Helping job seekers revitalize their networking strategy in Q3 | Conversations > Applications ✌️

I help job seekers unlock $100K+ roles by mastering the story that sells. Conversations ​> Applications // Career Coach // Resume & LinkedIn Writing // Job Search Strategy

I believe you should be able to obtain your career dreams and that’s what I help professionals do. 

My clients have landed roles at Oracle, Deloitte, EY, Tata Consultancy, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Eaton, Salesforce, KPMG, PWC, Dell, Higher Education or started their own venture 😌

But, landing your dream role doesn’t happen by chance, or with me creating an offer letter for you. My most successful clients know it takes hard work, patience, and perseverance.

The results? Massive career pivots, finding clarity in what you wanted to do, landing your target role in 2 months, and getting 2x your current salary. 

Ultimately, the people I work with feel respected, valued, and paid fairly in their career path.

I am a career coach guiding frustrated mid-career professionals to their target roles by teaching them to have the right conversations with the right people

For brand partnerships or creator collaborations, reach out anytime: dominic@dxconsults.com

Sick of hearing from me?  Scroll 👇🏼  to see what my clients have to say

Who am I and why should you listen to me?

I was an underdog, I never had the perfect GPA, experience, or stories to tell and I still broke into the #1 professional service firm in the world. Before that, I spent time in public accounting, start-ups, and fortune 500 companies.

I sat behind the scenes in HR and watched resumes pile in, held phone screens and reference checks, and interviewed candidates, and rejected candidates (yes, all while utilizing an ATS). 

I’ve seen how treacherous the job searching process can be; automated rejections, ghosting, 14 rounds of interviews, and 250 applications a week. I don’t want you to have to live in the process that every candidate believes to be normal.

Born and raised in Cleveland, I took an unconventional path: four years in Austin, an unexpected detour living in Indonesia, and now a return to Austin where the weather is elite and the tacos are dangerously good.

My time abroad gave me perspective, my time in Cleveland gave me grit, and Austin has given me the space to build a business around helping people do work they love. I still root for the Browns (against all odds), and I’m usually running, creating, or hanging with family and friends when I'm not coaching.

Dominic Imwalle

Career advice nobody wants to hear:

Close your laptop.
Grab a whiteboard (or paper).
Map your stories.

Last week, VP-level client in a 1:1.

They kept looking left during our session.
Finally I asked: "Did you do the work on a board?"

"Yes - collected my thoughts and wanted to make sure I had the stories right."

So few people do this.

Get off the laptop.
Grab a pen and paper.
Start mapping where you want to go.

What will you sell to the next person who takes a chance on you?

Your pivot starts with clarity.
Your clarity starts with writing it down.

Few are doing this work.

Which is exactly why it'll help you stand out.

Platforms don’t hire you, people do | Conversations ​> Applications

If you're getting interviews but not offers, here is what I’ve noticed over the last month:

You're missing translation.

Most think more interviews = more success/options. But the gap isn't your experience. It's how you're packaging it.

Here's what changes things:

- Connect your work to their outcomes
- Use their internal language
- Speak to their problems

When you learn to translate your value into their vocabulary, interviews convert.

You will constantly start to drive answers towards, "what do they get from bringing me into this role?"

This is what it takes to win. 

The person hired isn't always most qualified. It's the one who made it easiest to say yes.

Learn their language, close the role ✌🏼

I believe universities should be required to dedicate a full semester to structured job placement support before students graduate. 

I talk to talented students all the time who either don't use the resources or have a university that isn't working towards supporting them professionally

Ps) this comes from someone who just hired an intern from alma mater, excited to talk about this more soon. A major focus of our work will be helping them land a full-time role post grad.

If you're not obsessively preparing for interviews, you're leaving the outcome to chance.

- Not "I'll be myself and see what happens" mode.
- Not "hope they like me" mode.
- Not "I'll wing it" mode.

Whether you've got 5 years of experience or 15, the prep work stays the same (to an extent).

Here's what I ask every client to do 👇

STEP 1) Study their LinkedIn profile

- No need to connect yet, but go see where they've spent time.
- What companies? What roles?
- What do they care about?

STEP 2) What will you reference from your last interview?

- If this is round two or three, what did you learn? What thread can you pick up and build on?

STEP 3) What 3 stories will hit home with this interviewer?

- Match your wins to what matters to them. Don't just recite your resume - connect the dots for them.

STEP 4) What are you tweaking from the last interview that went wrong?

- If something didn't land, fix it. Don't repeat the same mistake twice.

STEP 5) Prepare 5-10 questions

- Not 1-3. Aim for 10. Go back through all the steps above - does it drive any further questions?

The preparation is what you control and where you can win.

AND also... you'll know if you left something on the table. 

KNOCK out your prep 🤝

I can't put to words how important it is to hang around for a long time and serve people at the highest level you can. 

I'm having so much fun on LinkedIn right now.

I get to work with great people. 
I get to see them smash their dream role.
I get to help them negotiate the salary they want.
I get to sit with them in the brutal moments of the process.

This doesn't happen if I don't hang around for 5+ years. 

All the moments of people hating on your content, telling you you're too young to serve people, or the content being "cringey" are part of the game. 

This is it. Here's to the long game. 

Smile and wave 👋🏼

ps) it's cringey until it works. and it still feels like the early days.

The best candidates are already in motion.

Building, connecting, creating "value" (yes I know you hate that word as a job seeker at times)

Breaking down a piece I've been working on in mock interviews with folks

let's have a week 🤝

Ps) someone embody conversations > applications this past week, I highlighted them in my newsletter here 👇🏼

https://lnkd.in/g44PJ6vT

I watched my clients land ~$426k in combined comp over the last week. My 3 reasons why they won (and you can too)

1. Stay even-keeled through the chaos

→ This market will test you. One week you're interviewing at a top-tier startup or FAANG. The next week your pipeline is empty.

→ We weren't always great at this, but it's mandatory now. The emotional rollercoaster will drain you if you let it.

2. Keep creating options until the very end

→ You never know when someone will pull the rug or come through. I wouldn't be against entertaining calls up until a few days before your first day.

→ More options mean more leverage. More leverage means better outcomes.

3. Ask PHENOMENAL questions

→ The bar is low here, which means you can stand out fast.

→ Grab information from a 1st round interview that you'll use in the 3rd round when you get closer to the specifics of the role.

And here's the bonus most people miss:

Speed wins.

→ From scheduling interviews to responding to the team
→ The market rewards people who move with urgency
→ Fast doesn't mean sloppy - it means intentional

These aren't theories.

They're what my clients did to win $426k in offers (not including ~10% bonuses per person).

ps) 6 interviews this week across 11 folks, let's keep the motion!

I didn't realize how many folks are out there running a service with people where they don't spend time with them.

Won't get on a call.
Won't respond to a message. 
Won't grab a coffee in-person. 

Don't work with someone that doesn't make time. You're better off taking a risk with someone that'll dive into the trenches with you. 

Food for thought, let's have a Saturday

Your salary grows slow when no one teaches you to ask - here's what changed for one of my clients.

"Thank you.. I'm in."

That first job out of college hits different.
First real paycheck, you take whatever they offer.

Then the years roll by.

3-10% bumps here and there.
Maybe something wild if you're in tech, banking, or consulting.

But here's what nobody teaches you:

How to have the "here's why I'm worth more" conversation.

I just watched a client move their offer up $20K in one conversation.

They asked. They didn't apologize for it.
And they got it. If you do great work AND you're in a solid industry, the money is there.

The difference?
You have to speak up.

Most people wait for someone to notice.
The ones who win? They make the case.

Don't be afraid to schedule the chat ✌🏼

You "get" to do work that changes lives.

If you're lucky enough, you'll serve people through their biggest transformations.

Last 4 weeks, watched folks accept offers in:

Communications Associate
Project Management - Delivery Lead
Strategy and Operations Consulting Manager
CRM and User Retention

Fired off a couple of "first day" texts this morning.

Truly a blessing to see people chase down work they love and make their transformation real.

Here's to the folks next up:

Director of Clinical Operations
Life Sciences Consulting
Senior Backend Engineer
Project Manager (Healthcare)
Civil Engineering Graduate
Director of Manufacturing
Pre-Sales Solution Engineer
VP of Customer Success
Enterprise Architect
AI Operations Consulting
IT Director / Delivery
Accounting Manager

This works because:

- People commit when they see the path forward.
- The right story attracts the right opportunity.
- Information opens up new doors for us.

By staying in it, you'll:

- Build confidence in your next move.
- Prove to yourself what's possible.
- Find people that advocate for you.
- Land the role that fits your career.

Let's go have a week 🤝

3 coaching engagements wrapped up recently. Here are the questions I asked to close them out:

"What was the first moment you thought, 'Oh… this is different than anything else I've tried'?"

"What part of the process felt uncomfortable at first, but ended up mattering the most?"

"If someone shadowed you for a week during the search, what would they be surprised you weren't doing?"

"What would you tell '3-months-ago you' to stop worrying about?"

"If someone came to you today saying 'the market is terrible,' how would you respond now?"

These calls have been incredible:

- Honest feedback that helps me serve better
- Proof that the right questions unlock clarity
- Laughs and shocking realizations

This matters because:

- You stop repeating what didn't work
- You admit where you were wrong
- You learn what actually moved the needle

The people you serve deserve your best work.
Ask the right questions.

Take their progress seriously.

Learn from what's working ✌🏼

Friendly reminder: you never know who you'll run into during the interview process. The only piece you can control is your preparation and creating more options.

taplio