Is AI coming for your job? Artificial Intelligence is rewriting the rules of work and changing what it takes to get hired, get ahead, and stay valuable. So, how do you AI-proof your career and become harder to replace? How can you protect your career, move up, change careers, and capitalize on new opportunities created by AI?

Michelle Perchuk, known as the Career Whisperer, is a career acceleration strategist, negotiation coach, talent acquisition expert, founder of MTV Coaching, and member of the Forbes Coaches Council. With more than 18 years of experience working alongside HR executives and C-suite leaders at Fortune 1000 companies, Michelle knows what makes decision-makers say yes.

Michelle says employers hire because their “hair is on fire.” They have problems that need solving. Your job is to show them why you are the solution.

She joins Women Road Warriors hosts Shelley Johnson and Kathy Tuccaro to reveal how to adapt, stand out, strategically upskill, and position yourself for opportunity in the age of AI.

In This Episode

• How to AI-proof your career and become harder to replace
• The human skills AI can't easily duplicate
• How to identify and leverage your transferable skills
• Why becoming a problem solver can transform your career
• How to successfully navigate a career pivot or midlife career change
• Why networking can uncover opportunities you won't find on job boards
• What employers really look for when hiring
• How to communicate your value and negotiate what you're worth
• Career opportunities emerging in the age of AI
• Michelle's powerful 3Cs, 2Ts & 1L hiring formula

AI may be changing the workplace, but change also creates opportunity. Learn how to recognize your value, strengthen the skills that set you apart, and position yourself and your career for whatever comes next.

Learn more about Michelle Perchuk and MTV Coaching:

www.mtvcoaching.com

Listen to more of Women Road Warriors:

www.womenroadwarriors.com

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AIJobs #MichellePerchuk #MTVCoaching #WomenRoadWarriors #ShelleyJohnson #KathyTuccaro #WomensEmpowerment

This is Women Road warriors with Shelly Johnson and Kathy Tucaro.

From the corporate office to the cab of a truck, they're here to inspire and empower women in all professions.

So gear down, sit back and enjoy.

Welcome.

We're an award winning show dedicated to empowering women in every profession through inspiring stories and expert insights.

No topics off limits.

On our show, we power women on the road to success with expert and celebrity interviews and information you need.

I'm Shelley.

And I'm Kathy.

Is AI coming for your job?

That's a question a lot of people are asking right now and for good reason.

The World Economic Forum reports that 40% of employers expect to reduce staff in areas where AI can automate the work.

That sounds pretty unsettling.

But AI is also creating new opportunities for people who know how to use it, solve important problems and bring something to the table that technology can't easily duplicate.

No job's completely secure, but there are ways to make yourself much harder to replace and perhaps even use this moment to move into something better.

So how do you protect the job you have and position yourself for whatever comes next?

Be invaluable.

Michelle Perchuk says employers hire because their hair is on fire.

They have a problem and they need someone who can solve it.

Michelle is a career acceleration strategist, negotiation coach, and talent acquisition expert.

She's known as the career Whisperer, the founder of MTV Coaching, and a member of the Forbes Coaches Council.

She's been called the fairy godmother who makes career dreams come true.

And for good reason.

She sees her clients potential before they do.

Michelle's here to help us stand out, upskill strategically, and become as layoff proof as possible in the age of AI.

Michelle, welcome to Women Road Warriors.

We're excited to have you.

Thank you ladies for having me.

Super excited to be here.

Wow, that's quite the introduction.

You're awesome.

Thank you.

Welcome.

You have certainly covered so much territory in your career and I want our listeners to get to know you as well.

I know no employee is literally layoff proof.

When you talk about becoming layoff proof in the age of AI, what does it mean in practical terms and how can you help people?

I mean, you've got some tremendous insight here.

Yes, yes, I absolutely love helping people and bringing my knowledge from the other side of the hiring table because that's where 70% of my career took place.

And now I'M working with the job seeker.

Individuals can really augment their career trajectory going forward at this point is through a variety of ways.

Number one is adapting the right mindset.

So AI is here to stay.

I know a lot of people think that it has nefarious kind of, you know, outcomes and so forth, but let's focus on thinking positively.

AI in the business world is very effective in replacing repetitive tasks.

So it allows an employee to be a lot more effective and better at what they're initially hired to do versus doing the repetitive tasks.

So if you're an executive right now and you're worried that AI is coming to get your job, just think about how can you be more adaptable, how can you run towards AI versus away from it?

And like I've been coined, think about how to make AI your pal, that friend that you call that you want to brainstorm ideas with, but not exactly the friend that is going to tell you exactly what to do.

Okay.

I think a lot of people are afraid of AI.

Well, it's understandable because they don't know it that well.

And people fear something that they don't know that well.

People also fear change.

It's like in my favorite book, a Book of all time, who Moved My Cheese?

People are afraid of change because it's comfortable to do what you know, and not many people want to get uncomfortable to work with ambiguity.

It truly is the way that we're kind of wired now.

How do we make ourselves indispensable?

Because certainly if AI can replace people who cost money and AI is cheaper, how do we be the power and the value that the companies still want?

The way to do that is to figure out what things AI cannot do.

AI cannot do leadership, and AI cannot do transformation.

AI cannot do relationship building.

AI can do repetitive tasks, but it needs somebody to give it the prompt.

So AI was really invented there to serve us.

So something that was invented to serve us cannot keep us accountable.

So let's say I program my AI to make me go to the gym.

It will remind me to go to the gym, but it actually will not come into my room and kick me out of bed.

So that's the difference between being prompted to do something as a reminder versus keeping you accountable.

Another human being can keep you accountable.

That's true.

What jobs?

Not everybody wants to be a leader across the board.

What jobs are definitely going to be needed in the age of AI because we know that some jobs are going to be eliminated.

How do people find their place?

I'm sure that we're kind of facing what we did with the Industrial Revolution.

You know, you didn't need horses anymore.

The blacksmith was not as important because we had cars.

How do we transition?

Because I think there are a lot of people who have no clue and they're really terrified.

Sure.

So you don't need to be a leader to exhibit leadership skills in every single profession.

If you could figure out how to step up to the plate and make a difference, it could go from being an administrator to being a hospital administrator, to being a school teacher, and the list goes on and on.

How do you step up to the plate to make a difference?

That's a leadership skill.

You don't necessarily need to have MD or VP next to your title.

So keep working on those skills that make you unique, that make you drive the human experience.

Here's what's happening.

The more prevalent AI becomes, the more value there will be placed on human relationships.

So focus on your relationship building, focus on listening skills, focus on building your empathy and emotional intelligence.

Those things will never be replaced by AI.

Oh, I was going to say, in reference to what you were just asking Shelley here in my world, the wonderful world of mining, five years ago, AI came in and 80 trucks.

We now have 90 trucks that are robots.

So that's 90 people that lost their jobs.

And we've been doing this for five years.

And now they're starting to realize that in our particular kind of mining, AI doesn't necessarily work because it's not a rock mine, it's oil, sand.

So everything's getting stuck.

And you need people to come in and get these robots unstuck, and you need people to come get these robots to move out of the way when they've broken down.

And although they want to bring in a lot of robots, now they're talking about bringing in dozers and other pieces of equipment that are autonomously run.

Well, although people are terrified about losing their jobs, in the reality sense of it, you still need people to do it in my industry.

And so now they're bringing in people back to drive the truck to bring ore specifically, because that's where the money is.

So they're trying to balance it out.

But the fact remains that it's very terrifying about there is a lot of people that did lose their jobs, but I think in the bigger scope of things like what you're saying about make yourself indispensable.

Well, that's what I kind of did five years ago.

I learned to operate other equipment that they can't make robots.

Right.

So regardless of even though they're bringing truckers, like trucks autonomously, I'm operating different equipment than they'll, they'll never be able to.

So I kind of made myself indispensable here at work.

So I think what you're saying, Michelle, is, is basically the same thing.

Whatever industry you're in, you need to find, look for what's going to make you stand out.

Yes.

And there's always a better version of your particular role.

So AI is just the revolution that we're going through right now, but we've gone through many, many revolutions.

I mean, in my career alone, I remember where everybody was a QA tester or a computer programmer trying to reprogram all the computers in the Y2K.

Like, once Y2K came, all of those skills and all of those positions were really eliminated.

So those people needed to transform and use their transferable skills, which I would love to talk about, use their transferable skills to into different roles.

So change is inevitable.

It's unfortunate that AI has such a negative image right now.

Very few people have a positive image of AI I guess movies like Matrix and, you know, all those futuristic movies make us afraid.

Oh, yeah.

But I don't think we should be afraid.

I think that AI ultimately is here to help us because it, it's kind of going to force us to be kind of honest with ourselves.

That's an interesting way to look at that.

Stay tuned for more of Women Road warriors coming up.

Dean Michael, the tax doctor here.

I have one question for you.

Do you want to stop worrying about the irs?

If the answer is yes, then look no further.

I've been around for years.

I've helped countless people across the country, and my success rate speaks for itself.

So now you know where to find good, honest help with your tax problems.

What are you waiting for?

Welcome back to Women Road warriors with Shelly Johnson and Kathy Tucaro.

If you're enjoying this informative episode of Women Road Warriors, I wanted to mention Kathy and I explore all kinds of topics that will power you on the road to success.

We feature a lot of expert interviews, plus we feature celebrities and women who've been trailblazers.

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We want to help as many women as possible.

We're talking with Michelle Perchuk about how to become more valuable and harder to replace.

And in a workplace that's rapidly being transformed by AI, you need to find a better version of your role to stay competitive and develop transferable skills.

She's called the Career Whisperer.

She knows how hiring decisions are made from the inside out and what separates the people companies compete to hire and keep from everyone else.

There's much more ahead on how you can use that knowledge to protect and accelerate your own career in the age of AI.

Michelle, what exactly are transferable skills that people need to stay relevant and successful along with AI?

So transferable skills are your competencies, your core competencies, and your professional competencies that you could use to go from profession to profession to profession.

So let's say that you are in marketing today, which means that you are creative and have great attention to detail and you're passionate about developing a customer experience.

You could be a marketer today and you could take your transferable skills and tomorrow you could become a financial planner.

Because all of those core competencies, all of those transferable skills can be taken from a marketing career and pivoted into a financial services career.

Okay, I'm not sure when we are first graduating from high school and then going into college or VO Tech or whatever we're doing that we're taught that.

I'm not even sure people really are taught as they grow up how to do that.

How do we develop those skills?

And is there training for that?

So very few universities actually understand the value of that.

And during the pandemic, I was actually asked by Fairleigh Dickinson, which is a business school here in northern New Jersey, to come and teach this class called Professional Life.

Because they want their students, when they're leaving their academic life, they want them to be prepared for their professional life.

Having a job after college is not enough anymore.

It actually rarely happens.

You need to use your transferable skills to find that job and convince someone to hire you.

Even though you have not had any prior Experience.

Oh, wow.

They don't teach you that?

No, they don't.

They don't.

Like I can just going.

If you use my story as an example, being a nurse for 13 years and then at the age of 42, needing a complete career change change and not knowing what I could do because all I knew was nursing.

And I'm like, I'm not going to go pump gas.

Like I'm going to need, I need a career.

So when I went to this career planning workshop for three days and then at the end of the aptitude test and personality test, the lady said, heavy equipment operator.

Which by the way, I just about fell off my chair.

I'm like, you've got to be kidding me, right?

How do you go from a nurse to this?

Excuse me, but the transferable skills that you're talking about is.

The key thing that I use is the crit thinking.

Because even though you're using it to assess patients and you know, what can be going on here in mining, I'm constantly using my critical thinking skills with regards to safety and with regards to situations.

Because when things come up, they come up fast.

You have a split second to decide.

So I had to actually stop and take a look.

When I was doing that career planning workshop, the adaptability and the, you know, the what I was, I had to write down what I thought my, my best features were and how I was using them and how I could move that to a different career, not, not thinking about heavy equipment.

And so that was.

Honestly, I've never heard of another place doing it.

But that career planning workshop really helped define who, helped me recognize, I should say, what I really had as personable skills and how I could use that somewhere else.

Kathy, you did exactly what I do with, with my clients.

A lot of people are stuck in this moment.

They're not sure how to pivot, and then they become a deer in headlights.

So where I start with most of my clients is I provide them with career clarity.

I do an exercise called skill mapping.

I analyze them and I do a diagnosis of all of the skills that they have, the skills they can stretch and the skill they need to acquire in the modern world.

And then I map it.

I'm almost like a magician.

I map it to a brand new career and I set them off to go find niche and job descriptions.

And together we figure out if this new role speaks to them.

Most people fall into a role and that's why they're unhappy.

Yeah, you know, like it, it really took for me, like over the course of those three days of trying to figure out, I had to ask answer like a hundred questions on, you know, on my personality traits and you know, what I like.

But I didn't like all this stuff.

But what triggered the response is on that third day when that lady said, you know, you're geared to be a heavy equipment operator.

And I literally, I'm like, you're joking, right?

There's no way.

I said, I'm 42, I'm a woman, I don't even like equipment.

I'm not mechanically inclined, and honestly, it's a dude's job.

There was a guy that was sitting next to me and I said, you got this confused, like there's no way that I am going to be a heavy equipment operator.

And I said, your test is wrong.

I said, it's probably the guy next to me.

The lady pushed the test back and said, if only you'd believe in yourself a little bit, missy, you'd see the test is right.

So I sat there, Michelle, for a few minutes, just with my arms crossed over my chest, thinking, this is BS, like there's no way.

But she put on this 10 minute video, it's possible.

And I started listening to the guy who was saying, if you have a dream or a goal, don't ask yourself if you can achieve it, but rather, is there a minute possibility that, that you can.

So I had to shift my thinking from going from, this is not possible, that this is a crazy suggestion, to all of a sudden thinking, well, wait a minute, I do have transportation.

Like, I'm a really good driver.

I could drive a truck.

You know, I, I used to race cars.

I mean, you know, I got excellent skills.

You know, the hand, foot mine, motor coordination.

I got that.

So.

But I had to be the one to recognize that I have the golden opportunity within myself to address any change that comes my way.

So the minute I did that transfer, then I allowed myself permission, or I gave myself permission to try.

Absolutely.

But you need to have that desire first to have the desire to change.

And the mindset.

See, a mindset is super important when it comes to a career pivot.

It's extremely important because most people feel that there's a scarcity of jobs.

People say to themselves, oh, I don't have any experience.

There's not enough jobs for somebody like me.

And age, age is a big factor too.

I mean, I was 42 and I'm like, oh my God.

And when I went to this, excuse me, Women building future program that got women into the non traditional trades There was the girls that got picked for this course that I took with Imperial for the 12 week heavy equipment operator course.

There was four women that were alongside me that had midlife changes.

One was a red seal chef.

I was 42, she was 48.

Another was a police officer that had been in the force for 25 years.

She was 52.

Another was an army sergeant that had been in the army for 25 years.

Another was a postal worker.

So doing that age stops people because you think, oh, it's too late, you know, but it's not too late.

It's never too late.

Well, it's because they're in a scarcity mindset.

You need to reverse and think and think how you can adapt an abundance mindset.

So when people think about jobs out there, the job market, they have a scarcity mindset.

They're like, not enough jobs, not enough for women over 50 to get jobs, not enough this, not enough that.

Where in essence, if we could reverse the way we think and that inner dialogue and say to ourselves, there is an abundance of business problems, more business problems than ever.

How do I take my transferable skills and show the industry or increase more visibility to my LinkedIn profile or my resume or my expertise, whatever it is, how can I show that I've got the expertise to solve those problems?

So once you reverse that mindset, you go from a job seeker to a problem solver and that's where they roll out the red carpet for you.

Stay tuned for more of Women Road warriors coming up.

Dean Michael, the tax doctor here.

I have one question for you.

Do you want to stop worrying about the irs?

If the answer is yes, then look no further.

I've been around for years.

I've helped countless people across the country, and my success rate speaks for itself.

So now you know where to find good, honest help with your tax problems.

What are you waiting for?

Welcome back to Women Road warriors with Shelly Johnson and Kathy Tucaro.

Our guest is career acceleration strategist and negotiation coach Michelle Perchuk.

She's also known as the Career Whisperer and has a lot to say about AI.

Michelle spent years helping high performing professionals get unstuck, make strategic career moves, negotiate better compensation, and recognize opportunities they might not have seen in themselves.

Her clients have landed new positions in as little as 14 days, some with compensation increases of more than 20%.

In a changing job market with AI present, knowing your value is essential.

Knowing how to communicate that value can be even more powerful.

Knowing how to use your core and professional competencies, which are your transferable skills, will open new doors in potential new careers and preserve your worth.

Michelle, in our previous segment, you mentioned many people have a scarcity mindset instead of an abundance mindset which can power us forward.

Would you say more women have the scarcity mindset than men?

Yes.

Yes, because we, we've been taught and culturally, you know, make yourself smaller than your boss.

You know, even if it's your idea, give it, give it to your boss who will run with it.

Don't draw attention to yourself.

Don't wear too much makeup.

Don't.

Don't do this, don't do that.

And women are breaking that ceiling more and more now.

It's not about being a male or a female or any other way you choose to identify yourself.

It's about being an expert and solving problems.

I don't care if you're a unicorn.

If you could do the job and you could help me train more people or service more children or service more seniors, let's do it.

Doesn't matter.

So how do we become indispensable?

How do we work our way into that?

Obviously, it's a matter of taking the people who are already working and getting them to change their mindset.

But then you have people entering the workforce who also have to have that kind of mindset.

How do we do that?

Embrace uncertainty and ambiguity.

You need to know how to work on a daily basis without always having the answer.

That's how we make ourselves irreplaceable.

We make ourselves, ourselves irreplaceable by showing that we embrace change, that we will, no matter what, get the problem solved, that we will go around an organization and recruit more work for ourselves, that we're going to step up to the plate, that we are going to do everything possible to solve a problem.

We're going to be part of the solution and not the problem.

So that requires confidence and really reevaluating and getting comfortable with change.

People, I don't care what the age group really is.

I think human beings don't like change.

So we have to really regroup on that.

How do we change that mindset and that hesitation and build that confidence and that spine that says, yes, I can?

So this is where a lot of people need help.

I mean, all of us are capable of going to the gym and losing that extra £10 before the summer.

But not everyone has the will, not everyone has the discipline.

That's why you go and hire a fitness coach.

Same thing when it comes to your career.

You may read a book here or there, you may do a course, but if you've identified that something doesn't feel right in your career, just like something doesn't feel right in your body, go and get professional help.

Someone will help you cross that line.

Someone will help you by, by giving you a system, helping you implement it.

And then it's all about practice.

That's anything in life that's from when we learn how to ride a bicycle or learn how to swim.

It's all about practice.

If you know that you don't have the time or the will to do this, or you know that you abandon projects very quickly, go and get yourself a coach, an accountability partner, someone that will keep you accountable for what you say you're going to do.

So are the universities keeping up with this sort of thing or do you recommend that somebody is they're thinking about graduating from college, maybe enlisting the help of a career coach so you get started on the right foot.

A lot of universities are including teachers and professors from the industry.

So my son is at George Washington University and many professors there have really strong corporate experience, either in for profit or in the government.

So by the time they make it to the classroom, they're talking to the kids about real world experience.

If, if your university doesn't have this kind of, if your university doesn't have these types of experts on staff, then it's time for you to do something about it.

If you're in a university that doesn't have professors from the industry, go and take a look at alumni of that university.

All of those people are working.

Go talk to them.

The idea is if you feel like you're not getting enough in the organization that you're in an educational organization, then you have to go out there and advocate for yourself.

Talk to family, friends, talk to relatives, talk to people who are in the realm where you want to work or you think you want to work and sit down and interview them, get an understanding of how they got to where they, how they got to where they are, what skills they feel are important.

And honestly, in today's day and age, the young generation is glued to Instagram and TikTok.

I'm very prevalent on Instagram.

I put out a lot of amazing content.

If they would spend following coaches, learning about how to promote themselves.

Once they're out there job searching.

If they would spend a little bit more time following those types of people than, you know, the celebrities and the influencers, then maybe we're going to get someplace.

The knowledge is there.

The knowledge is there.

If they wanted to have the knowledge at their fingertips of how to land a job, literally the summer after you graduate, that information is there.

That's going to be a curve.

They do like the influencers.

A lot of influencers in this space.

I mean, I'm one of them.

Don't work with young people as often as I would like.

I work with people who are seasoned, who have at least 10 years of experience in, in their realm.

But the system that I developed actually works for everyone.

I mean, my own, my own son is implementing all of the networking tactics and he's just a starting junior in his undergrad.

What an empowering thing.

After you've gotten training, whether it's vo Tech or college, to be able to be getting a job as soon as you hit the ground running, if you will.

Because I know when I graduated from college, I was actually working in the industry.

Prior to no one told me to do that.

I had not gotten an internship, but I knew that I needed to have real life skills in the area that I wanted, which was broadcasting at the time.

And I remember a professor saying to me, you shouldn't be working outside of school.

And I thought, yeah, do I need to have a little bit of experience here?

So I'm not like, you know, mopping floors instead of doing something I want to do in the industry.

You know, you need to have some of the skill set to get hired in the first place.

Because I think there's nothing more challenging than being a newbie with zero experience.

You're absolutely right.

I actually had a similar conversation with a professor and who said to me, whatever you're learning here, you better be practicing out there in the real world.

And that's where I actually started to take less credits per semester and free up some time.

I went to a school in New York City so I could jump on a subway and be at work even during my lunch hour if I needed to.

But I really.

That made a huge impact for me.

Whatever I'm learning is going to go away if I'm not implementing it and using it almost like an apprentice.

So I was a communications major and I used my experience in.

In the fashion world.

That was my first career actually in the garment industry, where I really learned how to listen to my clients, which were mostly women over 40.

How to listen to their fashion ideas, how they wanted to present themselves to the world at these special occasions.

We manufactured special occasions suits and dresses for plus size women.

And it wasn't always easy to work with that clientele.

But I learned how to listen and I learned how to show them how they could be the best version of themselves.

And guess what?

That's what I'm still doing today.

Well, you've been there, done that, and that really gives some insight that you don't necessarily get out of a textbook.

And it's so very important.

And you are a leader.

You're helping people basically turn from the caterpillar into the butterfly, which I don't think that a lot of people know how to do.

They want to.

You know, that is a beautiful, beautiful analogy.

And you know, it really hits home because that's really my story as well.

And you know, if we are connected to our mission and we are connected to a greater purpose, then on those days that you don't want to get out of bed, that purpose gets you out of bed.

You may think, like, how is this connected to me getting my next role?

It really is connected because your next role is just the job, but you need to connect to higher power.

What is my career path?

What is the change that I want to make in the world?

From being a nurse to being a janitor, to being a schoolteacher, to being an MD or a C suite executive?

If you are not certain why you are there at work, you shouldn't be there.

So what do you do when you feel that way?

You go out there and you get some help because your output is going to be mediocre.

And the problem is when your output is mediocre, then other people start suffering.

I mean, we could only imagine if someone really doesn't want to be there driving a plane or someone really doesn't want to be there, you know, in a senior home.

You know, we're all human and if we don't know how to be the best version of ourselves when we go to work, you know, it's not always about the check that you get, you.

Know, and I think we've all had jobs we didn't like.

Yes, you know, it's the job you take because you got to pay the bills, but you have your dreams and you have your goals.

But I think when people get stuck and especially when they're hearing all of this stuff, AI is going to take your job.

That's got to make people go, ugh, I can't do anything right.

And you're providing that encouragement?

Yes.

Yes.

Stay tuned for more of Women Road warriors coming up.

Dean Michael, the tax doctor here.

I have one question for you.

Do you want to stop worrying about the irs?

If the answer is yes, then look no further.

I've been around for years.

I've helped countless people across the country, and my success rate speaks for itself.

So now you know where to find good, honest help with your tax problems.

What are you waiting for?

Welcome back to Women Road warriors with Shelly Johnson and Kathy Tucaro.

We're talking with Michelle Furchuk, founder of MTV Coaching and a member of the Forbes Coaches Council.

Michelle says a resume is just a piece of paper without a strategy.

And that may be even more important now as AI changes jobs, skills, and what employers are looking for.

Instead of simply reacting to those changes, Michelle helps people strategically position themselves for what's coming next.

Whether you want to protect the career you have, move up, negotiate for more, or make an entirely new move, there's a lot you can learn from someone who knows how employers think from the other side of the hiring table.

Michelle, what exactly do you do for people?

I thought maybe we could take a little bit of time and cover that.

Sure.

So, like, we're talking here, which, you know, I'm really loving how this conversation is progressing.

I help people have the courage to ask themselves this question, am I doing professionally?

What makes me happy?

I know a lot of people that make a lot of money, but they're not happy.

So we first need to figure out if you are purposeful in your.

In your career.

Do you really want to continue doing this?

Once you say yes, you may be in a job that's connected to that career path or you may have to do a career pivot.

So once you identify what you're looking for, once you enter the address into the GPS system, now it's all about me giving you a system of how to get there.

My system starts with handcrafting a resume.

I know a lot of people use AI to do their resume.

AI now has a watermark, so people are going to know that you used AI to write your resume.

So I handcraft resumes.

I write it with every one of my clients.

I redo LinkedIn profiles.

I help people how to market themselves.

All starts with Crafting their story.

How do they introduce themselves at networking events?

How do they introduce themselves on interviews?

I listen to recordings that my clients send me of their interviews, and I analyze them and I show them where they've missed the bar and probably where they're not going to get hired.

I help with interview preparation, where I prepare you for the tough behavioral questions.

And lastly, I help you negotiate your salary.

Most people don't have the courage to go back and forth with human resources.

They just take the first number that's being offered to them because they're in that scarcity mindset.

You see, they're like, oh, if I don't take this job, they're going to give it to somebody else.

If they already fell in love with you, they really will appreciate that you know your worth and you have the courage to negotiate.

Negotiating is a powerful leadership skill.

No one is going to take away the offer just because you're negotiating.

But a lot of people don't know that.

There's the fear factor, certainly.

And negotiation is a skill you have to hone and practice.

We've talked to some negotiation experts before, and it's a matter of we negotiate all the time.

You know, just do it every day, little by little by little.

But yes, especially with women, there's the intimidation factor.

You know, we've taught to be.

Be nice, say yes.

You know, don't make waves.

But you have a right to demand.

And it isn't demanding.

You can be polite about it, but you have a right to ask for what you're worth.

Yes.

And it's not.

Sometimes it's the way that you deliver the message.

It's not the actual content of the message.

And this is where I help Wordsmith a lot of uncomfortable conversations.

You know, I work with people who are looking to find their dream job, but then once they land it now they're worried about keeping it.

And when you're the new person in an organization, you need to, you know, make a lot of new best friends, have, you know, conversations about maybe laying off some people because you're coming in as an expert, and now they're looking to you to make these decisions about an organization.

And not a lot of people have the courage to have those tough conversations.

Very true.

It's uncomfortable.

Yes.

People, they shy away from that.

We like our comfort zone.

Yes.

Yes, we do.

What are some good careers people can choose in this age of AI that's just changing by the nanosecond?

Operating heavy equipment.

There you go.

Anything having to do with transformation, leaving behind the old.

And showing an organization how to do things in a new way is definitely, you know, the, the, the hot topic today.

Cybersecurity, anything in cyber security, anything in data visualization.

Now, AI can give us data, but we need to know where to put it.

So anything with data analysis and data visualization is a really hot career right now.

Also designing the customer experience.

So anything you touch today needs to be marketed from product to service.

But buying a product or service is not enough.

How do you actually make that client a lifelong client?

How do you design their experience?

Experience with your hotel to your hamburger, to your pair of sneakers.

So there is a shift going on in the marketing world where if you know and you understand human psychology, how people make decisions, you could combine that together with marketing and carve out a brand new career for yourself.

So as a talent acquisition, the executive, you dealt with a lot of different, you've dealt with a lot of different people.

What are the characteristics that would have made you hire somebody even if they didn't have just the right fit?

They, they just, there were some skills that maybe they needed.

What is it that person needed to show you for you to hire them?

So that's a wonderful question because I have an equation that I developed to answer this exact question.

The equation is 3C's, 2T's and 1L.

The 3C stand stands for collaboration, creativity, communication.

So they would need to show me those three C's.

The two T's stand for teamwork and excellence in technology.

And the L stands for the big L is for leadership.

So I recruited for people for organizations who are looking for people in technology and in finance.

And those skills showed up over and over and over again.

You may know how to program, but you don't have the communication skills.

You're not going to be able to share with upper management what you programmed.

You're not going to be able to explain it.

So to your listeners, just remember that equation, three Cs, two Ts and one L and what it stands for and literally tattoo it on your brain.

Because that equation is gonna help you answer every single question at an interview, every single networking event, and then is gonna make you a success when you land your job.

That's powerful because I think that there's the big mystery.

People always wonder, how do I impress the HR people?

Why am I not getting hired?

I'm going through this parser.

My resume is being just, you know, looked at for keywords.

When the heck am I going to be noticed?

I think people are Always trying to jump through hoops.

They don't know and they don't know how.

They don't know where the hoops are.

Yeah, well, I'm going to tell you where the hoops are.

They're definitely not on the job boards.

Because if you're jumping hoops on the job boards, you are competing with thousands of people for the same, for the same plate of food.

The best jobs are there through networking, through relationships.

Because when it comes to hiring decision, when a manager is looking to hire somebody important for their team, getting somebody referred for that job is a lot more powerful than a random stranger from the job boards.

Makes sense.

Networking has always been powerful.

You gotta be referred into those rooms where hiring decisions are being made.

I've heard VO tech jobs are going to have huge growth too.

Yes, because everybody needs an electrician, plumber, that sort of thing.

And AI can't come in and change out your toilet.

Yeah, not yet.

And those jobs pay really good money.

They do, they do.

It's kind of like a complete cycle of life right now.

Because I remember where nobody wanted to become an electrician, we had a shortage of plumbers.

We probably still do.

Nobody really enjoyed doing that, but now there's a reemergence of that.

Because if you are, let's say, an electrician, you could run a really solid business for yourself.

Focus on Instagram marketing, Facebook marketing, focus on your neighborhood, show up as the best electrician in town.

You have, so you have so much that you can do and really get.

Make great money.

You really can.

So how do people reach out to you, Michelle?

So there's a variety of places where you can connect with me.

So the most effective is obviously a direct email.

My email is Michelle with a double [email protected] LinkedIn probably is second best because you could see everything that I've done, you can see a lot of my content.

You could see testimonials and recommendations from former clients, what they say, how I help them and the job that they land, that it's all there on my LinkedIn profile page.

Instagram, I put out a lot of educational material.

So you can just plug in Michelle, Michelle Perchuk.

P E R C H U K and you could book an appointment with me from Instagram.

You can see a lot of incredible content, you know, media coverage and so forth.

And lastly, we are embracing YouTube as well.

And many of our success story clients will go on on their phones or on their laptops and record testimonial videos for us.

So you can on YouTube find not only my educational webinars, but you could also find former clients talking about their weak points, how I help them, how I help them identify what they need to fix, and ultimately the investment they made in themselves to land their dream job.

Awesome.

You're transforming lives.

This is terrific.

Yes, yes.

It's a great feeling.

It really, really is.

Well, you're building futures for people.

You know, you're also showing people how to believe in themselves.

And I think that's a gift that will always keep on giving because I know, like, not everyone is like me who actually self does self analysis like 10 times a day.

So sometimes people need that extra boost.

And from everything that you're doing, you're.

You're showing people the light that they already have inside themselves.

And that's.

That's beautiful.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

You're welcome.

I love what I do and, and sometimes I see in them the hidden potential that they don't even see themselves.

That's so cool.

So people need to go to mtvcoaching.com and you work with people virtually, correct?

Yes.

Excellent.

This has been a great conversation.

We could still talk about more things, but I think we've covered a lot of territory.

We did.

It was wonderful.

Thank you, Michelle.

You're very welcome.

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