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
Brit Crew 0:23
I have here with me today Britt crew, and she is one of our idol courses Academy members that has found success and reached her big idol goal. And so I brought Britt here to share her story and her journey and her own insights on what it means to become an idol. So, Brett, would you do a better job of introducing yourself and telling us like a little bit of your background? Absolutely. So I started my journey with idol about a year ago. And prior to that I had experience with working in the multimedia world. So doing some film production, print production, web content production, those kinds of things, anything multimedia, I had a little bit of experience with that. And then I did spend six years in the education world. I was a teacher for six years, I taught high school students. And again, my topic was multimedia. So I was a yearbook advisor helping them publish their yearbook, which was a several 100 Pages book, you know, as you can imagine, and that's just me in a nutshell. And from there, you know, I launched into ITIL, and learned that I had already been doing some of these IDs skills. And that just helped prepare me for the role I'm in now. Okay, so you were an education, you came from multi multimedia as well. So what kind of sparked in your mind your desire to be like, Okay, I'm ready for my next career. And instructional design is the way I want to go? Absolutely. That's a excellent question. And so, you know, I was already creating assets, if you will, infographic, job aids, all kinds of things like how to videos, I was being approached with how to use a software, but then maybe how to use an actual piece of equipment, those sorts of things. So I started to connect the dots of oh, maybe there is, you know, life with a role like this. And so I started to do a little bit of research, you know, like many teachers, you wonder, is there something else that you could do? And this research kind of led to me
discovering instructional design, I've never even heard of it. Right. I never knew that that was a title. And so I started researching it discovered that idol Academy was a thing I did your become a idol five day challenge, I think is a title of that. And it really solidified and verified to me like, oh, you really do need to look into this. Because again, all the dots started to connect that I could take those multimedia production skills, and really shine in the ID world. Because it comes in handy. I was already tech savvy, familiar with a lot of those different components. And now it was about expanding. Okay, adult learners versus school age student learners. So that's just kind of how it all came together.
Robin Sargent 3:20
So you joined January 2021. Right? Correct. Okay. All right. So you signed up, you're in the academy? And what was what was kind of your timeline? What did that actually look like for you? I mean, were you still working and try and do the Academy? And did you have a goal of when you would be done? What, what kind of was that journey for you?
Brit Crew 3:44
Absolutely. So I started with the first cohort. And you know, one of our first things out of the gate is let's set some goals. You know, what are what are your long term goals? What are your short term goals? And at that time, I was still teaching, I was still advising, we had deadlines, and it was kind of tough. But I stayed committed, attended mentor session, did workshops, like navigate to the academy, right, just absorb, absorb, find every resource I could, I did have a idol buddy that I latched on to and we talked weekly, daily, you know, all of those things. And so the timeline, the goals that I set for myself was, okay, we're going to do this kind of slow, in the sense that my first goal was to have my ID Roll By August, or September. And that seemed feasible, because that will get me through the school year, and then it will give me one more summer to like, just come to terms with that. We're closing that chapter. In the grand scheme of things. I didn't meet that goal, but I didn't let that deter me. I decided, okay, let's revisit this. And I set a new goal, because, you know, life happens. And so the new goal was by the end of the year, because in again, August, September is when I really dove into the application process and applying those. So it did take a couple of cohorts for me to kind of like find my footing, and you know, build that confidence. But beyond that, I'm happy to report I did entirely meet my second goal. I interviewed with many different companies, whether it was contract or full time, you know, and going through that journey, I realized, I think, for me, I might want to go ahead and look for a full time due to that was just kind of, you know, narrowing down what do I think going to be the best. And so it was just it was a great experience to go through because talking to big major corporations versus maybe like a small startup just really helped me narrow down those nitty gritty details that I hadn't really figured out prior to going through that experience.
Robin Sargent 5:45
Yeah. So it took you didn't start applying until August, which was when you really, you know, had all your pieces ready to go, How long until your portfolio was ready? Was it done before August? And then you felt ready to go start applying or which one did you do first? Or did you do it concurrently?
Brit Crew 6:04
Without like, yeah, so the portfolio actually was done. end of May, early June. So I had dove right into that my very first thing was digging into do it messy. And that was something that I knew this is not going to be that challenging for me, it was you know, get the navigation going get the pre work on the design. And so that piece, like started getting all together. And then after I had my foundation of the website for the portfolio, that's where, okay, started trickling in those assets. And what motivated me on some assets were some job application. So I say I got heavy involved in applying and August and September. But I mean, from March, until then, I had had a few phone screens, or a couple of just one off interviews, you know, that kind of came up? And they would ask me things like, can we see an example of XYZ asset? And I'm like, absolutely. And so I made sure to go, let me get that up there. That was one of my motivators along the way to where because at first, it was like, Oh, I have an infographic. Yay. That's my first step. And then the next guy wanted to see something like, Well, do you have a, like a rise course or something? Right? And so that pushed me that much further to go, Okay, let me let me revisit the do it messy and, and really get that going. And then that was there. So it trickled in. One of the interviews asked me to do a walkthrough. And at that point, I had a life course, a storyline nugget, I still call it my little nugget and then infographic and my web and graphic design component. But I didn't have an actual job aid. And they had harped on we need to see a job aid. So I never like put my nose down and got to it and made a job aid, put it up there and then was prepared for that interview to do the walkthrough. So that I had all of those things that they were specifically looking for.
Robin Sargent 8:02
Yeah, I love that. So it's like, well, you kind of knew that you needed those pieces. But then when you actually heard the hiring manager, say, we need to see this. You're like, oh, okay, I'll
Unknown Speaker 8:11
make sure. Actually, we're putting the energy in, I get it. Okay,
Robin Sargent 8:17
so you started applying in August, like hardcore. And several different companies, you realize you want to do full time. All right. So now you actually do landed a full time role? Right? Correct. Okay, so what what was it? How many interviews did it take? What was kind of the difference of this company? This job?
Brit Crew 8:43
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So this particular role is with a, I don't know if it would fall under a fortune 500 or what, but it's a major retail company. And I think it was right time, right place, as far as they made their job posts on LinkedIn. And I happen to be on LinkedIn at the same time. And so I got notified, you know, LinkedIn has notifications, hey, this job posted, are you interested? And I just peeked at it. It was like, I don't know, I hadn't considered this company, you know, like, you know, always know which major company might have an opening. And it was an application through LinkedIn. So real quick, you know, a click, click, and I quickly click through, send in my information, and then I just kind of waiting, like, I'll probably hear from them in a week or two, because this was really close to the end of the year. This was in December. To my surprise, two hours later, they reached out to me, and I'm going, oh my gosh, okay, this is exciting. And so I did a phone screen. And then I interviewed with the people who are like my team teammates on on the team. I interviewed with the director, and then they had hired a new director. work that I would report to you he hadn't even started yet. But I still got to meet him an interview. And so that entire process took, if I remember correctly, two weeks from the time that I applied until the time I got my offer, it was two weeks, which was shocking, unheard of, because all of my other experiences, were taking four to six weeks. And there's a few of them out there that still need to let me know, oh, hey, we've moved on, you know what it's like that was four months ago. So it was just one of those, the stars aligned kind of moments. And it just, you know, when you really pay attention, sometimes something can come from that. But I did make connections with people that I thought, there's no way they're going to reach out to me, because there's like 400 applicants, and then all of a sudden, they would call me. So never lose hope. Along the way, I always say, let the company decide if they want to, versus you telling yourself No, upfront. So if you're eager to go for it, then then go for it, you know, just what's the harm and the trying?
Robin Sargent 11:01
So what is your official title? What did they hire you to be?
Brit Crew 11:05
I am a senior training specialists. So it's not as the exact same as Oh, I, you know, instructional designer or elearning developer, but all of the skills that we have from either of those components. That's exactly that's exactly it. So senior training specialist is my new identity.
Robin Sargent 11:25
So So you still do the work of an instructional designer and an elearning? Developer? Correct? Correct. So what I'm seeing you talk about that?
Brit Crew 11:36
Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, first thing right off the bat, were coming in and familiarizing myself, this is, again, as I said, a very large corporate company. And it's been a minute since I've been in corporate, but not this capacity. And so you know, you just kind of got to get the adaptation process. And so that took about a week or two, and then we start diving into what are the initiatives? What does that look like? And it just is incredibly exciting, because we have certain types of training that we would put together that your, your standard compliance, right, and so like, let me see what that looks like. Because we've, you know, over 40,000 people that you're going to be essentially rolling this stuff out to, and everybody's in different states. And so, you know, you kind of got to get to the groundwork on that. Okay, so that's one component, I was most excited to be brought onto this team for the flexibility of creativity. Because beyond your compliance, such as one piece, there's different stages of training that we can put together that allow people to grow professionally, wherever it is that they are. And I love that such as maybe we do some courses that train people about a product, and then they can then in turn, help use that to work with customers, right. And so it was so exciting to get to see that because it not only is it okay, here's his product, but it was like how to use it. And so there's like demo videos associated with like you yourself, are gonna get to learn how to use it, and just broaden the horizon on the creativity scope. And so that was just like the I was so carried on doing a couple of other trainings that are really, really encompassing a person as an individual to understand their learning style, but then also understand how they operate. And then how can you operate with your co workers, right. And so those sorts of pieces. So it there are endless possibilities, the types of trainings that we're doing, in addition to using a multitude of tools, so I'm not locked in to just one style. And so that continues to allow me to flex those muscles and really sharpen the skills.
Robin Sargent 13:54
So if you are a senior Training Specialist, does that mean that there are people that are just training specialists? Like did you start at kind of a,
Brit Crew 14:02
right, I kind of started at like a next level. It's my understanding that the just training specialists, we've kind of downsized on it. So now it's more senior Training Specialist, and then it goes up from there. But yes, that was one of those super sweet little extra details that I thought was really fun to be able to go into this and lands a senior role, you know, right off the bat.
Robin Sargent 14:28
And what do you think it was? I mean, I'm sure they told you by now, like, what were some of the things that they noticed about you, Brett that, you know, made them expedite their process and hire you right away? Do you did they say it was your port, your portfolio, the way that you interviewed your knowledge, your tech skills, the combo? What did they say when they kind of gave you feedback?
Brit Crew 14:51
Absolutely. So you know, it's kind of a combo of that they touched on my portfolio, the hiring manager herself like you During the actual interview was very expressive and kind and telling me you know, I'm impressed. I am like, this is great. You know, this is very well put together, I love the attention to detail. She used preys on my graphic design skills, because it kind of helped contribute to how I built my assets, whether it was in rise, or it was my storyline nugget. I mean, most people love my storyline nugget, which is just an elearning heroes challenge, which was converting a infographic into like a little bit of a course, right. And they loved it, they loved the graphics they loved, they would just thought it was very out of the box, like not traditional. And so I really appreciated that my rise course was on the topic with microaggressions. And that stood out to them, because there's a huge initiative around inclusion and diversity. And so that showed some alignment there. And, you know, like, I didn't get real specific feedback as far as like how the interview itself went. But now that I've been there, it sounds like I would just Well spoken. And I couldn't have been as well spoken without the preparation from idle and the mentors and all of that, because at first, you know, that first interview I did, I was sitting here, kind of fumbling around like, you know, doing those types, whereas by the end of it, the confidence was there. And you, you know, giving sound examples to the behavioral question, being able to translate my skills from previous experiences into a way that they can understand and blown away by like, oh, wow, you know, you've worked on this, you've worked on that this is impressive. So that was just kind of a combo while of it.
Robin Sargent 16:47
Yeah. And so what do you think were the things that really upped your confidence? Was it actually like, just the amount of time do you think it was like, route all the experiences you had gone through other interviews? Or I guess it could have been a combo, too. But did you ever feel a moment that it really kind of clicked for you that made you feel more confident?
Brit Crew 17:10
Yeah, I think the biggest piece was, the more we started to explore. And this is when I say we like an idle, so mentor session, or support group, or any workshops that like things, I was starting to pick up little pieces of information that started to come together. And so when I was going through, I went to a multitude of mentor for that reason, because I knew these kinds of questions come up what practice behavioral questions, let's look at a list or let's tune into this extra piece of information, whichever, whatever it may have been. But there were a couple of mentor sessions that allowed us to practice that put us in like a mock interview. And that, wow,
Robin Sargent 17:52
shouldn't have been nerve
Brit Crew 17:53
wracking. Because you were put on the spot in front of your, you know, your peers, you were like, wide eyed, and okay, I think I can do this. But that anxiety went away, because you shared your answer. And then we got immediate feedback. And then it was like, oh, okay, and then more people shared. And so it was kind of the experience of that community piece of idol was so incredibly helpful. Having my idol buddy, we shared experiences between interviews, and that was eye opening. Because you know, her experience may be different than mine. And so we kind of swap notes and debrief and that kind of stuff. So the biggest piece, I guess, you could say, would be having conversations about how to kind of go through it to practice it. Get beyond the screen, as far as well. I'm reading this list of questions. And I'm not sure. Because I think there's a document is 5050 Interview Questions to prepare for. And the first time I opened that I'm like, I'll just fill in an answer, and I'll practice and then that got overwhelming. And they're like, no, okay, let's just attack this a little bit at a time. And so those conversations are what made the difference is just reaching out to idle peers. And then a few people who were outside of idle for a different perspective. I have a family friend who also assisted me I called her she gave me some sound feedback. It was it was amazing. And I never thought get feedback from that. So that was helpful.
Robin Sargent 19:19
Oh, wow. I love it. So now you have fully transitioned you are full time I'm I'm so curious. You know where you're working where you create all these creative things. Totally are saying that you might not want to mention the company's name. But what is kind of different for you now Britt? Like what is your work life balance? Are you are you remote? How are you positioned on your team?
Brit Crew 19:44
Absolutely. So I am remote or fully remote at the moment. There's chocolate the corporate office can open back up and there can be hybrid, but my team as of the moment is remaining we can function beautifully remote. So that is a huge perk, I built my little tiny small office I have, I live in a small apartment. And so you know, I may do get my setup, I love it. I love being remote work life balance has drastically changed. And, you know, it's like you can breathe easier. After every day, when work is over, I get to leave work at work kind of concept. Being remote my hard time, okay, I'm five, like, I need to focus around five. And so if it's 505, whatever, but I tell myself almost every day, and it's time to close the laptop, right. And that's allowing me to just disconnect, and then walk over to the other portion of the house. And I get to focus on the evening. Because it as a teacher, it always came with you. There was always something keeping you up you were thinking about dealing with. In this role, I'm able to look forward to going to work every day, you know, I start my day going, when's the first meeting? Let me make sure I'm prepared for that. What does it entail? What am I having to project manage? Through? I have six major initiatives, you know, that I'm the key contact for? And so just making sure that we're on target for that? Is it within timeline? Who needs to be communicated? Who needs follow up? Where are we at in the process, you know, those sorts of things. And so my day to day is just so much smoother, so much easier, and going to eight to five, nine to five kind of shifts, because it kind of very, it sounds debilitating at first, because you're thinking, Well, when I was a teacher, I would have done it 330 or 450. I can't express enough how those hours don't feel like you're shackled to them. Like you're free flowing, moving through it. It's not that bad. Like, it's great. I love it. I love it. Because there's certain parts of my day that I'm like, I know, I'm going to have an hour here to kind of debrief and focus on this and that. So it's been fantastic. They are very supportive. They are aware of my involvement in idle. And so they think that the coolest, one of my team members was like kind of come to the session. I said that, you know, that was a that was flattering. So it's just been it's been wonderful.
Robin Sargent 22:16
Yeah. And so this is, this is your first now You're an idol mentor. Right? And this is your first your first cohort. And I mean, you want to talk about that, like just what that experience has been like, so far. I know we're in what week four?
Brit Crew 22:33
Yes, we're coming up where we're ending Week Three coming up on week four. So in addition to tackling a new role and a new industry, I was compelled to be a mentor. It just felt right. I loved being a mentee and attending all of those types of sessions. And this was one of the ways that I was like, I can do this and I can help somebody else get to the same point. I mean, it became a passion project. I love it. I always smile real big when I'm telling people that you know, I do this, and this is it just so rewarding to be looking at this through a new lens. And there's mentees are still teaching me. So it's not that I'm a No at all, it's that we're continuing to grow together, I just get to kind of help guide us all in like a similar situation cohort from cohort. And so up to this point, it's been fantastic. I call my session for talk, because I love pink flamingos. And you know, I just kind of found a, I found a theme to kind of go with, and it's been so well received. And it's just fun. And it's exciting. It's another way that I get to have some creative freedom whenever I'm building like social media posts or slide decks that we're going to look at, if needed in the session. And so I'm just having, I'm having a blast at it. And it's not scary, it's really the idle team as a whole guide you through you know, so it's not like you just threw us out into the forest and find your way back. So that's been very helpful. But
Robin Sargent 24:12
I've even already gotten a direct message from one of the students that just that told her story and, and one of the mentors that she mentioned has already impact her was you and so I just I know that might seem soon but you're already having an impact on other people by design the common and give back. So we we really appreciate you and just you know, you really, you know, it's almost like you are a star student. And the sense that you went to all you went to so many mentor sessions, you committed, you kept going you even though you didn't meet your first goal that you didn't get flustered. You just made a second goal and met your second goal. And so it's so wonderful to have somebody who's a star to then come and give back As a mentor, because you were just recently on the journey that they are currently going through so you know exactly how I feel, what are some of the things that you tell your new mentees, where it's like the best advice you want to give somebody that's like, on this journey is where you used to be? What's What's your best and final advice, Brit?
Brit Crew 25:20
Absolutely, I would say that the best advice that I have been giving people is to realize that your journey is unique to you, I have said this many times in posts and in my session, and so you have to find what works best, some of us are on a journey that is a little bit more expedited than the others. But as you run into those roadblocks and those challenges, I always say, give that challenge or that roadblock, a big ol hug, and say, Oh, you're frustrated me. Take a deep breath, and then just regroup and come back. Because it the point of it is to get past that barrier. And you're gonna run into that, you know, time and time again. And I'm still seeing it even in my new role, where it's like, I am clueless on this. But okay, in time, I'll get this and it'll start to come, you'll start to give yourself some grace. And you'll allow yourself to keep moving. And switch gears if you need to, if the challenge is so incredible, that you're just like, I really need to pause from this, then put that put a pin in it, put a fork in it, however you want to word it and look into a little bit another, you know, another component. And the whole point is, keep moving forward, my family mantra had been put your best foot forward. And that is still true today, as far back as when I was 10 years old, being told, you know, put your best foot forward, you always keep them moving in, in the forward direction. And so that's just that's really where it is.
Robin Sargent 26:56
I just love your attitude. I think that advice is just so sound. And it's, it's so like in alignment to where you said, I'm still learning even as a mentor. And it's the same thing for me too, right? Like the best teachers are also learning continuously from their students. And even like, I think it's important what you said too, about how even on your job, you are a senior Training Specialist, you still are going to run into new challenges and new things that you have to figure out. And so it doesn't stop even just like when you reach your goal. I just I think that's so key, just that you're new. It's a it's a constant learning process, even when you reach your goal. And I think that's a great reminder.
Brit Crew 27:42
Absolutely. Yes, ma'am. It is.
Robin Sargent 27:45
Thank you so much, Brett. I'm just so happy for you. I just love having you on our team. I think your story is hugely inspirational. And it's just it's exactly what you said like just keep moving forward, and you will reach your goal. And that continues all the way to when you when you land your job. And so thank you so much.
Brit Crew 28:06
Thanks for having me. I've been loving it ever since I joined.
Robin Sargent 28:10
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 where 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 tours.
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