May 20, 2025 • 37 mins
The modern job search feels increasingly like shouting into a void – applications disappear, algorithms filter resumes before human eyes ever see them, and the infamous "easy apply" buttons tempt us with convenience while sabotaging our chances. If you've found yourself submitting dozens or even hundreds of applications without response, you're not alone, but there's a better way forward.
In this episode we take a refreshing dive into what actually works in today's complex job market. They challenge the quantity-over-quality approach that leaves so many job seekers frustrated and demoralized. Instead, we discuss how to be strategic and intentional with your applications, like leveraging modern tools like AI and LinkedIn without sacrificing authenticity.
Our conversation explores how AI can transform your job search when used ethically – analyzing job descriptions, highlighting relevant skills, and even practicing interview questions. You'll discover efficient and specific approaches for using free AI tools that enhance your documents rather than replace your unique voice.
LinkedIn emerges as the essential platform not just for finding job postings, but for being found by recruiters searching for candidates with your exact skills. For those uncomfortable with self-promotion, we provide practical approaches to authentic engagement that builds your professional brand without feeling inauthentic.
Join us as we help you transform your job search process from an anxiety-inducing obligation into an intentional process of growth and connection!
CareeRise: www.careerrise.org
CareerConfidence: www.careerconfidence.online
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
There are so many tools that can support us and I
think, just as long as you useit in the right way, we
definitely endorse and encouragepeople to use the tools to
support them and make theirprocess more efficient, because
job search can definitely beoverwhelming and then also it
can be something that kind ofdemotivates us when we keep
(00:21):
submitting applications and nothearing back us when we keep
submitting applications and nothearing back.
So we want to minimize that asmuch as possible.
If the applications are moreintentional and they're better
developed, then you get betterresponses and you're not
submitting as many applicationsand then overall it's just a
better, positive experience.
You are listening to Coffee andCareer Hour.
(00:48):
We are your hosts.
I'm Armina and I'm MJ, twocareer counselors and friends
chatting about all things lifeand career.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
So grab a cup of coffee and join us.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Welcome back to Coffee and Career Hour.
This is your go-to space forreal talk about building a
meaningful career, one sip at atime.
I'm Arminette, your host, andtoday we're diving into one of
the most talked about topics incareer development right now how
to search for a job in today'sfast-growing job market.
And yes, we're talking about AI, linkedin and how networking
(01:26):
still reigns supreme.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
The job search isn't what it used to be.
It is way different now, andresumes can be scanned by
algorithms.
Recruiters are searching youbefore you even apply, which is
where LinkedIn kind of comes in,and, of course, opportunities
as we've shared in a previousepisode live in the hidden job
market.
So, armanay, I guess we'regoing to talk about how should
we really keep up?
How do we make sure that we'renot just sending out
applications into this emptyblack hole that we can consider
(01:59):
a void?
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Oh my gosh.
Yes, I mean.
It is so difficult applying tojobs like countless 10s, 20, 30
jobs and not hearing back andhaving a void.
So today, what we want to do istalk about practical ways to
boost that job search right.
Maybe it's using AI to tailoryour resume, or maybe it's
(02:23):
keeping your LinkedIn updatedand fresh and searchable, but
ultimately, it's also how youconnect with people right to
help you with the job search.
So, no matter how things evolve, how the job market evolves,
how tech evolves, relationshipsare still going to be a really
key part in finding jobs.
So let's talk about that, mj.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So grab a cup of coffee, get cozy and let's get
into it.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Let's do it.
So what are you seeing as oneof the biggest challenges among
our students, our clients,people who are job searching?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Besides, the lack of opportunity, or the emotional
toll or what Raising inflation.
What do you want me to say?
What's your pick today?
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
I think there's a lot of just overlapping challenges
and issues that job seekers arecurrently facing, and job
seekers are year-round right.
People are searching for jobsall the time, and I think, right
now, what we've been hearing inthe news different individuals,
influencers, people beenhearing in the news, different
individuals, influencers, peoplewho are in the career space are
currently talking about how,right now is a particularly hard
(03:31):
time, right Because ofoverlapping issues at a national
, state and then even city level, sometimes too, honestly.
What I find to be the hardestpart, though, is, yes, you can
be someone who's great for thisposition, qualified, have the
education, the skills orrequirements, whatever, but
getting your application throughto a human being to actually
(03:52):
see that, understand that andbring you in to offer you an
opportunity to interview, offeryou the job, see how you do
that's the hardest part isgetting through to the human
beings yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I mean, when we talk about job search with our
clients and our students,everybody will be saying like,
oh my gosh, I've applied.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
I've had students say like I've applied to like a
hundred jobs I had someone acouple days ago share with me
that they're like yeah, I'vebefore, like I've applied to
over 250 jobs oh my god and I, Ijokingly, not jokingly, because
this is true, is it?
Speaker 1 (04:25):
well then, something's wrong with the
resume, yeah no, seriously, Imean if if there is a pattern of
like applying and not hearingback, then we look at resume and
cover letter and what's beingsubmitted.
But just the fact that likepeople are submitting
applications and it does feellike it's going out into the
void right, especially if peopleare using like easy apply
(04:45):
features which, oh my gosh, as acareer counselor, I'm always
like cringing at that easy applybecause it is so attractive to
just like quickly submit thatbutton.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
It auto fills your information and that's where I
think those like vast numbersare coming from, like those 500,
700 I've seen people post allthe time about that yeah, it's
not like people are beingintentional and writing 700
cover letters.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
It is.
It's so easy to just click thatbutton.
Uh, your information auto fills.
Everything from your resumegets dumped into the application
itself.
But what we know is that itdoesn't get.
It's not a smooth transitionfrom resume to application and
the information gets jumbled up.
It's not always in the rightplace and if you're not careful
(05:32):
and you're not rereading andadjusting and being intentional
about what you're submitting,those easy apply features are
actually not helpful.
They're working against you.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
A hundred percent.
Those easy apply features areactually not helpful.
They're working against you Ahundred percent.
I can't tell you how many timesI share with people to not use
those features.
Or I ask, when I'm asking, like, can you walk me through your
job search process on thesedifferent platforms, like, oh,
you know, like I do use the easyapply, apply that kind of stuff
, the amount of times I spendsaying like don't do that,
explaining why, and then peoplekind of get it sometimes, but
(06:04):
then I feel like they'll stilldo it.
But to our listeners please hearus, listen to us.
We're telling you this becausewe care, not because we don't.
We want you to work harder.
You have to be very strategicand intentional with what you're
doing in this job search,because when you just do the
easy apply, the world's a smallplace and it looks like you can
(06:24):
be careless and it looks likeyou have no direction into what
you're doing and you're justtrying to find the next best
thing yeah, and the reality isthat we don't know what the
software looks like on thereceiver's end, true, right?
Speaker 1 (06:39):
so with easy apply, imagine they're getting
thousands of quick applicationsthat are coming at them and it
it could easily be lost in thecrowd.
Easily, right?
So what are?
I know some strategies we'vetalked about offline too, but
what are some things that yourecommend to people instead of
the easy apply?
Speaker 2 (07:00):
man, people are gonna hate us for, I think, going the
long way, because it's likewhen you do, you know division
and math and you can either dolike the long division or the
short division.
The short division is the easyapply we're going to walk you
through.
Like the long division.
One of those things is againbeing strategic and really being
(07:21):
thoughtful in this process,right?
So I think if we go back tostep one, it's like okay, what
are you looking for?
What type of role, what type ofindustry?
Right, when you're doing that,then that really does cut down a
lot of the different things.
If you're someone who's justtrying to find a job of what we
call a survival job, okay, thenthat leads to a broader open
door, but you should still havesome directional points.
(07:42):
From there you can really betterunderstand, like, okay, from
these 20, 50 opportunities I'mapplying for what of my
experiences you can go throughand see match the skillset,
match the relevancy, and how canI really strategize, format my
documents to really go throughthat.
That does take time, but guesswhat?
There's tools to help you getthere faster and be more
(08:05):
efficient in that, and thosetools are the AIs.
They're the little robots thatArminia once did not like, but
now.
But now, um, we are using themin everyday life to make our
lives more efficient, and Ithink that using your tools, the
free tools that you literallyhave access to at your
fingertips is so smart and issuch an efficient opportunity
(08:30):
for you to get ahead in this jobsearch process.
And what I mean by that is likehow or how you can use them,
because I know we've talkedabout it before is like, when
you're going through 50applications, throw them in to
ChatGPT, throw them into GoogleGem and I throw it into
Microsoft copilot, whatever AIthat you use.
Those are the top three thatare coming to my mind because
(08:51):
they can tell you it, the chat,the, the AI, the models thing.
They can tell you what are theskills, what are the
opportunities, what are theexperiences that they're looking
for.
You can feed it your experience, your master resume per se, and
then it can correlate thingsand align stuff.
But there's a lot to there.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, we love the robots now, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I'm going to send you food one day, one of those
things and I'm going to see ifyou really love them.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Oh my gosh, I do still get freaked out when the
robots are delivering food it's.
I do definitely endorse usingAI any kind of AI tool to help
with this process, because we'renot saying use AI to replace
your content replace yourdocuments.
(09:43):
Write it for you, absolutely notyour resume, your cover letter.
Your applications still need tobe in your own voice.
They still need to reflect yourown skills and your own
abilities in your own voice.
They still need to reflect yourown skills and your own
abilities.
But AI is there to help improvethings and make things more
efficient.
So one thing that we definitelyrecommend is download that job
(10:04):
description and upload it towhatever AI you're using and
also upload your resume.
Then you can ask the AI comparemy resume to the job
description, highlight the mostrelevant skills and experiences
from what the job description isasking and based on what I have
(10:24):
on my resume, and then it willgive you some of those talking
points.
So then you can actuallyhighlight even more so on your
resume or even use that toprepare for your interviews yeah
, you said that way better thanI did.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Um I, I do want to add something you do not have to
.
You don't need a paid versionto do this oh no, not at all you
can use all the free versionson all of these tools.
So there are prompts.
You can literally googleprompts out there.
Um, you can google, you canyoutube stuff.
Tiktok has.
Instagram has a ton of stufftoo, but exactly what armin is
(11:01):
saying?
Feed the chat, the ai, what itis that you're working with and
what are, and tell it the goalsthat you want right.
Tell it to do the things thatyou're looking for.
If you are looking for how toembed more transferable skills
that are in the job descriptiononto your resume, tell it to
help you do that, to identifyopportunities where you can do
that in your resume or feed ityour resume.
(11:24):
And if you're looking tounderstand how to create a
tailored resume, share with it.
I'm looking to create a onepage resume focused on this,
this, this and this.
What are the experiences thatyou think that will help me best
showcase that skillset or levelof relevancy?
Those are the things that youneed to be talking to the
chatbot with.
I know it can feel so weird,but you're only going to get the
(11:46):
best results like that.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Ai is there to help us and aslong as you're using it
ethically, you're using it in away where it's not presenting
you inauthentically right,you're still going to be able to
talk about your knowledge, yourskills and abilities when
you're interacting withemployers.
(12:09):
Then go for it, use it.
Use it to help make your jobsearch process easier.
But it is still taking the longway where you have to dig deep
into those job descriptions.
You have to understand what itis that they're asking of you
and then be able to look back atyour own experiences and your
own documents and figure out howdo I best position myself to
(12:32):
showcase that I have the skillsand I can do this job.
So there's actually a lot ofthought that has to go behind
each job application.
So, as career counselors, wedefinitely do not encourage you
to apply to hundreds of jobs.
We encourage you to have morequality applications versus
quantity.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Yeah, 100%.
I think the AIs can come reallyeasy to Armine when I'm like,
oh, I have to write a coverletter for this opportunity, and
we know the general populationdisagrees and does not like
cover letters anymore.
And you and I are in thebusiness of teaching people how
to do this, because it is anessential skill when job
(13:12):
searching.
Right, it's a way to showcaseyour communication skills.
If you want to look at it in amore technical space, I will say
that AI is an easy route to go.
That is again short-termdivision where you definitely
need to think about how are youshowcasing your skills I lost my
(13:36):
skills, yes, abilities and yourcover letter.
Yes, in your cover letter.
Sorry, I completely lost mytrain of thought, but what I was
gonna say was your.
It's easy for it to pull fromwhat you give it right.
So if you're having a chat withit about your resume, you're
talking about skills and aspecific job.
It can put together like athree out of 10 cover letter.
(14:00):
Why do I say three out of 10?
Because they're all so genericand what we're hearing is that
people are starting to now tellwhen people can tell, because
there's a certain tone when AIis used so specifically for
cover letters, letters ofinterest, um or any other type
of documents you're being askedto write, or supplemental
responses you're asked to submit, cause, sometimes even after an
(14:22):
application.
You can be like asked a coupleof questions to speed up the
interview process.
On the other, the otherperson's end, it can be so
tempting to use the AI, right.
It can be so tempting to sayhere's my stuff, write this for
me, because then that's going tohelp you apply faster.
Again, go the long-term route,have a draft, have something
(14:44):
started, or instead use the AIto help you brainstorm, but
don't use it to write thematerial for you, because it's
not.
It's inauthentic, right, it'sdefinitely.
It's not coming from you, so itcan be making up stuff that you
may not catch.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
And the other thing is, it's the reflection of your
skills and experience that youwant to really hone into, unless
you feed it that directly yeah,I know it's so tempting because
it's like you have this tool atthe tip of your fingertips that
can actually write a letter foryou.
But we've heard repeatedly fromemployers that they even have
(15:19):
tools sometimes now to assesswhether the document was written
by AI.
They have programs where theycan run your documents through.
So that's going to be anautomatic rejection, right, if
they see that it's been writtenby AI.
So take that extra five minutesor extra 30 minutes, I should
say Think about it, brainstormit, write it out in your own
(15:41):
words and then you can ask theAI to review it.
Make sure it's aligned with thejob description, make sure it's
highlighting the skills youwant to highlight, and it can
essentially maybe advance itslightly or make it sound a
little bit more professional,but the thoughts and the and the
(16:01):
skill sets and the mainconcepts are still yours.
That's.
That's the most important part,because when you're going to go
and get an interview, you'restill going to have to present
yourself in that way.
So if it doesn't match yourresume and your cover letter,
guess what?
You're still not going to getthe job right.
It all needs to be aligned andauthentic, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Yeah, cover letters are tricky because they're the
more so personal aspect of theapplication, whereas a resume
can be very objective becauseyou're talking about skills,
experience, tasks, whereas acover letter is more talking
about your person, your personalinterests, your passions, your
purpose, your reasons, your why,right, so it's very different.
Yeah, a really cool tool that Iwill I do want to spotlight
(16:42):
because this is new, it's recent, um, I saw it.
I want to say, like at most amonth ish, a month and a half
ago is if you have a Googleaccount, a Gmail, and you click,
if you're going to your Gmaillike Google Chrome page, and you
click like the nine dots, thathas all of the Google apps,
you'll see that it has Gemini.
(17:02):
Gemini is Google's AI.
But if you look on theleft-hand side, there's a menu
that and there's an option thatsays explore gems.
That's what Google is callingthese little features.
If you click on that, there'sfour that are pre-made for
Google already, and the thirdone is career, a career.
(17:22):
It's called career guide, whichis so funny and hilarious
because that's one of our toolsin our profession.
Um, is what we'll call it too.
But this program, you know itspecifically says it's it's an
AI.
It's an AI that's here to helpyou unlock your career potential
.
It can help you get a detailedplan, refine your skills and
(17:43):
achieve your career goals.
It even has like prompts onlike what to ask it If you're
like confused.
What I noticed about thisversus like talking to the
regular Gemini is this actuallytries to have a conversation
with you and it tries to get asmuch information out of you as
possible to best help you.
It was freaky to be a counselorand have this thing talk to me
like a counselor.
(18:03):
But I will say again we wantyou to go to humans, we want you
to make sure that you're doingthe right stuff, but this is.
It's kind of pretty freaky howaccurate it can be.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
yeah, yeah, I mean an ai is advancing so quickly too.
It's literally already advancedso much since a couple years
ago when it actually launchedright.
So who knows the future of aiand where it's going to take us
and how we may evolve the waythat we use it in the future?
But, but as of right now, it isstill a tool to support us, but
(18:38):
not to replace our knowledge orour abilities, because
ultimately, you have to be ableto demonstrate that you can do
that job right.
I do have a question for you,mj.
I've actually heard thisquestion from some of our
students.
They've asked what about if Iwere to use the conversation
(18:58):
feature in chat GPT to help meprepare for an interview, where
it literally does like a mockinterview?
It acts as like a careercounselor and we'll do a mock
interview.
What do you think about that?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I, so I will say I can't speak on the feedback it
may give you, right, as ifyou're using this, but what I
will say it's actually, in myopinion, it might be, it might
be beneficial, right, justdepending on how you're using it
and what you're saying or howit's responding to you.
Why?
Because many times, when weshare with others how to prepare
(19:32):
for an interview, one of ourbest, our top tips is you need
to literally practice, and Ithink people get very nervous or
anxious to practice with othersor ask people for an
opportunity for a mock interviewor to help them out in that
sense.
So they end up preparing.
They end up preparing insilence, meaning that they do
(19:52):
like the research, but theywon't ever do it out loud.
So this is an opportunity wherethey do get to speak and
practice their questions, theirresponses, they'll get to hear
themselves and then, if the AIpossibly can, it can give you
feedback.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Again, I can't, I don't know what feedback it's
giving you, so I can't reallytell if it's good or not, but it
really is an opportunity foryou to practice out loud yeah,
yeah, I agree with that, becauseit can be intimidating to
practice with a friend or acareer counselor or somebody,
because then it's like you'rebeing vulnerable and you don't
(20:27):
want to not put your best footforward in front of people
sometimes, and so this is a safespace essentially, and I know
it responds to you.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
You just have to tell it to respond to you Like, like
, for example, you can sharewith it like be, pretend.
Or you could say you know, andfrom now on you are an expert
recruiter in this industry.
Um, focused on thisorganization.
Right, I want you to help meprepare for my interview.
Ask me 10 mock interviewquestions and I will respond
(20:55):
Like.
You can train it, you can tellit to be those things so it can
give you the best guidance.
So it's not just the plain oldchat bot, um, but it is
definitely an opportunity foryou to speak and practice out
loud your interview responsesand see what kind of feedback
you get.
I am a fan of tellingindividuals to use like, zoom,
google Me, whatever platform youcan if it's like a virtual
(21:19):
interview, to see and recordyourself so you can watch the
playbacks.
I even tell people sometimes.
One of my favorite features onour phones are like the voice
memos.
Every smartphone now has like avoice memo so you can speak and
hear yourself Back.
When I was interviewing, thatwas what I used to do.
Oh yeah, I used to and I stillhave them, which is very cringe,
(21:39):
um.
But I have a bunch of my selfmock interview practice where I
would ask myself questions,speak them out loud, and then I
would listen to see if I wasanswering.
The question had a greatexample how long I was speaking,
for what type of pauses, whatwas my tone.
I mean, you know me, armand Amowas a hardcore um, shared with
you guys a little bit about myinterviewing process for my
(22:01):
current job, but it was like umintense interviewer for myself,
so that's why I still have them.
And then I would even practicewith myself on zoom.
I would record and watch mybody language.
I would watch my tone when I waslooking at the camera versus
the screen, if I had notes likeall those kinds of things.
That's kind of like my guidanceamazing.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Well, yeah, and so you were already using tools
aside from ai, but othertechnology related tools, to
help you, and it clearly hasbeen beneficial yeah, I mean
we'll see.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Now I need an interview to see how like I feel
, like I'm rusty.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
No, no interviews, let's keep you here.
But yeah, amazing, I mean,there are so many tools that can
support us and I think, just aslong as you use it in the right
way, we definitely endorse andencourage people to use the
tools to support them and maketheir process more efficient,
because job search candefinitely be overwhelming and
(22:57):
then also it can be somethingthat kind of demotivates us when
we keep submitting applicationsand not hearing back us when we
keep submitting applicationsand not hearing back.
So we want to minimize that asmuch as possible.
If the applications are moreintentional and they're better
developed, then you get betterresponses and you're not
submitting as many applicationsand then overall it's just a
(23:18):
better, positive experience.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Yeah, absolutely, you were talking about technologies
and Armine.
I want to turn it back to youfor a second.
We talk about platforms andservices and tools and resources
and all these types of things,but for you, what is like the
best job seeker platform thatsomeone can use?
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Oh, I love that.
I would definitely say LinkedIn.
Yeah, I think LinkedIn overallis a great professional
development platform to use.
Of course, it has a job boardand it is a pretty trusted job
board.
So I would definitely encourageLinkedIn's job board, but also
just the LinkedIn profile itself, to be able to brand yourself,
(24:02):
to be able to connect with otherpeople that can lead to
opportunities.
So anybody who's job searching,I would say LinkedIn is the
place to start with your overallportfolio.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I definitely agree with you.
Linkedin is, I think, globallynow, the top platform for job
seekers.
I will say it's an opportunityto do a lot of self-promotion
your personal brand, but also beout there in general, but also
really make your case for whyyou're a great worker, employee
or consultant or CEO, whateverit is right.
(24:40):
Linkedin is huge in the jobseeker space and I think that
people end up coming to thisplatform because it's so
well-rounded in all of itsofferings and services.
But why would it be importantto a job seeker?
What do you think is like oneof the things that someone uses
the most on LinkedIn?
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Well, it's important because recruiters look at your
profile right.
Recruiters actually have theirown way of utilizing LinkedIn to
find potential candidates.
So if you have a well-roundedportfolio and you have a
well-developed profile,recruiters are likely to see
(25:19):
what you have to offer and reachout to you to connect you to
positions that you never evenknew existed.
So that's one of the keyreasons why LinkedIn is
important, but, of course,beyond that, it's also
connecting and networking withpeople who may be in the
industries that you're wantingto go into, and those
connections can lead to jobopportunities as well.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, if you didn't know this, on your LinkedIn
profile there is an opportunityor like a little thing where, if
you're on your picture, youhave the option to have a banner
(26:04):
banner to allow it to be onyour public profile or only have
that turned on to the recruiterside, which I believe is called
, like LinkedIn.
Recruiter is what the peoplewho are seeking for job
searchers I guess, uh, potentialemployees are using.
So you have the option to makeit like a public thing or to
only have it listed forrecruiters who are looking for
(26:27):
the next best candidate.
So on there on your profile,you can really structure it and
create it in a sense where it'syou are looking for a job, your
current employer doesn't have toknow if you don't want them to,
or your community or networkdoesn't have to know either, and
that can really get you to thepeople who are looking for you
for their next best opportunity.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Yeah yeah, linkedin is so cool and it's actually
evolved a lot since it firstcame out Right, and it's
something that I think now iskind of becoming second nature,
like almost everybody has it,although we do still meet people
who don't have LinkedIn or feelhesitant.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
I've met people who like absolutely refuse to have
it.
I don't know.
I mean, I I understand whereyou're coming from or people who
just aren't like of the socialmedia head, but nowadays it's
important to have a digitalfootprint honestly it is, and
there's no going back.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
You know, in terms of the technology and the digital
footprint, like you were saying,and having these tools, it's
only going to advance.
There's only going to be newthings that come up, more
digital things and spaces wherewe need to be at.
So any and everybody alreadyknows like employers will Google
(27:43):
you, right, employers andrecruiters will Google your name
, what, what comes up if nothingcomes up.
That's also kind of sketchysketchy.
Yeah, so you do want to have adigital front print and in in a
place like linkedin, you cancontrol what it is that you're
putting out there.
It's professional, it's meant tobe a professional space, so it
(28:05):
can only benefit you honestly.
And if you are somebody who'snot that much into technology or
wanting to put your life outthere or social media, that's
okay.
You don't have to post anythingpersonal, especially on
LinkedIn.
It is where you could havelimits and have boundaries and
you don't have to feel superexposed because it's a space for
(28:27):
your professional skill setsand nothing about your personal
life needs to go on there, eventhough sometimes people do, and
I don't think that's the rightplatform for that.
I agree.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, I agree, I think you can keep it limited to
your professional brand andyour career in that sense, while
still remaining authentic towho you are.
There is something that youmentioned, armanay, and I will
say that the community you buildon there I think I said earlier
today, I think I called it likea career colony, like building,
a career colony.
(28:57):
I always alliteration, I lovecall it, love calling it career
community, but definitely Ithink I said like a colony, to
expand it a little bit more.
I love that we're colonizing thejob market absolutely in this
sense, um, with people who arejust like here for you, here to
support you, and that's whereyou build that space and I I
(29:19):
constantly share that.
As a society you know, we'vebuilt to see LinkedIn as this
thing where it's constantpositive self-promotion.
But it's up to us to choose howwe shape that platform.
You heard me say that like fourtimes today to like to some of
our um, our students, but itreally is about who you have
around you and how youstrategically connect with
(29:41):
others in the spaces that youalso want to grow or be in one
day.
Right, even people who aremaybe you aren't super excited
about, but you still find somebenefits, some knowledge to gain
from their journey, theirinsights that they have to share
because that adds to yourprofessional development, which,
aside from keeping you know,your, your tools in, in check
and having being like locked interms of having your resume and
(30:04):
your cover letter and all thoseapps to go and your LinkedIn
profiles staying up to date,those are like really cool
technical things that you can do.
But the people, skills andstaying connected to your career
colony, your career community,the people who are there to
support you day in and day outright, regardless of what phase
of your career development thatyou're going through.
That's extremely important, asyou are job seeking.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah, you know, I think what I realized is that
people sometimes are hesitantabout LinkedIn because it's
cringy to like self promote.
It is Right, it's not somethingthat comes naturally to most
people.
And and also, if it's somebodywho is like starting off in
their career and it feels likemaybe I don't really have much
to offer, so what am I gonna puton there, right, and then it
(30:49):
makes them, I guess, moreinsecure to have this space,
this portfolio.
That's not really full, butthat's really yeah, and that is
understandable.
That is what what we work on ascareer counselors Really a lot
of the time is that self-image,self-reflection.
Actually, you do have a lot ofthings to offer.
Let's talk about some of yourpast experiences and let's
(31:12):
reframe some of thoseexperiences for you to see what
it is that you, what skills youdo have, and then we talk about
how we can build our portfolioover time.
But you've got to startsomewhere and because LinkedIn
is the space where you canconnect with other people, you
can build that brand.
Even in the way that youcomment on people's posts or
(31:33):
send messages to people, thoseare part of your brand.
It's not just the skills andthe experiences you have listed,
but it's your interaction withother people that's part of your
brand, right?
So it doesn't have to be thisfake self-promotion thing that
feels cringy.
It's just that authentic, likeconnecting with people, uh,
(31:53):
writing genuine comments,sharing what you learn.
You can even share the thingsthat you're insecure about
through those comments.
There's a lot of greatconversations that happen in the
comment section, right, and soit's a really great space to
connect, be authentic and buildthose relationships also build
your brand.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Absolutely yeah, and through that you really do the
networking pieces right.
If you are in the comments, ifyou are liking people's things,
if you are growing that space,you are going to naturally
create that community rightaround those individuals and I
think that, aside from it beinga self-promotion, it's also a
(32:33):
space to like keep those peopleall in one place, right.
You're going to meet differentconnections, different.
You're going to build differentrelationships in different
spaces and, aside from havingthem in your contacts, you know
app on your phone, you can havethem all on one, I guess,
another application, I guess, orwebsite, but they're all there
for, like, the same reason rightTo connect with you, to help
(32:53):
you, to support you, or for youto help them to connect with
them, to support them in thatspace.
It's a give and take or backand forth, I guess, type of
relationship to and this isreally important when you're job
seeking, because you have toknow individuals and how to
communicate and connect withthem, to also understand what
you're walking into, or tobetter understand the industry
(33:15):
or the job market or what'savailable at that time in that
sense, but also have people talkabout your skill sets, what you
have to bring, how you are anasset to a team or how you bring
so much value to the nextorganization or fresh ideas.
So these are huge, importantpieces that are so critical to
our job searcher right now.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Yeah, yeah, and I think a lot of what we talked
about today, mj, are practicaltips, right, like use that ai to
help, uh, make your process alittle bit more efficient, use
linkedin to build your brand, tonetwork.
And we're talking about thesepractical tips.
But I think, ultimately, it's amindset shift when you, when,
(33:57):
when we feel insecure about thejob search process, we're less
likely to even want to spendtime on our resume and cover
letter because we're we're, wedon't want to see those skill
gaps, right, we don't want tosee like, okay, maybe I'm not
really qualified for thisposition and you don't want to
(34:19):
be that intentional about it,and it's just like this job, I
need a job right now.
Let me just do this easy applyfeature.
I feel like that's kind ofmasking, like really reflecting
on okay, what is it that I wantto do, what am I qualified for,
what skills do I still need todevelop?
How do I like position myselfappropriately for these
positions?
So that's a lot ofintentionality.
(34:41):
And I think when there'sinsecurity around that, it's
easy to mask that with like easyapply features.
And the same goes for LinkedIn.
When there's insecurity aroundwhat we have to offer, we don't
want to be in a digital spacethat can maybe expose our gaps
right.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Yeah, I love what you're sharing because it's
making me literally think about,like, how we can do all these
technical things and we cansubmit the job applications, we
can look at the skills.
We cannot do all this stuff.
But until you start and reallylook in the mirror and face, you
know that true sense of selfand where it is that, like
you're saying, those gaps?
(35:17):
Right, what am I missing?
What am I um, what am Ireaching towards?
How do I bridge this gapbetween this opportunity and
that experience, or make myselfmore relevant or gain that skill
?
You won't really move forward.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah, yeah.
So look in the mirror, askyourself these hard questions
what do I want to do?
Why am I applying to this job?
What skills do I still need todevelop?
We're always growing.
Nobody expects you to beperfect and have everything all
figured out, but you do have tobe intentional.
We're always growing.
Nobody expects you to beperfect and have everything all
figured out, but you do have tobe intentional and authentic
with yourself and in the jobsearch process, and that's going
(35:53):
to then seep into having betterapplications, more quality
applications and applying topositions that are more aligned
with you, which then in theinterviews you're going to be a
lot better because you'realigned with these positions.
You're going to be excitedabout how you talk about the job
and what you have to offer, andthen it yields better results
and then your mindset reallyimpacts the way that you perform
(36:16):
in the entire job searchprocess.
Thank you so much for listening.
If you enjoy our show, we askthat you write a review on Apple
Podcasts to help us reach morepeople looking to level up their
career.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Want to connect with us, be sure to follow our
Instagrams and websites.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Follow Career Rise on Instagram for career advice and
motivation to help you stay upto date on all things career.
Be sure to also visit mywebsite, careerriseorg, to book
a career counseling package andaccess free career resources.
My goal is to help you clarifyyour goals, make a plan and feel
confident in your careerjourney.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
You can follow me on Instagram at
careerconfidentlatina for yourdaily dose of career advice and
my journey as a first-generationLatina counselor.
Career advice and my journey asa first-generation Latina
counselor.
You can access free resourcesor even work with me by visiting
my website,careerconfidenceonline.
I want to help you grow yourconfidence and help you reach
your career dreams.
(37:16):
Adios.
There are so many tools that can support us and I
think, just as long as you useit in the right way, we
definitely endorse and encouragepeople to use the tools to
support them and make theirprocess more efficient, because
job search can definitely beoverwhelming and then also it
can be something that kind ofdemotivates us when we keep
(00:21):
submitting applications and nothearing back us when we keep
submitting applications and nothearing back.
So we want to minimize that asmuch as possible.
If the applications are moreintentional and they're better
developed, then you get betterresponses and you're not
submitting as many applicationsand then overall it's just a
better, positive experience.
You are listening to Coffee andCareer Hour.
(00:48):
We are your hosts.
I'm Armina and I'm MJ, twocareer counselors and friends
chatting about all things lifeand career.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
So grab a cup of coffee and join us.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Welcome back to Coffee and Career Hour.
This is your go-to space forreal talk about building a
meaningful career, one sip at atime.
I'm Arminette, your host, andtoday we're diving into one of
the most talked about topics incareer development right now how
to search for a job in today'sfast-growing job market.
And yes, we're talking about AI, linkedin and how networking
(01:26):
still reigns supreme.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
The job search isn't what it used to be.
It is way different now, andresumes can be scanned by
algorithms.
Recruiters are searching youbefore you even apply, which is
where LinkedIn kind of comes in,and, of course, opportunities
as we've shared in a previousepisode live in the hidden job
market.
So, armanay, I guess we'regoing to talk about how should
we really keep up?
How do we make sure that we'renot just sending out
applications into this emptyblack hole that we can consider
(01:59):
a void?
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Oh my gosh.
Yes, I mean.
It is so difficult applying tojobs like countless 10s, 20, 30
jobs and not hearing back andhaving a void.
So today, what we want to do istalk about practical ways to
boost that job search right.
Maybe it's using AI to tailoryour resume, or maybe it's
(02:23):
keeping your LinkedIn updatedand fresh and searchable, but
ultimately, it's also how youconnect with people right to
help you with the job search.
So, no matter how things evolve, how the job market evolves,
how tech evolves, relationshipsare still going to be a really
key part in finding jobs.
So let's talk about that, mj.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So grab a cup of coffee, get cozy and let's get
into it.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Let's do it.
So what are you seeing as oneof the biggest challenges among
our students, our clients,people who are job searching?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Besides, the lack of opportunity, or the emotional
toll or what Raising inflation.
What do you want me to say?
What's your pick today?
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
I think there's a lot of just overlapping challenges
and issues that job seekers arecurrently facing, and job
seekers are year-round right.
People are searching for jobsall the time, and I think, right
now, what we've been hearing inthe news different individuals,
influencers, people beenhearing in the news, different
individuals, influencers, peoplewho are in the career space are
currently talking about how,right now is a particularly hard
(03:31):
time, right Because ofoverlapping issues at a national
, state and then even city level, sometimes too, honestly.
What I find to be the hardestpart, though, is, yes, you can
be someone who's great for thisposition, qualified, have the
education, the skills orrequirements, whatever, but
getting your application throughto a human being to actually
(03:52):
see that, understand that andbring you in to offer you an
opportunity to interview, offeryou the job, see how you do
that's the hardest part isgetting through to the human
beings yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I mean, when we talk about job search with our
clients and our students,everybody will be saying like,
oh my gosh, I've applied.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
I've had students say like I've applied to like a
hundred jobs I had someone acouple days ago share with me
that they're like yeah, I'vebefore, like I've applied to
over 250 jobs oh my god and I, Ijokingly, not jokingly, because
this is true, is it?
Speaker 1 (04:25):
well then, something's wrong with the
resume, yeah no, seriously, Imean if if there is a pattern of
like applying and not hearingback, then we look at resume and
cover letter and what's beingsubmitted.
But just the fact that likepeople are submitting
applications and it does feellike it's going out into the
void right, especially if peopleare using like easy apply
(04:45):
features which, oh my gosh, as acareer counselor, I'm always
like cringing at that easy applybecause it is so attractive to
just like quickly submit thatbutton.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
It auto fills your information and that's where I
think those like vast numbersare coming from, like those 500,
700 I've seen people post allthe time about that yeah, it's
not like people are beingintentional and writing 700
cover letters.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
It is.
It's so easy to just click thatbutton.
Uh, your information auto fills.
Everything from your resumegets dumped into the application
itself.
But what we know is that itdoesn't get.
It's not a smooth transitionfrom resume to application and
the information gets jumbled up.
It's not always in the rightplace and if you're not careful
(05:32):
and you're not rereading andadjusting and being intentional
about what you're submitting,those easy apply features are
actually not helpful.
They're working against you.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
A hundred percent.
Those easy apply features areactually not helpful.
They're working against you Ahundred percent.
I can't tell you how many timesI share with people to not use
those features.
Or I ask, when I'm asking, like, can you walk me through your
job search process on thesedifferent platforms, like, oh,
you know, like I do use the easyapply, apply that kind of stuff
, the amount of times I spendsaying like don't do that,
explaining why, and then peoplekind of get it sometimes, but
(06:04):
then I feel like they'll stilldo it.
But to our listeners please hearus, listen to us.
We're telling you this becausewe care, not because we don't.
We want you to work harder.
You have to be very strategicand intentional with what you're
doing in this job search,because when you just do the
easy apply, the world's a smallplace and it looks like you can
(06:24):
be careless and it looks likeyou have no direction into what
you're doing and you're justtrying to find the next best
thing yeah, and the reality isthat we don't know what the
software looks like on thereceiver's end, true, right?
Speaker 1 (06:39):
so with easy apply, imagine they're getting
thousands of quick applicationsthat are coming at them and it
it could easily be lost in thecrowd.
Easily, right?
So what are?
I know some strategies we'vetalked about offline too, but
what are some things that yourecommend to people instead of
the easy apply?
Speaker 2 (07:00):
man, people are gonna hate us for, I think, going the
long way, because it's likewhen you do, you know division
and math and you can either dolike the long division or the
short division.
The short division is the easyapply we're going to walk you
through.
Like the long division.
One of those things is againbeing strategic and really being
(07:21):
thoughtful in this process,right?
So I think if we go back tostep one, it's like okay, what
are you looking for?
What type of role, what type ofindustry?
Right, when you're doing that,then that really does cut down a
lot of the different things.
If you're someone who's justtrying to find a job of what we
call a survival job, okay, thenthat leads to a broader open
door, but you should still havesome directional points.
(07:42):
From there you can really betterunderstand, like, okay, from
these 20, 50 opportunities I'mapplying for what of my
experiences you can go throughand see match the skillset,
match the relevancy, and how canI really strategize, format my
documents to really go throughthat.
That does take time, but guesswhat?
There's tools to help you getthere faster and be more
(08:05):
efficient in that, and thosetools are the AIs.
They're the little robots thatArminia once did not like, but
now.
But now, um, we are using themin everyday life to make our
lives more efficient, and Ithink that using your tools, the
free tools that you literallyhave access to at your
fingertips is so smart and issuch an efficient opportunity
(08:30):
for you to get ahead in this jobsearch process.
And what I mean by that is likehow or how you can use them,
because I know we've talkedabout it before is like, when
you're going through 50applications, throw them in to
ChatGPT, throw them into GoogleGem and I throw it into
Microsoft copilot, whatever AIthat you use.
Those are the top three thatare coming to my mind because
(08:51):
they can tell you it, the chat,the, the AI, the models thing.
They can tell you what are theskills, what are the
opportunities, what are theexperiences that they're looking
for.
You can feed it your experience, your master resume per se, and
then it can correlate thingsand align stuff.
But there's a lot to there.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, we love the robots now, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I'm going to send you food one day, one of those
things and I'm going to see ifyou really love them.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Oh my gosh, I do still get freaked out when the
robots are delivering food it's.
I do definitely endorse usingAI any kind of AI tool to help
with this process, because we'renot saying use AI to replace
your content replace yourdocuments.
(09:43):
Write it for you, absolutely notyour resume, your cover letter.
Your applications still need tobe in your own voice.
They still need to reflect yourown skills and your own
abilities in your own voice.
They still need to reflect yourown skills and your own
abilities.
But AI is there to help improvethings and make things more
efficient.
So one thing that we definitelyrecommend is download that job
(10:04):
description and upload it towhatever AI you're using and
also upload your resume.
Then you can ask the AI comparemy resume to the job
description, highlight the mostrelevant skills and experiences
from what the job description isasking and based on what I have
(10:24):
on my resume, and then it willgive you some of those talking
points.
So then you can actuallyhighlight even more so on your
resume or even use that toprepare for your interviews yeah
, you said that way better thanI did.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Um I, I do want to add something you do not have to
.
You don't need a paid versionto do this oh no, not at all you
can use all the free versionson all of these tools.
So there are prompts.
You can literally googleprompts out there.
Um, you can google, you canyoutube stuff.
Tiktok has.
Instagram has a ton of stufftoo, but exactly what armin is
(11:01):
saying?
Feed the chat, the ai, what itis that you're working with and
what are, and tell it the goalsthat you want right.
Tell it to do the things thatyou're looking for.
If you are looking for how toembed more transferable skills
that are in the job descriptiononto your resume, tell it to
help you do that, to identifyopportunities where you can do
that in your resume or feed ityour resume.
(11:24):
And if you're looking tounderstand how to create a
tailored resume, share with it.
I'm looking to create a onepage resume focused on this,
this, this and this.
What are the experiences thatyou think that will help me best
showcase that skillset or levelof relevancy?
Those are the things that youneed to be talking to the
chatbot with.
I know it can feel so weird,but you're only going to get the
(11:46):
best results like that.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Ai is there to help us and aslong as you're using it
ethically, you're using it in away where it's not presenting
you inauthentically right,you're still going to be able to
talk about your knowledge, yourskills and abilities when
you're interacting withemployers.
(12:09):
Then go for it, use it.
Use it to help make your jobsearch process easier.
But it is still taking the longway where you have to dig deep
into those job descriptions.
You have to understand what itis that they're asking of you
and then be able to look back atyour own experiences and your
own documents and figure out howdo I best position myself to
(12:32):
showcase that I have the skillsand I can do this job.
So there's actually a lot ofthought that has to go behind
each job application.
So, as career counselors, wedefinitely do not encourage you
to apply to hundreds of jobs.
We encourage you to have morequality applications versus
quantity.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Yeah, 100%.
I think the AIs can come reallyeasy to Armine when I'm like,
oh, I have to write a coverletter for this opportunity, and
we know the general populationdisagrees and does not like
cover letters anymore.
And you and I are in thebusiness of teaching people how
to do this, because it is anessential skill when job
(13:12):
searching.
Right, it's a way to showcaseyour communication skills.
If you want to look at it in amore technical space, I will say
that AI is an easy route to go.
That is again short-termdivision where you definitely
need to think about how are youshowcasing your skills I lost my
(13:36):
skills, yes, abilities and yourcover letter.
Yes, in your cover letter.
Sorry, I completely lost mytrain of thought, but what I was
gonna say was your.
It's easy for it to pull fromwhat you give it right.
So if you're having a chat withit about your resume, you're
talking about skills and aspecific job.
It can put together like athree out of 10 cover letter.
(14:00):
Why do I say three out of 10?
Because they're all so genericand what we're hearing is that
people are starting to now tellwhen people can tell, because
there's a certain tone when AIis used so specifically for
cover letters, letters ofinterest, um or any other type
of documents you're being askedto write, or supplemental
responses you're asked to submit, cause, sometimes even after an
(14:22):
application.
You can be like asked a coupleof questions to speed up the
interview process.
On the other, the otherperson's end, it can be so
tempting to use the AI, right.
It can be so tempting to sayhere's my stuff, write this for
me, because then that's going tohelp you apply faster.
Again, go the long-term route,have a draft, have something
(14:44):
started, or instead use the AIto help you brainstorm, but
don't use it to write thematerial for you, because it's
not.
It's inauthentic, right, it'sdefinitely.
It's not coming from you, so itcan be making up stuff that you
may not catch.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
And the other thing is, it's the reflection of your
skills and experience that youwant to really hone into, unless
you feed it that directly yeah,I know it's so tempting because
it's like you have this tool atthe tip of your fingertips that
can actually write a letter foryou.
But we've heard repeatedly fromemployers that they even have
(15:19):
tools sometimes now to assesswhether the document was written
by AI.
They have programs where theycan run your documents through.
So that's going to be anautomatic rejection, right, if
they see that it's been writtenby AI.
So take that extra five minutesor extra 30 minutes, I should
say Think about it, brainstormit, write it out in your own
(15:41):
words and then you can ask theAI to review it.
Make sure it's aligned with thejob description, make sure it's
highlighting the skills youwant to highlight, and it can
essentially maybe advance itslightly or make it sound a
little bit more professional,but the thoughts and the and the
(16:01):
skill sets and the mainconcepts are still yours.
That's.
That's the most important part,because when you're going to go
and get an interview, you'restill going to have to present
yourself in that way.
So if it doesn't match yourresume and your cover letter,
guess what?
You're still not going to getthe job right.
It all needs to be aligned andauthentic, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Yeah, cover letters are tricky because they're the
more so personal aspect of theapplication, whereas a resume
can be very objective becauseyou're talking about skills,
experience, tasks, whereas acover letter is more talking
about your person, your personalinterests, your passions, your
purpose, your reasons, your why,right, so it's very different.
Yeah, a really cool tool that Iwill I do want to spotlight
(16:42):
because this is new, it's recent, um, I saw it.
I want to say, like at most amonth ish, a month and a half
ago is if you have a Googleaccount, a Gmail, and you click,
if you're going to your Gmaillike Google Chrome page, and you
click like the nine dots, thathas all of the Google apps,
you'll see that it has Gemini.
(17:02):
Gemini is Google's AI.
But if you look on theleft-hand side, there's a menu
that and there's an option thatsays explore gems.
That's what Google is callingthese little features.
If you click on that, there'sfour that are pre-made for
Google already, and the thirdone is career, a career.
(17:22):
It's called career guide, whichis so funny and hilarious
because that's one of our toolsin our profession.
Um, is what we'll call it too.
But this program, you know itspecifically says it's it's an
AI.
It's an AI that's here to helpyou unlock your career potential
.
It can help you get a detailedplan, refine your skills and
(17:43):
achieve your career goals.
It even has like prompts onlike what to ask it If you're
like confused.
What I noticed about thisversus like talking to the
regular Gemini is this actuallytries to have a conversation
with you and it tries to get asmuch information out of you as
possible to best help you.
It was freaky to be a counselorand have this thing talk to me
like a counselor.
(18:03):
But I will say again we wantyou to go to humans, we want you
to make sure that you're doingthe right stuff, but this is.
It's kind of pretty freaky howaccurate it can be.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
yeah, yeah, I mean an ai is advancing so quickly too.
It's literally already advancedso much since a couple years
ago when it actually launchedright.
So who knows the future of aiand where it's going to take us
and how we may evolve the waythat we use it in the future?
But, but as of right now, it isstill a tool to support us, but
(18:38):
not to replace our knowledge orour abilities, because
ultimately, you have to be ableto demonstrate that you can do
that job right.
I do have a question for you,mj.
I've actually heard thisquestion from some of our
students.
They've asked what about if Iwere to use the conversation
(18:58):
feature in chat GPT to help meprepare for an interview, where
it literally does like a mockinterview?
It acts as like a careercounselor and we'll do a mock
interview.
What do you think about that?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I, so I will say I can't speak on the feedback it
may give you, right, as ifyou're using this, but what I
will say it's actually, in myopinion, it might be, it might
be beneficial, right, justdepending on how you're using it
and what you're saying or howit's responding to you.
Why?
Because many times, when weshare with others how to prepare
(19:32):
for an interview, one of ourbest, our top tips is you need
to literally practice, and Ithink people get very nervous or
anxious to practice with othersor ask people for an
opportunity for a mock interviewor to help them out in that
sense.
So they end up preparing.
They end up preparing insilence, meaning that they do
(19:52):
like the research, but theywon't ever do it out loud.
So this is an opportunity wherethey do get to speak and
practice their questions, theirresponses, they'll get to hear
themselves and then, if the AIpossibly can, it can give you
feedback.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Again, I can't, I don't know what feedback it's
giving you, so I can't reallytell if it's good or not, but it
really is an opportunity foryou to practice out loud yeah,
yeah, I agree with that, becauseit can be intimidating to
practice with a friend or acareer counselor or somebody,
because then it's like you'rebeing vulnerable and you don't
(20:27):
want to not put your best footforward in front of people
sometimes, and so this is a safespace essentially, and I know
it responds to you.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
You just have to tell it to respond to you Like, like
, for example, you can sharewith it like be, pretend.
Or you could say you know, andfrom now on you are an expert
recruiter in this industry.
Um, focused on thisorganization.
Right, I want you to help meprepare for my interview.
Ask me 10 mock interviewquestions and I will respond
(20:55):
Like.
You can train it, you can tellit to be those things so it can
give you the best guidance.
So it's not just the plain oldchat bot, um, but it is
definitely an opportunity foryou to speak and practice out
loud your interview responsesand see what kind of feedback
you get.
I am a fan of tellingindividuals to use like, zoom,
google Me, whatever platform youcan if it's like a virtual
(21:19):
interview, to see and recordyourself so you can watch the
playbacks.
I even tell people sometimes.
One of my favorite features onour phones are like the voice
memos.
Every smartphone now has like avoice memo so you can speak and
hear yourself Back.
When I was interviewing, thatwas what I used to do.
Oh yeah, I used to and I stillhave them, which is very cringe,
(21:39):
um.
But I have a bunch of my selfmock interview practice where I
would ask myself questions,speak them out loud, and then I
would listen to see if I wasanswering.
The question had a greatexample how long I was speaking,
for what type of pauses, whatwas my tone.
I mean, you know me, armand Amowas a hardcore um, shared with
you guys a little bit about myinterviewing process for my
(22:01):
current job, but it was like umintense interviewer for myself,
so that's why I still have them.
And then I would even practicewith myself on zoom.
I would record and watch mybody language.
I would watch my tone when I waslooking at the camera versus
the screen, if I had notes likeall those kinds of things.
That's kind of like my guidanceamazing.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Well, yeah, and so you were already using tools
aside from ai, but othertechnology related tools, to
help you, and it clearly hasbeen beneficial yeah, I mean
we'll see.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Now I need an interview to see how like I feel
, like I'm rusty.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
No, no interviews, let's keep you here.
But yeah, amazing, I mean,there are so many tools that can
support us and I think, just aslong as you use it in the right
way, we definitely endorse andencourage people to use the
tools to support them and maketheir process more efficient,
because job search candefinitely be overwhelming and
(22:57):
then also it can be somethingthat kind of demotivates us when
we keep submitting applicationsand not hearing back us when we
keep submitting applicationsand not hearing back.
So we want to minimize that asmuch as possible.
If the applications are moreintentional and they're better
developed, then you get betterresponses and you're not
submitting as many applicationsand then overall it's just a
(23:18):
better, positive experience.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Yeah, absolutely, you were talking about technologies
and Armine.
I want to turn it back to youfor a second.
We talk about platforms andservices and tools and resources
and all these types of things,but for you, what is like the
best job seeker platform thatsomeone can use?
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Oh, I love that.
I would definitely say LinkedIn.
Yeah, I think LinkedIn overallis a great professional
development platform to use.
Of course, it has a job boardand it is a pretty trusted job
board.
So I would definitely encourageLinkedIn's job board, but also
just the LinkedIn profile itself, to be able to brand yourself,
(24:02):
to be able to connect with otherpeople that can lead to
opportunities.
So anybody who's job searching,I would say LinkedIn is the
place to start with your overallportfolio.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I definitely agree with you.
Linkedin is, I think, globallynow, the top platform for job
seekers.
I will say it's an opportunityto do a lot of self-promotion
your personal brand, but also beout there in general, but also
really make your case for whyyou're a great worker, employee
or consultant or CEO, whateverit is right.
(24:40):
Linkedin is huge in the jobseeker space and I think that
people end up coming to thisplatform because it's so
well-rounded in all of itsofferings and services.
But why would it be importantto a job seeker?
What do you think is like oneof the things that someone uses
the most on LinkedIn?
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Well, it's important because recruiters look at your
profile right.
Recruiters actually have theirown way of utilizing LinkedIn to
find potential candidates.
So if you have a well-roundedportfolio and you have a
well-developed profile,recruiters are likely to see
(25:19):
what you have to offer and reachout to you to connect you to
positions that you never evenknew existed.
So that's one of the keyreasons why LinkedIn is
important, but, of course,beyond that, it's also
connecting and networking withpeople who may be in the
industries that you're wantingto go into, and those
connections can lead to jobopportunities as well.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, if you didn't know this, on your LinkedIn
profile there is an opportunityor like a little thing where, if
you're on your picture, youhave the option to have a banner
(26:04):
banner to allow it to be onyour public profile or only have
that turned on to the recruiterside, which I believe is called
, like LinkedIn.
Recruiter is what the peoplewho are seeking for job
searchers I guess, uh, potentialemployees are using.
So you have the option to makeit like a public thing or to
only have it listed forrecruiters who are looking for
(26:27):
the next best candidate.
So on there on your profile,you can really structure it and
create it in a sense where it'syou are looking for a job, your
current employer doesn't have toknow if you don't want them to,
or your community or networkdoesn't have to know either, and
that can really get you to thepeople who are looking for you
for their next best opportunity.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Yeah yeah, linkedin is so cool and it's actually
evolved a lot since it firstcame out Right, and it's
something that I think now iskind of becoming second nature,
like almost everybody has it,although we do still meet people
who don't have LinkedIn or feelhesitant.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
I've met people who like absolutely refuse to have
it.
I don't know.
I mean, I I understand whereyou're coming from or people who
just aren't like of the socialmedia head, but nowadays it's
important to have a digitalfootprint honestly it is, and
there's no going back.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
You know, in terms of the technology and the digital
footprint, like you were saying,and having these tools, it's
only going to advance.
There's only going to be newthings that come up, more
digital things and spaces wherewe need to be at.
So any and everybody alreadyknows like employers will Google
(27:43):
you, right, employers andrecruiters will Google your name
, what, what comes up if nothingcomes up.
That's also kind of sketchysketchy.
Yeah, so you do want to have adigital front print and in in a
place like linkedin, you cancontrol what it is that you're
putting out there.
It's professional, it's meant tobe a professional space, so it
(28:05):
can only benefit you honestly.
And if you are somebody who'snot that much into technology or
wanting to put your life outthere or social media, that's
okay.
You don't have to post anythingpersonal, especially on
LinkedIn.
It is where you could havelimits and have boundaries and
you don't have to feel superexposed because it's a space for
(28:27):
your professional skill setsand nothing about your personal
life needs to go on there, eventhough sometimes people do, and
I don't think that's the rightplatform for that.
I agree.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, I agree, I think you can keep it limited to
your professional brand andyour career in that sense, while
still remaining authentic towho you are.
There is something that youmentioned, armanay, and I will
say that the community you buildon there I think I said earlier
today, I think I called it likea career colony, like building,
a career colony.
(28:57):
I always alliteration, I lovecall it, love calling it career
community, but definitely Ithink I said like a colony, to
expand it a little bit more.
I love that we're colonizing thejob market absolutely in this
sense, um, with people who arejust like here for you, here to
support you, and that's whereyou build that space and I I
(29:19):
constantly share that.
As a society you know, we'vebuilt to see LinkedIn as this
thing where it's constantpositive self-promotion.
But it's up to us to choose howwe shape that platform.
You heard me say that like fourtimes today to like to some of
our um, our students, but itreally is about who you have
around you and how youstrategically connect with
(29:41):
others in the spaces that youalso want to grow or be in one
day.
Right, even people who aremaybe you aren't super excited
about, but you still find somebenefits, some knowledge to gain
from their journey, theirinsights that they have to share
because that adds to yourprofessional development, which,
aside from keeping you know,your, your tools in, in check
and having being like locked interms of having your resume and
(30:04):
your cover letter and all thoseapps to go and your LinkedIn
profiles staying up to date,those are like really cool
technical things that you can do.
But the people, skills andstaying connected to your career
colony, your career community,the people who are there to
support you day in and day outright, regardless of what phase
of your career development thatyou're going through.
That's extremely important, asyou are job seeking.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah, you know, I think what I realized is that
people sometimes are hesitantabout LinkedIn because it's
cringy to like self promote.
It is Right, it's not somethingthat comes naturally to most
people.
And and also, if it's somebodywho is like starting off in
their career and it feels likemaybe I don't really have much
to offer, so what am I gonna puton there, right, and then it
(30:49):
makes them, I guess, moreinsecure to have this space,
this portfolio.
That's not really full, butthat's really yeah, and that is
understandable.
That is what what we work on ascareer counselors Really a lot
of the time is that self-image,self-reflection.
Actually, you do have a lot ofthings to offer.
Let's talk about some of yourpast experiences and let's
(31:12):
reframe some of thoseexperiences for you to see what
it is that you, what skills youdo have, and then we talk about
how we can build our portfolioover time.
But you've got to startsomewhere and because LinkedIn
is the space where you canconnect with other people, you
can build that brand.
Even in the way that youcomment on people's posts or
(31:33):
send messages to people, thoseare part of your brand.
It's not just the skills andthe experiences you have listed,
but it's your interaction withother people that's part of your
brand, right?
So it doesn't have to be thisfake self-promotion thing that
feels cringy.
It's just that authentic, likeconnecting with people, uh,
(31:53):
writing genuine comments,sharing what you learn.
You can even share the thingsthat you're insecure about
through those comments.
There's a lot of greatconversations that happen in the
comment section, right, and soit's a really great space to
connect, be authentic and buildthose relationships also build
your brand.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Absolutely yeah, and through that you really do the
networking pieces right.
If you are in the comments, ifyou are liking people's things,
if you are growing that space,you are going to naturally
create that community rightaround those individuals and I
think that, aside from it beinga self-promotion, it's also a
(32:33):
space to like keep those peopleall in one place, right.
You're going to meet differentconnections, different.
You're going to build differentrelationships in different
spaces and, aside from havingthem in your contacts, you know
app on your phone, you can havethem all on one, I guess,
another application, I guess, orwebsite, but they're all there
for, like, the same reason rightTo connect with you, to help
(32:53):
you, to support you, or for youto help them to connect with
them, to support them in thatspace.
It's a give and take or backand forth, I guess, type of
relationship to and this isreally important when you're job
seeking, because you have toknow individuals and how to
communicate and connect withthem, to also understand what
you're walking into, or tobetter understand the industry
(33:15):
or the job market or what'savailable at that time in that
sense, but also have people talkabout your skill sets, what you
have to bring, how you are anasset to a team or how you bring
so much value to the nextorganization or fresh ideas.
So these are huge, importantpieces that are so critical to
our job searcher right now.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Yeah, yeah, and I think a lot of what we talked
about today, mj, are practicaltips, right, like use that ai to
help, uh, make your process alittle bit more efficient, use
linkedin to build your brand, tonetwork.
And we're talking about thesepractical tips.
But I think, ultimately, it's amindset shift when you, when,
(33:57):
when we feel insecure about thejob search process, we're less
likely to even want to spendtime on our resume and cover
letter because we're we're, wedon't want to see those skill
gaps, right, we don't want tosee like, okay, maybe I'm not
really qualified for thisposition and you don't want to
(34:19):
be that intentional about it,and it's just like this job, I
need a job right now.
Let me just do this easy applyfeature.
I feel like that's kind ofmasking, like really reflecting
on okay, what is it that I wantto do, what am I qualified for,
what skills do I still need todevelop?
How do I like position myselfappropriately for these
positions?
So that's a lot ofintentionality.
(34:41):
And I think when there'sinsecurity around that, it's
easy to mask that with like easyapply features.
And the same goes for LinkedIn.
When there's insecurity aroundwhat we have to offer, we don't
want to be in a digital spacethat can maybe expose our gaps
right.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Yeah, I love what you're sharing because it's
making me literally think about,like, how we can do all these
technical things and we cansubmit the job applications, we
can look at the skills.
We cannot do all this stuff.
But until you start and reallylook in the mirror and face, you
know that true sense of selfand where it is that, like
you're saying, those gaps?
(35:17):
Right, what am I missing?
What am I um, what am Ireaching towards?
How do I bridge this gapbetween this opportunity and
that experience, or make myselfmore relevant or gain that skill
?
You won't really move forward.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah, yeah.
So look in the mirror, askyourself these hard questions
what do I want to do?
Why am I applying to this job?
What skills do I still need todevelop?
We're always growing.
Nobody expects you to beperfect and have everything all
figured out, but you do have tobe intentional.
We're always growing.
Nobody expects you to beperfect and have everything all
figured out, but you do have tobe intentional and authentic
with yourself and in the jobsearch process, and that's going
(35:53):
to then seep into having betterapplications, more quality
applications and applying topositions that are more aligned
with you, which then in theinterviews you're going to be a
lot better because you'realigned with these positions.
You're going to be excitedabout how you talk about the job
and what you have to offer, andthen it yields better results
and then your mindset reallyimpacts the way that you perform
(36:16):
in the entire job searchprocess.
Thank you so much for listening.
If you enjoy our show, we askthat you write a review on Apple
Podcasts to help us reach morepeople looking to level up their
career.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Want to connect with us, be sure to follow our
Instagrams and websites.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Follow Career Rise on Instagram for career advice and
motivation to help you stay upto date on all things career.
Be sure to also visit mywebsite, careerriseorg, to book
a career counseling package andaccess free career resources.
My goal is to help you clarifyyour goals, make a plan and feel
confident in your careerjourney.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
You can follow me on Instagram at
careerconfidentlatina for yourdaily dose of career advice and
my journey as a first-generationLatina counselor.
Career advice and my journey asa first-generation Latina
counselor.
You can access free resourcesor even work with me by visiting
my website,careerconfidenceonline.
I want to help you grow yourconfidence and help you reach
your career dreams.
(37:16):
Adios.
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