Looking at the salaries, demand for Software Engineers nowadays, have you ever wished you had opted for computer science or some sort of programming course, rather than following your current path in operations, marketing, HR, or anything other than software engineering? Well, the good news is that you can actually make that transition even now, even if you are mid-career, and you might not even need to go back to college to make it happen. Today we are speaking with Paolo Garde who made the...

If you work for a few years in the corporate world, you might have realised that the working world is divided into two kinds of people, generalists and specialists. And while it might seem that being a generalist gives you maximum flexibility, and maybe even the chance of getting to the top as CEO, the reality is that companies don't really run and cannot actually run without the help of a strong cast of specialists, HR people, lawyers, finance people, facilities, and maybe to an extent, even...

If you're like me, you might wonder why everyone likes to do so much small talk before they get to the point. Why not just get down to business and just get the work done? So efficient, right? But what you gain from a transactional conversation with someone and what you might gain in the short term is actually hurting you in the long run? So today we talked with Maita Gaerlan, head of Australia, network optimization for Sendle, whose ability to build quick claws and long lasting work...

The feedback process in most companies isn't always the best but at least you get it eventually to some extent, you know what your boss and your team members think of you. And maybe you also get feedback from some of your peers from time to time, but do you know where you stand in the bigger picture? Have you ever really wondered what your super boss or maybe leadership thinks of you? How do they evaluate when the time comes for performance reviews and what could you do to get noticed in...

For those of us hunting for a job it’s usually a puzzle as to how we should go about negotiating the offer. Should we play hardball and risk losing the opportunity? Or do we just go with what’s been offered and maybe leave money on the table? Well, today we are talking with Aki Taha, who was till recently leading recruiting for Netflix in Asia Pacific. He’s kindly offered to help us understand what goes on behind the scenes during the recruiting process and how to go about negotiating a job...

In today's world, it's no longer good enough just to do the work and wait for it to be recognized. We're always told that we need to communicate well and ensure that we project our work in a manner that others can understand and appreciate. But how exactly does one do that? Is it just about being fluent in the language or writing like a best selling author? Or must you join something like Toastmasters? Or take dramatics lessons to get better at speaking? or can anyone become a better...

Ever wondered why some people seem to zoom ahead in their career, getting promoted seemingly every year, while the rest of us remain stuck in place, begging for promotions that come maybe once in three or four years? Today we are talking with Aviana Elisabeth Audrey or Vivi as she is known to pretty much everyone. Vivi is the recently-promoted GM for GrabFood in Bandung, Indonesia, and her short but stellar career so far is exactly the kind of example I was talking about. Check this out and...

Imagine you woke up one day and your manager asked you to take up an assignment in a new country. It’s a lot of young professionals’ dream to work in a new country. But what if it isn’t just any job. You are actually being sent to an unfamiliar country to be the first employee and set up the business from scratch. Would it feel exciting? Or scary? You don’t even speak the language! How’d you even do it? Today we’re chatting with Amrt Sagar, currently founder and CEO of Carzuno, who recalls...

Open LinkedIn on any given day, you'll find at least one post about being rejected or ghosted by recruiters and not only from one company. So, in a world where people are being ghosted or rejected hundreds of times even at traditional organisations, how does one actually stand out in the crowd of applicants? What’s really happening behind the scenes after you submit your resume? How does one get a foot in the door of an exciting early stage company? We are chatting with the founder and CEO...

Before Covid, you often go to somewhere you meet soon-to-be mentor, business partner, colleague, investor or new friends, networking event. Nowadays, you don't go nowhere but meet those people virtually at home. Whether in person or not, we all know networking is very useful to make connections, improve career, extend your network and opportunities. In this episode, Letitia will be sharing what you should look plan and what benefits you could get from joining a network and how to maximize the...

We know that many of you, probably most of you, our ambitious growth minded professionals, seeking ways to accelerate your career but what does it mean to accelerate? How fast can you really go? Given the right opportunities and maybe even with the right skills and the right mindset, is it really possible to rocket to the top? Or do you really just maybe get promoted a year or a couple of years earlier than your peers? Well, today, we have a real rocket ship story for you with Camille, who...

JobTok has brought to you interesting learnings - from dealing with colleagues, how to get noticed in meetings, preparing for year-end proposals to making successful career transitions, joining an unknown startup over a tech giant, over the 12 episodes we published.  But we will NOT stop there. We look forward to the break but we are coming back strong in 2022 with insightful tips about careers and so much more. To begin with, we have a few exciting news to share. In addition to our...

Rome was not built in one-day and certainly, not alone. CrazyTok has released 20 podcast episodes for MoneyTok and 12 episodes for JobTok with support and love from our colleagues, partners, guests and mainly our listeners. We wanted to give actionable, take away for our listeners in terms of financial management or the success of your careers through the podcast we create and we hope that it has been very useful to you all. 2021 was surely not a very easy year but it is coming to an end and...

When mapping your career path, especially in a larger organization, there is an often faced conundrum. Should I stick to the same line of business, becoming a domain or niche expert, or should I leverage the internal mobility in the organization, whereby I can get the opportunities to actually change roles and lines of business. What is the path that helps accelerate and secure your future the best? Also, as a hiring manager, should you look to get people from the same line, or should you be...

Have you considered changing your career direction or industry but remained where you are because you’re worried you wouldn’t be able to make the shift? Well today we’re talking to Rivana Mezaya, Director at Grab Indonesia, who’s not only made the shift but done it repeatedly and in completely different ways, from law to government to academia to tech and she’s going to help us figure out how to make a successful career transition.    And in case you love what she has to say and want to...

The early years of your working life can be quite challenging because that’s when you learn the mostly unwritten rules of the game. And unlike at school or university there is limited support to see you through, other than the networks you are able to build. I was lucky in my first job, as I joined as part of a management trainee batch so we had each other. And many of them became close friends, not just colleagues, so we had a real support group. But not everyone is so lucky.   Today we...

Have you ever had to make a choice between a safe, lucrative role versus something new and different and unknown that could accelerate your career but, equally, turn out to be a dead end or disaster? Do you take the safe, boring route to the top or do you roll the dice and take what might be the biggest gamble of your career? We talked to Prasad Naik, Director at Wolt, about exactly that kind of choice and how he made the decision between a safe, lucrative job offer with a leading global...

Year end is when everyone slogs it out to complete their projects and do a good job so they can try and gain some brownie points in their performance reviews. But does that work? And is a last minute blaze of glory the only thing that you can do to try and boost your rating and bonus? Actually, no. If you start planning now, you can do a lot more. In this episode we cover 3 things (in addition to hard work) that could help improve your chances of a good rating and 5 steps you can take...

Got a new joiner on the team? Maybe it’s a new employee or perhaps someone who’s transferred from elsewhere. It’s their first few days and they’re naturally a little tentative, feeling their way around the org and getting used to the working style in your team. So, how do you help them settle in and build their confidence so they can start taking on their share of responsibility quickly? Show notes: https://bit.ly/jt-ep07

I have very few career regrets, but if I had to pick, I'd say one regret is that I spent half of my career going with the flow. I wonder sometimes whether I might have been better off if I had made more intentional choices earlier in life. If you too have been moving jobs just because they made an offer, or pay a bit more or are just at a convenient location, think again. Don't you have a dream job or a dream role or even a dream location that you want to work at someday? Well why not make...

You've contributed good ideas in meetings. You've taken on new projects. You even volunteered to take that weirdly quiet new guy for a drink - and man was that a boring evening. Yet, whenever there is something to be done, your manager always turns to this other person to get the job done. You give it your best, yet they are their go to guy or gal. What are you doing wrong? Show notes here: https://bit.ly/jt-ep5

So you've been in the same role for years now and it's getting to be a bore. But your manager doesn't trust you to do a bigger job and neither are they willing to let you move to something else because now you're too critical to the team. It's the eternal dilemma. Companies want you to prove you can do bigger things before they let you take on more responsibility and definitely before they promote you. But how do you prove you can take on expanded scope without an opportunity? Show notes...

Picture this. You are in a Zoom meeting with your team members and have a point to make. You keep unmuting to get a word in but others are monopolising the conversation and you never really get a chance. And then the meeting ends with all your words of wisdom unsaid.   Sound familiar? So how do we avoid such situations from happening? How do we project authority so people hear out what we have to say? How do we make everyone shut up and listen?   In this short episode we share some...

Once upon a time, you finished college, joined a large, respectable institution and then worked hard for 40 years to earn a well-deserved retirement. Well, my friends, that world is long gone. In its place is a new kind of work life - unstable, unclear and sometimes merciless. And yet, potentially magical and vibrant and infinitely rewarding, for those who learn to navigate it. So, how do we make sense of this new world? Today we discuss ways in which you could prepare yourself for a...