quantity. Thank you. Well put. Now you have a formula for introverts. Please share it with us.

Nancy: You mean rest up, prepare and practice? That's one of my favorite formulas for so many things for introverts. Rest up because we need to recharge our social energy. If you have an important, let's say, job interview coming, you want to rest up that social energy so that you can give it your best when you're interacting with this new person or people. And then prepare. Again, it's your best friend. There's nothing like it for an introvert. For any typical interview, you may be able to prepare for 80% of the typical questions that will come your way and practice them. There's nothing like practice and especially on video. So you can see yourself, you can hear yourself, course correct, and having a mentor or coach with you makes it even better.

Lixandra: What about the questions that you can't practice for, which put you on the spot to think on your feet?

Nancy: there's the 20% that could be zingers. You get a zinger. How do you handle it? You comment on the question like, gee, what a fantastic question. Nobody's ever asked me that. Or you can ask about the question. So if I understand you correctly, you want to know more about my first five years of my career, blah, blah, blah. Or you could say, my first thoughts on that are X, Y, Z. I hope it's okay if I get back to you with more. So there are different ways of handling it by sounding confident, showing interest, rather than letting the imposter syndrome take over and feeling insecure about not being the world's leading expert on this question, but reminding yourself that it's okay not to know everything. And here's what you do have.

Lixandra: What else do you suggest for thinking on the spot?

Nancy: My favorite technique for thinking on the spot, other than the examples of what I just shared, is taking an improv class. The foundation of that is saying yes and then yes and to whatever's been said. And I find that that's an invaluable technique, one of the most important things I've ever studied. Because it got me to use my listening skills and trust that I can come up with something that's fine. And it's building off the words and or the energy that is in the room.

Lixandra: Now, at the beginning of the episode, you mentioned how introverts can get caught up with the constant chatter in their head. How can we get out of our own head during an interview?

Nancy: I say aim to connect rather than impress. Aim to share how you can solve their problems rather than impress. There's no need to name drop, brandize yourself, put anybody down. You can be authentic. And it still may tire you because you're in the spotlight. Not every introvert loves being in the spotlight, but you can do it in a grounded, smart way.

Lixandra: Let's touch briefly on informational interviews, which are a big part of networking, especially when you're trying to switch industries or professions. As an introvert, how can you best prepare for an informational interview?

Nancy: You might think of some questions in advance. Oh, before the questions, you research, right? You want to research to learn about the person. learn what's online about them, their professional bio. If you know anyone in common, you can ask a few questions. You may only get 20, 30 minutes with this person. And really think of what's the most important thing you want from them. What can you learn from this person? And if you click, maybe they can help you. Maybe you can ask for their advice. Maybe they can introduce you to somebody. Maybe they can keep you top of mind for certain types of positions, but also you always want to see how you can help them.

Lixandra: And if you can think about that in advance as well. Okay, Nancy, as we wrap up, what's your website where listeners can find you?

Nancy: Nancyankiewicz.com. And tell us about your book. Self-Promotion for Introverts, The Quiet Guide to Getting Ahead. I hope will give you a lot of support. It's really to celebrate you. It's never to say you should get out there. It's more to say, if you have a specific career goal, here are tools you can use as an introvert to help you get it. So it's really about may your quiet star twinkle.

Lixandra: Thanks to Nancy Ancowitz for being our guest today. You can find Nancy at our website, nancyenkowitz.com, her blog for introverts on psychologytoday.com, and her book on Amazon. 

You can find links to the resources mentioned in this episode and more helpful information in the show notes and on our website, careerswitchpod.com. So what's your career switch? Are you motivated to take action after listening to this episode? Tell us at careerswitchpod.com. We'd love to know, along with any feedback you have about the show. Let us know too, if you'd like to be a guest. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn at careerswitchpod. And please rate, review, and share with your friends and colleagues. It'll help get the show out there. Thanks for listening today. Till next time.