Better with Phoebe: Work, Life, & AI Insights From Career Coach Phoebe Gavin
If you’re in a career or life transition—whether that be seeking a new role, striving for better pay, or preparing for layoffs affecting the communications, media, and tech industries—episode 69 of the WomenHeard podcast is for you. Career and leadership coach Phoebe Gavin, of Better with Phoebe, sits down with host Julie Hochheiser Ilkovich to address career obstacles, handling a layoff, planning next steps, AI in the workplace, and so much more.
Becoming a Career Coach
“Pull others up with you as you climb”: These are the words that pushed Gavin into becoming a career coach. After a traumatic stint in the army, she was mentored by a fellow veteran—and the experience made her realize how mentorship can transform someone’s life. Ultimately, this led to Gavin discovering her passion and establishing Better with Phoebe, her career coaching business, in 2019.
Advancing Your Abilities: Working With AI
In the episode, Gavin talks about a significant gap in today’s workforce: the underrepresentation of women in the AI revolution. Women are disproportionately less involved with AI compared to men. That’s why Gavin advises embracing AI and incorporating its various tools into different aspects of your life to advance your skills. “Play with AI!” she says, encouraging women to join the revolution.
Professional Resilience
We are currently facing industry shifts and massive layoffs. If you lose your position, Gavin emphasizes the importance of allowing yourself to regroup emotionally before diving into the job search process. “Take a beat,” she says, so that you can show up to the next steps as the best version of yourself.
Professional resilience involves being able to face setbacks and adapt to change and transition in the workplace. Gavin’s approach to professional resilience is focusing on savings, skills, and networks. She advises her clients to enforce intentional time management into their strategic planning to enhance professional resilience.
Representing Your Brand
Your brand represents your unique identity within the workplace. Gavin emphasizes the importance of highlighting your brand across your brand assets, including your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, and other professional resources. And when it comes to defining and representing your brand, she suggests asking yourself these key questions:
- Who are you as a person and as a professional?
- Why do you do the work you do?
- What is distinctive about your approach to work or journey to work?
- What are your goals for the work?
“This will make yourself more discoverable to your network,” Gavin explains.
Many thanks to Phoebe Gavin for joining us! For the full interview, listen to NYWICI’s WomenHeard podcast.
Written by Kadija Abdoulaye
