The Dark Truth About Hiring & Your Job Search

I remember when I made the leap to start my business around 5 years ago and how scary it was. It felt like I was a toddler jumping in the deep end without my Ninja Turtle swimmies inflated around my arms. Do you know how hard it is to dog paddle to the stair case without the encouragement of Raphael and Michelangelo around your biceps? You can only imagine.

Trying to get my first client was difficult but I've been in sales before. I picked up my phone in my sweatpants and dialed 100 times a day to get 4 people saying, "email me the info, maybe I'll take a look." It's part of the game. But shifting to a recruiting business changed the way I looked at employment. It shifted the way I thought of the job market from a candidate perspective forever.

"I can't tell you how frequently decision makers talk about hiring culture fits to see them offer a job to someone who compromises it. As long as that hire is good at what they do...they'll get hired 99 times out of 100."

The thing about being an outsourced freelancer, agency or contractor is you are exactly that: outside of their team. You get excited to start with a client and you get paid 2-20 times more than a full time role. The pitfall? If you don't perform, you'll be cut in an instant. There is no severance, conversation about how you've been valuable, or even resources on helping you find your next gig. It's "see you later big guy, good luck with the business." (Side note: the term "big guy" may be the most passive aggressive comment ever uttered).

What really is the difference between a full time employee and a contractor?

In reality, not much.

Employers often will position themselves as looking for culture fits, people with great values, the ability to lead, etc. The truth: the most important thing they care about is production and output. The rest are just nice-to-haves. You can share as many Simon Sinek TikTok's with dramatic music as you like (love those by the way), but when he's hiring, he wants someone who's the best at what they do. I can't tell you how frequently decision makers talk about hiring culture fits to see them offer a job to someone who compromises the culture. As long as that hire is good at what they do, doesn't interfere with others and doesn't have extremist political views, they'll get hired 99 times out of 100.

You may follow some famous influencers on social media that push the envelope against employers. They really "fight back" and push the culture forward in the name of candidates and work-life balance. There is something to be said about culture demanding more for workers. But most of the result of the outcries is employers get very good at saying the right things and continuing business as usual. Career pages look warm and welcoming, their values are on display in wall-art and pandering is in full effect. Employer branding for hiring is the same as company branding: consistently say the same thing so viewers are programmed to feel an emotion when they see your logo.

All the brands you use have an approach to hiring. They pay the lowest they can for the best talent. If they are adding incentives or benefits that "are much better than their competitors," they are doing it for selfish reasons: to increase applications & have a larger pool of candidates to choose from. The famous "$70,000 Minimum Wage" guy has more negatives than positives. Go check the Glassdoor reviews if you don't believe me. They wanted more applicants, not to "empower the little guy."

If that doesn't convince you, how about the phone you're reading this with. Where do you think the cobalt came from for the battery? Workers making $1 per day in dangerous conditions in the Congo. Let's talk about your favorite sneaker company. Do you really think they are unaware of their third party manufacturing plants employing children? How about layoffs in the United States as well? I thought we were "family" and now I'm out on the street?

"..if I'm having a beer with a friend who's stressed about his or her job search, I'm telling them the truth."

I've gotten a lot of angry comments when I tell candidates to treat themselves as a one person business. It's viewed as coming through the lens of "hustle culture." In my mind, if I'm having a beer with a friend who's stressed about his or her job search, I'm telling them the truth. The dark truth about how employers view employees as an expense allows that person to make adjustments and start to create leverage for themselves.

So if you're entering the job market, treat yourself as a business. Do not be that business that is solving dozens of problems at once. You see startups go through early growing pains and struggle to close clients for this reason. The advice will always be "solve a problem that's in demand, get to know it deeper and do it well." This applies to your job search if you're struggling.

If you're sending out hundreds of resumes and not seeing results, it's better to take a step back and work on "your offering." Take a course that expands your skills. Position yourself as an expert in a vertical, or someone that intends to be in that vertical. Running through phone screens being "open to anything" creates different leverage than the candidate that says "I am hellbent on become a marketer for healthcare companies under 100 employees. I will grow my next company, I'm speaking with Company A, B AND C. In the last month, I expanded my Hubspot & Marketo certifications and am looking forward to continuing that growth with you."

Good luck out there.