Guest: Kelsie Marks

In this episode of the Become an IDOL podcast, host Robin Sargent interviews Kelsie Marks, the director of resume services at Educated Exit, an organization that helps teachers transition out of the education profession.

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Enjoy the Episode Transcript below:   

Robin Sargent  

Welcome to become an idol. I'm Dr. Robin Sargent, owner of IDOL courses. This is the place where newbies come to learn and veterans share their knowledge.

Robin Sargent  

I have here with me today, Kelsie Marks. And you may have seen Kelsie Marks on LinkedIn, she's a very popular voice. For those that are looking to transition out of teaching. She is the director of resume services for Educated Exit. And I found her on LinkedIn. And Kelsie, would you just do a better job of introducing yourself and who you are and what it is that you do? 

Kelsie Marks  

Sure. Thank you so much for having me on today. So like you said, I'm Kelsie Marks. I'm the director of resume services at Educated Exit. And our primary focus is helping teachers exit the education profession, and find more, I wouldn't say more rewarding but rewarding careers after education.

Robin Sargent  

So how did you get into this I imagined were you teacher at one point, give me your backstory. 

Kelsie Marks  

Sure. So I was a preschool teacher, I wanted to... from the time I was a young child, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. Went to college to be a teacher, graduated, worked in preschool for two and a half years, loved it, but ultimately wanted to do more with my career. At that point, I went and got a master's in education with my school counseling credential. Worked in the school counseling setting for about two and a half more years. And then at that point, due to a variety of factors in the education system, my personal life, I decided to exit the profession. And I did transition into ed tech at that time. 

Robin Sargent  

So, I bet a lot of people could probably relate with you, Kelsie, on some of those struggles that you had that made you make that decision to leave the classroom. And I know you're pretty general, are there any that you could share that other people usually relate to you on? 

Kelsie Marks  

Yeah, I think when it comes to leaving the classroom, or leaving the school building, there are a lot of emotions that go into it, right. For me, as an educator, my identity was an educator. I had wanted to be an educator my entire life, I played school as a child and in my parents living room. And for me, once I got to that goal and got to that dream and saw just the extent of what teachers and school counselors are dealing with, the lack of support, the lack of resources, and sometimes even like the harmful situations that we're put in. It was just too much for me. I was commuting over an hour to work each day. I couldn't afford the gas in my car, like it was hard. And ultimately, I loved my students I did. It was not the students who drove me away. It was everything else. And if you're an educator, you know what everything else means, right? It's the mental load of constant decision making. It's the not so nice comments from parents or administrators. It's the lack of work life balance, all of those things combined. I also personally dealt with and put and it's what ultimately pushed me out of the profession.

Robin Sargent  

So you made the decision to leave education. I imagine that it wasn't just like, tada, I'm now in edtech. What did that transition look like for you, Kelsie? Like, how did you do it? How do you go about it? What kind of role did you land in edtech? 

Kelsie Marks  

So, I used a strategy that I share with all of our clients now. And that is the importance of networking. I ultimately found my role outside of education at a conference networking. And that was back in 2018/2019 when we were doing more in person conferences, right, pre COVID. So it was a lot more personable in a way to network and schmooze and really have conversations with people. But at Educated Exit, we do apply those kinds of same strategies in terms of networking virtually to leave the education system, but that's how I ultimately left and I've been very open on LinkedIn like I tried the spray and pray method which is applying for tons of jobs with one generic resume. I tried that it didn't work. I tried going to like local mixers for my like local community in terms of HR networking and things like that. And I didn't find a lot of success with that either. And so I took everything that I learned through that experience and exiting, and teamed up with Chris MacLean, who is our CEO. And we together he brought the sales aspect, I brought, you know, the education and the transitioning piece. We created Educated Exit in that way.

Robin Sargent  

I love it. And so what was the role that you landed in ed tech?

Kelsie Marks  

Oh, I was a product support specialist. So I was doing training and technical support in ed tech. 

Robin Sargent  

You're doing training! Oh, good. Okay, good. And so there really is power in the, in the network. I mean, the majority of even my own students, they land jobs, because well, one because of the alumni network in the school and too, because when you show up on LinkedIn, and you update your profile, and you get noticed, right, and there's a lot of just backdoor conversations that happen on InMail, let's say, Hey, I saw your profile or oh I know, you know this person, and so on. So it's interesting to hear that that was your experience as well. And so, alright, so you are now working in training. And when did you start to decide with Chris, like, I'm ready to give back and help people make the same exit that I did.

Kelsie Marks  

So it really didn't happen until much later on. I worked there for about a year and a half. Ultimately, I left my job to move across the country for my husband's job. And at that point, I took a little bit of a career break, I moved across the country, got us really settled in our current home base here in the DFW area. And I'm very honest with my network. Working in edtech wasn't for me. And so I took some time to really like evaluate what I wanted next, right, because I had been a teacher, I had been a school counselor, I had worked in edtech, I had worked all the way up to that. And then I realized that maybe that really wasn't what I wanted. It was a great job, I worked for a great company. But ultimately, it just wasn't for me. And so I really took about 18 months to learn some new skills, work on my networking, really kind of dive deep into what I wanted in the next phase of my career. And that's when I ultimately met Chris. And we, together, started talking about his strengths, my strengths, what we could offer a niche group of educators. And that's how we really came up with the idea of Educated Exit. 

Robin Sargent  

I love it. And that's so true, right? And but you found a way out, right? And that you if you wouldn't have found a way out, then you wouldn't have found where your true calling is, which is where you are today. And so it's just another point of like how important it is to continue to take action towards whatever that current desire is because it'll open up a whole other set of possibilities or opportunities for you. So, alright, so you have started working with Chris. And I imagine that you just have all types of people and teachers from other places and locations and stories. So share some of the things that you have done in your role with educated exit. 

Kelsie Marks  

Sure, so I'll start with myself. I've built the following on LinkedIn have over 83,000 followers who subscribe to my content. I am the number one teacher career coach on LinkedIn. I give away more free content on LinkedIn than any other teacher career coach in the market. And I have earned two Top Voice Awards for my contributions to LinkedIn in general and my content there. So those are just some of my personal accomplishments. But overall, the Educated Exit team has helped over 1200 educators at this point. Our average time to get a job is about three to six months. I've had educators land jobs in as little as 30 days. I've had educators wait for kind of that like glass slipper type of role and have them take eight months. But yeah, we are... I would say probably the only career coaching... one on one career coaching firm specialized in transitioning teachers that is doing the volume and the quality that we are right now.

Robin Sargent  

Yeah, I mean that's definitely a large part of why I want to invite you here today, Kelsie. I wonder if part of your... these 1200 things and you even mentioned it in the beginning, where you're telling your own story about the type of emotions that come along with leaving the classroom. What is it that, you know, what are some of kind of the things that you say to help people transition or to deal with the emotions? And and what is what does that look like? What's some of the... you could share right now, some of your advice for just that first part of dealing with the mindset shift.

Kelsie Marks  

I would say, any type of major career change is going to come with a lot of emotions, everything from fear and guilt and shame to imposter syndrome and nerve and feelings of, am I good enough to do this? And what we tell all of our educators is that leaving education is a process, you're not just going to wake up tomorrow and have a job. There are definitely steps you need to work through there. We give our clients like personality and values, worksheets. We help them really understand what it is they want, after education. What does that look like? And really, through having some of those really challenging conversations, sometimes it's with a partner or a spouse or a parent, they kind of come to, I don't want to say completely deconstruct, but deconstruct their idea of being an educator, what career success after education looks like. And they then start to be able to articulate and formulate ideas around what is the next phase of my life centered around? What does career success after education look like?

Robin Sargent  

And I imagine that without these 1200 people, it's not a one size fits all right, just like even their timeline is... varies from teacher to teacher. And what are some of the different career opportunities that you've seen people go into? I'm sure that's a long list, but just off the top of your head. 

Kelsie Marks  

Yeah, I've seen probably, I don't want to say everything at this point. But I've seen quite a few things. I recently had someone land an interview for a fertility counselor, with a like IVF center. I've seen a lot of project management, instructional design, I've seen customer success, pharmaceutical sales, regular tech sales. Let's see what else? I've had people go into social media management, corporate training, I've had people go into business development in like the real estate space. I've had people go into marketing, educational publishing, I've had people start businesses, I mean, really the list goes on and on. I've seen quite a few different career options at this point. 

Robin Sargent  

And so when they come to you, what is that process... when they come to Educated Exit, what does that process look like? Is it... because there's so many different career fields to go into. Do you talk about the process? And how do you help them? I know, they got their values worksheet and finding out what like what's in alignment with them. But how do you take them all the way to the end of the road? 

Kelsie Marks  

Sure. So, with Chris and I, it's kind of a tag team process. He is the one who is like the very first point of contact, he works with them through like their workplace values, what they want their life after education to look like? What are their strongest transferable skills? Once we've kind of gotten that going, we can help them build a list of positions in which they're interested for, companies in which they are interested for, companies that align with their values. And then we come together as a team, we help build their professional documents, build out their LinkedIn. We help with kind of translating their education skills to corporate skills. And then from there, Chris kind of ties it up at the end with the networking and sales piece, and job search as a sales process. And then we are there really holding their hand, supporting them through the entire rest of the process. So if that's interview prep, if that's revisions to their documents, if that's offered negotiation, whatever that looks like we are there holding their hand throughout the rest of the process.

Robin Sargent  

Do you ever tell them that if they want to go into certain sectors or certain fields that they need to go and get... learn and get new skills? Or is it just about formatting a resume and networking to land these different roles that you've mentioned? 

Kelsie Marks  

So, it really depends on the person and what they're kind of coming to the table with. Absolutely, I've had people who needed to go and get different certifications and train on certain skills. I've also had people on the opposite end of the spectrum who went into education after having a three or four year stint in the business world. So it's just really dependent on the person where they're at, their past experiences, what kind of skills they're already bringing to the transition process and where they're ultimately looking to go.

Robin Sargent  

I'm sure that you've just had so many different types of clients, Kelsie, I mean, I just know that out of 1200 people, you're getting a lot of different personalities, but I'm sure that there are some tried and true advice. And what are some of the advice that you would give people right at the beginning of their journey? I know you've talked about the process. But could you go a little more in detail about what are some of those things that you tell them to do right at the beginning, so that they can start figuring out. Because like say, they say like, okay, my values are this, but maybe they have no idea what it looks like to work in the corporate or what even their options are? And so what are some of those? What's the homework you give them? That's, that's my question.

Kelsie Marks  

Yeah, I think it you know, it really depends on the person. But generally, the tried and trued advice that I give is, before you send out a resume, before you connect with somebody on LinkedIn, before you make a LinkedIn, you need to start figuring out, what do you want life after education to look like? Is working remote important for you? Is making your own schedule? Is making a certain amount of money? Or what is important to you? Because without understanding what you want out of your job search it's going to be really hard for you to narrow down that job search. I would say the next piece of advice I would give people is, especially educators, if you're not on LinkedIn, get on LinkedIn. Fill out your profile completely. Add as many skills as you can, I believe with LinkedIn, like the basic subscription, or a basic account, you can do up to 50 skills, max out those skills. Make sure they're your strongest transferable skills. I often see educators putting things like classroom management, human behavior, those are not your strongest skills. If you're looking to transition to corporate. You want to think about things like calendar management, budget projections, project management, those types of things are really the skills that are going to get you out of education and into the corporate world. And then the next biggest piece of advice I would say is, before you send out any other application material, I would just start reading job postings. Understand what is a customer success position? What is a project management position? What is a business development position? What skills do you already have, that could make you successful in that position? At that point, you're really start... ready to start evaluating where you need to go. And where you need to go from there is really kind of up to you and your own personal values. Is it time to hire a coach and help me leave the education system? Is it time to work on my own professional documents? Do I have enough information to do that? Is it time to start networking? Because my professional documents are already at the level that I think they should be at? It's going to really depend person to person, but I would say those three steps are the biggest three things to get you started.

Kelsie Marks  

Yeah, I mean, that's enough to chew on, isn't it? 

Kelsie Marks  

Yeah. And that process could look very different from some people. You know, I have some people who hit the ground running, and they've done endless amounts of work in 60 days, and I'm like, wow, how did you sleep? And I have some people who take like, two to three months and really spend their time meticulously going over things and thinking about things and having conversations with their spouse. So, I don't want to put a timeline on anything because everyone's life looks different. And what I do in my free time and how I want to spend my free time is going to look very different than someone else's.

Robin Sargent  

I wonder what is it? Is it that people say whenever they do finally make the decision, pull the trigger and sign up with Educated Exit? Where is it in that journey where they're say, Gosh, I can't do all this on my own. I need some help. What does that look like? 

Kelsie Marks  

Usually, our clients come to us... I would say 78% of our clients come to us after unsuccessfully working with another coach. I've spoken about this on LinkedIn. I've heard really heartbreaking stories of people paying $700 plus for a resume and it not working. I'm not here to bash any coach, but 78% of my clients come to us after unsuccessfully working with other coaches. From there, I usually get a lot of people who have tried for anywhere from six to eight months to leave the education system on their own. And they're just not finding success. And I would say those are the two biggest categories we see right now. I would say one category that is slowly growing, especially as the Educated Exit brand grows, is that people who are ready to leave and know they're ready to leave, but know they're not going to be able to do it on their own. And they sign up first thing right away, ready to hit the ground running. 

Robin Sargent  

Yeah, that's fascinating. 78% have already signed up for another coach and that just didn't work. I just wonder what are some of the things... I know we're not looking to say names or whatever, but what are those things that maybe there's somebody here, and I would say, of course, Kelsie and her team have a proven track record, but what are some of the things that they should be looking out for to make sure that they don't fall into the 78% trap?

Kelsie Marks  

I would say the biggest thing is a proven track record of working with transitioning teachers. So you're gonna want to look for somebody who has consistently worked with transitioning teachers in terms of getting them out of education. One teacher is not enough, they need to show that they've consistently helped people. I would say someone who has good reviews from other transitioning teachers. Someone's reviews on LinkedIn, or reviews on Yelp speaks volumes to who they are and the type of service that they provide. And the third is, I would look for someone who has experience on both side of the equations. At Educated Exit, we are the only teacher career coaching firm that has experience both on the hiring side, and the education side. So Chris, comes to the conversation or comes to the table with close to 20 years of working in sales, leading sales teams, including hiring, firing, sad as that sounds and onboarding new employees. So he knows more of that corporate jargon, corporate inner workings. And when it comes to the hiring. I bring the education aspect. So I have been an educator, I know what it takes to transition. I've worked in career services. So I've worked with employers to help recruit talent. So we are combined, bringing a variety of skills that really not everyone can bring. Not saying that there aren't good other teacher career coaches, there are, but you're gonna want to look for someone who can speak to the knowledge and the breadth of their knowledge across that spectrum.

Robin Sargent  

Yeah, for sure, for sure, right. And just because they make content online doesn't mean that they know what they are doing, or that they've ever been there and done that. And I just want to know, Kelsie, what is kind of your best and final advice for those teachers that are looking to make an exit? What is the thing that you just want them to know? And to like, carry with them as they go through that process?

Kelsie Marks  

Have patience, it's a process. And I will be the first person to tell you, I will be the first person to raise your hand and say, I know it's frustrating. I get it. I've been there. I've had my feelings hurt. I truly know what you're going through. However, you just need to trust the process. Working with a coach, working with someone who can help you or having very clear expectations or a very clear plan on your own, and trusting the process and consistently putting in the work to get to a goal is the best way to get to a goal. 

Robin Sargent  

I love it. This has just been so enjoyable. Kelsie, thank you so much for coming and sharing your own story and journey and expertise. Where can everybody find you? I know they can find you on LinkedIn and do you want to share any other places they can come find you?

Kelsie Marks  

Sure so I am on Twitter as Kelsie Marks. I'm also on Tik Tok is Kelsie Marks and then if you're looking to follow us the brand Educated Exit, we are on Instagram as Educated Exit. We are also on LinkedIn as a brand, EducatedExit.com on LinkedIn.

Robin Sargent  

Yeah, and you guys are sharing a ton of tips about making that making that exit. So thank you again for joining me on the Become an IDOL podcast. I know that so many teachers are here because they are looking to transition out of the classroom and into instructional design. And it's just been such a pleasure having you. Thank you.

Kelsie Marks  

Thank you. Thank you. I enjoyed my time here.

Robin Sargent  

Thank you so much for listening. You can find the show notes for this episode at idolcourses.com. If you liked this podcast and you want to become an instructional designer, and online learning developer, join me in the IDOL courses Academy where you'll learn to build all the assets you need to land your first instructional design job, early access to this podcast, tutorials for how to use the elearning authoring tools, templates for everything course building and paid instructional design experience opportunities. Go to idolcourses.com/academy and enroll or get on the waitlist. Now get out there and build transcendent courses.

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