This story hits close to home. I recently spoke with a family friend, a recent graduate from Cornell with a master’s degree. Her grandfather, an old friend of my dad’s, asked me to chat with her. We spent the first few minutes talking about her resume and studies. I offered to look through my network for anyone who might align with the jobs she was seeking. She told me about the types of businesses and work she was interested in. I did have some contacts I could have referred her to, but I could see the disappointment on her face. I was giving her the same advice everyone else was – resume tips, career counseling, the usual.
Then I stopped and asked if she wanted my real advice. And I’m going to give you guys the real advice too, because sometimes I forget that not everyone approaches things the way I do. This keeps coming up, so here it is.
My Career Turning Point
Back in 2007, I was a director of sales. My wife was pregnant with our first child, Talia, and I wanted to become a vice president of sales. We lived in a studio apartment in the city, and I wanted to move to the suburbs for more space. I needed a significant salary bump to afford a down payment on a house. Being a parent changes your perspective; you want the best for your child.
I kept telling headhunters I wanted VP of sales interviews, but they kept sending me for director roles. They were incentivized to make quick placements, and I fit the director mold. It was frustrating because I felt ready for the next step.
The Power of a Blog Post
I was working at a pay-for-performance ad network and realized I understood the industry well enough to write about it. So, I started a blog, christopherdesi.com. My first post was about the fatal flaw of pay-for-performance, drawing parallels between a Harvard Business Review article about CEOs going to jail for cooking the books and the potential for fraud in my own industry. I explained how publishers could be paid for conversions, which could lead to fraudulent activity, and how we could handle that issue.
I sent this blog post to the headhunter and asked them to send it to the hiring manager for a VP of sales role I was interested in. It worked. I got the job. This single blog post changed the trajectory of my career. It’s even the opening story in my book, "Remarkable You," about building a personal brand. It earned me a base salary and a signing bonus, totaling $260,000.
Don’t Play Their Game, Play Yours
The lesson here is: don’t play their game, play yours. You are in control. They would be lucky to have you. When you realize that hiring managers might be overwhelmed with applications, you can take a step back and figure out how you can genuinely add value to their business. Remember, there’s a human being on the other end.
I knew I was interviewing at Xerox, another pay-for-performance network. I understood their business and knew I could solve their problems. By showing them how I thought about the industry, I made myself a strong candidate. This approach worked throughout my career.
Making a Leap into Social Media
Years later, I wanted to get into social media. I saw Gary Vaynerchuk speak and was blown away. He announced he was starting Vayner Media. I wrote him an email, expressing my desire to work in social media and my background in sales and direct marketing. He agreed to a meeting. At the time, he was just starting and couldn’t pay me much, but he told me to learn social media and come back.
So, I launched Dadzilla TV (don’t look for it, I’ve erased it!). I immersed myself in the technology, learned about affiliate marketing, figured out how to gain attention, and understood my audience. I learned social media on my own.
Then, I saw a woman named Jamie Veyron get media attention for her website, twitterhireme.com. I thought, what better way to get into social media than to buy facebookhireme.com and start blogging from there? I identified the biggest player in social media at the time and positioned myself.
Research and Value Proposition
This led to me being featured in Fortune magazine for creative ways to gain employment. I used this to get a job at Buddy Media. I directed the headhunter to help me get there by researching venture capital firms investing in social media companies. I immersed myself in the content, commented on blogs, and learned everything I could. This caught the attention of people like Mike Lazero.
When I met with Mike Lazero at Buddy Media, I didn’t just bring a magazine clipping. I brought a 20-slide deck outlining how I would sell for them over the next year. I made it clear that I was the best candidate and was ready to start immediately.
AI and the Modern Job Search
Today, everyone has access to AI. Everyone can create a custom resume and cover letter. This means hiring managers are inundated with polished applications, making it harder to stand out. So, how do you differentiate yourself?
Key Takeaways:
- Research is paramount: Understand the companies you’re interested in, their departments, and the people within them.
- Stalk (ethically) on LinkedIn: See what content they publish and ingest. Sign up for their webinars and newsletters.
- Use AI for insights, not just polish: Feed the content you gather into AI tools to identify themes, potential problems, or future projects.
- Create value: Develop a unique perspective or solution based on your research.
- Show, don’t just tell: Create a presentation or blog post demonstrating your value and how you can help the company.
- Be proactive: If you don’t get a meeting, start blogging about the company, tagging them, and offering your insights.
My advice to my family friend, and to you, is to identify the top organizations you want to work for. Drill down into where you fit, consider location, commute, and career trajectory. Then, start researching. You need to understand the human being on the other end of that application. They are stressed and need help. It’s your job to figure out how you can help them.
Don’t just flip a resume over the fence. Conduct your due diligence. Identify the top five organizations, the departments, and the individuals. Hone your research skills. See what content they’re publishing and ingesting. Use AI to analyze this information, identify themes, and pinpoint potential issues or projects.
Then, use your own skills combined with these insights to create content for your personal brand. Mention executives and explain how you would approach things and the value you can bring. If you do this legwork and then reach out, the process becomes fun. You are in control.
AI is changing the job market, but it’s also a powerful tool if used correctly. Don’t rely on AI to simply polish your resume. Use it to gain deep insights into companies and then combine that with your unique skills to stand out. The market isn’t terrible; you just need to figure out how to differentiate yourself.