Farewell to 2023!

(Open fast if you want to grab a slot for a January networking chat!!)

This is our final issue of 2023!

I launched this newsletter on a whim last February…I went from idea to sending out the first issue to 108 subscribers in under a week.

How it started…

Thank you to those early subscribers!! Many of them shared feedback and suggestions along the way that have helped me make sure the content here is relevant and helpful. And to all of you who have joined over the last 10 months!! We’ve grown a lot, and I’m super grateful to all of you for being a part of this journey!

How it’s going!

I’m so proud of this!! The average newsletter open rate is 21.5% and the average click-thru rate is 2.5% - so the fact that we’re so far above that tells me that folks are getting good value which is my goal here!!

And to make sure that continues, I wanted to close out the year by making sure folks got what they needed - so this issue is focused on answering your questions!!

👀 And as promised, I wanted to share a link to schedule January networking chats (first come, first serve - I have 15 spots open!) 👀

Finally, I would love to hear what kind of content would be most useful for you in 2024! Share your thoughts in this poll:

What kind of content do you want to see more of in 2024!

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🙋Answering Your Questions🙋

Each week, I’ll answer a few of your questions in this section. You can submit your questions here.

Do hiring managers appreciate it or hate it when candidates reach out to them via LinkedIn or email to introduce themselves and why they're the perfect fit for this role? If it's the former, how do you find hiring managers' contact info if 1) LinkedIn doesn't list the hiring manager 2) it's a large company and 3) the role is generic enough that it's not easy to tell who the role reports to?

Lots of great questions here:

  1. I think emailing/DMing is a low risk, medium reward activity- ESPECIALLY if you are truly well qualified for the role - many will not see the messages, or may ignore them, but I’ve never heard anyone see this as a negative as long as it’s well-written, and polite. Now if a candidate is totally unqualified, then it’s not going to make much of a difference. But I’ve seen hiring managers flag people who look solid for recruiters and this can help them get considered more quickly.

  2. To find hiring managers: use the people tab on LinkedIn and look for titles related to the role you’re applying for (so if it’s a Manager of Performance Marketing, look for Directors and VPs in the marketing department - one of them is likely to be the hiring manager (or close enough to the search to share your info!)

I am a mortgage loan officer (8.5 years of experience) looking to transition to another career with a base salary. I have mainly been applying for sales positions but it seems no one thinks of mortgage lending as sales. I have two small kids and just can't do 100% commission anymore. Do you have any suggestions on types of jobs that would look at mortgage lenders?

I don’t know enough about compensation structures to recommend specific fields based on that but some options could be:

Customer Success Managers or Account Management roles with fin tech companies - especially if they provide supports for the mortgage/real estate industry. If mortgage loan officers are their clients, your experience could be invaluable! Consider vendors you used to hear from in your job or products you used - you could bring a lot to those companies.

Insurance Sales/Brokers - your experience selling loans could be particularly relevant selling other financial products

Government/Non-Profit - consider organizations that help people navigate the housing market (ex. FHA, HUD, USDA, VA, Habitat for Humanity, NACA, etc) - your insights could be really valuable here.

In terms of showing the alignment of your work, I would make sure you’re framing the role as closely with sales as possible - look through some job descriptions or use AI to help you translate your experience into language that looks similar to what those working in sales do. This will help the person on the other side make the connections more easily.

Hi, I couldn't find work since 2020. I have a Master degree in project Web and my last internship was at a big bank as digital transformation assistant during 2 years. How can i justify my inactivity 2020-2023? Thank you.

I would list that period as various contract roles and list the types of projects or learning you’ve taken on. Even if you’ve been volunteering during that time, it’s OK to list what you did since you still have an impact on others, build skills, etc. You can list courses you’ve taken, skills you’ve built, etc.

I have been unemployed for several months. It's not a new story. Massive company layoffs that impacted a thousand or so people. Applied to hundreds of jobs, some interviews, haven't been hired. My fear is that companies might notice how many months I have been unemployed and attribute that to me lacking desirable skills and being unemployable. I know I am not the only one in this boat, so do companies take long unemployment as a bad sign? Do they blame that on you? Does it impact their decision to meet with or hire you?

I think in 2023, companies are much more understanding of the difficulties of the market - of course that’s not every company, but I don’t think most hold this against candidates.

I wouldn’t worry too much about this, but if you are doing any projects or building new skills that are relevant to the roles you’re taking on, you can always share those to show how in this time, you’re becoming a stronger candidate.

For more resources to support you in your search, check out my Linktree.
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