Nicky Slavich

Let’s not underestimate people who are honestly just pleasant to work with.

It goes a looooong way.

Let’s be real: Sometimes work is fun, sometimes hard, sometimes stressful, sometimes awesome, and often a lot of in between.

And with a lot going on, we might as well be an enjoyable colleague!

Shoutout to all those delightful coworkers 📣

My friend made it to the final round of interviews with five companies. Five rejections.

But he still received an offer. How?

He had had been on the job hunt for a few months. Applying to various roles, getting interviews, making it far in the process.

He was in the final round for five interviews and was one of the top two choices in several of them.

All rejected. Brutal. So close.

Four weeks later, one of the companies reached back out to him.

They said they were impressed with his interviews and they actually just opened up a new role that was nearly identical to the one they rejected him for earlier. They encouraged him to apply.

They offered him the job three days later.

He accepted and has been thriving in the role.

A few lessons we talked about:

1)The job hunt is a long game. It’s a process. An investment.

2)How we handle rejection can say more about us than how we handle success. The team was impressed with how he went about the rejection and he remained a top candidate because of that.

3)Keep going! The efforts aren’t in vain and resilience is a strong muscle to build.

I hope his story is encouraging.

Who knows what’s happening behind the scenes.

Looking for a job in 2025? You only need to:

–Apply to hundreds of jobs a month
–Customize your resume to every job and every industry
–Maximize your application to be ATS friendly
–Make sure you message every recruiter and HR professional at the company
–Create a cover letter that shows why you’re so impressive
–Interview 14 times at one company just for the hiring team to say “After careful consideration…”
—Ask Warren Buffet to be your mentor
–Go to Costco and buy 24 boxes of tissues from tears of frustration

Rinse and repeat.

“I love it here I would never leave I promise I’m happy”

Good recruiters usually find the candidate.
Great recruiters often help the candidate.
But, exceptional recruiters advocate for the candidate.

That feeling when you extend an offer.

AND they accept.

I've seen job seekers do everything perfectly and still not get the job. It can feel extremely defeating.

The truth is, we never know what's going on behind the scenes:

--Another final candidate
--The job posted turns into a different job
--Internal mobility for a candidate already at the company
--The hiring manager goes another direction.

And a ton more.

I'm a huge fan of persevering and continuing to push forward.

But, it's important to not be too hard on ourselves along the way.

The best gift recruiters can give to candidates?

Of course, a job. But also:

Timely feedback.

Regular updates.

Interview insight.

Compensation transparency.

Just to name a few.

In the spirit of giving:

Let’s keep giving candidates our best.

Recruiters are looking at your LinkedIn profile. Yep. And you might not even be aware of it. Here are 5 things everyone should have on their LinkedIn profile.

1. Their experience!
Yes, this may sound so obvious but it’s shocking how many folks do not have anything listed other than a degree and where they work. The more you can include under your roles, the better! Titles, promotions, responsibilities, all of it counts.

2. Skills
Waaaay at the bottom of a profile there are skills listed. These can pop up in recruiter searches, so put relevant skills! Soft skills, technical skills, anything that makes sense for your job search.

3. Relevant headline
Most people have their title and company (hey, including me). But this is a great place to put what you’ve done and what you’re looking for. I’ve seen job seekers be successful by putting “[industry] expert looking for work in [specific] field”

4. Intriguing “About” section
You don’t have to be overly clever or overly wordy in the About section. But putting something that’s relevant for your skillset and experience goes a long way. This can be jobs you’ve had, what you’re looking for, or even a place for a professional summary.

5. A “Featured” link
Did you know LinkedIn gives you space to share a link to other web pages? This can be a website, a portfolio, YouTube, anything! When recruiters visit your profile, their eyes can jump to this and see relevant work.

Hope this helps job seekers on the move!

It’s okay to followup with your recruiter.

And there are helpful ways to do it. Here’s how:

First, recruiters will usually give you a timeline.

Ideally a week, sometimes two weeks, but usually it’s relatively quick for an update.

While recruiters usually get back within that timeframe, sometimes they don’t.

Work emergencies, personal emergencies, other work, etc.

Reaching out at the end or after that timeline is totally cool!

Second, tone and emotional intelligence is everything.

Huge difference between:

“Did I get the job, call me” vs

“Hi there! I was hoping to get an update on the role. Would you be willing to provide any insight? Thanks so much for your time!”

Following up is a normal part of the job search.

Let’s help each other along the way!

Friendly reminder if recruiters reach out to you:

We. Want. To. Help.

Our joy is your success.

Our desire is your success.

Our passion is your success.

I guess you could say we really, really, really want you to be successful.

Folks changing jobs or job hunting deserve a ton of credit.

Everyone’s story is different, but job hunters always have one thing in common: Resilience.

I was looking at a candidate's resume a few months ago and noticed a large gap in employment.

It started around March 2020 and lasted about 16 months.

I tried not to overly focus on it (there was a new job and new experience since that happened) and as we started talking, a few things came up.

“So, can you tell me about what you've been up to most recently?“ I asked.

As he answered, he mentioned the gap and time off before his current role.

“I took some time off during the very beginning of Covid. We had a newborn, life was crazy, so my partner kept her job and I stayed home due to childcare.“

There you go. A few things learned:

1) A resume tells part of the story but talking with candidates adds helpful context

2) Focus on the candidate, their experience, and relevant skills

3) People are figuring it out and doing their best. ESPECIALLY when life gets complex.

Talking to jobseekers and candidates has made me realize that this year can be summed up in one simple word: Exhausted.

People are tired. Not only tired from job searching and interviews and trying to update their resumes, but also tired from what’s been a very wild year.

Sometimes we don’t realize it until we stop and take a breath. But yeesh, what a year it’s been!

Rooting for folks in a year that has been nothing short of tiring.

True success is almost always a team effort.

Sometimes people get promoted later than they want.

Sometimes folks get their “dream job” in their fifties.

Sometimes success takes decades.

The destination is important.

But so is being kind to ourselves along the way.

A lot of managers: 
--Micromanage out of frustration and control
--Give instructions without showing expertise
--Care more about their reputation than their team's wellbeing

But really, the best leaders: 
--Give trust and autonomy
--Lead their team by example
--Care more about other people than being right

Actions speak louder than words.

And great leaders have the loudest actions.

Several years ago I interviewed for a role where I forgot to research the company. It was one of the more awkward professional experiences of my life 🙃

I was targeting a bunch of roles, mass applying, and trying my best to make movement. I was talking with several companies in different industries and had a few early stage calls and a few late stage interviews.

When one company reached out to chat that same week, I was interested but underprepared. After the normal sharing about my background, projects I was working on etc, the recruiter shared:

“What are you excited about this role?”

Okay fine, it wasn’t my dream role or dream company BUT I fumbled my way through fine enough.

Then she said, “And what excites you most about our product and company?”

Crickets. Then just…babbling words without even knowing what I was saying. I hadn’t really done any background work or checking into the literal company product!

It was #rough and I think we both knew right then and there we weren’t going to move forward. Surprise surprise…we didn’t.

Why share?

Well, part of the job search is trial and error. Learning from mistakes, understanding what goes well and what doesn’t.

Also, it helps to be organized, thoughtful, and to take the job search seriously. “Looking for a full-time job is a full-time job” type of thing.

(Help me feel a little better here): Have you ever blown it in an interview?