Career Switch Podcast: Expert advice for your career change · Lixandra Urresta

36: How to be more confident with your career change

·31 min·2 clips

Sammy says career changers need confidence because hiring managers want proof they can do the new job.

Career Switch Podcast opens by framing career change as something that takes guts and still calls for action. Alexandra Uresta brings in Sammy Walker Herrera, a public speaking and confidence coach and founder of Speak Y'all, to talk about one of the hardest parts of switching fields. The issue is not only getting interviews. It is convincing a hiring manager that you can do the job in a new industry or profession. The episode pays close attention to how that pressure shows up on Zoom. Sammy explains that many people naturally look at the person on screen instead of the camera. She is actively training herself to look at the webcam so the other person gets direct eye contact. She notes that this does not come naturally for everyone. For some people, it never feels necessary. For others, it is a skill worth building. The episode stays grounded in ordinary interview habits. Sammy suggests looking at the middle of someone's forehead if full eye contact feels too hard. She also talks about balancing eye contact with taking notes. In a panel interview, she recommends giving each person a little time rather than locking onto just one face. Those are small adjustments, but the episode treats them as part of the larger work of looking confident. Sammy draws a clear line between in-person and virtual presence. If an interview is on camera, she recommends looking directly at the webcam because that is the closest simulation of eye contact. Alexandra raises the obvious concern: if you are not looking at the screen, how do you know whether you are speaking well or engaging people? Sammy says that question comes up a lot and that the answer may feel unpopular. Her point is that it matters more to feel good about your speaking on your own than to seek validation in the moment. That idea gives the episode its center. Confidence is treated less like performance and more like internal steadiness that can be practiced. The episode also keeps returning to the idea of micro skills. Sammy wants people to build both the verbal and the visual parts of speaking so they can become confident and competent public speakers. Alexandra stays in the role the episode favors: asking direct questions, repeating the guest's point in plain language, and moving the story forward step by step. The result is a careful conversation that feels useful without pretending there is a shortcut. The tone stays warm and practical throughout. The episode does not overcomplicate what is at stake. It acknowledges that job interviews today often happen on video. It also recognizes that many listeners are carrying uncertainty, not just ambition. Career Switch Podcast presents that uncertainty as normal. Sammy's advice does not promise instant ease. It points toward habits that can be learned. By the end, the episode has turned a vague feeling of nervousness into a set of actions around eye contact, camera use, note-taking, and self-trust. The emphasis is on what can be practiced now, not on a perfect future version of confidence. The episode also fits the show's larger purpose. Career changes are framed as real decisions people make in real lives, not as polished reinventions. That means the episode leaves room for the messy part: being capable before you fully feel it. It also leaves room for the listener to keep going even when the transition is not tidy. Sammy's perspective is especially useful because it does not treat confidence as a personality trait. It treats it as something that can be shaped through repetition. Looking at the camera is one example. Learning to hold your own speaking without needing immediate feedback is another. So is knowing how to split attention across a panel without losing yourself. The episode is strongest when it stays with those details. It is not trying to cover every part of a job search. It is trying to help listeners sound like themselves while proving they can do something new. That focus makes the advice easy to hear and easier to use. By the close, the message is simple. Confidence during a career switch is built through small behaviors that make your communication more steady and your presence more believable. The episode keeps the advice plainspoken so it can travel with the listener into a real interview.

As heard by us

Confidence, not credentials, is the bottleneck in a career change.

This episode treats a career switch as a confidence problem as much as a qualifications problem. A strong resume and a stack of interviews still matter, but the harder part is convincing a hiring manager that you can do the work in a new field.

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Why you'd press play

When your resume is strong but your interview presence still wobbles.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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