DAY 1 - Find What’s Costing You Job Opportunities [Reverse the Search LIVE]

This is Reverse the Search Live. I'm Madeline Mann. Go ahead and say hi in the chat. I'm already seeing so many people already saying hi. So good to be live here with you. Chris was the first one here. Claudia's coming in from the UK. Auto This World is here. Welcome, welcome. We have Roseanne. We have Tan. We have Gwen. We have Ruth, John, and we are streaming across 4 different platforms right now. So welcome, everyone, from, from all across the internet. So today we are kicking off day 1 of a 5-day masterclass. And this is really going to be focused on things that I have never shared in any of these classes before. The content is new. It is fresh. I recently came back from LinkedIn's Talent Connect Summit, which is a summit that is invitation only, and it is revealing all of the statistics, all of the important things that hiring teams and recruiters are doing to get talent. It is focused on the hiring teams, but that makes that the perfect conference for a job search coach to go to. Why? Because now I'm hearing how all these companies are thinking through hiring. It is the perfect way to reverse engineer your job search strategy. And I'm going to share that with you over the next 5 days. And yes, we got Sergio from Hollywood. Karen's here. Stacy's here. Oh my gosh. The Alias Kelly, welcome. So good to have you here. So today is— we're going to focus on day 1, find what's costing you job opportunities. We are going to go over a lot of different strategies over the next 5 days. And you going in with what are the things you're going to focus your most time and energy on is going to be important. There is some such thing called productive procrastination in the job search where we tend to focus most of our energy on the tasks that feel easiest yet still feel productive. For example, you may have a fairly high converting resume, but yet you still keep editing it and editing it when that's really not the issue. And so we need to focus on the right things. And that's what we're going to dial in today is some of these insights of what companies are looking for and making sure your effort is going in the right areas in your particular job search. Day 2 will become the obvious candidate. So we're going to talk about 3 major strategies to get more job interviews. Day 3 is going to be turning interviews into job offers. So if you are someone who is going into interviews, but yet for some reason that is not turning into the offer, how exhausting is that? We're going to fix that day 3. Day 4, you're going to build your job shopping system. So we are going to make sure that everything you've learned so far in the week, you're going to put together a system of a plan of attack of how you are going to transform your job search. And then day 5, I've realized that you all thrive on real-world examples. I talk a lot about strategies, but when you see it applied to a lot of different situations, light bulbs go off. So guess what? I'm doing something I've never done before, ever, literally ever. And you could be a part of it. Essentially, I'm bringing on you live on the call, not just in the chat, but on the call. I will verbally talk to you and you could be a part of that. So if you want to submit your questions for that, we will put the link in the chat and you can be a part of that. And that will be a really great way to solidify all of your learnings. And you'll hear me work, work with people through it. Plus, I wanted to give a quick announcement that we are doing a Black Friday deal right now through October 27th. We're doing $1,500 off our coaching program. So I'll tell you more about that a little bit today, but mostly throughout the week, I'll give more context to my coaching program. But I would say now's the time if you are looking for a sign that you need to elevate your job search. This is it. The hiring season is upon us. We've seen our clients doing really well right now. And it's— we have time before the holidays to make it happen for you. All right. So let's dive into day 1, what's costing you job offers. We're going to go through the 6 levels of the job search. We're going to diagnose your area of improvement. We'll dive into a case study after that. And I will do a live Q&A today. So keep putting your questions in the chat. I— my team is, is grabbing them. And then at the end, I'll save time to answer your questions. Okay. So put your biggest job search gripe in the chat. What is the thing that is bothering you the most about your job search right now? So here are some of the things I am hearing, and I want to hear from you as well. So I'm hearing from you, I'm doing everything right. What is missing? Okay. Because you have done this before. You've done this job search before, and it wasn't this hard before. What is happening? And you're willing to win. You're willing to do what it takes to win, but you're not getting any feedback. And that is something I'm hearing from so many people is it's so frustrating to not have any feedback when your application gets rejected, when you get ghosted by the recruiter, anything like that. The no response. Oh my gosh, you all can handle rejection pretty well. Rejection is still terrible, but it is so tough when you just simply don't even hear back at all. And overall, I hear fake job postings wasting your time, AI scanning your resume, scams, long interview processes, getting ghosted. You basically say This is absolutely ridiculous. So let's see what you are saying. So yes, I'm, I'm not getting success after 15 months of failure, says Madita. Remote is not really remote, says Christy. Interesting. Yes. Jobs stay open forever, says Chris. Continuous change in what they're looking for, or it seems that way. Ghosting from recruiters, says Tara. Puts the ghost emojis. I feel like my CV is just not right. Okay, let's, let's make sure. Let's solve that tomorrow. Okay, keep that, Saad, keep that in your head. Let's solve that tomorrow. For day 2 of this class, I keep getting notices that I wasn't chosen for the job. Yes. Oh my gosh. The immediate response less than 12 hours after submitting on the weekend. So I'm guessing the immediate response is maybe a rejection, you're thinking, because immediate response sounds good. But if it's rejection, that's not great. They want to move on with other candidates. Exactly. Getting ghosted after 7 rounds. Oh my gosh, says Desi. Not even getting interviews. Okay. Oh, yes. Actually, AI robot conducting first round of interviews, says Tammy. Okay, we're going to talk about that today. We're going to talk about that. Okay. So this all is completely relatable. And so let's lock in now. Close your other tabs. Mute your phone. We are diving in now, and it's time to uncover exactly what you need to do to land more job offers. And we just do not multitask during this hour because you know I move fast and it will be a wasted hour otherwise. So let me share some data from LinkedIn's invite-only Talent Connect Summit. Now this data really confirmed some of my suspicions. I've been preaching on this for a while, and then seeing the data really made something in me kind of shake to my core. So they shared that large companies are now 31% leaner with 22% more revenue per employee. Just to further underline what that says, these companies laid off so many people and now are running With, you know, essentially 70% of the workforce they were using before, and now they're making so much more money per employee. That essentially means that employees are now more cost-effective. They're more productive. All of us have gotten more productive. Of course, we can point heavily towards AI because of this. And then if you look at AI-native startups, they have 66% more revenue per employees. Absolutely bonkers. So if you were thinking, oh, maybe, maybe companies are replacing us with AI, it's not that necessarily they're replacing us. But yes, they are replacing tasks. They're replacing a lot of tasks and they're having to hire fewer people. And so what is the takeaway here? Write this down. Every hire is more deliberate. Now, I'm not telling you this to make some sort of doom and gloom or anything like that. This entire strategy of these next 5 days, the reason you follow me, the reason you showed up here is because I know the hiring process. I know the company's perspective. I come from an HR background. So I want you to get in the head of the employer because interviewing for a job is a high-ticket sale. Okay, write that down. You are giving a high-ticket sale. And what is the most important thing in a high-ticket sale? It's to understand who you're selling to. And so that's why I'm really trying to push this into your head over the next 5 days of understanding what companies are thinking right now. And that's why this is going to be so crucial for you to really lean in. Okay. So every hire is more deliberate. So a team that originally hired 100 people is now only hiring 70. So what does that mean? Well, you need to show that you are extremely tech savvy, that you are efficient, that you are someone who understands their problems. It's more competitive, quite simply. It is more competitive. But I'm also seeing so much traction with my clients and so, so many great interviews and all of that, that I'm not— I don't think that this is doom and gloom, but they are stepping it up. They are being quite competitive. Okay, next thing. There was a huge focus on candidate fraud at this summit. Okay, I looked at the calendar of events. Every 4th one was talking about, hey, how do you know your candidates have the right skills? How do you know that they're real people? And they said the stat that 1 in 4 candidates now applying to jobs is fake. So that means that they truly are not even real people. It doesn't even— it's not even that they're lying on their application, they're straight up fake. And so now we're seeing a shift more towards evaluations at the beginning of processes. So I saw someone earlier say that they had to do a first round, like an AI interview first round. They're doing things like that. They're pushing screening calls up top. They are pushing assessments up top, things that used to be kind of later in the rounds because they're getting so many not real candidates and not candidates that aren't viable for the process. And so they have to push that up to the front. And so it's so important to understand this because the key takeaway here is trust is at an all-time low. That's the alarm bell that should have been going off When I told you this stat? Oh my gosh, companies don't trust me. You are walking into a process right now where the other side does not trust you. So what do you do with that? You think, how do I build trust quickly, whereas other candidates are not building trust? And I'm going to dive into that, especially day 3. So if that's something that you're worried about, and you should be, day 3 is where we're going to dive into that. But that is a huge part of my coaching as well. Is how do you be the candidate that quickly builds that trust, quickly seems competent, quickly is immediately noticed even just by the application that you are real, you are sincere, you are the right match. Okay, that is super important. All right. So let's get to level 1. First of all, okay, and also make sure you have your workbook. Okay, you better have registered for this session. If you registered, you got your workbook I emailed to you multiple times. And if you haven't registered, you can go to selfmadeway.com/masterclass and you can register for this session and you'll get the workbook immediately. All right. So level 1, focus. So do you have one role you are targeting? Put that one role in the chat. Now, your role may have a very like variable titles, right? Not every role is just one title. And that's the way it is across every single company, but essentially one role. Now, When I say you need one role, a lot of people will push back on this and they'll say, well, Madeline, I need a job quickly. So that's why I'm keeping my options as open as possible. I could do sales, I could do product management, I could do marketing, I could do project management. And I say, oh my gosh, because you're doing that, you're actually cutting down the number of opportunities you're getting, the effectiveness of your resume and your LinkedIn. The— you're basically eliminating the opportunity to be sourced. you are making it nearly impossible for recruiters to, to reach out to you and also networking contacts to do things for you. Okay. So we have lots of folks in the chat sharing laboratory sciences, cashier, controller, web developer, human resources specialist. Keisha, we unite. We unite. Okay. Amazing. So perfect. So you can— and it's so cool to see how diverse this group is with all the different professions. And that's what our clientele is as well. We see so many different, so much different expertise. And that's why coaching is so important because your situation's unique. You often need a really unique solution and someone to tell you things very specific to your situation. So great. It sounds like a lot of you are focused. Next, I want you to check your market demand. What is market demand? Well, it is, it is essentially how many positions are open for your role and how much money it pays. Now, I'm a very pragmatic job search coach, career coach, whatever you want to call it. There, I do believe that you can have a job you love. And my clients will confirm time and time again that that's what they have. But they didn't select it based on, quote, their dream job or whatnot. What they selected it on is first and foremost market demand. Does this role pay me enough to live to the standard of living I would like to live at? And are there increasing openings year over year versus decreasing? Because that will mean that I will have more career security going forward versus having to pivot my career every few years because no one's hiring for this role. The other things to think about when you're choosing a role is your strengths and your values. Okay. So if you have your strengths, your values, and the market demand focus, you are going to pick the right role. Okay. So let's check your market demand right now. So I would go to head over to LinkedIn and let's see. Okay, perfect. Here we are. So go ahead and put the role that you are targeting and make sure to put it in quotes. So here I put marketing manager and I hit enter. So once you hit enter, okay, so maybe I'll give you a second. Open up LinkedIn, go up to the top of the search bar. Okay. In the search bar, put Put in quotes the the the title you're targeting. All right, after you've done that, click the word jobs the far left, and then put your country wherever the country you would be working in, and then put remote. Okay, so that gives you your number. The number I have here is one. Okay, so go ahead and do that, and then put your number in the chat when you get it. All right, so you searched it in quotes. Make sure it's in quotes. Jobs. Click remote. All of that. I will leave that up for a second. So go ahead and try that. And and so what you then do is. If you are going to see this, then essentially if your number was between 0 and 300, that's a low market demand role. If you're between 300 to 700, okay, that's medium market demand. And then if it's 700 and above, that is high market demand. Okay? So Here's the thing that you have to think about. So when it is, when it's like 0 to 300 and it's a low demand, you have 2 essentially options. One is maybe you want to pivot out of that. That's low market demand. It could be difficult to find a role. Now that maybe you're in a highly specialized field that is really in demand and there's just not a lot of roles out there, but, but, you know, your skills are super bespoke, then I would say you can still keep it there. You don't necessarily have to change, but just know that likely your focus is going to have to be possibly a bit more focused on the networking side. So maybe not a purely applications-focused approach. If you're on the medium side, I would say it's, you know, you could do partially networking, partially applications, like you'd definitely want a balance there as well. And if it's high, then pretty much the application process should be pretty solid for you to land a role. And, and it would say that, that, that is a role that's very likely growing and all of that. So that is, that's really what you want to, to see here. And yes, I'm seeing a lot of people have 99+. So yes, I would say you're around probably like somewhere around 100 to 120 results there. So, so yeah, exactly. Mine didn't show an exact number either. Mine said 1,000 plus. But it's kind of the general, the general scale. Okay. And I'm seeing some people have 600 plus. Yep. I'm seeing 57. Okay, cool. So there we go. Okay. So that, that helps you to understand, okay, what should I be focusing on, focusing on in the job search? Because if you're in a low demand role, and you're just like, pushing out lots of applications and not getting a lot of traction, that can sometimes be an indication. Okay. So when we're thinking about applications, we, we do want to think about, okay, if I'm not landing interviews, it's usually one or more of these 3 things. So the first of all, first of all is timing. So this is the toughest part of the job search. Now I do help my clients to work their way around timing, right? Such as being the first in line for opportunities that close and then reopen, you know, finding different ways to possibly get back into interview processes that had closed previously or whatnot. So there are ways to work with timing in your favor. But overall, timing really is the most difficult part of the job search, and it's not really your fault. So you could apply, but they could already have final round candidates. Like one of my clients, he's currently interviewing with 9 different places right now, but his second favorite place, they have currently a couple people in the final rounds and he's in the first round. And I told him, hey, you did really well in your interview. There's not a ton we can do from there. Maybe there's a couple things that we could do to really stand out, but at a certain point, timing can be really tough. The second thing is not being seen. So it is, it can be really challenging, um, when you are, uh, you're sending out these applications and only typically industries like education and government, they typically actually review all applications, which is another reason why those processes take especially long. But if you're targeting other industries a lot of times they stop reviewing applications when they get— they meet a certain quota or whatnot. So I would say that you need to find ways to make sure your application is seen, that it's actually being read. And then the third component is a bad application. So, you know, I think a lot of times we think our application is quite good, but then It turns out that there's something throwing it off. And I'll give an example of Paul. So Paul, he actually came on this live session last time I did it months ago and shared his story about how he was in the Air Force for 15 years, moved to Vegas, was then trying to land a job, but his background was as a space, you know, doing space operations. There was no outer space, you know, no space companies in Vegas. And he had all these different roles. He had like cybersecurity skills and training and development skills and project management skills on his resume when he came to join the program. And I said, you are very impressive. This resume is full of your best accomplishments, which is what we're all told. Aren't we all told that we should just put our best accomplishments on a resume? That's what he did. And it Completely screwed him over because he was not speaking to his customer, right? I told you earlier, job search. Oh, was I just on mute? I think I hit the button on my. My thing. Hopefully I didn't, I didn't miss too much there. But so essentially, he was, you know, he had to make a high-ticket sale, but he was putting way too much onto his resume that was, was putting him in all different directions. And what ended up happening is I helped him to optimize his resume just towards technical project management. And he ended up landing interviews with the top companies in Vegas, MGM, Caesars Palace, all this kind of stuff. So that really shifted his mindset. And so I think it's tough because his resume was perfect. Like it was correct. It was impressive and all that, but it wasn't speaking to that audience. And that's what a bad application can be. Now, he's been amazing. He landed an incredible role and he also even came back to the program and is now a mentor. And he mentors our clients and our alumni are just absolutely amazing. So yes. And sorry, I actually hit the button on my own microphone, which is why I lost volume. So thank you. Thank you for telling me. Okay. So level 4, the interview screen. So are you passing 50% of your first-round interviews? Put yes or no in the chat. Let me know. Um, I don't think that you need to necessarily pass every single first-round interview because even if you're amazing at first-round interviews, sometimes it's just the, the matchup between you is not correct. It's just, you know, you applied for the role or they reached out to you for the role, and once you start talking, it doesn't logistically make sense. So first round interviews are usually evaluating 3 things. So first is logistics. So, and I'll actually, I want to see some of your answers here of if you're passing. Okay. Yes and no. I'm actually seeing kind of 50/50/50. Okay. So perfect. All right. So the first thing the reason that you might not be passing 50% of them, which seems like a lot of you are and a lot of you are not. So that's— you all are in very good company here. The first thing is logistics. So can you commute to this location? Can you start the position in 2 weeks? Can you take this salary? Those types of things. So that's the first thing. If you're getting rejected, you have to think about those things logistically. Am I matching up point to point? The next thing is skill set. So they're essentially doing a checklist. Have you worked with this tool? Do you have experience with this, this type of work? Have you managed a team? How big was that team? How much revenue did that company have? So check, check, check. So are you hitting those checklists of skills? And we, in my program, we also have something called like a skill gap analysis, where it calculates how qualified you are for these opportunities to really see, okay, will this be a gap for you? Will the skill set be a gap for you? And then the third piece is communication/likability. This is the fuzzy stuff. This is the part where, you know, it is quite subjective, where it's really their opinion. I've heard a lot of feedback lately from companies that they really do not like candidates who are reading from scripts in the interview, that they are just so scripted, they sound so robotic. So that has to do with communication and likability. Uh, your, your, uh, ability to be concise is a huge thing. So yes, that these, these are super important. So if you are one of those people who is not passing 50%, really take a close look at these 3 components. And I think about Diane, y'all, before she became my client, she had interviewed with 30 different companies, often not passing the first round interview. Now, if you know anything about me as a coach, my absolute favorite thing is to coach on the job interview. That is my, that is my specialty. That is where I really shine as far as making someone super persuasive. So I was like, you are the perfect client because you're clearly, you're clear getting lots of interviews that I'm not even, I don't think I barely even touched her resume. Cause I'm like, this is working. And I listened to her interviews and it was so clear. It wasn't necessarily, it wasn't the logistics. It was definitely part of it was the skillset. So she had the skills, but whenever she was asked about it, she would kind of give the wrong examples and focus on the wrong things. Again, know your customer, know your customer. And second of all, the communication and likability. I think she's a very likable person, but there was a lot of rambling and all that. So I was able to really help her dial it in. I listened to her interviews. I said, hey, when you said this, this was great. When you say this next time, say it this way. And it really changed the game. She then landed her next— the next 4 companies she interviewed with, she got offers at all of them. 2 of them she sincerely considered, and she ultimately took her top offer. And so that brings us to level 5, the second interview. Are you passing approximately 40% of your second round interviews? Again, we can't necessarily win them all, but we do want to have a fairly high success rate, especially once we get into it where we're clearly qualified. And frankly, if you're not passing the second interview, it is very much because of the way you interview. It's not your qualifications. The first round is the qualifications, logistics, everything like that. Even if they tell you after the second round that, oh, someone more experienced got it, you just don't have this experience, blah, blah, blah. That's not really the real reason. You could have overcome that 95% of the time if you had been more persuasive. Because I have seen companies all the time hiring people who have way less experience than others because that person knew the company so much better. They spoke the language so much better. And, uh, and that can make a huge difference. And like I said, day 3, if you're struggling with this, day 3, day 3. Okay. So why didn't you pass the second interview? This is where it gets complex. And like I said, uh, I do not want to get too deep into this right now because this, I committed an entire session because when you get into the second, third round interviews, all that, you are going to win the offer by centimeters, not meters. So you have to— it's nuanced. It's not like these big sweeping gestures. It's these finer tuning results that will help you to win. And then level 6, the offer. Do you earn 30% of the offers when you get to the final round interview? And I know for a lot of you, this is a huge sticking point because you're making it to these final rounds constantly, or not me, not constantly, but a number of times. You can taste it. You picture this future. You have put so much effort into this. You already are like, or are planning what it's going to be like to work there. And then they either tell you they reject you or they completely stop talking to you. And it is absolutely demoralizing. And so we need to blow past this, uh, with, with these, uh, with this effort. Um, so really, that's— I really want to get to, you know, if, if you get 3 offers or if you get to 3 final rounds, I want at least At least you're getting one of those offers. Ideally, you're getting all 3, just like Diane, or all 4. So yes. And I'm seeing Marielle. Marielle says, job offers are the hardest for me. Exactly. Because only one person gets it. And even if you get the silver medal, silver medals don't really count in the job search, right? Silver medal, you don't, you don't get a prize for coming in second. So I totally, I totally get it. Oh my gosh. Okay, so which of these, which of these 6 levels do you have to focus on? Yes, uh, Yokaira says, I have a silver medal curse. You definitely follow me because you've definitely heard me talk about the silver medal curse. You rock. Yes. Um, so, uh, but I'm also— I'm sorry, I'm sorry you have silver medal curse. We will, we will uncurse you. On Wednesday. Okay, come back on Wednesday. We'll make sure you get uncursed. So put in the chat a number 1 through 6, or maybe there's multiple numbers. Like, what is the part that you need to focus on most? So for Marielle, it would be number 6. Like, that is the part where it gets the toughest. Or maybe it's 4 plus. It's like all the steps beyond 4. Or maybe it's the level 1, really getting focused. I'm curious to, to see what you say. So let's see. I'm seeing level 5, level 3, second interview, apparently all of it. I, I hear you. That's not unusual. All, says Bonnie as well. Um, yes. Says 5. Totally. Um, 3 or 4. 5 and 6 would be nice to have. Yes, exactly. And I'll put it back up on the screen, um, for anyone who missed the, the numbers. So, okay, so it's all over the board. A lot of people are saying all. Some people are saying later in the rounds. Some people are even saying earlier, the focus, the market demand. Got it. Yes. And that's really important that we're recognizing that today. Now, I'm so excited because we are going to walk through a case study right now. We have a special guest joining us live and She is the perfect person to speak to today because she went through all of this. She had to get clear on exactly the next step and work through interviews and applications weren't quite working and all these things. And I think when you hear from someone who's actually went through that super recently, she went through it really recently and we get to hear her journey of how did she work through that? even though she kept running into roadblocks, how did she end up coming out of it not just successful, but in a super, super wonderful role that really worked out for her? So I'm super excited to present Kaya. Welcome to—

Hi, Madeline. Thank you for having me.

So Kaya, we met Because you joined the coaching program, but give us the summary of what happened before. Where was your job search at?

Yeah, so I was laid off after 13 years with a single organization. My whole department was closed. I was kind of like, maybe this is going to be for the best because I know I'm ready for something different. I wanted to pivot to a different industry. But I had a very diverse background, which felt like a liability. Um, so I wasn't quite sure how to do it. Now, out of the gate, I got 2 interviews because I immediately started contacting people through my network. I got 2 interviews, and that's how I discovered you, because I went to YouTube to do some interview prep, and I found your videos very helpful. And I was the silver medalist for both of these jobs. Mm-hmm. And I was fine with that because I really didn't want either job, but as I I kept working, I wasn't getting anywhere. I knew that you had a book. I was like, this lady's insane if she thinks I'm spending $30 on her book. And then as I kept on, nothing was happening. I thought maybe I can get the book for a used copy, which I did. And I absolutely devoured it and found it super helpful. And I ended up attending one of your resume classes because I knew that my resume was a problem. Like I had said, it was 13 years in one place. I had done all these different things. It was like a Paul situation, and I just think people could not see their way through the mess of my resume. So I decided to do the resume class, and by the end of it, I thought to myself, I have a choice on the table. I can spend the next 18 to 24 months fumbling around with this by myself Or I can get some strategy and some support and some framework from you, um, through Standout Job Search. And it was really terrifying to sign up. I believed your origin stories about your own experience needing help with strategy. And you and I went back and forth, uh, to get all of my questions answered. And I made sure that I understand what all the rules were. And then I joined the program.

Wow. Yes. And I, I do think it's, it's quite the leap to trust a lady on the internet to say, let me, you know, give me your money. And I, and even though you're unemployed, you got laid off. So give me your money and I will, you know, sprinkle magic dust on your job search and suddenly companies are going to love you. And I remember your questions were very discerning. you were like, okay, but how is this going to work? Yeah. Blah, blah, blah. I'm not putting my money into some sort of freaky money pit. And so, yes. So that all makes sense. And that's also interesting how you said you were a silver medalist, but it wasn't roles that you actually wanted, which I think is also so relatable. A lot of us do go through interview processes for roles that we don't want. And And it's almost like we always want them to want us, but at the same time, it's almost like such a blessing that you didn't get it. And so, okay. So then once you joined the program, and I'll give everyone a preview, it was not just that you joined and everything was perfect right off the beginning. At all. What were some of the— take me through some of the steps you did. What did you do to improve your job search and take it step at a time?

Yeah. Well, I came in ready to work. I was like ready to do the work. And you were very honest about that, that you expect people to be here to work. You're not doing it for us, but you will give us the framework and the strategy. So I came in just as you were releasing the AI modules and the, and the Madeline AI, which was so helpful. I started working through all of the pieces I was supposed to work through, and you stopped me. And said, you need to focus. And I focused. I ended up focusing on an area, not a specific role. Mm-hmm. And so, because I have this unusual background, I was looking for jobs that I could fit myself into instead of jobs that fit me. And you kind of pumped the brakes on me a little bit on that one. And so, I had to do some uncomfortable narrowing, which was scary because in the job search process, there's such a sense of scarcity. So, it was hard to focus and believe that I was actually going to be doing myself a favor. But I also knew that I wanted to look back on this time and not reflect on the time of being unemployed and searching for a job and see it as I spent 7 months in a state of panic, but instead see it as I spent 7 months in a targeted, systematic, thoughtful way forward and was also able to live the other parts of my life while I was doing it. So I started working through all of the stuff, and I still just wasn't— I was having a hard time finding roles. I was having a hard time. I would apply for stuff and never hear back. And so, I told you. Yes. I remember so clearly reaching out and saying, Madeline, this isn't working for me and I need your help. And you responded to me immediately. And you said, thank you for letting me know. I need to know when this is happening. And you and I worked together so that you could understand where I was struggling and give me guidance on what to do next.

Yes. I want to pause here for a second because this is an important learning for everyone listening. So I told Kaya, hey, I need you to focus on a specific role. We agreed on the role. It got narrowed. She made it happen. She then went out there. It didn't work. Essentially, kind of the guy— the thing that we had agreed on didn't work. And I want to emphasize that the job search is collecting data points. So Kaya's job search is unique compared to everyone else I work with, and everyone listening right now has a unique job search. So what you need to do is you need to listen to the signs. So even if you're following something step by step, sometimes there's something off. So, you know, Kaya was following things to a T, and then it didn't work. And so she said, she said, step forward, hey. And I asked her, I think I asked you like for the data points, right? Like what's, how many, how many applications, like how many companies you're talking to, all this kind of stuff. Basically what we talked about earlier on this session. I was like, give me the data because that will help me to understand what is the point that where we're missing.

So one of the things that you had me do was you I had— I needed a reality check around networking because networking was one of the very first things that I did when I found out I was getting laid off months before I joined the program. And what I thought was networking was actually just talking to people who I knew who weren't in roles that I wanted, who weren't skip level, who didn't have hiring capabilities. So you had me talk to somebody else who works at Standout Job Search who gave me like a Hardcore crash course on this is how you network, and I know it's scary and you can do it. And that was a real game changer for me. You taught me how to use LinkedIn. You taught me how to understand what LinkedIn is there for. I hate social media. I've never been on social media, and you helped me get over that and use it to my benefit. And then Again, we had to work even more on what was going on with my resume and what was going on with my search and being that first person in line. I had to implement a lot of strategies that I wasn't like previously aware of, um, so that I was really going to be that first person in a job application.

I love that. And so ultimately we got to the bottom of it. And it was really the positioning was a bit off, right? It was like, originally the role we had decided on just didn't have the market demand. It didn't have the volume. It just, the volume wasn't there, y'all. And I think that this is so important to hear because you can try it. Everything about the job search is an experiment, but it didn't have it. And I was like, okay, can we pivot? What else was on the wall that we were looking at? And you said, well, this is another great opportunity. I said, okay, that is another great opportunity. Go forward. And frankly, you guys, she could have come back and said that didn't work either. And that would still have been progress. Sometimes you have to knock on some doors to see if no one's answering. So, okay. So then we got clear and this path was actually quite fruitful. Let's talk about it.

It was quite, quite fruitful, um, and it had its moments. So I did have a couple— I, I had an interview that I thought went really well, and then I just got a blanket rejection. And you listened to my entire interview that I had audio recorded it. You listened to the whole thing, and you were able to pinpoint something on the interviewer's end that you thought was going on. But you also gave me really valuable feedback on my— on the way that I was interviewing. So I also had— I used one of your techniques to get a response from a hiring manager, and then I never heard back from her. And you, and also actually Madeline AI, helped me just let it go and realize it actually had nothing to do with me. And yes, it hurt, and go ahead and feel bummed out about it, and then time to move on. And once those 2 things happened and I had gotten a lot of traction through networking and I had started really finding roles that were exciting and we had further played with my resume, I found a job that I was very excited about. And I, the night before the first interview, I also got— I was sourced through LinkedIn for a different, a totally different kind of job. 'Cause, and one fit one part of my unique background and one fit another part of my unique background. Then I started going through the interview process. You probably listened to 4 hours of me interviewing. Yes. And I really remember the last one that you listened to. It was a terrifying interview with the head of the department. And there was this one pivotal moment in it where I felt Her shift and your feedback. You said, I was listening to you and I just thought, there's no way she's not killing it right now. And it was amazing because it was such a shift from where I had started. Um, so I ended up in a situation that you talk about in your promotional materials and when, um, of getting 2 job offers. And when I was thinking about joining the program, I heard you talk about people getting 2 job offers and I was kind of like, okay. I bet that happens sometimes. Those are probably unusual people. There's something special about them. They're nothing like me. I got job offers back to back. I got one on the Friday before Memorial Day, and it was the one that I didn't want. And so, I didn't know if the job I really wanted was going to come through. And you helped me then too, because I needed to buy myself some time. And I also needed to really do some reflection about, can I take this job if the other one doesn't come through? And then on Tuesday, I got the job offer that I wanted. And you continued to help me because I had another offer sitting on the table. And so I was able to negotiate with them. The other offer was for significantly more money, but to your earlier point, it's not always about the dollars. And you had also helped me over the course of the program come to feel really comfortable and confident saying, this is what I'm worth. this is what I want to earn. And I have been in this job since June and I absolutely love it.

Yay. It's amazing. And yes, I was like, when I reached back out, I was like holding my breath. I was like, I hope she still loves her job. And you're like, I love it even more. So it's so good to hear. And I just, I think that it's just so important to realize that yes, like the The job search is so iterative. And even it's so interesting because I've noticed with a lot of clients, even the offer stage is stressful because you've had the offer and it's like, now I have to match timelines and get them to, should I accept this and then reject it later? Or should I push it later and move up the other offer so it happens sooner? It is so stressful, which is so funny because it's like, you'll see other people in the program stressing out about all the offers they have. And it's like, It's actually, it is actually, it's quite stressful, but it's a good problem to have.

It's a good problem.

Exactly. Exactly. And I think that, I think what was so important is, um, just the open communication. Right. And, and people also are always blown, their mind is always blown when they're like, I can just send in endless recordings of interviews and the coaches will just listen to all of them. Like, we don't cap it, which maybe it's—

Yeah.

But it's, you know, you, yeah.

You said early on you paid for this. So get what you paid for. And you really meant it. You really put your money where your mouth is.

I was like, yeah, use me till the cows come home. Yeah, exactly. So, and that's, I love to see it because I think the most successful people really do that as they say, okay, I'm here. Let me get the feedback. And we have found that that's the, we have all these tools and stuff for the job search and for the interviews and stuff like that. But just actually getting real feedback. And I remember that interview where you'd gotten rejected and you asked me to listen to it to see why you got rejected. I actually remember exactly. There was like 2 points. There was like one that was industry related, another one that was like experience related around like research and whatnot. And it was like, and after that you're like, wait, that is exactly why I got rejected. You're right, Madeline. Like I didn't catch that the first time I heard it, but that's exactly it. Yeah. So amazing. Amazing. Well, So you are extremely discerning. This program is expensive. Okay? It's not— if anyone's looking for a bargain, like the bargain coaching program, this is not it. Right? What would you say to someone who's considering getting coaching with us?

Well, first of all, I can tell you that I had some bargain coaching. Prior to joining the program, I had met with a coach once a month. And the problem is, first of all, it was not— she was not at all a strategist. You, you provide coaching and you provide strategy. All of the things that you were talking about earlier, going to LinkedIn, helping us understand what the lay of the land is, that did not come with the coaching I received. And also, I met with a coach once a month. And that is not reflective of the reality of looking for a job, because when you're looking for a job, a lot of times nothing is happening, and all of a sudden everything is happening, and you need somebody who's going to respond to you within a day. And, um, that was a huge difference maker for me. In addition to all of the tools that you have, there's so much that I was able to do within your framework without you being there guiding me. So as much as you are central to the program, you also make it that so that people can be productive without you standing there telling us what to do. And I'll be honest with you, a lot of stuff that I learned during Standout Job Search, I still use in my job today.

Amazing. Oh, it's so good to hear. Um, well, Well, thank you so much for coming on, Kaya. I'm going to send you away with a Wi-Fi high five. Thanks, Madeline. Thanks.

Bye.

All right. So amazing stuff. So it's so good to hear a real situation where you really have to keep tweaking your job search. I don't think that— I think that one of the biggest struggles I see people do is that they feel like they're doing the right things in the job search and they just do it and they do it hundreds and hundreds of times. But if the data is not saying this is working, then we need to revisit. And that is such an important component. So I am really excited to dive into the Q&A now. So let's, let's get into it. I know you've been putting questions in the chat. So my team has been putting them on a document. So let me actually Pop that up. I had actually put that minimized it while I was presenting. As well as I say here on this, it says P.S. Let's actually talk live this Friday. So we'll also put in the chat. I'm doing something very special this Friday is I'm going to have some people come on and we can talk through even just like as Kaya was on here now. We can we can talk through your situation and all of that live. And I and I really want to focus around we'll we'll get your questions and and we'll Make it so that so many of these teachings this week you see live. You see them being worked through in real time. And so if that sounds like a good thing for you, go ahead and submit your questions, and we might be able to get you on this Friday. Hey! All right. So let's see. Where is my documentum? Okay. Here we go. So, um, our right. Um, let's see. Do you recommend a special resume template? Um, says Vasu. So I would say overall, um, you would typically want to choose one that's quite streamlined, quite kind of almost bland, I would say, unless you are in, say, a graphic design field or branding or marketing. Try to keep it as plain and And, and control the, the eyes. So this is extremely important. You need to control where the eyes look. If you are doing— often if you see these really beautifully designed 2-column resumes, I can even feel my eyes darting around. I don't know where to go. You only have a few seconds to make a first impression. Control the gaze, right? It's— you want it to be a 1-column resume ideally. And you want to control at the very top of the resume. If the person reads just a few bullets, they should already be concluded that you are the right person, but then they might just read a little bit more just to see more. And so I would say, I would say the kind of the, the really clean one-column resume is what you want to go for. What is Madeline AI? Oh, it's from the same person, from Vasu. Okay. Yes. What is Madeline AI? So, um, that is a tool. I'll actually, I'll go ahead and show you. So Let's see. Let's see. Go over here. Also, I saw someone in the chat say that you have to, in order to do the market demand, you have to shift from the AI version of this to the classic version. So thank you for sharing that. I have the classic version on right now. Okay. So in the program, you have Madeline AI. So essentially, it's the AI career coach here. And so you go here and you can ask her whatever question you want. You can also call her. And this has over 1 million words. I'm not even joking. 1 million words of my teachings. Every single thing I've ever created, done, every private coaching session I've ever done is uploaded into this Madeline AI. It's extremely robust. And, um, it, it helps to coach you through things like you might be working on your job search at 1 AM. Look, I'm not gonna respond to you at 1 AM, I'll tell you that right now. Um, but Madeline and I will. Um, so yeah, that, that's what she, uh, what she used. And, um, even with like Stand Out Interview, um, with kind of the interview analysis, uh, interview prep, there's like checklists and all that. Okay, so those are a lot of things that Haya was talking about. All right. So let's see. Yes. Marielle says, how can we get sourced through LinkedIn? Can you walk us through specific strategies and tips? Okay. So being sourced on LinkedIn, even Khaya mentioned that that was over 2 offers. One of them was sourced. And that's absolutely a requirement in the program that you could optimize on LinkedIn. Not every profession is, is as actively sourced on LinkedIn as others, but I still think it's an important passive way to get opportunities. So absolutely should spend time on that. What we're seeing, when I went to the LinkedIn summit and they talked about how they're rolling out this new sourcing tool called Hiring Assistant 2, and I got details of how that works. And what I will say is, uh, make sure your profile is very robust. I know a lot of us are taught to be concise and we're, we're concise on our resumes. Now you don't want to include information on your profile that is in different directions, like in different professions, but more is more actually on your LinkedIn profile. Um, there's a lot of different ways to optimize. Um, that is like so beyond this session, but I am going to— tomorrow is land the interview. That's tomorrow's session. So I will definitely go into that when you come tomorrow for day 2. Okay. So says, how can someone reach out to me about your services? So you can go to www.selfmadeaway.com/learn. That's where you can see All of the information about the program and you can apply. We are currently taking on clients through an application basis. We have a very hands-on process. We've added a ton to the program and therefore we can only bring on so many people and it has to be a great mutual fit. So we're doing it by application now. And so go for it. Let's see. See, do you recommend reaching out to the hiring manager that is on LinkedIn job posts? I know that some people recommend doing that. I think that that is a great suitable way to respond to that challenge that I gave you about applications, about how sometimes your application isn't seen. So will that hiring manager always respond? No, and actually it's not even about them responding. It's about them actually taking a look at your profile. Now, if a hiring manager is posted on a job posting, you have to know if it's comfortable, it's crowded. If it's easy, other people are doing it. So if they're showing that there's a hiring manager there, probably other people are reaching out. Now again, I'm not saying don't reach out, but I just need you to realize that whenever there's additional Obstacles, I want you to start seeing opportunities. So if there is no hiring manager on there, I actually would be more motivated to reach out to the hiring manager because I'm thinking, huh, this is going to be harder for other people. Other people are not going to put in the effort I'm going to. So actually finding the hiring manager when they're not on there and you have to guess, it's not always that you have the exact right person. But yes, if you, if you can guess, then, then that can, that can work in your favor. All right. Okay. So yes. So will any part of this program how to decide whether to pivot a different job type, how to choose the job type, and how to carry out the pivot. So this is super important. Now, I would say that this is arguably the hardest part of the job search. I do have a process in my program called the One Page Career Vision that takes you step by step of choosing the next role, because as I said in this session, focus was the number one step, right? And If you don't do that step, you can't get to steps 2 through 5, 2 through 6. So yes, that is a super important part of the program. We don't have any of our clients move on until they've completed that. And exactly, it is. But I will say there's dead ends, right? Even Kaya, when she talked about that experience, she came into the program totally Not targeted. Then she got targeted. It was the wrong target. And then she switched back up. And so I want to open your mind, Shannon, to the fact that you, you will have to, you know, look at some different opportunities. You will have to possibly go down through some dead ends. But fortunately, you should do it in a way that is systemized. A lot of people will just take jobs and assume that they will find out from that job what they think of it. But really, that's not— that can lead to a lot of dead ends. All right. Let's see. So, yay. So thank you so much for this. Perfect. Perfect. All right. So, and then, oh yeah, I saw. Oh yes. Chris says, how do you approach recording an interview? Seems awkward to say to an interviewer. Correct. I don't think you should do that. But also, I do want to say, if y'all are planning on joining the coaching program, I would say, you know, start recording your interviews now so that when you come into the program, you come in with recordings that us coaches can review. But yes, I would not ask. I would say that Uh, if you are worried about recording someone else against their, uh, their wishes or, or without letting them know, um, or if you're in a state where that is, is not right or whatnot, you can always just record yourself in the interview. So if you have headphones in and you're just recording your voice, I've, I've reviewed like hundreds of interviews where I can only hear my client and, um, And that's that. I can, I can deduce what's being asked. Of course, I do lose some context, but I can get a lot of context even from that, as well as, you know, note-takers. It's— you can totally take notes. You can take an entire transcript. I've read so many transcripts of clients of what they say. And I'm like, you know, this, this focus on this, you said this wrong, all that kind of stuff. So you could do it in all kinds of different ways. All right, y'all. I, uh, go ahead and give me a Wi-Fi high five in the chat. You all have got to come back for day 2. Day 2 is where we're going to talk about how to land more interviews. So really making sure that we, we're getting the volume of opportunities that allows us to get more chances at bat, to interview more places, to have more options, to line up multiple offers. And so we're going to be diving into 3 main strategies of how to get more interviews. And really understanding the best strategy for that situation. And I know when I saw earlier that that is a huge thing, is that the more, the more interviews we can land, the more we can be in the driver's seat. And I'm just seeing so many of my clients right now. They are getting lots of interviews at the same time. It is all lining up. The job market is happening. Companies are hiring. And as long as you can line it all up together, it can make a huge difference. So that's what we're talking about tomorrow. I'm getting lots of love in the chat. I'm getting the Wi-Fi high fives. This, this flag, I don't know why it shows up as this pink hand, but I love it. Thank you so much, everyone, and I will see you back here tomorrow. And I'm going to send you away with a Wi-Fi high five.