Ep 61 Career: Portfolio, resume and personal branding refresher

In this episode of The Crazy One, Stephen Gates breaks down the biggest obstacles that keep talented creatives from landing the careers they deserve. Discover essential insights into the hiring process, along with practical do’s and don’ts to help you stand out, build a stronger personal brand, and increase your chances of success in your next job search. Tune in to gain the tools and strategies needed to transform your job hunt and unlock the career potential you’ve been working for.

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Stephen Gates : 0:00

What's going on everybody? Welcome into the 61st episode of The Crazy One podcast. As always, I'm your host, Stephen Gates. And this is the show where we talk about creativity, leadership, design, and everything else that helps to empower creative people. Now, be sure to go to your favorite podcast platform and hit subscribe so you get the latest episodes whenever they come out. And take a couple seconds while you're there, leave a review and let people know what you think about the show. Now, if you've been listening to the show for a little while, you might be asking yourself, Steve, Where the hell have you been? It's been a really long time since you did a show. Well, dear listener? That's an excellent question. And for those of you who for some reason live under a rock, and don't follow me on social media, you probably don't know that about six weeks ago, I left my job at Citi was there for two and a half years had the incredible honor of working alongside and building an incredible, incredible team that it was incredibly hard to walk away from. But it was one of those moments where something came along that was probably just a little bit too good to pass up. Now for a long time, I've been working with a lot of different companies in the end I've been doing this podcast doing a lot of things to try to help us all get better. The one company that really impressed me the most over that time has been envision. I think that everything from the CEO to everybody they met going down the chain. It's just a company that I think is making a lot of smart moves and really understands the modern state of creativity. Now, whenever I came to the time to be able to start to look around and was really deciding that I wanted to leave my my old job. One of the people I reached out to was Clark, who was the CEO of envision, and we had a conversation. And the conversation really talked about what's going on in the industry. And what do I think is missing? What I think is missing is what I've been trying to do on the show, which is that there is a ton of information out there. There's a ton of different tools out there and almost a complete lack of any sort of a voice that's helping the industry put those two together. So five weeks ago, I started as the new head of design transformation. And yes, I know that sounds dangerously like something that comes out of an episode of Silicon Valley. But what it actually is is that it lets me do that This at scale, it lets me do this as my full time job of going out and working with all kinds of different design teams to help them figure out how to be the best they can be to figure out how do they become more empowered? How do we look at really bringing the impact of design to every company. So that's been the holdup because I've been starting a new job. I've been traveling like crazy. I did a keynote at how I've been traveling to visit clients all kinds of stuff. In the midst of that wonderfully we've completely lost my voice. So two weeks ago, whenever I intended to record a show, it sounded like I ate a frog and probably wasn't the best sound to be able to go forward and do a podcast. So that's where we stand. That's where I've been and I know a bunch of people wrote in kind of worried they're like, well, with this new job, you're gonna keep doing the podcast, the answer is a resounding yes. I will say maybe the pace is gonna slow down and touch because whenever you're able to feel a lot more creative, whenever you're able to do what it is you love is your full time job. The outlet so for things like this sometimes slowed down a bit, but my commitment to this show is absolute and it will absolutely continue. Now one of the interesting things is I've started this new job is it's a brand new team design transformation hasn't really been done by anybody before it, it definitely hasn't been done at envision. So having to build a new team, and have gone out on social media and different things like that, because I have open spots on my team. And whenever you do that, it's always a really interesting process. And so over the past, I don't know what a couple weeks, I've personally reviewed somewhere north of about 400 resumes. It's been an incredible reminder of how much creative talent is out there. But it's also a reminder of how many of us really need to spend some time getting our ship together, getting some clarity around our brand and why it is we're different. And look, this is gonna be a tough love episode. This is gonna be one of those ones, where we're going to talk about some stuff that we've talked about before but I think we need to do it again because it is amazing. The amount of things and sometimes a lack of effort that I see people put into what is probably one of the most important projects and most important things you're going to work on in your career. Because the reality is when you think about it, you are competing against the best talent in the world. So you need to give your best effort to stand out. If you've recently gone to go see Deadpool because that's out again. It's the maximum effort thing, right? But I think I've spent four episodes talking about this. Episode Six was dedicated to how do you build your personal brand? What are the things that you need to do to explore, to look at how to use stand out in a crowd? Episode Seven was looking at how do you then bring that to life? episode eight was all about job interviews. And then finally, episode nine was about the biggest opportunities, secrets and mistakes when it comes to your portfolio. That was dedicating somewhere in the neighborhood of three to four hours talking about this stuff because I genuine think that it's that important. But the other thing that I'm acutely aware of because I experienced this all the time, is that how profoundly broken this process is, in many cases? Because you do you go through a process, you see a job that you like, you go through and because of the online process, now you submit your resume. Rarely do you rarely do I even get any sort of a response, any sort of an email back, and you know, and let alone Even if you go and go through the interview process, unless you get the job. There's rarely ever a feedback loop for you to be able to figure out what are you doing wrong, what are the things you should be doing better? And so it just kind of becomes this guessing game. I think this is yet another symptom where the online process for this the the digital transformation that's happening here, isn't always necessarily for the better because we aren't having the opportunity to learn to grow to figure out what are we doing wrong. So what I did was as I went through those 400, some odd resumes, as I've drawn on all the experience I've had from a long, long history of doing this. I wanted to revisit from those episodes and revisit from some of the new things I saw very clear and very tactical things that you do need to do and that you don't need to do. Because I think what we all need to do is we need to take a step back, we need to look at ourselves, like our own client, we need to figure out how do we get the short term memory loss, to see ourselves from the outside. Because that really is the challenge with so much of this process is that we're our own biggest blind spot. We can't necessarily easily step back and see ourselves for who we really are. This is why it's always so easy for us to give advice to other people. Yet when it comes to us, it seems to be so incredibly hard for us to turn that high power perception on ourselves. So I wanted to share a few of those things because I know whenever there are 61 episodes in a podcast, rarely do people listen to them in order a lot of cases they skip around. In many cases, I'm not sure that people necessarily even understand how important their brand is. And then all they know is that they aren't getting the jobs that they want. They're applying to things that look very interesting that they're never hearing back about, they aren't making the progress the way that they want to. And they have no idea why. So again, I think in this case, I want to take just a little bit of time to try to shed some light to try to let this be the missing manual on a few of those things that I see so that you can maybe see it from the other side, see it from what it's like whenever you have to go through so many of those, and then understand the process so that you can start getting more successful in it and you can get a better job for yourself. The best place I think, to be able to start with this is to put the shoe on the other foot, big fan of this talk about it a lot. But the reason why is because what you need to do is understand what is the process that your resume and your portfolio are going into what does that actually look like even at the best companies? What is it that's going on? And the reality is is that you put your resume together, you put your portfolio together, and then you send it off. And now the person who receives that, me somebody else, right? What happened? is we in, you know, 98% of the time don't know you don't know who you are. So what we have to go by is literally the words that you write the things that are in your portfolio. And however much clarity or however much confusion, however much lack of a message that there is, determines what do we think about you, it determines how well do we think you're going to fit on our team. And that is the cold reality that I like to remind people about. It's the cold reality that whenever I do this, I want to come back to because that's the thing is you need to look at this stuff and assume that whoever is reading it knows nothing about you. That what they're trying to do is to understand that but it is your job to help them in as many ways as you can to make that easy in as many ways as you can, so that they clearly understand who you are, what your value is, and that that is not being left up to chance in the slightest. Now to be able to do that, and to start with that sort of lens of we don't know who people are, it seems like it should be the most obvious thing in the world. It seems like it should be the easiest thing in the world. But as we talk about the do's and don'ts, the first dude that I just feel compelled to bring up, is do put in some actual effort into this process. If you're applying for a design position, you need to put some effort into designing your brand into designing your resume into designing your portfolio. Because what does it say about you? If whenever I'm getting a resume for a designer for somebody who is talking about how design is their passion, it's the thing that they love the most in the world. And it shows up in 12 point courier in a Word document. How do I believe that that's true? Because that's the challenge was so much of this process is trying to figure out the delta between what people say, and then what actually goes on like, what do you see when the rubber meets the road? Do I actually see that Passion. So this is the thing is that if you want to get a great job, you have to put in some great effort, you've got to take the time to do some real work, and literally understand, right? This is literally the first impression that you are making for most people. So if your effort is a one sentence introduction, a resume that is in Word, a template on a existing portfolio site that is full of nothing but screenshots, you cannot then be confused about why great high functioning design teams are not more interested in you. Because what it is that you're doing is you're putting in the minimum effort and expecting the maximum result. And this is the part that pisses me off because I am sure that there is a ton of spectacular design talent out there who is getting overlooked, who is not getting the jobs that they should who are not getting the opportunities that they should, because that first impression is letting them down. And I think that this is is the basic introductory thing because the other part that you have to realize is that whenever I look at this, I'm looking for not only are you a good designer, I'm looking for effort, I'm looking for give a shit, I'm looking for self awareness. And that if I'm looking at somebody that is putting in the minimum amount of effort, it is hard for me to believe that then suddenly, whenever this person is on my team, that's what they're gonna give. That is hideously unfair. And in many cases probably is not true. But the challenge is, is that all you have to go by is what you see. And whenever what you see is the minimum effort, it's hard to be able to believe that then somehow this is going to become revolutionary. And especially when again, you are in a queue against hundreds of other people. And if those other people are really putting in an effort, those are the ones that are going to rise to the top because that's the thing. You know what, it's the thing with this industry, it's the thing with every industry, it's a time whenever I think too often Often, we are too quick to try to figure out how whatever is not going right for us is somehow somebody else's fault. This is the case where you know what it is our fault. If we don't put in the effort, if we don't make the best introduction, if we don't do this sort of stuff, this is on us. And we have to take that accountability and not let those outcomes be up to chance. And I think that that really is a huge challenge. And so to that end, you know, do things like have a website, no matter what creative field you're in, find a place where you can tell your story. Find a place where you can talk about your work, where it's not just screenshots, but you can talk about your role, you can talk about the challenge you can talk about, what is it that you and the team did? What was your role in the team? So many of these other things where you can really highlight what is your skill, what was your contribution? What were those things that you did and and like I said, this is true for me, no matter what creative field you're in you Need someplace to show off your work your style, your passion. Because here again, this is another thing where it shows how much you care about your career. Whenever I get a resume and word, whenever I get a portfolio, that's a PDF, you know, or just you don't get any of those things. It's again, hard to believe that this person really is serious about their career that this person is really, really trying to do everything they can. Because look, I get it. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of free time, it takes time that in many cases, could be spent doing other things that were, I don't know what more fun, easier than spending nights, weekends, days, lunch hours, whatever it is, working on your resume, working on your brand, working on your portfolio, but that's the trap is that if you want greatness, if you want a great job, you've got to put in the great effort. And there's just simply no way around this. If you're going to shortcut it, leave it to the last minute half asset, and then somehow be confused about why people didn't see your great potential. This is why it happens. And I think that a lot of this really comes down to understanding that, you know, whenever you are getting this many people looking for jobs, whenever we're at a time where creativity is valued in a way that we haven't seen, since the Industrial Revolution, competition is going to be brutal. And so that you have to make sure that you're doing all those things, dotting all those eyes crossing all those T's, they're gonna give you the best shot like another simple one. do fill out all the fields in an application. Like if the application is asking you for a portfolio and asking you for a LinkedIn profile asking you for your social, you know, different channels, and you don't fill those in. What you need to do is to one understand that they're probably asking you for those for a reason to ask, understand that if you don't have those things, you might need to go back and read the job description about why are they asking for those? Because that's the thing is that in many cases, the reason why that they're asking is because again They're looking for something. There's a reason why recruiter asked for this information. You know, if they ask for a portfolio, then chances are the role needs to be someone that actually has one. So I think that you need to think about these things again to make sure that you are putting your best foot forward. Now, I know that we also are in a time where there is a ton of options out there to be able to go out and to make it honestly pretty easy. I mean, look a hell of a lot easier than in the old days. Whenever you can be able to put up a portfolio site, you can do it on behance you can do it on Wix, you can do it on a ton of different places, right where it's easy to be able to go up and just go out buy a WordPress theme for free 510 go crazy, spend $50 and get this out there right and the same way you can also go out and get a lot of these sort of like presets. I don't know what Photoshop templates and other things like that. Now, if you're gonna go down that road, it makes it a hell of a lot easier. I do that very same thing. I do it because I don't have the time to code this stuff from scratch. So it makes it something where it's the balance between I'm going to put in the effort. But at the same point, I need some level of free time autonomy is just to be able to work on my sanity. But here's the other thing you need to realize is that if you're going to do that route, that route, you need to customize your theme. If you're going to use WordPress, or use other services, make sure that you customize it. Because here again, the fifth time that I see the exact same site, done in the exact same way they lose uses the exact same words, it kind of loses its impact. And so again, if you're going to take this stuff off the shelf, that's fine, but don't leave it so stock, you know, and that's the same thing with these PS, the the Photoshop templates and that sort of stuff, where again, that 12th time that you've seen an app that uses the exact same Photoshop template, it sort of again loses its impact. So think about that sort of stuff that yes, you want to be able to do that. Yes, keep your free time do that sort of stuff. So again, you aren't just slaving away on this Thing endlessly. But also understand that if you're going to use it as stock, it might not be helping you quite as much as you think that it will, especially again, if you're going for these highly competitive positions, because you're gonna be up against people who once again, put in that effort. And I think that that's, that's what so much of this is. And I think that's why I felt like I need to go back and do this episode again. Because I don't understand I don't I don't understand. I don't understand why we have to tell each other to put in effort. I don't understand why we have to put in the effort to tell people that this stuff should matter. Even little things that I'm constantly amazed by where people are out applying for jobs, and it sounds simple. Keep all your information up to date. Don't apply for a job if your website doesn't work. If your cell phone isn't right, if your email bounces back if there are social media channels that you posted three things on eight years ago, but are so prominently featured on your site. You've got to step back and give a shit about this people like I just I don't know another way to be able to say that but I think that The biggest part of this is, is that these are all little tactical mistakes. But at the end of the day, you're going to only be able to get these things done and get them done the right way. If you are clear and concise about who you are, and that was the thing, why I started that back in Episode Six. And I talked about the importance of building your personal brand and I was telling you how to do it, because a lot of you need to go back and listen to that episode. Because using the same generic buzzwords using the same titles using the same descriptions as everybody else thinking this thing that is the way to be successful is to be all things to all people.

Unknown Speaker : 18:38

I get it.

Stephen Gates : 18:40

You want to throw the biggest net you can you want to get the highest chance of getting accepted of getting somebody to believe in you to give you that shot to be able to go out and be able to say, you know, look, I can see past you know what, maybe what other people haven't, but you've got to be clear. You've got to know what it is that you want because the other part This is that as a leader who has led a lot of people over the years, the people that are often cases, the ones that are the hardest to lead, are the ones that aren't clear about what they want. They're the ones that will tell you there'll be whatever you want them to be. They're going to be the ones going to be happy with just just simply doing anything. Sounds great. It's a great political answer doesn't begin to be true. We all want something we are all happy doing something. In many cases, it's the fact that either they don't know what that is, they haven't spent the time to think about it. They're scared to say what that is that they feel like whenever they say what they want to be. It also defines what they're not. And that that can be, you know, really something that again, can lead to a lot of anxiety. But the moment in my career, whenever I started to believe in what it was that I wanted is when I got successful. We've talked about this from the very first show. It's where the title of this podcast comes from. It's where the TED shoes that I wear on my body are from is that I spent way too long with that insecurity, I spent way too long, trying to be what everybody else wanted me to be. The moment I embraced that crazy The moment I embraced who I was, that's when you saw things really start to pick up. And they've just kept going that way. And it's that mix of clarity. It's that mix of understanding what you need to be happy. It is a healthy dose of self awareness, so that you understand what you're good at and what you're not. You can read the room and understand that again, there's a difference between crazy and stupid In my case, that yes, I will take risks. Yes, I'll try to push things. Yes, I will try to do new things. But I do it in a thoughtful way. I do it in an introspective way I do it in a way that I try to think about that where again, it is not just simply just doing it for no reason. Because that's the thing, right like normal is boring. Stupid as reckless crazy changes the damn world. But you only can get to that place. Whenever you spent the time to think about that, and this is the hard part of all of this stuff, this is so much of what we talk about time and time and time again, are these issues where only you have the answers, not a magic bullet here. Not somebody else is really kind of holding that back. The people that you see who put in the best effort, the people who spend the most time getting clarity around their brand, the ones who put in the most effort, clarifying their resumes, designing their resumes, crafting their portfolios, connecting and creating a network, those are the people that rise they're the ones that succeed. The ones who sit back and try to take the easier route, the ones who think that it's about luck, the ones who think that there's a magic bullet, those are the ones that struggle. It's not about luck. Again, done whole episodes about this stuff, not about luck. But I think there's also a lot of things where you do need to take the time to step back and look at what is the image that you're putting out there. Think about the things that you're doing and saying and I think that's when we get into the don'ts that's littered with this sort of stuff. Whenever you You think look at this stuff, it may look good superficially, it may be even stuff that you don't even think about. But there are things that have a real impact. Because that's the other funny part is whenever you look at enough of these resumes you do this enough, it starts to become a crystal ball. And it starts to tell you some very interesting things about people. The one that I've talked about a ton talked about in other shows, is like, don't lead with your education or your skills. Because what that means invariably, as I've met a ton of people is whenever you lead with your education, usually 90 plus percent of the time, that is an indication that you have not done anything in your career that you are prouder of than where you went to school. And that's a real problem. Because as we look at people who are clear about who they are, as we look at people, and that's my thing, like even if you haven't done fantastic work, even if you've never even worked on a brand that anybody's even heard of, you can still have an impact, you still solve a problem. There are tons and tons of people who I've hired, who've never worked on any big brand you've heard of who worked for tiny agencies who are individual consultants. It wasn't just this sort of stuff because that's the thing. I've done this again. long enough to know that pedigree means not a whole hell of a lot. I've seen so many people who went to the perfect school who worked at the best agencies that worked on the best accounts. And then whenever you get them one on one, and ask them to do something creative, they cannot fall off a boat and hit fucking water. Because it's all just been for show. But the moment that it counts, they aren't able to deliver. But again, I've seen people who have slept on friends couches, trying to hustle to become a designer, who have made up their own projects who have worked on small little companies and mom and pop stores that nobody's ever heard of who have some of the most thoughtful, most beautiful, best work and all they needed was somebody to see that and give them a shot. Those are the people I'll take every single day. Because they've got the hustle, they've got the drive, they've got the understanding. They just haven't had the opportunity on the big stage to get the big brand but as soon as they do, they're gonna kill it. And that's why this stuff is important. It's important that you said this a minute ago like don't let social media accounts you don't actually use And this is that sort of like part to keep your information up to date. Whenever you have a social media account on your resume or on your portfolio, make sure it is one that you actually use. It says something about you and your brand, when you list something that you haven't used in three years, because here again, I know I'm left questioning right or wrong. Are you somebody that really pays attention to the details? Are you somebody that just starts in on the fad but doesn't actually see through with it? And that's the problem is that it's a one way conversation. And it is the hideously unfair part of this thing is that that's all that I'm left with because look, if I had the time and could find a way to finance a cloning machine, I would love to sit down with all 400 people that applied it is not possible. So you are forced into some of these assumptions, some in some of these decisions, and in many cases, they may not probably are not always fair. But all that you can do is to go with the information that's actually in front of you, and to try to make the best you can out of that and make the best decisions that you can but that's The issue, you know, and these are those sorts of things is like, think about it, one of the real big popular trends that came around I don't know what a couple years ago that I see all the time are these like, skill set lists? These are the applications I know or like that I know design thinking, right? Like, I know these a bunch of different things, right. And there's a whole list of this stuff. But the odd thing with that one, I've never, I think it's good to go to work that in some place. I think whenever you list it out, it's sort of a commoditized approach to who you are like somehow you're just a list of applications. And I never wanted to work at someplace that that's what they were looking for was just my ability to use an application because it was a really commoditized relationship. But the weird thing that people have started to do is that now they're like percentages that they assigned to this. Like they're 86% in Photoshop and 92% in sketch and like, you know what, 32% and something else? These are useless to me. Just if you have one of these Think about this. What are we racing against? Who's 100? What's 100? Like? Is my 100? The same as your 100? As your 100? Is our 100 different than somebody else's? 100? How do I judge what that scale is? What do I know what that is? I would much rather say like, Look, if you want to give yourself I don't know what a 98% in sketch or like a 90% in design thinking, talk about the way that you design talking about what your workflow is in your portfolio. If you want to say your 90% in design thinking, show me the project that brings it to life, because then I have a benchmark, then I have the ability to see it in action. Without that these are sort of just meaningless metrics. And I think that it's in a time where a lot of people react to the fact that you know, there's a time people want numbers, right, we're in the age of data. But you have to be able to have context for data you have to be able to have a place were able to understand compartmentalize the data so that it becomes useful when these are just these sort of like random percentages that don't necessarily add up to anything. They aren't that terribly useful outside of the fact that like Yes, it's kind of like an interesting infographic on your resume. But again, if that's all your brand is, is interesting looking information that ultimately doesn't really say much. Here, again, says something about your brand. So this is the sort of rigor This is the sort of fine tooth comb that you need to look at these things with, because these are the sort of things that everybody else looks at them with. There's a real interesting one that I saw this last go around. And I'll be honest, you know, this last one, this may have been because I spent a lot of months doing that episode 58, we talked about gender bias. And I think that for me coming out of that I've had a heightened awareness around it. And I think that, you know, you start to see that sort of bias, expressed in a lot of ways and again, I don't think, you know, people do this maliciously, I don't think that they do it. But I'm also not completely convinced that they understand Take the time to even understand that they are doing and understand the impact that it might have on them. Like one of the big ones that I saw this time was in the cover letter the introductory email that whatever it was the number of people who were applying on a corporate website who started that application process with dear sir now you know look I think that this is obviously an unconscious bias and you may say to yourself like look, Steve these people might have they were sending you personally an email Okay, let's walk down that road for a second. So if we think that they were personally sending me an email Why don't you put your Stephen your Stephen dear Stephen Gates, dear Stephen Gates, Dear Gates, Dear Mr. Gates, you know, to whom it may concern Mr. Gate like whatever right like then you could eliminate that problem because the problem is whenever you write, just dear sir. There is an assumption there that only men are in charge and they only make decisions and whether Are you thinking about it or not? What kind of message does it say about you? If the recruiters female, and why wouldn't she be? What if the person on my team is making the decision was female? And why wouldn't she be? Why wouldn't you just write like Darren vision or who it may concern or any other thing outside of that? But that's what I'm saying is I think that there's a lot of these little things where there's no unimportant detail. And look, I'm not going to, you know, throw out somebody's resume and not talk to somebody because their email started with Dear Sir, it's it's not that right. Like, I'm not gonna punish them for doing it. But I think that there's a lot of these things, we need to understand that even if something as simple as what I think a lot of people may think, is as throwaway as the way that you start an email for a job application matters. And it can have an effect it can have something where again, do people subconsciously who read that, think something about you that maybe you don't want them to And that's the problem, right is because in this case, it's a one way conversation, we package up a bunch of stuff and we send it off. And just hope that it lands well. I've been through this more times than I can count, I've helped other people more times that I can count there, this process where I just package it up and send it off and never hear back. Don't know why overqualified under qualified, like just didn't like something that I said or anything else in between. But we don't get the feedback. And so I think that that's the takeaway for here. That's why I want to do this one. Again, have a bit of a do over on this, come back and spend another 30 or 40 minutes on this topic that we've already spent four shows on, because so many of you deserve better. But the thing that nobody's probably telling you is that in too many cases, you're the one that's getting in your own way. You're getting in your own way because of lack of effort. You're getting in your own way because of lack of attention to detail. You're getting in your own way. Because in a lot of cases, working on your brand is hard. It sucks. It asks you to ask a lot of really tough questions of yourself to look at what is it that you're really good at? And was he really not and to acknowledge that to admit that you've got limitations and do a bunch of things that we as people generally don't like to do. But the burden on creatives is different. This isn't the type of profession where you just do the same thing day in and day out. We're asked to work with other people we're asked to work with other people have different perspectives of different processes. We're asked to understand those processes to value them and to grow them. We're asked to go in and to solve problems that don't have right answers. There's problems that have multiple outcomes, each one can all be equally valid. But then again, at the part of that, we're asked to take the creative process, which is inherently so incredibly insecure, to somehow put it down on paper to sum ourselves up to justify our existence on our skills in a page or two in a row. In a resume to do it, and a few pages on a website or something else like that, where we can prove our value. And it's hard, it's hard to do. Because that's the other problem with doing job interviews is that inherently you're you are volunteering for rejection, you're going to say, I'm going to go out, I'm going to do a bunch of this stuff. And I've had far too many jobs who have just broken my heart. You go out there, you think I'm absolutely perfect for this, I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna kill this. This was the job that I was made for you put in that effort. And you think you know what, I'd be perfect for this. And it's been funny for me, because in several cases, the worst part of it has honestly been the months later, whenever I would meet an executive from that company, and we would start to talk and then in multiple cases, they were like, oh, I've got this job that's open on my team, you would be fantastic for it. I would just slump a little bit and kind of laughed at myself. And I'd say you know what, you're right. I know about that job. And that's why I applied for it four months ago, and either your HR people rejected me. I never heard anything back. about it. But that's why for me, it's also understanding that so much of this process is about you giving a damn. give a damn about the basics about your resume your portfolio, give a damn about building your network give a damn about building your brand. Because at the end of the day, the biggest reason to give a damn about this stuff is because it's one of the few ways that we actually have control over our careers. So often, especially for me, I've been reminded that this is a business companies that I've loved teams that I've built, and something about that the company that houses that team, the change in management, something else has reminded me that that affection and that respect that I've given to them is too often not reciprocated. So that's why I started building my brand and taking it much more seriously because I wanted to have that level of control. I want to be able to have the level of control that I was much less scared if I got fired, which again, I think handicaps a lot of people. It was something where I wanted to be able to go out and be able to change jobs. If I wanted to. Do I want to get to a place where I could write my own job description, I want to get to a place where these things were just simply possible. And that no longer was I just simply going to take what came along, as we've talked about too many times in the process that we all go through our internal process, our external process, our creative process, our job hunt process, too many of us do not define what we need to be successful, we do not define what we need to be happy. And in many cases, all that we simply do is accept what's given to us. Can't do that, folks. You can't do that you can't put in the minimum amount of effort. You can't go out and leave these things up to happenstance. And then the angry or bemoan when you don't get the results you want. Sorry, there's no substitute for hard work. You've got to give a damn. And you've got to make sure that the next time you submit into that process, one either you give it the absolute best shot you can or to go out and talk to people build your network. Change the process. Understand that many times the best jobs don't hit the street. Understand that there's too many cases, what actually happens here is that people know about other people. So they reach out directly to them. Know that the process is broken and don't accept that is just simply the way that it is. Those are the people that I often admire the most are the ones who do reach out to me and say, Look, I really am passionate about this job. And here's why. Send me a personal email, reach out to me on social media, do those sorts of things, because that gets you noticed, because it's somebody who I know really gives a damn. And no, it's not always going to be the best fit. But you know what, I give those people's resumes extra time. Because I know that is something that really, really matters to them, as opposed to the other people who fill out half the fields. Or you know, one of my other favorite new ones, which is started caring, most people will just simply send me an email or message somebody says, Hey, I want a job at envision. And that's the sum total of their application. I don't think that work at McDonald's. If you can't log in and just go look, give me a job. Maybe you can, I don't know, but I'd have a real hard time believing that. But this is the thing. We got to give a damn, you've got to fight for you. Because that's what so much of this show is about is trying to get people to understand to fight for themselves. That's what my new job is about is to help these teams find better ways of fighting for themselves. Because they've got the talent, they've got the passion, it's just the way that it's expressed. It's the way that all this stuff weaves together into something that actually matters. But it's stuff that you've got to think about. You've got questions about any of this you agree with it, you disagree that you're doing that stuff, reach out to me You know, I'm you can go to the Facebook page, go to Facebook, type in The Crazy One podcast like that show answer questions there all the time. Reach out to me on LinkedIn, reach out to me on Twitter, some people even reach out to me on Instagram, not the best one because they're notifications when you get direct messages for people who don't follow kind of really sucks. But look, try to get help, if not for me from somebody else from your friends from your peers. But that's the thing is Try to do that, and just tried to get better at it. So I think this will probably be the last time that we're going to visit this subject, I kind of feel like five shows should be enough. As usual, if you find any of this helpful, go to your favorite podcast platform, leave a review subscriber there. So whenever you are sure that you don't miss any of the new episodes, follow me on social media. Again, like I said, not just because I'm looking to be to actually build the kind of my follower count because I'm honestly going out in answering questions a lot trying to help people trying to do those sort of things. Reach out all right, you're back might not always be immediately I'll get back to you as fast as I can. As always, and just because I have a new employer does not mean that everybody down in legal has changed what it is that they want me to do. And that is to remind you that all of us here are my own. They don't represent any of my current or former employers. These are just all my own personal thoughts. And finally, I say it every time because I mean it every time but thank you for your time. I know that time is truly the only luxury that any of us have. I was incredibly humbled that you Whoa, listen to any of us spend any of it with me scolding you on what you need to do. But that's the thing. Go out and give a damn people go out and get that dream job and take a hard look at what is the effort that you're putting forth. And while you're doing that, and as always, stay crazy