Hiring is Rigged - How to Win | Honest HR Nitrous Ep.168

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:08]Hey everybody, welcome to Honest HR Nitrous. I'm Bill the company's expert. Thank you for joining me. Uh, as always, this is the live stream I do a couple of times a week where it's basically Q&A sessions.

[00:00:21]So, uh if you're wondering about anything or struggling with something, anything to do with careers, job search, that kind of stuff, networking, all of that, uh you've come to the right place. If you are a subscriber to my channel and have been for any amount of time, you should see uh a chat box somewhere in the vicinity of my face, depending on what device you're watching this on. And uh you can get in the chat, let me know what's up, let me know uh what you're wondering about, what you're struggling with, like I said. And um I will do my best to help you out. That's the whole point. Uh special thanks goes out to my YouTube channel members.

[00:01:01]Uh also to my super thanks donors. Those are always nice to get. And uh to my patreons and to you my viewers and participants. You guys are awesome.

[00:01:11]Thank you for being here. Um, the title of this episode, this is episode number 168 of Honest HR Nitrous. This is called Hiring is Rigged, How to Win. So, if you're wondering what to talk about, we could start off talking about that. And just full disclosure, as always with these things, I have no pre-prepared thing to say. I'm here simply to answer your questions. So, um, yeah, let's get into it. Um yeah, hiring is rigged in the sense that uh you know a lot of it's an open secret if you don't know this by now. Um you know that posted jobs are an extremely difficult way to get hired.

[00:01:54]It's not a very good way to get hired.

[00:01:56]Uh it's not the way the majority of people get hired. Um you know a lot of people coming out of school are surprised to hear this but it's absolutely true. Nothing has changed.

[00:02:06]It's always been like this. You know, the vast majority of hiring is done without having to post jobs publicly.

[00:02:13]It's, for those who don't know, um, that's very expensive and troublesome for the company to do. It's also very, it's basically it's a pain in the ass for hiring managers uh, throughout the company. They have to sit in long meetings with HR people, you know, figuring out what the job description is going to say, what the requirements are.

[00:02:32]they've got to, you know, sit in round after round of job interviews with all these candidates, you know, it's not very efficient and it doesn't even produce the best results, too. Uh so when you hire based on referrals and things like this, uh and people that you know of in your network that you know would do fine, it's better. So, uh, as a result, if you're looking for a job right now, the best thing to do is things like direct outreach, you know, where you find the employers around you that can employ people like you that do employ people with your skills and then you reach out to them. Whether or not they are hiring, whether or not they have an official position posted, that doesn't matter because most companies are hiring whether or not they have a position posted or not. That's the reality. So, and for those type of jobs, you get hired because you're the first person to show up, not because you're, you know, you went headto-head with 800 people that also applied for a job and beat them hands down at everything, you know. Uh, it's a totally different thing.

[00:03:33]So, get in the chat. Uh, we got 16 people here. Thank you for being here.

[00:03:37]Hopefully, you're doing okay on this beautiful Thursday. uh if you're between jobs, you might not be doing amazing, which is understandable, but rest assured, it's temporary. It doesn't feel temporary, but it is. You're going to be fine. But the sooner you find something, the better. So, if you have questions, the whole point of this is to uh ask me questions. So, usually takes a few minutes before people for the questions come rolling in. And that's why I have to uh babble off the top of my head for a few minutes, which is always fun as I wait for someone to come and rescue me from this.

[00:04:18]Anyway, hopefully you're doing fine. Um, yeah, you know, the title of this, as I said, is hiring is rigged. How to win.

[00:04:26]There's many ways hiring is rigged. A lot of times uh when we see a posted job, you know, it's a company going through the motions too. That's the other thing, right? This is uh also well known that you do a lot of hire. I mean, what's the point of not hiring, you know, via referrals just so you could like hire strangers, you know, would you hire a stranger to be your assistant?

[00:04:54]That's the thing. You're always going to consider people that you know, people that you know of that you know are capable, that are talented that you know of them. You're going to reach out to them and see if they're if they're able to do it, right? So, unfortunately, sometimes they elevate that to a high art and uh you know, they post a job when they have absolutely no intention of hiring anybody that comes through it.

[00:05:19]And you know, it's it's an interesting topic, something that I have avoided talking about because it's not exactly politically correct to talk about because it brings up some uncomfortable truths, which is that on the one hand, you want to eliminate bias, right? You know, we all know what that is, right?

[00:05:44]Or do we? Because the whole point of recruitment and selection is to make a decision. You know, it's not a predetermined decision. You're going to judge people based on what they present. You know, if they present an application and they claim that they have all the stuff you're looking for, great. That looks promising. They pass the application. You may want to verify a couple of things, but if that checks out, they pass. If you go to an interview, you're judging the person in front of you. If they're wellprepared and they obviously know their stuff, then they pass the interview. If they have a rapport, you know, and there's no red flags, then you know, you pass that, right? But it's based on but beyond that, it's based on preferences. It's based on decisions, you know? And the uncomfortable truth is that a lot of companies companies are in the private sector anyway, they're responsible, you know, for their own survival. It's sink or swim, you know what I mean? Part of that is determining what people to hire, right? Uh so it's very hard for you know for there to be a situation where someone dictates to you what you do but then you're responsible for your own failure. You know what I mean? Like someone says, "Okay, you know, we're going to have a competition, right?

[00:07:09]We're going to have a race, but I'm going to dictate to you uh you know if I'm going to tie both of your shoelaces together or not. That's up to me, right?

[00:07:20]But you're still responsible for winning the race. If you lose the race, then you know you incur some penalty.

[00:07:26]You got thrown in the river. You know what I mean? It's like that's not exactly fair. You know, if you're responsible for the outcome, but your hands are tied by someone else. So that's the attitude of a lot of companies. It's like, well, we have to make our own decisions, you know, and if we don't make money, we're dead. We're we we don't make money. We're all out of a job, you know, whatever. So we can just we can hire who we want, you know.

[00:07:52]And uh this is the problem. At what point does bias end and what point does a personal preference begin? It's a very fuzzy border, you know. So in some areas where you know those two conflict, you get very uncomfortable truths happening that nobody wants to address.

[00:08:10]Um the award for the first person in the chat today is Sheenan Grief. So thank you to Sheenan Grief. Sheen Grief says, "Hi, Bill. I had a few tech interviews after direct outreach. While waiting for the final decisions, I will continue and look for opportunities. Your content is super helpful. Thank you." Okay. Well, that's good. Um, yeah, usually when you do direct outreach, you're not you're not doing traditional job interviews usually like like if you're doing it I mean, hey, an interview is an interview, so I'm not knocking it. If you're doing fine and you're getting some opportunities, I'm not finding fault with anything you're doing. I'm just saying that traditionally, you know, when you do direct or direct outreach, you're reaching out to hiring managers. It's a hell of a lot more informal. You're not actually doing job interviews. You're you're having you're having a meeting with a person. You know, there there's no structure whatsoever. There's certainly no HR people involved. Uh it's someone having just like you would have a conversation with somebody at a doughnut shop, you know, or whatever, right? at a restaurant, you know, at a coffee stop, you know, whatever, like in a, you know, casual kind of thing where you both grab a drink. That's the environment, like that's the the vibe of a lot of meetings you get when you do direct outreach because you're just talking to the hiring manager. Um, you know what I mean? So, so if they if they try and kind of push you into the formal hiring process, that kind of uh you know, generally speaking, I would say it defeats the purpose, right? Um but hey, what whatever wherever direction a job comes from, I'm not going to find fault with anything.

[00:09:52]Um so way to go, sheen grief. I'm glad that things are working out. Uh running altitude. I'm going to turn my mic more towards me here so you can hear me in living color. Uh what I find is technical skills get you considered and being likable gets you hired.

[00:10:08]Absolutely. Yeah. You see the another uncomfortable reality is that um the reality is that there are many people like like for the vast majority of jobs like we're talking like 98% of jobs they're not having trouble finding people that are qualified from a technical sense. You know that's not the issue. Usually they have the opposite problem especially if they post the job publicly. They have the opposite problem. they've got many many many many people that are all qual technically qualified for the job and you have this abundance of choice. So when they select the people that come in for a job interview, you know, or a video interview, whatever they're doing, um you know, you're you're picking a subset of all the people that you found were qualified, right? Uh so you know, that's the thing. Now the the other reality is that um the reason why people don't perform well in a job either the reason why they leave or the reason why they're dysfunctional or the reason why they underperform um HR has been studying this problem for decades. The reasons are not due to not having enough technical qualifications.

[00:11:31]That's not the reason why people underperform. It's the personal element.

[00:11:36]They don't get along with their boss.

[00:11:38]They don't get along with their co-workers. You know, they don't like being told what to do. They want to work on their version of it. You know, there's there's turf battles. There's bruised egos. There's like it's the personal the human element. That's why people don't work out in jobs, you know, overwhelmingly. Not not just by a narrow margin, but like by a huge, you know, lead. That's why people don't work out.

[00:12:02]So knowing this in the hiring process, what do you think HR is paying attention to? They're paying attention to the human element.

[00:12:13]That's why if you're up for a technical job, you know, a lot of people are confused and disgusted by, you know, you go down for interview and they're not asking you about technical things.

[00:12:25]you know, they're asking you all these you know, touchyfey questions like, you know, what does success look like to you and where do you see yourself in five years? You know, you know, stuff like this and you're thinking like, what the hell has that got to do with anything? You know, what is the right answer to that? What is the wrong answer? You know, I have no idea what the hell we're doing here. You know, that that's a common reaction to people that are new to this, right? So, you're absolutely right. See, what they're trying to do is they're trying to assess basically if we were to hire you, would you be able to come in and follow the rules and and work with people and not rock the boat? Like, you know, just have everything work smoothly, right? Um, or are you going to come in and have a problem with this and have a problem with that and refuse to do this and you know go nuts if you have to deal with that type of person and you know you refuse to accept direction. You you demand that you be able to do it your way and not the way your boss is telling you. You know, those are the things that lead to people not working out in organizations at the worker level. So, you know what I mean? So that's what they're that's what the majority of the the hiring process is screening for, you know, right? So you're absolutely right.

[00:13:42]Running attitude, that's basically what's going on. And the number one important most important thing of everything is to be likable. You could be Albert Einstein, but if you're off-putting and they leave the meeting think like the interview thinking, my god, I do not want to talk to that person again, it's a fail. It doesn't matter how brilliant you are. You know, that's the reality. We can argue it shouldn't work that way, but it does, you know, for the majority of humans.

[00:14:14]Um, Paish Mor says, "Hi, Bill." Hi, Paish Mor. How you doing?

[00:14:22]Um, AI Dog says, "Thanks for your content, sir. Super helpful. I'm wondering if you got placed at the very end of a line of candidates, would you change anything or keep anything in mind throughout your interview?

[00:14:36]Well, the pro the point of this game, look, look, if you're just asking in general, this is what I'd say. I'd say get the hell out of that line because that's a losing strategy. Being at the end, being like in a huge line of people like that's what applying for jobs usually is. So, you go in with 800 people. Now, like let's let's make it an even thousand for for easy math. If you go in with a,000 candidates, which some jobs do get, they get a,000 applicants. If they leave the job up there for like a week or more, they get a,000 applicants.

[00:15:10]It's like you're going in the front door with a thousand like you're with 999 other people, right? Statistically, your odds of getting that are.1%.

[00:15:21]Like that's if you're on par with everyone else and it's all up to random chance. You know that that that's what we're talking about here. You got one job, you got a thousand applicants. You know, it's like yes, you can play that game. Yes, it is possible to win at a given time. And you know, it relies on you doing tons and tons of like job applications. If you apply for a million jobs and your odds are 0.1% for each one, you will get something very soon, you know, but uh if you're applying to 50 jobs a week, you know, even 50 jobs a day, it's like it's going to be it's going to be tough, right?

[00:16:02]So that's why I like networking the way like things like direct outreach that anyone can do. I don't care if you just arrived in a city, you know, absolutely nobody. It's a new country, you don't know anybody. You know, you can do things like direct outreach and you know, it's not about who you know for that. It's the fact that you're reaching out. You're demonstrating a lot of different things, a whole laundry list of different things. And you're sort of joining the hiring process early before it becomes public, before they open it up to a thousand people. They're considering you before they post it and get those thousand applicants, right? So, the question is, do you work out or not? If not, then they'll post it and start interviewing strangers. If you do fit the bill, they'll just hire you and end the process right there.

[00:17:03]It's simple. It's cheap. And you usually get bet better results because you're picking someone that number one obviously cares about working here specifically because they reached out to the company. No one told them to do that. That's not standard for most people in this process. You know, they must want to work here, right? Then they went right to the person that's going to be their boss, like the hiring manager. And for the hiring manager to consider you, you must have at least been, you know, somewhat professional in your message you sent, you must at least be somewhat persuasive in the message you sent. There can't have been any red flags in the message you sent, right?

[00:17:57]you know, and then the and then the hiring manager interacted with you and they got a sample of what it's like to work with you.

[00:18:04]Now, that's something that they wouldn't have even if they've gone through the hiring process. You got a stack of resumes on the desk. You have no idea if these people like if they even remember applying, you know, um you don't you've never met them. You've never interacted with them. you don't have a sample of how professional they are, how, you know, uh, persuasive they are, if there's any red flags just talking to them, you know, you have none of that.

[00:18:30]So, you're light years ahead just by having done this, you know. So, that that's why it's a it's a thing to do. That's why, you know, if you want something in this world, this is like this the process you find everywhere. It's essentially the sales process, the outside sales process. It's just that you're selling yourself. you're saying, "Hey, you know, I can do this, you know, if ever you need that, you know, let me know and we can it might make sense for us to talk further, you know." So, I would rather play that game than stand in a very long line of people, especially towards the end of it, you know, because I have to be compared on they're going to try and put me on a level playing field. They're going to try to put you on a level playing field. all these people and and you have to beat all of these people.

[00:19:20]You know, now let's face it, not all of us can beat 800 other people when they've never met you. And and it's like a very artificial. You can't actually demonstrate what you can do.

[00:19:33]You can only talk about what you can do.

[00:19:35]You know what I mean?

[00:19:37]and you're you're trying to demonstrate your value to people who know nothing usually about the technicalities of the job that you're interviewing for, namely HR people. It's not their job to be in the role that they're hiring for. So, they could be hiring an accountant. They know nothing about accounting, but yet they're having to discern who's going to be a better accountant, right? So they usually fall back on you know trying to discern your personality traits you know if uh you know so it's a very artificial very artificial way of um you know screening people HR knows this the study of HR knows this they've been working at this for 30 years they know that it's a very very flawed process but the problem is is that there is no alternative without like really ramping up the amount of work you have to do.

[00:20:32]Anyway, we got 14 people here. Get in the chat. Let me know if you guys have any questions. I'm just here rambling off the top of my head now. Um if you are between jobs, if you are trying to get hired, uh let me know what's up, what you're struggling with, what you're wondering about, and we can get into it.

[00:20:53]Yeah. While we're while we're waiting here for a moment for the questions to roll on in, if you do want to go deeper with me, check out my course. It's linked in the description box below.

[00:21:02]It's called Get Hired and it's uh all my advice all in one place. Basically covers how to get hired in the posted job market and how to get hired in the hidden job market and it's geared towards introverts. So, if that's you, check out the link in the description box below and I also have a link to a video that describes the course, how it works, what you get. uh frequently asked questions, etc. Yeah. So, if you're just joining us, uh get in the chat. There's a chat box. If you are a subscriber to my channel and have been for any amount of time, you should see a chat box. Get in the chat box. I'm here purely to answer your questions.

[00:21:42]I don't have anything prepared. I'm just here uh traditionally, I'd get an influx of questions. So, um there you go. My my channel right now is down. Uh YouTube is not promoting it quite as much. Uh so there's less people, but that's okay. We have enough to answer questions. So that's good. And later this afternoon, like where I am, it's still the morning.

[00:22:08]Later this afternoon, in a couple hours, I have another live stream where I'm collaborating with another YouTuber that I do a collaboration with every couple of weeks. Her name is Abby. She's a recruiter. Her YouTube channel is Life Work Balance. That's her channel, Life Work Balance. So, that's uh happening in a couple hours. We get together and we answer your questions. Uh Abby and I have different perspectives. I'm a former CEO and hiring manager. She is a recruiter. Uh so, we, you know, have a different perspective on things, different areas of expertise, but basically cover the same stuff. So when people ask questions there, you know, you get two people answering sometimes.

[00:22:52]So, so that's good. Uh, join us for that.

[00:22:59]Uh, somebody with a very very long name says, I am retired and want to seek client work in freelance writing on tech topics in uh, niches like data analysis and aging. Is it easier than for those seeking full-time work? Uh, that's unanswerable. It depends on what your skills are. If you're if you've had a career in sales, this will be easier.

[00:23:26]Um, you know, because you're basically doing the sales process and it's all about uh awareness and, you know, good impressions and all that. Uh, the hiring process is different. It's not really about that. It's much, you know, it's a different thing. So, uh, which one you're going to find easier and going to have more skills in, I can't say, but it's a totally different thing. Um, what like I like I don't know what you say, data analysis, so I'm not sure, you know, I'm not in data analysis. So, I don't know the ins and outs of it, but um it's kind of one of those weird sort of areas that sort of is an extension of it and goes into business consulting and all this kind of stuff. So, uh if it's if it's anything like consulting in general on the business side, it's all about, you know, your reputation if they can trust you, right? It's all about trust. I mean, anybody will advise you.

[00:24:26]The big question is can you trust what they say? You know, so this is the thing. A lot of people who work for large consulting companies, they they sort of quit and they go independent and then they are surprised to find that it's very very tough getting consulting clients because now they're not like, you know, covered by this brand, this recognizable trusted brand name. you know, they're just Joe Schmo who used to work at that company, but now they're on their own, you know. So, uh, it's all about personal relationships. Now, if that's kind of, you know, a lot of people and you've, you there's a lot of people that know of you and they know you and you've worked with them and stuff like that, then that's obviously where you would start for this kind of thing, you know, if it's anything like consulting. If it's not, if it's more like Fiverr, you know, then, uh, that's a whole different thing. So, I'm not sure which one of those it's more similar to in your case.

[00:25:26]Um, so I don't know if that was helpful or not, but um, yeah. So, I see you say Tableau Power by Excel.

[00:25:35]Sorry, that's a new one on me. Like BI, I guess, business intelligence. Don't, by the way, just as a general rule, uh, for my live streams, everybody, don't use acronyms when you're talking to me.

[00:25:45]I talk to people all over the world in every industry. I will not know the acronyms you use in your little niche, you know.

[00:25:55]Um, me Ryan P says, "I have a meeting today with an employer to talk about a position they are wanting to create for me. Should I approach this as a formal interview or a discussion?" Well, it depends entirely who you're talking to.

[00:26:10]Is it with a hiring manager or is it with an HR person? And if it's with an HR person, it's going to be a formal interview. Uh if it's with a hiring manager by themselves, it could go both ways, but it's most likely going to be an informal thing.

[00:26:25]Okay.

[00:26:28]So, I mean, I also don't know the history. Have you met these people before? How did how did this come up?

[00:26:32]Did you apply for a job or have you been already speaking to the hiring manager?

[00:26:36]You know, that kind of is important, too. But all things being equal, it could go both ways. A hiring manager will be informal. uh recruiter, it'll be part of the formal recruitment and selection process.

[00:26:50]Um, Greg Greg LRA Greg LRA says, "Any tips on how to apply to jobs without getting burnt out, like any schedule that work best reaching out through direct outreach?" Um, yeah. Like, okay, so this stuff for most people it's going to be rather stressful. Okay, like you guys don't need me to tell you this, right?

[00:27:15]You know, a lot of you are living this.

[00:27:17]You know much better than I do right now cuz you're doing this dayto-day. Um, it's stressful. Now look what I can tell you, this is a whole thing, but you know, you have to endure probably more rejection than most people will have to endure at any point in their lives. Right now, a lot of people really don't handle that well at all. So, it's not necessarily a workload that's the problem. It's the stress of it, right? the more you do, the more you know you stressed you get um you know because doing interviews getting rejection letters like this kind of stuff approaching companies you know a lot of people aren't super comfortable with this they don't find this fun you know so what I can tell you I'm not going to go through the whole thing but I'll just tell you in a nutshell rejection does not mean what a lot of people think it means it does not mean that you have been weighed and measured and found wanting that's not what it means Most people get rejected just because they have one job and 700 applicants, you know, 699 of them are going home with a no. The reality is that a hundred of them of those 700 at least were fully qualified.

[00:28:34]So, it's not like when they re you get a rejection, it's a statement that you're not qualified, you're unemployable, nobody wants you, you're no good, you should you should jump off a bridge. you know that's not what it means.

[00:28:49]Okay.

[00:28:51]So that helps when you internalize that that makes it easier and you can do more of this.

[00:28:57]Okay. But in terms of a schedule I mean everybody's going to have their own schedule. Somebody are more some people are morning people some people are afternoon people. Uh you have nobody forcing you to do this. It's all like self-policed.

[00:29:07]So you do it in the prime time when you feel like doing it whenever that is and when you have the opportunity to do it.

[00:29:16]And uh you know what I would say just as a blind kind of advice would be take the weekends off like force yourself to not do this stuff on the weekends if you possibly can.

[00:29:31]Just force yourself to take the weekends off. It's not like slacking off. It's an investment in your ability to kick ass through the week. Otherwise, within a few weeks, you're going to get burned out.

[00:29:45]Your effectiveness is going to go way down.

[00:29:49]You know, for a variety of mechanisms, it's go way down. So force yourself to to do something fun that you traditionally find fun on the weekends, whether it's reading a book, watching TV, playing video games, hanging out with your friends, whatever, whatever, you know, whatever is your bag or your deal, you know what I mean? Um, you won't feel like it. You may not feel like it in the moment, you know, but force yourself and then you start to kind of distance yourself from thinking about this stuff all the time. That will help you. And then that so that so that schedule of like weekends off and then Monday to Friday I work on job search, you know. Um that at least is probably sustainable for most people.

[00:30:35]Okay, does that make sense? Um Greg says, "What is like the best days and hours for this direct outreach strategy?"

[00:30:44]Uh it doesn't matter. I mean, I wouldn't I don't know. I mean, you could do it at 3:00 in the morning, but it might be weird when people see like the message arrived at 3:00 a.m. They might not take it as seriously. I don't know. But it's not in real time. It's at least the way that I've taught it that I think is better for most people, at least most introverts, is you're sending messages.

[00:31:04]So, it's almost like an email. It can arrive at any time. And just because it arrives at 9:30 a.m. doesn't mean they read it at 9:30. It can sit in their inbox for hours. It most likely will.

[00:31:16]Um, the way I recommend is a combination of Google Maps and LinkedIn. Check out in the description box a link to a video where I show you how to do this if you're wondering, if you're curious, um, it's called How Successful People Get Jobs. So, just follow that link and watch that if you you don't know what I'm talking about. Um, but that involves using LinkedIn as the way to discover the individuals and the way to message them, to send the message. Okay, for things like direct outreach, uh, and also informational interviews if you're doing that.

[00:31:53]Okay, so it doesn't really matter what the day is or what the time is, you know, um, you can't predict the people on the other end. You can't predict their schedule. Some people they don't look at LinkedIn, you know, at all during the week and then they sometimes like catch up with it on the weekend, you know. Other people, they're on there constantly. Other people are on there maybe once a day, you know. So, it really doesn't matter, you know, what you do. You're going to hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. So, you know, it all just works out in the end. Do what is the most convenient for you is what I'd say.

[00:32:34]Okay. Now, Ryan was talking about a meeting. Okay. They're creating a position. So, as Ryan says, it's with multiple directors for the department.

[00:32:43]Okay. Well, if it's directors, right, which I presume in this case means managers essentially.

[00:32:50]Um, then what was the question or why should I approach this as a formal interview or discussion? Look, go down there and be ready for both. Okay? And if it's a informal, unstructured discussion, you know, just swing with it, though.

[00:33:10]That would be better if it was. Okay?

[00:33:14]Chances are it's going to be structured to a degree. If like multiple people are at the meeting, you know, most people are going to come with at least one question they want to ask, right? or one thing they're looking for. Okay.

[00:33:28]Um, now if it's a meeting at the workplace, like it's in some boardroom or somebody's office or something like that, then yeah, it might be more formal. If it's at a Starbucks or if it's in the cafeteria or something like that, then it'll be less formal. you know, um, for direct outreach, I highly recommend, you know, it's the best meetings are always the ones where people are willing to go to like a Starbucks or something offsite.

[00:34:02]The ones where they want you to come to their office. You know, there's always exceptions, but all things being equal, it also can signal that they don't consider this important enough to change their habit like like their their schedule or their their movements that day at all.

[00:34:20]You know, they're thinking I'm going to be in my office doing whatever work I've got to do. Yeah, drop by at this time.

[00:34:27]You know, so they're not actually exerting any effort. They're not putting any effort into this. Uh, a lot of times, you know, if someone's willing to meet you at a Starbucks, you know, they they were their building is like, you know, two blocks away from a Starbucks, those are great for for these kinds of meetings. They tend to be very uh productive. They're very positive. And it's great cuz obviously the person you you you they're signaling that they care about talking to you.

[00:35:00]they're willing to walk two blocks, you know, or whatever, change their location just to talk to you, you know. So, that bodess well. That's like, okay, this person cares about this.

[00:35:14]Okay, so that's kind of some of these principles here.

[00:35:18]Um, so just be prepared for both. Don't like not prepare for a formal job interview because you don't think it might happen. Maybe they bring in an HR person, you know, you don't know. And then all of a sudden, this is getting very formal. So, uh, you know what I mean?

[00:35:37]So, be prepared. Um, 193 says, "Well, it is helpful that you remind us that sales is important even when trying to get work in an introverted job like writing. I have used query letters and have gotten work that way."

[00:35:52]Yeah, sales is incredibly important. I mean, as an introvert, it's a lot of aspects. I I remember what it feels like where it's just repugnant to you. Just like look, you know, that's like the opposite of who I am and what I can stand. You you know what I mean? Um but it's really not. I mean, yes, there are some slimy off-putting people that do it and they ruin it for everyone. But, you know, it's actually it's actually a very very useful thing and it and it's the way everything is structured around. You know, you could be brilliant, but if you have no idea, like you have no idea how to, you know, communicate why what you do is important or what you do why you what you do is helpful or what you do is necessary or what you do is good in some way. If you can't communicate that to somebody, it's going to be pretty hard, you know, to convince someone to give you a job or to work with you or anything, any kind of opportunity, you know, because the question that forms in a lot of people's minds is like, okay, if I'm going to hire someone to do some writing, why would I hire you over anyone else? What's special about you?

[00:37:08]You know, there's a lot of people that can do this. Why would I pick you over them?

[00:37:13]go, you know, like everybody should be able to answer that. Now, if you have no idea, like you have no idea what to say there, you've never been asked that before. Even at job interviews, they're going to ask that question. You know, now if you don't know how to answer it, what you could say, the absolute default thing is like, well, here's my education, here's my skills, here's my experience, here's what I can do for you. I can do this. like you know whatever your job was whatever your job is going to be I can do this you know efficiently on demand done properly and I'm great to work with you know like at the absolute bare generic m minimum you could say something like that right but most people will have something more compelling they'll talk about their unique collection of skills or you know it's like you don't many people that have this and that, you know, I bring, you know, the awareness that comes from that with the technical skills that comes from this and I put them together and I create this for you that has this effect, you know, and it makes your life easier this way, you know, or whatever, right? So, is that off-putting? I mean, you know what I mean? I I guess for some people it might be, but you know if you can't even say that when somebody asks you like why should we hire you? What you know you you can't just go uh cuz I need a job. You know it's like no that's not what we're asking. We're saying why do why should we hire you? I have 800 people that want this job that have applied for it. Why should I ignore them and hire you instead? Go.

[00:39:01]You know, so with freelancing and stuff like that, it's no different. I mean, you're still selling yourself. You still have to answer that question. You know, maybe for some people it's as simple as, well, you know, I do good work because we worked together in the past. You've worked with me in this capacity where I was maybe a member of a team or something that you worked with, you know, but I'm a lot more than just being a member of that that team. I bring this, you know, and you know I'm legit because you've seen me, you know, I've been endorsed by these people.

[00:39:39]Anyway, uh I don't know. Once again, I don't know if that was helpful, but uh but there we are.

[00:39:46]I can't I can't unsay it. Um best of luck to you. 93. Greg says, "I got the game plan for the direct outreach strategy. Thanks for the advice and support." You're absolutely welcome, Greg. I wish you all the luck in the world. I hope it uh takes off and I hope you uh remember these concepts and these methods because they keep coming up.

[00:40:12]It's not just something that you use like whenever you want to get a job. It comes up whenever you need anything, you know?

[00:40:23]Right? In life, you know, you can like make anything happen.

[00:40:28]You can bring any opportunity towards you. You know, it's a very useful thing.

[00:40:36]And I'd like to think that the method that I've been talking about for years, which I did to build my consulting business, I'd like to think that that method is palatable and tolerable for most introverts.

[00:40:51]You know, most of it you do remotely from home.

[00:40:55]And then the only time when you have to go and actually talk to somebody is when they've invited you in. They want to talk to you. It's not like you applied and you're a you're like a faceless person that numbers among the masses.

[00:41:09]It's like no, they you you contacted them and they want to talk to you specifically.

[00:41:16]They say, "Come on down. Let's talk."

[00:41:18]It's like a referral. It's not like a job application. It's like a referral, you know? So, I think a lot of introverts don't mind talking to people under those circumstances.

[00:41:30]you know, oh, you know me, you like me, you like what I wrote, you know, based on that, you're saying yes to me, you're saying sure, you know, let's, you know, you're you're signaling that, you know, you care about this interaction.

[00:41:42]It's like, okay, I'll I'll go and meet with you. You know, usually that's face to face. Sometimes it's like a video call or whatever, but usually it's face to face. I think most introverts, you know, you can you can stomach that because you're dealing with somebody that can help you and they're enthusiastic about you.

[00:42:02]What's harder and more stressful is when you're you're a nobody to them. You're cattle to them. You're like one person in a crowd. You know, they're dealing with the entire crowd today. They've got hundreds of people to deal with. You're one of them and they just want to get you processed as fast as possible.

[00:42:19]That's a good feeling, isn't it? You know, it's our goal in life to not have to go cap in hand to these people, you know, under those conditions.

[00:42:36]Um Joshua says, "Hello from Houston."

[00:42:40]Is it Houston or is it Houston? You know, I've heard both.

[00:42:47]I think I actually have some technically I have some family that lives in lives there and I still don't know how to say the name of the city because it's like Houston we have a problem right it's not Houston but then but then I've heard astronauts and stuff say Houston so I I don't know it's like you know the type of people that you drink Mountain Du or Mountain D you know it depends what part of America you come from I guess right or maybe you're from the part of America America that way up in the hills somewhere in the Ozarks that still uses Confederate money or something. I'm not sure, you know. Then then maybe you say it the third way, right?

[00:43:30]Anyway, uh that was a rambling trip to nowhere. U let me know if you guys have any questions. I'm I'm we've reached the end of the questions and you know what that means? That means I've got to plug my courses, right, to fill to fill space. Anyway, if you want to go deeper with me, uh check out this course. It's linked in the description box under this live stream. It's all my advice about how to get a job all in one place from beginning to end. It covers how to get a job in the post a job market and more importantly how to get a job in the hidden job market and it's it's oriented around introverts. So, if you are an introvert, this is for you. So, check it out. Uh it includes a lot of stuff I haven't covered on my channel like in my free videos. Um, also while we're on the topic, if you want to learn business, check out this, the best bang for the buck around. That's linked below.

[00:44:23]Um, and if you want to improve your communication skills, check out this.

[00:44:27]This is my most compact course of the three. Um, I was never happy with the title, Write Like a Professional. It is about writing, but more importantly, it's about communication. what to say.

[00:44:38]If you want to make a good impression, you want to be perceived as somebody that's got a lot of potential, you know, and someone that they would want to work with, check this out. That's what it can do for you. Because unfortunately, communication skills, they're a big part of the first impression we make. The moment you open your mouth, they're judging you on your communication skills. And sometimes they never go beyond that. Right? So for things like job interviews and stuff like that and any other encounter in life where you're meeting someone, you're having to make a first impression. If you want to give the impression that you're, you know, a person with a lot of potential, uh, check out this course.

[00:45:17]Links in the description box below.

[00:45:23]Yeah, we got 22 people here. Thank you for joining me today.

[00:45:27]get in the chat and uh let me know what you're wondering about. What uh is the stumbling block for you if you are uh trying to get hired as an employee whether you're at the worker level or the management level doesn't matter. We can talk about it.

[00:45:50]Uh because there's a lot of stuff that they do not teach you in school. So when people come out of school and they hit the real world, it's like a slap in the face, you know, because this is reality. This is how things work, right? There is no procedure. There is no, you know, no process that they tell you. This is what you do now. You just have to follow this process. You've got to figure it out for yourself. And there's a lot of things you can do.

[00:46:26]While we're about it and we're staring at it on the screen, maybe people don't know I have two other YouTube channels. The Company's Expert 2. So, if you are a job seeker, you might want to check out The Company's Expert 2, Company's Expert 3, I was using it for uh a lot of entrepreneurial type stuff, people that are looking to uh work for themselves, start their own business, that kind of thing. Um, I've changed that recently. Now it's sort of general management stuff and just general deep thoughts with me. A lot of systems thinking, stuff like this, stuff on leadership. Um, so if you are interested in that, check out companies expert 3. If I can orient my finger in this reverse screen that I'm staring at.

[00:47:11]Yeah, there you go.

[00:47:15]Other than that, get in the chat.

[00:47:18]Uh yeah, you know, not to always default back to this or anything, but it's like, you know, there's something I've noticed because I I was asked to go back and teach in business school, like in university for a couple years there. And uh you know, which was really not my bag because I'm from the private sector. I'm not from academia. Uh I have kind of the polar opposite mentality is than a lot of people in academia. Um, but I was asked to do some teaching, so I did. I thought it was interesting. I'd never done that before. So, I did it for about what, three or four years, something like that. Uh, and it was it was kind of fun. Uh, you know, teaching a lot of 20 20somes.

[00:48:01]And the impression I got was that a lot of people like they're they're so used to conforming, you know, because they're coming through school, you know, uh, you go through school and they they're always giving you rules. Here are the rules. you have to follow the you're rewarded for following the rules. You're always uh slapped down if you don't follow the rules, you know, so it really conditions you to be a conformist.

[00:48:26]Right? Now, I get it. You know, you need to maintain order. You need to have some kind of structure. So, fair enough. But the problem is is that when people get out in the real world, a lot of these rules don't apply. The only real rules are like the, you know, the laws of the land, you know, like the criminal law and the civil law, you know, I mean, that's it. There's no other rule that you have to follow. So, when it comes to getting a job, you know, there really aren't any rules, but a lot of younger people that come out of school, they really act like there is. You know, for example, one of the big things was, you know, they think like, I can't I don't have the right to talk to this person or that person.

[00:49:09]you know, who who am I to talk to them?

[00:49:11]You know, they're a professional.

[00:49:13]They're way up there. I'm I'm down here, you know, and it's like I was saying to them, it's like that's silly because if you learn etiquette, you learn like the protocol for for, you know, approaching people and, you know, you open with this line and then you say something like this, right? You close it when they say this, you say that. You know, it's like like learning the protocol of it. then you know how to approach people because the people that can help you are all going to be at least one level above you, you know? So, if you're like, you know, you have no idea how to talk to somebody that's like one level above you or more and you know what I mean, like and you don't know what to say and you don't know what to ask for, you don't know how to do it or how anything is structured.

[00:49:58]Um, that's like a major major drawback, you know? Uh, I really encourage people to learn that stuff.

[00:50:06]you know, you can talk. I just say this one last thing. You have the right to talk to anybody you want. You know, uh I don't care if somebody's a CEO. I don't care if somebody's, you know, a board member or, you know, it's like you can talk to anyone you want, provided that you follow protocol and you're professional about it, you know, and you'll get a response. You know, I've done this my whole career.

[00:50:31]It's really not that hard. The biggest thing that holds people back is that it's not they don't know how, just that they've told themselves that's not an option. That that's impossible. So, they don't even consider it. And a lot of people who are doing it are loving it, by the way, because it's like all the more for them, you know, but the reality is that anybody can do this if you just know the protocol.

[00:50:56]Anyway, if you're interested, I I'm going to answer questions, but I go into this very deep in my get hired course.

[00:51:03]So, if you're interested in learning all that, check out my Get Hired course.

[00:51:08]That thing right there, link in the description.

[00:51:14]Um, Jeff says, "I'm in between jobs to take care of my dad, stroke victim, dementia." Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, Jeff. I hope he's doing okay. and I need s and I need surgery that will take me out of the picture for about a month.

[00:51:28]How do I best explain the gap on my resume?

[00:51:34]Um, look, I don't know what HR, you know, if they've got some extremely fancy thing for you to say or something, but quite frankly, I would tell it like you just said it right now. The only concern is that you see if if there are health issues like you're taking care of a sick parent or you know or anything like that. HR's concern is that like if you're away now, you could need to go away at any moment and then that would be like a risk factor for hiring you. If they hire you, you're the employee that you know you you go to your boss to say, "Sorry, I need the next month off."

[00:52:13]Non-negotiable. You know, um and they don't want that, right? they'd rather hire somebody that's available, right?

[00:52:21]So, if there's a way of sort of spinning it and saying like, look, this is a one-time only thing, you know, this is not a regular thing. I'm predicted to make a full recovery, you know, it's not going to be an issue. This is just a quirk, you know, uh, you know, and put their mind to rest that way, right? Because the great thing about your story, which is reality, is that this is not your fault. You know, it's not you're not like the gap is not because you're unreliable or you made bad decisions or you have questionable judgment, uh, you know, or you're flaky or, you know, uncommitted or what, you know, none of that is the reason. It's an absolutely legitimate reason that any normal human being, you know, they would think, "Oh, that's perfectly reasonable." You know, so that's what I like about your story, your reality, is that, you know, it's perfectly reasonable what you're doing. So, it shouldn't be, as far as I can see, it shouldn't be problematic to say that.

[00:53:23]The only concern was that, you know, if you're away once, you could be away. You see, recruiters are trained to think like that. In case you didn't know, they're they're trying to think that past behavior predicts future behavior.

[00:53:37]So all things being equal, if you did something in the past, they're making the assumption that that's the kind of thing you're going to do again, right?

[00:53:44]So if you had a work gap and you had to get, you know, take a month off work for whatever reason, they're going to assume that, oh, you're the type of person that takes a month off work every once in a while, right? So, you have to go out of your way to assure them that whatever the cause is, this is a one-time only thing.

[00:54:02]This is just a total freak of nature. It it it's not going to reoccur.

[00:54:08]You know, the the doctors told me that they confirmed that or whatever, you know, like whatever you can say to that effect. So, those are the parameters.

[00:54:18]You know your situation much better than I do.

[00:54:21]Hopefully, that gives you some guidelines of what to say. Does that make sense?

[00:54:28]Hopefully that does. Um, the owl says, "I'm in a rough spot." Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Uh, the owl. Um, remember this is all temporary. Okay, you're going to be fine. Uh, I graduated this May with an MBA 4.0, but all my work was remote and I've lived a very cut off life due to family circumstances. I need a remote job in three weeks.

[00:54:53]Okay. Um, well, look, I mean, I think the answer is self-evident. You need to turn over every stone. You need to employ every method available to you to find something. I mean, you know, now hopefully you know the different methods. Now, I don't know if this is any help, but like about 6 months ago, I did a video that was 45 minutes long. I can pull it up so I can show you what it looks like.

[00:55:24]But, uh, it it's it it covers 11 different methods of finding a job.

[00:55:31]Okay. Um, let's see if I can find this here. And I I'll share my screen in a moment when I when I do.

[00:55:39]Um, now I would, okay, like look, I would do direct outreach and I would apply for posted jobs. If you know how to apply for posted jobs, that can help. I mean, um, you know, it's it's still not the greatest method, but it's the it's immediate. You know, it's more immed than other things. Things like informational interviews, for example.

[00:56:04]Uh, but direct outreach is probably your best bet. So, I'd make sure I was doing that. Here we go.

[00:56:15]This is the video right here. this dark blue thing. So, it's called, "If I were jobless today, here's exactly how I'd get a job." Okay, so you could check that out. Okay, I'll just keep that up for another few seconds.

[00:56:32]So, this one right here, trying to circle it with my mouse.

[00:56:37]Okay. Um, so check that out. Um, now there's there's other challenges with like an MBA presumably you're going for a manager type job. Um, there's also in the management world there's also a gap. I did a video on this on one of my other channels. It's um the problem is like you could be you could have experience if you don't have experience in management like you you you haven't had experience uh managing people or managing money you know people are reluctant to hire you even though you have the technical qualification which is an MBA right so there's a gap where you know like how do you describe it I can't remember how you describe it. You're you're not uh you're not trusted enough to be given the job, you know, because you companies very rarely like hire a total stranger and then just put them in charge of their baby. You know what I mean? Um you're too qualified to be given a worker job if you have an MBA and you're too inexperienced to be given a management job. Like that's the gap, right? This is a very real problem. Now the way this works is that depending on where you are like in what city or what location, what region, some places are very fastmoving, some places are very slowmoving. If it's slowm moving, a lot of the businesses tend to be very conservative.

[00:58:19]They hire based on networking. You know, these networks of people they trust, people they know, right?

[00:58:26]um you know this kind of thing and everything moves very slowly. It's expected to be business as usual. Um in a more fastmoving place it's more competitive. Usually the bigger centers like big cities um you know in that case where they're fast moving there's more competition they're more willing to uh embrace new ideas, new approaches. That means that they're also willing to take a chance on people they don't know. So that's where you see managers being hired more from like like you actually get managers being hired from job postings. You usually don't get that at all in like smaller centers.

[00:59:09]Okay.

[00:59:11]Uh so you know they're willing to take a chance on people. You know if you can talk a good game and you have a good credential you know then they'll be willing to to trust you more. Now, I'm assuming you don't have like an MBA from like Harvard or Yale or like the top Ivy League schools in the you know or the top schools in in in the world. That's what I'm assuming because you haven't said anything about that. That's a whole different thing. I'm talking about for like, you know, 98% of all the schools that will give you an MBA. It's they fall into this category where, you know, the reputation of the school, it's okay.

[00:59:41]You know, it might be known locally and that's good, but not beyond that. So, I don't know how that affects a remote job.

[00:59:51]you know. So, um, so anyway, the solution for that is usually networking.

[00:59:58]Okay. So, if if I have kind of described sort of your situation, the the way out of that is usually networking. Okay. Um, you can start with things like direct outreach. Um, you you need to do get something happening in 3 weeks. That's that's uh so things like um informational interviews are probably out because they have a much longer time frame.

[01:00:23]Um I or you're just looking for any job.

[01:00:26]And there might even be a strategy where I hate to say this, you leave your MBA off your resume and uh you know apply like apply for like worker type jobs. It it sounds like you're going for a worker type job now that I think about it when you say remote job. You know what I mean? Uh I mean I don't know if you're absolutely desperate. I wouldn't judge you too harshly if you change MBA to bachelors of business just so that you can apply to all the worker jobs and not be like overqualified. They'll actually consider you if that's what you're looking to do and you absolutely need something in 3 weeks. I would, as I said, I would turn over every stone to try and do this.

[01:01:12]So, I'm not sure if that was helpful, but but that's uh just my reaction to that. Um, if you have any more details you want to share, feel free.

[01:01:28]Um, the Alice says, "That's the plan at the moment. I honestly need something to carry me over until I have time."

[01:01:36]Yeah. Yeah. That's unfortunate. Um well, that's what I say. I mean, it like it's it's just simply about doing everything you possibly can and skipping the things that have like long time frames. So, uh check out that video.

[01:01:53]That might be of help. I'm not sure, but at least give you an idea. Like it covers some things like applying in person, which may work for you. You know, if there's certain places like that are around you, I know you said remote job. I know you said that. But if there are some places physically near you that uh you would want to work, it would be like a dream job, then it might be worth doing that, you know, uh going marking through the front door and talking to the receptionist and going from there. So, check that out. Um see if there's any things in there that give you any ideas.

[01:02:31]But yeah, the 3 weeks deadline thing is is a bit of a tall order. So, just do everything.

[01:02:39]Okay. Sorry I couldn't be a bit more uh helpful, but um but that's what I'd say.

[01:02:46]You know, this is why uh you know, working with a lot of people. If you're in a job where you contact a lot of people as part of your job, that that's a very good situation to be in because a lot of times, you know, that uncovers a lot of opportunities. Once you put feelers out that say like, you know, I'm looking, you know, the people that all work with you at other companies, you know, a lot of times there's a likelihood that, you know, one of them knows of an opportunity with them that they can put in a good word for you.

[01:03:24]Yeah.

[01:03:26]Okay. Uh, last call for questions. We've been at this for over an hour. So, uh, if you have any questions about, you know, job search, careers, that kind of stuff, let me know. Put them in the chat if you are a member of my channel.

[01:03:42]Uh, you're welcome, Al. Um, I wish you absolute best of luck uh with that truly.

[01:03:53]Okay, last uh time I'm going to do this.

[01:03:56]So, check out this course if you are just joining me. Uh, if you want to go deeper with me, uh, this course is linked in the description box below.

[01:04:03]It's all my advice all in one place.

[01:04:06]This will help you get hired quicker, especially if you've never done networking or you're an introvert, uh, or you just don't understand job search.

[01:04:15]You don't understand like what what goes on from the other side of the table and what people are looking for and why they're doing what they're doing and stuff like that. Uh, this will help you tremendously with that. So check it out.

[01:04:27]Uh I cover every aspect of uh getting hired. And I also have this if you want to learn business, which is the scientific study of how to make money. We were just talking with somebody with a full-blown presumably accredited MBA. So you know, we would know. Uh an MBA is the gold standard for, you know, knowing what you're doing with business. And business is the scientific study of how to make money. So, as you can appreciate, it's very useful to know for a variety of reasons. Um, so check this out. Best bang for the buck around. You can learn anything that you would learn in a MBA program, a 2-year university MBA program. Uh, the catch is that it's all self-study.

[01:05:08]So, what I give you is a reading list and a whole bunch of videos that guide you through it. Um, you can get brand new books and pay the price for those or you could get, you know, books off Amazon for $5, like the same books, you know, just maybe one or two editions old that are still perfectly good. The material is still perfectly good. Get them for literally $5, you know, and um you read them on your own schedule at your convenience. you go to the depth to which you're interested and uh or you know you can go the full nine yards you can go into it you can do all the practice problems the case studies all that kind of stuff if you're into that anyway check it out uh link all these are linked in the description box below along with videos that describe these courses so it's as transparent as possible and finally if you want to improve your communication skills check out this course uh if you want to want to be perceived as somebody with a lot of potential you want to make a good first impression. You want people to feel that, you know, you need to be you're the type of person that should be promoted upward uh because you could do a great job at a higher level, then check out this course. This will give you the tools to do that. Uh it's called Write Like a Professional. It is about writing, but it's about communication in general, what to say under different circumstances, what to communicate. So, uh check that out. It's the most compact and self-contained of all my courses.

[01:06:39]Yeah. And there you go. You like this camera angle? I should put one right in the back of my head actually because it's pretty much at 90° today. Um, sometimes Joey plays says, "Hi, Bill.

[01:06:53]I've been interviewing recently and I've refreshed myself with a lot of your content." Thank you. You're absolutely welcome. Sometimes Joey plays. Uh, I wish you best of luck. and hopefully you will uh find your niche. And I'm Canadian so I say niche. If I was American I'd say niche, right? Riches and niches.

[01:07:15]Uh Jeff Batorf Badorf says, "Thanks for the conversation and insight." You're absolutely welcome, Jeff. Thank you for being here and uh getting something out of it.

[01:07:29]Okay. So, uh this afternoon in let's see, I believe it's two hours from now, I will be back live with another YouTuber. We're doing a collaboration.

[01:07:42]Uh this is with Abby from the YouTube channel Life Work Balance. So, we do a collaboration. We do a joint live stream where we're both answering questions at the same time. Uh, it goes out live on my channel, it goes out live on her channel, um, at the same time. So, live, I guess I did say. So, yes, live at the same time. And, uh, you can ask questions and get an answer from two people, me and her, or her and I, however you want to put it. And, uh, she's a recruiter, I'm a hiring manager and former CEO, so we have different perspectives on things. That's I think what makes it interesting.

[01:08:22]So there you go. And also special thanks to uh Fausto Esquival.

[01:08:30]I thought that said Fausto Squirrel there for a second. I'm not sure which is which is a better name. Uh thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. You're absolutely welcome, Fausto Esquival Esquire.

[01:08:45]Uh you guys are awesome. I wish you the best of luck. I will be back in two hours. Uh, and then I will also be live next week, too. So, uh, best of luck. If you have questions, come back and I'll do my best to help you out. Take care, everyone.