879. Never Let Others Dictate What Is Possible For You
Melissa Dobbins
“Some people probably do not do what they love because they can’t, they’re trapped. They are never given that chance to get onto the ladder, to start climbing it or to get to the place they want to be. And that’s what Career.Place is trying to solve. It is to open up those doors and give those opportunities to people who have that talent and have that ability and just haven’t been given that shot, that equal opportunity.”
Removing bias from talent evaluation is more than just opening the door to a wider candidate pool in today’s fierce competition for talent. It drives diversity, efficiency, and compliance. That’s why Melissa Dobbins formed Career.Place, an anonymous candidate evaluation solution that removes bias from the screening process. Career.Place removes bias-laden resumes and time consuming screening calls from the hiring process and replaces them with a systemic solution that equips the hiring team with the ability to easily and objectively identify those best qualified for the job.
The Most Impactful Turning Point?
“As you might have guessed, I was very big into math and science. And as an added little bonus, I’m dyslexic. So my least favorite topics were anything that was heavy with reading. I could do around seventh grade math in third grade, but I couldn’t read yet. I was ridiculed quite a bit and I was struggling to find my place and where I could belong. I had a teacher in sixth grade who pulled me aside and she said, “Melissa, you are too smart for this. You have to stop letting what people tell you your limitations are dictate what you can do. You are much better than this.” Everything shifted because it went from “I can’t do it” to “No, I’m going to show you.” You can have these moments in life that just shift your entire path. I became a straight A student from there because it was all about not letting other people dictate what’s possible.”
The Most Powerful Lessons and Experiences?
1) Never let others dictate what is possible for you to achieve.
2) One of the mottos that I live by is always be part of the solution.
“I’d be interviewing for high level product management positions, and product management is not an easy role. But rather than being interviewed to see that I could rise to the challenges, that I could do difficult tasks like tell customers no and argue for funding future programs, [they asked irrelevant questions.] It got so bad in some of these interviews that I would interrupt them and I would tell them what they should be asking me. They were so distracted by what they saw, what they were assuming when they looked at me, that they forgot to evaluate what I’m actually capable of and what value I could bring to their organization. And eventually I was so frustrated by these situations, it was either I had to figure out a way to help solve this or I had to put up with the problem. So I left my job and started Career.Place.”
3) Keep an open mind. I have never once guessed my next step correctly and I’ve never once regretted it. So look at what is in front of you, what the opportunities are, and evaluate each one as they come.
4) Always seek opportunities. Don’t just wait for opportunities to come to you. Always take that risk and go for that step. Because if you don’t try, if you don’t ask, the answer will definitely be no.
5) Be self-reflective. Ask yourself what is it that makes you happy? I think there are a lot of people who don’t take a moment to stop and reflect on that.
Connecting With Melissa Dobbins
Website: www.career.place/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/melissadobbins/
