The Job Closer by Steve Dalton

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Time-saving techniques for acing resumes, interviews, negotiations, and more.

The Job Closer is a short and condense book with specific instructions about job search starting from resumes until salary negotiations. It is a no-bullshit apporach that helps distill what is and what is not important and why.

I’d call this book quite credible as it is written by a career coach who has a vast experience working with applicants and backs his recipes with data.

The main takeaway

To get a resume seen requires either directly relevant experience or an internal advocate. Hiring managers simply recieve too many resumers to spend time wading through each one and looking for diamonds in the rough.
Cold applications are useless, you need an insider advocate to get past screening.

All the materials you produce are The Greatest Hits of your work life. Exclude the mundane!

I still need to learn more about the corporate bullshit and the politics that would set me up for success. This book already gave me a lot of insight on what is important (human connections!) and what isn’t (perfectionism over static information), but I feel lacking in the skill of creating an effective network and corporate style communication.

Also, after a long contemplation, I took the Strenghts Finder test and I think that will help me put a better order in my mind.

Short overvew of the content

  1. Before the interview (choosing career aligned with strengths; resumes; linkedin; cover letters)
  2. During the interview (the questions asked: big four; behavioural; reverse)
  3. After the interview (follow-up; negitioations; offer decisions and long term stuff as coffee chats and weekly manager meetings)

Before the interview

Choosing a career

Exercises to help you understand your options of which career to select.

Nr Technique Time it takes Description Benefit
1 You bet your life 1 min with timer Name a single professional skill/ability in which you are the most confident you are the top 1% of the world. Pressure helps you cut through the noise. Make sure you get to use this skill.
2 Brain dump 2 min Write down every job that you think you would enjoy doing and could feasibly be or become qualified for one day. Add more items later. Turns inifinite nr of options into finite list of possibilities.
3 Strenghts Finder & “How your talents add value” 60 min each Take the Gallup test to get a vocabulary of your strenghts. & Combine your top 5 to describe each work bucket1 Understand your strong points and personal style of working and be able to describe it.
4 Informationals 30 min each Informational meetings where you control the agenda by asking current employees of their experience and advice. Learn about potential careers and employers and get insider friends.
5 Reading mindfully ongoing Whenever you read of some interesting work done, take a note of that organization (potential employer) and sector (potential field fo work) Helps find patterns of what you are interested in.

Resumes

Resumes are for your greates hits, not your average days.

A study by TheLadders found that on average hiring managers spend 6 seconds per resume. 80% of that time will be spent on:

  1. Candidate name
  2. Employer name(s)
  3. Job title(s)
  4. Dates of employment
  5. Schools attended

So, your bullets get 1.2 seconds.

How much time should I spend on my resume?
– three hours.

Candidate hierarchy

Hiring managers look for easy to defend candidates.

In other words, candidates have a hierarchy. Candidates who have done the job before somwhere else will always be considered. Almost as frequently considered are one who worked for elite employers or attended elite schools (either regionally or more broadly). These pieces of information do not require finessing in our resume, however, and thus don’t stress out job seekers - they simply are what they are.

Objectively perfect resume

Make sure your resume is objectively perfect (as subjectively it never will be) by:

  • proper spelling
  • correct grammar
  • aligned margins
  • internally consistent formatting
  • single font used throughout

When hiring managers use an ATS, they are not looking for resumes that use “supervised” rather tahn “managed”, they are looking for people who have roduct Manager in tgeir resume as part of their past experience, or specific credential or experience, or worked for competitor.

Resumes by quality

Basic resume Good resume Great resunme
Formatting Error-free Error-free Error-free
Bullet source Job description Annual review “Greatest hits”
Bullets describe your … Responsibilities Major projects Impact (and root causes, if any)
Results are … Not addressed Provided when quantitative Always provided

Examples:

  • Basic resume: Responsible for refrigerated biscuit marketing budget of $400 million.
  • Good resume: Analyzed advertising channels to optimally allocate $400 million marketing budget.
  • Great resume: Optimized $400 million nmarketing budget by analyzing historical returns and increasing budget to highest-return channel (newspaper inserts), increasing profits by 22%.

Additional information section should be included, to easen the rapport building and small talk.

LinkedIn

Do teh basics, and you’ll be fine:

  • error-free basic info
  • professional(-looking) headshot
  • authentic headline of >= 15 words
  • objective info is there (employers, job titles, dates of employment and schools attended)

Cover letters

there is no such thing as a perfect cover letter

there are 2 types of cover letter:

  • unfacilitated: 5-paragraph cover letter with introductory, 3 “why me” (RAC) and a closing paragraph.
  • facilitated: the thing you send to friend for internal re-sending, so he does not have to come up with it.

Unfacilitated cover letter

You can pick the Reasons employer wants to hear or Reasons that genuinely reflect your biggest strengths.

In other words, “why me” paragraphs:

  • points of parity (how I fill most important requirements)
  • points of differentiation (what makes me the best candidate)

each “why me” paragraph has 3 parts (RAC):

  • Reason: skill/attribute (for example, Leadership)
  • Anecdote: brief summary of a bulletpoint on your resume that illustrates the Reason
  • Connection: sentence that connects your reason to something the employer cares about.
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Dear Franklin,
I am interested in Darlington’s open Marketing Associate position. After speaking with current associates Angela Charles and Nicole Yazzie, I believe I can contribute the following to your organization.

**Problem Solving**: I received two promotions in three years—the fastest rate possible at BiffCo—for my ability to break complex equipment issues into solvable tasks. My ability in this area would help me keep complex projects such as product redesigns and packaging changes running smoothly and on time at Darlington.

**Analytics**: While at BiffCo, I reduced part costs 30 percent by analyzing more than 12,000 unique inventory items to phase out obsolete parts, identify cheaper substitutes, and renegotiate contracts on our most heavily purchased items. This ability to use large amounts of data in creative ways would help me identify new markets and customer segments for Darlington’s products.

**Leadership**: Nicole stressed to me how much Darlington values leadership in the form of firm-building. I have always strived to leave my mark on my organizations, both as Technology Officer in my graduate school’s student government and as Excel Training Lead for BiffCo’s new analysts. At Darlington, I would continue seeking leadership opportunities to strengthen the firm and build my internal network.

In closing, I think this would be a great mutual fit. Please contact me at 555-555-5555 or email@email.com at your earliest convenience.
Best regards,s
Aditya

Facilitated cover letter example

The basic structure of it:

  1. Acknowledge your advocate’s request for your resume
  2. Reiterate your interest in the specific role you would like to be considered for
  3. Ask if they need additional information to keep the process moving forward.
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Mariela,
Thank you for your insights during our conversation earlier this week—it was both informative and motivating. On further reflection, I would indeed like to be considered for the open Marketing Associate position at Darlington.

Per your request, I am attaching my resume. Do you need anything else from me at this time? Please let me know if you have additional questions, and I look forward to discussing our next steps.

Best regards,
Aditya

During the interview

Interviewer has made their decision mostly early in the interview:

Interview time elapsed % of interviews decided Cumulative % decided Typical interview content
0 - 1 min 4.9% 4.9% First impression, Small talk
1 - 5 min 25.5% 30% Small talk, TMAY
5 - 15 min 29.5% 60% TMAY, the Big Four
Over 15min 17.7% 78% Behavioral questions; “What questions do you have for me?”
Post-interview 22.5% 100% Thank-you note

The typical phases a normal interview goes through:

Nr Phase Interviewer thoughts: “Does this candidate …”
1 Small talk … make good first impression?
2 “Tell me about yourself” … have a story that makes sense?
3 “Why this job, organization…?” … really want this (knows what they are getting and what we carea about?)
4 Behavioural questions … have the necessary skills, mettle, and track record?
5 Case interview questions … have the necessary technical proficiency?
6 “What questions do you have for me?” … arrive prepared and use other’s time wisely?

Two-minute answers are the industry standard, so sticking to this answer length helps you avoid unnecessary risk.

Lists of three are often considered neither too long nor too short, making three the perfect amount of prepared Reasons ready for an interview answer.

The big four

Super classic questions that almost always are asked and should be prepared for:

  1. Tell me about yourself (TMAY)
    skills and characteristics; what you are looking for (role, company type) and a story of your past experiences full of “because” (FIT)
  2. Why this job?
  3. Why this organization?
  4. Why this sector/industry?

to all “whys” best is an authentic, specific and informed evidence based answer (RAC)

FIT model

A template to create a story out of your past experiences.

FIT = Favourite part -> Insight gained -> Transition made

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My FAVOURITE part of studying biology while at the University of Illinois was breaking complex systems into their smaller components to understand how they worked at a granular level.
My biggest INSIGHT from this experience was that I wanted to use my talent for understanding and explaining complex topics in a more applied setting.
Therefore, upon graduation I TRANSITIONed into a role as a regional sales representative for MedFast's pharmaceuticals division.

It is better to be shallow than dishonest.

RAC model

Good to answer “why” questions with some evidence

RAC = Reason -> Anecdote -> Connection

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- Why electronics sector?

I think three reasons in particular stand out for me.
The first REASON is my lifelong passion for home electronics.
[ANECDOTE] I got the Darlington SuperPro 6200 gaming system for my birthday one year when I was in grade school.
That got me interested in electronics at a very young age.
I started reading industry blogs, debating new platforms' merits with my friends, and even listening in on investor calls!
[CONNECTION] I think my long history of following electronics trends and discussing products with fellow fanatics would help me effectively communicate with not only consumers who love Darlington products, but also the engineers who design them and the sales team who take them to market.

Behavioral questions

Turn the bulletpoints of your resume into a CAR stories - expand them into story with all 3 parts.

CAR model

CAR = Challenge -> Actions -> Results

The 2 minutes of answer time spilt in parts:

  • 15 seconds to Challenge
  • 90 seconds to Actions you took
  • 15 seconds to Results you achieved

In essence, for any interview question that asks you to detail how you’ve faced a challenge or demonstrated a particular quality in the past, you provide the Challenge that you faced, the Actions you (not your team) took, and the Results that you and your team achieved.

sometimes, you need to add a Takeaway for summarising what you just said. Then your get a CART!

Takeaways are unifying thoughts added to the end of CAR stories when you reviist the original question and very explicitly explain how your story answers that question.

For the negative stories, you can add a Setback at the opening and continue with your usual CAR story. That way you’ll get a SCAR story.

Employees are seeking positive behaviors even when they ask you about negative circumstances. When interviewers ask about ethical dilemmas, they are seeking good judgment, a moral code, and candor (vaļsirdība).

What questions do you have for me?

End on a high tone.

Interested is interesting, meaning your genuine interest in them results in their genuine interest in you.

In priority:

  1. [Next steps] When will I hear back regarding m status in this process?
  2. [Rapport and Research building] I read about your [relevant trend in this employer’s space] in [reputable source]. Has that impacted you and your work? If so, how?
  3. Something I’m genuinely interested in learning about the company.
  4. Something from the amazing Reverse interview questions list.
  5. “What do you like and what do you dislike in your job?”

Informational meeting TIARA

A process overview to use in Lunchclub or any other informal meetings.

Essentially, you frame the interviewer as an expert in their field for the first half of the interview by asking questions about Trends they’re encountering and insights they’ve had along the way. Then I’d pivot to framing them as a mentor by asking what Advice they’d give themself if they were in my shoes today, what Resources they’d recommend I look into next to learn more, and what Assignments (or projects) they found most impactful. This takes them on a logical journey that first establishes likability, then primes creativity, and then requests empathy, that process maximizes the chance that you can systematically turn a stranger into an ally over the course of a single informational meeting.

After the interview

Follow up

Reach out (a day) before the deadline and save yourself that time expenditure while also demonstrating you are the type of candidate who asks for what they want not the type who waits for things to break before acting.

A Thank you note

within twenty-four hours is the typical time frame that is considered appropriate (after the interview)

What to put in:

  1. Thank them for their time and consideration
  2. Highlight the most memorable or insightful piece of information they shared
  3. Reiterate your interest in the role and that you look forward to hearing their decision.

Negotiation

  • start a week before you need to give end answer
  • if you don’t have that much, ask for extension:

    email them to say you have a time-sensitive update regarding your status and you’d like to set up a call to discuss as soon as possible

This type of email works also for gettign a call to decline the offer or any other important updates from you.

Pre-negotiation call

This time it (“ask to set up a call”) will be to ask some questions about the offer rather than about the time you have to decide, and during this call you would take them through the offer, line by line, asking:
“Do you have any flexibility around [salary]?”
“Do you have any flexibility around [signing bonus]?”
“Do you have any flexibility around [vacation time]?”
and so on. Relocation, unpaid time off, paid sick leave, stock options, housing stipends, annual bonus, and everything else you can think of should be included in the list of questions you should ask.

Listen for not that strict no‘s and take note of them.

Negotiation call

The four basic tenets (principi) from the negotioation book Getting to Yes[1]:

  1. Separate the people form the problem (this isn’t personal)
  2. Focus on interests rather than positions (super relevant in job search)
  3. Generate a variety of options before settling on an agreement
  4. Insist that the agreement will be based on objective criteria

You need to have a “because” for every request you make.

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Can you increase the salary at all?
Because I have a budget and am trying to pay off my student loans within X years, and that would help me do so.

Sleep on It

After the call, take a night (or best - two) between the negotiation call and the acceptance or decline.

Take a brain dump of all the pros and cons of accepting the offer so they are out of your head and into a list. Add to the list throughout the day as more list items come to mind.

Then, as you are preparing to go to bed, really imagine you have accepted the offer one night and imagine you have declined the offer the other night. When you wake, write down how you feel about having (pretend) accepted/declined the offer. Elated/deflated? Relieved/Nauseous?

I find that the body is suprisingly wonderful at holistically simulating and processing regret, yet it is woefully ineffective at holistically simulating and processing happiness.
Too many job seekers focus on the elusiveness of the happiness instead of embracing the instructiveness of the regret.
Let the body do what it does best, which is repairing itself overnight to prepare us for the following day.
Did you just make the body’s job easier by accepting that offer or harder?

In the job

Coffee chats

You set up 30 min informal meetings with the new colleagues a few weeks after the initial wave of introductory meetings both with closer and more far away colleagues.

Use the informal meeting template TIARA

especially good are the managers of other departments:

The act of setting up coffee chats with managers at your immediate supervisor’s level but with whom you don’t directly work. Reaching out sideways is the single best technique for maximizing the impact of the coffee chats you conduct, since those managers will often be involved in calibration meetings.

Make a habit of asking what Advice your contacts have for you and what Resources they recommend you look into next, so take careful notes during this part of the conversation.
You’ll send a thank you note within a day or so after your coffee chat, and you’ll set up a reminder for a few weeks from now. When that reminder pops up, that is your signal to check back in with the potential internal advocate to thank them again and report back the results of following the Advice they gave you or looking into the Resources they recommended.

Weekly manager meetings

A simple one page document taht you produce to review (and leave) with your manager helps ensure that they:

  1. know what you’ve accomplished in the past week;
  2. understand your priorities for the coming week (so they can change them around, if desired);
  3. can observe that you are proactively working to improve.

The content of the weekly manager meeting:

  1. Updates from the previous week
  2. Priorities for the coming week, in order of importance
  3. Additional priorities as time permits
  4. Questions

Further resources

  • The 2-Hour Job Search & The Job Closer Q&A LinkedIn group: Alive and insightful LinkedIn group about network-based job search
  • Two Hour Job Search by Steve Dalton. A book about effective networking.
  • Designing Your Life by Dave Evans and Bill Burnett. Practical exercises for those seeking to identify fulfillment, boht personally and profesionally.
  • VMock: Resume specific analysis tool
    [1]:- Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher, William Ury and Bruce Patton: recommended negotiation strategies.
    1. 1.Work buckets:
      (1) Make things happen
      (2) Collaborate with others
      (3) Lead and influence
      (4) Solve challenging problems       ↩