The Step-by-Step Guide To Landing Your Dream Career by Wonsulting [Templates Included]

You go to your dream company's career page and find the perfect role. You fit the qualifications for the role and are excited for the opportunity.

‍

You attach your resume and cover letter and are hopeful that you'll hear positive news soon or hear back soon.

‍

Days go by, even weeks, and you finally receive an inbox notification which states "Thank you for applying!"

‍

Oh these words, you rush to open the email, but know that the first few words can make or break your day.

‍

It's an update; you're thinking that it'll be an interview opportunity, yet the opportunity turns out to be another one of those dreaded emails.

‍

"Unfortunately, we decided to go with other candidates."

Those dreaded words can break a person’s day. Have you ever felt this way?

‍

I have had my fair share of receiving those emails, and I want to try and help you reduce those in your inbox.

‍

Hence, I am sharing some insider tips from myself/Wonsulting to get into your dream career. Before we start, let’s break down the average application process.

The Tiers of Job Search Process

We believe that there are 4 tiers in the Job Search process:

‍

Tier 4: Applying to Roles

You simply apply to a role without a referral. We call this a “blind application” because it’s simply a “hope for the best” situation.

‍

Tier 3: Referral

You get referred for the role from someone at the company, but is not on the team that is directly hiring. For example, let’s say you’re going for an Operations Analyst position and a Software Engineer refers you.

‍

Tier 2: Hiring Team Member Recommendation

Someone on the hiring team refers you for the role; for example, let’s say you’re going for a Financial Analyst position at Amazon, specifically for Devices. Someone on the team for Amazon Devices recommends you for the role to the hiring manager.

‍

Tier 1: Hiring Manager Recommendation

The Hiring Manager who is directly responsible for the role recommends you; for example, let’s say you’re going for a Product Manager role at Facebook Messenger. The Head of Product for Facebook Messenger is the Hiring Manager; they recommend you for the role.

‍

‍

So what was the point of breaking down the tiers? Because most people will be in either Tier 3 or 4. Let’s break this down even further, and look at it more closely.

‍

Let’s say you’re going for the Business Analyst position at Cisco.

Tier 4: Applying

How many people are applying? Let’s say 1,000+

Tier 3: Referral

How many people are getting referred? Let’s say 200.

Tier 2: Hiring Team Member Recommendation

How many people are getting recommended by a Hiring Team Member? Let’s say 10.

Tier 1: Hiring Manager Recommendation

How many people are getting recommended by a Hiring Manager? Let’s say 2.

‍

Lastly, how many roles are they recruiting for? Let’s just say 5.

‍

If you were a recruiter/hiring manager, what would you look at first? Let’s say they choose the 2 from the Hiring Manager recommendation and they choose 2 from the Hiring Team Member recommendations.

‍

That only leaves 1 role left for 1,200 to go for.

‍

The reason why you’re getting rejected is because if you’re in Tier 4 or 3, you’re getting beat out by the Tier 1 & 2. If you’re able to get into Tier 1 or 2, that’s when you get a better chance, especially coming from a non-target school or from a non-traditional background.

‍

At Wonsulting, we can help you strategize in reaching your career goals with our Ultimate Bundle. This job search package includes everything you need to get ahead in your job search. From resume revision, cover letter revision, networking tips from Fortune 500 career professionals, and more! Check out the full details on our services page.

‍

Now, how do you get into Tier 1 or 2?

‍

Networking.

‍

Networking is game-changing, especially with you getting into your career

‍

How do you network?

‍

Here’s exactly what I’d do if I were trying to get into my career.

‍

Reach out to professionals who work at the company that I’m interested in; there are SO many ways on how to do it, but let’s dive into how to do it first with Alumni.

‍

Let’s break it down:

‍

How To Network With Alumni on LinkedIn

Let’s say you’re going for a Marketing Internship and you’ve identified your company as Cisco.

‍

‍

‍

Search “Position” and then filter “Current Company” to “Cisco”. You’ve now identified 3,000+ results of Marketing Interns at Cisco. Now, let’s find those who attend your University. Let’s say that you currently go to Chapman University. You’d then change the “University” to “Chapman University.”

‍

‍

Go to their Profile and look at their About Section; the person will USUALLY have something regarding their lives, experiences, etc. You’ll use this information and incorporate into the personalized invite.

‍

Then check their activity; the reason why you want to check this is because you want to make sure that they’re ACTIVE on LinkedIn.

‍

Why?

‍

If you reach out to someone and they’re not active on LinkedIn, you’ll never be able to connect with them because they’ll never see your message.

Now why do you send a personalized invite?

• Surprisingly, only 1% of people send a personalized invite when networking. This will help you stand out when networking with professionals
• Shows you put effort in networking with professionals/recruiters, etc.

After they accept your invite, most will NOT reply at first. After, they accept, send a message with the following content:

1. Quick Introduction of yourself
2. Show interest regarding their story
3. Ask how you can both be valuable to each other

Here’s a simple message template you can send:

‍

Hi (Name), hope you’re well! Thanks for connecting with me on LinkedIn, I appreciate connecting with you!

I’m writing to you because I’d love to learn more about your story, specifically (xyz).

‍

I’d love to follow in your footsteps & journey; my story is (your story in 1–2 sentences). I’d also love to see how I can provide value/help you in any endeavors/initiatives!

‍

Please let me know if you’d be free sometime to chat, as I appreciate your time and help in advance.

‍

Thanks and have a great day!

‍

If they say yes to a phone call, that’s amazing! The goal of the call is as follows:

‍

1. Build Rapport: Talk about both of your stories but focus it on them. You want to hear more about their story & journey because you want to follow in their footsteps.
2. Ask questions to show your interests in the field/industry: Let’s say we’re going for Marketing at Cisco. One of the day-to-day responsibilities could be “Utilizing Social Media Marketing to grow/scale Cisco’s growth”. Thus, one of the questions can be “So I know that Social Media Marketing consists of growing and scaling content. Was wondering what you do in your day-to-day and why you decided to pursue a career in marketing?
3. The Ask: If you’re comfortable, you can ask for a recommendation; instead of saying “Give me a referral”, you should ask “how do I get an interview?”. Why you do this is because they can either recommend you to the hiring manager OR give you advice; either of these are great especially for you getting into your career!

‍

If this sounds like it will take up a lot of your time, we came up with a solution to help you network at the speed of light. It's called NetworkAI. Our job search tool helps you find the right people to network with based on what kind of job you're looking for and generates the perfect message for you to send them. Try it out for yourself and become that much closer to landing your dream job!

Conclusion

Throughout my own career, networking has been essential in landing roles at companies I’ve always aspired to work in. Here’s some quick “don’ts” especially when networking:

• Making it a “One-Way” street: Most people will take rather than give; ask the person what you can do for them rather than what they can do for you.
• Always send a personalized invite: I currently have over 2,500+ pending invites on LinkedIn because they didn’t send a personalized invite and I’m running out of connection space. Imagine you being the 1 person who takes time to send a personalized invite.
• Don’t treat people as just “professionals/recruiters”: Treat them as human beings; we’re all human at the end of the day and want to not just gain connections but at the end of the day friends.

“Make friends, not connections”

— Jonathan Javier

Jonathan Javier is the CEO/Founder of Wonsulting, which mission is to “turn underdogs into winners”. He’s also worked in Operations at Snap, Google, and Cisco coming from a non-target school/non-traditional background. He works on many initiatives, providing advice and words of wisdom on LinkedIn and through speaking engagements. In total, he has led 220+ workshops in 9 different countries including the Mena ICT Forum in Jordan, Resume/Personal Branding at Cisco, LinkedIn Strategy & Operations Offsite, Great Place To Work, Talks at Google, TEDx, and more. He’s also been featured as a Top Job Search Expert in articles from Forbes, Business Insider, DailyMail, Yahoo News, LinkedIn News, Jobscan, Brainz Magazine, and more. He’s amassed 800K+ followers on LinkedIn, Instagram,& TikTok as well as 30+ million impressions monthly on his content.

‍

–

Need more help? Our 1:1 services could be a good fit for you! With 90% of our clients land interviews within 3 months and 70% land offers in 6 months, it’s only a matter of time until you land that job you’ve always dreamed of.

‍

If you need help in making that decision, sign-up to speak to our team. We’ll help you turn from an underdog into a winner.

‍

You can also try WonsultingAI, our growing suite of AI powered job search tools for resumes, cover letters, networking, job applying and more!