Career Expert Julia Rock Shares The Best Tips For Scoring Your Dream Job
Let's face it, when you walked across the graduation stage, making coffee runs, copies, and small talk was not on your dream job list.
When you're young, your dream job might be acting as a biochemist for the top makeup brand in the world, or slaying courtrooms in the name of the law as the attorney of your own firm. It might be writing for a top publication, being a showrunner for a popping television program, or a decorated educator of a thriving public school. But like most of us, somewhere along the line that dream gets deferred.
It's now been years and you feel stuck between a rock and a…swivel chair. Paying the rent is high on your priority list, but so is living out your purpose through your dream job. Because that's what a dream job is, something that both feeds you and fuels you. To help us get closer to making our dreams a reality, we spoke with someone who knows a thing or two about landing a dream job: Julia Rock.
Courtesy of Julia Rock
By day, Julia is the certified girl boss heading the finance department for a Fortune 500 Company. And by night, she is lending her skill-set of helping job seekers reach their fullest potential in their career goals through her company Rock Career Development. Launched in 2013, Rock Career Development embodies her calling to empower individuals to unlock and achieve their full professional potential, no matter what career path they choose.
Julia spoke with xoNecole and shared four tips on what you need to do today to score your dream job.
1.Get your LinkedIn life!
"It's common knowledge that having a LinkedIn profile is important in your job search as most recruiters are vetting candidates through LinkedIn at this point (80+%) yet for some reason candidates will still have incomplete profiles, missing profile photos, or lackluster position descriptions. Invest time in creating an outstanding LinkedIn profile, and you will find yourself gaining some traction in obtaining that dream job!"
2.Network and build genuine connections.
Courtesy of Julia Rock
"'It's not just what you know, but who you know!' I'm not just talking about attending the occasional networking event and trying to grab as many business cards as possible. If you really want that dream job with your ideal employer, you will need to be intentional about networking opportunities. Find events you can attend that will allow you to informally meet key people in your industry and decision-makers, and MAINTAIN those connections, i.e. follow up after the meeting, schedule time for lunch, coffee, etc.
"See if you can schedule informational interviews with those you have met who already do what you do. Utilize social media to authentically engage with current employees and recruiters, and start to build a rapport. Tap your personal network of family and friends to see if they have connections that they can share or make introductions for you."
3.Prepare for your interviews BEFORE they are even scheduled.
"Most people wait until they have scored an interview to truly get prepared and know how to sell themselves. They're up late the night before, practicing in the car, and making themselves nervous on the way to the interview. But the truth is, you will be more confident in your interviews if you have already prepared yourself for some of the interview questions in advance. You can utilize online forums to gain insight into how the interviews for various companies are conducted, what kinds of questions they ask, etc. You can also do mock interviews with friends or other professionals to get feedback on your delivery and content in answering questions so that you can begin to improve."
4.TARGET your resume.
Courtesy of Julia Rock
"Your resume should not be all things to all people. If you have truly defined your dream position and understand what critical skills and experience are required, take the time to focus your resume for that industry and job role. Incorporate keywords that will get your resume picked up by applicant tracking systems (ATS). Eliminate non-value added skills and extremely old positions that are not relevant to the role you're pursuing. Add in accomplishments and major contributions that highlight the skills you have that are required and desired for your dream job. Remember, recruiters take only six seconds or less to read your resume, so you've got to catch their attention, and fast!"
For more information about Julia Rock, check out Rock Career Development or follow her on Instagram.
- What to Wear to an Interview: Looks to Score Your Dream Job | Who ... ›
- Score Your Dream Job and Travel the World | Travel + Leisure ›
- How to Score Your Dream Job - Even When The Company Isn't Hiring ›
- 4 Best Cities to Score Your Dream Job | GOBankingRates ›
- Score the dream job with these career tips – The GW Hatchet ›
- 15 Easy Tips For Scoring Your Dream Job In Your Twenties ›
- Six Tips for Landing Your Dream Job | Monster.com ›
- Score My Dream Job: Official Insider's Guide (Career Strategy Tips ›
- Got 60 Seconds? Here's How to Score Your Dream Job - Glassdoor ... ›
- 12 Career Experts Share Their Best Tips For Scoring Your Dream Job ›
ItGirl 100 Honors Black Women Who Create Culture & Put On For Their Cities
As they say, create the change you want to see in this world, besties. That’s why xoNecole linked up with Hyundai for the inaugural ItGirl 100 List, a celebration of 100 Genzennial women who aren’t afraid to pull up their own seats to the table. Across regions and industries, these women embody the essence of discovering self-value through purpose, honey! They're fierce, they’re ultra-creative, and we know they make their cities proud.
VIEW THE FULL ITGIRL 100 LIST HERE.
Don’t forget to also check out the ItGirl Directory, featuring 50 Black-woman-owned marketing and branding agencies, photographers and videographers, publicists, and more.
THE ITGIRL MEMO
I. An ItGirl puts on for her city and masters her self-worth through purpose.
II. An ItGirl celebrates all the things that make her unique.
III. An ItGirl empowers others to become the best versions of themselves.
IV. An ItGirl leads by example, inspiring others through her actions and integrity.
V. An ItGirl paves the way for authenticity and diversity in all aspects of life.
VI. An ItGirl uses the power of her voice to advocate for positive change in the world.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for daily love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
“You’re shaming the ancestors by being ashamed of your hair.”
Intimidating words from a natural hair influencer I scrolled past on Instagram. They’re also a thought process I fully believed well into my late 20s – or so I thought.
My early years at Howard University didn’t agree with my lifestyle. My hair was big, but fine. Long, but not flexible. Workable, yet disobedient. Aside from not having time to bargain with mischievous curls ahead of 8 a.m. classes, the peer pressure was on another level. Howard girls have been known to carry themselves in the best-polished light. We’re changemakers in society, but trendsetters on the regular. It’s a vain, materialistic truth that I’m not ashamed to be proud of. So I questioned, who was I to contradict a century-long stereotype?
Natural hair after keratin treatment Courtesy
For years, I fought against getting a perm. Health concerns aside, it just felt categorically “anti-Black.” On the other hand, I was completely over my 4B hair and the disrespect it came with: constant frizz, never behaving, and never blending with my sew-ins. My frustration became a gateway into damaging habits. For a time, I got sew-ins and resorted to perming my leave out just to avoid the hassle. It was desperate (and embarrassing), but had to be done in order to withhold what an HU woman represented.
Moving to Los Angeles birthed an even more empowered version of myself. If you’ve ever been a Black woman living in LA, you know the standard of beauty is very monolithic. Ironically, the shared resentment we have from being mistreated based on misogyny is also what bonds us. Sometimes, it feels like wearing our type 4 hair loud and proud is a boisterous “F you” to society. Unfortunately, that pride comes with a lot of responsibility.
Keratin treatment
Courtesy
Black women have an unspoken duty to love themselves no matter what. We side-eye women who wear colored contacts. We categorize women who get BBLs. And people with nose jobs or Botox? Straight to jail. It felt impossible to find a safe place to be vulnerable about any of my physical insecurities. Let’s be real. How can you picture something nicknamed “creamy crack” being socially acceptable? Many will say, “it’s just hair.”
But the conversation is bigger than that. Admitting I didn’t like one of the most obvious things that connected me to my culture was a painful reality to accept. I wasn’t allowed to feel or complain about it. I definitely wasn’t allowed to change it because I’d be “giving into the patriarchy’s standard of beauty,” meaning I didn’t love myself. So I forced myself to suffer through self-consciousness, afraid of displeasing MY people. That was until I heard about keratin treatments.
Applying keratin treatment
Courtesy
Keratin treatments hit the scene in a very dramatic way. Primarily by people warning consumers about the risks that come with it. Many people don’t acknowledge that keratin is a protein that the body produces naturally. The treatment uses a keratin-based product that produces straighter and/or smoother hair (results vary depending on thickness and length). The formula typically has little to no smell, and rather than getting washed out, like the perming process, it’s sealed in with heat using a blowdryer, followed by several passes with a flat iron.
Call it fate (or TikTok’s algorithm), but the hysteria around it was too intriguing to ignore. A treatment that reduces frizz, adds shine, and can loosen curls with reduced breakage as the cherry on top? It sounded like the hair gods were finally listening. I had to get one.
Monica Jones of Beauty by Monica took me into her chair and under her wing. Though she educated me on the misconceptions behind keratin treatments and brought awareness to formaldehyde chemicals, my only thoughts were, is this actually going to work for me? Is this cheating? Can I still call myself a natural hair girly? Then it hit me. Does any of that really matter?
Hair washed after applying keratin treatment
Courtesy
My hair is mine to do whatever I choose to do with it. Every crown is unique; no one’s is one size fits all. After the first keratin treatment, my confidence blossomed. Yes, partly because my curls were visibly a level looser and allowed more versatile styles. But also because I evolved as a woman. Every relationship changes as we grow, whether for better or worse. I choose to take control of my relationships including the one with my hair. We got to re-introduce ourselves to each other, allowing a clean slate with more patience and compromise.
I threw away the outside noise that made me question my blackness. Embracing my natural hair was considered “living in my truth,” but ironically, that wasn’t the case for me. I was lying to myself and did more harm mentally with the pressures I adopted. We already face challenges day-to-day that are out of our control. We need to be open-minded to people with basically no "c" hair getting braids because “Black people can’t own a hairstyle.” We have to support non-Black women getting surgery to create the physical attributes Black women naturally have and were once called “ugly” for. We’re to be understanding of people getting spray tans cosplaying as mixed race to be racially ambiguous.
Post Keratin treatment
Courtesy
Meanwhile, dark-skinned women are still getting blocked from certain nightclubs. For some reason, it’s socially acceptable for other ethnicities to not “live in their truth,” but not Black people. The short end of the stick is constantly handed to us by others with the expectation of just being grateful for an opportunity, acknowledgment, etc. If no one’s going to give us grace, we must grant it to ourselves.
There’s nothing shameful about wanting to change something about ourselves, whether it’s internal or external. Black women are the strongest people on this Earth. And while strength is found in acceptance, it also lives in vulnerability and our unapologetic pursuit of pleasing ourselves before anyone else.
Post Keratin treatment
Courtesy
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for daily love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Feature image courtesy