Unorthodox Job Search Strategies and Career Empowerment: A Cautionary Tale (5/16/2024)
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Donna Serdula: Yeah, I've got a post that is exploding on LinkedIn. And. It's, it's all about a very bizarre phone call I had with a job seeker. 

Isaiah Hankel: Okay. 

Donna Serdula: And it's a conversation that I wasn't planning on posting about, but it, it was, it haunted me. Okay. So, so here we go.

I'm ready. This is what happened. So the phone rings and, um, and oddly enough, it's not someone who wants a LinkedIn profile or resume or branding material or, you know, anything like that. It was a job seeker who said, Donna, I've got this really, um, unorthodox approach to job search. And I think you need to hear about it.

And I'm like, All right. I mean, shoot, I'm all ears. Like, tell me about this unorthodox approach. And he says, [00:01:00] so what I, what I've done Donna is I'm going, I'm doing something totally different. I decided to create a fake LinkedIn account. Okay. And I've been, you know, I've been building this LinkedIn account up and, um, I posted.

a job off this, this LinkedIn account. I created a job post. Um, and I made this post, this job, posting my perfect job. This is like the job that I want to be doing that I want to get hired for that I'm having such a strong time, you know, as such a struggle finding. So I created off this fake account, this fake job post.

And, and I sat back and I waited and all of my competitors found the job post and applied. And he says, so now I know who I've been up against, who are the people who, who want the job that I want. 

Isaiah Hankel: Yeah. 

Donna Serdula: I researched all of [00:02:00] them and I found that most of them are currently working. So I reached out to their employer, reached out to the HR, reached, reach out to the recruiting team.

And I said, look, you know, if this person's job, you know, if they, if they vacate know that I'm really interested in what they do. And then this is what he tells me. And then I take a screenshot of the application and I send it to the boss and let them know that they're looking. He says, and now I just, I just, I'm sitting back and I'm just waiting for my phone to ring 

Isaiah Hankel: this is the dumbest strategy ever.

It's the most 

Donna Serdula: evil strategy ever. It's the most evil strata. Oh, my God. I was like, my skin was crawling. 

Isaiah Hankel: I don't know. I mean, I guess the, the only thing that I like about it is the idea of seeing where they're working. Cause I think that could be advantageous to knowing like, okay, these are some [00:03:00] companies I haven't heard of.

These are some positions I haven't heard of, but if you send stuff to the, I don't know, I just can't, I can't see that going anywhere. 

Donna Serdula: It's, it's, it's almost like, it's just a person who's lacking empathy. And who's looking at this in like the most dog eat dog type of, you know, situation that he's out there sabotaging, you know, so he's, he's sabotaging the people that he sees as his competitors as his enemies.

But, you know, the, the other part of it is just because you're looking. Doesn't mean like, you know, your boss is going to fire you. Right. If anything, he very well may have just gotten these people raises. 

Isaiah Hankel: But he has to expose who he is when he's reaching out to the boss. I can't imagine employers like he said, it 

Donna Serdula: was anonymous.

It was an anonymous email. 

Isaiah Hankel: So, But the one email would have to be where he said, I want you to consider me if anything opens up. 

Donna Serdula: Yeah. He said he, I'm trying to remember, but he said he, he had reached out and was like, Hey, if anything happens, you know, like I am really [00:04:00] interested in this role. And you know, if that person happens to leave, I know that I'm, I'm here.

So. A lot of work. I guess. Well, go ahead. Oh, I was going to say a lot of work. Like why not just do the nice thing 

Isaiah Hankel: and 

Donna Serdula: not commit, you know, cybercrime. 

Isaiah Hankel: It could. Yeah. That's a kind of a, I mean, he's, if he's not an employer, can he do that? I mean, maybe, I mean, it's certainly against LinkedIn's terms to even create a different profile, like a fake profile.

So you're kind of starting off on that foot, but I think that's the, that's the key is You can either put all of your energy. We know this like into tearing other people down anyway, or sabotaging, or you can put all of your energy into advocating for yourself and getting hired. And I think it takes a lot of energy to do that.

That is not that is not something that can be done. Even if they can explain it in a short message, that is not something that is easy to do because you got to wait for the people to come in. You got to reach out. You got to hope that you kind of keep everything secret. They don't [00:05:00] actually find out. It was you that sabotage them when you reach out to expose who you are.

I mean, why not just go after and start calling these employers? Right. And saying how much you want to work there, period. Um, 

Donna Serdula: And maybe even get informational interviews with these people that you think are your, you know, competitor or enemy. Maybe they, they can help you because they know of a, of a true official opening somewhere.

Isaiah Hankel: The competition, you know, you, I think people need, I actually think people need to get more competitive in a healthy way. Cause I think competitive Drive is good. Like when you're thinking about getting hired, if you have that competitive drive or just drive in general, it's going to push you to be the best candidate because you do have to beat other people out.

Like you can't ignore that. But if you, we all know the best competitors, you know, the ones that shake hands after whatever, and they, they want the other person to do, you know, not to be sabotaged. They want to the person to be able to perform, but they want their performance to be better. Yeah. Yeah.

Otherwise you didn't really win. 

Donna Serdula: Yeah. And I, I often say that too with, [00:06:00] with resumes, you know, when people come to us, it's like, is this truly a competitive resume? Like you have to recognize this resume is going up against other resumes. We want to make sure that yours is just, it's going to blow everyone out of the water because you have the quantifiable accomplishments.

You are, you know, more, more, more qualified and clearly more. Focused on exactly what you want and aligned perfectly to the role. You know, like that's, I, I agree with you. I think competition is, is important here, but you know, you don't want to, that was just, I was, I was shocked. 

Isaiah Hankel: Your energy, everything that you do in a job search is finite. I'm sure you have to tell people all the time. Like, where are you putting your efforts? Like, if you're putting your efforts, just reading through postings and thinking about how you probably won't get the job. And like, where are you spending your hours? If all your hours are reading through postings and talking yourself out of applying yourself, selecting out.

But if you start using those hours to actually. Set up informational interviews, reach out to people, whatever. It's just a shift in, in what you're using your time for. It's [00:07:00] just going to be positive or negative. 

Donna Serdula: But you know, the other thing that I think that story highlights is. It's tough out there. Yeah, it's tough and people are getting desperate.

Now. I don't think all desperate people would do what he did. I think that has a lot more to do with like, you know, being a psychopath,~ but, ~but I do think people are getting desperate and they're getting scared, 

Isaiah Hankel: yeah 

Donna Serdula: know, and, and like, Ooh. Like what advice do you say? Like, yeah, you've been in the job search a long time, you know, and, and yes.

It's, it's, it's getting, it's, it's a little grim, but there you will, something will open, you will find it. But you've, like you said, you've gotta do the right work. You've gotta, you know, keep moving forward and keep going. 

Isaiah Hankel: Yeah. 

Donna Serdula: And you have to, in, in the face of all of that. You have to still remain empowered and know your value, because I think that's a part that a lot of people struggle with is they've been looking for so long and they've been shot [00:08:00] down, you know, and, and they start to doubt and they start to, to look with more of a scarcity mindset.

So, like, how do you keep that mindset strong and empowered and, you know, forward motivated. 

Isaiah Hankel: I think, you know, I see people react in 2 ways. Maybe you're similar different. This is simplifying, but I see, you know, people when they see how tough the job market is, they'll either get depressed. They're really depressed or frustrated sometimes both.

But when they get to kind of depressed, they start to shut down and they stop activity. And so their activity slowly lowers over time to the point. And then they want, then they're getting less feedback, less calls, et cetera. They stop targeting the resume as well. And sometimes without even knowing it, I mean, this has happened to me, like you just, activity just goes a little bit lower because rejection can do that to you in general.

Yeah. Just a 

little bit less activity, a little bit less because it doesn't hurt as much. You didn't invest as much time and those people shut down altogether. And then some of them, and I'm sure you've had these conversations too. They're like, Oh, this, you know, you try to help them. This sounds good, but I don't know.

I'm just going to kind of wait around for [00:09:00] something to happen. Like they just, They just get into total waiting mode 

and 

they get used to it. They get used to being on unemployment or they get used to being in a part time position and they get used to being whatever they're at. And that's, you can't get, you can't, you can't break through with that.

But then there's people that get angry and are frustrated, you know, like this, maybe don't go full psychopath mode, but they're like, this is somebody else's fault. Right. This is, and there, you know, there's going to be truth to the economy or certain changes or whatever. But if you start, you kind of give away your control when you do that.

Right. Cause then you can't, you can't control that. So you got to focus on your circle of influence. If you blame somebody else, you can be competitive and let that drive you. I'd actually rather the person be a little bit more frustrated than depressed. Cause at least their activity might still be higher and they can be doing stuff.

Yeah. 

But they'll start blaming anyone. I mean, you probably have people that will blame you, right? You, I, I should get hired because of this or you, you didn't do it or whatever. But some, if they, if they do that, they don't [00:10:00] figure out what they could have done better that they could actually control.

They're just thinking everybody else or everything else is in control. Yeah. 

Donna Serdula: You know, it's, it's, it's, it's hard. It's such, it's a hard position to be in, but I think it's also worth noting, it's a position you're going to be in again and again and again. You know, we don't live in the time of these 30 year tenures at companies.

And even if you could stay 30 years at a company, you probably shouldn't. There's other things out there. And I, I think we have to recognize that. This is, this is a skill set that we've got to get good at. We got to figure it out. And and I, I, I think another thing, you know, Isaiah, since we're talking about this is when you think of, you know, like just cold outreach, you know, like sending out like a, a marketing letter, you know, in the mail, some, you know, an old fashioned type of technique, they wouldn't cheer if they had a 3 percent return.[00:11:00] 

Isaiah Hankel: Yeah. You 

Donna Serdula: know, 

Isaiah Hankel: like 

Donna Serdula: 3 percent was like, we're really kicking it, you know, for 

Isaiah Hankel: sure. 

Donna Serdula: And I think in some ways, job search is similar. I think we have this idea like, oh, I'll put out my resume and I'll get a job, you know, I'll, I'll put out three resumes and, and that'll be great. 

Isaiah Hankel: Right. 

Donna Serdula: We've got to ~sort of ~change people's mindset that takes a little bit more than that 

Isaiah Hankel: anchoring is powerful.

I mean, I think I think what happened a couple of years ago screwed everybody up mentally because you could walk out in the street and get like 4 job offers. I mean, there was nobody that was in a hurry to go back to work. Um, I mean, it was crazy. Like, I've never seen anything like it. 

Uh, 

to, you know, whatever, like two years ago, even a year ago compared to now.

And so to go back to reality, to kind of go back to where it was, I would say 2018, 2019 to where it is now. 

Donna Serdula: Well, that's a really good point, Isaiah. That's a really strong point, which [00:12:00] is, is this, is this truly heck right now? Or is it heck because we're looking at it. From a, like a different vantage point, which is, Hey, it was a free for all just two years ago.

Really? If you do, if you sort of overlay it with 2018, 2019, this is kind of normal. 

Isaiah Hankel: People can't go back five years though. It's too hard. Like you have people that are, I mean, it's, it really is like you, uh, if you ~pay ~people can understand it better with money, right? So if you're making, let's say you have somebody making 150.

And they have an employer say, Hey, we're going to make 120. Now you can't mentally handle that. And employers know that. So they, they don't actually ever decrease. They just cut the people because they know that nobody can go back in terms of salary and whether that's right or wrong, I'm not saying anything about, uh, which is better or worse, but I'm just saying all of us can imagine that if we were at a certain level of pay and then you go down.

It's like [00:13:00] an existential crisis. They feel like you're dying because you're, we just had that such a big need for growth. So you can't, you know, you, so, so if you go down from, I have all this activity, I can't tell you how many people I talked to, they're like, I don't get it. I was in the job market a couple of years ago.

You know, I sent some resumes, had all these different interviews, got hired, and now they're laid off because, you know, lots of layoffs, especially depending on the sector, um, especially, you know, biotech, et cetera. They're saying, now I can't get anybody. I mean, I get, I get silenced or I get automated rejections and that's it.

And you brought up a good point on resumes. You have to be so much more competitive because everybody has, right. And we've talked about this before. Everybody has like an AI level resume. So you could just put it into AI, chat GPT pops it out. You're at the 80 percent level. So you got to be so much better, so much better today.

They're not just handing out, you know, they'll just hand out these high level [00:14:00] jobs. 

Donna Serdula: How are you going to separate yourself? How are you going to be noticed? How are you going to be seen in this, in this new reality? You know, I, I went to, um, I went to an executive, um, uh, meetup yesterday and we did a round table talking about LinkedIn, talking about job search. Um, and it was so good to get out.

And, and see people, you know, shake hands with people. And I think it's, it's in some ways since the pandemic, we've really cloistered ourselves. And I think that's something that can really separate you, you know, to, to get out and, and see people and to say, yeah, you know, Hey, I might work from home now, or I, you know, I'm in hybrid mode, really get yourself out there amongst real people.

You know, it's 

Isaiah Hankel: the least lazy thing is going to get ahead. I mean, cause it's, it's the barrier to entry, right? So if it's harder to get up and go out, spend money on whatever, uh, [00:15:00] Uber fare to go to a location for a networking, most people don't, it's cause it's so easy. I mean, for me, even I feel the pull that is, I can just do this online or whatever.

But if you do something in person at a higher level, if I'm trying to get hired, I'm like, how can I differentiate myself? Just, just get in touch with people. I think with all this AI stuff, we're going to get to a point where resumes do nothing you can't do because there's, they're all the same. Anybody can put out a hyper targeted resume with AI as it gets better.

Donna Serdula: But we, and we've talked about what's the difference though. The difference is. Quantifiable accomplishments. 

Isaiah Hankel: Yeah. 

Donna Serdula: Right. It's, it's having that vision and knowing what really matters because it's no longer going to be fluffy words that just regurgitate a job description. They're going to get smart.

Recruiter, recruiters are going to get smart. They're already smart, but you know, they're going to see through it. They're going to see through it. And the only way if you're going to, if we're going to use that [00:16:00] resume, you know, you've got to be able to say it's no longer just, just re reiterating, you know, a job description saying, Oh yeah, I'm good at all these things.

You're going to have to have cold, hard proof with numbers. 

Isaiah Hankel: Yeah. You got to. Yeah. Yeah. You're gonna say like, uh, this you'll have to, you, which means you'll have to just study deeper. You have to know exactly what benefit they want. And you have to say like, I can give you this benefit and here's how. 

Donna Serdula: Yeah.

And this is how I did it in the past. And this is the results we saw then. And it like, it's, it's, it's direct, 

Isaiah Hankel: but it has to be direct, 

Donna Serdula: direct. 

Isaiah Hankel: And then you gotta reach. Yeah. You're going to have to talk to more people. I think you just. You just going to have to reach out and it can't even be the craziest thing with LinkedIn is just how easy people can send AI messages.

You don't even know if the person is talking to you on messenger. Cause you see the little, you know, just from this message with an AI. So employers, they're not, they're going to answer less and less when it comes to an actual text message, they're going to be answering less period and, and, [00:17:00] you know, copywriting as we would call it, it's going to be more and more important.

So like, can you write something where the hiring manager actually sees me? Like. This has got to be a human, like who would write, how would they know to say this? They mentioned something exactly on my profile or something that I posted yesterday and they did like a little fun insight. 

Donna Serdula: But even that, even that they've got AI that's, that's so smart that they're saying, Hey, I saw this, that you wrote an article about this, Donna, or I saw that you put like, no, they have some sort of, you know, AI guy, you know, AI scan that's, that's making those connections.

It's, it's going to get really interesting to see. 

Isaiah Hankel: It's really going to, it's going to force net, it's going to force networking. Like it's going to force people to have to whatever, talk on the phone, Zoom, as long as that stuff can't, can't be done. I think just more and more, you're going to have to elevate the technology to where it's more of a personal interaction.

Donna Serdula: Yeah. I think we're going to get hyperlocal. That might be the real answer where, you know, until you really see and talk to someone and you, and you see them, that's going to be the [00:18:00] big differentiator. 

Well, this was a fun call. 

Thank you so much. 

Isaiah Hankel: That's crazy. I'm looking at the LinkedIn profile. Yeah. Of what you put, uh, deeply disturbing.

That is, I love that you shared that. That is crazy. What a waste of time. 

Donna Serdula: Yeah. It's it's, um, let's, let's just call it a cautionary tale. 

Isaiah Hankel: Cautionary tale. That's right. All right. 

Donna Serdula: See you next week. 

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