Episode 308 - Rejections are part of the job search and they can also guide your next steps. In this episode, Renata answers questions about resumes, layoffs, LinkedIn gaps, and how to pivot into new opportunities.

Renata Bernarde (00:22)
few weeks ago, I was on a panel, on a webinar organized by a company called Collings.ai. It’s now available on YouTube, so I’ll put a link to that webinar below. That webinar was all about being laid off and how you can overcome the issues and be successful in your job search. The panel was excellent. I will put a link to my fellow panelists below as well, so you can go and follow them.

⁓ we did not have time to answer all the questions. had 900 plus registrations and almost 300 people attending live. The webinar is now of course available inside the callings.ai platform and on YouTube. So there’s lots of people watching it and coming back to me with great feedback. I decided to capture the questions and

Combine them into an episode of the podcast for you. The questions are always great. You know, what I told the organizers, the team at callings.ai is that these questions are so, so good for their platform and for coaches like me to really find out with that finger on the pulse, what’s really bothering you. You know, if you’re watching this episode, I’m sure that you will.

be in a layoff situation or possibly going into layoff soon, you might be aware that it’s coming or you hate your job. And these questions are common questions, are questions that professionals in your situation have ⁓ considered. So it’s always good from time to time to do Q &A’s. I do Q &A’s here on the podcast every few months.

Okay, so what I’ve done is I’ve organized them into segments or sort of combine the ones that are similar and we will go through them and see how we go for time. I usually talk too much, so I’ll try to be succinct and be really intentional in the way that I support you here and give you advice on how you can overcome the issues that you’re having. Before we continue, I just wanted to say that by the time this episode is released,

The LinkedIn private group that I have set up is, you know, up and running and I am so excited. So I’m recording this a few days before September the 15th. That’s the day that we will start doing tasks together as a group to set up our presence on LinkedIn. The professionals that have signed up, I just…

the ideal people that I imagined when I was organizing this new service that I imagined would join the group and I am so happy. It always works. Like sometimes I think and sometimes I’m asked what if some sort of weird people decide to join. I do group coaching from time to time as well and it has never happened. I often tell people well if that happens I will have a discussion with them. I will

send them in the right direction and I will refund them. I’ve never done that. I’ve never had to. Like everybody that reaches out to me are the right people to be working with me. And I think it happens because of the podcast and because of my presence on platforms like LinkedIn. So people get to know me before they sign up to work with me. So that’s why I love doing these episodes. Regardless, if you will ever going to work with me or not.

It’s just such a wonderful opportunity for me to be sharing all the ideas that are floating in my head. And then from time to time, I love when people convert into clients and start working with me. It’s really lovely. Anyway, if you’re interested in being part of the LinkedIn group, of course you can. It’s a membership. It’s a monthly payment. And whenever you’re ready, sign up. I will put a link below and we would love to have you there.

All right, let’s start with the first segment, which is handling rejection and motivation. It’s the first for a reason. Most of the questions are really about handling rejections and motivation. So a typical question was, what are some effective strategies in dealing with constant rejections? And I say a typical question because we received several similar questions and I answered some of them in the Q &A. ⁓

part of that webinar, so if you attended live, you probably saw me frantically trying to answer all the questions in the Q &A box. Okay, think about it in a different way. Rejection is data. It shows where the bottleneck is for you. If no interviews, the problem is your resume, is the ATS compliance, it’s applications. If the interviews are, you know,

going forward but you don’t have offers, then the focus should be on your presence during the interview, the way that you’re answering questions, the behavior type questions, plus the ones that trip us up in the beginning, like tell me about yourself, why did you leave your job? Those are important questions too. So building that trust and connection, that presence is really important. And normalized rejection as part of the process. There is no

barrier of entry for job applications. Everybody can apply if the job is advertised publicly online on Indeed and LinkedIn jobs and other job boards, but they only need one person. So chances are there will be lots of rejections when you go through the interview processes, especially if you’re unprepared, if you don’t have support, if you haven’t done your homework yet.

Ideally, when I work with clients, I like them to do some pre-work before going to market. And even if you’re not working with a coach, think about that. Think about preparing yourself before going to market so that you’re ready when you have to have a conversation with an interviewer the day after. So I have clients that reach out to me and say, I got an email late at night asking me.

to have a conversation with the recruiter at 9 AM in the morning, right? So you have to be ready for that. And the best way to be ready for that is to do the pre-work. Okay. Tips on keeping hunger for job search after a long period. Yes. If you stay for too long in the job market, you start losing momentum and motivation. So motivation comes from clarity of goals and values and clarity of goals and values.

means that not only you have set yourself a goal but you see yourself getting there. Goals are supposed to be achievable for you. You have to set a goal and then in your mindset, in your brain you have to say okay I will reach that goal and then that pathway, that runway between where you are and what you’ve decided to do becomes a journey, becomes exciting.

And you understand that part of it comes with failure and motivation and some rejections, but you learn to use that data, like I said before, to improve your game, to improve your performance in that journey. So it’s important to also balance obligations like your bills that you have to pay, your family with intrinsic motivations, work you love to do.

Right? So understanding that some of the jobs that you’re applying for, are they really jobs that you want? I have a client that reached out to me to work with me on an application for a job she clearly doesn’t want. And I’m like, why are we doing this? Right? Are you sure you want to spend time and energy? So the rejection is more likely to come because she won’t put the effort and the enthusiasm, the research necessary in order to do a good

job application and then she will get a rejection and think, ⁓ even for the jobs I don’t want, I’m not getting, you know, invited for an interview. Well, there’s a reason for that. You’re not sort of aligning your goals with your actions. And then think about the small wins, small wins help. So I had a really difficult conversation with a client a couple of weeks ago where he got the rejection after

weeks and weeks of interviews and conversations and he was pretty certain because he was told that he was going to get this contract and in the end he didn’t. And even though it was a sad story and of course we all wanted a different outcome, there were lots of interesting small wins along the way. The fact that that sort of contract he can get somewhere else, the sort

you know, the sort of conversations that he had showcased, the sort of experience that he has and the reputation that he has within his peer group. And we started working on that. And in fact, I’m quite sure he got a new contract. So I haven’t spoken to him yet, but I yeah, I’ve heard it in the grapevines. OK, so those small wins, they really do help, you know, the networking, the conversations, the volunteering, the skill building.

And in fact, that conversation with the client, even though he got the rejection at the end of the conversation and he said, ⁓ and I almost forgot to tell you, I have an interview coming up, you know, and a recruiter reached out to me and I’m like, this is so exciting, you know, it’s your LinkedIn working for you because the recruiter had reached out via LinkedIn. So those things are important to remember and don’t sort of be overshadowed by the rejection. And then.

Pivoting in the late 40s, learning new skills, how to stay motivated, right? Most of my clients are in their 40s, 50s and 60s. You know that if you’ve been following me for a while. That’s not to say I don’t have clients in their 30s. I have a new client and he has brought down the average ⁓ age of my clients by a little bit.

But most of my clients are in their second half of their careers. And at this stage in life, do what energizes you, avoid what drains you. As we get older, believe me, I’m 53, we just don’t have the patience and the energy to do things we don’t enjoy anymore. We just stop getting a little bit more ⁓ impatient with that. So reframe, pivot and…

understand that it is a privilege to do that. Not many people have that chance and if that’s you, I 100 % understand. But if you have the privilege, if you are between jobs and you can make choices, make good choices for you and give yourself a chance to align your career with your passion. I mean, we sort of sometimes poo poo that, but it is important. It is important to at least align your career.

with your strengths, with the things that you have talent for. So, for example, if you are great at administration and organization and protocol and procedures and relationship building, you’re not very good at strategic work or ⁓ change management. Don’t apply for jobs that are all about innovation and change and that’s not your vibe. Let other people come up with the change.

⁓ protocol and you will implement them because that’s who you are. Right? So you need to find the strengths and the talents in the job that are advertised, in the responsibilities, in the position descriptions that you read and choose wisely. Okay. Let’s talk about the second segment, which is about applications, resumes and LinkedIn.

If you’re not watching me on YouTube and if you’re listening, I just had to take a sip of my coffee. It was running out of steam. Okay, so this is a question that I received. How to show layoffs on a resume, especially with multiple short jobs.

Many people that reach out to me have this issue, especially post pandemic, where they may not have found the next right permanent role and they had lots of little contracts or they left a company after being in a company for, say, 20 years and the first job they got, it just wasn’t the right fit. So they left after a few months or a year, less than a year sometimes, and they just kept on moving, trying to find their fit. That’s very common. Look. ⁓

recruiters and employers, they understand layoffs, right? They may have gone through that themselves or they may be, you know, in fact, restructuring their companies as well. On your resume, frame works that you have done in a short period of time as consulting projects, contract work, explain what it was.

In interviews, try to use simple language. Don’t waffle too much, don’t over explain it. If you over explain it, it shows lack of confidence, it shows uncertainty, it shows awkwardness, maybe a bit of an embarrassment. And nobody should be embarrassed about things they don’t have control over. Or if it was something that you did, take ownership of that and show what you’ve learned.

You know, but usually it’s about companies going in a different direction, needing a different type of leadership or a different project or a project that was discontinued and focus on your achievements, your expertise, your talents and strengths. Don’t focus on your gaps. So many times when I’m doing interview preparation, which is something I do very often, you can book a consultation with me. ⁓ The first thing that I correct with people is, you know,

when they say things like, ⁓ even though I don’t have X, Y and Z, I’m very good at it. I’m like, don’t remind them. Just go straight into whatever you’re good at. So that’s a really important reminder. Then all the similar questions that I got, know, people being out of work since May, since March, since February, having no interviews, you know, and how is this happening to me? How can I fix it?

If you’re not getting the first call, the issue is your application. If you’re not getting an interview, the issue is your resume, your cover letter, the way that you are applying online. If you’re applying on applicant tracking systems, we call them ATS. This is a really technical era for job seekers. So you may need some help. That’s why I work and do what I do.

Or you may need to just DIY this process and learn more about how to correlate your job application with the jobs that you’re applying for. Reset and review your application strategy. Consider professionals like myself to review your materials. I will put a link in the show notes below if you want to book a time with me. Track your conversion rates to see progress. So

I never really know. So sometimes people book a consultation with me or become my private clients and they say, ⁓ you know, I didn’t get that interview. I say, OK, you applied for how many jobs last month? And they will tell me, I don’t know, 10. OK, how many interviews did you get? Five. Well, that’s a good conversion rate. I’ll tell you that. That’s a good conversion rate. So track conversion rates. If you’ve applied for a thousand and you got none or

10 and you got zero, I usually go for less, not more. And I know that some of my peers and colleagues, even in the webinar, Matthew, for example, is all about, you know, and Gary, they’re all about scale. I’m not that sort of person. I think it’s a reflection on the type of, ⁓ the type of clients that I have who are more experienced. They’re not necessarily senior executives, a hundred percent. Not my clients are all

C level professionals, ⁓ I couldn’t just carry on having a business if all my focus was on senior executives. I need to broaden up. But my clients are all very experienced. They have worked for 20 years, 30 years. They have a reputation already for what they do. They might have niched into a sector, an industry, function. There aren’t that many jobs for them to apply for.

One more reason for them to do a very good pre-work before going to the job market and when sending out an application, understanding how to speak the language of that employer and do an application that floats to the top. So I’m much more about quality than quantity when applying for jobs. And I think that as a job seeker, it makes more sense as well. It’s more enjoyable in my view.

⁓ I think if you’re younger and if you’re listening to this, and if you’re in your early twenties or even late twenties, you might be able to send hundreds of applications in the way that, you know, you might see people teaching you in Tik Tok and, and Instagram and whatnot. I just don’t think that for my, you know, experience and senior executive clients that work as well. think there’s a lot of personal human touch and connections, plus a lot of understanding of how to position your.

online job application to convert. ⁓ Yeah, and the other question is the gap being bigger and bigger. It’s a nine month gap between my layoff and now. And how do I address that on LinkedIn? Okay, so the first thing that I was going to say is don’t leave that position open. If you left an organization and it’s been more than a month, you have to close it down. Okay?

Also, you don’t have to leave it blank. If part of that time you spent doing nothing or very little, which is normal, call it a career break, call it, you know, a sabbatical or a leave. LinkedIn since the pandemic has included several things in that drop down menu. So figure out what you can do. I think for a client of mine, he, ⁓

left his job and it’s been a couple of years and during that time he had a child and I’m like parental leave. You know what I mean? If you had a child and you were enjoying your kid and you didn’t look for work that’s what it was. There’s no other name for it. You don’t need to make things up. Okay? So I think that that’s important. If during that time you’ve done

any type of freelance work, consulting work, even if it was volunteering and pro bono, that’s work. So I had a client, he was actually a CEO. And during the time he was looking for work before even he engaged me as a private coach, we worked together for three months. He had been helping a friend in a completely different sector. That friend had a business and he was paying my client in kind. wasn’t paying, you know,

like a salary or a fee, but it was whatever products or projects he had anyway. It was kind of a really interesting arrangement. And I’m like, this is cool. This should be in your LinkedIn and your resume. Right. Not only it expanded his area of ⁓ his range of industries because it was a different industry than the one he had originally worked in. I thought it was really.

an awesome thing to add to his LinkedIn. He hadn’t even considered it. So I want you to think about that and to position that well. And there are several ways of doing this. I spent most of my consultation with a client this week just working out how he should add all of his little consulting. I called them little because they were short term, but they were actually with really interesting clients.

And I wanted to showcase that brand of the clients he had worked with. So we spent lots of times considering how he should position that on his LinkedIn and also on his resume. So whatever you do in your LinkedIn, needs to be replicated and reflected on your resume as well. Okay. ⁓ If everyone uses AI for applications, won’t all resumes sound the same? Yes. Yes. That’s happening a lot. So

The trick is it will not happen to you if you feed your AI tool, be it Claude, be it ChatBT or others, Perplexity, if you feed it with your data and your voice, right? Now, this is why callings.ai is Callings.ai AI is so good. ⁓

for job seekers. So if you can invest, it’s not super expensive. I think the first month is even free or a few weeks is free. I tested callings.ai and I loved the result. I really, really loved it because then you don’t have to train or code your chat2bt. I love chat2bt and I use it a lot, but chat2bt has all of my podcast transcripts in it.

plus all of my courses. So when it’s spitting out things, so I prompt it and when it’s spitting out things for me, it’s basically speaking with my voice, right? It knows how I speak, how I think, the sort of coaching that I do. My chat to BT is like Renata on steroids. Okay? So you would have to do something like that in your chat to BT.

for it to start sounding like you, have to add a lot of, you have to contextualize it. So if you have written articles and, and you have applied, let’s talk about applications. If you have applied for lots of jobs and sent lots of resumes, input all of that into your chat BT. I teach this and I have a few tricks up my sleeve for my clients. So if this is something that you’re interested in.

book a consultation with me. If you’re not interested in that, but you want to optimize your job search, callings.ai. Just go to the callings website. I’ll put a link below, use it. But the way that you have to use it to work for you is go through the questionnaire. You will see that there lots of questions and answer them thoroughly. It took me about two to three days to finish that questionnaire.

Not only it will be great because the output from that questionnaire are your resumes, your ideal job, your cover letters, you know, the jobs that it will start identifying and sending to you by email, yada, yada, but also the reflection of you thinking about important things that you want in your career that you want to achieve. So all of that is really excellent. And I do recommend that platform for you. Okay.

How does this differ from LinkedIn’s Am I a good fit tool? I think this question was about Collin’s AI. How does this differ? I think you have to compare and contrast. I find that LinkedIn AI is not that good. I wish it was. Have you tried using the AI tool on LinkedIn to write comments or posts? Every time I do, I have a client and even my husband.

He used it to write his about section on LinkedIn. And then I looked at it and I’m like, what have you done to your about section? It’s awful. And he said, ⁓ LinkedIn asked me if they could rewrite it with their AI too. And I pressed yes. And I’m like, are my husband. You cannot have that. Even if you’re not looking for work, I don’t care. You cannot have that about section on your LinkedIn profile. It was just so…

So techie, I have no other word, right? You will not get that with Collings AI. Now this is a different question because it’s about a good fit with roles. These are two different tools. You have access to both, you use both. It’s too early to tell. Collings.ai is new. LinkedIn and its AI tool and the way that it does the optimization for you is always evolving. So it’s about…

you making a decision about what works better for you. Okay. Another segment will be, how are we going for time? Okay. Another segment will be career pivots and returning to old employers. I got a lot of questions about that and it was interesting because just the month before the webinar that started coming up in career sections at the Wall Street Journal and Forbes and you know, the places where I usually seek.

to see what’s being talked about in the career space. This idea of coming back to employers and it’s happening a lot in 2025. Should I rejoin my old company? Love the team, but it feels like if I go back, I’ve made no progress. Now, returning isn’t a failure. It can be a strategic move. So ask yourself, will this role meet my needs right now?

in terms of stability, income and environment? Could it be a bridge role while I explore new opportunities? Am I going to be considered for future promotions? You know, what’s the vibe as you walk into these interviews? It’s interesting because sometimes you go to the same company, but they’ve never heard of you. If it’s a global organization and you’re in a completely different environment, that’s really interesting ⁓ as well. So that might be.

a new venture for you, even if the brand is the same, it’s a new area of the organization with some, know, ⁓ sort of not as steep of a learning curve because you’ve worked there before. So you understand some of the technicalities and the culture of the place. So it happens. It’s common. It’s been common for decades. I don’t think there’s much of a worry about that. How to find a new career path.

after realizing current vertical isn’t right. So that was a question that we received. So I think it’s important to think about this. ⁓ If the current lane of vertical that you’re in in your career isn’t the right fit for you and you want to consider another career path, I think it’s important to remember that there is a risk in doing that and you need to treat it as a project. You need to be curious. need to

talk to people that have that other career path or other career paths if you’re exploring things a bit more broadly. Consider asking them if you can shadow them for a day, if you can do a trial. And remember that in terms of trial, it’s important to think that it’s trial and error. It could fail. I’m working with a client that is considering a different way of working.

And for a time he really stumbled because it is a very different kind of environment from what he was used to. And it’s an adjustment, right? And many times, you know, in sessions we were like, okay, let’s check in. Are we still going ahead with this? Because you can always step back and go somewhere else or go back to the way that you used to work. Sometimes we were romanticized. ⁓

different paths, the paths, the grass looks greener on the other side and then we’re there and then we’re like, ⁓ that’s not what I imagined. So it’s about exploration of adjacent fields to your ⁓ skills. And in my coaching program in module two, so that would be, you know, either the second

session or the third session, depending if you’re working with me for three or six months, that’s something that we explore really deeply. So it’s hard for me to kind of just summarize it, but I wanted to leave you at least with ⁓ sort of how to, I wanted to educate you on how you have to think about this, but there are different avenues to achieve your goals and different ways of getting there. But be ready for.

the fail-forward effect. ⁓ So discovery is messy, but it’s also rewarding. And ideally have that with a mentor or with a coach and somebody that can support you so that when you do fail, you pick yourself up and move along and learn from whatever happened in that situation. Now, the private sector experience now feels dated after my government work.

to do? That was an interesting question. And I think what I understood is this. ⁓ I think that what we had in that ⁓ webinar was a lot of people that went through layoffs that happened in the United States. Most everybody was in the United States, as far as I could tell. So there was a lot of redundancies from federal, state, government departments.

things that happened after the new administration that took place earlier in 2025. So I think what we need to think about in terms of career is there is a short term effect of what’s happening in the job market, in the economy. And then there is a long term planning and goal setting that we need to set for your career.

Okay, so things will not last forever. And ideally you want to understand potential outcomes for 10, 15, 20 years from now about the sort of work that you do. Right? So, and then re-engineering that to today, how do you want to move forward after losing your job? It doesn’t matter which sector you’re in. The political landscape will keep changing every four years or so. So you need to sort of…

Think about your expertise, your reputation, your ⁓ upskilling, your re-skilling, and what we said before, the career vertical that you’re in. So think about using this time to do some research on the future of the types of jobs that you do and focus on targeting organizations that value your experience, be it compliance, regulatory environments, policy I’m thinking about, you

potentially public servants that lost their jobs. And think about the tangential, sideways projects that you could be doing in the short term if there aren’t that many permanent roles available for you now. Could you be consulting for nonprofits, for corporate ⁓ foundations? Would there be corporate pathways for you to ⁓ engage with right now?

Adjust your narrative as well. So if you come from government and you’re now talking to corporate professionals, it might be important for you to adjust the language that you’re using to describe things that you did. It’s very likely that something that you did in government is very similar to something that’s done in corporate. It’s just that the language doesn’t match. So you need to find those connections there to meet them where they are at.

because you are the interested party. You are the one that needs a job. So you need to sort of let them know what you did in the language that they understand.

job market realities. So we had a couple of questions about what’s happening in the job market. So people searching in areas where there had been a lot of layoffs, you know, and I see that because of my clientele is usually East coast and West coast in America that seemed to be where a lot of layoffs happening, happened. So, ⁓ East coast, would see a lot of public servants that lost their jobs. West coast. have seen a lot of.

⁓ tech people losing their jobs. again, think about short-term contracts, consulting, freelance work, adjacent industries and keep the momentum on bridge rolls until there is a little bit more certainty ⁓ moving forward in the economy and a business sentiment that gets stronger and more robust over time.

and start advertising for roles right now because everything is a bit uncertain and it’s been like that for a while. You know 2025 hasn’t been a good year for job seekers and I want you to give yourself some grace and give yourself permission to, you know, be human. This is part of an economic ups and downs, but there is a down, there is an up coming up. We need to keep our focus and, you know, on the positives that will happen in the future and

over the ground right now with interim work, contract work, freelance work, consulting work. So that may have to be the option for now. And I’m being really realistic here. My idea is I help you find a job. I do not have the power to change the environment we’re in. Right? So what I want with everybody that works with me and everybody that listens to this podcast,

is for you to float to the top. If there are lots of people in the job market, I want you to be one of the best, right? And the advice that I give you is supposed to help you with that. ⁓ And I want you to pay your bills and have a salary and have income coming in. So I’m giving you lots of options because I know that the market is not ideal for you right now. Okay? ⁓

Let’s move on and talk about interviewing and closing the deal. We have a few questions about that.

Another bit of coffee here. Several interviews, final two, but no offer. How to get feedback. ⁓ Feedback is better when you are comfortable enough inside an interview, be it Zoom, Teams, or face to face, that you are able to pay attention to the interviewer’s body language and get that.

feeling and that intuition from your experience being interviewed, from your experience in your area of expertise to know how you did. And it may not come to you in the beginning when you first start interviewing, but as you get more and more experience, you will feel more comfortable. will, I mean, if you’re spiraling up. Or I want all of my clients to spiral up and do continuous learning as they go through interviews. I don’t want any of you to spiral down.

and get more more pessimistic as you go through this because it is a tough competition. You need to be resilient. Okay. So why I think it’s important for you to trust your instincts because feedback is often vague, nonexistent. There’s a lot of ghosting going on. In fact, I’m interviewing a TikToker who is amazing. She is in human resources and she was laid off and she found a job after less than

two months, but you have to understand this woman is an expert, right? But she shared her experience on TikTok in a really frank and honest way. And she had a lot to say about the process and how bad she was treated, you know, doing that process. Not personally, it’s just, you know, if you’re job searching, know, nobody gets back to you. You get those rejection letters that are really, that say nothing.

So yeah, the feedback is often vague. Don’t count on it. The data is clear. You are strong on applications and interviews if you’re moving forward. if I’m talking specifically about these sort of people that, you know, go through several interviews, you are in the final two and you don’t get an offer. What’s missing is actually the hardest thing to work with clients for me. But I love a challenge.

So, you know, I really, really love working with that sort of final 20%. So you’ve done all the right things. You sent a good application. You really impressed them in that first call, in that first interview, probably assessment centers as well. You’re at the final two and you didn’t get the job and that’s happening not once, not twice, but over and over again.

We need to look at your executive presence, your professional presence, your ability to impart trust and likeability. We need to work on that. And that’s a lot of fine tuning and tweaking and we can do that, but you may need professional help. I’ll be honest with you because it’s really hard to get. And, you know, I remember having lunch with a couple of recruiters and

And I said to them, you know, they asked about my clients, how they’re doing. I said, I have a couple of clients that are at that tail end where they’re always bridesmaids, never the bride. And the recruiter said, ⁓ they will be fine. And I said, you would be surprised. Right? So the reason why they’ve reached out to me and are working with me is because no, it’s not easy to do that final transition.

homework for you if you’re in that situation watch the Netflix documentary about tennis players breakpoint and you will see that there are some tennis players that are really really good and they always are bridesmaids and never the bride at the end of a tournament why is that happening it’s usually mindset it’s usually presence on the court it’s usually because they have the same amount of training believe you know believe me

They’re equally great to be at the final of a US Open, of an Australian Open and even sort of ⁓ smaller, but really great tournaments. To be at that tail end, you are, you are a good player, right? You, you deserve to be there. Why are you never winning? ⁓ It’s interesting and it requires a bit of coaching and support. Again, link with me.

Find a link below. Let’s work together if that’s your case. Tips for closing interviews beyond the star type stories, know, situation, action, task, result. At the final stage, it’s usually not about the behavioral questions. It’s about presence. It’s about, it’s often even not even about your answers per se. It’s about building rapport. It’s about showing up as a

colleague that they want in a team. It’s about storytelling, warmth, personality. So all of those things are important. And I do have some, I have quite a few episodes on the podcast about building personal brand, executive presence. And you know what? The job hunting podcast, the episodes, they don’t age. It’s not like some podcasts where you have to listen that week, otherwise, you know.

the news or the current affairs or whatever they’re discussing gets old. This archive of episodes, have three, this is 308. You can go back to episode number one and it will be important for you. You could go back, you know, five years and start listening. So I strongly recommend going to the job hunting podcast website. We have categories so you can search those categories have different playlists.

I think it’s worth ⁓ you sort of going back and identifying a playlist, a category. You can search for keywords and find episodes that may be helpful to you. And I’m saying this because not everybody can afford to work with a coach and I get that even though I have a range of prices. So that’s why the podcast is great. ⁓ All right. ⁓ Tips for closing interviews. That’s the one that I just said. Okay. Moving on.

Final segment, application strategies. Should you apply within the first few hours or at the sort of end, you know, of the process, especially if you have been applying for jobs that have a deadline? Okay. Timing matters. ⁓ Applying too early to me, if I am recruiting, if I’m a recruiter or an employer, if I…

advertise the role, let’s say Monday, 9 a.m. and at 9.15 you’re sending me your application, that is a no. You have not read anything before applying, right? You have not done your research, the sort of, again, the sort of clients that I work with, experienced applying for positions that require X number of years of experience to be able to do a good job.

that will be rejected. I would say that even the ones within the first five to 12 hours, I would sort of have a little bit of doubt about the quality of those applications. But if you wait too long, you may miss the boat. Sometimes people book consultations with me because they want to apply for roles. And we start the consultation or they send me stuff ahead of time, maybe a day before.

And the role has been advertised for three weeks. It’s too late. That’s why when you’re booking a consultation with me, I say, this is urgent, email me, contact me so we can try to find a time to speak, you know, as soon as possible. That’s why it’s there. And of course, also because of interview preparation, which is often urgent as well. So this is really important, like three weeks, that’s…

too long, that position, they would have moved on. They are interviewing people already, even if there is a deadline, you know, I think it’s worth you making sure that you apply within the first few days. So if the job is advertised on a Monday, apply before Friday, apply on a Wednesday or a Thursday morning. Okay. That would be good. I guess that’s it.

Right, so recapping these questions came from real professionals that were navigating layoffs in this webinar organized by Collings AI. I will put a link for you to listen to the webinar. Like I said, the speakers were great. I’ll put a link for you to follow them as well. I was the first speaker and then we had Albert from Albert’s List. Albert has ⁓ a Facebook group for job seekers.

and professionals in the San Francisco area. And ⁓ Matthew has a very successful podcast. So I think you should try and listen to his podcast and see which podcast is best for you or listen to both. If you have time, you listen to the job hunting podcast and Matthew’s podcast as well.

And follow me here wherever you found me. Are you on Spotify? Are you on Apple Podcasts? Are you listening ⁓ on YouTube or even on my website? Thank you for listening and staying with me till the end and keeping me company. I have a newsletter that I send out to my subscribers every week. We have thousands of subscribers. Many of them are corporate professionals. Some of them are recruiters and experts and they

Give me excellent feedback and support for future ideas and with the job seekers, of course, my idea is to give them extra support. So what I have on these new letters are really exclusive action oriented tips for you about the topics of the episode of the week and a few other things and insight into my life that I know many of you like to know a little bit about. Keep in touch.

Follow me, subscribe if you enjoy this, give the podcast a five star rating, wherever it’s possible to do so. It means the world to us and to my team. Thank you so much and I will see you next time. Bye.