Job searching can be one of the most exhausting and discouraging processes. You spend hours customizing your resume, crafting personalized cover letters, and applying to jobs, only to be met with silence. It can feel like shouting into a void, with no end in sight. According to Gallup, about 70% of U.S. workers are not actively engaged or satisfied in their careers, leaving millions stuck in roles that don’t inspire or fulfill them. If this sounds all too familiar, you’re not alone—and there is hope.
In the latest episode of my podcast, I sit down with career expert Daniel Botero to tackle these challenges head-on. Together, we dive into the struggles of job searching and career dissatisfaction, sharing actionable strategies to help you stand out and take control of your career path. Whether you’re feeling invisible in the job market or unfulfilled in your current role, this episode is packed with tips and tools to help you break free from the cycle.
One of the key takeaways from our conversation is the importance of clarity. Before you can land the right job, you need to understand what motivates and excites you. Daniel shares practical exercises to help identify your core values and career goals. By honing in on what truly matters, you’ll be better equipped to find opportunities that align with your vision for the future.
Another crucial element of job searching is your personal brand. In today’s competitive market, a standout resume and LinkedIn profile are non-negotiable. Daniel emphasizes the importance of treating your LinkedIn profile as your “landing page”—a place where recruiters and hiring managers can quickly see your value. From crafting a compelling headline to optimizing your skills and experience sections, this episode covers everything you need to know to make your profile work for you.
Networking also plays a pivotal role in career advancement. Daniel and I discuss the power of building genuine relationships within your industry. It’s not just about adding connections on LinkedIn—it’s about creating meaningful interactions that can lead to opportunities. We share tips for reaching out to professionals, nurturing relationships, and turning connections into interviews.
For those who feel like their applications are going unnoticed, we explore common mistakes that might be holding you back. From generic resumes to poorly written cover letters, small errors can make a big difference. Daniel provides actionable advice on how to avoid these pitfalls and create materials that grab attention.
One of the most powerful moments in our conversation is when Daniel outlines his 5-step process for transforming connections into interviews. This process is designed to help you move beyond the application black hole and start landing real opportunities. By following his steps, you’ll learn how to stand out in a crowded market and position yourself as the ideal candidate.
This episode isn’t just about landing a job—it’s about landing the right job. Daniel and I discuss the importance of finding roles that energize and excite you. A fulfilling career isn’t just about the paycheck; it’s about aligning your work with your passions and values. If you’ve been settling for less, this episode will inspire you to aim higher.
As we wrap up, we reflect on the bigger picture: job searching is not just a task, but a journey of self-discovery and growth. With the right mindset, tools, and strategies, you can overcome the challenges and find a role that truly fits you. Daniel’s insights and advice are a game-changer for anyone feeling stuck or overlooked.
If you’re ready to take control of your job search and career, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in to gain the confidence, clarity, and strategies you need to stand out and succeed. Your dream job is closer than you think—let us show you how to get there.
Watch and listen here. Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review!! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6WSg8fF5Yz3dfuZGuT6m8R
YouTube: https://youtu.be/6gNihZIaoLo
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Daniel: If you have a college degree, didn’t have clarity and watch major. And so now you’re just into the problem where, okay, I picked accounting because my dad’s an accountant or my uncle’s an accountant or my mom’s an accountant. And they told me that it was a great stable career, that I would have a lot of jobs after college.
And that led to me picking accounting. So then I go into a big four accounting firm. Let’s say you got lucky and got a great job and now you’re making good money. And you’re on this job. You’re on track to become a partner or you’re on track to going and becoming a controller or a CFO at a smaller company.
But yes, on paper, everything looks great, but maybe they’re not fulfilled.
[00:00:32] Mary: Before we start the show, I have a quick question for you. Is your resume stuck in the rejection pile? At Resume Assassin, I create powerful resumes that showcase your skills, experience, and achievements. Getting you noticed by recruiters.
I’ll also optimize your LinkedIn profile, transforming it into a magnet for opportunity. Visit resumeassassin. com today. Take [00:01:00] charge of your job search. Visit resumeassassin. com.
Welcome back to the show. The topic that we’re going to discuss today has been on my mind for a lot lately. I’ve spoken with a lot of clients that tell me that they just aren’t fulfilled at their jobs anymore, and I can personally relate to this on so many different levels. I mean, I worked at a job for several years and Honestly, I thought that I was fulfilled at the time, but I really, I wasn’t happy.
I wasn’t satisfied. And I couldn’t really put my finger on the why, because I actually liked my job a lot, you know, and I worked for a really prestigious organization, I would say, and there was a lot of opportunity there. My coworkers were great. I mean, the benefits were great and I didn’t really have anything to complain about at all.
But, you [00:02:00] know, I wasn’t truly happy with it. Um, fast forward several years later, I quit my job and really only then did I realize that I was actually unfulfilled and that was why I was so unhappy. The problem is that, you know, when most people feel unfulfilled, they just don’t know what to do or they don’t know where to start.
Today, Daniel Botero is here with us to talk about how to navigate the job market when you’re feeling unsatisfied. Daniel, welcome to Recruiting Insider.
[00:02:37] Daniel: Mary, thank you so, so much for having me. Super excited to talk to you about this, like, important topic.
[00:02:43] Mary: Yes. Before we kind of dig into the topic, Daniel, I’d love for you to just kind of tell us a little bit about your background and how’d you get where you are today?
[00:02:55] Daniel: Sure. So for me, I always wanted to help people [00:03:00] reach their full potential. Like, I think it was for, I’ve always loved seeing when people are fulfilled and they’re just like, I’m a constant state of flow. And one of the things that would make me really like upset is like when I would see somebody who’s super talented not being good at, like not being successful.
And so when I, for me, like, you know, I graduated college in 2012, I went into a management training program at a fortune 50 company. And I saw that there was a lot of people that I graduated with that were, you know, arguably smarter, higher GPA. Uh, and all this, but they weren’t getting jobs, so like they weren’t reaching their full potential, or even seeing my friends who worked at, I’m in Orlando, Florida, there’s tons of, of hospitality jobs.
So there were servers, and the jobs that they were getting, they would have to take a pay cut from being a server. And so, you would, you would go into the server trap, so again, go into, Do I take the job that pays me the most? Or do I take a job that’s better for my career and more [00:04:00] long term? And that ultimately got me involved in like recruiting at this fortune 50 company to the point where I started going back on campus and helping people get into this company because I was super fulfilled and I love my job.
And fast forward, um, Five, six years after that, I left corporate to start my own business on helping people how to land their dream job. And so, uh, now for the last 10 years, I’ve just essentially been a career coach, helping people land jobs to where they feel fulfilled, um, and they’re earning what they deserve.
And, you know, if they have a good job, that didn’t translate into having a good personal life.
[00:04:37] Mary: Yeah. You know, I hear from a lot of job seekers that I, work with, you know, they feel stuck and unfulfilled in their careers, you know, even when it seems good on paper, can you share some insights into why this might happen?
[00:04:55] Daniel: I think a lot of times it’s also like what, like if you have a college degree [00:05:00] and maybe didn’t have clarity in which major, and so now you’re just into this Problem where okay, I picked accounting. I’m picking on accounting just as an example, right? I picked accounting because my dad’s an accountant or my uncle’s an accountant or my mom’s an accountant And they told me that it was a great stable career that I would have a lot of jobs after college And that led to me picking accounting.
So then I go into a big four accounting firm Let’s say you got lucky and got a great job And now you’re making good money and you’re on this track to become a partner or you’re on track to going and becoming a controller or a cfo at a smaller company But yes on paper everything looks great But maybe they’re not fulfilled and and and you create this dominant effect and the longer you’ve been in it It the harder it maybe becomes maybe you have bills.
Maybe you have kids. Maybe you now have obligations that are Harder for you to make that pivot, but then you’re like, feel like you’re dying inside. So I think it, it happens differently for everybody. Right. But I think a very common one is picking the wrong major because [00:06:00] of society norms or standards. Oh, Hey, it’s good to be a lawyer.
It’s good to be an engineer and you just don’t like it.
[00:06:08] Mary: Yeah. I think a lot of people feel like they should pursue a certain career path because it’s prestigious, right? Maybe, you know, I should be a doctor. I should be a lawyer because I, you know, that’s where the money’s at. That’s where my family history is.
My dad’s a doctor. They want me to pursue that route. And then they do this and they get stuck in this career, you know, maybe 10 years later, 20 years down the road and they’re just, they’re unsatisfied and, you know, they just don’t know where to turn. They don’t know what to do from there. So how do you help your clients really find that
[00:06:56] Daniel: So I think it’s important to not rush [00:07:00] the clarity stage. So like when I think about job searching, I think about it, let’s break it down into five steps. Like, you know, the best way to run a marathon is one mile at a time. So let’s break it down a mile per mile, right? So you have. Clarity, like what, what’s the right job to apply for?
What’s the right fit for me, right? Like, clarity on what I want, what, what motivates me, am I motivated by compensation, work life balance, location, industry, like all these other things, right? Um, so that’s one, step one. Step number two, I would say is visibility. So that’s where your resume comes in, your LinkedIn comes in.
Uh, step number three, It’s networking. I think even now that you know, where the internet has made it so easy for you to apply online has made it very difficult for you to get noticed because back when I was like 16 years old looking for my first job, I had to go to a physical location and apply, right?
Uh, so that, that, that meant that that location or that, you know, that supermarket when I was getting my first job. Only had 20 applicants ready for the whole [00:08:00] month like you now exactly. Walmart puts an application and there’ll be 1, 000 people who apply. It’s the east, right? So networking becomes important.
So the networking does step three, step four is interviewing. Uh, you have to interview no matter if you have a referral, like even if you are the CEOs kid, usually you have to still interview for the role. And then step number five is negotiate salary, salary negotiation. and So when we talk about that, I think it’s really easy when we’re in a desk in a point of desperation or in a point of need, because whether desperately I’m like feeling very depressed on my current job or desperately I need to get a job because I got laid off or I’m fired or I quit and I have bills to pay.
We want to go to thinking what’s the path of less resistance. Let me just go ahead and apply an interview and we skip clarity and networking. And so I think to me is don’t skip steps. Thanks. Just don’t skip steps, and really, if anything, take your time and clarity because it will save you time in the long [00:09:00] run.
[00:09:00] Mary: Yeah, I couldn’t agree with you more. I think a lot of people They don’t take the time to really get that clarity and they just start jumping in and applying to Hundreds and hundreds of different types of opportunities and then they’re like wait, but what’s going wrong? I’m not hearing back You know, it’s because they’re their clarity isn’t there their job search strategy is just it’s not on point So let’s dig into those five steps just a little bit deeper So for any of our listeners who are like, I’m just so unsatisfied.
I, you know, I have a family to feed, you know, I know I need a good salary, but I’m also need to think about my own mental health and I’m ready to move on. I’m ready to do something different. What could they do to start gaining that clarity?
[00:09:50] Daniel: I would say clarity is easier for some more than others, right? I, I, Probably been blessed with having clarity my whole life on what I wanted to do on the other side of the [00:10:00] coin I would say my wife is does have a person who It’s good a lot of things, but never knows exactly what you wanted to do into very recently.
So she’s, uh, and maybe you guys listening to this might relate to her more than you would relate to my story where I knew I wanted to study business. I never changed majors. My wife, on the other hand. Started in public relations, then went to accounting, then changed to finance and Oh wow. ended up in finance, right?
So like, uh, and, and it’s, that’s actually made more common than not 60% of college students changed majors. So like that’s more than the majority changed. Majors at one point or another, let alone changed careers after they graduate. So I think it’s important to understand how much help do you really need in clarity, and it’s okay to get help.
Sometimes you don’t need help. Like sometimes again, you have full clarity and you can go ahead and move on to the next stage. Sometimes you might want to, um, go from one extreme, like one point where it’s free, maybe chat GPT, like, like upload your resume, upload [00:11:00] some job descriptions, say chat GPT, act like a career counselor.
What advice do you have? Right? I can use some technology out there. Um, another thing is, uh, take some personality assessments that a lot, there’s a lot of them. Um, I’m not sponsored by any of them. I am, um, like, there’s one called, my favorite one called the CoBA assessment. There’s an attachment to that assessment that will recommend careers based on your M.
O. and your modus, um, like, uh, Myers Briggs. Um, so there’s a lot of this, like, assessments that measure different, like, whether it’s a, a, Your, uh, M. O., their modus operandus, or your personality, or things like that, that can help pinpoint you to different career paths that you might have never realized, right, uh, that are good.
Or even work with a career coach that specializes in pivoting, uh, and, and there’s a lot of great ones out there. I’m definitely not that person, but like there’s definitely some good ones out there, and if you need help finding them, just shoot me a message on LinkedIn, but like any of them, just start with, with not [00:12:00] rushing through step one.
[00:12:02] Mary: Yeah, because I think a lot of people that I speak with They know that they want something different, but they don’t know what that is and they’re like, you know at this point I just I don’t know what’s out there. I’ve been in finance for 20 years, right? And I I don’t know what I want to do. So I think you know, I think Daniel’s right, you know Maybe explore chat GPT if you don’t want to you know, invest, you know money into some of these assessments just Upload your resume, copy, paste your resume in there and get some ideas and then jump on LinkedIn and start doing some research.
See what types of job opportunities are out there that are related to some of these different areas that you might be interested in. And I think that skills assessments are really, really important too, especially for those of you who may have never taken a skills assessment. It can really shed light on, you know, what are, What are your strengths?
What are your areas of interest? And [00:13:00] what are some of the jobs that are on the market currently that might be related to those areas? And that’s a great starting point to kind of explore and see what’s out there. So then I was going to
[00:13:14] Daniel: say one thing before we move on to that. I think it’s, it’s, I would say I, the way you’re probably feeling is, There’s so many others that feel the same way and, um, it’s interesting, I know a lot of career coaches and I’m going to show you guys some examples.
I have a friend who has a very successful career coaching program that helps people break into medical sales. And Mary, you wouldn’t believe the two most common, like, industries that his clients come from, nurses and teachers. Yeah, so I understand nurses, like I, I get nurses saying, Hey, I don’t wanna do patient care.
This is too stressful. I want to use that, you know, still make impact. So I’ll go to med, go medical sales. I would’ve never guessed teachers, [00:14:00] right? Yeah. And he explained to me that to be a very successful medical sales rep, you need two qualities. You need to be a good teacher, and you need to know the science.
So teachers know how to teach so they. Companies have no problem spending, you know, time teaching the teachers and the science aspect of it And then nurses know the science and they just teach them how to teach and so, um, I also have another and I’m just gonna give you guys three examples so you guys can see how amazing this is.
I have another career coach friend who helps, uh, individuals who are in ministry Who like maybe worked as a pastor? Children’s pastor youth pastor any of this or pastor and they’re like got in a stage in their life where they need more income Because the church doesn’t pay as well and they have kids going to college So they want to transition that into into corporate so he helps them get managers and director roles, right?
uh, and so it’s like super interesting to see like all this like, uh correlations or this changes also, um, [00:15:00] Like You So those are some examples there of like nurses, teachers, uh, pastors of making pivots and for whatever reason, whether it’s, Hey, I just need more money. Like I’m the pastor or I pick nursing because it was a good degree as a good career to go into, but now I I’m not fulfilled.
Um, it’s just interesting that yeah,
[00:15:20] Mary: that’s super interesting. And I, I wouldn’t have put my finger on, you know, maybe nurses going into medical devices, but not teachers. But I think it makes sense when you break it down because it’s like. What are you doing in medical device? Well, you’re teaching nurses and you’re teaching physicians or surgeons how to use these medical devices.
So these teachers have these really great, you know, skills in educating students that they can transfer into that space. And the same with pastors. I mean, man, pastors are managing the business. Of the church, right? They’re managing the operations, the people, the finances, the programs, everything that goes along with it.
So there are so many different transferable [00:16:00] skills. I mean, you know, for those of you that are thinking it’s, you know, it’s, it’s time for me to take that next step, to go somewhere else, to do something else. And you feel like you don’t have those transferable skills, you, you do, you just, you know, you need to do that, find that clarity, and then you need to do some of that, you know.
Deep soul searching to figure out, you know, what is it that I offer and how is that relatable or transferable into, you know, the career that I want. Even if you’re staying in the same industry and taking the next step up, how, you know, how do my leadership skills and the skills that I’ve gained within my current role translate into that next step up and that next opportunity?
[00:16:38] Daniel: Yeah, 100%.
[00:16:40] Mary: Yeah, so visibility is the kind of the second piece of the puzzle. So once we’ve Got that clarity nailed down. We kind of you know, we’ve broken it down. We we know exactly what we want to do Where we want to go How do we get visible?
[00:16:56] Daniel: So I think that’s this is a really big one because I think [00:17:00] this is how you stand out, right?
So visible one Resume right that is not going away anytime soon, right? You need to have a good resume Okay That it’s not only about trying to beat that ATS but also that communicates your skill sets and you’re able to get to the interview, right? But aside from that, you also need to work on your digital resume, which is your LinkedIn profile.
Uh, it, you know, different companies, but it’s, and different studies show like 60, 70% of recruiters look at LinkedIn, look at individuals LinkedIn before making a hiring decision or, or even bringing him into the interview. So you need to make sure that your LinkedIn profile is, is there. And I would say those are the basics, right?
The basics at bare minimum to have a really good, strong resume. Uh. And you probably have spoken and speak about this way more. So I won’t dive into resumes here, but then you have LinkedIn. That’s really crucial and really important as well. But aside from that, the visibility is getting in front of those decision [00:18:00] makers that are making those decisions.
Like I mentioned earlier, because it’s so easy to apply for jobs online, you know, like, and, and, and. Every job board, whether it’s LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, they have some sort of easy apply button, right? Easy apply button is called on LinkedIn, um, but makes it really easy. And so what you want to do is get visibility, right?
And so it’s going and proactively reaching out to the recruiters, the hiring managers, the individuals that have the job that you just applied to. So your, your potential coworkers to get visibility. Um, and that kind of leads us to like, which is the next stage, which is networking. Uh, which is step number three and just really quick there, networking is very, very important to get you in front of, in front of it, in front of the right person.
And I would say that, you know, majority of people do not network. Like if, if you know, again, I throw you data that I looked into research a lot on this, right? 80 percent of people don’t network. They just simply apply. Um, [00:19:00] and so you’re talking about your, when you’re networking, you’re already setting yourself apart, but within the 20 percent of people that are networking, most of them are just going to recruiters.
So if I can give you guys like some ninja tips here, right, is like you want to go and target people who have the same job title that you just applied to because most likely they are going to have way more come in common with you, right? So people are more likely to reply if there’s a lot of commonality between you.
You know, they always say like, Oh, go to the alumni of your university. That reason that works is because of the commonality, right? Um, and so if you are messaging someone that has the same job title that you just applied, they’re a lot more likely to know who the manager is. And they’re a lot more likely to know the recruiter.
And also just to give you guys some tips, check if they’re active on LinkedIn before you waste your messages. So because just because they’re on LinkedIn doesn’t mean that they’re active. And then the third tip that I would tell you. is the least amount of time they’ve been in the company, the more likely they [00:20:00] are to reply.
Right? So if I go and I want to apply for a data analyst at Disney, and that person has been at Disney for 15 years, it looks like he’s probably very happy with his career at Disney. So he’s maybe not checking LinkedIn at all, right? Cause usually people who are not as happy with their job or, or are looking, or they’re using it for sales or for some other reason, selfish reason, right?
Like, Um, are on LinkedIn, but if you were just, if I just noticed that, Hey Mary, you’ve been at working at Disney for three months. You’re still probably active on LinkedIn because it’s been a habit of being active on LinkedIn because you were very active every day when you were looking for a job. Two, you know exactly how the hiring process is, you just went through it.
And so three, you’re super proud of yourself for getting that job at Disney. So now you want to tell the world about it and I’m just a way to tell it. And so, and four, you know who the recruiter is because you just went through the experience with the recruiters that are recruiting for this role.
[00:20:56] Mary: Yeah, I think networking can be The best [00:21:00] way to get your foot in the door, especially in a job market.
That’s so saturated. I mean, you can do everything. To become visible, like, you know, like, like you said, Daniel, I think, you know, of course your resume and your LinkedIn profile are a key piece of the puzzle and just making sure that you’re getting into the hands of the hiring manager, you know, landing at the top of the search results during those recruiter searches online.
Those are, those are so, so critical, but I think that the, the networking piece, I think the statistic that you shared with us with 80 percent of people, are not using the power of networking. I think this is kind of a wake up call for anybody that’s listening right now. It’s like, be part of that 20 percent that is, that are networking, because you could open up so many different doors of opportunities and doing that.
And so I’m curious because you used the example of, you know, don’t just necessarily. Connect with recruiters, but also connect with [00:22:00] people that are in the job title of the position that you’re currently seeking. So if you are pursuing a data analyst role at Disney, and you want to try to connect with somebody who’s active on LinkedIn that has that current title, what are some ways to connect?
Get the attention of that person and actually have them accept that connection request from us.
[00:22:26] Daniel: Yeah So I think that the best way to go through an interview process is understanding that companies need you just as much as you need Them and so you need to interview them Just as much as they interview you and I understand that the way the system is built doesn’t feel that way But the reality is if you talk to any Entrepreneur who’s hiring or any ceo or any manager?
They struggle to find top talent, not talent, there’s people applying, great talent, right? And so, whenever you can start the relationship and networking from a point of view of like, hey, I [00:23:00] am considering applying at Disney, I am considering of, you know, bringing my talent to Disney in a sense, right, and you’re interviewing them and you’re trying to understand about that culture, that manager, that experience, the role, all this, you know, things, you’ll be surprised how people will now turn.
And try to tell you and sell you on the idea. So with all that being said, like, there’s a five step process to go from a stranger to a referral. And I would say number one is commonality. The more you have in common with someone, the more likely they are to reply. Did they go to the same university? Are they from the same hometown as you?
Um, like, did they have the same major as you, right? Like, anything that can, like, Do they volunteer at the same non profit organization than you? Like maybe, uh, they’re part of the same, like, church as you and they just put that there in their LinkedIn or somewhere and you’re able to find that information.
Anything that starts a conversation. The more in common, you have the more. So that’s step number one. Step number two is make the first conversation about them. You see, [00:24:00] we’re so, as humans, we’re selfish creatures. So like we’re always gonna want to make it about us. I need a job. So let’s so Mary. Can you give me a job?
And so instead flip it around and say like hey Mary came across your profile notice that we both went to UCF, right? We’ll love to connect so step one step two Mary notice that you’ve been at Disney for three months and before there you worked at Universal Studios Congratulations What’s been your favorite part about working at Disney?
Right. I just made it about you. Yep. And now I want to, once she replies, I wanna still ask Mary about questions about Disney that I wanna know about. But if I go like, Hey, Mary, tell me like, what’s the interview process at at uh, at Disney is like, or, Hey Mary, what’s the culture at Disney? You’re gonna tell me that from your perspective and your point of view.
So if I just ask you the questions, Hey, Mary, what’s been, what was your favorite part about your interview process at Disney? Or what’s been your favorite part about working at Disney? I’m still going to get the same answer.
[00:24:55] Mary: Yep.
[00:24:56] Daniel: Right. But now, but I made it about you. So you’re more likely to reply. [00:25:00] So step two, make it about them first.
Step three, this is where like, it’s like, like, You’re playing chess when they’re playing checkers, right? Is you ask for a small piece of advice that takes very little on their part But a little bit of commitment on your part, so I would be like Mary, is there a book that you would recommend for me to improve my data analytical skills that would be impressive to Disney maybe in the future?
Or is there a YouTube channel or a documentary or a trade magazine or is there an influencer or is there X, Y, and Z or is there a podcast that I should listen to if I want to improve my resume writing, right? And so, 10 seconds of you giving me, Hey Daniel, check out this podcast and check out this book.
And I say the book first because I love reading so it’s an easy way to get started. And so you say that you recommend me the book. So step three, you ask for a piece of advice. It’s called open the feedback loop. I ask for a piece of advice. I either, depending on how big the advice is, reading [00:26:00] a book is a four to five hour commitment depending on the size.
I can go like a week later and be like, Mary, thank you so much for the recommendation of the book. I’ve gone ahead and I’ve already read the first 50 pages. And by the way, it’s awesome. Here’s what I learned. It’s awesome. Right? So now, because I got advice, I now have an excuse to get the conversation back on going, but what I did there is I just proved to the person I’m networking with that I won’t waste their time, that I respect them, and that I will listen to any advice they give me.
And obviously that it’s relevant, right? Which then takes us to step number four, which is a resume review. Right? So, if I’ve already identified a role in Disney, Right? I want to then message the person who has the same job title, go through this process, and now I’d be like, Hey Mary, you know, thank you so much for answering your questions about your experience at Disney.
Disney is an amazing company. I found this role, which I think I’ll be great for, but before I submit my application, do you mind just reviewing my resume? [00:27:00] And At this point, because you’ve already proven to Mary or to anyone that you trust their advice, now they feel like they won’t waste their time if they gave you a review because you’re going to go and execute the changes.
And so two things can happen there. One, they can be like, hey Daniel, your resume looks great. Right? Or, hey Daniel, I would change this. Right? And, by the way, you give your resume to ten people and you get ten different things. That’s what happens, right? For sure. Yeah. And so, everyone has their own perspective.
But at this point You want Mary’s perspective, or you want the person who you’re networking’s perspective. And so once they give you the thumbs up, you say, great, thank you so much, or hey, I made the changes, which moves on to step five, which is asking for a referral without asking for a referral, which then you would say something like, okay, thanks Mary, I, I’m going to go ahead and apply.
But as you know, Disney is such a competitive company. What way would you, any advice you can give me on how to get my application visibility? Okay. All I am looking for is an opportunity to [00:28:00] interview once we ask for advice Then that’s step three open the feedback loop. We close the loop by going back and saying hey, thanks for recommending that book Right and we’re and and here’s what i’ve learned and then you can start Which is step four resume you can say hey, by the way during that time I read my book.
I started looking into disney more. I found this role that I want to apply Do you mind just reviewing my resume before I submit the application? Right? So then you get a quick resume review, uh, in that sense, if they say, Hey, your resume looks good. You know, you got their, their, our stamp of approval. If they’re giving you recommendations, make sure you fix it.
Uh, it’s really important that they feel like they’re bought in and they’re part of the process. And then right before you apply, step five is you say, Hey, thank you so much for the review. I’ve made the changes. I’m glad you like it. Now I know how competitive, uh, I am.
Before I hit submit is there any advice that you can give me on how I can get more visibility to my application? All I am looking for [00:29:00] is an opportunity to interview. And the key there is not asking for a referral. They’ll know, if they feel comfortable enough, they’ll bring it up, they’re going to be monetarily compensated by their company, most companies have a referral system.
Or if they’re not, they might say, hey, connect, this is the recruiter you should speak to, or this is the manager of the role, or connect with this person. And so that’s kind of ultimately how you get more visibility. Because what you want to do if you’re listening to this is you want to get to the interview some way or another.
If you can get to the interview, you’ve already beaten over 90 percent of other applicants. Because most people are eliminated before the interview process even begins. And so this whole 5 step process of 1. Commonality 2. Making it about them 3. Opening the feedback loop For asking for a resume review and FI asking for visibility is your fastest, most efficient way that I’ve found in my 10 years of career coaching on how to get to the interview utilizing networking.
[00:29:54] Mary: This is, honestly, this is gold. I hope that everybody out there is, you know, [00:30:00] got their pen and their paper and they’re writing this down because this is, honestly, it’s so simple, but it’s, it’s genius because it’s like, number one, find something in common with the person. You know, you don’t want to just go and try to blindly connect with them, just think, Send them a request and then jump into their, you know, into their inbox, into their in mail, like, Hey, Daniel, can you do this for me?
Can you do that for me? Because you’re not going to be welcomed. They’re not going to welcome you into their community if you do that. So, find that commonality with them. Make the first conversation. About them, like Daniel said, you know, ask them for a piece of advice because then you know that you’re showing them, hey, you’re the expert at Disney.
What can you tell me? What can I learn from you? You know, get them talking about themselves. That’s always a good strategy. And then, you know, the resume review piece too is, you know, you’re starting to kind of go from, you know, hey, you know, You know, [00:31:00] who are you, you know, what, what can I do for you to, Hey, I actually am also looking for a job at Disney.
Can you review my resume? Right. So it’s kind of. Pivoting the relationship there just a little bit by asking them to do that resume review and then asking for the referral without asking them for the referral is also genius because if you mention to them that you’re applying to the position and you’ve already built the relationship, you’ve read the book, right, you’ve, you’ve, you’ve done all the things, then more than likely they’re going to pick up that hint and they’re going to be like, Hey, I’d love to give you a referral because you’ve done the work.
You’ve done the legwork to, to build that relationship. You’ve made it about them. You haven’t made it about you. Um, so I think, you know, if you follow all of these steps that, that you’re talking about here today, Daniel, I think that a lot of you out there, especially if you’re just, you know, kind of part of that 80 percent of people that are just applying through company websites [00:32:00] and you’re not really doing any networking, maybe because you don’t really know how to do it.
If you try this. You know, let us know. Let us know how it works because we’d love to know, you know, if you know, I think that Honestly, I think that it’s, it’s genius. So, you know, now that we’ve kind of learned some strategies for, you know, how can we get that visibility? How can we network and start reaching out to people that could potentially, you know, help us out along the way and help us get our foot in the door at Disney.
And we actually lay in that interview. What, what, what then we haven’t, you know, prepped for interview for, for 20 years, what, what are our priorities? What’s our first step here?
[00:32:42] Daniel: You know, I think the first step here is going back to understanding that they need you more than you need them. Like, trust me, like, and so it, it, you cannot be afraid to interview them back.
And I am telling you this as again, as someone who was a higher manager for a 50, 50 [00:33:00] company who has interviewed thousands of people, I now have a team of 27 people. My favorite people to want to hire are the ones who. you are interviewing me back like Daniel, you know, why should I work here? Like why?
What? Why would someone consider building a career here? Right. And so it’s important to interview them back. But with that, that being said, let’s break this down into actionable steps. Kind of like what everything that we’ve talked about so far, one, it’s doing the proper research, right? Proper preparation prevents for performance.
Do you know the company, the role and the person that’s interviewing? Understand that the way that a recruiter is interviewing you is very different than what the manager of the department is doing. They might ask you the same questions because they have the same interview guide that they’re following, but they’re looking at it from their point of view.
The recruiter is looking to fill the role and making sure that you can do the job. The manager is going to say, okay, can you do the job check, 40 hours plus a week, right? That also becomes really important. [00:34:00] Aside from like the prep side of it, I think it’s important to go to the interview and understanding how to answer behavioral questions.
I think like, um, you know, looking at what, how to answer it through the start method. You can do some of that, like you can YouTube data. I mean, I don’t know if you’ve coded that into more details in other podcasts, but here’s the biggest mistakes that I see people don’t do is that they don’t ask for feedback.
So like what I want you guys to understand is, um, Always finish the interview with the following question. And I’m gonna warn you, it is gonna be very awkward when you ask this question, but this, this question is gonna be a game changer. Is there any particular reason why you think I might not be a good fit for this role?
Mm-hmm . So you go through the interview, right? And let’s say, Mary, you’re interviewing me for this Disney for data analyst role. Um, and you say, Daniel, I don’t have any more questions. Usually they’ll be like, do you have any questions? Uh, you wanna ask at least three questions? Right? You want to [00:35:00] interview them back, ask a question about the role, ask a question about the company, ask a question about the interviewer.
And then, as the last question, say, Mary, again, I want to thank you for the opportunity to interview for this role. Based on my research and our conversation, I am very excited for the opportunity to build a career in your team and with Disney. But is there any particular reasons why you think I might not be a good fit?
And it’s breaking down what scenario, what can happen in this scenario. So best case scenario, Mary, you can come to me and say, Daniel, no, I think you’re a great fit. Right? Like no reasons why. And so then you just follow up, say, Hey, I’m, I’m so glad that you think that way. What are next steps? Next steps meaning could be another interview.
Next steps could be like, Hey, you’re going to get an offer in the, in the, in an email, like, let me work with finance and try to, you know, we’ll, we’ll gather the doc. Usually they won’t give you an out, like maybe give you a verbal, but you want a written offer. Great. Well, it always happened that way. Ladies and gentlemen.
No, let’s say majority of the time it won’t happen that way. So let’s talk about [00:36:00] worst case scenario. or middle case scenario. So, Hey, is there any particular reasons why you think I might not be a good fit for this role? They might say, Hey, we’re, we’re still interviewing another candidate. So they don’t tell you, no, but they don’t tell you.
Yes. Right. So you say, Hey, I totally understand when would be a good time for me to follow up. Again, I’m extremely interested about this process. Right? So now at least they’ll like, Hey, follow up with me in two weeks or follow, like you at least now have a little bit of a timeline, but, but, but about what to do next.
Now, worst case scenario, they say hey Daniel, unfortunately I don’t think you would be a good fit. And here’s the thing, companies suck at giving you feedback, but when you ask this question you catch them off guard. Especially if it’s not an HR person who doesn’t know don’t give feedback, they will give you feedback, right?
Uh, and so, uh, they’ll probably say like hey Daniel, you don’t have enough X, Y, and Z. Now when they say that to you, I think it’s important for you to quickly understand is, is this. A skill that we can [00:37:00] close within weeks, or is this a skill, like a lack of, or the gap that we’re trying to close, gonna take a lot, like it’s just gonna take a year or so, like I just don’t know Python, so then I’m not gonna be a good fit for this role.
If it’s something that I feel either I already have and I just didn’t communicate through my resume or my interview, I wanna, I wanna overcome that. I wanna be like, hey, um, I totally understand where you’re coming from, that I don’t have enough Python skills. But maybe I, uh, that you might think that I don’t have enough Python skills, but I maybe forgot to communicate that I have two years of experience working in Python in a job that I didn’t put on my resume because it didn’t fit, or I have a certification in Python, or X, Y, and Z.
So you can have one opportunity to overcome it. Now, let’s say that you don’t have this skill set. Like, the gap is too big. Like, you’re just underqualified for the role, and you just, you guys only realized this into the interview. Then you can acknowledge and say, Hey, I understand I don’t have Python, but is there [00:38:00] any other role within the organization that you think I’ll be a better fit for?
And you would be surprised of how many of my clients have been able to guide a job where originally we’re going to get rejected for this one. And the manager was like, Hey, You know now that you think about it my friend who I have lunch with this is a real life story for Salesforce Right. My friend is actually hiring for someone with a profile like yours.
Let me make the introduction Wow, right and so what that question allows you to do is that you have clarity Even if it’s a worst case scenario and say you know what Mary I’m sorry you’re just not a good fit. At least now you don’t have to wait for two weeks to get rejected. You can just move forward and start applying and start going and start doing this all over again.
But at a best case scenario you can overcome that objection. Or even say okay I totally understand that I’m not a good fit for this role. But you have to also understand that they’re not saying no to you forever. They’re saying no to you today, for this role, for this [00:39:00] moment. And when you can open it up this way, you just will never know what happens in the next couple of weeks.
Because I’ve also been in the other side, where I’ve said no to a candidate, hired somebody else, ran a background check on my number one choice, that person didn’t pass the background check, I can’t hire them no matter what, it’s a PepsiCo policy, and now I can go back to my candidate B who was very grateful at the end and say, hey, we’ve reconsidered, we want to hire you.
But if you end in good terms like that, then that door is still open.
[00:39:32] Mary: Wow. Another secret tip here from Daniel and, you know, how to, I just love the idea. I mean, first of all, in an interview, I think that it’s, like you kind of briefly mentioned in the beginning there, it’s so important to also interview the interviewer.
Try to make it a conversation. As much as you possibly can, but then that question at the end, it’s so deep. It’s so personal. I could see [00:40:00] that just catching the interviewer off guard. Like you said, the HR person, maybe they’re, they’re a little more trained in how to handle something like that, but man, what, what kind of a, you know, a creative way to figure out, to kind of get inside the brain of the hiring manager, really, and to see what they really think.
And it’s a, it’s a good way to, you know, You know, like you said, to kind of overcome that objection. If, you know, there’s maybe a certain skill that they really, really want in this position, but you don’t have that experience or you don’t have that, you know, tech, that hard skill that they’re looking for, or maybe, you know, like you said, you do have that hard skill.
They just, they didn’t see it on your resume. They don’t know it. So you can overcome that objection. Um, or You know, even better if, if it’s not a good fit, you can find different opportunities within that same company that could still be a really, really good fit for you and for the company. Yeah. So the last piece of the puzzle, we won’t dig too deep into salary negotiation.
And actually, I just [00:41:00] recorded an episode on salary negotiation. So, um, you know, a couple, if you, I’ll drop a link in the, in the, um, the show notes here, so you can listen a little bit more about salary negotiation too. But, um, I think that we’ve had such a powerful conversation today, Daniel, with so many amazing.
takeaways and actionable steps that people can literally start implementing today. So I guess as we, we wrap up, what’s one key takeaway that you’d like our listeners to remember if they’re, you know, feeling unfulfilled in their careers and they’re ready to take that next step?
[00:41:39] Daniel: I would just say Talk to people.
Like, odds are you’re not the only one dealing with this. You know, it feels like that. Maybe someone, no one around you in your inner circle, um, is dealing with this or you feel very alone. But I can tell you that there’s, there’s a lot of people that probably feel the same way you do. So, talk to them. And, [00:42:00] Talk to people not only that are feeling that way, that felt that way and have overcome it.
I do think that the best way to reach any goal is to learn from someone who’s done it. So if you’re an accountant and you always wanted to go to sales, and so find accountants who went to sales and ask them, just, just have a coffee chat before applying. Like, hey, what’s been your journey? And I think that if, at least for me, like success leaves clues.
And if I can see somebody. Who’s done what I want to do. And I see multiple people do that. I realized like, okay, they’re human just like I am. And there isn’t like, yeah, they’re, they’re great. But there isn’t anything that’s so special that I can’t do myself. And, and, and I think that’s always been very helpful to me and even my clients who have sometimes imposter syndrome, when I can give them examples of like, Hey, like this three other job seekers did it.
You could do it too. Like, yes, they’re great. And they’re smart, but so are you. You just have to believe in yourself, because I think a lot of times when we are in this. In this anxiety or depression, or we feel like we’re in this black hole. Uh, the first [00:43:00] thing is to start seeing that there’s examples that people can get out of it and then go and, and, and double listen to this podcast and follow the actionable little tips.
But that doesn’t matter if you can’t start getting, digging yourself out of this hole.
[00:43:14] Mary: Yeah. Wonderful. Amazing. Well, Daniel, where can we find you on social media?
[00:43:19] Daniel: LinkedIn, just Daniel Botero on LinkedIn. I’m pretty confident I’ll be one of the top searches there. And, um, if you have anything that I could support you with, you send me a message on LinkedIn.
[00:43:30] Mary: Awesome. Thank you so much for coming on today.
[00:43:33] Daniel: Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
[00:43:35] Mary: Thanks for listening. I will be releasing episodes every Monday, so be sure to subscribe on the platform that you are watching this, give it a five star review and we’ll see you next time.