Renata Bernarde (00:48)
Our guest on the podcast today is Priya Rathod. She’s a seasoned media professional and a career trends expert at Indeed, where she helps professionals like you navigate career transitions, labor market shifts, and change in hiring trends. She has a decade at Indeed and previously she held roles at MTV networks, Comcast, and Career Builder. So she brings to this conversation a deep understanding of
how to change jobs and careers from a personal perspective, as well as her very data-driven work that she does at Indeed, looking at workforce trends and job seeker behavior. You probably know this, but Indeed is a leading global employment platform connecting job seekers with employers, and the company emphasizes data-driven insights to inform hiring trends and career advice.
And we do discuss some of the analytics and information from the most recent reports that Indeed has produced.
Indeed also owns Glassdoor. You may have used Glassdoor before, but if you haven’t, I would highly recommend that you do. It’s a review platform and we discuss it during our chat as well. Priya has contributed to Indeed’s thought leadership through articles that she writes on the platform’s blog.
like the recession-proof jobs in a certain economy. So seek out that article. It’s a good one to read. She has also contributed to news articles that are written in other platforms where she’s ⁓ contacted to provide insight into career-related topics like salary negotiations, for example. And she serves as the co-chair of Indeed’s Parents and Caregivers Inclusion Group.
advocating for workplace equity and flexibility. We discussed that a little bit when she tells us why she thought Indeed was a great employer for herself. I always wanted to have somebody from Indeed on the podcast because I think it’s a platform that all of you must use. And I was really grateful and thankful for Indeed.
to provide Priya to be on this episode with me. We had a great chat. I felt like I knew her. I felt like we were on sync and you will see that we really bounce off each other really nicely in our conversation. I wanted this conversation to be very organic and for you to be like a fly on the wall of our chat as if you were having coffee with us. I know we’re in different parts of the world.
but it was really great and it felt really, really wonderful to have this conversation with somebody that thinks a lot like me and has some more insight to my anecdotal evidence. ⁓ I hope you enjoyed this. If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast of wherever you found us, please subscribe. We always bring interesting guests and I also do solo episodes that you might be interested in. You can watch it on YouTube. Sometimes I have little dogs with me like today.
So please give us a thumbs up, write us a good review. It helps us a lot and it means a lot to me that you’re here today. Enjoy this conversation.
Priya Bhola Rathod (04:11)
and I
love that you are doing all this so that you can help all these job seekers out there. Obviously, that’s one of the reasons I joined Indeed. We help people get jobs. That’s our mission. So I love that that is something you’re so invested in.
Renata Bernarde (04:16)
you
I am and I’ve always been. I think there were a sprinkle of that in my previous jobs. I wonder if that happened to you as well, even though you were in different industries. I know you’ve been at MTV and Comcast. Did people come to you for career advice as well?
Priya Bhola Rathod (04:45)
Yes, yes, they did. And it’s always been something my friends and I and my community and my network talk about quite frequently. What are we working on right now? Where do we want to be? What are our plans? How do we help each other get there? And so I think that it’s an ever evolving conversation, whether you have a job or you’re looking for a job. I think that is a conversation that’s always top of mind.
Renata Bernarde (05:11)
Yeah, and I feel sometimes that now because I don’t know if it happened to you, but because I’m a coach now, I think my friends are a bit intimidated to ask me the same questions that they used to ask five, 10 years ago, because they feel like they need to pay me. They’re like, ⁓ I need your advice. I spoke to you.
Priya Bhola Rathod (05:19)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
But I love that
they’re respectful of your occupation, right? I’m like that with friends who do certain things who are, you know, in the beauty industry or in the medical industry, you know, who help me out with things. I’m always very conscious of saying, don’t expect you to do this for free because you’re my friend, you know? So I love that they say that to you.
Renata Bernarde (05:34)
Yeah.
So.
Yes. my God. I mean,
you’re exactly right. And I was thinking about that this morning because I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis on my hands and I have a friend who is an expert in this and I really want to always be texting her, but I can’t, I feel bad.
Priya Bhola Rathod (06:05)
Yes.
Exactly. I mean, I agree. I have a friend who’s
a very great doctor in women’s health. so she’s same thing. I think about how many, what is my quota of questions for her this month? How many should I ask her? But similar to you, I love helping people. And so I think as a part of our nature, we likely similar to our friends want to help when we can.
Renata Bernarde (06:18)
So.
Yeah. ⁓
That’s great. Now, one of the things that many of my clients and my clients are like a little pocket of listeners, right? Most of my clients come from listening to the podcast. So I correlate that, you know, this might be an issue or a challenge that many of them face is that some of them need to change industries. It’s not like they want to, some of they want to, but many of them need to change industries.
Priya Bhola Rathod (06:48)
Right.
Hmm?
Renata Bernarde (07:08)
And you’ve done that. You went from, you know, industry to industry. What sort of advice would you give or what helped you personally make those transitions from industry to industry?
Priya Bhola Rathod (07:21)
I think there’s a couple of things that have helped me do that. And one, think, is something we advise job seekers and Indeed to do all the time, which is upskilling for the next job you want. And that doesn’t necessarily mean doing a whole formal education or a master’s. It just means understanding what are the types of skills you need for that new industry or that new role. And are there ways that you can acquire some of those or get certifications or take
courses in those before you change or try to change to a new role or industry. So that’s something I’ve always done. And then two is just identifying those transferable skills. So that is something I had to do, especially with an Indeed, and I’ll tell you my story in a minute, but what are the transferable skills I have or the institutional knowledge I have from one area of a job or an industry that I can apply?
⁓ currently to another role or industry. So I think identifying that is really, really key. And then part of me is, you know, this applies to more to job seekers who are changing roles within their company. But one thing I’ve always done is do facets of the role before I even get it. So for me at Indeed, I’ve asked if I want to move into a different department, can I shadow you?
Is there any work that you’re doing right now that I could sit in on a few of the calls or help out in a small capacity? Because that does two things. One, it helps you learn the new role and what you might need to get into it. But two, it helps show that group how capable you are or what different skills you might bring to that position that are useful. So those are three key things I’ve done in order to…
change industries or change roles. And then I think lastly, in the economy we’re living in right now, which is very challenging and the job market can be very challenging, it’s just having the confidence to do it. I think this is something I talk to people about all the time is, have the confidence to try something new and have the confidence and the experience that you bring to the table.
Renata Bernarde (09:40)
Yeah, I agree. I’ve been working with a lot of clients and a lot of volunteering that I’ve been doing as well with people that are trying to change industries. And what you’re saying is spot on. One of the difficulties that I find that they have is the change of the jargon, the change of the narrative. And I find that that is a really interesting situation.
Priya Bhola Rathod (09:52)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Renata Bernarde (10:10)
⁓ And one of the things that I miss the most about the time I was in corporate is where are the newspapers? People don’t read the news anymore. And I think if you are not aware of the industry that you want to walk into, then how can you be employed by that industry? Go read The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times. I want you to be informed.
Priya Bhola Rathod (10:20)
They don’t.
Yes!
That is exactly right. It’s like you’re reading my notes, Renata. I’m not kidding. It’s like those are exactly some of the things I wrote down is that you don’t want to, if you’re going to walk into a new industry, you want to show adaptability. You want to show knowledge. You want to show that you care about that industry and you’ve learned about that industry. So to your point, you know, reading the news, following their
Renata Bernarde (10:39)
Okay.
Priya Bhola Rathod (11:01)
company on several different platforms, whether that be Indeed company pages or their LinkedIn company page. Understanding what they’re doing and what’s important to them right now is going to help you so much when you walk into it. I also think that using the tools that are available to you out there are really important. So one thing I love about Indeed is we have this new hub for AARP and Indeed. It’s a career resources hub.
And so it shows you specifically resume assistance, like job listing assistance, and it’s tailored to older workers, which I like, because I think a lot of the narrative out there sometimes right now is catered to younger workers. And there’s a lot of older workers that are making a career change. We saw a recent AARP survey that says workers age 50 plus are planning to make a career change this year.
and 65 % of them haven’t taken any steps to prepare for this. So if you think about it, if a quarter of workers age 50 plus are trying to make a change and they haven’t prepared for it, they need to access the things that are available to them online.
Renata Bernarde (12:14)
Absolutely. And the older worker needs to feel more confident about applying and to be more ⁓ up to date with how recruitment and selection works now. I was mentioning to you before that I interviewed two executive search partners yesterday. ⁓ And this interview will be the episode before this one, everyone, if you’re listening. And they were saying something that I thought was really fun. ⁓
Priya Bhola Rathod (12:19)
Yes.
Renata Bernarde (12:43)
50 is the new 40 and 60 is the new 50. then that, 20 years ago, 30 years ago when they started working as headhunters, they would never present a 55 year old person to a client for a CEO position today. They don’t think twice, 55 and 60. And the oldest one that they’ve interviewed for a CEO role was in his 80s. And that’s fine.
Priya Bhola Rathod (12:45)
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Hmm?
Exactly.
Wow, that’s incredible.
Renata Bernarde (13:13)
That
was a shortlisted candidate for a role. And I think that ⁓ people overthink their age when they’re applying for roles.
Priya Bhola Rathod (13:21)
That’s right. They really do. And they
underestimate their ability to learn these new skills and to learn this new jargon. They can do that as well. And so the other thing that we see job seekers doing sometimes, older job workers, is not applying to a role because they think they’re overqualified for it. And that can be a pitfall because
Renata Bernarde (13:33)
Yeah.
Priya Bhola Rathod (13:47)
you may have the experience that they need. You can hit the ground running. You can start in a new industry and, you know, quickly work your way up. So I think you’re touching on all of the right things, Renata. Like there is a whole world out there for job seekers, know, 45, 50 plus who want to change careers.
Renata Bernarde (14:10)
Okay. ⁓ Before we talk about overqualification, because I want to touch on that in a minute, ⁓ I still want to go through that industry transition and talk about networking, because I know you’ve emphasized the importance of networking over resumes, which I find it’s funny because you work at Indeed, resumes are so important for your platform. But can you share what you mean by that and how those two things can go together to help with the career transition?
Priya Bhola Rathod (14:24)
Mm-hmm.
Yes, think, look, networking to me is not something you just do when you’re looking for a job, right? Networking is something that should be constant for you, you know, for job seekers. And there’s so many different ways you can network in today’s market. So the first is obviously in-person networking, right? So going to networking events, et cetera. But in the world we’re living in today, a lot of people are busy and they’re not doing as many things in person. So are you joining different
networking groups that meet virtually that you can be a part of. I mean, I’m part of speaking groups. I’m part of parents and caregivers groups across, know, it doesn’t have to be specific to your industry. It could be specific to your interests. And through your interests, you’re going to find people who have job opportunities available for you. think the one thing I love about networking is that
For me, the way it’s helped is people talking about me in rooms I’m not even in. While Priya would be a great fit for this opportunity. And so when you’re top of mind for people and you’re networking and you’re sharing what you know and what you have to offer, I think it can be invaluable. And I think the other part of networking, Renata, that’s really important is the give and take.
You and I talked about this, right? We mentor people, but we also have our own mentors. And so I think that when you, it’s giving back in both of those ways that I think is really important. And then even when you’re networking on platforms like LinkedIn, for example, right? It’s not just about asking, asking and sharing your own things. It’s about actively engaging in relevant content. You touched on this before, Renata. You said, if you’re going to try to go into an industry,
Know, learn about that industry, be knowledgeable on that industry. That plays into platforms like LinkedIn as well, right? Commenting on certain industry data with some unique insights, know, following people in that industry. It’s just really important. So I still think resumes are extremely important, but I think networking is what’s going to get you in the door. And then having a solid resume to back up what you’ve been talking about is going to get you exactly where you need to go.
Renata Bernarde (16:59)
Yes, you’re right. I always mentioned this one client that I had, Priya, who told me he does not network. And we got a job, you know? And I said, look, if that door is closed to you, if you refuse to talk to people about your job search, about looking for work and reach out to your former colleagues, then you need to be…
Priya Bhola Rathod (17:09)
Yes.
Renata Bernarde (17:23)
excellent at understanding how ATS works and everything else to do with the interview. You cannot play down the importance of being technically excellent in the recruitment and selection process if you refuse to do networking. 99 % of my clients, ideally what you want is to never not network, like you said, but never not understand it.
Priya Bhola Rathod (17:42)
Yes.
Exactly.
Renata Bernarde (17:52)
People are important. That’s what we mean. It’s about you being out there for them when they need and you being out there and being vulnerable enough to share what’s happening to you and ask questions, ask for advice, not ask for a job. I think that that’s too much, but asking for advice, for insight is so relevant as you’re doing research about where you’re going to go next.
Priya Bhola Rathod (17:55)
Mm-hmm.
Exactly.
Renata, I couldn’t agree more. For example, let me tell you how I got my job at Indeed. So I’ve been at Indeed nine plus years. And this was about maybe a little over nine and a half years ago. And I had two kids under three. And I wanted to re-enter the workforce. I was working part time. And I was really nervous about it. I’d been doing part time work. I’d been.
out of full-time work for not that long, but you know all the data around it, right? You reentering becomes harder and harder. And I happen to be having a conversation with a friend saying, I want to reenter the workforce. However, I want to be with a company that values, you know, having a family or where I can have some flexibility. And I’m really concerned about going back full-time when my kids are so young. And a friend of mine who worked at Indeed, I hadn’t even thought about Indeed.
I was looking at totally different industries. And she said to me, why don’t you think about Indeed? I have kids. I work there. I love it. I would be happy to refer you. And that is how she referred me, and I got the job at Indeed. But also, to that point, talking about the things that you value in a company and the things that are important to you. For me, a company that valued parental benefits, work-life balance, all of that was important to me. And she knew that.
Indeed did that. to your point, be vulnerable. Talk about what you’ve been through. What’s important to you moving forward so you can find the right fit.
Renata Bernarde (19:53)
Yeah, yes, you’re right. I think at times like this when ⁓ I was actually commenting on a post from a previous podcast guest, Lou Adler, I don’t know if you’ve heard of Lou, he coaches recruiters. He does online courses and programs for recruits. has some LinkedIn courses for people that want to be good recruiters. And he was saying, you know, we need to have this pact between the employee and the job candidate that needs to be
Priya Bhola Rathod (20:06)
What happened? Okay.
Renata Bernarde (20:23)
agreed upon before you hire them, you know, about the needs and wants of both of them and they need to correlate. And he tagged me on the post and I said, I commented, Lou, I think you’re absolutely right. There’s so much truth in what you’re saying. But at times like this, when there is so the ratio of job applicants for roles is so uneven, it’s much harder for the job applicant to have a say and to make and to choose.
If you have that privilege of waiting, of negotiating flexibility at the end of the recruitment process, great. But most people are just desperate for a job. So I say this, Priya, because you can have stepping stones to achieve your goals. If you were job hunting in 2025 and the job market is shit now,
Priya Bhola Rathod (21:14)
Yes.
Renata Bernarde (21:21)
get whatever job you can, I understand that. But don’t forget your goals. Don’t forget your ambitions. You can go back to them when the supply demand of roles is better, maybe in a year or so.
Priya Bhola Rathod (21:36)
Yes, and once
you’re in a company, Renata, then you have the ability to start exploring other departments and figure out what you want. For example, again, I’ve been in Indeed nine and a half years, and now I’m in the job of my dreams at Indeed. But that took a long time and a lot of career pivots. And to your point, when you’re looking for a job right now, because the market is more challenging, it might not have
everything you want, but it might have a piece of what you want, right? For example, when I started in Indeed, I had experience in sales. I went into sales. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do right then, but I knew there were other elements of the company that could afford me the life I wanted. There was flexibility. There was work-life balance. So when you’re looking for a job right now, it may not be the perfect job or the perfect company, but there’s an aspect of it that’s going to work for your life right now, and it’s going to allow you to get in.
You know, build a presence for yourself and pivot and transfer.
Renata Bernarde (22:33)
Yeah, yeah, no, that’s totally right. And what you did as well, going back to full-time employment, is something that a lot of the listeners will relate to if they’ve taken time out for maternity leave. My older clients have taken time off to care for parents that were ill, they were sick themselves, divorced. Like there’s so much that happens in…
Priya Bhola Rathod (22:44)
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Renata Bernarde (22:58)
in a lifespan that requires your attention and you can’t just manage work and know caring for an elderly family member that’s you know not unwell ⁓ and that could take two three four years until they feel like they can cope go back to full-time employment so what do you think ⁓ helped you have the confidence to go through the recruitment and selection did you address that you were returning to full-time employment
during the interviews. Can you expand on that?
Priya Bhola Rathod (23:30)
Yes, and I did, I absolutely addressed it and I think that’s something job seekers should do right now. I think there’s the inclination to shy away from it and not address it and just kind of brush it off and hope they don’t notice. But first of all, there’s nothing wrong with taking a little bit of a break. Again, if it’s to care for a family member, if it’s because of medical reasons, life happens.
Right, and as long as you address it and show what you learned from it and why you want to go back into the workforce full time, I think that’s extremely important. I did absolutely address it and say, I am doing part-time work right now. I’m in business development and on camera work in production, and I want to get back into it full time. I think Indeed’s the right place for me. Here’s my previous experience in sales. And so that was.
that was welcome. And so what we advise job seekers on all the time is addressing the gap. And I think, Renata, in the world we’re living in today, people have gaps for so many reasons. The pandemic just happened three to five years ago. And a lot of people exited the workforce for several reasons during that time. And so I think it’s more common than not to see these gaps on job seekers resumes. And just
Renata Bernarde (24:44)
Yeah.
Priya Bhola Rathod (24:46)
Be, address it, address it in your cover letter, address it in your interview, just don’t shy away from it.
Renata Bernarde (24:53)
Yeah, this is a good time for us to discuss overqualification. I have concerns about that. So I agree with you that if you’re looking for jobs and you can see a job that you qualify to do, but maybe it’s been five years, 10 years since you’ve done it, ⁓ you used to be paid more. ⁓
It’s challenging. People may want to apply for that job and sometimes they do and then they don’t get ⁓ an interview and they can’t figure it out why, you know, and I tell them, I think it was because you were overqualified, right? The other thing that happens is they get the job ⁓ and then they’re extremely unhappy because all of a sudden they realized that they’re not the top cat anymore. They’re not the decision makers.
They used to have the job that now their manager is doing and they get a little bit annoyed. So they want it because they need a job and then they get frustrated. And I’ve seen both of those sides as a career coach. ⁓ I would love for you to sort of expand on that because I think we’re at a time now that we’re, know, beggars can’t be choosers. We need to apply for roles. So.
based on your experience and maybe the data that you have on LinkedIn, what’s the best way to position yourself for a job that you may be overqualified?
Priya Bhola Rathod (26:21)
Yeah, I want
to address what you talked about before first, which is if you’re labeled as overqualified, it usually means an employer is concerned about a couple of things, right? They’re concerned that you’re going to be too expensive. They’re concerned you’re going to get bored or leave for a better opportunity. So in cases where you think you might be overqualified and you are going to apply for the job, which I agree with you, you should, it’s really important to reframe the narrative to
Renata Bernarde (26:25)
Okay.
Priya Bhola Rathod (26:50)
emphasize your flexibility, your stability, and your genuine interest in the role, right? So you can do that through a couple of things. One is start by tailoring your resume specifically to that role and emphasizing the skills and experiences that align directly with the role, right? So it’s…
Look, no one likes modifying their resume over and over again. It’s far easier to just submit the same one to every job, but I’m sure you advise your clients as well, Renata, you’ve gotta tailor it, right? So in a situation where you’re qualified, tailor it, and then discuss how in an interview, if you get to the interview, discuss how because you have so much of this previous experience, you can bring value immediately.
Renata Bernarde (27:21)
Yeah.
Priya Bhola Rathod (27:37)
you can hit the ground running. Like you won’t need as much onboarding as someone who doesn’t have as much experience as you might need. And you can even say something like, I’m excited about this position. It allows me to use so many of my previous skills and do all of this meaningful work. And I know that my experience gives me a strong foundation to do this role. So I think there’s a way for job seekers to address this.
in their resume and even in their interview so that they can ease an employee’s, employer’s concern about this. Because whether employer is saying it or not, that’s likely the concern they have, you know? So you wanna be able to ease that. And then again, I encourage them, it’s, yes, a lot of us are in jobs that, you know, we wanna be in a different role or we wanna be in a higher position, but.
Renata Bernarde (28:18)
Absolutely.
Priya Bhola Rathod (28:33)
I encourage your job seekers to think about, okay, this is where I am now. Thankfully I have a job. What are other things that this job offers me? Is there an education stipend? Is there a way to get more RSUs or a better 401k matching that’ll help me do things outside of work that are, you know, bring me joy or make me happy? And so I think there’s just a couple of things they can do to reframe this, both when they’re sitting down in an interview and when they’re at the job.
Renata Bernarde (29:03)
And Priya, this needs to be considered ⁓ even outside the issue of being overqualified for roles. I’ll give you a couple of examples. ⁓ I had a client once that had done wealth management in a bank in Europe, and he was the manager of over 300 personnel, right? And then he moved to Australia, and Australia is a small country. He was going to be doing wealth management by himself. So having in his resume,
Priya Bhola Rathod (29:24)
you
Renata Bernarde (29:33)
that he used to have a team of 300 with 10 direct reports doesn’t really help this bank in Australia understand that he can operate independently. So I asked him to remove that from his resume and he didn’t because sometimes ego gets in the way.
Priya Bhola Rathod (29:45)
Yes.
Yes.
Renata Bernarde (29:56)
And he said, but that’s my experience. I need to have it there. I’m like, that experience will, ⁓ it’s kind of, it’s kind of scary for a country and a bank of this size that you’re applying for. You’re going to be working completely alone, working with high net worth individuals, but not at the level that is done in Europe. Right. So ⁓
Priya Bhola Rathod (30:21)
Yes.
Renata Bernarde (30:22)
The other example that I want to give, which also is about scale, is this amazing client. I just finished working with her and she took a company from a revenue of 4 billion to a revenue of 60 billion. There are other organizations that would welcome you with open arms, but that example is too much for them. They will think you’re overqualified and they will not hire you.
Priya Bhola Rathod (30:44)
it’s
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Yeah, to your point, I think the idea of tailoring it to that role, I especially like that first example because I think that taking all that experience and saying ability to operate independently for extremely high net worth individuals and focusing on maybe what the net worth was versus his ab-
you know, managing so many people is tailoring it specifically to that job, that role, that company, that country, you know, so you have to, to your point, remove any desire to make it seem bigger than it is if you want to get a role that makes sense for you right now.
Renata Bernarde (31:16)
you
Yeah.
Yes, that’s very true. that’s a great tip there. ⁓ Now, if we think about ⁓ what’s happening, let’s talk about artificial intelligence, When you’re looking at the data that’s coming through indeed, is it possible for you to tell us if you see a difference in the way people are writing resumes and answering questions for…
Priya Bhola Rathod (31:52)
Yes. ⁓
Renata Bernarde (32:05)
job applications differently because they’re using AI? Is it possible to sort of analyze that at the moment?
Priya Bhola Rathod (32:11)
You know, Renata,
I’ll have to look into that for you. I don’t know of any data that we have currently. I mean, I do know that, you know, there, we do advise job seekers to use a mix of AI and in-person coaching, right? Because I think AI can only do so much. There are nuances that someone who’s been in an industry or has been coaching people can give you. And we have…
Renata Bernarde (32:30)
Mm.
Priya Bhola Rathod (32:40)
Indeed articles on the career guide, we have career coaches for resume. And so we advise to do a mix of both ⁓ because I think then you’re not in, ⁓ you you can make sure the skills are actually something you can deliver. And so I think that’s really important. I do want to touch on a study we did on Indeed that found that we analyzed 2,800 skills. ⁓
to see if any of them were at full risk of being replaced by AI. And we found that none of them were at high risk of being fully replaced by AI. So let me say that again, because I feel like I said it in kind of a confusing way. Indeed data found that none of the 2,800 scales it analyzed were at high risk of being fully replaced by AI.
So what that means to us is human expertise is still extremely valuable. So what our chief economist likes to say, Svenja Goodell, which we love is AI might not replace your job, but someone who knows how to use it might. So the one thing that is important for any of your job seekers listening, no matter where they are at in their career is
understanding how AI is relevant to the industry you’re in or the industry you’re applying for and trying to upscale, right? There’s various courses, you know, Indeed has a partnership with Udemy that ⁓ we make available. There’s, you know, several different courses that your listeners can take, but it’s important to understand AI and understand how it’s relevant to your industry, similar to what you talked about before.
understanding what’s going on in your industry. Part of that is understanding what’s going on within AI in your industry.
Renata Bernarde (34:34)
Yes, you’re absolutely right. I think that there are two things that need to happen at the same time. being more sophisticated using artificial intelligence yourself for support in your recruitment and selection process to help you navigate your job search. So that’s one thing. And the other even more important thing is what you’ve just said, using AI, ⁓ understanding how AI will impact.
Priya Bhola Rathod (34:46)
Yes.
Renata Bernarde (35:03)
your job, your career, your industry and workforce in general in the future so that you’re part of this change and not lagging behind. So those are two different things. As a career coach, not so much, you know, working with, I mean, of course I will tell them to include AI as part of their professional development.
Priya Bhola Rathod (35:15)
Right.
Renata Bernarde (35:30)
But my concern is how they’re using AI to apply for jobs. And yesterday we had a fun time on the podcast towards the end and then I stopped the recording and we kept going ⁓ talking about the fact that you go on LinkedIn and you can’t understand what people do anymore. It’s just the…
Priya Bhola Rathod (35:35)
Mm-hmm.
Renata Bernarde (35:52)
bunch of jargons that people are using and it’s so evident. Look, let’s not completely blame AI here because even before artificial intelligence, it was already hard. People were very generic and vanilla in the way that they were presenting themselves on LinkedIn. You can’t figure out what they do. But now with AI, it’s just become worse. Yeah.
Priya Bhola Rathod (36:10)
Right.
⁓ I know. that’s
why it’s so, it’s, you’re, you’re right about that. Right. And it’s funny because even as indeed we encourage employers when they’re doing their job postings to not try to make it too creative to the point where a job seeker doesn’t understand what they’re applying for. Right. Like it needs to not, sometimes we’re trying to be too out of the box, too overly creative, you know, call a position what it is. If it’s a software engineer.
call it a software engineer. And so I think that to your point, maybe we’ve got gone the other way on the way we talk about ourselves as well, you know, and I think there’s this inclination to make everything sound grandiose or super creative or super out of the box. And so I agree. think sometimes sticking to the basics to your point also helps an employer understand what it is that you bring to the table.
Renata Bernarde (36:51)
Yeah.
Yes.
Absolutely. I am a big fan of stating your ethos, what it is that you do very clearly at the beginning. I don’t even care anymore if it includes I have I’m an experienced project manager with over 20 years of experience working in telecommunications, scaling up, you know, this and that type of of of ⁓ of projects. I want.
the clarification of what exactly your area of expertise is and your industries that you’ve worked ⁓ in functions or regions and so forth. People used to say, ⁓ don’t put 10 plus years of experience anymore. And I’m like, I’m so confused. Like, I don’t know. I don’t know what people do anymore. Let’s go back to, yes.
Priya Bhola Rathod (37:45)
Yes.
Yeah. It is so confusing. It is so
confusing. You did touch on something important though, Renata, which is updating your resume to be kind of more of this functional resume format, right? Really including upfront what it is that you bring to the table versus the old school way of just the chronological order of your jobs, right? Instead, it’s to your point saying upfront where
Renata Bernarde (38:14)
Thank
Yes.
Priya Bhola Rathod (38:27)
an employer can see it, what are the skills that you possess? What do you bring to the table? How is it relevant to that job? And then following up with other things that they may want to see in that backup, that first section.
Renata Bernarde (38:41)
Yeah, and it’s really interesting because we’ve gone global, I think with Indeed and LinkedIn, we have globalized recruitment and selection and job applications and whatnot. ⁓ However, because I work with clients all over the world, like seriously, I have clients in every continent in the… Yeah, it’s really interesting. But I see the cultural difference in the way that they narrate their stories.
Priya Bhola Rathod (38:51)
Yes. Yes.
Amazing.
Mm-hmm.
Renata Bernarde (39:09)
So if
you think that in the US people start from the beginning, you should see my Eastern clients. If you are in Asia, you start from childhood. When I was a little girl, my grandfather used to tell me, and that’s how they do it. And I have seen that in the US as well recently. ⁓ People that start with a lot of emotive language at the beginning of their about section on LinkedIn.
Priya Bhola Rathod (39:17)
The end. The end.
Yes.
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Renata Bernarde (39:35)
you know,
what they’re passionate about, the things that make them tick. And I’m like, we don’t have time for that. Recruiters have 10 seconds.
Priya Bhola Rathod (39:43)
You mix exactly,
like what is it that you’re bringing to the table and to your point, like catering that to each role. I mean, not necessarily, you know, the great thing about Indeed as well is you can create your profile and you can create, you know, different resumes under that profile to apply for different jobs. And so it allows you kind of that flexibility. And so really thinking about the types of jobs you’re applying to and making it stick.
You know, and making it quick, like you said, because everyone is living in an environment right now which is so fast-paced and they don’t have the time.
Renata Bernarde (40:18)
Yeah,
yes, that’s fascinating. I didn’t know that you could have different resumes inside the LinkedIn platform. So that’s really cool.
Priya Bhola Rathod (40:27)
Yeah, Indeed does have
different, an ability to have different resumes that you can shoot out. And so that’s important to know.
Renata Bernarde (40:36)
Good, good. ⁓ We spoke about culture before and I was interested to know if you know about indicators of culture as people are applying for jobs. know, anecdotally, I talk to my clients a lot about the red flags and the green flags and the recruitment process. But what do you think job seekers should be looking for when they’re
going through the job application and in looking at accepting an offer. ⁓
Priya Bhola Rathod (41:11)
Yeah, there’s
a couple of things I wanted to do, but I just realized I took a quick glance at my notes from NADA and I realized there were some AI things I wanted to add in. Is that okay if we go back a little bit? ⁓ So I just saw a stat that I had written down that, you know, for Indeed, for job seekers who are using Indeed, ⁓ you know, your Indeed profile, like we talked about, it’s really the key to unlocking these better opportunities on the site.
Renata Bernarde (41:21)
Okay. Yeah. ⁓
Priya Bhola Rathod (41:41)
Right? So you can also put your qualifications and your preferences in that profile. And job seekers with preferences or qualifications saved in their profile are 82 % more likely to be contacted by an employer after submitting an application than those without. So it’s important that when job seekers are looking at their overall Indeed profile, right?
Renata Bernarde (42:02)
Okay.
Priya Bhola Rathod (42:08)
their resume, they can also put in their preferences, their qualifications. And so it’s important to make that profile as robust as possible. ⁓ I think we also have new AI tools that can match them with opportunities. They can apply to jobs with just a click of a button and got contacted by employers directly.
And they can even, with our platform, schedule interviews within 24 hours when they’re working with different employers. So I did want to call that out. I realized I forgot to, but I did want to call out that Indeed does have ⁓ some pretty cool AI tools right now that job seekers want to take advantage of.
Renata Bernarde (42:50)
Wow.
Is there anything else in your notes that you think people don’t know that we need to share with them?
Priya Bhola Rathod (42:59)
I am trying. I
am taking a look at all the notes I took. ⁓
I just- there’s a- yeah
Renata Bernarde (43:06)
While you look, have a look and I’m going to
say this to the listeners. One thing that I always recommend people to do is to max out on the word count when you are giving information about yourself. So when I’m telling people how to use Chat2BT, you know that you can customize Chat2BT and they ask, know, tell me about yourself and how do you want to work with Chat2BT. ⁓ Don’t be shy.
Priya Bhola Rathod (43:28)
Yes.
Renata Bernarde (43:33)
Don’t be one-liner with Chat2BT. Just max out, say, you know, as much as possible. Give as much information as possible. Yeah. I also am about to start promoting a platform called Collings AI. And again, I’ve tested it out and I maxed out on everything. And the output was…
Priya Bhola Rathod (43:39)
Lastly…
Renata Bernarde (43:56)
So impressive. So I’m assuming it’s the same with the Indeed platform. If you max out on explaining yourself, the output is better. And one more thing, one more thing that I think is really important. And again, listen to the episode from last week because we discussed this. One page resumes. I know Americans love one page resumes. They don’t work anymore, I don’t think. Because if you…
Priya Bhola Rathod (44:00)
It is.
Yes.
Renata Bernarde (44:22)
input a one page resume into a platform like OpenAI, they don’t have a lot of information from you in order to get to to spit out good answers to interview questions and, you know, a pitch for you. Whereas in Australia, where we can have three, four page resumes, ⁓ OpenAI has much more information from you.
Right? So even if you’re not going to send out a four page resume, have a document that you can use to play around that has a much more information about you, more details, so that if you’re playing with AI, trying to prepare for job interviews, the machine will have more information from you. So yeah, that’s what I wanted to say.
Priya Bhola Rathod (45:00)
Yes.
But you’re exactly
right. That’s what I just saying about the Indeed Profiles is don’t, I know it’s a lot easier to just put in that one resume and move on, but to your point, when you put in your skills, your qualifications, you make your Indeed Profile as robust as possible. Employers have a lot more information to work with, you know, and they have a lot more information about you to understand how you may be relevant to their role.
⁓ I, I do want to agree with what you said before too, is that when you’re marketing yourself on online, you want to be clear, but you want to be human, right? You don’t want to be all over the place, you know, start with a headline that goes beyond your job title, but you know, save all of that other information for the about you section, you know, and if you’re keeping your skills up to date and relevant, make sure you’re addressing that too, putting that in your indeed profile.
putting that on your resume. Those are things that will help you get the job you want to get and show employers. ⁓ I do want to go back to how someone can understand the company culture, because I know we kind of went off that for a minute. ⁓ But there’s a couple of ways. I think that Indeed has these things called company pages.
Renata Bernarde (46:22)
Yeah. ⁓
Priya Bhola Rathod (46:32)
Okay, so there are pages that are about the company and what’s great about them is it has, you know, reviews indeed and our sister company, Glassdoor. So indeed company pages and Glassdoor reviews. It has reviews by current and former employees. It allows them to rank certain things, you know, work-life balance, you know, certain benefits, you know, 401k matching. And so you want to have an under, if you want to have an understanding, this is
data that’s inputted by actual employees. And so it’s important for you to kind of do your research. And then when you’re in the interview, ask some diplomatic but transparent questions. What does career development look like at this company? Do you have any inclusion resource business groups? Ask those things that help you understand what the company culture is like.
And then see what the interview process is, because that gives you a pretty good idea of what the culture is going to be like. Is it timely? Are they transparent? Are they sharing ⁓ next steps with you? Does it feel like a process that you’re in in terms of a partnership? And that’s going to help you understand what it’s going to be like when you’re at the company.
Renata Bernarde (47:49)
Yeah, no, I think you’re absolutely right ⁓ that ⁓ we need to stop romanticizing what it would look like and use our intuition and the data and the information. I Glassdoor is fantastic as well. I have a lot of time for Glassdoor. Last night, a client of mine said, just got a job offer. Should I?
Priya Bhola Rathod (48:05)
Yes.
Renata Bernarde (48:15)
You know, I think it’s a bit on the low end. I negotiate? And I’m like, go to Glassdoor and check it out. Check out the salaries on Glassdoor before you play a hand that is out of step with the company’s salary range.
Priya Bhola Rathod (48:20)
Yes. ⁓
And what I often advise friends to do as well is what you just said with Glassdoor. And then there’s this tool called the Indeed Wage Tracker. And it’s a tool that shows, you know, for your position per location, what is the typical salary range? And so you’re going in, like you said, armed with that data, right? Like understanding your role and also your specific region. Because sometimes it’s
As you know, it varies region to region. And so I think being prepared and understanding the data is going to help you make sound decisions.
Renata Bernarde (49:08)
Yes, that’s wonderful. ⁓ I’ve learned so much. I want to go to Indeed now and do some research for my clients.
Priya Bhola Rathod (49:12)
Thank you.
Well, Renata,
I want you to be my career coach. I mean, all of the things that you’re offering your clients are invaluable.
Renata Bernarde (49:22)
Yeah, no, thank you so much. Look, I think you’re right. It’s a partnership between what you can find online and having conversations with somebody like me who can give some insight because of all the clients that I have and all the… I live and breathe this as you. So it’s…
Priya Bhola Rathod (49:37)
Yes.
Yes. And you have that
anecdotal experience, right? It’s not just what AI is spitting out. It’s what you’ve experienced personally with your clients.
Renata Bernarde (49:49)
Yeah.
Yeah, I love what you said before about indeed putting out job ads for the company that are a bit more specific and clear because one of the things that I sometimes get consulted, most of my consultations are interview prep. So that’s, you know, of course, kind of obvious. some of them, you know, people that have been applying for several jobs and they don’t understand why they didn’t get interviewed.
Priya Bhola Rathod (50:11)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Renata Bernarde (50:22)
And it’s because the jobs are so unclear that they felt like they could do them. And then when they talk to somebody like me, and I’m like, I know it looks like you could do it, but what they were actually looking for is X, Y, Z. So it gives them a little bit more insight that they really won’t be able to find anywhere else about which jobs ⁓ are going to convert better for them and which not. So, yeah.
Priya Bhola Rathod (50:36)
Right.
Yes.
Yes, exactly. And knowledge is power,
knowledge and preparation.
Renata Bernarde (50:53)
Yes, look, I could talk to you underwater, could talk to you forever, but it was wonderful to have you here. Is there any sort of final advice or thoughts that you want to leave with the listeners?
Priya Bhola Rathod (50:56)
I knew you.
⁓ Thank you.
No, you know, I just want to leave with your job seekers is look in the economy and we’re in right now, I understand that the job search and the job interview process is challenging and I want them to know they’re not alone. There are so many job seekers going through that right now and that, you know, with resources like you and Indeed and the preparation they do, they can really walk in more confident into these interviews and
hopefully get the job they want.
Renata Bernarde (51:37)
Yeah, of course. I absolutely 100 % agree. And there is a job out there for everyone. I think that in the countries that I’m fortunate to work with, the unemployment rate means that you will get a job if you use the resources out there and you have the grit and perseverance and understand that some years are better than others. 2025 may not be the best year for job seekers.
Priya Bhola Rathod (51:45)
Yes.
Yes.
Renata Bernarde (52:07)
but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a job out there for you. So use Indeed, listen to the pod, subscribe to the pod if you’re listening and you’re not subscribed. And you will find your job, we’re here for you. Thank you so much, Priya.
Priya Bhola Rathod (52:14)
Thanks.
That’s great. Thank
you, Renata. Have a wonderful evening. Bye.
