Robin Sargent 0:00
Welcome to become an idol. I'm Dr. Robin Sargent, owner of idle courses. This is the place where newbies come to learn and veteran share their knowledge
I have here with me today, Jeanette Wilkin. And she is an idol courses Academy member who is now an idol success story. And Jeanette, will you please do a better job of introducing yourself and tell us like what you're doing before you join the ITIL courses Academy? And a little bit about your background?
Jeanette Wilkin 0:46
Yeah, hi, thank you for having me today. So I'm Jeanette, and I am located in the Dallas, Texas area. I have been our I was a school teacher for 11 years. Prior to that I was a stay at home mom. So I've got that background as well. And I taught most most of the 11 years that I taught were in middle school. And about five years ago, I was just kind of I had received my summative evaluation from my administrator, and I was looking over it. And I just thought, you know, it's kind of the same thing every year. And it doesn't really matter if my performance improves or not, I'm still getting the same step pay raise that I get every year, and never any chance of promotion, there's just not really any opportunity for growth in your profession when you're a teacher. And I just, I felt really dissatisfied with that. And so I started researching other things that I could possibly do with the skills and the experience that I had. And I didn't get very far in my research, I was getting a little bit frustrated, it just felt like everything I wanted to do was going to require more school. And I didn't feel like taking on the debt to do that. And so I you know, it was just it was kind of discouraging. But I would go back and forth into job searching and getting back out of it because it felt like I wasn't going anywhere. So fast forward to December 31. That was New Year's Eve 2020. I was listening to the teacher Career Coach podcast. And Robin was the speaker on that podcast. And she was talking about why teachers make the best instructional designers. Now I had come across instructional design before in my research, but I didn't really know what it was. I didn't know any instructional designers I could talk to. And when I looked into it, it looked to me like you had to have a master's degree and all this experience that I had no idea how to get. And so it was just kind of something that looked interesting to me, but felt like it was out of reach. Then when I listened to this podcast, I as I listened to it, I was picturing myself in that role doing that work. And I thought, Okay, I've got I've got it, I've got to get on this, I got to look into this. And so I went to the adult courses website, I saw that there was the free five day challenge coming up the next week. So I signed up for that I did the five day challenge. And I just got my feet wet. And I realized this was something I really wanted to do. And so I enrolled in the sixth cohort in January 2021. And I was just thrilled that the academy offered the type of experience that I was seeing on like job descriptions and things that the academy offered this wonderful opportunity to guide you through building a portfolio and getting your feet wet with some of the authoring tools and all of those things that before I had no idea how to even get started with any of that. So that's how I got to the academy.
Robin Sargent 4:38
Oh my gosh, I mean, just hearing your story, Jeanette, and just the amount of synchronicities that came all right for you. What Yeah, so on the teacher Career Coach podcast with Daphne Williams, I remember that right clearly. And then you just happened to look at our website and then that was actually the very first time that I even ran the become an idol challenge. And so it just happened. Yeah, the next couple days. And I mean, just how wild is that? Okay, so. So you joined in January 2021? And then tell us like, what did that look like? Like? How did? How did you go through the academy? What were kind of like your first things that you did? What? Yeah.
Jeanette Wilkin 5:27
Because because you know, it sounds like you know, you sign up to get in. But when you're a teacher, you have to really make the time to do anything extra to do anything for yourself. I mean, you have to be so very proactive, and so very intentional. And so I really struggled with that. But the wonderful thing about the structure of the academy is that it's completely self directed, and self paced. And so I didn't feel like I had to keep up with everybody else. I didn't feel like I had to meet any deadlines that other people were setting, I could set my own deadlines, to pace myself. But as a teacher, you struggle with that, because you're so used to very strict guidelines and deadlines and everything like that. And so I think teachers struggle with that, at first, when they get into the academy. They think when you know, we think when we get into an academy of a school, there's going to be a path to follow. It's very straightforward and very strict with deadlines and everything. So it's not like that in the adult courses Academy. And that is actually a huge blessing. Because we can, we can learn what we need to learn at our own pace and when we need to learn it. So what I did I, the the Academy started on January 25. And I put in to take that day off, for personal reasons, because I wanted to just dive right in and get the, you know, get the full experience of the first day and Robin's first coaching session and everything like that. And I did I worked, I sat on my couch with my laptop and I explored the Academy, I attended the first coaching session, and I was taking notes like crazy, and it was awesome. I just I was so excited about it to get started. And then I'm not long into it, I just a few weeks into it, I realized how hard this was going to be. What a big challenge this was to balance, everything else I had to do as a teacher and a mom and everything like that. And so I really had to kind of step back a little bit and just breathe. And I found that I could still learn from listening to podcasts on my way to and from work, I had a 30 minute drive to work. So that was plenty of listening time. And that way, the thing that that helped me the most with was getting all the new terms and vocabulary and all these concepts I hadn't, that I was not familiar with, you know, such as gamification, and just other things like that. And so listening to those podcasts just kind of immerse me in this new culture I was stepping into. And I still felt like I was learning even when I wasn't able to do all the hands on things that I wanted to do just simply for lack of time. And so that was kind of how I got started. And it was kind of a slow start. And I had intended to use all of my days off that I had saved over the years to take lots of days off. But with it being COVID and everything I was I was not being granted all those days off, because we didn't have any subs substitute teachers that would come in while we were still under COVID restrictions and everything. And so it was not my plan didn't work out the way I wanted it to that I had set up, you know, I'm going to take so many days off to just work on idle things. But that didn't work out that way. And so I had to just find ways to work around that. Yeah,
Robin Sargent 9:20
I mean, just to imagine, like, you know, when you joined in January, Little did you know, right. Now you would be trying to make your career transition in the middle of a pandemic. Right, yeah, that just kind of changes the whole game. I mean, it's already it's already difficult to just do all the work that is involved, because that's no secret, right? It's no secret.
Jeanette Wilkin 9:50
Oh, absolutely. Right. Right. Yeah,
Robin Sargent 9:53
did a ton of work. And so, what did you finally find some space during the summer So how was it? What did the actual building of your portfolio look like? Did you get like, like a quarter of it done? You know, before the summer, like, what is? How long did it take you?
Jeanette Wilkin 10:11
Yeah, I mean, really, when I look back, I think I probably got more work done than I felt like I was right. And so it just because I wasn't accomplishing things by the milestones and dates that I had set for myself, it felt really super slow. But by the middle of March, I had decided I had gotten enough, I guess, idle experience and ends, just figuring this out, that I realized, no, this was really what I'm going to do. And I am not going to teach next year, I had made up my mind, I, I'm not going to teach, I can't go back because my heart's not in it anymore. It was just an you know, and it had been that way. For a couple of years, I just really felt really removed from the passion of teaching. So I anyway, so by the middle of March, I had decided I'm, I'm just going to resign whether or not I have a job to go to. I decided, I've got to go for it. And so I handed in my resignation on April 1, which happened to be April Fool's Day, and I thought that was a perfect day to hand in my resignation. That was just, you know, amusing to me. But anyway, so I handed in my resignation. And then my last day of school was May 25, and, or 24th, or something like that. And I just decided that idle courses, and job searching is now my full time job. And I woke up the next morning, got dressed and ready as if I was going to work. And I sat down with my laptop and got to work. And I literally worked. I mean, most days from morning till I went to bed, building my portfolio on building assets on just learning, learning, learning, working on my resume sending my resume out. By the first week of July, I was sending my resume out. That was scary. That was really scary. I had not done any job searching for years. And so, so that was just like, felt like jumping off a cliff. It was this huge new thing. Then when a recruiter actually responded to my resume and getting sent out, I was like, No way. No way, like, you want to talk to me. So that was really freaky at first. And then after a few recruiter calls and everything, I just started to get comfortable with the process. And so by the middle of July, I was full swing into talking to recruiters and interviewing and messing up interviews big time. And so that's a whole nother maybe podcast episode is all of my stories of interviews that either I messed up or that the interviewer was a little bit funny about so I had some really interesting experiences. Well, interviewing.
Robin Sargent 13:26
Definitely, yeah, it definitely abides. It's it's not just like, Oh, I just want one.
Jeanette Wilkin 13:32
Oh, okay. Okay. So for example, one was for a restaurant chain. And that's a pretty reputable restaurant chain here around the Dallas area. So I was really excited about this interview. I had my first interview, I made it to the next step. And when the so the next, the second interview was with, since this was this instructional design position was for developing instruction for the I think it was for like the people that work in the kitchen. And so my next interview was for the vice president of like, the food distribution or something, I forget his title. But, you know, so I go to get on that interview. You know, of course, it was a video, phone, phone call, you know, Zoom call and he gets on and he's really rushed. And like in a hurry, he was leaving one meeting and going to another so he's interviewing me while he's driving. And he's, he says, Okay, so I've looked over your resume looks really good. Why don't you go ahead and give me your background in meat handling. That's what I said. I went, I just paused for a minute and I said, I'm sorry, I'm not sure we're talking about the same position. And he just, there was a long pause. And he went, um, who is this? I told him who I was and what I was there for. And he, he apologized profusely, Oh, I'm so sorry. I thought I, I have another interview with this other person for, you know who's going to be working with our meats. So that was that threw me off. And it turned out to just be a really weird interview all around. So
Robin Sargent 15:44
the first question is, tell me about your experience in meat handling?
Jeanette Wilkin 15:48
Right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, I thought, Oh, I didn't know I had to have that experience, too. I mean, so yeah, that was that was interesting.
Robin Sargent 16:00
So nothing happened with that. I mean, that guy probably didn't even report back.
Jeanette Wilkin 16:06
Oh, yeah, I yeah, I don't, I don't know. Nothing came of that. After that. It was like I said, it was just a really weird interview. I did have another one as well, with a recruiter who reached out to me, and got me all signed up, and then must have not read my resume when we sat down to have our call. And I gave him my elevator pitch and who I was and what I was there for and everything. And then he heard that I was a teacher. He just he said, Oh, whoa, well, we we aren't looking for a teacher for a corporate role. We don't think teachers can handle corporate roles. Like he flat out told me teachers are not cut out for corporate roles, but this was not what I should be doing. So yeah, and he actually, like suggested that I if I wanted to do this, that I go back to school for this. And yeah, it was interesting.
Robin Sargent 17:07
By my career advice from recruited, thank you,
Jeanette Wilkin 17:10
right, yeah, yeah. So so that was that was another really just interesting experience. But what that did was, I mean, it at first, you know, there's part of me that was like, Oh, he's probably right, what, what am I doing, you know, and I'll never be able to convince anybody that I can do this. And so there was that. And then there was also the whole, right, I'm gonna prove him wrong. So there was like, I had that tug of war going on inside me. And so I just had to, you know, it just depended on which side I was going to feed inside of me. And just going back to the academy and talking to people there and, and getting really involved in the stuff that was going on, you know, within the network, and listening to other people's stories and experiences, it just builds on that, yes, I can do this, if they can do it, I can do it, you know. And so, another, you know, huge part of my story has been the support within the academy. And just getting involved with the people who are there has really helped to push me and to help me grow in this.
Robin Sargent 18:23
And ultimately, I mean, it was like the community and the people on and those people that saw your work throughout the community, do you think that helped you land where you are now? Tell us Okay, so, are you went through the gauntlet? When did you find the role that you're in right now?
Jeanette Wilkin 18:44
Okay, so, um, so yeah, so I like I said, you know, when I made this my full time job, like working on Idol horses and working on my portfolio, I mean, I really did it. I was doing this for hours a day. And so part of that was just getting really involved on in the network and with other people. And so people were starting to get to know me and to see what I was doing. And including our mentors and coaches, I was able to really develop some, some trusting good relationships with them, the more I worked with them. And so little did I know, that was leading to the role that I have now. So in think it was about the beginning of September, one of our coaches, Chris Wirtz, he reached out to me and just said, Hey, are you still looking for a job? And I said, Yes, I was. And actually, at that time, I had finished the interview process with another company that I was really excited about, and I was really kind of hoping for this one that worked out so I just kind of told him who I am but I didn't think much of it really So he told me Well, we had we just have a position come up in here on my team. It's for a pediatric health care company. And he's like, Would you be interested? And I thought, well, sure, you know, what have I got to lose? I mean, if this doesn't work out, then here's something else I can work on. So I told him, yeah, and he told me a little bit about the role and what to expect and, and where to go to fill out the application because they, they didn't have it posted on LinkedIn or anything like that. So I went to the website, I filled out the application. A few days later, the recruiter reached out to me set up an interview. And that began the interview process with that company, I went through, I think four interviews total. And then I was offered that position on October 12. So I began working as the Learning and Development Specialist for pm pediatrics, at the end of October is when I started. So part of my story was, you know, getting to know people and networking, like I was, is what really paid off for me. Another thing that what the hiring manager for this job really liked about what I had done. She was very impressed that I had taken the initiative to reach out to a volunteer client to create resources for a volunteer client. And so she liked seeing that. And so big shout out to the volunteer client thing. That that was, you know, that was what really essentially got me the job. The hiring manager really liked that. So and, and and again, my getting that volunteer client that came from one of our mentors as well Tabitha posted one time in the network, hey, I have a friend who's starting up a respiratory clinic. And if you'd be interested in doing work for her, let me know. So I responded. And then Tabitha connected me with that friend, and I developed some resources for her. So really sticking your neck out and getting involved? can pay off?
Robin Sargent 22:19
Quite a bit. I got it paid off huge. It did that. Yeah, that is incredible. I mean, I just want that. I'm so glad that you like said like, volunteer experience is like what kind of was the tipping point where we're hiring writer? Yeah. Because so many people we don't like, like, you don't have to do it. But it's gonna help you. We promise. It's good. And they say, Oh, I'm not ready. I haven't even like, started the course. I want you to be a volunteer.
Jeanette Wilkin 22:54
Right? Yeah. And I, I mean, I will admit, it was hard. It was hard. And when I first started the academy, that was a stumbling block. For me, I had talked to three friends I knew that had small businesses. And it was it was hard for me to articulate to them what I really wanted and needed to do for them. So that was one thing I struggled with. But also I just like those three, one friend, I did create a resource for her that's in my portfolio. And she was thrilled with it. The other just kind of fell through, it just kind of was a bad time. And she didn't really know what she wanted. Anyway, so those things just kind of kept falling through. And it was a little discouraging. And I thought, well, this volunteer thing's not going to work out for me. So I just started kind of pretending I had one and trying to create that way. And then when Tabitha posted this, it was just just at the right time for me when this other friend of mine, it wasn't going to work out. And you know, tabs that was like, you know, Hey, are you if you're looking for volunteer work, let me know. And I was just like, hey, yeah, me. So it all rolled together at just the right time for me. So, and I enjoyed it. It was really fun. And actually, I kind of had to with that client. So when I first talked to her, you know, the first thing she said she needed was a standard operating procedure document for her respiratory coaches for how to coach their patients on how to use this home sleep test device. So she gave me the information I needed and everything you know, so here I am, you know, getting this subject matter expert experience, right. So that's another great thing about having a volunteer client is that when you are interviewing, you've got some experience to speak to when they when they ask you and they will about your experience working with sneeze So I could ask her some questions and we can we work together to to get this information together. And then I created this document. But I researched graphic design with standard operating procedure documents, because I needed it to be something that would go in my portfolio as instructional graphic design, right. So it needed to kind of fit, you know, if I just did a regular old document, it wouldn't have helped me much. And she was thrilled with it, she loved it. And from what I know, they are using it in their clinic, as I was developing that, I was thinking, you know, this would make a great instructor led training, I could, I could build out a pretty good instructor led training with this, and I, I wanted something in my portfolio for instructor led training. And so I asked her when I finished it, you know, I kind of pitched the idea to her, I gave her my plan, what it would include, and everything. And she told me they actually had a third party that came in to train to train the employees this way. And so she didn't really need that. But I asked her, well, would it be okay, if I did it anyway, because this will give me the experience. And it will, you know, be a great piece for my portfolio. So she gave me written permission to use her her clinic logo and everything. And, you know, her her information and everything to develop this. And she played along with me as if this was a need she had and she completed a needs analysis for me. And in that way, I was able to go through the entire process with her for this instructor led training and develop all the pieces for it. Oh, my God. And that was another piece in my portfolio. That seemed to be the thing that all the hiring managers I talked to seem to go right to that that was the thing they wanted to talk about the most in my interviews,
Robin Sargent 27:04
was the was the instructor led training and the SOP that you had on your portfolio, or just the volunteer experience?
Jeanette Wilkin 27:13
Well, I had the products in my portfolio is that
Robin Sargent 27:17
you said like that was like the thing the hiring managers? wasn't because of the asset of your portfolio, or was it about the experience?
Jeanette Wilkin 27:24
Yes, both. So yeah, they wanted the because the instructor led training, because I had all the pieces to it in my portfolio. It showed that I went through the whole process. And so they could ask me more detailed questions about that experience
Robin Sargent 27:43
of brewing brilliant, as just brilliant. And so, engineer, I'm really noticing that, you know, yes to all these things, but really, it is, it's it, there are certain characteristics that you have to I mean, you kept at it, you said those things that were empowering to you, even when you felt self doubt. You were persistent, you took initiative. And so many of those things, I think we're I mean, absolutely a contributor to your success, whether you want to admit it or not. But
Jeanette Wilkin 28:22
well, I mean, you're right, it takes a I mean, what when you get into the academy, and you see all that there is to learn and everything you realize, this is a lot of work. This is you know, even though it's it's a transition that makes sense for a lot of professions, right? So it makes sense. For a teacher to move into this profession. It makes sense for people who have been directors of their departments and who have been teaching their employees anyway, you know, like, there are a lot of careers that make sense to move into this, but there's still a huge learning curve, there's still so much to learn and a lot of work to be done to prove you can do it. So yeah, it takes a lot of dedication and, and like I said, the interview process can be a beast, and you will get knocked down. I did I got knocked down several times just and you know, having where I'd go through two or three interviews and then be like, what happened? What I thought it was going great, you know, why didn't they call me back? Or, you know, or sometimes I'd be like, Oh, I totally messed that up. I knew exactly why they didn't call me back. But when you sit down and I would sit down and reflect on everything, and I would write about it so that it would make sense to me in my mind and then I would know for the next time you know, okay, this is this is a better example to share them this or Just trying to learn from my experience as I went was just a huge, I guess theme for me in this process.
Robin Sargent 30:07
So you've been at your role for a little over a year now, is that right?
Jeanette Wilkin 30:13
No, no, no, it was October 2021. So it's just been three months. Oh,
Robin Sargent 30:18
it's just been three months. And you
Jeanette Wilkin 30:21
2020 2021 or 2021.
Robin Sargent 30:24
Okay. All
Jeanette Wilkin 30:26
right. So exactly a year ago is when I enrolled.
Robin Sargent 30:28
Okay. So it took Yeah, it took a full 10 months? Uh huh.
Jeanette Wilkin 30:33
Yeah, almost almost three full cohorts to, to get my role.
Robin Sargent 30:38
And along the way, you ran job search and accountability groups, you were a significant contributor to to our members and our community, which, of course, led to like, you know, just people saw your work ethic, you were always showing up in our community. So it made it easy for like, when a job became available. We they we knew who you were, like, oh,
Jeanette Wilkin 31:07
right, right. Yeah. Yeah, that made a big difference. For me getting really involved. That job search group came about because it was between cohorts, seventh, and eighth. So it turned out that we were not going to have the interim mentoring between those two cohorts. Because we didn't have the numbers, right. Yeah. And so there were several of us, who had been communicating anyway about job searching and giving each other feedback on resume and everything. And, and as the cohort was ending, I thought, Man, I don't want to lose all this support, I've got to have it, you know, and if we're not going to have the mentoring, there's got to be something else. So I just put it out there in the in the community that would anybody be interested in being part of a job search accountability group, because I needed that. And I tagged a few other people who I thought might be interested. And before I knew it, like, there were lots of people responding. Yes, yes, yes. And so then that's when I asked you if we could have, you know, a spot in the network for that. And it just grew like that. And so and we were meeting twice a week when it first started. And then it kind of, you know, went down to once a week, but the meetings were always great, really productive, where we, we practiced with interview questions, or we, somebody would come and say, Oh, I got asked this really weird question. And then we would talk about how, how we would answer it, or, you know, things like that. So it was just really great. Because it's been that that's been a real good thing. I think, for a lot of people.
Robin Sargent 32:50
Oh, I guess yes. And that's really, I mean, that's, like, their whole premise, you know, built by idols for idols. And, and you were a major part of that. And now, I want to, I want to know, kind of like some differences you've noticed in your new role. creating instructional design for the pediatric units is kind of what it sounds like to me. Uh huh. And then, of course, I want to talk about how now you are truly a part of our idol team.
Jeanette Wilkin 33:17
Right? Yeah. So
Robin Sargent 33:20
what's your work life balance look like now? So
Jeanette Wilkin 33:23
yeah, what what work is like, it's, it's actually a lot more laid back than I expected, which I'm grateful for. I'm fully remote. You know, so laid back in the sense I can wear whatever I want every day. But just the the company I work for is, is very laid back. They're very supportive, great people. So that makes a huge difference. So finding a team that you mesh with like that, it really helps makes a big difference. And it's worth the job search. If you keep getting turned down for jobs, that you're really not a match for, you know, don't take it personally. Because that's, that's a blessing. That's, you know, you don't want to get into a job where you don't feel comfortable. So I'm really grateful that it's worked out that way for me, but then as far as the work goes, something that has surprised me is how much autonomy I have in this work. We have a team but the you know, the people on the team all have their own role. There aren't we don't necessarily develop as a team. We each are over different things. For example, I am I'm in charge of developing the content for the front desk people and compliance and onboarding. And so I develop all of it from you know, start to finish when we need it for that and so, I really am enjoying that aspect of it. I will tell you too, that there is something about that do it messy challenge that I was really uncomfortable with that at first I really struggled with that. And I mean, I would be like, you know, because I didn't know, I was a perfectionist till I tried that. And, you know, I really struggled with it. But there is something to that. Because the truth is, in the real world here, when you're working on a job, and you've got a deadline, you have to do it messy, you've got to get it out there. So you know, you and just trust the process, like you always tell us that, you know, once you send something out, there will be time later for iterations, and there will be need for iterations. So just trusting that do it messy, that whole idea you have for that is brilliant, because that is how we have to work. When we get into this work, you really have to just sit down and get started. And the perfect graphic and the perfect line, and your script just isn't always going to be there. You just have to get going. So that's been one of the things I've really appreciated learning my first three months on the job.
Robin Sargent 36:12
I don't want that so much. Um, it's even hard to describe, you know, to some people who've never been in a role like that, like, you truly are supposed to be like the spark, right initiator, and in many ways, like, just sparking that energy and getting something on paper. That's That's hard work.
Jeanette Wilkin 36:30
Right? Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is. Yeah.
Robin Sargent 36:33
And it comes out messy. But nobody else is doing it. Yeah, yeah. He also is initiating that.
Jeanette Wilkin 36:43
And so that's right. That's right. So so yeah, I love it.
Robin Sargent 36:49
And yeah, and you and you have time, you know, it's funny, one of my one of the other teachers said to me, it's like, so many of the things that she's created as a teacher, she had to do, it always rushed, and she never got to, you know, actually spend time and perfect things. And she said, Oh, I look forward to that, you know, in my new role, and I, it kind of made me giggle. Right. Because I'm not sure that you get to do that in
Jeanette Wilkin 37:15
our role either. Right? Yeah, that's true. That is, that's exactly right. And you know, that's just that's really when you think about us just kind of how the world goes round anyway. Yeah, we just you got to get stuff done. So
Robin Sargent 37:33
yeah. And so now you're working full time, you are remote. And what's so cool is like, the whole time throughout your process, you were thinking about reflection, you were really kind of analyzing and looking at each of the steps that you took and making decisions as far as like, what worked and what didn't work. And so now, you are actually one of our idol idol mentors. So you want to share a little bit about what that looks like for you.
Jeanette Wilkin 38:01
Yeah, so I actually wasn't really expecting to be a mentor this cohort. But, but it just again, it just kind of all rolled together. And here I am. And so and I'll tell you, Okay, so we talk a lot about impostor syndrome, right? I mean, it's you always, we, you know, because when you're moving into a new role, you just feel like, I don't belong here. What am I doing here? Right. But I don't know that I have experienced it as much as I did my first night of my mentor hour. Everybody gets on and I and I'm like, Okay, here's all of these experienced, adult learners staring at me. Like, they want me to be their mentor. I just felt like, what am I doing here? You know, because I feel like I still need a mentor. Right? So I really struggle I experienced i that really came over me that first night a couple of weeks ago, with my first mentor, experience, but I just I tried to, I did my best. I'm doing my best, but it just it feels it feels funny to one year later, be sitting in that seat. But I'm glad to do it. I mean, I'm really it's just another way to get involved. And we're all working on this together. Essentially, that's really what it's about. And because I've been through three cohorts myself, I can point people to resources and things that helped me and I'm, I'm I'm glad to do that. I'm glad to share that with other people. But don't ever think I've got all the answers right. None of us do. But being a mentor is another way to get involved and just to share this experience with other people and That's what it's all about helping each other grow.
Robin Sargent 40:03
I love it. And I mean, all the new connections you'll make with your future colleagues and, and really Genet like the thing is, is like, you have been there the most recently. And so, you know, the kinds of questions that people are asking you, you've ran the job search and accountability group, you know, the kinds of questions that are coming for other people. And so I, I think that, you know, you being a new instructional designer, but somebody who recently went through the journey is really valuable for people who are just starting out. Yeah, you know, they come and ask me those questions. Like, I remember what they were asking as far as questions 568 years ago, but that's not where we are right now. Right. Right. Okay. And so yeah, it means a lot for somebody to hear, like, You were recently on the journey that they're on right now. And you made it to the end, and this is how you did it. And just to even share those things that you did along the way is, is I just right? We're gonna learn so much from you.
Jeanette Wilkin 41:13
Well, it's it's just, it's, it's great. We learn from each other. So yeah, we all come from different backgrounds. And that's, that's another great thing about the academy too.
Robin Sargent 41:24
Well, I want you to share your best and final advice for anyone that is looking to become an instructional
Jeanette Wilkin 41:32
designer. So I would say, go at it with an open mind, be open minded about, of course, learning all that there is to learn. But also, it takes a great deal of learning about yourself, to really get in and, and learn what you have to offer and learn what you can do. And that comes from, you know, first of all, studying your own background, really dig into your experience, I had experience I didn't even know I had, I didn't even realize how so much of what I was doing as a teacher was actually translating into corporate type skills and the type of skills that we need for instructional designers I really wasn't aware of, for example, all the project management experience I had, until I really studied first of all, okay, what do we really mean by project management in corporate? And how did I do those things as a teacher, because I had never stopped to think about it, I had never stopped to think about things I was doing day in and day out without thinking, right. And so whether you're coming in as a teacher or from any other role, learning how to examine what you have done is not a small theme. And going back back to your resume. That was another thing I just worked on my resume, at least weekly, sometimes daily. Because there's always a different better way you can say something on your resume, there's always different experience you can throw in there that you didn't realize was going to help. So just studying yourself knowing exactly what you have been doing what you can do that for me that that just took a lot of work to really dig in and pull that up to the surface. And so that's one thing I think we don't talk very much about. But really knowing your experiences is sometimes really hard. And then just keep at it. Just keep at it and find what you're good at, don't be afraid to try things. I didn't know how much I loved working with technology, till I really planted myself in it, and got really into it. And I love it. And it doesn't scare me at all. So just like you're always telling us take action. Just get out there and see what you can do.
Robin Sargent 44:17
Incredible. Thank you so much to that for coming and sharing your story and your wisdom. I love what you said about people just really kind of taking the time to learning about themselves and their own experiences and really seeing that they probably have a lot more to offer than they've ever give themselves credit for like on the surface level. And it's been truly a joy to speak with you. So thank you so much.
Jeanette Wilkin 44:43
Thank you, Dr. Robin.
Robin Sargent 44:45
Thank you so much for listening. You can find the show notes for this episode at idle courses.com. If you liked this podcast and you want to become an instructional designer, and online learning developer, join me in the idle courses Academy will you'll learn to build all the assets you need to land your first instructional design job, early access to this podcast tutorials for how to use the elearning authoring tools, templates for everything course building and paid instructional design experience opportunities. Go to idle courses.com forward slash Academy and enroll or get on the waitlist. Now get out there and build transcendent
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