Last Updated on July 23, 2026 by Fly High Coaching
Salary negotiation skills and strategies are something most professionals know they need, but few feel confident using. Many executives and high performers are significantly underpaid, often without realizing it, and without knowing how to change it. Do you know what you are actually worth in the market, and do you have the tools to ask for it?
In this episode, you will learn more about salary negotiation skills and strategies. Our host Porschia, alongside guest Candyce Hunt, share their insight on why so many high performers stay underpaid and what it actually takes to change that. They explore how the mindset you bring to the negotiation table matters just as much as the number you bring with you.
They will also discuss the 4 real costs of not negotiating your salary, and why the impact goes far beyond your paycheck. The conversation also walks through the TRUE framework, Candyce’s step-by-step approach to negotiation that begins with internal work long before you ever sit across from a hiring manager.
Candyce Hunt is an international and TEDx speaker, career strategist, and leadership consultant with nearly 20 years of leadership experience across retail, corporate, and consulting environments. She is the creator of the Get Off the Clearance Rack movement, a message that challenges professionals to stop accepting discount treatment and start operating from their true value.
What you’ll learn:
- What salary negotiation skills and strategies look like before you ever enter the room
- 4 real costs of not negotiating, from lost income and mental bandwidth to your voice and your legacy
- How the TRUE framework builds the confidence and clarity to ask for what you are worth
- The 3 biggest mistakes professionals make when negotiating salary, and how to correct them
- Why raise negotiations require a different conversation than initial salary offers, and how to approach both
Resources:
- Episode Transcript
- Salary Negotiation Skills and Strategies
[00:00:00]
Porschia: Today, we are talking about salary negotiation strategy with Candace Hunt. Candace Hunt is an international and TEDx speaker, career strategist, and leadership consultant who helps professionals and organizations stop undervaluing their talent and start leading with clarity, confidence, and strategy.
With nearly 20 years of leadership experience across retail, corporate, and [00:01:00] consulting environments, she is known for helping high performers negotiate their worth, evaluate their visibility, and reposition themselves for long-term growth. Candace is the creator of the Get Off the Clearance Rack movement, a powerful message challenging professionals to stop accepting discount treatment in their careers and start operating from their true value.
Hi, Candace. How are you today?
Candyce: I am good. Even better, I want to just take you around with me and let you introduce me everywhere I go. I lo- thank you.
Porschia: Well- I
Candyce: wrote it, but it sounded better coming out of your mouth.
Porschia: It sounded great. Thank you. It sounded amazing because you are amazing. Thank you. And I’m excited to have you with us today to discuss salary negotiation strategy.
But first we wanna know a little more about you, so tell me about seven-year-old Candace.
Candyce: Wow, that’s a great question. Actually on my LinkedIn profile it talks about eight-year-old Candace- … so I can back up [00:02:00] a year before that. I would say I was very observant. And so grew up in church, watching my family be in church leadership positions, and so I had no idea that by eight years old I would be starting my first leadership role as a choir directress because I just sat and watched my mom direct choirs.
I watched my grandmother be the president of the choir and Esteem, the singer who sung the popular songs. And so I would say just super observant. In school, Miss Woodruff it’s probably the first time- … I’ve said her name out loud, but watching her be a leader in the school and just learning who to aspire after.
And just so happens it was strong Black women that I had great examples to be able to observe. So I was super observant, which is wh- why you get what you get today.
Porschia: I love it. So tell us about some highlights or pivotal moments in your career before you started your business.
Candyce: [00:03:00] Yeah. I had so many pivotal moments in my career.
So if I had to choose one that maybe got me to what I’m talking about today and what I’m doing today it would be 2020. When you looked at my career on LinkedIn, or you even saw me and my picture of success that I was creating back in 2020 it’s- it seems sad because a lot was going on.
It was the break- the breakdown, breakthrough, burnout moment that I had that I now can go back and remember that as like a blessing where I had to, break really. So I realized that the picture of success that I had created and that I had- was sharing out loud was actually not rooted in its full truth.
And like so many other people we wanted just everybody to n- think that we were okay all the time. And so I had a great career where I was always getting promoted, always taking these great positions. My career moved very fast. By the time I was 25, I was a [00:04:00] store manager. Before 30, multi-unit roles, making over six figures.
In director executive roles in my early 30s, so it looked and sound good. I was first generation in those types of roles, but I was also very underpaid very tired and exhausted, very undervalued, and I didn’t know how to articulate that. It all came to a head in 2020 and I decided that I was gonna start understanding more about who I was so that I can be a better leader, a better employee at that time, and then ultimately a great entrepreneur who could help other people just be more grounded in their truth and kind of kill some of the false narratives that keep us undervalued.
Porschia: Oof. You said a lot there. I know. You said a lot there. I love it. I love it. I could’ve kept
Candyce: going too, Portia.
Porschia: Yeah. This I think is a segue and maybe an add-on to what you were saying. What motivated you to start your own business?
Candyce: Yeah, so in my career I was an operator. And so running operations in retail, [00:05:00] which meant that I was in charge of the P&L.
It was my job to make sure that there was operational excellence, process efficiency, financial responsibility, all the things. But that wasn’t my favorite part of the job. My favorite part of the job was developing talent. That was the thing that was my claim to fame. I would always get the most people promoted.
I recruited the best people, cultivated the best talent, and I just wasn’t able to do that 100% of the time in my role. And so once the t-t- the breakdown, breakthrough, burnout happened back in 2020, along your journey and your career, you meet great people and you st- you build these great relationships.
And so I’d built a great relationships, a sisterhood with Jamila Brown, who’s been a big guest on your show, as well as Alicia Wade, who’s my other co-founder. We worked all on the same team back in Houston, Texas. And it was just, I went to them and was like, “Hey, so we are all great at developing talent.
We understand how to operate businesses because we’ve done it for [00:06:00] multi-million, multi-billion dollar brands. Do y’all wanna start a, like a coaching business?” And it was a fast “Yeah, sure, let’s do it.” And we figured it out along the way. But that’s it, ultimately how we started was because, we had we all enjoyed coaching people.
Our job did not mandate the r- the way in which we did it, but because we were so good at it and we just were, we had a heart for people, wanted to see people do well, we just took that skill and talent and it flourished into one-on-one coaching, masterclasses, podcasts, just a v- a variety of ways that we like to impact people.
Porschia: Wow. Wow. And I love how you got with some cofounders of, powerful women and, started your business. And yes as Candace mentioned, we had Jamila on episode 84, and we talked about burnout stages. Everyone might wanna check that out if we haven’t if you haven’t listened to it before, I should say.
How did you decide to focus on salary [00:07:00] negotiation as one of your areas of expertise?
Candyce: Ooh, that is a good question, ’cause I don’t know, until I get to having these conversations, I don’t know that I ever say that, “Oh, I just focus on salary negotiation.” Th- it’s so easy for us to say money isn’t everything, and I just wanna do it for the feeling, and it’s not about the money.
But we have, we’re in the, in jobs. One, we are looking for a sense of fulfillment, but we have to pay our bills, right? And so it is a big part of what we do as a coach. The number one thing we do is help people improve their self-confidence, get them clarity in their career, help them get the job.
But when you get there, we wanna make sure that you can build wealth Like, like generational wealth is a, it’s a buzzword, but it’s a real thing. And you can’t do that if you’re constantly underpaid. And the data says that, it’s gone up a little bit. I think in 2025 it was the woman makes 83 per- 83 cents on the man’s dollar.
People who are in when you don’t [00:08:00] negotiate properly, it costs you somewhere around $964,000 in a year. That mainly impacts women. I saw a gap in the data in my own story. I have several stories of, hey, I was underpaid and I can now see what that cost me. And the more that I talked about this salary negotiation or just undervalue clarity, conf- lack of clarity, lack of confidence, I get a a, it’s resonating with people, and people are verbalizing, “I s- this is my story.
Thank you for being open and honest about this. I need help with this.” And then it became a responsibility of, all right, I’m not just talking about salary negotiation. I’m talking about how to thrive in your career versus survive, and you thrive by making sure that you can take care of your family and take care of yourself ultimately.
So long way of saying it. It’s a responsibility that we talk about it this way.
Porschia: Yeah. And I also love how [00:09:00] you tied it into the other services that you offer, but really the other important aspects of someone’s career.
It’s not necessarily just salary negotiation in isolation. There’s so much more to it.
Candyce: Yes.
Porschia: We’ve talked about salary negotiation on the podcast before back in episode 24, and I love your analogy of telling people to get off of the clearance rack. So tell us more about that and how it relates to salary negotiation.
Candyce: Yeah. Yeah. I’m, everybody loves to shop I’m sure, or not, maybe not loves to shop, but everybody has had to shop at some point, and everybody loves a good bargain.
I was afforded an opportunity to build my career in retail, so I have this backend understanding of clearance. And most people think that clearance is, means that the item is low value, or it can come off that way. That because I got this $100 blazer for $20, [00:10:00] something’s gotta be wrong with it. And when in turn it’s just, there’s a few reasons that it ended up there.
It, maybe it didn’t make it to the right place in time, or, the person didn’t, the person who saw it did not see why they should have bought it at that rate, or they were waiting on it to get marked down. Going through my stories and other people’s stories, this same thing is happening to us where we are, through education, exposure, experience, we can place a certain dollar value on a thing.
But because we accepted a markdown possibly that first time or at some point in our lives and careers, then we started to believe that is what we deserve to be paid. And the more that happens, it signals to a conditioned culture that this is what we should do, and then it also signals to us internally that this is what we should accept, and we- then we end up not doing the work to figure out how to get off the clearance rack.
So my message is, we, I wanna help people [00:11:00] to love shopping clearance on clothes, but just understand that’s not where people belong. And so there’s different aspects to it, but that’s ultimately why the theory exists right now
Porschia: Yes. I love the theory. I think, I worked in retail when I was a teenager and definitely get the analogy, and I think it’s brilliant.
So what are the four costs of being on the clearance rack, Candice?
Candyce: Yeah, that’s a really good question ’cause again, we talk about salary, people automatically think money. But let me get that one out the way first, right? Of course, the first cost of not negotiating, not being confident in your skills in the workplace, it is going to cost you money.
The cost of not negotiating your first salary is gonna cost you in dollars across all your salaries. It’s gonna compound over time. And again, I mentioned a number, $964,000 was what I believe it was salary.com said that it costs, [00:12:00] when you don’t negotiate your salary, it’s gonna cost dollars. For me, I started calculating mine with that first $65,000 salary.
I stopped at 1.3 million because I was like, “This is a lot. Okay, let me just focus on a solution because this is a lot of money.” So that’s the first cost, is money. I always encourage people to try to get, find their number. The second cost is your mental bandwidth. When you are underpaid, it impacts your performance, it impact.
When you’re stressed about money, you know you’re not making enough, you feel upset about it. Whether you wanna admit it or not you are constantly thinking about what’s next. You’re feeling like you’re not enough because you’re not making as much as the person next to you may be making. And so it’s costing you stress, and it’s costing, causing us to stay in survival mode versus getting to where we should be, which is thriving in our careers, right?
And so mental bandwidth is a second cost. The third cost is our voice. [00:13:00] When we are underpaid, not feeling valued, we shrink. We are more silent. We operate from a place of misplaced gratitude. And when we shrink our voice, our presence shrinks. And then when our presence shrinks, it signals to the workplace, to these environments that we’re in, that we are not confident, and then that we don’t deserve the seats that we actually do.
So the third one is voice. And then the fourth one, which I believe is one of the most important ones, and that’s legacy. And I have kids. I always talk about this. Everywhere I go, I’m talking about my Riley, who’s 11, and Levi, who’s eight years old. Every decision that I make around what I’m paid, what I accept, signals to them what normal is and what’s acceptable.
And so when we don’t negotiate, we signal to the people who are watching us, those who look up to us, that this is what they should do as well. In the workplace, and the thing that I was passionate about in [00:14:00] my career was if I keep doing this, and this is where it came to a stop, if I keep doing this, then the next Black woman or whoever comes behind me, I’m lowering the bar for them by allowing this to be the bar for my salary, and so now I’m impacting somebody else’s legacy.
And so when you consider that money, mental bandwidth, your voice, your legacy, those are things of the cost of staying on the clearance rack and not advocating for yourself
Porschia: Yeah, absolutely. Something else that, came to mind for me, and perhaps you include this in the legacy part but it could also be in the money part not negotiating that salary can sometimes impact future kind of promotions opportunities.
Absolutely. So obviously the money that you would get perhaps or raise with a promotion but, promotional opportunities as well. What are your thoughts on that?
Candyce: Yeah. It’s absolutely included in I would say probably all of them [00:15:00] when I think about promotions. Definitely your promotions are gonna impact your money.
I think people, when they see you ready for the next role, it’s because of the energy that you’re giving off, your acumen. And when your confidence is low, when your voice is shrunk, you’re not commu- you’re not even able to articulate that you deserve a promotion. You don’t know how to ask for it.
And so it’s impacting your ability to be where you’re supposed to be ultimately thriving in the workplace. So I think promotions I look at that as like an outcome, right? So if we don’t advocate for ourselves with salary, then the outcome that we miss is our ability to be promoted, which then in turn impacts our legacy, our mental bandwidth, feeling like you’re enough, our pockets, ’cause promotions come with money.
Gotta make sure it comes with the right money. That’s another podcast. But I- … I completely agree. I thank you for calling that out.
Porschia: Yeah. So what do you think are the essential steps in a salary [00:16:00] negotiation?
Candyce: Yeah. So I’ve, we’ve got plenty of tools and things like that, that I believe can give the steps to actual salary negotiations.
I think it starts before you even get to the conversation. It’s an internal thing that you, that has to be done first. And so I will, how about we talk about the Dominion Code? ‘Cause I think that is the doing the internal and the external work of not just salary negotiation, but advoc- self-advocacy, which helps you to be able to negotiate a salary effectively.
I, when you asked me earlier about the highlights of my career I talked about this kind of breakdown, breakthrough moment that I had where I realized that I wasn’t operating from truth. And in order for me to start to be able to negotiate my salary, I had to get grounded in what was actually facts versus the narratives, [00:17:00] right?
And so the Dominion code is, the acronym is TRUE, T-R-U-E. And so I always, it- I could spend the whole podcast episode on truth, honestly because that’s usually where the gap is. We believe somebody else’s narrative about what we should be paid, or we believe whatever somebody told us, either when we were a kid or when we got to the workplace, that diminished our confidence, and then we did not advocate for ourselves.
So we never even made it to the conversation. We just said yes at first sight when somebody offered us the first salary. And so for TRUE, it goes back to what are what are your qualifications? What is your education? What experience do you have in the role? What do your performance reviews say about you as an employee?
What does the market data say about how much the role should be paid? I think going back to the truth and the facts is the first step, right? And so people miss that step of gathering this is [00:18:00] actually what I should be paid or what my value is, like the actual number, and it’s always rooted in feel- feelings and sometimes even fear.
So that’s the first one for me is go find your actual receipts. What have you accomplished? What are you worth? What does the market say about you? And then the second piece for me, the R is the resolve. So a lot of times we know these things. We know the T. We know what the truth is. But for some reason, because of whatever narratives are in tapes or playing in our head, we don’t have resolve, and we don’t even believe it.
We think that, oh because this person told me that I wasn’t ready for the role, I’m not. But actually, the facts say that you do. And so the second one I always encourage is, all right, so now that you have the data, you have the facts, you have to actually believe this. And so for me, the simple step for that is what are you thinking?
What do you believe? And is that belief a fact? Or is [00:19:00] that belief just something about your feelings? And then separate it. It’s okay to feel your feelings, but just put it in its proper place, and let’s just stay with the facts. [00:20:00] The U is unleash, and for me, this one is about action. And so I wasn’t able to effectively negotiate my salary until I took action to practice- And practice what I believed.
So I, in the TED Talk I mention it like, oh, in the car, I did it in a mirror, I did it with people who I trusted. I practiced saying that I needed $185,000 for the [00:21:00] role. So I didn’t just show up with that confidence. I had to go through the process of identifying the truth, believing in it, and then practicing what the action was going to be.
And so that would be the third step for me, for people who want to be able to say this out loud or practice negotiating salaries. You don’t get to that confident place without that. And then the E for Dominion Code is elevate. And so a lot of times we, when you’re in survival mode, you become very complacent.
You don’t take the step to go to the promotion that you talked about. Don’t take the step to leave the company that you’re at, because that’s a big part of it. When you’re in the same environment all the time, you- I got my best confidence from changing companies, from going to interview with other organizations, talking to people outside of my organization.
When you don’t think about what elevation means, it’s physically moving off the clearance rack into the [00:22:00] next phase of your, life or your career, then you are stagnant, you are stuck. And so the E is elevate, is find those opportunities where you can physically move. Sometimes that means move companies, move states.
I moved seven times in 13 years. I’m not saying be crazy. But I am saying I know that I can talk about this way because I chose to move all the time. A- again, not a sal- like salary negotiation, do these things. I think it’s a let’s look internal, let’s get the confidence to have, the conversation where you advocate for yourself, and then how do you see that as the means to you elevating your career?
Porschia: So well said. I just think that there are so many gems that you’re dropping today, Candice. I think people are gonna have to go back and listen to this one twice. The truth, resolve, unleash, elevate, all of that is just really foundational for people, and I love how you said it’s internal and external work [00:23:00] because I think that it really is.
So what are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve seen professionals and executives make when it comes to negotiating their salary?
Candyce: Yeah. I, professionals and I always, when I say we or they, I always make the joke that I’m talking about me, too. And so that’s why I lo- love my journey, ’cause I’m, I like, I don’t mind putting my business out on the street and just say- “look, I did this, too, and I can talk about it because I did it.” If I look at my biggest mistake that I made throughout my career is I did not have a number. If they ask me in the interview, “What are your salary expectations?” I did not often have an exact number. If you hear Jamila Brown talk about it, she will say, “Ca- get it down to the cents.”
The biggest mistake is lack of clarity about what you should actually be making, which the True Framework as well as you can go to Five Minute Career Hack. We’ve got the salary negotiation tool that, that we do, did with PayScale where you can actually get down to your number. [00:24:00] So that’s the mistake one is not knowing, having a number.
The second mistake that I, res- that I’m thinking about that I made that, led me to the 85K story that I talk about a lot where I was paid $85,000 and the person before me made $175 thou- thousand dollars. Not only did I not have a number, but I did not communicate with my network and my advisors about my salary.
There was this unspoken rule that many of us probably still believe to this day that salary nego- negotiation discussion is off limits. I often think about if I were to go up to my friends right now and say, “How much do you make?” Are they gonna just out with the number, or will there be a pause before they answer?
And most times there’s a pause. We have to have the conversation. So the mistake is we’re not talking about it. My breakthrough was on the phone with Jamila [00:25:00] Brown, who we both know, and we were just having a casual conversation. I was a little frustrated about my pay, and I had just started to speak up about it, and I was like, “Hey.”
By this time I was at 100,000, and I said, “I make 100,000.” Her and I were in the same role, and she literally, she- I’m sure she cursed “Hell no. What?”
“
Candyce: I started off in that role that you’re in at 165. Why are you making 100,000?” And that was the moment where I was like, “Okay, hold on. Something’s going on here.”
If I had trusted people around me, if I… And trusted myself and not had this shame about my salary or even calling somebody up and saying, “Hey, they’re offering me 85K, what do you think?” If I had not believed the unspoken rule that you don’t talk salary. We were conditioned this way, and I think the mistake that we make is we still believe that’s true.
When the breakthrough, I know what I should make as an entrepreneur in [00:26:00] gigs and things like that, ’cause I have conversations with entrepreneurs, and we talk about our rates, right? Like- … it’s hap- it’s again, the mistake is we’re not talking about it, and we’re believing something that somebody suggested, and we’re calling it law, and then we don’t learn how to advocate for ourselves.
And then I think the third mistake is not doing research. So I know the number is, you get the number by doing research, but sometimes you gotta slow down and do research and use the tools. So there’s PayScale, Salary.com, Glassdoor, 5 Minute Career Hack. There are so many re- tools out there at our disposal, but we choose to accept accept the bare minimum at times because we don’t make time to use the tools, and the tools are here.
So I think that’s the third thing that I would say is the biggest mistake.
Porschia: Yeah. I see all of those, and I have starred in those movies as well, Candace. I’ll share… I don’t think I’ve ever shared this on the podcast before, but to your point about being [00:27:00] conditioned not to talk about salary, that was something, and I’m guessing we’re around the same age, I was conditioned as well.
In my first job out of college, I worked for a consulting firm and I worked there almost five years, and I was promoted through the firm.
Eventually, I was promoted into sales, and so I was so excep- cited to be in sales for many reasons. Not because it was sales, because I’m an introvert and I’d never done sales outside of retail and whatnot, but it was a new opportunity and there was a lot of stuff going on.
But fast-forward about two years-ish into sales, and when I was promoted into sales, they didn’t have any other salespeople at that time. They had fired them all, right? And so then they were gradually building up the sales team. I find out, Candace, that they hire- they started expanding the sales team.
They had hired the most recent salesperson making [00:28:00] $25,000 more base than I was making, and we had the same exact title, the same exact job duties. And I realized, I just thought that they were going… one, I, I didn’t think to talk about salary. I heard through the grapevine that this girl was hired at this rate.
And this was of course before commissions, but I realized I should have been, and didn’t know, first, first company out of college, but every time I got promoted, I should’ve been proactively asking for a raise at the same time because you know they just let me sit there at pretty much almost what I was hired at, a- aside of the little slight bumps that they give you for cost of living.
So I’ve starred in that movie, and I wanted to share that because everything that you said is so true. It’s so true. What are some [00:29:00] additional tips you can share to help people develop as a negotiator?
Candyce: Yeah, that’s a really good question. I think there’s a mindset that needs to happen. And again, I could get real tactical, but I think I want to think through the difference between having a clearance rack mindset and the dominion mindset.
And I- it starts with I know one of the calls was voice but how we’re communicating in the workplace. As women, and I, I- this is for all. I have men that come to me to say, “Get off,” “I’m staying off the clearance rack.” It’s so funny to be caught on the street and somebody saying that.
But for the most part, and again, the data shows that this mostly, and more widely impacts women. We can tend to be more apologetic and more humble, and we want to make sure that we’re not too confident because we’re just grateful to be here. How do we- that’s clearance rack mindset for me.
How do we start to shift that to dominion mindset, where we are rooted in [00:30:00] facts and we are comfortable in our authority, right? And so that’d be the first one. I’d say the second one is, like, where are we, our source of value. And one of the stories that I, tell in TED Talk and beyond is my boss’s opinions always being in my head.
So before the 85K salary, there was the 65K salary, where I was about to be a store manager in retail, knew I was about to bust six figures down, and he’s “65,000.” And I was like, for real?” And I’m like 25, he’s middle-aged man, and he’s “Girl, what are you talking about? You’re about to be rolling in dough.
I never made that much in, when I was your age.” That’s what I believed, and that’s the tape that was playing in my head that became my source that literally impacted all the rest of the salaries that I accepted. And so how do you start to filter out the opinions of others in your source of value, and you start to get rooted in what the actual industry [00:31:00] rates are and what your results at work say you should make, right?
So that’s the, again, the clearance mindset is my boss’s opinion. The dominion mindset is the facts, right? And then the third is action. I think a lot of times we are waiting to be noticed. Alicia Wade, my- one of my co-founders, a signature term she says is, “No one is coming.” We’ve got to root into that elevate portion of the dominion code and stop waiting on people, and start governing our vision and governing our careers with the dominion code.
And so that would be my three things is just start to shift your mindset, your communication, how place value on yourself, as well as the actions that you take to get there.
Porschia: Great great insights. And we’ve touched on this a little bit, but I wanna know your opinion, Candice.
Do you think that people should a- approach a raise negotiation differently than a salary [00:32:00] negotiation for that initial role when they’re first being hired?
Candyce: That is a really good question. The conversation I think sounds different, but it’s still rooted in the things that I’ve been talking about.
So salary negotiation, you’re building a new relationship with a company, or you’re going into a new role so you haven’t had the chance yet to prove in that role or in that place that you’re capable. All you’re doing, what you’re having to do is show based on my experience, this is why you should bet on me for this next thing, right?
When it’s promotion raise, I think that is, I’ve been in this role, this is what I’ve achieved, and this is why I think this promotion should take place. If I had to say the thing I think that keeps us back from having those effective conversations is because we’re not showing up to those promotion conversations with the data, with [00:33:00] clarity.
And I’m gonna start with the clarity piece of it. We haven’t had the conversation half the time with our boss about what it actually takes to get promoted, so we’re just showing up to those conversations going, “I wanna be promoted, and this is why.” When if there was just alignment in advance of, “This is what I want for my career,” so you and your boss can have a conversation and align on what it takes, and then you show up to that promotion conversation saying, “This is what we talked about, and this is, so this is where I rate myself based on that.”
And then I think the second thing is, when we get to those conversations or even when you’re writing your performance review, I don’t know, I’ve pla- this is the story I starred in, the movie I starred in. Scrambling before my review to gather up all my data and all my results- … and all the things that would’ve equipped me with, having the conversation, versus having a career journal documenting your wins, documenting the things that you’re learning along the journey.
When you have, when you’re, when you have the, [00:34:00] those the data, the facts in your arsenal you are ready to whip it out when it’s time to have even a impromptu conversation about it. There’s a friend of mine, and I believe he might be a mutual friend of ours Orlando Haynes. He has this new tool called Career Clarity- Yeah
That I absolutely love. Talked about it so many times. Brag notes. Career journal. I call a fruit file. Just take a p- screenshot and put it in there so you don’t have to scramble when it’s time for a performance review. Clear Clar- Career Clarity is a tool that I’m gonna be talking about with people, ’cause I don’t have time to develop it.
Kudos to Orlando. But I think that’s what separates the, why we can’t have those conversations with confidence is because we don’t have the, we don’t have the alignment, the clarity, or the information gathered in time. So there’s absolutely a difference. I think that the promotion conversation is less popular.
And so when we come across people and we’re talking about this, and I say to someone, “Hey, did you, did you know you can [00:35:00] negotiate your raise?” They’re like, “
Porschia: What?”
Candyce: Yeah, you actually, should. You should. But it’s just, it’s not popular because we’re not having, because we aren’t gathering the information or even talking about it enough.
Porschia: I completely agree. I completely agree. And yes we love Orlando. We had him on episode 74. He talked to us about personal branding, and we think we might get him back on the show again to talk about his new tool that he has out there. So tell us a little bit more, Candace, about your business
Candyce: Yeah, so we’ve got 5 Minute Career Hack.
It is, we are career coaches, leadership strategists consulting for organizations. Our goal is to help people in organizations pivot in confidence, compensation, and c- in their careers, right? And so we get our message out to the world in a variety of ways. One, we have a podcast. We release two episodes per week where we give you either a [00:36:00] five to 10-minute short episode on something you can do in that given week to help elevate your career, your compensation, or your confidence.
And then we also release a episode kinda similar to this one where we interview a emerging business leader, accomplished business leader, somebody with a unique journey, career coaches, entrepreneurs, you name it. We bring people on where we can help our audience see themselves in other people’s stories.
And so that’s my favorite way to to impact at 5 Minute Career Hack. We also do workshops, leadership development workshops, burnout, conflict management d- LinkedIn, salary negotiation, all different topics that we talk about. And then we also have one-on-one career coaching where we do, we coach individuals who are looking to make those career pivots.
There’s tools on our website as well where you can we have courses, master classes. One of the signature ones that I love to talk about that I don’t think we, we promote enough is the Career Hacks Master’s Course. We basically recorded a 15-module [00:37:00] course that walks you through the beginning of your career with the emotional intelligence to salary negotiation, resume, interview.
Even the, what I think sets it apart is how to negotiate an exit and how to negotiate a severance and a exit package that I don’t know that we talk about that enough. That’s a part of the salary negotiation too. So lots of different tools and resources, but yes, 5 Minute Career Hack, Alicia Wade and Jamila Brown.
Always wanna give honor to my co-founders as well.
Porschia: I love that, and we’ll be providing a link to your website and social channels in our show notes so people can find you online. Now, Candice, I wanna ask you our final question that we ask all of our guests. How do you think executives or professionals can get a positive edge in their careers?
Candyce: Ooh, that is such a good question. I could go the the salary negotiation route, but I hope that you [00:38:00] have heard in my chat with you that I’m a big… I think it all starts internally. And the most confident people that I see, and me at my most confident self, happens when I am having the right conversations with myself.
One of the most important conversations that you are gonna have is the one that you are having with yourself. So when you show up to work, to interviews, to salary negotiation con- conversations, your confidence is right there with you. And so I would give people a challenge to examine and elevate their self-talk.
How are you affirming yourself? What do you truly believe about yourself? And if it’s not the most positive, work with somebody and work with yourself to get it positive. I am enough, you are enough, some of my favorite affirmations. I just really believe in the power of the wo- your words, the things that come out of your mouth, especially as we talk about ourselves.
It’s like plaster that we put on our [00:39:00] brains when we say things out loud. So if you say “I am not good enough for this job,” then you’re not gonna be good enough for this job. But if you say, “I am the most capable person because I have these three signature skills” out loud, that is how you’re gonna show up to interviews and how you’re gonna show up to work.
So positive self-talk, I think, is what executives need.
Porschia: I couldn’t agree more. Couldn’t agree more. And I think it’s even more important than the tactics and most times even the strategy. Because you can have the tactics, you can have the strategy, you can have the tool, you can have the resume, you can have the LinkedIn profile, but if you don’t have that internal work done, if you don’t have the right mindset, it’s all for naught.
Candice, you have shared a lot of wisdom with us today, and I’m sure that our listeners can use it to be more confident in their careers. We appreciate you being with us.
Candyce: Thank you so much for having me. I have thoroughly enjoyed this conversation [00:40:00]
