In this 7‑minute interview on the Winning at Business and Life podcast, host Professor Pete Alexander speaks with Matthew Warzel, a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and career/outplacement consultant. Warzel explains his role helping clients secure jobs, emphasizing the gratification of seeing clients receive interview offers and hires. He highlights the need for companies to focus on talent development and succession planning rather than constantly hunting for new “shiny” talent. Warzel advises business leaders to "plant the seeds" by investing in lead generation, brand awareness, and consistent content creation, noting the fluctuating nature of income for small‑business owners. He stresses the importance of staying current as a thought leader, engaging on platforms like LinkedIn, and providing value to hiring decision‑makers. Warzel gives a shout‑out to fellow business coach Ari M. Weinstein and discusses his early career, from a brief stint in paper sales to a formative recruiting role at Aerotek, where a mentor taught him business acumen. Finally, he directs listeners to his website jobstickers.com for resume services and regular industry insights.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Thank you, Professor Pete, for having me. My name is Matthew Worzel. I'm a Certified Professional Resume Writer, a CPRW, as well as career consultant and outplacement specialist.
Matthew, it's so great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
It's good. It's definitely going to be the satisfaction that you get from putting people into work. So helping my clients, uh, find jobs, or at least Give them the tools to go about their job hunt more efficiently, more competitively. When I get the emails saying, "I got the job," or, "I got the interview," it's unmatched. So it's all about that gratification.
Oh, I love it. It sounds to me like it's making a positive difference in individuals' lives.
Absolutely. I think resume writers, it's a necessary evil. It's like a lawyer. You know, like when they save you and they do great, you're like, "Yes!" But, you know, It's something that we're not, you know, somebody that's going to go advocate for our brand all day like an Apple or some sort of fun thing you're holding. But when they do see the value and they utilize us and they're excited about the outcome, they realize, hey, this is a legit business. So it's still kind of an unknown thing. It's funny. Resume writing world is a little unknown still. So you think it'd be more popular these days, but they're working on it. We are working on it.
Question number 3. I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
I would say how to develop talent properly instead of wasting it or spending time, money, and resources trying to find the next shiny piece of talent. I think the turnover issue is, is huge. It obviously benefits me because the more people that need work and they're looking for resources to find work, they come to people like me. But I'd rather see people sticking along and letting HR or hiring managers put more money into developing talent because it's not Everyone's going to be that purple squirrel that's ideal coming in from the competitor, doing the same work, bringing a network with them or her. So obviously I'm all for talent development, succession planning.
I couldn't agree with you more. Great insight. Question number 4: Other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice would you give to other business leaders?
I would say, and this is from personal experiences, plant the seeds so you're setting yourself up for future success.
And by that, I even mean lead generation, brand awareness optimization, things like that. Because, you know, I might have days where I have $0 income, right?
And then I have days where it's gangbusters, and you're— or just days you meet quota and you're like, it's just so fluctuates. So for anybody in business, maybe just speaking more to the small business owner like myself, is plant the seeds because they will prosper Profitability will come. The days that are in between, just work harder at finding ways to get your name out there and to find channels that will come to you as an inbound lead rather than you using these kind of platforms and spending money. And really, I mean, marketing can get costly, and it's like a lawyer and a resume writer— necessary evil. So they know what they're doing, but you really got to be cautious. So when you can own your own marketing process and sales as far as you can go with your abilities, know that those little bits of hard work and content posts or networking and whatever, like doing things like this, it can all come back down the road. It just might not be the next day.
Yeah, I like what you're saying because it's similar to what I found, that as you continue to be consistent with the content and, and being present and being out there, you never know who is going to see your content or a connection that that you have with someone else that they all of a sudden they say, aha, I need to reach out. And for example, I need to reach out and contact Matt about my resume, for example. Would you agree?
Absolutely.
And not only that, it builds your, your, um, um, you know, your value to them or your, I guess, your expertise. It kind of allows for them to see, hey, this is someone who's engaged with LinkedIn and, and, and major hiring company or major firms that are hiring and stuff and interacting with decision makers out there.
Clearly they value his input, so he might know what he's doing.
And that's kind of where I like to do these types of things and engage with people that are on the forefront of hiring, so then I can provide that value to my clients. Because it's important for them to know, hey, I'm doing solutions here, and if I'm not staying up on the trends, they're just as much trouble as I am, and I don't want to do that to my clients. So it's important that you continue to be, I don't know, I guess a thought leader of sorts, or try to be a thought leader of sorts in whatever space you're in. That's the only way you're really going to grow as an individual or within a company, as being someone who's professionally, you know, aware and in there engaged, implementing process improvements, landing new deals, whatever it is. It's the people that are just kind of 9 to 5 and trying to get home, you know, looking at the clock all day, you won't prosper if you're doing that.
So There's too many good people out there that, that, that have a lot more to offer.
So, so, so do yourself a favor, do your company a favor, work hard day in and day out and try to be above your normal day-to-day responsibilities. Just go at it hard.
Great sound advice. Thank you so much. Question number 5, what other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
Yeah, absolutely. So I mentioned it to my buddy Ari, Ari M. Weinstein, Ari M. Weinstein, owner of Ari M. Weinstein Business Coaching. Pete Alexander. He is a colleague that I have done— in our business, we have some certifying bodies and there's only a handful of them. And so everyone knows them. And the most credible, I would say, just based off the length and the volume of people that are associated and how long, you know, well, just the decision makers that are, that are running this, this program, they're called PARCC. He and I had done a webinar for other resume writers and about how to market and self-brand and what backdoor job hunting things that our clients can do. So it was just so fun because he was such an informative person, but also engaged that now we're collaborating on an article and everything. So I just want to throw a shout out to him and he'd be great for this. He's a tremendous source of information.
Perfect. I'll reach out to him. Thank you so much. And our final question, question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
I might leverage one of your past hosts just to say briefly, paper sales, right? I was in paper sales for 6 months before they closed down. Don't know if I learned anything other than, you know, what not to do in an office. But I just— and it wasn't like Dunder Mifflin. It was— I mean, I guess maybe it kind of was, but not as fun. But my first real job was Aerotech Staffing. It was a recruiting company. Steve Bisciotti from the Ravens started it, the guy who owns the Ravens, and real reputable. And boy, the mentor I had, Dave Raglow, what a tremendous person to have in my life when I was 24, didn't know what the heck I was doing with my life, didn't really care, just trying to get money and start life. And he drilled the business acumen in me and client relations and, and, and just everything of how to communicate and document and all that stuff. So Without him, and I've actually thrown him some kudos on LinkedIn before, but without him, I probably wouldn't have, I guess, thrust myself further into this HR world and recruitment world and to where I am today owning my own business. So that was fantastic. Aerotek, and especially if audience members need a recruitment house, someone to help you find a job, look up Aerotek. They're in every major city or even cities between cities and They work for free. They just get paid if they place you. So it's free. And that's how I've actually managed to get a few of my jobs when I was working full-time.
Great. That's a big, big endorsement. Thank you so much. And thank you so much for being on the show. How could people find you?
Absolutely. So if they go to jobstickers.com, it rhymes with potstickers, or that's the idea, kind of rhymes. But jobstickers.com, it's my direct link to my blog, which is in my website, so you can find my contact. And I try to post regularly, although I'm hearing nowadays I'm not allowed from all the social media bodies that be with algorithms and things. So now I'm probably posting about once a day, but at least that once a day, it's, it's very informative. I'm on the, I'm on the forefront, I feel like, within the resume writing world. And so I'd like to share this advice for free all the time.
So perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
