Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Virginia Focus. I'm Rebecca Hughes of the Virginia
News Network. As many workers feel anxiety about whether or
not AI will replace them in the workforce, a new
report reveals jobs that rely on empathy and other uniquely
human skills will be what makes them also resistant to automation.
On this episode, we're talking with Zeti's doctor Jasmine Esclera
(00:28):
about the Empathetic Jobs Report that includes positions offering good pay,
growth potential and they can only be done by people
like you and me. Welcome to the show, doctor Escallera.
It's so good to have you back on to talk
about this latest jobs report.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, I'm so excited to chat with you, Rebecca. Let's go.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So what caught my eye about this was I myself
am I consider myself an EmPATH, and this was the
Empathetic Jobs Report. And you know, normally speaking, you know,
you hear the sayings the nice guys finish last and
stuff like that. My dad was, you know, very empathetic,
(01:11):
and he made it to middle management, but never further
because he wasn't willing to step on people or you
know what I'm saying, thrown under the bus and you know,
the job market can be kind of ruthless sometimes, So
what is that what prompted this job's report.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I love that so much, Rebecca, that you mentioned that,
because I have to tell you, I consider myself an
mpath as well. And it's funny that you mentioned your
dad because I feel like I get that empathetic, compassionate,
caring side from my father as well, So we have
that in common.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
You know that quote of.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Nice guys finished last or nice people finish last. When
we think about that in terms of our career, we
really want to think about being strategic when it comes
to our career, and strategy doesn't have a nice or
a mean or an angry or a bitterer. Strategy is
about knowing what you want from your career and seeking
(02:13):
out the support the opportunities to really.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Be able to get what you desire.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
So it's about focusing on what is it that I
want this career and this journey to look like, and
how can I really maneuver it so that I have
the opportunities for growth, so that I have the mentors
and sponsors that are going to help me and guide
me and.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Talk about me when I'm not in the rooms.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
So being empathetic doesn't mean you can't be strategic.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I love that. I love that, and I think that
you know, when you tend to be an impath, people
don't exactly talk to you about things like strategy. You know,
they know that you're not naturally geared that way, although
it doesn't mean we can't do it, and people just
don't think to mention that. I guess as much so
(03:09):
as I understand that there are fourteen jobs that would
be great for empathetic people, can we talk about that?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
And this report is so cool because we know everyone
has these fears and anxieties around AI. Is AI potentially
going to take over my job?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Change my job? How is AI even going to change
the work world?
Speaker 3 (03:35):
And so this specific report talks about the power of empathy,
but also which.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Positions are aligned.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
With empathy being one of the top things that you're
going to be using in these roles. And because empathy
is really a human and compassion and sympathetic centered quality,
which is very human, these are the kinds of positions
that if you're worried about you might really want to
consider these because positions like this have longevity and legs
(04:07):
and that's what we find.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
What we found even in the AI world.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
So these specific roles when it comes to empathy are
going to be very people facing.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
You're going to be able to use.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
That compassion, that human centeredness, You're going to be able
to connect with the people that you're working with.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And so if you're a naturally.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Empathetic person like myself or Rebecca, these are the kinds
of roles that you might really want to be looking into.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Okay, I love that. I love that. And are they
in specific industries? I mean is it a specific job
title or is it just a collection of general ideology
type things.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, So what we looked at in this report was
we looked at industries that are very stable right now,
like healthcare or essential industries.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
We were really focused on what are.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
The industries in which positions that are high in empathy
but also have longevity in terms of the role and
even growth potential, and our industries that are considered stable
or essential even in today's job market. So these are
the kind of industries that even in our wild job
(05:21):
market and we all know it's feels like the wild
wild West out there if you're a job seeker, these
are the kinds of industries that are still stable and
even potentially growing.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, definitely, And it's weird. A lot of people don't
think of news as being something that draws empathetic people,
but in my experience been doing this about twenty years,
people who get into news do so because they have
the same desire to do what first responders and nurses
(05:57):
and teachers and all do, but we just don't have
that same skill set, and so being able to report
about it is our way of supporting those industries where
you know, we have interest or desire, and it is
very empathetic thing, and it it you know, you come
(06:17):
across It's kind of like in some ways being a
cop too, because you come across some of the worst
of the worst stories, you know, and it just tugs
at your heartstrings. And I can't tell you how many
times I've sat writing a story for a newscast and
cried like.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Yeah, yeah, you know, I agree with you on that, Yeah,
one hundred percent. I feel that way also about being
in PR. I really feel like what we do, especially
here at SETI, with these reports that we put out,
what we're essentially doing is bringing the knowledge to the
job seekers and the career professionals that they need to
(06:55):
be able to best navigate their career. But we are
also calling out certain things that need to be called
out even from a company perspective, like our companies really
taking care of their employees the way that they should be.
So I have to agree with you that news and
PR those are very empathy leading types of spaces too.
(07:17):
And so if you are an EmPATH, if you are
someone who is naturally empathetic, really thinking about even in
your industry, how can you enhance the use of that quality.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
And when we think about.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
This too, even leaders, great leaders are now recognizing how
important empathy is in terms of leadership and how you
lead your team.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
So I think we should all have a little bit
more empathy in our lives.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Oh yeah, I definitely agree with that. I will never disagree.
So how how do you think AI is going to
respond to things like empathy and emotional intelligence and those
things that are uniquely human Because I know we're seeing
(08:08):
a shift. I've done stories about it recently where not
only are more recruiters and hrs you know, using AI
to sift through hundreds or thousands of resumes, but we're
seeing a shift in job seekers also using AI to
create their resumes and cover letters, and in my experience,
(08:32):
because we do use a little bit of AI here
to do some writing for us, I always have to
rewrite it because it takes all the human element out.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Mm h, So how do I agree?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
How will we navigate that?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I agree with.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
You, and you really clue into the proper usages of AI,
which are things.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
That can have health, enhance and automate. Right.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
So, if you're creating your resume and you're having a
little bit of a problem with understanding which skills should
you highlight based off of the job description and your experience,
wonderful AI can help you with that. If you're looking
to sift through resumes because you have a lot of
candidates and you want some help with getting the best
ones that fit, wonderful, that's an automated task that AI
(09:26):
can really help and support with. These kinds of automated
tasks are going to be perfect for AI, and that's
really where AI is shining. And when we think about
the types of positions that could potentially be impacted by AI,
we're thinking about positions where automation can happen more easily
by using these tools. So that's where AI shines. And
(09:49):
what we always say to job seekers or career professionals
is AI is not meant to supplement your amazing human qualities.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So you gave a great example of.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Using AI as a base for writing, but you still
have to go in there and add the dynamic human
writing that you would, the empathy to it, the compassion
you really want to get at people's emotions. AI isn't
going to be so great for that, and I don't
know that it ever really will.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
It's really funny.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I was chatting with someone the other day and they
were talking about how they use AI as like their
life coach, and they mentioned that, Yeah, I use you know,
chat GPT as my life coach because it always tells
me really great things.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
And my comment back was, yes, it's going to tell
you really positive.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Things like affirmations that you can get off of Instagram,
But it isn't going to necessarily give you the.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Nuance that you really need for transformation, like a human
coach would, or like a human person would, or like
a friend would. So empathy is not just about being nice.
Empathy is about.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Being compassionate and giving the person what they need to
hear in the moment, and AI just hasn't caught up to.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
That, right, And I love that you said that, because
a true friend, a person who truly loves you, is
going to tell you the hard things that are going
to hurt your feelings about yourself, things that need you
know you're struggling with something and you, yourself, are the
cause of the problem and you need to change it.
(11:24):
And someone who loves you and cares will actually tell
you that, even though they know you're gonna get mad,
they know it's going to hurt your feelings, they do
it because they love you. And like you said, I
don't think AI's there, and I'm not sure it ever
will be.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
You know, yeah, absolutely, and you're absolutely right.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Hey, look, my bestie will tell me certain things that
make me look at her sideways, but I know she's.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Doing it out of love.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
And when it comes to your career, right with empathetic leaders,
empathetic leaders.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Are going to do the exact same thing. They are
not going to.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Sugarcoat where you need to you know, where you need
to increase your performance or what you need to work on.
They're really going to understand what your goals are, where
you want to go where your gaps are and be
honest with you in a compassionate way and in an
empathetic way so that.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
You can grow. And I simply AI is just not there.
I agree with you, Rebecca.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, I love that, and so is there. I assume
the empathy would be considered one of the soft skills.
Is that something we should be putting on our resume.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Absolutely, when you are thinking about your resume, you want
to make sure that your technical skills match the position
and the role. You also want to have those soft skills,
and you're right, Rebecca, empathy is one of the most
important ones. So it is essential that you mix in
(12:58):
those hard skills, those more technical skills and soft skills
like empathy, especially now with AI.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Because what employers are thinking.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
About right now is how is AI changing or shifting
the roles that I'm hiring for. In these particular roles,
how is the employee going to use AI? And therefore,
what are the skills that they need to have to
supplement And many of those are going to be these
soft skills.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Yeah, I agree with that. Now. Obviously you said you're
an impath too. We also know as impaths it we
can be targets for people who are not so nice
and who are very hurtful to us because they don't
like that we are impaths. Is there a downside to
(13:47):
putting that on a resume or advertising it? You know
that loudly that way.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Such a great question, and I completely understand with what
you mean as an mpath in all areas.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Of my life and especially in my career.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
As an MPATH, what I had to learn how to
do was set boundaries right and know exactly when to
bring that empathetic compassion itself to the table and when
maybe a.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Little bit of the more harder, more technical self had
to come out. And that's just about being a.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Dynamic human, right and being a dynamic employee.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
And it's about practicing the.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Multifaceted version of you when it comes to your career.
And so I don't think that there's any reason why
you wouldn't want to put that on your resume. But
as a career professional, what you really want to be
able to understand is the vastness of your skill set
and when you bring specific skills to the table versus others,
(14:50):
and so we can be empathetic in the workplace compassionate.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
We can be giving, especially when.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
It comes to customers, when it comes to individual that
we're servicing, because that's the model that we want to showcase.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
But then when do you use the other skills.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
That you have because that particular situation calls for it?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
And when do you also set boundaries around your compassion.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Because you don't just want to give it all up
and have it be used up for the wrong reasons.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
That's the truth. And so I love that empathy is
basically one of the new job security type things. Are
there others that I don't know about?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
What you want to be thinking and what every career
professional wants to think about right now, especially with AI,
is how could AI potentially change my role in my
specific industry or how is it already changing my role
and my industry? And then you want to be thinking
(16:00):
about things like upskilling, what can I be doing or
what can I be learning to complement the change that
is already happening or that's coming down the pipeline. And
you probably know the change that's already happening because it's
happening right now. So you should be asking your manager,
you know, is there anything that I can do to
(16:22):
become more versed in the AI or the technology that
we're using, or are there even certifications or skills that
I should develop to complement those.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
If you're not sure.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
How the industry or your role is going to change,
the best thing you could be doing is having those conversations,
networking with individuals who are key leaders in your field.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Who are at the forefront of the.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Change, who are maybe the leaders of your company, your
manager or managers or leaders of other companies in your field,
and you want to be asking the questions like, how
do you predict this is going to change? What do
you think is going to happen, and then addressing your
gaps and your skills or where you want to really
(17:07):
focus on skill development based off of that prediction.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
So that's the best thing to be.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Doing right now, is how is AI or how are
the different technologies changing my field and my role? How
do I expect that they will? And what can I
be doing to be proactive to upskill, to reskill or
even to change things up so that I'm adapting along
with the industry.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yeah, I like that. And just in case, I mean
you and I we've spoken before about other job related
things but you know, sometimes people come into the podcast
and they haven't listened to some of the back episodes.
So do you mind going through and telling us about
what soft skills are and giving us a few examples
just for anybody who's new to this topic and doesn't
(17:57):
know absolutely.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
So, hard skills and technical skills are.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
The tools and the things that we use to do
our jobs from like the technology sort of perspective.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Soft skills are the more human.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Centered skills, is what I like to call them. So
those are things like we talked about empathy a lot today,
but communication, right, that's another one. Lead aspects of leadership
can also be considered a soft skill as well. So
those are the kinds of things that aren't the hard
like technology.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I know how to use.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
SaaS, or I know how to use Excel, or I
know how to use AI.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
It's really about.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
The communication, the leadership, the collaboration, the empathy, presentation skills,
those things that require more of the human centered component.
And what if anyone is listening to this, the gist
of what you should know is that's what you really
want to be leaning on and asking yourself, am I
(19:00):
using an enough of that? Am I growing in that
area enough to compliment where the technical aspects of my
job are going.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Okay, now, I know there's been a push. I mean
in my lifetime, I've seen resumes change fifty times, but
I know in the most recent of my job searching,
which has been a minute, but there was a push
towards making sure you had quantifiable data like I improved
(19:30):
ratings by this percent or I you know, you have
to put some kind of numerical, statistical provable something on
your resume to show that you add value to a company.
There's no real way to quantify these soft skills, is there,
or I mean, how important are they compared to the
(19:53):
other things.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Oh, that's such a great question.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
I'm so glad you asked it, because quant fying your
resume is probably one of the biggest questions that we
get all the time and that people are concerned about,
is how do I quantify this specific thing. A lot
of the soft skills maybe aren't necessarily quantifiable, but you
can think about it in the way of we mentioned communication,
(20:19):
for example, so talking about you know, leading team meetings
and adding quantifiable components there, like lead the team meeting
of fifteen team members, or you know, let a board
meeting for fifteen board members. There are aspects of things
that you can quantify with the soft skills. What you
(20:40):
really want to do, and this is unanimously.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Across the board.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
When you are applying for jobs, is you want to
showcase your soft skills as well. You don't just want
to put them on your resume, and you don't just
want to highlight how you're using them.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
You also want to highlight them in the job search. So,
for example, when you go on the interview.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
When you're talking about how awesome you are as a
communicator on your resume, showcase that in the interview. Also,
networking is a wonderful way for you to showcase some
of these great soft skills. So there might be aspects
of the soft skills that are quantifiable when you kind
of pull it back and think about it from the
standpoint of if I'm really great at communication, if I'm
(21:24):
really great at presenting, how have I done that and
what aspects of that can I quantify?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
That could be really great.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
If you're an empathetic leader talking about how many team
members you led and what you were able to support
them in, that's really great, but also showcase those soft
skills during the interview process.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
That's your place to shine.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Yeah, And I like that you mentioned about the leadership
because it's always been my opinion that a great leader
creates other great leaderleaders. And so I don't believe you
can call yourself a good leader if you're not bringing
other people up and putting them into other leadership positions,
(22:10):
whether that's on par and equal to your own or
above you, or however that works, you know what I'm saying.
And that, like you said, that kind of thing is
kind of quantifiable, Like if all you ever do is
lead a team and none of them ever get raises
or move forward, that, yeah, you let a team, good
(22:31):
for you, But did you really lead a team? You know?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Absolutely? Yeah, Yeah, I mean I think you know.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
I love that you said that, because I think the
best quality of a leader is almost when you are
able to This is going to sound really strange, but
make yourself obsolete, like you should be the strategic thinker
for your team and empowering everyone else to be to
take the lead, like to really step up and own
(23:00):
whatever skills and strengths they have and use them to
the next I remember one of my previous managers mentioning
to me something similar where he said, you know, the
best thing for you to focus on as a leader is.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
To hire people who are better than you, And that
really floored me in that moment. But it makes so
much sense because you.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Want to know, as a leader, where are my strengths,
why am I in this role and how do I
actually empower people within their strength so that they are
really shining in what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
That makes an exceptional.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Leader, right, and it makes for a great team. It
makes it so that when you know, the boss goes
on a vacation and everything doesn't fall apart, or even
when one of the members of the team goes on vacation,
things don't fall apart. You know, it just makes for
a solid team that can be reliable and efficient and
(23:59):
all the things. It really help a business thrive. But
I don't think we put enough focus on that, do you.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I don't think we do.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
And in fact, it's funny that you mentioned when a
leader leaves and the team is okay.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I think for a lot of people that would be.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Scary, right, Like if I am the leader and I
leave and everybody's okay, that means I'm not valuable Whereas
for you and I, the way that we would see
that is that means you created the best team possible.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Right exactly, I mean that's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
And I love what you said too. You don't want
to be the smartest guy in the room. You know,
a leader doesn't necessarily have to be the smartest guy
in the room. He has to be smart enough to
surround himself with people who know things he doesn't.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
He or she.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Absolutely the best leader is going to understand why they're
in the role, what they contribute, and then create a
team around them that is a to fill their gaps.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
So how would we balance empathy in a leadership role?
Obviously we've talked about it some, but there are times
where that empathy, if you take it too far, could
get you into trouble.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Right, So empathy is something that you again want to
be able to know when to use and how to
use it. So I think that's really important. But that's
also the case for all of.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Your amazing qualities and skills.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
And as empathetic people, we are very compassionate, so very giving,
and we want to give, but we have to know
when to do that.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
And when's the right.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Way or what is the right situation to be able
to pull that empathy out and use it in the
most appropriate way. So what I always tell individuals is
every skill that you have has a moment to be
used and a moment to be used most powerfully. And
(26:05):
getting used to knowing when those are when to pull
from one skill versus the other. That is going to
make you an exceptional human and an exceptional career professional.
So if you are an empathetic person, it is essential
and with every skill, it is essential that you know
when to.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Use that empathy.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
And I think that using that empathy is really great
when it comes to team management.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I think using that empathy is.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Great when it comes to customer service and servicing customers.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
That's going to really make you shine.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
And know that empathy might be something that you use
a little less of or temper if you're in a
high level leadership meeting where you need to then turn
on your strategy or use another skill that is best
suited for those conversations, for those individuals and for that moment.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Yeah, I love that. And so the ZEI Empathetic Jobs
Report that's going to be on your blog, correct absolutely.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
It is up on our Zetti blog, so zetti dot com,
and it is a great report for anyone who's interested
in learning a little bit more about empathy, about empathy
as a job security tactic, and also which jobs and
positions we really recommend if you're empathetic and also want
to have that job security.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Okay, and I thought it was interesting that the roles
that y'all looked at not only scored high in empathy,
but they offered at least fifty thousand a year and
showed faster than average growth. All of those things are
absolutely wonderful. So yeah, I definitely encourage people to check
that out. And you said, it's Zeti dot com and
then there'll be a link to the blog on that
(27:48):
main page.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Yep. You can go to Zetti dot com slash blog
and you can also go onto zetti dot com for
any resume template needs as well. So if you're a
job seeker there and you need some help, let us
help you out.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Awesome, And we're coming up on the end of our time.
But I always like to ask this question. You're the expert,
and I'm just curious, is there anything the audience needs
to know about this job's report or anything to do
with Zetti that I didn't know to ask you about today.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Yeah, So, if you are interested in learning more about
how to grow in your career, if you're having questions
about your job search, one of the things that we
at Zetti really like to do our things like this.
We love putting out these kinds of reports that answer
questions that most job seekers are asking, like how can
(28:42):
I find job security in this challenging job market where
AI seems to be taking things over. But we also
had super fun things as well on there about your
job growth, like how is gossip affecting you at work?
And how can you really navigate that? So we always
like to put out these reports the surveys to showcase
(29:03):
and highlight some of the big questions that career professionals
have and job seekers have. So make sure that you
check out Betty dot com for all of your career needs,
and our blog posts are there and you can check
out all of the most recent and past ones.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
I love that. I love that. Thank you so much
for coming on the show again. I am sure we'll
be talking again in the near future, but I appreciate
your time today.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Awesome. Thank you so much for Rebacca. It was so
fun as always.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I hope you've enjoyed today's show. Thanks for tuning in
to the show on your favorite local radio station. You
can now listen to this show or past shows through
the iheartapp or on iHeart dot com. Just search for
Virginia Focus under podcasts. I'm Rebecca Hughes with the Virginia
News Network, and I'll be here next week on Virginia Focus.