Hi, Realists! 👋

Welcome to Cup of Ambition, Volume 18.

In this edition, you’ll get the scoop on:

‼️‼️  9-to-5 Dilemma: The Nonlinear (Work) Life.

📖 Unlock Your Next Career Move with LinkedIn Tools.

📌 It’s Not You, It’s the Fake Jobs + Corporate Ghosts.

🔥 Ambition Accelerator (1 Quick Career Action to Take This Week).

9-to-5 Dilemma.

-Maybe Screwed?

What’s your current 9-to-5 dilemma? Send your story to: [email protected]

What matters most is gaining clarity on what it is that YOU want. Throw out what your high school bestie is doing or the job title that your neighbor has and answer:

• What’s right for me?

• What do I want to be known for?

• Where do I want to spend my work life contributing my unique skills, strengths, and talents?

• Who do I want to work alongside?

• What salary will meet my financial and lifestyle goals?

• Do I have a career strategy that puts my plan into action?

I’ve seen plenty of people who were individual contributors for quite a while before they decided they wanted to lead a team. There’s also plenty of individual contributors who decide they NEVER want to lead a team, so they become a subject matter expert and thought leader in a niche and earn just as much as a team leader.

There’s no right or wrong, there’s only what’s for you.

It’s easy to sit and wonder where the grass is greener or why your grass hasn’t sprouted yet. Remember, though, that everyone else’s journey isn’t yours. You are full of endless potential and it’s okay if it took you longer to identify where that potential lies and how to be the best salesperson to sell your potential.

What matters now is that you’ve identified that you want more. Now the exciting part comes in naming, defining, and planning for what you know you deserve. ❤️

You got this.

 Unlock Your Next Career Move with LinkedIn Tools.

If you’ve been feeling stuck in your job and unsure about your next move, you’re not alone. Whether you’re seeking a similar role at a new company, exploring a different industry, or looking to take a big step forward in your career, LinkedIn offers tools designed to help you find opportunities tailored to your unique skills, experience, and interests.

Here’s a quick look at LinkedIn features that can help you take charge of your job search:

1. Job Match: Your Shortcut to Relevant Roles.

Job Match analyzes your LinkedIn profile and highlights how your skills and experience align with job postings. This is an INVALUABLE tool that everyone should be using in their search.

How it helps you:

• Save time: Instantly see how well you match each job without reading every single description.

• Make confident decisions: Detailed insights show where you shine and where you need to optimize for keywords, gain experience, or potentially pursue a certification.

• Prepare for the future: Use Job Match insights to update your resume, skills, and profile to better align with targeted roles.

In the example below, I used the “Am I a good fit?” AI feature to analyze my profile against the role. This gives me a quick way to identify what experiences and skills to add to my application by optimizing keywords.

Remember: Skills = Keywords. Keywords = Visibility.

2. Job Collections: Curated Opportunities Just for You.

Job Collections organizes roles based on your interests, needs, and priorities, like industries, benefits, or passions. This is a great way to reduce time manually scrolling through jobs and start to organize them based on what matters to you.

How it helps you:

• Explore variety: Discover roles that align with what matters most to you.

• Simplify your search: Easily find opportunities you may have missed.

• Inspire your next move: Get curated lists of jobs that align with your experience and aspirations.

3. Open to Work: Signal Opportunities.

Activate “Open to Work” on your profile to signal to recruiters or your network that you’re exploring new roles. For some reason this has become a charged debate on whether this makes you look “desperate.” 🙄🙄🙄

If you’re searching, there should be no shame or embarassment. The green banner is nothing more than a quick, easy, and eye catching way for a recruiter to know to send you a note when they see you in their search.

How it helps you:

• Stay private (or not!): Let only recruiters know you’re open to opportunities, which is great for an anonymous job search (ie: you’re still employed). You can also open this open to all viewers, so hiring managers, peers, and network contacts can keep you in mind for roles.

• Customize your preferences: Highlight desired roles, locations, and work types.

• Boost recruiter interest: Increases the likelihood of messages from recruiters by 2x.

PS- Don’t be intimidated by the “400 Applicants” stat below the posting title.

Often, these applicant numbers are completely meaningless. Sure, there are probably some qualified candidates in that mix, but that number is also full of ghost applicants and unqualified candidates.

Getting in early on a role is key, but don’t be afraid of the volume of candidates. Throw your resume into that mix, you may be the only qualified one there.

Your Next Step.

Whether you’re actively looking or just preparing for future opportunities, taking small steps to optimize your LinkedIn profile and explore these tools can make a big difference. If you need help tailoring your LinkedIn presence or leveraging these features, feel free to reach out—I’m here to support you!

Have you ever applied for a job that seemed perfect, only to wonder later if it even existed? If so, you're not alone. The phenomenon of “ghost jobs”—roles that companies advertise but never intend to fill—may account for up to 20% of online job postings, according to Greenhouse, a hiring platform.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, these ghost listings were revealed to be a frustrating and increasingly common reality in today’s job market. Companies often post these phantom jobs to project growth, build candidate pipelines, or comply with legal requirements. For job seekers, this adds confusion and distrust to an already challenging process.

What I found particularly interesting in this article was the sheer volume of job applications required to score an interview, and ultimately an offer. The article follows Serena Dao and her journey:

“Out of more than 260 applications, she received 124 rejection letters and ultimately never heard back from 116 companies, including several where she had already made it through two or three rounds of interviews, flown in to meet with executives or tackled take-home assignments that required several hours of work. 

She wondered whether some of those job listings were real. And after putting in the work for other companies’ vetting processes, she said she didn’t appreciate getting ghosted.

She made it to five final rounds with no offer.”

Serena also created a Sankey diagram to show the funnel:

What Can You Do?

You’ve likely heard the advice to focus on applying to fewer roles while tailoring each application to perfection. On the surface, this makes sense—it feels logical to invest deeply in a handful of opportunities. But the data doesn’t fully support that strategy.

In today’s competitive job market, a hybrid approach is more effective. This means combining volume with targeted keyword optimization to maximize your chances of landing interviews.

Why Fewer Applications Aren’t Always Better

While being highly specific about the roles you target can help you align closely with a company’s needs, applying to too few roles limits your opportunities. Job seekers often underestimate how much competition exists for a single posting, especially when factoring in ghost jobs or roles already earmarked for internal hires.

A volume-based strategy gives you more chances to get your resume in front of the right decision-makers, but that doesn’t mean quantity should come at the cost of quality.

The Ideal: Volume with Targeted Optimization

Here’s how to make the most of both approaches:

1. Optimize for Keywords in Your Lane

• Identify Common Keywords: Focus on the most relevant titles, skills, and industry-specific terms in your targeted field. Tools like LinkedIn’s job insights or platforms like Jobscan can help identify these.

• Broad Appeal: Your resume should align with the common language hiring managers and applicant tracking systems (ATS) use for your desired roles.

2. Apply at Scale

• Strategic Volume: Set a daily or weekly application goal to maintain momentum.

• Don’t Over-Customize: Instead of rewriting your resume for every job, tailor your cover letter or tweak key details while keeping your core resume optimized for your targeted lane.

3. Balance Your Efforts with Networking

• Leverage Connections: While applying broadly, nurture authentic relationships to gain referrals or inside insights.

• Stay Visible: Be active on LinkedIn by engaging with content, sharing insights, and signaling your availability for roles.

Why This Approach Works

The hybrid strategy acknowledges the reality of today’s job market: not all jobs are real, and not all applications are seen by a recruiter. By applying at scale with a well-optimized resume, you increase the odds of getting noticed without burning out from over-customization.

If you’re wondering how to optimize your resume or balance your job search efforts, let’s connect—I’m here to help you craft a strategy that works for you.

🔥Ambition Accelerator 🔥

Take Strategic Action in Your Job Search This Week

Feeling stuck in your job search or unsure how to make progress? Let’s focus on a simple yet powerful accelerator: consistent, strategic action.

Here’s how you can make tangible progress this week:

1 Thing to Do Now:

Set a daily application goal. Whether it’s 5, 10, or even just 3 applications per week, consistency is key. Instead of endlessly tweaking your resume for every single job, optimize it for the most common keywords in your target lane—think job title, industry, and core skills.

Use tools like LinkedIn’s job insights or keyword platforms to identify the terms that hiring managers and ATS systems are searching for. Then apply at scale while keeping your efforts targeted and efficient.

1 Thing to Ponder:

Are you diversifying your job search strategy? Applications alone won’t open every door. Consider how networking can amplify your efforts:

• Reconnect with an old colleague.

• Comment on a thought leader’s LinkedIn post.

• Attend a virtual industry event.

These small steps can lead to big opportunities and often make the difference between your resume sitting in a pile or getting a direct referral.

Taking consistent, targeted action and balancing it with networking will set you up for success. Remember, the goal isn’t perfection—it’s momentum.

What’s your next step? Let me know how I can support you!

Dollyism.

Don’t Be a Stranger!

Like my content?

Tired of always talking about how much you hate your job anytime you hang out with friends or family?

Think more people need to hear what I say?

5 Ways to Grow Our Networks:

1) Connect with me on LinkedIn!

2) Like, share, and engage with my content across social.

3) Refer friends and co-workers to subscribe to Cup of Ambition!

4) Refer anyone who tells you they hate their job to me! Refer a new client, spin the prize wheel, and we both win!

5) Recommend me for speaking opportunities within professional networks, community groups, ERGs, workplace events, or other groups you’re a part of.

If you don’t want a Cup of Ambition in your inbox, no worries. Just break my heart 💔 and unsubscribe using the link below.