My Simple 3 Step Process

Sometimes it really is as easy a 1-2-3.

What matters most, to every dream-job-chaser I've ever met, is to secure offers for those opportunities they want. Quite often, they know exactly what they want to do and where they would like to work. What's been holding them back is getting offers for the roles they want with the organizations they want to work with. In some cases, they aren't even getting interviews. But in others, the interviews have come their way, just not the offers.

When I meet someone in that situation, most often I want to confirm that what they are chasing is possible given their background and their skill set. Are those rejections, one after the other, from one organization after another an indicator that they lack the background for that position? More than 90% of the time, the client is actually targeting the right role for them. Professionals, which are nearly 100% of my clientele, are pretty darn smart and generally have done quite a bit of research on what the next right step would be, career-wise. So, it's usually the case, if they are not getting interviews, that there's some sort of mis-step in what they are presenting to the organization.

• It can be a resume that's "junior looking" for a "senior role." Or, even one, that just looks dated and is completely out of touch with what's considered competitive for the roles/organizations targeted.
• It also can be the cover letter that looks and reads like a form letter, devoid of anything really substantive and compelling about the candidate.
• Sometimes clients are disqualifying themselves on the application (often without even realizing it).
• And there are times that the root cause of the problem is how they are sourcing jobs -- where they are looking for them, when they are applying to them, or what they are doing before applying AND after applying.

STEP ONE -  drive interviews.          

If the interviews are there, then what we want to do is to strengthen interview skills and enable the client to move to the next round 80% of the time. You can't get an offer, if you don't make it to the final round. And we want our clients, all of them, to get from one round to the next; progressing, if possible, to that final round.

To get stronger at interviewing, you have to know what's a great answer and what's a mediocre one, and what's just an awful one.

Most people have literally no experience interviewing candidates for the jobs they want. Many executives don't really know what a polished, executive level answer would be to "Tell Me About Yourself" or "Walk Me Through Your Resume." And many mid-career professionals don't realize what they used to say earlier in their career might not make sense, today, with years of work experience behind them. It's common, too, for early career/entry level candidates to leave out what's the strongest part about them because they don't realize that is a "big selling point" for selecting them over other candidates being considered.

But, as with any skill, it's not enough to know what to do; you have to be able to perform, in the moment, under pressure.

For that skill-development to occur, virtually all of us need practice. Using Ai, we are able to offer our clients practice at their convenience, literally anywhere, anytime. And, yes, this means our clients are more likely to perform better than their competitors who often haven't practiced really at all, or enough. And while Ai can give you solid feedback about your answers and how you deliver them, we find there's still enormous value in having someone who has been a recruiter for 20+ years, interviewed 1,000s of candidates, hear your answers, and give you clear 1:1 feedback on how to improve your particular answers.

STEP TWO -  drive offers.        

Fundamentally, we have to realize that everything we do in this process, every step along the way from application to final interview, conditions the employer on what offer to make us. Do they see us as one of several who could do this job well, OR do they see us as the best possible candidate, by far, for the role? If they see us as the most superior candidate they could ever get, they are going to try to build a package that is attractive to us so that they get our acceptance. Another way to think of it is this way: it's in our hands to drive the offer up, even past the published range by being able to offer compelling reasons why we are truly the best candidate in our resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, and during the interviews.

Gaining that personal clarity on who we are, what we bring to the table, and why we're the best possible choice, of all choices out there, gets that offer in our hands.

But this isn't as easy to do as it sounds.

• Many of us have some level of imposter syndrome that gets in our way.
• Some of us have been culturally conditioned not to speak firmly and confidently about our accomplishments.
• Quite a number of us need some help in searching through the archives of our memories to pull forward those greatest hits from each role we have held in our career. And that inability to catalogue accomplishments can be as challenging for people with 0 work history as for those with 25+ years.

We want our clients to land their dream jobs and that means we go beyond what you typically see out there for support with your career. For us, the job isn't the resume. Or even the offer. The job we're trying to do is to help our client land in a place they love, doing work they truly love. One of the main reasons why the fit is so right is because nearly 60% of the time there were multiple offers making it possible for the client to choose the very best opportunity for them.

STEP THREE -  first 90 days.          

That means being there for 1:1 coaching sessions, but also preparing the client with resources to navigate this new environment, build new relationships, and make themselves valuable to their team and the organization. These resources, we provide, as part of our package, help our clients thrive in that first year so that one year later, 97% of our placements are with the same employer, with salary increases and very often promotions.

And many clients stress that what they learned in the program about networking is applicable to building relationships within their new organizations. And that their ability to introduce themselves in a polished and professional way is something they end up using over and over again as they meet new colleagues, vendors, and clients. In fact, for almost all clients we work with, there is lifetime ROI well beyond just getting this particular job that they truly have wanted for awhile.

Sometimes it really is as easy a 1-2-3.