Hi Realists! 👋

Welcome to Cup of Ambition, Volume 1!

In this edition, we will:

• Corporate Ghost Bust 👻

• Boost Your LinkedIn Visibility in Two Minutes 📈

• Amp Up Your Salary Negotiation Toolkit 💵

• Shortlist 35 Companies Hiring Right Now 🔍

• Myth-Bust Cover Letters 💣

Let’s do it!

9-to-5 Dilemma

What can I do to prevent corporate ghosting? I’ve applied to hundreds of jobs, had several interviews, but the companies just disappear. I don’t want to look too pushy, but weeks go by and I don’t hear anything… just crickets. Help!”

— Feeling Hopeless

It’s not you, it’s the inefficient, confusing, soul-crushing process of finding a job.

Companies ghost job seekers. They stop talking to them during the hiring process. This has become more common and frustrating.

Things will be going well, and then, poof, the line is dead.

This can happen for a lot of reasons.

• Sometimes you're the second-choice candidate. They don't want to decline you if their first choice doesn't work out.

• There are many applicants. The recruiter or hiring manager struggles to get through candidates and do their day job at the same time.

• They’re afraid of legal risk, so they’re playing smoke and mirrors to avoid giving you feedback.

• They've always planned to promote someone from within. But, they need to appease those worried about unfair hiring.

• They had an outside candidate in mind, but again they needed to play the game.

• There is no defined person (recruiter or manager) identified to give the bad news.

• The person who is supposed to inform you fails to do so because they become busy or don't want to address it.

• They never got approval to hire anyone from finance or other decision makers. But, they were being proactive. Now they need to get internal budget, offer, or other approvals. They're fighting against bureaucracy to gain approval.

That last one happens more often than you think. These are companies that need someone. The management said they'll talk about it and it'll likely happen. So, the department tries to be proactive. They collect resumes and do interviews. They hope to hire someone right away when they get the green light.

Then they wait. They've found the ideal one, but the CFO is on vacation, or wrapped up in other things, or isn't getting back to them. They're waiting and waiting until they finally get the green light. But, all their hopeful hires found other jobs, or they get a red light. They're told the market has changed and they aren't to hire anyone right now.

So, what can you do to revive the lines of communication?

👻 Keep in touch and stay memorable.

After every interaction, like a phone screen or interview, follow up in writing.

Send a short email. It should restate your interest in the job and ask for any timeline updates. If you don't receive a response after two weeks, contact another person. This could be a different HR representative or the hiring manager.

DO NOT throw anyone under the bus. “I’ve been trying to get in contact with Dave but he hasn't responded. Can you give me an update?” is a bad move. It throws one of your advocates under the bus and creates a potential problem.

Stay neutral, keep positive.

👻 Find an in, but don’t make it weird.

Connecting with current or former employees on professional platforms like LinkedIn may give insights. It may also help with introductions. Do you know someone who knows someone in the company? Would they be willing to put in a good word and nudge to the hiring manager or HR? If so, start there.

Do not go on a quest across employees to try to find an in - this usually backfires and comes across as too forward. Stick with 1 or 2 network connections and then move on with another approach.

👻 Play competitive.

When push comes to shove, reminding them how in demand you are can be beneficial.

“Hi Contact,

I hope your week is going well. I’m reaching out to confirm my continued interest in the XX position on Hiring Manager’s team.

The XX position is an ideal fit for me and working for XX Company is a priority goal for me. Insert your 1-2 sentence unique value proposition.

Since we've last spoken, I’ve continued to interview and I anticipate receiving an offer soon. Can you share any updates on the next steps and timeline for this opportunity? I want to prioritize moving forward with XX Company. I’ll

I look forward to hearing from you!"

👻 Know when it’s time to move on.

When you’ve pulled these levers and still get crickets, follow Tom Petty’s advice...

Sometimes we can’t persuade our way through the corporate bureaucracy. It's full of inefficient decision making. That doesn't make you less qualified, less talented, or less wonderful. Keep your crown straight and start knocking on the next door.

New LinkedIn Feature: Top Choice Jobs

Over the last few months, LinkedIn beta tested a top-choice job feature. They started rolling it out to Premium members last month and plan to roll it out more over time. I’ve played around with it and a few clients have tested it.

We still need to determine the verdict, but at first glance... meh. We will soon receive data on whether employers are more likely to select top-choice candidates. Then, we'll know more about its efficacy.

For now, it's fine to play with the function and capture another data point in your search, but I wouldn’t spend too much time with it yet.

Know Someone Who Could Use Some Career Love? Refer them! ❤️

I’m really excited to launch a referral program to incentivize more wonderful referrals from you. Spin the wheel of referral love for every referral you send my way that purchases a package. There’s no limit on the number of people you can refer!

The wheel is stocked with AWESOME prizes from Target, Starbucks, Lululemon, and more!

To refer someone, send their contact info to me ([email protected]) or ask them to mention your name when they reach out!

Thank you for supporting my business and introducing me to your network. I’ve been so honored to have the majority of my growth come from referrals— it’s expanded my network and introduced me to so many wonderful people.

The absolute best compliment to my work is opening your network so share the career love.

What’s Your Number? Tools To Nail Salary Negotiations.

If you live in a place without salary transparency requirements, it's hard to know what a good offer looks like. I recommend everyone use salary research tools. They help you build a well-informed range based on market data for comparable roles in your field. Your experience, goals, and available pay data determine this range.

Give me 3 minutes. I’ll show you a new salary research tool that I’ve been loving lately, Comparably. I'll also give you an overview of common pay practices.

Other Salary Research Tools I ❤️

Salary Transparency Street

CareerOneStop

Payscale

Glassdoor

Remember, every company has its own pay rules. Averages may not reflect local salaries. Start with getting clear on your goals and use salary tools to expand your range.

35 Companies Hiring Right Now

Glassdoor recently published a list of 35 companies hiring now— this may drive competition in the candidate pool with more applicants interested in these companies, but it may also help you find a hidden gem you haven’t seen yet!

Is Anyone Reading Your Cover Letter?

I recently came across a thread in a networking group discussing cover letters. The poster, a HR Business Partner at a start-up, asked:

“We manually review every application that comes in, which in practice ends up putting a stronger emphasis on the resume and LinkedIn profile review and a general skimming of the cover letter. I’ve spoken to a handful of people in TA but thought I’d ask the general group for a wider pool. Are you reading the cover letters?”

The overwhelming response was nope.

Responses like this were common across HR leaders and Recruiters:

“My Recruiters have informed me over and over they do not. Because they don’t, we simply turned ‘off’ the cover letter portion of our application because we don’t want candidates to be spending time on custom cover letters that likely won’t be read.”

“I haven’t read one in at least 18 years. I have also configured five ATS in the past 10 Years and never even turned on the option to submit one.”

“No, my team of 1 recruiter cannot. We got 7000 applicants for a role posted recently and filled within a few weeks.”

Realism: If the job posting requires a cover letter, submit one. If the job posting makes no mention of a cover letter skip it and use that time to optimize your resume.

Dollyism

Want to work with me? Have a 9-to-5 dilemma? Reach out. We got this.
📧 [email protected]