Aurelie Communicates her Value Across Industries

By Sandra Quelle, Chief Happiness Officer, The Happy Mondays Co

#HappyMondays

President of PrimeTime Business and Professional Women's Association (PrimeTime), a thought-leader in Risk, TEDx speaker, keynote speaker, mum of Nolan and Nelly, wife of Karim and for us the greatest example of a supermum.

We created the term supermum after we worked with Aurelie, yes Aurelie it’s true! We were blown away by her energy and determination to pursue her Happy Mondays. And just over 6 months later were actually celebrating it!

As we repeatedly say, there isn’t a universal definition of a Happy Monday. It’s all about finding the career path where your ambition is directed towards meaning and joy, in a job which bridges the gaps between your inner talents, your values, and what matters to you. And that, in Aurelie’s case, turned out to be a high-powered job leading the Asia risk function at an international technology company.

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Sandra: Hi Aurelie, thank you for talking with me today, I am so excited to catch up and hear how your new job is working out for you.

Aurelie: It’s always so lovely to see you, Sandra! I am still blown away by how you could take my risk-industry lingo and turn it into plain English and results-based achievements!

Sandra: You’re welcome! Let’s start with why you went searching for a Happy Monday.

Aurelie: Well I was between jobs at the time. I was at PrimeTime and a friend recommended The Happy Mondays Co to me, to help me strategically choose my next career step. It was a great move! Working with Emma to define what success and my happy job look like for me was key. It really helped me to understand my needs and vision. Thanks to this exercise it came clear to me what I needed from my work so it would fit my life – stuff like flexible working.

Sandra: I’m glad to hear so! Giving ourselves the opportunity to create our own definition of success is key. The fun-hard work didn’t finish there though, right?

Aurelie: You’re right. That was just the beginning! I knew my skill set was transferable across industries, however, you and I seemed to be the only ones who thought so, unfortunately. The challenge was set, to make me attractive to other industries.

I still can’t believe how we rebuilt my branding. I would say things like “I made a more efficient risk analysis” or “I created a risk heat map for x” and you would take that and turn it into, “I saved the company this much money by identifying and responding to risk x”. It was fascinating to see my CV being transformed from risk lingo to a results-driven CV, speaking a simple attractive business language. I have to admit it wasn’t always easy, but the result was definitely worth the effort. A few weeks later I was in a position where I had to choose from two jobs!

Sandra: I’m glad the new branding worked so well. Having multiple offers to choose from is the dream for many, but it's also a delicate situation. How did you choose between the two?

Aurelie: Well, despite my desire to change sectors my initial impulse was to go for the comfortable option, the job in the same industry. But you didn’t let me take the easy way out! We sat down for a coffee and put on paper the details of both job offers. Comparing the job scopes to my happy job definition, gave me the courage to choose the technology industry job, which was a big leap for me, but I knew was the right one, just buried under some nerves about the unknown.

Both companies are great, so ensuring I managed this situation with delicacy was also crucial not to burn any bridges.

Sandra: Now we get to the negotiation part of the story! What was your experience of that part?

Aurelie: Haha! I still remember it! You said “DO NOT commit to anything before talking to me!’. I had to be all non-committal. Taking a holistic approach to the remuneration discussion was great. It helped me understand the difference between my needs and wants, which helped me negotiate with confidence while making sure I had all the answer to all the questions that were important for me. 

Sandra: And now you have your Happy Monday! How does it feel?

Aurelie: Oh it’s like night and day! I have really enjoyed this job so far. I flew to the US to meet the wider team, I’ve been working on the cutting edge with risk technology that absolutely fascinates me, and I’ve got flexible working arrangements as part of the company policy. I’m loving it!

Sandra: I’m so happy for you! What is the one part of the process you found the most useful and interesting?

Aurelie: I found the part where we translated my risk-speak into your results-speak. It’s completely changed how I look at myself and how I talk about myself.

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If you want to find out more about how to find your Happy Monday, then please contact me on LinkedIn messenger and I’d be happy to sit down with you.

TOP TIP: Listen to Aurelie's TEDx talk, Swimming With Sharks (in a cage), it's so inspiring!

We have a roundtable on negotiation coming up, please join us!