#15 From Headhunter to LinkedIn Top Voice and Changemaker
Listen to the story of Andrew MacAskill, a LinkedIn Top Voice. He is also part of LinkedIn's Changemaker Programme set up to help make work a better place.
Andrew is also the founder of Executive Career Jump, a career coaching company with the mission of ending career-based misery. In the past two years, he's worked with over 500 people to help them find jobs that are more aligned with who they are.
Andrew's mission is complementary to what I do: as a career coach I help people clarify what they want to do, Andrew helps on the critical step of helping people get the job they want.
We first talk about the state of the workplace, the role LinkedIn is playing in this and then we dive into his story.
You will learn about what it feels like to lose one’s job, about what it takes to become an influencer, about starting a passion project as a side hustle and making it your main income, about leveraging LinkedIn when you are job-hunting or recruiting.
Listen to his story here or on your usual podcast player.
Show notes
Andrew’s LinkedIn profile
[00:01:29] Andrew's own experience of job misery
[00:02:17] Getting the helper's high each time he gets the message "I got the job!"
[00:03:10] Altruistic upbringing with a "help others to help yourself" mentality
[00:04:14] Has struggled passing down messages to his teams that did not align with his values
[00:04:59] Having a job that does not align with who you are is a key and often invisible reason for work-based stress
[00:05:46] Corporates are evolving their models so that people can find and be in jobs that are more aligned with who they are
[00:06:25] Stories of people looking to transition to more mission-orientated employers
[00:07:42] Talent is now acting as consumers and choosing jobs with more discernment than ever
[00:08:11] Corporates becoming more values-led depends on leaders and investors
[00:09:23] LinkedIn has been a life-changing platform, despite not being a big fan of social media
[00:09:54] LinkedIn is a category of its own that promotes a respectful dialogue
[00:10:47] Managed to get a million views per month on their content without spending a penny
[00:11:36] Young people are being told to pick a leader not a job
[00:12:24] Leaders should engage in the platform to amplify authentically who they are and what they stand for
[00:12:48] The difficulty some people can face to open up publicly
[00:14:53] Looking for perfection is a flawed idea - invitation for employers to be real
[00:15:21] You want to be starting any relationship from a point of trust
[00:16:52] Posting on LinkedIn has moved away from being an ego-driven activity to now being a strategic imperative
[00:17:43] Culture is too often this "yoghourt in the fridge" because of a leadership deficit in many organisations
[00:19:02] Tips to be more authentically visible on LinkedIn: 1. write as you speak, 2. leave comments on other people's posts, 3. the golden hour
[00:21:06] His career in 3 chapters: 1. accountant for 4 years, 2. did recruitment for 15 years
[00:22:33] Getting notified that he and his wife are losing their job in the same company on the same day
[00:22:54] The grieving process he went through of being made redundant
[00:23:32] Was drawn as a result to build on a passion project he had started on the side
[00:24:56] Helping people break out of a destructive unemployed cycle made this a passion project
[00:25:12] JABS - Job Acquisition Burnout Syndrome
[00:27:43] Loved part of the head hunting job, but some part of the job felt transactional
[00:28:20] How he started this passion project? As a side hustle, giving a hand to people who really needed it.
[00:29:36] Shifting from a scarcity to an abundance mindset, focusing on the mission and collaborating with competitors if it helps the mission
[00:30:59] Never took the courage to switch full tie to his passion project - had to lose his job to do so
[00:31:47] What prevented him from working full time on his passion project? The wrong definition of success.
[00:33:36] Took Andrew 12 months from knowing he really wanted to do his passion project to actually doing it (via losing his job)
[00:34:21] Andrew's approach to make his passion project successful organically or naturally
[00:35:41] No magic recipe - key ingredients were consistency and grit.
[00:36:39] Building a sense of community is another big part of his success
[00:38:06] How does it feel like when you love your job
[00:38:18] Your mind is not set - you can do the discovery work to understand your values and orientate your mission
[00:38:46] His relationship with failure? It's data - you win or learn.
[00:40:23] His experience of opening up vulnerably: writing the first chapter in his book where he shared his experience of "being exited"
[00:41:48] Sharing your vulnerable moments is cathartic - encouraging their clients to share on LinkedIn that they have lost their job
[00:42:56] Inspired by his parents who worked hard and focused on giving his children their best shot
[00:43:16] Also inspired by people who are shaking up the status quo
[00:43:52] His tagline: "let's get to work" because he believes that "done is better than perfect"