Jason Vana

Marketing Director

Attract the RIGHT customers to your business | Brand & content strategist | Founder at SHFT | Known as #sassyjason

Struggling to attract the right clients?

You have a brand strategy issue.

Attracting the right people requires understanding why they should buy from YOU, when there are 1000’s of other options easily accessible through Google.

In order to attract, convert, and retain the right clients, you need to:

- Know what makes your business unique
- Communicate what makes your business unique
- Create an experience that shows what makes your business unique

It’s all about highlighting your uniqueness.

That’s where my agency steps in.

Through collaborative workshops, research, strategy, and design, we will help you uncover, communicate, and build an experience around your uniqueness.

Working with us typically looks like:

- industry, competitor, and customer research
- brand and marketing workshops 
- brand and marketing strategies
- design (logos, websites, marketing materials)

It culminates in an Onlyness Action Plan — your 1 year, step-by-step brand and marketing to-do list.

All so you become the ONLY choice for your ideal customers.

And make a lot more money.

Want to learn more?

Send me a message.
Or book a call at shft.agency/discovery

Founder & CEO

We transform B2B service companies into the ONLY choice for their ideal customers. Our clients see a 20%+ increase in revenue with our brand and content strategies. 

Here's how we help:

◼️ Brand Strategy (customers, uniqueness, messaging, touchpoints, story)
◼️ Brand Design (logos, colors, fonts, collateral)
◼️ Content Strategy (demand gen, content creation)
◼️ LinkedIn (strategy, content, profile audits)

Interested in learning more? DM me or book a discovery call below.

Positioning is not a brand.
Positioning is not a design.
Positioning is not a product.
Positioning is not a message.
Positioning is not a pitch deck.
Positioning is not a case study.
Positioning is not a marketing tactic.
Positioning is not the content you create.

It's the space you own in the mind of your ideal customer.

How they think about you when you're not in the room. - Bezos
The gut feeling they have about your business. - Neumeier
The reputation you hold. - every marketer ever

And it's influenced by:

- your brand
- your product
- your message
- your case studies
- your marketing tactics
- your logo and colors
- your sale process
- your operations
- your pitch deck
- your content
- your price

Determine the space you want to OWN in the minds of your ideal customers.

Everything else should influence that perception.

Or, just let your website developer write your messaging.

I'm sure that will work, too.

(Hint: it won't)

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

Turn your sharpest edge into a market-leading position. I build b2b service brands that stand out + drive revenue. Founder/CEO at Shft.Agency. Brand Strategist. Known as #SassyJason

Operations > personality

Most branders and marketers will fight me on this.

Somewhere along the line personality became the "it" thing.

All driven by the "people buy from people" mindset.

Which is slightly true.

Yes, people buy from people.

But they buy from people who:
- they resonate with
- can solve their problem
- can paint the picture of their future
- provide value they can't find elsewhere

All of that revolves around one thing:

An uncopyable element.

Something you DO that no other business does.

Notice the emphasis on "do."

It's operations, actions, deliverables.

Not personality. 

Extract that uncopyable element from your operations.

Then build your brand personality, messaging, marketing, content, pitch decks, social proof, hiring practices — everything! — around it.

Your brand will show depth. Value. Differentiation.

And give customers a reason to choose YOU.

If you're into that sort of thing, that is.

✌🏼

#shftyoubrand

Create a brand system to attract better-fit, higher-paying clients. | I build b2b service brands that stand out + drive revenue. Founder/CEO at Shft.Agency. Brand Strategist. Known as #SassyJason

Shft is undergoing a rebrand.

And we started in a place most brand agencies ignore:

Our operations.

Most rebrands start with vibes.

Purpose, mission, vision, values, personality.

That's the path to blending in.

Because all of those can be copied.
(Yes, including your personality.)

But you know what can't be copied?

That one thing you DO that your competitors can't or won't do.

So we started there.

Dug into what Shft actually does differently.

You know what we found?

We don't brand based on vibes.
We brand based on operations.

The thing you DO.
The methodology you follow.
The one step in your process no one else does.

Hell, the first step working with us is an Offer workshop.

We dig into your offer, process, and deliverable to extract what makes you different.

THAT'S our uncopyable element.

Because most branders out there are personality creators.

They give you adjectives, stories, archetypes, mission statements...

But never touch operations, sales, or even your offer.

🤦🏻‍♂️

Our rebrand will be launching in a few months.

But I'll be sharing the process as we go.

So you understand why vibe branding is a sham.

And operational branding makes you stand out.

Stay tuned.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

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Hey there!

Stoked to hear you're looking to find your unique brand differentiator!

Here's the link to download my B2B ‘Just Be Authentic’ Playbook:

https://findyourdifferentiation.com/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=linkedin&utm_campaign=launch_dm

I've spent weeks working on this resource, and I honestly think you'll find it super valuable.

Let me know if you have any questions as you go through it, and enjoy!

-Jason

Content Driven By Brand Strategy

📌 The best content is driven by a solid brand strategy.

- know your ideal customers
- know what makes your offer unique
- know your position in the market
- know the right tone and voice

Then create content that intersects all three.

You'll never create content your ideal customers love if you don't know who they are.

Want your content to generate real revenue?

DM me today or visit https://shft.agency/content 

Offer -> Brand Strategy

📌 The right offer matters.

No amount of marketing, content, or personal branding will help you sell a sh*t offer long-term.

And it certainly won't be something people pay a premium price for.

Nailing your offer is a core step in creating a profitable brand.

Need help with that?

DM me or visit https://shft.agency/services/brand-strategy to get started.

Clarity Call: Offer

📌 Productizing your strategy or service offer makes it much easier to sell.

Think of it like hiding your strategy behind a core deliverable. 

You sell the deliverable.
And your service/strategy is HOW you create the deliverable.

Need help with that?

We can nail it down in a 1-hour Clarity Call.

DM me or book a call directly at https://shft.agency/clarity 

Go Up Market

📌  You won't be able to successfully stumble up-market.

You need a solid brand strategy to help determine:

- your new ICP
- your new position
- your new price points
- your new differentiation
- your new brand personality

Getting that nailed down will make your transition up-market far more successful.

And by successful, I mean profitable.
For you.

Want to move up-market successfully?

I've helped 125+ businesses reposition their brand for maximum profitability.

DM me for more or visit https://shft.agency/services/brand-strategy 

Brand Strategy

📌 I'm not saying all is lost when you don't start with a brand strategy.

But, starting with one makes revenue generation far easier and faster than just 'testing' what works.

The need to 'test' is often the result of not having the right foundation for your business.

Get that foundation in place and you'll be able to move faster and make far more money.

Need help with that?

I might know a #SassyStrategist who can help.

DM me or visit https://shft.agency/services/brand-strategy to get started today.

Strategy myths = invisible chains on your business.

I see them everywhere.

And they hold back founders who should be making bank.

Here are 13 strategy myths I hear constantly (especially on LinkedIn):

1. "Strategy is just for big companies."
Small businesses need strategy MORE.

2. "We can figure it out as we go."
That's called guessing, not strategizing.

3. "Strategy takes too long."
Know what takes longer? Fixing years of random decisions.

4. "Our strategy is to work harder."
That's not a strategy. That's being stupid.

5. "We need to be everywhere."
No. You need to dominate somewhere specific.

6. "Strategy and tactics are the same thing."
Strategy is WHERE you're going. Tactics are HOW you get there.

7. "Good products sell themselves."
In what universe? Even Apple has a strategy.

8. "We'll pivot if it doesn't work."
Pivoting without a strategy is just flailing in a different direction.

9. "Strategy is too expensive."
Wasting money on the wrong things is expensive.

10. "Our team is too small for strategy."
Your team is too small NOT to have one.

11. "We just need more leads."
You need the RIGHT leads. That requires strategy.

12. "Strategy kills creativity."
Wrong. It focuses creativity where it matters most.

13. "We can copy what competitors do."
You're a special kind of stupid, aren't you?

These myths keep businesses stuck.

Strategy isn't a luxury reserved for Fortune 500 companies.

It's the difference between building something that lasts...
...and wasting time and money on "testing" stupid ideas.

Stop believing the myths.
Start building with intention.

That, my friend, happens with a strategy.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

13 Strategy Myths that Hinder Revenue | Shft Agency

Becoming uncopyable starts in with your operations.

Something you DO that your competitors can't or won't.

Take these uncopyable elements from some of our clients:

- IoT remote monitoring system that outputs a prioritized checklist
- Energy recruiter that presents candidate profiles instead of resumes
- IaC developer that upskills your developers on operational workflows
- MVP and website developer that designs a tech experience, not just a platform
- Vacuum pump remanufacturer that tests tolerances on every screw, nut, and component part

We built their position around those uncopyable elements.

Messaging, marketing, pitch decks, social proof, content, design, copy — it all points back to that ONE thing.

That's what your brand SHOULD do:

Make it clear why customers should choose you.

Because if you don't...

- you'll sound like every other business
- you'll confuse prospects
- you'll rely heavily on sales

And when customers don't know WHY they should choose you, they don't.

It's basic buyer psychology.

Find your uncopyable element. 
Own it in everything you do.

Or don't be surprised when prospects choose your competitors.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

----
PS - I'm sharing how in Saturday's Brand Shft email. Click the link in my bio to subscribe.

Most brands are built on a vibe:

- purpose
- mission
- vision
- values
- personality

Elements that FEEL important.
But don't really matter to the market.

Be honest:

When was the last time you purchased a SaaS product because the mission of the company resonated so deeply with you that you couldn't help but give them your money?

If you said anything other than never, you're lying.

Vibe branding is surface level.

And keeps you locked in a struggle to attract and convert your ideal customers.

That's why I focus on operational branding.

- extract your differentiation from your operations
- build your brand around that differentiation
- create a unique and ownable position

Start with your operations.
The one uncopyable thing you do.

(Hint: you do have one)

And create everything around it.

It gives your brand depth.
An ownable IP.
And makes you uncopyable.

Create a your brand on a vibe...
...and you'll blend in to all the AI-generated noise.

OR

Create your brand on the one uncopyable thing you do.

And watch as customers repeatedly choose you over the competition.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

----
PS - Find what makes you uncopyable in this Saturday's Brand Shft email. Link in comments and in my bio.

I run a branding agency. We do NOT have:

- purpose statement
- vision statement
- mission statement

And guess what? WE STILL LAND CLIENTS.

Shocking, I know.

According to most brand agencies, marketing gurus, and influencers, you can't operate without those statements.

You need to know your WHY.
You need a purpose.
Customers want to know your mission.

Bollocks. 

I didn't start Shft with a 'why.'
(other than wanting to work for myself)

And I don't feel lost, confused, or struggle to land clients.

Because your WHY doesn't really matter to clients.

You know what matters to them?

- You can solve their problem
- In a way that matters to them
- Within their budget

Show that, and your purpose, vision, mission, and values don't matter.

Here's how:

- Uncover your uncopyable IP
- Operationalize it
- Showcase proof
- Share your expertise

👆🏼 Doing that will get you further than spending months nailing your mission statement.

Because purpose, vision, mission, and values are great.

They should outline how your team acts.

But you know what makes money?

An Uncopyable IP.

- Process
- Operation
- Deliverable
- Methodology

Start there.

You'll make a sh*t ton more money.

While your competitors are still trying to finalize their mission statement.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

Treat AI like an intern.

It's great at performing mundane, repetitive tasks:

- finding patterns
- researching trends
- analyzing data sets
- clarifying your thinking
- creating low-level graphics
- organizing and qualifying leads

Hell, I use it to find competitors' social media profiles.
Pull analytics.
Find industry patterns.

And even point out what they AREN'T doing.

All things I could train an intern to do.

Because in order to get AI to do that level of work...

YOU HAVE TO TRAIN IT LIKE AN INTERN.

Give it examples.
Explain what to do.
Explain what not to do.
Document a process.
Review its work.

AI is NOT going to run your business while you sleep.

Or take a single prompt and spit out the most industry-shattering idea that will make you millions.

Or help you to stand out and do something different.

(it's not even built that way)

AI is an intern.

Treat it that way.

Or keep expecting it to be your strategist, content creator, and business coach.

Don't be surprised when you look, sound, and have the same offer as every other competitor on the market.

Because that's what AI will give you.

The average of everything it's trained on.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

Building a moat around your brand starts with one thing:

Your uncopyable element.

The one thing you DO that:

- your ideal customers want or need
- your competitors can't or won't do

Call it your onlyness, differentiation, uniqueness, USP, or your value.

Most founders look for it in their personality, purpose, or team.

And try to own some form of being the best.

(Industry leading, highest quality, single source of truth)

All those do is position your business as the same.

- same offer
- same value
- same message
- same look and feel

And ultimately competing on price.

Because vibe branding lacks one key element to business growth:

A real reason for customers to choose you.

Extract your uncopyable element. 
Build your brand around it.
Own that place in the market.

And watch as customers continue to choose you.

I'm sharing how to extract what makes you uncopyable in tomorrow's Brand Shft email.

Subscribe today to get it → https://lnkd.in/gvmiU8YE

Or, you know, keep pushing your mission statement and personality.

Like every other damn B2B company out there.

I'm sure that will make you stand out.

(NOT)

✌🏼

#shftyoubrand

Brand awareness ≠ brand recognition

Yet, that's how most founders and marketers treat it.

Failed marketing campaign? It's brand awareness.
Failed tradeshow presence? It's brand awareness.
Failed content implementation? It's brand awareness.

As long as the market sees the brand name and logo, and can recall it, that's brand awareness, right?!

WRONG.

That's brand recognition, not awareness.

Let's clear something up right now.

Brand awareness is achieved when people know:

- the brand name
- what the brand does
- how the brand could impact them

Much deeper than brand recognition alone.

And the only way to achieve true brand awareness?

Brand inclusion.

Your brand shows up when and where ideal customers are searching.

Stop using brand awareness as an excuse for marketing's failures.
Or seeing it as brand recognition.

Awareness is about seeing your brand as a solution.

NOT just recognizing your damn logo.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

Launching an effective brand requires:

- Uncopyable IP (operation, process, methodology)
- Deep understanding of their ideal customers
- Clear and compelling messaging
- Few, but aligned, offers
- Offer staircase to make selling easier
- Relevant experience (marketing, sales, operations)

THAT'S the bare minimum.

Especially if you want to stand out, increase revenue, and become the only choice for your ideal customers.

Not purpose.
Not mission.
Not vision.
Not personality.
Not even design.

You need the ability to communicate:

- The unique benefit you bring to the market
- For whom
- How

And turn that into a system to attract and convert clients.

The rest are nice-to-haves, but not requirements.

Looking to launch a new brand?
Trying to reposition your existing brand?
Want to go up-market and attract higher-paying clients?

Skip the purpose, mission, vision, and values.

Nail your uncopyable IP.
And develop a system to own it in the market.

That will take you further than any purpose statement or new design can.

Imagine that.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

----
PS - Create a launchpad for your new or repositioned brand with our Brand Launchpad offer. 4 weeks to get the necessities of a brand strategy. Only $7,500 and only taking on 2 clients this quarter. Learn more in the comments.

75% of Shft's revenue comes through my LinkedIn account.

And no, it's not from my content alone.

Ghostwriters and gurus will tell you that great content is enough to get leads sliding into your DMs like a thirsty married woman wanting you to join her and her husband.

(I've gotten that DM before multiple times...🤮)

Your content creates awareness.

It's meant to show people:

- you know what you're doing
- your unique point of view
- your methodology
- your personality

Now, sometimes you'll have enough awareness that a single post can create a flood of DMs and booked calls.

But that's putting the fate of your business in the hands of the algorithm.

And we all know that Linky Dink has been drunk for a year.

Revenue comes from systems.

Like this one I've used for the last 6 years ↓

- Created a LinkedIn Strategy
- Create content to help my ICP
- Engage before my post publishes
- Respond to comments on my posts
- Focus on DMs
- Schedule my time on LinkedIn

I'm sharing an in-depth breakdown, including resources to build your own system, in tomorrow's Brand Shft email.

Subscribe so you don't miss it → https://lnkd.in/gfNESZr3

That mix of content (awareness) and DMs (conversations) driven by a strategy wins.

Both for me
And for my clients

Develop your LinkedIn system.

Or don't be surprised when your ideal customers choose your competitors.

Simply because they did the work to generate leads.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

Finding your uncopyable element isn't hard.

Here's how I've done it for 145+ businesses:

- Map your process
From discovery to delivery, document everything you DO.

- Research your competitors
Look for what they can't or won't do.

- Research your customers
Understand what they want and need.

-  Extract what you do differently
Find ONE thing you do that your customers want or need and your competitors can't or won't do.

Don't look for the BIG thing.

The industry-revolutionizing idea.

It's often hiding in the small things you do.

- deliverable
- consultation
- methodology
- framework

The thing you think isn't special because you've done it 100 times for 100 different clients?

THAT'S often your uncopyable element.

Extract it.
Own it.

And watch it attract customers you never thought you'd land.

Struggling to find it?

I'm sharing my system in this Saturday's Brand Shft email.

Subscribe today → https://lnkd.in/gpDf2hFA

It's driven millions in new revenue for my clients.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

The Path to Becoming Uncopyable | Shft Agency

Brands rise and fall on one key element:

Their ability to communicate an Uncopyable IP.

Most brands don't know how to talk about what they do.

"We're the industry leading..."
"We optimize the collaboration between..."
"Awesome products for your business..."
"We build websites that sell."

Boring. Unclear. Confusing.

If prospects don't understand why they should choose YOU...

...THEY WON'T.

It's that simple.

Follow these 4 tips for communicating your Uncopyable IP:

- Speak about your customers, not your business
Don't start your message with "We." Start with "You."

- Highlight the transformation
No one cares about your product. They care about how your product changes them.

- Be clear and compelling
Clear alone doesn't incite action. Compelling alone can be confusing. Combine the two. You'll move prospects to convert.

- Talk about your Uncopyable IP
Align your message with what makes you different.

I run every client message through those filters.

Follow those tips.

You'll create a message that compels products to convert.

I'm sharing how in Saturday's Brand Shft email.

Subscribe today to get it → Link in comments cause reach.

Or keep sharing that boring, confusing, copyable message.

I'm sure that will make it easy for prospects to choose you.

NOT

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

I empower millennial & gen X job seekers in tech to land and pass interviews with confidence

Do you feel frustrated with the current job market?
Do you struggle to communicate in interviews?
Do you get rejected often? 
Do you get ghosted?

It usually takes a handful of interviews to warm up. 
But those handful of interviews are jobs. 
Jobs you might really want. 

For the last 20 years, I’ve been studying interviews. 
First as a candidate, then as a hiring manager. 
I’ve been in hundreds of interviews. 

I interviewed countless candidates and interviewers. 
I worked with interviewers to make hiring decisions. 
I learned what worked and didn’t work. 

And I learned that interviews aren’t about trivia. 
They’re about human connection. 
They’re about story telling. 

Interviewers want to experience working with you. 
Interviewers want to see if you’re like them. 
People want to work with people they like. 

I know what rejection feels like. I’ve been there. 
And I know what it’s like to crave feedback.
I know what it feels like to be ghosted. 

And I know what it feels like to get the offer. 
What it feels like to crush an interview. 

Today, I help people make a lasting impression. 
I help them show, not tell, how they work. 
I coach them on how to tell their story. 

I give them the feedback they crave. 
So they don’t have to warm on when it counts. 

Dozens have worked with me so far. 
And they’ve seen results in as little as 7-8 weeks. 

So what are you waiting for? I’m here to help you.

Jonathan Corrales

"How can someone with 40 years of experience in a field get no interviews or responses?"

My oldest client was 72. He struggled to get interviews. When he got them, he struggled to turn them into offers. He felt like his age was working against him.  

I'll never forget what he told me the first time we met: "I can hide my age on paper, but I can't hide my age on camera."

We only worked together for a handful of sessions. But he left an impact on me. 

Is that what's in store for everyone in the tech industry?

It's undeniable that the industry has a problem with ageism. It's not new. It's been a pain point for the last 20 years. I remember hearing about it as an undergrad. 

But job seekers are feeling it now more than ever, especially older tech workers that have been laid off and looking for a new role for months.

After working with my eldest client I kept an eye out for any sort of tactic that could be used to help older workers land more opportunities. 

Here's some of what I collected:
- reduce the amount of experience on the resume to the last 10-20
- include a statement that you have more the number of years of experience required
- remove any dates that can work against you, for example from your graduation date 
- remove labels such as seasoned from your CPR (cover, profile, resume)
- make sure recruiters know you're okay with the salary range being offered
- talk about your plans for the next 5 to 10 years, which should saying put

--
 👋 Hi, I'm Jonathan. 
 I help job seekers in the tech industry land interviews and offers.

#jobseekers #interviewpreparation #techjobs #seasoned

"It's really not that difficult," one recruiter said when talking about performing in an interview.

I was in a recruiter thread recently where recruiters were saying interviews are easy. "Just say what you did, who you did it for," one said.  

How hard could it be, right? It's easy. 

Everyone has the same abilities. Everyone can speak in front of a small group. Communication is everyone's strength. Everyone is assertive, confident, etc. 

Nah. Not even close. 

A couple years ago, one of my clients had a communication disability that made interviews particularly challenging for him. 

The way he described it was words arrived in his mind out of order. He had to put them in the right order before he could form a response. 

"It's like dyslexia for conversations," he said. 

Coincidentally, I saw a visual demonstration of what dyslexia looks like before our conversation. 

I can understand both disabilities, but I never experienced either. So I can only imagine how it might feel to experience them.

"Timed interviews make things worse," he said. "I have to unscramble messages and it takes time. It seems like I don't know the answer to questions because they expect a response right away."

When I helped him prepare for interviews, I showed him how to manage the time pressure. And we practiced for hours. 

He landed an offer but it was anything but easy. Especially for him. 

That's when I realized interviewing can be difficult for some and painful for others. 

I've worked with enough job seekers to say with certainty that interviewing is anything but easy. Even for the most confident, senior, job seekers out there. 

--
 👋 Hi, I'm Jonathan. 
 I help job seekers in the tech industry land interviews and offers.

#jobseekers #techindustry #interviewprep

"Make content. If you post to your LinkedIn you will reinforce that you are a subject matter expert." If you're a job seeker in tech, check it. 

If you want to create content, I'm all for it. But you don't have to as a job seeker. There are better ways to invest your time and energy. 

ChatGPT hit the main stage November 2022. Since then I've seen everything from prompts to run a business to prompts for building a personal brand. 

Does every job seeker need to become a content creator now? Nope. Hard no. 

Fun fact: there's no place to submit a personal brand on a job application. 

For the last two years and some change, I spoke to job seekers that tried to create content to gain visibility without success. They give up after realizing it takes work. 

Building content, an audience, authority is a long game. You can't post and ghost. It takes hours and hours of trial and error. Is that the best use of a job seeker's time? 

AI is great at helping people blend in. Whether it's resumes, social posts, or articles. The  colloquial term for obviously AI-generated content is slop. AI slop, to be more specific.

And here's the kicker, a lot of that content doesn't accurately represent the person that creates said content. 

Recruiters and hiring managers complain that candidates look great on paper because of AI but can't answer fundamental questions in interviews. 

Recruiters and hiring managers feel duped when there's a mismatch between a candidate's content (like their AI optimized resume) and their interview performance. 

Candidates can easily misrepresent themselves with AI-generated content.

There are better ways to invest your time: polish your resume, polish your profile, work on your interview skills. Build a portfolio with samples of work you'll actually do. 

Show, don't tell, employers what you can do and why they should hire you. 

I have clients with less than 200 connections, zero content published, and gainfully employed six six-figure salaries after investing their time wisely. 


-- 
 👋 Hi, I'm Jonathan. 
 I help job seekers in the tech industry land interviews and offers.

No AI was harmed in the making of this post. 
100% human-generated content. 🍃

#jobseekers #interviewpreparation #contentcreators #techjobs

Gearing up for a job search? Be ready to interview with people in all moods, especially bad ones.

I've been on both sides of the interviewing table for well over 20 years. 

The biggest lesson I've learned: interviewers might have had a terrible day leading up to the interview.

Bad traffic. Arguments with family members. Issues with coworkers. A bad performance eval beforehand. Some have great poker faces, and many do not. 

Still, they show up and do the interview because they have to.

If you're unfortunately in the hot seat with someone that's in a funk, you're an easy target for their ire. Here's a good way to handle it. 

If you find yourself in that sort of situation, don't recuse yourself from the interview. That'll cost you the opportunity. 

Instead say, "It seems like this isn't a good time. Should we reschedule for later?"

It'll either snap them out of it or give them an easy out so they can get back to baseline.

Neither side wants to make a bad first impression. They're incredibly difficult to overcome.

--
 👋 Hi, I'm Jonathan. 
 I help job seekers in the tech industry land interviews and offers.

 #techjobs #interviewtips #gethired #jobseekers

Your resume isn't when you want to be creative or clever. It's where you need to be clear.

When it comes to resumes, boring is better. When you hit that interview, then be as creative as you want to be. 

I remember when creative resumes were everywhere.

Someone, likely a graphic designer or marketing person, decided to turn their resume into something that showed off their personal flair.

They included grids showing skill levels, like you'd find on the back of a baseball card.

There would be all sorts of colors and icons. I even remember some resumes were printed on heavy stock and colored papers to make them standout. 

Some resumes were turned into things like candy wrappers. 

The trend caught on. A lot of apps like Canva and Docs still have those creative resume templates. 

All that worked until it didn't.

Today it's more important to have a clear, boring, resume over a creative one. 

You can still show off your unique style by choosing combinations of font families, headers, and other sorts of formatting tweaks. 

But the person reading your resume has to see that you're qualified in 7 seconds or less. If they can't, you're not making it past them. 

The time to really show off your personality, your personal flair, is the interview. Or a cover letter, but I know a lot of people hate the idea of having to create one. 

In the interview you can show off your personal flair. How you dress, what you say, your mannerisms, etc. It's when you want to be creative. 

And it's when you're going to build the most leverage for your job offer and negotiation.

So if you're going to invest time and energy into any part of your job search, it should be your interview skills. Not a fancy looking resume. 

--
 👋 Hi, I'm Jonathan. 
 I help job seekers in the tech industry land interviews and offers.

#protips #resumetips #techjobs #interviewprep

Employers: applications can be as simple as uploading a resume. I seent it with my own eyes.

Years ago, I was at a cross road in my career. I couldn't decide if I wanted to be a technical program manager or a product manager. 

I knew it was time for me to leave engineering behind. I saw a product management position at a big company: Netflix. 

Before I applied, I assumed it would be a complicated process like some of the other big companies, and many of the smaller ones. 

I wanted to apply but the thought of sitting down for ten minutes or more to upload my resume, then copy-paste all the information into tiny boxes, didn't motivate me. 

When I clicked on apply. The application appeared. It had four or five fields and an upload resume step. 

"This can't be the whole application," I said to myself. "This is probably the first page." 

I filled out the application. Uploaded my resume. Then clicked submit. 

"Thank you for applying," showed on the screen. That was the entire application...

That's when I realized job applications could still be as simple as submitting a resume. A lot of application processes are needlessly complicated. 

I was conditioned to sit for 10-15 minutes creating an account, a profile, uploading a resume, watching the system fail to parse my resume or not try at all, then copy-pasting everything, and having no clue when the next page was the end. 

Netflix nailed the application experience. 

--
 👋 Hi, I'm Jonathan. 
 I help job seekers in the tech industry land interviews and offers.

My number one priority is making job searching less frustrating for job seekers. 

That way they can perform better in their interviews.

I speak to many job seekers regularly and one frustration comes up often: how overwhelming job searching is today. 

A lot of job seekers don't know where to start, or how to start. 

The best place to start will always be deciding what you want to do next. 

But it's not always easy. Especially for folks that want to make a career change. 

If you don't have a destination in mind, creating a road map is impossible.  

So start by defining what I call your north star: 
- where do you want to work 
- when do you want to start
- what do you want to do 

Once you've got that, you can build a road map to get to your ideal destination.

--
 👋 Hi, I'm Jonathan. 
 I help job seekers in the tech industry land interviews and offers.

#techjobs #jobseekers #wheretostart #roadmap

Here's the difference between subject matter expertise and fit: fit turns interviews into offers.

Years ago, I worked with a talented engineer. He worked hard to be a talented engineer.  He was so good, he built and maintained a critical part of our system all alone. 

This engineer was talented, no doubt. He knew all sorts of frameworks, languages, algorithms, you name it. He went to a school that consistently ranked number one for his engineering discipline. 

But there was one problem. The reason why he ran a critical application alone. 

No one got along with him. He was abrasive. He was prickly. He had little patience for anyone that knew less than he did about a particular topic. He voiced his frustration often.  

He landed the role because of his subject matter expertise. No one interviewed him for fit. 

By the time I took over the hiring process four of my five team-leads urged me to include a fit interview in our process. A vibe check, if you will, to avoid making the same hiring mistake again. 

And that's why today when I work with job seekers, I make sure they can show they're competent and pass vibe checks. Both are important, especially in a competitive market like this one. 

Here's the lesson: 
No one wants to work with a smart jerk. 

Here's the application: 
Be excellent to your interviewers, they're your future teammates.

You don't have to be best friends or 100% agreeable. But be respectful and willing to work with them. Focus on doing the right thing, not being right.

--
 👋 Hi, I'm Jonathan. 
 I help job seekers in the tech industry land interviews and offers.

#interviewpreparation #techjobs #jobseekers #fitinterviews

In December I showed job 37 seekers how to position themselves to land interviews. Here's some Q&A.

1⃣ How do you define a brand when you are job hunting, and isn't it easier to do when employed?
Think of a personal brand simply as your reputation. It reflects how reliable and dependable you were to those who worked with you in the past. Positioning, however, is specifically about showing how you deliver value and solve an employer's problems. What sets you apart.

2⃣ How do you see AI chatbots and automated interviews shaking out in the hiring process?
Some large companies, like FedEx, are already experimenting with AI-driven interviews and chatbots for the initial screening process. While companies use these to supposedly remove bias, most job seekers say it's a terrible experience because there is no human connection. I suspect companies will continue to experiment with it. 

3⃣ Is there a danger in being too specific in a positioning statement?
No, being specific is actually better than being generic. The more specific you are about the types of companies you help and the results you deliver, the easier it is for a recruiter or interviewer to see you as a perfect fit for a role. The more specific you are, the more you'll standout from the crowd. 

4⃣ How should you position your impact if you don’t have specific quantified data?
If you lack hard numbers, you can qualify your impact by using descriptive labels. But you can ballpark your impact based on publicly available data. For example, you can research a previous company's revenue and estimate your personal contribution based on those numbers.

5⃣ How can you make a "How" or "Why" statement sound unique rather than like a cliche?
To avoid sounding cliche, go a layer deeper than your first answer. Instead of just saying you "I like building products," identify a deeper motivation, such as helping people with specific needs or a specific obsession with the customer experience. For example, "I like to build accessible products for ..." It's hard to copy someone's motivation exactly because of differences in background. 

--
 👋 Hi, I'm Jonathan. 
 I help job seekers in the tech industry land interviews and offers.

#interviewpreparation #techjobs #jobseekers #positioning

Here's how I tackle: "Are you interviewing anywhere else?" 

Spoiler: I don't always say yes. 

Recruiters and hiring managers ask this question because they want to know if they have enough time to run you through their process. 

For example, if you expect an offer in a week but their process takes a month, there's no use in starting the process. 

But if their process can be compressed into a week? Then it's game on. 

Here's how I handle it: 
If I'm interviewing somewhere else, I say yes and tell them exactly how many other companies I'm interviewing with. I don't name names.  

If I'm in the early stage (phone screen/first interview), I tell them. If I know how many rounds are left, I let them know. 

That gives them the time frame they need to make the appropriate arrangements.

If I'm in the final stages anywhere or expecting an offer, I say exactly that. Including how much time I have until I get a final decision. 

If anything changes while we're working together, I'll send them updates. Including when I accepted an offer elsewhere. I want to build a long-term, professional, relationship. 

My goal is to make their jobs easy by eliminating surprises. They don't like that. 

Because of that, I've had the recruiters share multiple opportunities on different occasions, and I've had companies rush their process to get me decisions quickly.

--
 👋 Hi, I'm Jonathan. 
 I help job seekers in the tech industry land interviews and offers.

#techjobs #jobseekers #interviewpreparation #protips #recruiters

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