Ep. 6: The Most Important Investment You Make as a Job Seeker

Career Design Podcast

Lindsay 0:00

Well, I'm so excited about today talking to you on the career design podcast. So Chad, do you mind introducing yourself? Because you're a former recruiter turned creating your own recruiting agency. And I think you're hiring 100 people for this agency this year as recruiters correct?
Chad
Yeah, absolutely. And thanks for having me. So, started out actually started out selling PEO. So we were doing outsourced HR to a company called Insperity. Still a partner with those guys. I think the world of them but working with a lot of small mid sized companies during that time and actually went after insperity went in house with a with a recruiting firm. So we did staffing, we did it accounting, finance, engineering, and after about a year and seven months with that firm, get the itch, the entrepreneurial itch that just, you know, doesn't allow you to sleep at night, and until you do something about it. And that's what, that's when I went off on my own. That was November 2015. Started Hazel teen and yeah, you're correct, we are hiring a number of people this year. And I like hiring in waves like big waves. So you can get a lot of collaboration within groups. And you know, people like seeing wins, hearing wins talking about wins and, and when people are down, they like talking within a lot, you know, a big group of people. And so that's why I like to hire a number of people at once. So that's a little little bit about our background Hazleton. As a firm.

Chad 1:32

Specifically, we work with oil and gas companies. But we're branching out as we're bringing on a number of recruiters from different skill sets, we're going to be diversifying and getting into a number of different new markets this year. That's really exciting. So I'm gonna ask a question here, because I think for people who are listening, they believe right now people aren't hiring. I think this is proof that that's not true at all. It's not I mean, not just me, I mean, every company is hiring out there. And it's really just a mindset for you as a candidate, right? I mean, like, if you think nobody's hiring, nobody's gonna hire if you think everybody in the world is gonna hire. They're hiring. And so you just have to go into it like that. I mean, you don't want to go into it, thinking that, Oh, my gosh, Woe is me. Because here's the thing, out of all the jobs out there that are posted, that only represents about 5% of the market, 95% of those jobs out there are created or not posted, I mean, all my clients, they don't post jobs, they just basically retain us to go, hey, go do this for us. We're looking for this or confidentially, you think you can post a job if you're looking to replace somebody, you can't. And so anyway, you know, I say that recruiting industry? Well, no, I always say that I was like 20% of jobs are available posted. So you're telling me even smaller amounts. I'm like, when people go out and look at job boards, I was like, this is a good sample size. But this is not an accurate reflection of every opportunity that's available. It's just not possible. Yeah, no, I completely agree with you and look it. I think it's five years is 20. I mean, it's let's just call it somewhere in the middle.

Lindsay 3:18

We're saying this is just one small slice of the pie. And that the majority of what we're looking at, or the potential job market is mostly hidden and unpublished is how I describe it. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I so we were talking last week, and what I was like, please come on my podcast is I wanted to talk to you about the idea here of when, because you've dealt with, you know, 1000s of candidates at this point now coming through your agency. And it seems like there is a gap between somebody who is really successful in their job search and someone who isn't. And I really, truly believe it comes back to a mindset issue. And you said, at this point, if you kind of let this time go by without actually taking strategic action in your job search, you're going to kind of miss out. So I'd love to know a little bit more about and I'm calling this episode, the investment that always pays off, which is the investment that's in yourself. So tell me about what you meant by that. Yeah, so I'm a big believer, as an entrepreneur, you know, I invest a lot of dollars in myself, and coaching and conferences, and I mean, you name it throughout the year, I mean, just a grotesque amount of money.

Chad 4:27

From what I started my my recruiting firm to now, right? And I think as a job seeker, you kind of go into hibernation mode, you kind of go into saving mode. And that's really the time that you need to be investing in yourself, whether it's coaching, I mean, look, you don't have to get coaching from me, but go find somebody that you can actually talk to on a daily or weekly basis. Because, you know, here's the thing when you're when you're working with a group of people, you know, you can you go to work and you talk to them around the watercooler.

Chad 5:00

cooler or have coffee within there's collaboration there. But when you get let go, or when you're out of work, maybe the company got bought, or I mean, there's a bunch of different scenarios, right? When you when you're out of work, it's lonely. Now, it's kind of like being an entrepreneur, you know, when you're an entrepreneur, you need a support staff. And when you don't have that, you know, depression can sink in, I mean, so just get somebody you can talk to on a day to day basis. And if they charge you to do it, then just pay them because here's the thing. And this is what I found, let's just say, Would you, okay, a scenario, let's just say somebody charged $10,000 for career coaching, okay, 10,000 bucks, you're just like, Oh, my gosh, I don't have a job. I don't, you know, I can't afford $10,000. Okay, but let's, let's think about it like this, okay, you're not getting anywhere in your job search right now. And you're used to making $10,000 a month, maybe you're an engineer, something professional, what have you, you're used to making $10,000 per month, you're not getting anywhere in your job search, it's been three months, so that, you know, you're not having somebody to talk to teaching you the right way. And I know, this is what you do, too. And so you're apparently amazing at it. And I know, it just met you, whatever. But like, let's just say you charge 10 grand, and a student comes in and says I can't, I can't do that they just wasted three months of their life, like just doing the same old thing. So that just cost them not only $30,000, because that's what they could have had if they were working. But it costs them benefits, it costs them peace of mind, it cost them their pride with their family, you know, having to tell their family, why, you know, having to discuss their face to the family, why they're still out of work. And so, you know, my thought is that working with a coach or working with a support staff, even if they charge you, you know, they're still going to save you a ton of money in the long run. Whereas like, you know, maybe you find a job in three months, as opposed to six months on your own as opposed to nine months. I mean, I've seen people literally go years without finding a job because they're doing the same old thing. They think that they're gonna post they think they're gonna apply to a job. And, you know, a recruiter is gonna reach back out to them. Well, let's just say that was the case. Okay, let's just say that you did.

Chad 7:18

Let's just say you That was a case, right? And I know, I'm hogging the stage right here, but like, you know,

Chad 7:25

go for it. Let's just say that was the case, write that out of the 5% of jobs that everybody is applying to, you got through, okay. You're one of probably 10 people that got through just to the to the interview, the phone interview with the recruiter, okay, now you have to have a phone interview with the recruiter. After that, if that goes, Well, you're probably one of five that gets a face to face. So your 20% that gets an offer. And not to mention that what if they find somebody internal, like after they interview those five people? What if they just say, Well, you know, what?

Chad 8:03

How about we just promote somebody from with it? Yeah, right. So I don't like those odds, like you really, as a candidate, you really have to take back those odds. And it's through working with people like yourself, you know, working with people like me that actually know, the job market and what it takes to actually get noticed, in this crazy economy that we live in. So anyway, you have to invest in yourself, right? Just do it. It's hard. It's going to be hard if you pay somebody because, you know, when you're in that mode of like saving, saving, saving, like, how many more dollars Do I have until I have $0?

Chad 8:41

You know, I know it's hard to just, hey, here's money, hoping that you'll get a job, but you have to do it. This is the time when you need to do it the most. So I like to equate the time when you've invested in yourself a lot of times, right? Like you went to school likely, I mean, I don't think anybody probably gets out of here without adding on some additional education. And the time where you're like, Okay, now I have to come out, I have to present myself at the highest level people were like, Oh, this is the time where I should really be frugal. Like, I'm going to, I'm going to make sure I want to step out and make my best impression. And I'm going to do it as cheaply as I possibly can. And when people do that, what do you think they do for offers, I mean, they get an offer for as cheap as they possibly can. So until you decide to expand your mindset that I'm going, I am going to the highest caliber candidate, I'm going to invest in myself. And in turn a company will see that same thing that I was willing to put in the time and effort into myself to elevating in my career. That is where I my people, I It baffles me, and they go years. And this is not to say for anybody who's stuck out there. And I'm not this is not a shaming measure. But the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again. I mean, I have people who've been in this zone for years by the time that they start with me and I'm like, How much money did you lose? Because we're talking about people that tend to have six figure multiple six figure careers that are working with me. And so how much are you willing to sit on? How much are you willing to take that break from

Lindsay 10:00

from work, and that's a really big hard thing for people to get their mind around. But um, like death, divorce moving job search, okay, like the likelihood of your stress and the job searching depression is so high. And it's incredibly isolating, you know, this job search process. I will say that when people come to me, they're like, what is it that you actually I gave you that you didn't even know you needed? Like, I was like, Oh, you think you need your resume, we'll cover that another episode, folks, you may get a resume. And in turn, what I gave them is placed for them to have support, and to be in proximity to success. So instead of having just on your own, like kind of trying to go this out on your own, think of like, almost like when you're, I don't know why this coming to the dog sledding, like imagine trying to climb a mountain without having a team of people with you, right? Like there's, you have, if it's just you, you're going to tire out, putter off on your own. But when you have a team with you, and you have momentum, that proximity to success allows people to go further and faster. And so I find that analogy. Yeah, that it's it's one thing where you don't want to climb this mountain by yourself, like there's a safe safety in numbers. Because the only time when we can really get very clear about who we are, is when we step outside of ourselves. And we need that feedback. And this is why if you guys have ever watched the TED Talk, like the power of coaching, and it talks about one of the best, like I think he's a cardiothoracic surgeon, and he is like the best with the lowest complication rates. And he still hired a coach and the coach, he came up with this, this surgery, he's like, I killed it, like I have crazy, like low complication rates. And the coach came back with pages of notes. And it's because it's little things that we set tiny course correction. And then I'm gonna say one more thing here, which is that I have a friend who's a pilot, and he said, if you if he comes, he's based out of flies out of La all the time. So he's says, If I was going to LA to Washington, DC, if I was off just three degrees, I would end up in New York City. And so you have to be very deliberate about where you're going. And of course, correcting instead of just throwing spaghetti at a wall. Yeah, no, I completely agree with you. And it's kind of like this, right? People talk about weight loss, people talk about fitness, right? And there's, there's so many books and resources on weight loss and fitness. But why is it that the people that get the maximum results, the most results are the ones that hire a fitness trainer, you know, it really is because of accountability, in my opinion. You know, that fitness trainer may not say something that you don't already know.

Chad 12:36

You know, but they keep you accountable. And so that that's what I mean, me and my wife do CrossFit. And that's the reason we have to that we have to do that is because it is a coach telling us what to do to get results. And, and making sure that if if, you know, I put on some weight that is kind of borderline, you know, like, I can do it easily. But I don't want to challenge myself, they are challenging me, they're looking at me saying Come on, like what are you doing? You know, you know, you can do better? You know, and if you don't do that, if you just go by yourself, you know, you don't really have unless you're a person that's just absolutely crazy. The overwhelming majority of people would just do the easier way because it's easier, right? And you feel like you're doing something you're trying to justify. You know, that you're that you're Oh, well, this is okay. You know, I or like in a job search? Well, I you know, I spent an hour today on the job search. Well, what did you really do? You know, Did you really? Did you really hit it hard? Did you really call people cold? Did you I mean, there's so many things that you have to be doing to get noticed in this economy that a lot of people just aren't doing. They say they're doing it, but they're not working with anybody. And until I know they're doing it. I know they're not doing it, if that makes sense. So yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. So why I want to be aware that we will try to get the podcasts in a shorter amount of time. So why don't you give me three things you think for the job seeker that's out there today, write three things that you would say would be a differentiator for them to change their job search success? Yeah. So I always I always, that's a great question. I mean, I like to start with LinkedIn, I agree with you. I think resumes are, you know, a resumes a resume. Like if you're if you, all you're trying to do is get in the door. Okay. And I'm gonna get to that in a minute. But thank you.

Chad 14:29

So, if you get in the door, like you are, if we get in the door, we can tell our story, right. But it's hard enough. It is the hardest part is getting in the door, getting a seat at the table. And so I always like to talk about I talked about an optimized LinkedIn profile. Because everybody like when you reach out to somebody, even if you reach out to them cold on email, like they're gonna go look you up on LinkedIn, because they'll Google your name. And then the first thing is typically LinkedIn, LinkedIn within the top three results. Yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah. And so I like to have an optimized LinkedIn for

Chad 15:00

profile. And you know, it starts with the cover photo, essentially, they can go to Canva, it's free resource, and they can optimize the cover photo with their contact information, their phone number, email, DMA, like, just how they get I like three bullet points and how they can add value to a company, because that's what a company really wants. I mean, your, your listeners have to realize that a company wants three things, how can you make the company money? How can you save the company money? And how can you improve a process, if you can do those, one of those three things, typically, you can have a really good chance of getting in with that company, or at least getting a foot in the door. And so you have to add that on your cover photo. And another thing that I like to talk about is volunteer experience. So if you're not volunteering, right now, you have to go out and volunteer. I mean, I've met so many people, and just donating my time and money. And you know, if you're in the same group, or organization, donating your time or money, you know, when you don't have a whole lot of money, you know, donate your time, right, you're out of work, or you're looking for a job right now, like just go, go spend time, or excuse me go spend a little bit of time with a group or organization. And you can put that now under volunteer experience when people search you and go to your LinkedIn profile, look down, who's to say that hiring manager is not involved in the same charity, you know, are involved in the same group. And so if you put those two and two together, you've got a lot of chance of getting in the door, or if you call that person, hey, I saw we are both I so we're both involved in Make A Wish Foundation. You know, I'd love to talk to you about that. And you know, but a lot of people go direct and just say, Hey, I'm looking for a job. Do you have any openings? Well, like, No, you failed before you even finished with that one? Yeah. 100% It's not rocket science, but selling on the first day.

Chad 16:49

It's asking for the very first date. Yeah, it's like, hey, instead, Hey, can I buy you a drink? Or can I you know, take you to dinner? Mary. Hey, can I get married to you? Yeah. Do you want to marry me? Well, I know nothing about you. I mean, I don't I don't really know yet. But, but you know what I mean? And so that's the first thing I think, you know, LinkedIn is an amazing tool. If you haven't optimized, optimized LinkedIn profile. Anybody wants to I'm sure yours is optimized, go look at your Lindsay's or go look at mine. That's what happened. I optimized LinkedIn profile is. And then I always like a personal marketing video. So I don't know what you call it. But it's a video that candidates put together and they can tie it to their LinkedIn profile.

Unknown Speaker 17:34

Okay, yeah, on the media section is a 32nd to a minute long video. Don't go crazy with this. All right. It's just a 32nd, two minute long, like, this is me, this is who I am. This is how I can add value to your company. That's it. Okay. And put that as a media section on your profile, I actually upload it to YouTube, because I can send the YouTube link, like I tell candidates, upload it to YouTube. So you can send the YouTube link in an email. Here's the problem with that, like, like, I don't want to discourage people from doing that. But you have to call the person saying, Hey, I'm going to send you this email, it's going to have a link to it. That's not a virus link or anything like that. Because a lot of people won't, you know, open links, but anyway, but you have it there, so they can easily click on it. And they can see eyes and teeth. I mean, that's what people want to see.

Chad 18:25

Yeah.

Chad 18:27

Yeah.

Chad 18:29

I love it. People want to put a face with a name, right? I mean, like, and so look,

Chad 18:37

I hear a lot of people tell me that, look, I don't want to get on camera, I'm afraid that camera will get over it. Okay, you have to put yourself out there. Because look, if you get a job interview, you're gonna, you're gonna get on camera, like you're in that job interview, you're in person, so why not show them who you are via video. And so just look, it's tough to do but take your phone out, record a video just like this a selfie video if you want. That's all you need. The raw, the more raw, the better. You know, people want to see who you really are. And then I that's too and then I guess a third thing that I would say is you have to start reaching out to people cold. You know, like, just introducing yourself. Like you have to I mean, like take a list of companies, like you have all the time. Like, okay, I know there's a difference between a person working and looking for a job and a person's out of job. If you're out of work. Your new job is to find a job. Okay? Like that is that is your job. So if you you know, I talked about it in another podcast. If you got to work at 8am. Like your new job is to get to work at 8am. Maybe you don't work eight hours. That's pretty tough to do, right? looking for a job for eight hours, but you know, you really have to treat it like it's your job, shave shower, get ready. Maybe

Chad 20:00

You put on a suit because you feel like you can conquer the day at 8am. Like, don't, you know, cuz if you if you kind of, if you kind of discount that you get get up, and you think about the day and it's like, oh, well, maybe I'll get up and search Well, it's like nine o'clock and you haven't had coffee yet because you slip in, and you have coffee. And now it's 1030. After you've kind of, you know, looked at your phone and watch TV, maybe watch the view, or

Chad 20:29

the price is right or something like that. And now it's noon, and you haven't done anything, you haven't even showered, you haven't shaved, you haven't done anything, or you haven't, you know, if you're a woman put on makeup, your guy shave, whatever it is, like, do what you would do if you were working. Alright. And, you know, it just sets you up. I like to listen to music. Like when I get up in the morning, and I get in the shower, a mute, like and you can. So Chuck, he needs a job podcast, I was just on it. It has my playlist. And anyway, one of my playlists, one of my songs on the playlist is thunderstruck from AC DC. Yeah, I like that song. It just gets you going, right? It's just like, Alright, I'm getting ready for the day, I'm gonna knock this day out. And that's what you have to. That's, that's, that's the mentality you have to have. As a job seeker is like, today is the day today is the day I'm going to get in the door with somebody, I don't care who it is. on your board, you see this board, on your board, you need to write or whatever you do, I will get in the door with somebody today. That's your only goal doesn't matter how you get there, I will get in the door with somebody, you have that goal and you you become hyper focus. And so you know that that is a long way of going around. You need to reach out to people cold every single day. Because I cannot preach? Oh my gosh, yeah, I was like if you just were to do this one thing like this is what changes the job seeker from very passive in their job search, like meaning they're just kind of like a passenger waiting around for somebody to hopefully find them like buried treasure.

Lindsay 22:06

And that's just not going to happen unless we really intentionally think about what we do. So I love I saw my tie back to some of the things I talked about superpower trifecta. That's what I love to see that on your LinkedIn profile cover photo, that's, that's truly what like what is the strengths that make you unique to anybody else, understanding your personal value proposition and what it is that you have to offer. This sounds like that's that video that you're talking about. I love that idea. And the volunteer work. And then the last thing is really been intentional about where do I want to go? in my career, if I think about this, truly, what do I want, we stop, we don't we're like, we just need a job. Dude, if you just need a job, go to Safeway, okay? Like, cuz that's, that is not the mindset that you need. The mindset is, I want a job that allows me to be successful in all of these skills, especially the things we just talked about being on your LinkedIn profile. That's the kind of job we want. We're not looking for any job or every job we're looking and in order for us to do that we really need to be thoughtful about where we want to go and how we present ourselves. And then we tell the story that allows us to be qualified for that thing. Okay. I think people get a lot of their own way. We're like the resume, I don't have this education. And I can't speak French, I can't jump out of an airplane. None of those things matter. None of those things matter when you're the right fit. And this is where like, I'll ask you one question. When people come out of interviews, the question I asked was, like, was Lindsey, the most qualified candidate of the entire pool? The question is never that the question is, did you like them? Yeah. Did you like them? That's it. Okay, so we got out of your own damn way. That's pretty much what I have to say about this one. Yeah, that's so true. Yeah. It's so true. Yeah. And, you know, I, it's just crazy. Because, like, if you're not, well, first of all, if you're a salesperson, and you're trying to get a sales job somewhere, and you're not reaching out to people cold like you're doing yourself a complete disservice, because that's what they want to hire you for. And so if you can just reach out to 100 people, like I guarantee you're gonna get like 20 job offers, because, like, they're seeing, oh, wow, if he can do this on a job search, like, this is what I want to hire him for her for, right. And so anyway, I would just get if you're a salesperson, that's one thing. It's harder to do that with accountants and engineers. I don't know if you work with, you know, accountants. Yes. I definitely have lots of lots of tech folks, too. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you just have to get out of your shell mail because you're used to working internally, there's not a whole lot of client-facing if there is client-facing it's very minimal.

Chad 24:38

And now, in your job search, basically, we're asking you to sell yourself, we're asking you to get out of your comfort zone. And so you may find, you may find that what I really like about this is candidates may find that they actually really do like sales. They like talking to people and if you can get an accountant or an engineer to love sales,

Chad 25:00

They absolutely kill it. Like it's insane how much money and how much success they can have. Just because their mind, you know, is I mean, they're just so smart. You know, from an engineering tech what I mean whatever if they could just learn to sell which this job search is teaching them how to sell and get out of there, get out of their own

Lindsay 25:22

people how to sell and how to build authentic relationships. That's it. The thing is they're selling ideas creating massive buy-in. This is what makes people leaders inside of companies when they understand how to create buy-in at the table when they're having. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, amazing. Well, this has been so enjoyed our conversation. So you are hiring. So I want to give people a chance to connect with you. Well, if they wanted to, what would be the best way to reach out to you? Yeah, so actually just shoot me a note. Well, they can go to careers at Hazelton advisors calm, they could just put podcast just put podcasts at the top that you tell me that you listen to Lindsay's podcasts or you know, something like that. But careers at Hazelton advisors comm podcast, you send your resume over to that. I also like the video too. So this is what I would highly recommend. If you really want to stand out, shoot me a note on LinkedIn, I'll connect with you. And then in Oh, this is another thing we didn't talk about. But in the mobile app, you can actually send a video you can't do this on desktop, LinkedIn. But on the mobile app, you can send a video, send me a 32nd to a minute-long video on why essentially why we should hire you. So you know what value you can add to the organization. That's really the only thing I look at is how can you add value to my organization and our goals and our vision of the company. So anyway, that Yeah, reach out to you, or career. So now if you're brave enough to go out there and seek it out and be willing to call your shots, reach out to chat because this is the differentiator between the people who are high performance what we call high performer, high caliber candidates, purple squirrels, and the rest of the world because the difference is a 3%. Like there's the 3% the rest of 97% plays in the lower level. The rating The next stage is how you do it. Thank you so much for your time today. This has been amazing. Yeah, thank you for having me. There's been a lot of fun. I look forward to doing it again sometime. Awesome. Thank you so much. See ya.