The Ultimate Job Search Guide

1. Intro: Hi. I'm Dylan Lee, and welcome to the Ultimate job search Guide, where your career transforms into an epic quest. With over ten years in HR and four years in talent acquisition, I've helped companies hire top talent and guide jobseekers just like you through coaching, my YouTube content, and creative strategy. I'm also the founder of Dylan Digital, where I fuse job coaching with gaming elements to make the job hunting process both effective and fun. This course is built like a video game campaign or D&D, if some of you may play that. You'll learn how to build your job seeker profile, explore the job market, craft legendary resumes and cover letter squirrels. Even use Gen AI tools like Chat GPT to sharpen your gear. We'll end with the final boss submitting your applications confidence and precision. If you're a job seeker who loves to play video games or just want a fresh, motivating approach to the job hunt, this course is for you. No prior experience needed. Just bring your curiosity, a browser and maybe a notebook to take notes. You're not just learning how to job search, you're learning how to game offy the process to make it more fun and move forward. You earn badges, complete quests, and get access to downloadable resources like my resume templates, prompt guides, and follow up messages. This is your chance to stop dreading the process and start leveling up your job searching skills with a sense of direction and, of course, fun. By the end of this course, you will have a fully optimized resume, a cover letter, and a clear game plan for the job market with AI generated tools to keep you refining your strategy throughout your career. This is the kind of XP that lands interviews and offers. So whether you're just starting your journey or planning your next big move, get ready to grind smarter, not harder. Okay, let's press start on this adventure and level up your job hunt. I'll see you in the first lesson. 2. 1-1A. Discover Your Stats: Welcome to 11 A. Discover Your stats. We're laying the foundation in this section of the course and diving into the ultimate pro tip. A gamer or job seeker out there should know. And that's discovering your stats. Just like in your favorite RPG game, knowing your stats ensures you play to your strengths and overcome the challenges you may face like a boss. Instead of magic spells or swords, your stats in the job hunt are your skills, personality traits, and, of course, your unique abilities. Think of your stats like RPG attributes. They define how you perform in different situations in your career, your strength, that's your technical or specialized skills. Dexterity adaptability and problem solving. Can you think on your feet? Your intelligence. That's your industry knowledge and analytical thinking. And your charisma, well, that's your communication and networking skills, which is one of my personal favorites in RPG games and in real life. Now, imagine showing up to a boss battle or in this case, an interview and not knowing what you bring to the table. Man, you'll get wrecked. And you'll get that rejection email the next day. That's something that we want to avoid here. So take inventory of your skills. Take assessments. It's time to gear up. Here are some quest, in this case, assignments you can complete to uncover your stats. Number one, personality tools. Check out tools M, B, TI, Myers Briggs, or 16 personalities. These are like your magic scrolls. They reveal how you communicate, work in teams, and make decisions. For example, INTJs might crush it in strategy and planning roles, while ENF might thrive in creative and more collaborative workspace. Number two, skill audits. Next, run a skill audit using tools like skill matcher or O Net. This helps you really fine tune and pinpoint your tactical and soft skills so you'll learn what you already over spect and what skills need more of your attention in leveling up. Number three, reflection exercises. Finally, once you do those assignments, spend some time reflecting on these skills and really ask yourself what do I naturally excel at? What skills or tasks feels FLS to me when I'm at work and keep a note of those. Results and next steps. Now that you're starting to get a good understanding of your character sheet and your stats like strength, dexterity, intelligence, and charisma, now it's time for you to save those stats and save them for later in the course. Is your character sheet, the foundation of your job hunt journey. Use this info to craft resumes that highlight your strengths, Ace interviews by leaning into what makes you you and tackle workplace challenges with precision of a season E sports player because now you have your foundation request. Here's your interactive quest for this lesson. Number one, complete your character sheet using the tools and exercises we discuss and make sure you download it and fill it out as well. Number two, take at least one assess the MBTI skill matcher or the 16 personalities and identify your key strengths. And number three, upload your character sheet in the course portal for feedback. By completing these quests, you'll save so much time wondering what I'm good at, what do I bring to the table, and what value can I add to a company? Remember, understanding your stats is just the beginning. In the next section, we're going to talk about what's your player type and how that ties into your character sheet and the games that you play and the jobs that you excel at, as well. By completing these steps, you'll save so much time wondering what I'm good at? What do I bring to the table? And what value can I add to a company? Remember, understanding your stats is just the beginning. In the next section, we're going to talk about what's your player type and how that ties into your character sheet. 3. 1-2A. What's Your Player Type ?: Welcome to 12 A. What's your player type? In this lesson, we're diving into the concept that combines gaming and career growth by learning and understanding the different player types. So you might be wondering, what are the player types? Well, this idea actually comes from the Barts hill taxonomy of player types created by Richard Bartle. A British writer, professor, and game researcher. Back in 1996, he broke down gamers into four different types. And they are represented by card suits, you know, playing card suits. The first one, the Achievers, represented by the diamonds, the explorers represented by the spades. The socializers, represented by the hearts and finally, the killers, represented by the clubs. While Richard Bartle was studying the psychology side of how players approach video games, this have some real world implications as well in our careers. I've been researching this theory for about two years now, and it does line up. Understanding your player type will not only help you unlock your true potential, but it also builds a fulfilling career and in some cases, your life once you understand where you fall. So let's break down and connect them to real world roles, motivation, and even the games that they love to play. You can take the player type test to find out where you stand as well. We'll be having that in the course description for you to do. I also linked an interactive game as well that will help you understand these player types even better. So let's talk about the first one, the Achievers, which is represented by the diamonds. Achievers are goal oriented players who enjoy mastering systems. Completing challenges, of course, leveling up. They focus on hitting objectives and unlocking rewards. These individuals thrive on setting high goals for themselves and relish the satisfaction of ticking off achievements. They often are meticulous planners who take pride in the progress and their accomplishments as well. Dive in into some characteristics of the achiever class. They're highly motivated and driven by success. They enjoy structured environments with clear goals. They oftentimes value efficiency and optimization systems. They prefer tackling complex problems and finding the solutions to them. They are often competitive, but more with themselves than others. Now that we know about the characteristics of achievers, let's tie different options or in this case, career classes for achievers, strategic Commander, which are project managers or even entrepreneurs excelling in planning and optimizing. They lead teams to accomplish big goals and ensure projects stay on track. They could be the tech Palatin engineers and developers creating scalable solutions. They design and implement robust systems that address real world challenges efficiently. They can even be the financial mastermind. Accountants or analysts who excel in managing budgets, investments, and financial strategies to maximize profitability for a company. Or they can even be the health hero, doctors, nurses, or even researchers, focus on solving health related issues and achieving breakthroughs in medicine. Here are some of the games these players love to play. The first one is MOR PGs like World of World Craft or Final Fantasy 14, where you take on lots of Quest, level up your character and collect rare items. They also love strategy games like civilization and even tetras, which challenges their planning and organizational skills as they develop long term strategies to win. Simulation games like Star Du Valley, which is one of my personal favorites and also farming simulator. As well, where they manage resources and build and expand their farm and achieve set objectives in the game. Achievers find deep satisfaction seeing their hard work pay off in the long run, whether you're in the virtual world or in your career. Their relentless pursuit of excellence makes them stand out in any endeavor they undertake. In summary, achievers are driven by desire to conquer and Excel. Their intrinsic motivation to accomplish tasks and surpass goals translates seamlessly into both their gaming preferences and, of course, their career choices. In games, they meticulously plan, strategize and relish every milestone they achieve. Similarly, in their careers, they channel this energy into the roles that demand more precision, more foresight. And continuous drive for improvement. For achievers, every challenge is an opportunity to shine, and every reward is a testament to their reletless dedication to their work. Next, we're going to talk about the explorers, AKA, the spades. This one is actually the class I personally fall into. Explorers are driven by curiosity, always seeking new ideas and solutions to their problems. They thrive on discovering the unknown and enjoy pushing the boundaries of what is possible for them and their task. Their adventurous spirit and intrusive nature makes them natural inventors and pioneers in their fields. Let's go over some career classes for the explorers. They could be data wizards, think researchers or data scientists uncovering the unknowns of the world. These professionals dive deep into datasets to find patterns and insights that others might miss. They often work in fields like artificial intelligence, biotechnology and environmental science. Using their analytical skills to solve complex problems and drive progress forward. They could be the creative art, writers, urban planners, crafting innovative stories. Creative bards use their imagination to create compelling narratives, whether through lecture, film or design of cityscapes. They bring fresh perspectives to storytelling and urban development, bending art and functionality to enrich communities and captivate audiences at the same time. So let's dive into the games they love to play, open world adventure games like Zelda, Breath of the Wild, or Red Deedemption two. These games offer vast immersive environments where players can explore at their own pace, uncovering secrets and experience a sense of wonder. The freedom to roam, interact with the world fosters a deep connection to the game setting and narrative story rich games like the Witcher three. And Persona four. These tiles are known for their plot lines and well developed characters. Explorers appreciate the complexities of these stories, which often involve moral choices and branching paths that add layers of meaning and consequence to their journeys. Sandbox experiences like minecraft and even POW World. These games, players have the creative freedom to build and shape their surroundings to their choosing. Explorers enjoy limitless possibilities and opportunities to experiment with different ideas, marking each play through a unique and personal experience. Explorers oftentimes push boundaries and inspire others through their passion for discovery and creativity, whether in their careers or leisure activities like gaming, they are constantly seeking out new challenges. Opportunities to learn and grow, leaving a lasting impression on the world around them. Next, we're going to talk about the socializers, AKA the hearts of the group. Socializers prioritize building connections and fostering collaboration as well. They thrive in group settings, focusing on relationships and teamwork. These individuals often act as the glue that holds groups together. Using their strong communication skills to mediate conflicts and encourage cooperation throughout. They really find joy when creating harmonious environments and often take on the roles that allows them to bring people together. Let's talk about the different career classes for the socializers. They could be the creative Bard. Creative bards are adept at crafting compelling narratives that engage and inspire others. They're skilled networkers, able to build and maintain a wide range of professional relationships. Role often involves organizing events, managing social media communities, and ensuring that everyone feels included and most importantly, valued. They could be the strategic commander, think HR specialist, linking talent and opportunities together. Strategic commanders have a keen eye for recognizing potential in others and aligning it with organizational needs as well. They play a crucial role in recruitment, talent development, and employee relationships. They strategically place individuals in positions where they thrive. They contribute to the overall success and well being of the organizations. Now let's talk about the games that the socializers love to play. They love playing multiplayer social games such as among us and Animal Crossing. These games are rich, interactive environments where players can socialize, collaborate, and create shared experiences. Animal Crossing allows players to visit each other islands, trade items, and engage in cooperative activities, while among us challenge players to identify imposters within their group, party games like Mario Party or the JackpoxPyPaC Games. These games are perfect for gatherings encouraging face to face interactions and friendly competition. Maria party features a plethora of mini games that require teamwork and quick thinking wild box party pack offers a range of hilarious and engaging games that rely on players, creativity, and also humor. MMORPG games like Guild Wars two, massive multiplayer online role playing games provide socializers with fast, immersive worlds to explore alongside with friends and also fellow guild members as well. Guild Wars two emphasize cooperation through guild missions, dungeons, and world events, allowing players to form strong bonds and achieve collective goals together. Socializers are the cornerstone of any community. Driving engagement and fostering a sense of belonging. Their passion for relationships and teamwork makes them well suited for roles requiring strong interpersonal skills, such as community managers, event planners, and, of course, HR specialists as well. Their preference for multiplayer and social games from Animal Crossing to Gil Worlds underscores their desire to connect and collaborate with others. For socializers, the journey is enriched by the connections they make along the way. Whether in professional settings or leisure activities, socializers excel in creating meaningful interactions that enhances the experiences of those around them. Last but not least, let's talk about the killers. AKA, the clubs. Killers are driven by competition, thriving on winning and outperforming others. For them, challenges are everything. They find excitement in high risk scenarios and enjoy the thrill of pitting their skills against worthy opponents. Killers are often seen pushing boundaries and setting new records in their fields, whether in games or in their careers. Their primary motivation comes from victories rather than recognition that follows them. Let's talk about the different classes for the killers. They could be a different type of strategic commander. Think entrepreneurs or sale executives driving competitive growth. These individuals are excellent at identifying opportunities and leveraging resources to gain a competitive edge against their opponents. They thrive on closing deals, outperforming rivals, and, of course, increasing market share. They could be the tech Palatin thinkkesports players or lawyers thriving under pressure. Tech Palatins excel in fast paced, highly competitive environments, where quick thinking and strategic planning are key for their success. Whether it's in the high stakes E Sports tournament, or a critical legal battle, these individuals remain composed while being effective at the same time. Let's talk about the different games the killers love to play. Competitive shooters like Call of Duty and variant. These games require sharp reflexes, tactical awareness, and precise aiming. Players must continuously adapt to the opponent's strategies and work effectively as a team at the same time. Battle royal games like Fortnight and Pub G. In these games, survival is paramount. Players must outlast numerous competitors while making smart decisions about when to fight. When to flee. The ever shrinking play areas also adds pressure and excitement for these players as well, fighting games like Tech and e or street fighter six. These games demand mastery of complex combos and counters. Success requires both mental and physical agility, as well as an immediate understanding of the game mechanics and character abilities as well. In summary, kills excel in high stress environments with their relentless drive for victory. They embrace their more competitive spirit to both succeed in gaming and their career. They oftentimes leverage their strengths in strategic thinking, their resilience under pressure and unwaving determination to achieve their goals. Whether you're aiming to be the top of leo board in a call duty match or climbing the competitive ladder, your competitive nature will set you apart as an asset when you're a killer. So now that you know about the player types and how they connect into your potential careers, take the test and find out which player type you relate to the most. Once identified, you could align your skills and passion with an appropriate career path. Make sure you utilize tools as ONT career explorer and LinkedIn career explorer to help you map out your skills on your career journey. The ONT Career Explorer provides detailed descriptions of the world of work for use by jobseekers, workforce development, and HR professionals, students, and researchers. You can explore careers through occupational profiles, industry information and career clusters as well, while the LinkedIn career Explorer allows you to discover new career paths by leveraging your LinkedIn network and analyzing the skills of successful professionals in different amounts of fields. Keep in mind that your player type may change as you progress in your career. Understanding all four player types enables you to understand who you can lend your love of games and better understand what makes you stand out as a job seeker. By regularly understanding and accessing your player type, you can better navigate the changes in your career trajectory and continue to find satisfaction and success in your professional life as well, because at the end of the day, we are what we play. In the next lesson, we're going to learn about how taking side quest on your job hunt can help your main quest, AKA getting a job in the long run. See you in the next lesson. 4. 2-1A. Exploring High-Demand Regions in the Job Market: Welcome to Lesson 21 A, exploring high demand regions in your job hunt. When you're playing in RPG, you don't just run around aimlessly. You check your map. You find the best places to gain XP, and you go where the rewards are worth your effort. The same thing applies to your job. Today, we're going to be diving into the high demand regions, the industries, the skills and the companies where opportunities are growing and where you should focus your efforts in. Identifying high demand skills, what employers really want. Before you set out on your job hunt, you need to know what skills are valuable. Think of these like the abilities on a skill tree and an RPG. Certain ones will open up more powerful opportunities for you. Employers are constantly seeking skills that aligns with their current market demands. Which ones are trending can give you a competitive edge against your fellow job seekers. Here are some examples of high demand skills in any industry and in any year that you should have in your tool kit. Technical skills like cloud computing, cybersecurity, AI, of course, data analysis and software engineering, creative skills like UX, UI design, content creation. Skills, digital story telling, and, of course, branding, business skills like strategic planning, marketing, analysis, sales automation, and project management as well. Interpersonal skills like leadership, communication, emotional intelligence, and negotiation. Here's some action steps for you. Review your existing skills. Check your past projects, any coursework or experience you've done in the past. Identify three to five of your skills that you already that align with the job market demands. Step three, pick two to three skills to develop further. These should be the ones that you oftentimes see on job descriptions that you're interested in. So I'm hoping you're keeping track of the keywords you're seeing in these job descriptions. So here's a side quest for you. I want you to pause the video. Yes, pause the video and take 5 minutes to research three to five trending skills in your industry. Look up some job descriptions you're interested in and keep your third eye open when going through them. Drop a comment in the course description below with the ones you want to level up first. Researching top industries and companies, finding the right quest line. Knowing where to apply your skills is just as important as having them. You wouldn't send out a fire pokemon into a battle fighting another fire Pokemon, right? You need to match your abilities to the right markets. Like how you need to match the right Pokemon to the right battle. Use Glassdoor and LinkedIn to search for roles you're interested in and identify any common trends. You could also do this on Indeed, as well. Also check out industry reports as well. Use resources like Bureau of Labor Statistics or even LinkedIn's emerging job market report. Really get a good eye on what's going on in your industry. You could also identify top companies this way by looking for companies that are hiring aggressively or expanding in your industry. So here are some action steps I want you to take as well. Step one, search for your skills as keywords on LinkedIn, Glassdoor, or even indeed, step two, filter results by industry, location, and experience level so you can really hone in on what you're looking for. And step three, make a list of the top companies hiring for your skill set. If you want to win at job hunting, you need to know where the XP is best. By focusing on high demand regions, you'll not only increase your chances of landing a job but also future proof your career. Here's your mission for this lesson. Start by getting used to researching companies on both Glassdoor, Indeed, and, of course, Linktn. Share a summary of your post of your discoveries on Linktn to attract like minded professionals and even potential employers as well. Begin aligning your job search with the industries and roles you identified for as well. Alright, let's head to the next lesson where we're going to be diving into the emerging dungeons of the job market. 5. 2-1B. Dive into the Emerging Dungeons: Welcome to Lesson 21b. Dive into the emerging dungeons. In every game, new dungeons emerge, places filled with new challenges, high rewards, and opportunities for growth. The job market is no different. Venturing into these fields can provide exciting career paths with high demand and long term potential. Emerging dungeons are industries expecting rapid growth, more job opportunities and career achievement, innovation, companies developing cutting edge technology and solutions like AI, and lastly, transformation, shifts in how work is done, creating new roles by identifying these industries early, you can position yourself ahead of the competition and secure roles in fields with strong long term growth. Some examples of emerging dungeons. Gaming, of course, top companies, epic games, riot games, and ten cent. Their growth potential, high demand for UX designer, developers, and Esports managers as well. Artificial intelligence. Their top companies, Open AI N V and Google's Deep Mind project. Their growth potential. They're expanding roles in machine learning, robotics and AI ethics and the last Dungeon renewable energy. Their top companies are Tesla, SunPower, and Extra era Energy, and their growth potential is growth in solar, wind, and sustainable engineering. These fields are rapidly involved offering a truss or trove of opportunities for career seekers willing to explore and adapt. Now let's look into how to research any emerging Dudgeon. Use these tools to analyze industry trends, career growth, and job opportunities. Glass Door Insight tool, view company reviews, salary trends, and employee satisfaction ratings all in one site. You could also use the IBIS world tool as well. You will get to know industry reports on market trends, technologies, and job demand. And lastly, use Google News alerts to stay updated on any industry shifts and company expansions that might happen during your job search. And here's a cheat code for you as well, look for any postings for recruiters and talent acquisition managers. If a company is actively hiring recruiters, that means they're expanding BABS. HR teams only grow when a company is gearing up for a significant hiring. So keep these companies on your watch list when you're on the job hunt, because if you see recruiters in need, that means job openings will soon to follow. So here's your mission for this lesson. Research three high growth industries using glass doors, industry stands, and IB IS world. And lastly, use Google News alerts to stay on top of any changes in the market. I want you to identify the top companies, the salary ranges, and the demand for the roles in your field. When this is completed, visit their website and look for job openings related to your field and apply. Set up job alerts for future openings to stay ahead of the curve. Once you're done with that, share your discoveries with me in the comment section of this course for feedback. Apply to those roles and keep track of them using an Excel sheet, or you can use Hunter. Well. By mastering this emerging dungeon strategy, you will unlock hidden job opportunities and position yourself in high growth industries before they become overcrowded with other job seekers. Start researching, take action, and get ahead in your career quest. In the next lesson, we're going to discuss how Side Quest can assist you join the job hunt and review hidden opportunities that you can find while searching for employment. I'll see you in the next lesson. 6. 2-1C. Side Quests and Hidden Opportunities: Welcome to Lesson 2-1 C, SDQuest and Hidden Opportunities. SDQuest in your job hunt slash CareE are activities that go beyond the basics of job searching, giving you a deeper insight in industries, roles, and professional communities as well. Just like in video games, SideQuest help you level up your knowledge and skills, making you more prepared and connected for the job market. These activities allow you to gather first hand insights, network with professionals, and immerse yourself in the culture of your desired field. By stepping outside your standard job application process, you increase your chances of discovering hidden opportunities and gaining insider knowledge when you're on the job hunt. It's so much more than sitting down, hitting apply, and waiting for a response. These are some of the things that you need to do when you're on the job hunt that's outside of that normal process. Got to attend webinars. Webinars provide valuable learning opportunities from industry leaders helping you stay updated on the latest trends, gain new skills, and even meet potential employers from these events. So you might be wondering how to find the right webinars? Well, Linkedns here for that. Use LinkedIn events to search for industry webinars or virtual conferences as well. Industry websites and newsletters. Subscribe to any newsletters or even visit websites of companies and industry groups that host these events in your field. Professional Associations, may offer free or even discounted webinars for members. So do your homework. And speaking about homework, I want you to actually take some action steps with this step. So I want you to research three to maybe even five upcoming webinar related events in your career interest, in your career field and look for topics that align with your desired role or skills you wish to develop. Step two, I want you to attend at least one online event this month and take notes on any key insights that may interest you. And step three, I want you to post a reflection about the webinar on LinkedIn, tagging the speaker or even the event page and share what you actually took away from the webinar. This will help you expand your network. As well. Next up, we have informal interviews, AKA have coffee chats. Now, these are informal conversations, so this is not like an interview kind of vibe. This is just a sit down with someone in your desired field, and these chats offer a behind the scenes look about what a particular job or industry is really like from a perspective, from someone that's been in it for a while. Make sure you have a County account set up to make the scheduling easy for you and with people you want to connect with. And the bonus, it's free. You can add the County link in your feature section on your LinkedIn profile to make it more accessible for others to contact you, as well. You gain insider knowledge of the roles and career paths that you want to take and learn what it is on the other side of the fence. You build a network specifically talking about Linktn in this case, of professionals who can offer advice and refer you to opportunities within the field. You learn about the hidden job markets or specific skills in demand so you can be put in a better position than others that don't take the extra steps to learn what specific tools are needed and really hot and really in demand for the industry that they're in. You can do more than just sending your resume in and waiting for a reply. This is more of a proactive approach on your job hunt as well. And the plus side, you can help others. Also on the job hunt. When you come across a role on LinkedIn and you know someone in your network that can benefit from it, take some time and share it with them. This not only helps build your network, but it adds value to others, as well. And plus, it's just the right thing to do. Now you're all excited about networking with others, but you're stuck at the gap saying, how do I go about approaching others to set up these calls? Well, I need you to take some steps for this one so you can do it while you're on your job hunt. So step one, I want you to identify three, maybe even five people working in roles that you're interested in. Make sure you use the keywords in your field in your most recent job descriptions that you come across and connect with those professionals on LinkedIn. You could use your existing network or friends or families or even professors to ask for introductions to people, as well. I got a cheat code for you to help you with this. All colleges have alumni list. So check it out on your college website and reach out to S. You could also use LinkedIn to look up any people that's been to your college and send them a request. You'll never know who will answer you and your requests. So don't be afraid to reach out to people that has been to your college recently or even in the past. If someone doesn't answer you, that's okay because others will. Remember, you already have something in common with this person that you're reaching out to specifically for your college. You both went to the same college. So that makes it a little less, let's say, intimidating when it comes to reaching out to people in your college. So it makes it easier for you to break the ice when you make that first connection. Step two, send a brief and polite message requesting a 15, maybe even 20 minute conversation to learn about their career journey. So here's an example message I would send out to someone if I want to network with someone on LinkedIn. Hi, enter name here. I saw your last post, talk about the posts a little bit, and what you like about it here. I'm exploring career opportunities into the industry slash Field here and would love to hear about your experience. Would you be open to a 15, 20 minute chat about your career journey? Most people would be open to talking about their experience when you open up with a message like this. It shows that you're engaging with their content on LinkedIn. You're paying attention to what they're doing in their career, and you want to learn as well. Step three, I want you to prepare four, maybe five thoughtful questions to ask. Examples like what skills are most important for success in your role, and what challenges do you face in your current job? You could use AI to help you formulate these questions just to make it a little bit easier for you, as well. Here's what I did when I was on the job hunt when I was reaching out to people for these coffee chats. I would find someone I would connect with, and I'll send them my county link with the message I mentioned above. I'll get a PDF version of their LinkedIn resume. You can actually download it when you go to someone's page right here. I'll head over to chat, GPT, or any other tools like it, and I'll give it this exact prompt. Please make me four, maybe five questions using this PDF document. I'm currently looking for a job, and I want some advice and I build a connection with this person. It helps take the guesswork out of it, and it lets you stay focused on connecting with that person when you're on the coffee chat. Use it next time when you want to reach out to someone and you need to formulate some questions based off of their career. So I want you to go out there and start networking with people in your industry and let your presence be known to others. Everything that honestly you want in life is just right outside your comfort zone. So take some steps, reach out to people and connect. You get a lot more connections that way, and you get more notice that way in your industry. The next thing you could do is explore industry specific communities. These are groups or forums where professionals in a particular field gather to share knowledge, post about job descriptions, and opportunities, and discuss any industry trends that's going on currently. So why join these communities, the networking, connecting with peers, mentors, and even potential employers. It's really important for you to get yourself out there when you're on the job hunt. You can't just stay alone in a party of you need a party of many. You could also learn and stay updated with any trends or tools or even best practices so you could level up your understanding on what's going on. And lastly, the opportunities. You get to discover job opportunities, collaborations you might want to do with others, or even freelance opportunities as well. So the best place to find these communities is, of course, any social media groups. Link has a few groups. Facebook has a few groups, and of course, discourse servers as well that's focused in on your field. You could also use industry forms as well, engaging with your niche and communities on sites like Redit, slack, overflow, or even specialized forms as well. So I want you to take some action steps with this one. So step one, I want you to join at least one relevant LinkedIn group or Facebook group or Discord server channel. Step two, I want you to introduce yourself in the community, mentioning your career goals and what you hope to learn and contribute to the group as well. And step three, I want you to participate in discussions and comment on people's posts and be engaging in the community. As well. It's important. So you need to keep track of what you're doing. So make a community employment tracker and track your activity in these communities over the next week. So, for example, comment on the post, you introduce yourself, ask a question, and note how it helps expand your knowledge or even your network as well. So by completing these side quests, you have explored new career paths, expanding your network and gaining a wealth of industry knowledge, something that you can't do alone. So let's just do a brief recap. Need you to set a goal to attend at least one webinar per month. Schedule at least one informal or in this case, coffee chat this month, engage with industry communities regularly to stay informed and connected. You could download the Dylan Digital Networking follow up templates, building XP with Connections Guide, and the course description. Follow up with any contacts or opportunities discovered. Here's one last et code for you. As well. Keep track of all the connections you make and any advice or insights you gather. These are valuable as you move forward in your job search and your career. You always got to be networking, so having a plan in place is helpful for your job hunt and most importantly, your career. In the next lesson, we're going to talk about how to understand job descriptions from companies. I'll see you in the next 7. 2-2A. Understanding NPC Dialogue + Assessing the Employer Value: Welcome to Lesson 22 A, Understanding NPC dialogue plus assessing the employer value. In RPGs, NPCs provide key dialogue that hints at hidden quests, special rewards, or dangers ahead through your playthrough. Employers do the same through job descriptions, offering valuable clues about what they truly see in a candidate. Mastering the NPC analysis approach, it will help you decode descriptions to understand employers' priorities, align your skills with what companies are looking for, and finally, find the best culture fit to level up your career in your journey. So let's hop in these approaches to understanding NPC dialogue. So the first one is reading the job descriptions like a pro, really understanding the dialogue of the company that you're applying to. Job posting is like a quest description. It's filled with hints about what skills, traits, and experiences employers value and employers are looking for decoding employer language. Employers use specific keywords to communicate their needs and their wants when they're looking for a candid. Recognizing these terms will help tailor your job description to truly stand out. I'm going to go over some employer phrases and truths behind the meeting so you could learn how to decode the job descriptions while you're on the job hunt. Self starter. This means work independently, take initiatives and or no micromanagement. Team player. When employers say this, they really mean strong collaboration and communication skills. Detailed oriented. Accuracy and position in your work, fast paced environment, something that we see a lot. Expect tight deadlines and rapid change in your job environment. Strong communication skills can express ideas clearly in writing and in speech, ability to multitask. You will juggle multiple responsibilities at once. Hopefully, no burnout with this last one. So now you have a good understanding of looking through the certain keywords on these job descriptions, you got to read between the lines when it comes to these job descriptions. For repeated phrases. If multiple job descriptions in your industry use the same term, that's an indication that it's a key skill that you need to put in your tool kit. Beyond technical skill requirements, employers see qualities like adaptability, leadership, and problem solving. It's important to mix some of your soft skills in with your hard skills in your resume. Companies are looking for people who can work on a team, not a lone wolf playing solo cues only. Spot industry specific tools. If a job mentions proficient with SQL or knowledge of Agile, these are must have skills that you need to have in your toolkit. So make sure you know them and you understand them, and it's on your resume, and you could speak on it as well. Here's an interactive quest for you to do. I want you to go analyze three, maybe five postings to uncover some common employer needs and expectations. I want you to gather job postings like job boards on Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and, of course, Indeed. I want you to highlight the key phrases in these job postings. Underline any terms like problem solving. Cross functional collaboration or leadership when you're going through these job descriptions. And finally, I want you to create a traits table. I want you to organize findings to spot patterns for future roles ahead. Next, let's talk about assessing employer values, finding the cultural fit. Just like NPC factions in games, companies have their own values, and they signal these in job description postings. Let's go over a few of them. Company phrase, what it says about the culture, work life balance. This means values, well being, and reasonable workloads, commitment to innovation. When employers say this, what they really mean is that they encourage creativity and risk taking in their environment. Collaborative culture. Means teamwork and support are key here, competitive compensation. This likely means that they pay well, but you may expect some high performance when you're working here. When researching the company culture, use Glass Door and indeed reviews to analyze the following. These sites are really helpful to really understand what's really going on behind closed doors. Like employer feedback on management, work life balance, and career growth, common phrases like great mentorship or even red flags like toxic environment, we'll go more into details about how to spot red flags later in the course, trends in company values that align or conflicts with your goals. Now, I know I know I mentioned Glassdoor a lot in this course, but it's a really good resource not a lot of job seekers know about. It helped me do actual research on a company and really get a good understanding on what employees past and present, currently think about the company. Here's an interactive quest for you to do. Evaluate the company's culture. I want you to assess the culture of three or five companies in your field and do the following. Look them up on Glassdoor or indeed or even LinkedIn as well. I want you to analyze the reviews for key phrases like great mentorship or lack of flexibility, and I need you to compare those terms and line them up with your goals and ask yourself, does this culture actually match with what I want to do in my career? Now that you know how to decode and read job descriptions and find out the culture fit of a company, it's time to apply what you learn and level up your application process. Use the identified keywords that we talked about in this lesson to level up your resume and cover letter to match the employer's needs. Now you know how to decode those job descriptions and really do some research on glass door and indeed. Highlight those experiences and demonstrate your key skills, like the problem solving or the self starter approach when you go through the application process. And here's a bonus cheat code for you for success here. You need to stay observant. Small details and job descriptions can reveal the company's culture and expectations and also compare. You need to compare these postings throughout the ones that you look up and apply to. Tracking the patterns show what's really in demand, so you can really hone in on the skills that you need to focus on. If you have those skills, that's great. If you don't, now you know what you need to level up. By analyzing NPC dialogue and employer values, you will make smarter career choices and tailor your job hunt effectively. And most importantly, level up faster. In the next lesson, we're going to talk about how to spot red flags in job postings and how to avoid them. I'll see you in the next lesson. 8. 2-3A. Red Flags in Job Postings: Welcome to Lesson 23 A, Red Flags and job postings. Let's face it. Not all job postings are created equal. Some contain subtle or glaring red flags that signal potential issues with the role, company or even the work environment. Mastering the skill of identifying these warning signs early can save you time, stress, and even protect your career trajectory. Understanding red flags and job postings is essential because they indicate poor career culture, such as high turnover, lack of leadership, or even toxic environments, unrealistic expectations. Think overloaded roles, low pay for high responsibility or even lack of clear job structure. And lastly, potential scams. Think fake job postings, identifying theft risk or worse companies with questionable hiring practices. Recognizing these signs early will help you focus your efforts on only quality opportunities and avoid wasting time on roles that could negatively impact you and your job search and even your career. We're going to be going over five different things to look at when you're trying to spot red flags. The first one unrealistic salaries, too high or even too low, vague or abitious job descriptions, excessive requirements, think unicorn candid kind of mentality, over emphasis on perks, without the substance and lastly, negative or even defensive language. Let's dive into these red flags you should be looking out for. So the first one unrealistic salaries, either too high, or too low. This is what you need to be looking out for when you're looking at the job. Look at the compensation. Specifically, look above or below the industry standard for similar roles. Lack of salary transparency, using vague phrases like competitive pay, what to look out for. The compensation is significantly above or even below the industry average for similar roles. The lack of salary and transparency, using vague phrases like competitive pay in their verbiage. High salaries for entry level roles without a clear justification for them. Sales jobs with unlimited earning potential, but no base pay listed. Why is this a red flag? You may ask? A salary that seems too good to be true might be a bait and switch tactic for job seekers. Salaries that are too low often means poor company financials or the undervaluing of their employees. Lack of clarity could indicate hidden expectations like underpaid overtime, commission only pay or role misrepresentation. So what to do when you come across these roles? Research the salary data on places like Glassdoor and pay scale. Look for the salary transparency in reputable companies that list specific pay rages on their job descriptions. If the company refused to discuss salary upfront, that's a huge warning sign. Number two, vague or ambitious job descriptions. This is what you need to be looking out for. Job description that's a little vague when it comes to their wording. Think of things like assist with projects or handle tasks as a sign, overuse of buzzwords without clear explanations such as rock star employee or wearing many hats. Oh. Why is this a red flag? Companies with vague descriptions may not know what they want, leading to the role creep, where responsibilities expand beyond the original job description. Ambitious roles often lead to burnout, lack of structure, and worse, high turnover. It may also indicate a lack of leadership or even poor communication within the organization. Here's what to do when you come across jobs like this. Request clarity, doing interviews, and ask specific duties, performs expectations. And reporting structure. You could also check with employee reviews on Glassdoor and indeed to see if employees mention any job role confusion. And lastly, avoid job postings that use generic templates with minimum detail about the role. It'll save you a lot of time when you're on the hunt. Number three, excessive requirements. Think the unicorn candidate. This is what you need to be looking out for. When you see job descriptions like, for instance, entry level roles, two plus years of experience for entry level role. That doesn't make sense. It's like jumbo shrimp. It's oxymoron, expecting expertise in multiple unrelated fields. For example, requiring a software developer to also know social media, that doesn't make sense. Requesting niche skills that only a handful of candidates would process. Why is this a red flag? It signals unrealistic expectations from the employer. The company may be trying to hire one person for multiple jobs instead of investing in proper staffing. Over qualification requirements limit diverse and eliminate talented candidates who don't check every single box. Here's what you could do this scenario. Apply if you meet at least 70 to 80% of the requirements. Most employers don't expect 100%. If they do, they're not getting any candidates anytime soon. Look at similar roles at other companies and check to see if they require the same level of experience. If the job is reposted frequently, it may indicate a hire manager with unrealistic standards. So keep that in mind. Number four, over emphasis on perks without substance, what to look out for. Job descriptions focusing on free snacks, happy hours and ping pong tables while ignoring salaries, growth opportunities, or even work life balance. The lack of mention of career development, mentorship, or even training opportunities. And lastly, emphasis on a fun culture without outlining concrete employer benefits and PTO and health insurance or even career progression. Why is this a red flag? Some companies use trendy perks to distract from deeper issues such as low pay, burnout, or even poor leadership. You need to keep your eyes open when you're reading these job descriptions. All between lines. Perks are not a substitute for salary, benefits or career growth. You need to stay focused and understand these things when you're reading through job descriptions. So here's what to do about them. Look at reviews from current employees and really lean into them. Do they feel value beyond the perks? During the interview, ask about long term opportunities and professional growth. Number five, negative or defensive language. Here's what to look out for when it comes to different phrases in job descriptions. If you see lines like this, it might be a red flag. Must be able to wear many hats, over emphasis on strict rules or dealing with difficult challenges. Any wording that makes the role sound more demanding than rewarding. When you come across these kind of phrases, your alarm bells should be ringing. It suggests burnout culture, lack of boundaries, and poor leadership. It also indicates high stress, understaffing, or unreasonable expectations for the role. The company may have high turnover and low employee satisfaction as well, so be aware of those. When you get your foot in the door for an interview, you need to ask about work life balance during the interview. Make sure you research the turnover rates on LinkedIn. If people don't stay too long, that's a red flag. Look at glass door reviews to see if employees mention anything about toxic culture or unrealistic workloads. Researching to confirm red flags. Okay. So once you spot the potential issues, you need to dig deeper to verify your concerns. Here's some tools and sites that can help you with your search. Glass Door and indeed reviews. Look for patterns of negative feedback, such as complaints about management, uncleared job roles, or high turnover. Check how long employees typically stay. If turnover is high, that's a bad sign. Use LinkedIn insights. Research how long employees typically stay for at a company. Also, check to see if the company is frequently hiring for the same position, which could also indicate strong turnover issues as well. It's like a open revolving door, if you could picture that. You could also check the company's website and even their social media pages as well for this. Look for clear mission statements and values and see how they engage with their employees and even their customers online. It makes you get a better picture of what's going on internally. And externally as well. So here's the interactive quest for you for this module. I want you to practice identifying the red flags in real world job postings. So here's the steps to complete this quest. Number one, find a job posting. Use job boards like Indeed and Glass door. Or LinkedIn, but make sure you apply directly to the company's site if you're using LinkedIn. Highlight the red flags. Look for any vague descriptions or unrealistic salaries or even excessive requirements based off of what we talked about in this course. And finally, complete an analysis table while on the job hunt. Trust for instincts, if something feels off and investigate before applying, ask questions in interviews and inquire about expectations, work culture, and turnover rates, the hard hitting questions. And lastly, focus on fit. The best roles align with your skills, your values, and your career goals. By mastering red flag detection, you'll navigate the job market more effectively and choose opportunities that truly align with your career. In the next lesson, we're going to talk about how to spot companies red flags when researching a company. I'll see you in the next lesson. 9. 2-3B. Toxic Guild Signs (Company Red Flags): Welcome to Lesson 2-3 B Toxic Gil signs, AKA Company Red Flags. In gaming, joining the wrong guild or group can lead to frustration, drama, and burnout. The same thing applies to jobs. Your career. Choosing a toxic company can stall your career, drain your energy, and impact your well being. This module will help you identify red flags in company culture before you accept an offer, ensuring you join a workforce that supports your growth and your success. Why company culture matters? Even if a job looks perfect on paper, the work environment can make or break your experience long term. Let's go over some examples of this. Toxic cultures can lead to burnout, stress, and lack of career growth, while healthy cultures provide career progression, support, and proper work life balance. By researching a company's culture before joining, you can avoid career traps and find workplaces that align with your goal or going to go over some common toxic gill signs when thinking about working at a company. High turnover rates. Employees are leaving fast. If you come across this, this is what you need to look out for. Many employees leave within one, maybe even two years. This can be visible on Linktn and on Glassdoor. A next one is the same job is reposted frequently, suggesting constant turnover. Job descriptions mention fast pace or high energy as code for burnout. So be wary of that. Why? It's a red flag? High turnover often means poor management, unclear expectations, or just a negative work. Culture. Also, low job satisfaction forces employees to leave quickly. I got to go fast out the door. So here's what you can do about it. Use LinkedIn to check how long companies stay. If a company is always hiring for the same role, that's a warning sign for you. Negative employee reviews, the ghost of employees past. What to look out for. Glassdoor slash Indeed Reviews mentioned recurring issues. Some of these issues are things like toxic leadership, lack of work life balance. No career growth. Employees frequently describe the company as stressful, chaotic, or even in some cases, just poorly managed. Why is this a red flag? Repeated complaints suggest deep systemic issues that aren't being fixed year after year. Even if some of the reviews are a little extreme, look for patterns. Consistent negative feedback based around one issue across different employees in different time frames is a problem. It's being brought up, but it's not being fixed at the core. This is what you can do about it. Focus on reviews from recent employees. Let's just say the last one to two years. You can also compare feedback across multiple sites like Glassdoor, indeed, and even Red it if you could find the company that you're looking for on there. It's a good resource to check what's really going on from within. Next is no clear career progression, stuck on the level one Quest forever. Here's what to look out for. There's no mention of promotions or career growth in the job postings. Employees stagnate in roles for years without moving upwards, no mentorship, no training or professional development opportunities. Why is this a red flag? Companies that don't invest in employees often see low morale and high turnover rates because of it. It also shows a lack of internal promotions meaning you might hit a dead end in your career growth very quickly. But here's what you can do about it. Doing interviews, make one of your questions based around this specific issue. Ask about promotions and learning opportunities while working at the company. Make sure you look for any tone shifts in the recruiter or the hiring managers feedback and follow up on that answer. You'll know. You can also check LinkedIn and see if people are advancing in the company. Or do they just leave for better roles elsewhere? The proof is in the pudding. Next, we're going to talk about overly defensive company responses. Blame the player, but not the game. Here's what you need to be looking out for this part. Companies responding negatively or dismissively on glass door reviews or indeed reviews. Instead of acknowledging issues, they blame past employees. Now, this doesn't come up a lot. When it does, you need to be ready for it. They show no effort to improve or engage constructively with feedback. Feedback is great, good or bad as long as you learn and act on it. Here's why it's a red flag. Defensive behavior suggests poor leadership and a lack of accountability. It shows that a company doesn't take ownership at all. If a company can't handle criticism, then likely won't support employees properly in the long run. Here's what you can do while looking for a company on either Glassdoor or on Indeed for this specific issue. Make sure you read how companies respond to negative feedback online. Do they offer solutions or do they just blame past employees? Now we're going to go into other warning signs that may pop up. Let's say, for instance, you look on the company's website and you come across the mission statement, but it's a vague mission and values. If a company's values sound so generic and don't align with how employees describe their experience in these reviews, it might be just for show, non transparent salary and benefits. Companies that refuse to discuss salary upfront in job descriptions or even in interviews may be hiding low pay or unfair compensation. Over work complaints, when you come across reviews, they mention constant overtime, unrealistic expectations or worse, lack of work life balance. Here's what you could do about this. If the benefits and salary are unclear even after the reviews, that's a bad sign. Compare the company's stated values with the employee's feedback that you see online and ask yourself, do they match? Searching a company for red flags. Uncover potential toxic signs, do deep research before accepting a job, it will put you in a better spot when on the job hunt. I know I mentioned it a lot in this, but it's super, super helpful for you to do your homework. Places like glass door and indeed reviews help you in the long run. It helps you look for patterns or complaints. Not just one off bad reviews. I pays attention to the company's culture and values and also the work life balance ratings from actual employees. On LinkedIn, you can also look at the employee insights as well. Look for company progression as well. Do people move up in the company or people just kind of plateau and just leave after a year or two. Also, check to see if the company has any recent layoffs. That's a huge, huge sign that things can change on a dime. It isn't stable. Next, we're going to talk about the company's website and social media. Compare their public branding with the real feedback that they're getting from their employees. Do they highlight diversity, work life balance is in there, and is the company satisfaction even good? And lastly, is the employee satisfaction actually show that they actually care about these things? Industry forms and also read it. Employees oftentimes share unfiltered experience on niche platforms. Google News search. Look for any layoffs, scandals or even legal issues that the company may be facing before you even get into the interview so you know what you're getting yourself into. So here's your interactive quest for this lesson. Research a company's toxic signs. If they have any, I want you to analyze a company you're interested in to see if you can come across any toxic gill signs. Just choose one company and pick a job posting or a company that you're considering, check their glass door and indeed reviews and find trends in employee complaints, analyze the linked in data. So review three to maybe even four people who worked at the company and check to see how long do the employees stay for. Look for red flags, identify signs of poor culture or high turnover. And lastly, guild analysis table that's going to be in the core description for this lesson. If your research raises concerns during your job hunt, use the interviewing process to dig deeper and get some answers from the people that you're interviewing. I'll be going over some questions you could ask in these interviews as well. So ask about career growth, and here's an example of that question. Can you share some examples of employees who have been promoted internally? Next is work life balance question. And that's something like, what's the typical workday look like for this role? And here's a turnover rate question you could throw in. What has been the team's turnover like in the past year? Next, if you want to learn more about the management style, you ask this. How does leadership handle employee feedback? What is the process of acting on that feedback? That's a good one because it's a follow up within a question. So they have to definitely think about how they answer for that one. Here's a cheat code for you as well. If the hiring manager gets defensive or dodges the question, that's a major red flag. Pay attention to what's going on in the interviewing process. Remember, the interviewing process is a two way street. You're trying to see if the company is a good fit for you and your career. So a bad job can derail your career progress, just like a bad gill can ruin your gaming experience. Or a hacker and a Call of Duty match. Let's face it, we come from cross those hackers in these multiplayer matches. But by identifying toxic gill signs early, you'll make smarter career choices and find a company that values you. In the next lesson, we're going to talk about how to find and avoid ghost jobs in postings. I'll see you in the next lesson. 10. 2-4A. What Are Ghost Jobs and how to spot them?: Welcome to 24 A. What are ghost jobs and how to spot them? Have you ever applied to a job that just seems like a perfect fit only to hear nothing back for a few weeks or even months? You might have encountered a ghost job. Ghost jobs are just postings that look legitimate that aren't actively being filled. These postings often serve other purposes for the company like gathering resumes or just boosting their public image. Understanding ghost jobs is essential for job seekers on the job hunt. Applying to too many of them can be a waste of time for you, lower your confidence, make you frustrated, and just stall your job search progress altogether. By learning to identify them early, you can focus on real opportunities that lead to career success. In this module, we're going to go over the concept of ghost jobs, why they exist, and how to identify them during the job search to save you time, effort, and just frustration. Why do ghost jobs exist? Companies don't always post jobs with the intention to hire immediately. Instead, they might have some strategic or even financial reasons for posting active jobs. So let's go over a few of them. Number one, talent pooling, stocking the bench. The purpose of this is companies post jobs to build a database of candidates for future hiring needs. So, for example, let's just say a video game developer, studio, post an entry level QA test role. To gather resumes, even though they aren't hiring until next year, what this means for you, the job seeker. If a company is collecting resumes, you might not hear back soon or in a lot of cases at all. Thanks, they do it because of salary betch marking, testing the market. The purpose of this is that companies post jobs to analyze salary expectations from applicants. Yeah you heard me right. They use it to analyze people and what the job market is asking for for this specific role. So, for example, a software company post a mid level software engineer position to see salaries candidates expect before setting their budget for the next quarter. What this means for you if a company isn't serious about hiring application might only be used just for data collection. Next, we're going to be talking about employer branding, looking successful. The purpose of this is that some companies use job postings to appear as if they're growing, even when they're just stagnant and they're just not. Example of this is that a small startup post jobs to attract investors and other angel investors by making it seem like they're expanding rapidly. What this means for you is that a job posting that never seems to be closed could be more public perception than real hiring. And lastly, they do it because of pipeline management. They're preparing for sudden needs. The purpose of this is that companies keep postings open to have potential hires ready if the business conditions change. An example of this is, let's say a marketing agency post a content strategist position, even though they don't currently have a contract requiring that role, if they land a big client, they'll contact applicants as soon as they're ready. So what this means for you? Your resume may be sitting in a future opportunities folder for a short time or worse indefinitely. While ghost jobs can be hard to spot, they often have common warning signs for you to look out for. So let's go over a few ways to kind of bust this ghost. Number one, vague or recycled job descriptions. Here's the signs that you need to be looking out for. The job description is overly generic. Using phrases like seeking passionate individuals without specific responsibilities really spelled out for the job seeker to read and understand. The same job is posted repeatedly sometimes with slight wording changes. No mention of the team structure, reporting lines, or even key projects. What this means for you? If the post lacks clarity or keeps appearing every few months or so, it may not be a generin opening at all. Number two, lack of updates or feedback. Here's the signs that you need to be looking out for this one. Posting has been active for months without no updates, radio silent. After applying, you don't receive any acknowledgment or follow ups. Sometimes it may take a month, but if it takes more than that, that's when it gets a little spooky. The company never closes the job listing even after multiple hiring cycles. So every time when you apply for a job, you get rejected, you see you pop up again, that means it's probably a ghost shop. So this is what it means for you. Companies that are slow to engage with applicants may not be urgently hiring. It's a ghost shop, for sure. So put them in your ghost job section when you come across that role again. Number three is overly broad qualifications. And here's a few signs of this. The requirements seem overly flexible, such as two plus years of experience in any field. Very vague. The postings combine unrelated skills. So, for example, must know graphic design coding and market strategy without a clear role as many hats for one job. The salary doesn't align with the experience level required. What this means for you? Companies that post jobs with unrealistic or even vague requirements may not be actively hiring. So this is definitely a ghost job that you need to be aware of. And lastly, number four, word of mouth confirmation. When you reach out to employees, and they mentioned that the role isn't actively being filled. Recruiters or hiring managers vaguely respond with, we're always looking for great talent, but don't provide any hiring timelines. What this means for you? If current employees suggest the job isn't a real opening, it's best to move on. So here are some strategies to handle ghost jobs when you come across them on your job hunt. If you suspect a job is a ghost job, don't waste time applying blindly. Use these strategies to filter out the fake opportunities and prioritize the real ones, so you won't get frustrated or waste time on your job hunt. So the first one is research the posting. Search Linktn to see if the company has filled similar roles in the past. Read employee reviews on Glassdoor to check if others mention a slow hiring process. This one's important. Next is look for red flags in the communication side of things. Recruiter gives you vague or non committal responses, the role may not be that urgent for them if you come across something like that. And lastly, prioritize active openings. Apply for jobs that's been posted within 30 days, they're likely to be more urgent. You could check this at the top or at the bottom of job descriptions when you apply on places like indeed, for instance, work with employees to confirm the role status before applying. You could do this on places like Linkedn reaching out to people, networking, connecting with people, and seeing if the role is even real. So here's your interactive quest for spotting Ghost jobs. Want you to practice, identify potential ghost job postings during your job search. So here's some steps to complete this quest. So, number one, choose a job post. Find a role on LinkedIn, class Door, OnD and get to hunting. Number two, analyze the job. Look for vague descriptions or excessively long posting dates when you're applying to jobs. I want you to investigate the company's recent hiring activity, as well. You can find this in Glass Door underneath the company's reviews. And lastly, of course, I want you to document your findings in the ghost job tracker, which is going to be in the course description of this lesson. And here's some cheat codes for you as well to help you with this quest. So the first one is leveraging your network on Linkn. Directly connect with employers or hiring managers to verify if the role is even real. You just need a yes or no answer. That's all. Number two, track your application. Using a job hunting tool like Hunter, or you can use an Excel spreadsheet to monitor response rates as well. And lastly, I want you to focus on fresh postings. Apply to jobs that have been posted within 30 days for a higher chance of engagement. If you see something that's two months plus, that's going to be an issue. So those jobs are unavoidable, and they're honestly part of the modern job market process. But they don't have to drain you of your time your energy. By intensifying warning signs and applying smart strategies, you will avoid wasting effort on fake opportunities and instead focus on real career and job hunting advancements. You shouldn't be afraid of no ghost after this lesson. But to be safe, I want you to take the going ghost quiz just to be sure. I'll see you in the next lesson. 11. 3-1A. Crafting a Tier 1 Resume: Welcome to Lesson 31 A, crafting a tier one resume. Most job seekers get stuff because their resumes are messy, generic, or not optimized for the job that they're applying to. And in a competitive market, that's showing up to a boss fight with broken gear. Tier one resume is your strongest weapon in the job market. A resume does one thing. Get you in the door for an interview boss fight. Think of it like your loadout in a game. If you're going into battle unprepared, you're going to get wrecked. But if you optimize your gear, you'll stand out and dominate the job hunting game. Let's go over a few reasons why your resume needs to be tier one before you click SN. You need to pass the ATS filters. ATS stands for applicant tracking system. Think of it as an electronic file cabinet that talent acquisition specialists and recruiters use on their day by day basis. This software basically scans your resumes and keep all the resumes in order. If yours isn't formatted properly, it won't ever get seen. You need to grab the resume's attention. Resumes don't have a very long shelf life. Recruiters skim through resumes, and it normally takes them 7.6 seconds, sometimes faster if they don't see what they need fast. They move on to the next person. And lastly, it needs to position you as the right fit. Your resume should make it crystal clear why you're perfect for the role. So let's go over some key components of a tier one resume. Number one, you need clear formatting. Keep it clean and readable. Use a clean professional loadout with consistent fonts and spacing. We're going to go over what those fonts would be later in the course. Prioritize readability with bullet points and selection headers. It needs to be clear what these recruiters are reading to make it easier on them so they can get to the information that they need. Signs of good formatting. No cluttered sections or inconsistent styles. Key information that is easy to locate on your resume. Think your contact details, your summary, and your achievements that you've gotten throughout your career. Number two, concise language. Get to the point. Avoid any jargon or long complex sentences when you're going through your resumes. Use action verbs and quantifiable results to highlight your high impact, the impact that you brought to your past companies. Here's an example of how to upgrade for this. So you have before, which is responsible for managing a team, but after the level up, it reads something like this. Led a team of ten achieving 20% productivity increase. Number three, job relevance. Tailor your resume for every application. Keep in mind, different companies are looking for different things. To better your chances of the job hunt, customize your resume to match the job description. There's ways to do this efficiently, and there's ways to do this very hard. Use keywords from the job postings to optimize for the ATS. Keep in mind, the hiring manager and the recruiter makes these job descriptions, so the proof is in the job description. Here's a cheat code for you as well. Use job postings as a guide to structure your resume and prioritize to write skills so you could be a good fit for that role. Also, make sure you can speak on every skill that's listed. Don't add any fluff that you can't back up in the interview. At the end of the day, you're doing the job. So now this part of the module, we're going to go over some tools and resources to help you level up that resume to a tier one. The first one is resume tracking and a template tool called Hunter. This tool has a lot of features in it, but I want to focus on what's included in the free version of it. They provide a few options for templates, but the three I would use, in this case, is classic cheddar or hemlock. Others don't read very well in the ATS system. It also has a built in applicant tracker to keep track of where you applied. The free version will give you about 100 slots, and the paid version gives you unlimited. When you're on the job hunt, it's important to keep track of the roles that you apply to. So you know where you land when you're on the job hunt. Data always tells the story next up are some best practices to keep in mind when you're making your resume. This is where you're gearing up for the boss fight. Ensure your resume includes the following a professional summary that sells your value key achievements with quantifiable results. Think time, day, result, and consistent formatting across all sections. Remember, it's going to be reading like a book. Now that you have a better understanding of the key things that goes into a resume, I want you to take action and build one from scratch. Here's an interactive quest for you, building your resume gear. So step one, take a self assessment to identify your key strengths. Your task is to list your top four skills, achievements, and also experiences relevant to your target job. You should already have this from Module one, building your character. Incorporate these into your resume naturally. Don't just copy and paste. Remember, it needs to flow well. Step four, proof read and refine for maximum impact. So this is where you need to check for any typos and grammar mistakes you can use grammarly or you could just run it through chat GPT, or other AI systems that you might use. Check for consistency in formatting and bullet points. Here's some more pro tips for resume crafting. Quantify your achievements, use numbers to show that impact. So here's an example of that. Increase customer retention by 15% in one year. It ties it up as a nice boat, and it shows your value that you bring to the table. Prioritize relevant skills, match your real experience with the job description. Now, a very good way to do this is by using the star method, which is basically situation, task, action, and result when you're thinking about crafting your bullet points for your different experiences. Also, keep it brief. If you have less than seven years of experience, I would go with a one page resume. If you have seven plus years of experience, two to three pages is the max. Remember, recruiters don't spend that much time on resumes. 7.6 seconds, sometimes shorter. A tier one resume makes you look like a professional, well prepared candidate, not just another job seeker. Remember, the company is hiring someone to solve a problem. You need to show them why you're a good fit for the role. Remember, data always tells a story, and it shows upper management that you understand your work. That's the che code to building a tier one resume. Always add value first. The better you align your resume to their needs, the higher chances of you getting an interview invite for the interview boss fight. In the next lesson, we're going to talk about how to enhance your resume with enchantments, achievement based bullet points. I'll see you in the next lesson. 12. 3-2A. Enhancing Your Resume with Enchantments: Achievement-Based Bullet Points: Welcome to Lesson 3-2 A, enhancing your resume with enchantments Achievement base bullet points. Achievement based bullet points level up your resume by showcasing the value you bring with measurable results. Instead of listing what you did, you highlight the impact you made at the companies that you currently work for and O used to work for. Imagine you're a rogue in an RPG. Would you rather say pick pockets or successfully infiltrated ten enemy strongholds undetected, acquiring rare loot worth 5,000 gold. You see the difference here? Employers want impact, not just task. So craft bullet points that prove you're the hero they need on their team. Key elements of achievement based bullet points. Number one, the metrics to quantify your impact. Here's the essentials for this. You focus on outcomes like increased revenues, reduced costs, or improve efficiency. Use numbers to paint a clear picture of your success. Here's an example of displaying this on your resume. Before, you'll have something like manage social media accounts if you're a content creator or social media manager. If you level that up to something like this, increase social media engagement by 30% in six months through targeted content. It's more clear cut. It's more defined. Here's a cheat code for you as well. Use percentages, dollar amounts, or time frames whenever possible. This makes it a lot easier when it comes to showing what you did, the value that you bring to the table. Next is start with action verbs. So begin each bullet point with a strong action verb like lead, develop streamline. Action verbs make your contributions sound more dynamic, more impactful, more, more punchy. And here's some fiery examples for you. I led a team of five to increase sales by 15%, developed a new marketing strategy that boost that boosted consumer acquisition by 25%. Think of action verbs as your special abilities. They make your impact pop right off the resume. Next up, we have align your company goals. Show how your contributions align with what the company values. Think revenue growth, customer satisfaction, efficiency, things like that. You can see some of that thing in their social media and mission statement. Think of it as completing a quest for your employer. They have a problem, and your achievement shows that you solved that problem before in the past. So here's an example. Before you have handled customer inquiries for a call center, let's just say for that, for example, after you level it up with this, resolve company's inquiries within 24 hours, improving customer satisfaction by 15%. So here's some downloadable tools for writing effective bullet points. You'll find them in the course description. Action verbs list. Power up your resume with dynamic language, how to identify and use metrics. Learn how to measure your impact in your past, how to gather metrics without specialized tools, finding ways to quantify your work without using data reports. So here's an interactive quest for you for this lesson. I want you to rewrite your bullet points and transform your basic responsibilities into achievement driven statements. I want you to pick three bullet points from your resume that describe what you did. Next, I want you to quantify the impact. If your bullets doesn't have metrics, you need to add some numbers, some time frames, and or percentages to those bullet points. Remember, metrics and data always tells a story when it comes to C suite and upper management. So here's an example. Responsible for customer outreach, increase customer outreach by 25%, leading to 10% rise in client relations over six months. Short and sweet to the point, and what's important, it's punch. Step three, action verbs and alignment. Swap out the weak phrases for action packed verbs and connect them to the company's goals at hand. And here's an example of this. Develop marketing strategies, you level that up and to develop a new marketing strategy that increased customer acquisition by 25%. It shows what you've done, but it also shows the impact to your work as well. It goes hand in hand. So let's go over a few more just so you start to get the picture. So before you have things manage social media accounts, handle customer inquiries, or develop marketing strategies. After you level that up in a sense, and you get bullet points like this, increase engagement by 30% over six months through targeted content or resolve customer inquiries within 24 hours involving satisfaction. Improving satisfaction by 15%. And next, we have created a marketing campaign that boosted sales by 20%. Data always tells a story and it's more punchy this way when you have bullets like this on your resume. Here's some more pro tips for resume impact. You got to be specific. Use real numbers to back up your achievements. Next, you have to have things like tailored to your job alignment, bullet points with the job postings. You got to keep it relevant. Only include metrics that strengthen your case, and you got to be able to speak upon these metrics as well. So by reviewing your resume with achievement based bullet points, you'll prove your worth to employers before you even step into the interviewing boss. So the next steps from here, I want you to complete the interactive quest. Share your updated resume with a mentor or peer for feedback. You could share it with me, and I'll give you some pointers on it. Use these bullet points in your job applications to highlight your real impact, your real story, what you bring to the table. And lastly, I want you to download these tools to help you boost your resume power level. It will be in the course description. The action verbs list, how to gather and use metrics without specialized tools, how to identify and use metrics for various job types. In the next lesson, we're going to be talking about how to eliminate common errors on your resume. I'll see you in the next lesson. 13. 3-3A. Eliminate Common Errors: Welcome to Lesson 3-3 A, Eliminating common errors. Ever wonder why your resume isn't getting callbacks? Maybe it's curse. No, not really. Resume mistakes can haunt your job search like a bad RNG role in Boulders gate three. What I'm talking about. You've got only 7.4 seconds to make an impression on a recruiter, and if they spot a typo or a junkie formatting, the games over. Let's make sure your resume is polished, professional, and ready to win the job hunting game. Here's the five biggest resume mistakes that could be costing you interviews and how to fix them, as well. Mistake number one. Typos and spelling errors. A single typo makes recruiters question your attention to detail. Run your resume through grammarly word, or you can even use chat GPT to fix up your grammar issues as well. You could also read it out loud. Your brain catches mistakes better that way. It send it to a friend or mentor for a second look. Sometimes a second pair of eyes is always helpful, always needed. Think of it as debugging code. One wrong character, and the whole thing breaks. Mistake number two, inconsistent formatting. Your resume should look clean and organized, not like some chaotic inventory screen that we've seen so many times in some video. Use only one font throughout the resume. Simple fonts like Ariel and Kamari using a size of ten between 12 is usually the sweet spot. Make sure bullet points are aligned and consistent. Oftentimes, I like to save my resume like a PDF to preserve formatting across devices. So you don't have any issues when you put yourself out there for companies. If your resume looks like a mishmash character loadout, recruiters won't take the time to sort through it. You got to make it nice and easy for them to read through it so they could pick the best choice, which is you. Mistake number three, irrelevant information. Putting things like your high school debate club is not necessarily on your resume. They don't care. They care about the skills that you bring to the table. Remove outdated details like high school achievements, if you have college experience or better yet work experience. Tailor your resume to the job, only to include what's relevant for the role. They're looking for a specific puzzle piece, so keep that in mind. If it doesn't match the job description, it's just taking up space on your resume. Keep that in mind. Mistake number four, overloading your resume with buzzwords. Recruiters see team player and hardworking so often, they even hear spearhead, as well, which is something they see in a lot. It means nothing to them. Instead, replace your generic buzzwords with specific, measurable achievements. So here's an example for you. Before you have improved sales skills and a great team player, not as punchy as increased sales by 25% in six months through targeted outreach. It's something that adds value to companies, and it's what they're looking for. Think of it like unlocking a new skill. Numbers and metrics make you way more valuable when you're on the job hunt. And the last one mistake number five. Or contact information placement. If recruiters can't find your email, phone number, or your LinkedIn, or even your portfolio, how will they contact you? So this is how you fix it. Put your name, email, phone number, and LinkedIn profile at the top of your resume. Make sure you have the whole link for the LinkedIn profile. Some recruiters are a little leery on clicking on links that they don't know where it's aiming them to. Save your file as first name, last name, job description title. It makes you easier to find in their databases, and it makes it easy for recruiters to reach out. Don't make them play detective when it comes to looking for your resume. Now that you know what to look out for before you submit your resume, I want you to take on this quest and fix your resume. I want you to spot the mistakes. Think of any typos, formatting issues, and weak bullet points. I also want you to rewrite your bullet points as well. Remember, you add metrics and some strong action verbs. You should have them from the past module as well. Next, I want you to save it correctly. Remember, your name, your email, your job title in one clean format. Once you do all this, small fixes will equate to a big impact. In the lesson description, you should see some buffs that I left for you to help you power up. Your resume. Download don't be like Mario resume. A guide on common resume fails as well as the checklist that Link wish he has in his toolkit. Here's some last pro tips to help you through this as well. Take a break before proof reading. Job hunting can sometimes feel like a job, sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can catch more mistakes. So take some rest throughout the day. Your resume is your character sheet for the job. Market. Make sure it's optimized, error free, and ready to level your career up. I'll see you in the next lesson. 14. 3-4A. Side Arms: Overcoming Career Gaps in resumes: Welcome to Lesson 3-4 A side arms, Overcoming career gaps and resumes. Career Gaps used to be this taboo thing. But in today's world, they're actually more common than rare. Just think about it for a second. Family responsibilities, education, layoffs, mental health resets, exploring new directions, pandemics. I've seen them all as someone who's worked in talent acquisition and recruitment for years. And you know what? Employers today are looking for one thing, authenticity. Let's say your career is an RPG. Then these moments in between the roles is the moment you learn, you grind for more xP and pick up the skills you didn't even know you needed for your career. So let's go over some of the ways you can reframe your career graphs in your resume. Part one. Highlight the skills you gain. Ask yourself, what did I learn from this career gap? Let's say you needed to take care of a loved one when you was in between jobs. Caregiving is a skill you can earn during this time. So when you're thinking about it, frame it like this. Improve time management and crisis resolution skills while managing a household and taking care of a loved one. What if you did your research on new tools that's popping up in your industry and when you come across these job descriptions and wanted to add that skill to your tool kit. Education is another reason for a career gap. So frame that like this, completing a certification in to the valuable skill and the market wants here, expanding my technical tool kit. Some cases, you're in between jobs due to a layoff. Trust me, I understand where you're coming from with this one. You can use this time to pivot into a new industry altogether if things aren't looking so good for the current industry that you're in. Exploring new careers that you can use your skills is a wonderful reason for career gap. So frame it like this, tested and refine my skills in freelancing while developing my skills into the industry here. Remember, every side quest comes hidden stats. You just got to think how this that can benefit the skills you already have and how this can help the next company or the next person you want to work with. Part two, show continuous growth. Don't leave that side quest blank. If you have a year gap on your resume, talent acquisition specialists, recruiters, and most importantly, hiring managers will ask you what happened during that time frame? If this happens, ask yourself, how did I stay active, curious or productive during that time frame. Here's an example of how I would frame this if I was questioned in an interview. During my gap, I took an online course in game design and collaborated with a discord community on a pixel art prototype. It helped me stay sharp while exploring what's next for me and my career. Keep in mind that this isn't a pause. It's just a training montage for you, Part three. Connect your quest to your career path. Different side quests can play a role in your main quest. In this case, that's getting a job. Oftentimes, what we gain during the side Quest can open our mind to new viewpoints of our careers. When facing a career gap, in this case, ask yourself this, how does this experience help me in the job I'm applying to? And how does it add value to the next company I'm working with? So let's look at an example of how you could frame freelancing, for instance, to help your main quest of looking for work. Freelancing during my career gap, helped me develop client communication skills which directly support my ability to manage cross functional teams in game development. This is how you bridge the journey and show that everything you did during your career gaps matters for the ultimate goal, which is working at the company that you're applying to. So now let's look over crafting resume bullets for career gaps. Here's how to make solid bullet points and lower a change of awkward explanations or hiding the truth from companies because that's something that you definitely don't want to do in your resume. So, number one, reframe the gap to reflect growth. Here's some good examples of some bullet points. Professional Development quest 2022-2023. Completed a Uniti course, focus on level design for a personal project. Designed an Indie game prototype with a remote team. Number two, use a hybrid resume format. Mix skills based and chronological format. Focus more on what you did not when. This is especially helpful if the gap is really long. Let's say for a year or in some cases, too, you can find an example of this in the written part of this course. Number three, be honest, but keep it brief. Don't over explain. Don't overextend. Just give it context and value. Less is more in this case. You're not hiding the gap, you're owning the journey. Now, I want you to take action on this with this interactive quest. Frame your side quest, your objective is to craft a confident value packed narrative for your career gap. If you have it. Number one, identify the side quest. Think what were you doing during the gap. Number two, highlight what you've learned. What skills, certifications, projects or challenges you overcome, and what was the result of them? Number three, connected with your career goals. Once you have that, how does that experience prep you for the next adventure? ACA, the next career, the next job. So here's a few examples of before. Career Gap, 2022, 2023, took time off for personal reasons. Level that up with this Professional Development 2022 to 2023. Completed coursework in programming, earned a certification in game analytics, and developed a mobile game prototype. You see how more results driven the second one is compared to the first one? Very vague, not to the point. Think about that when you're writing your bullet points here. And here's some more pro tips for navigating gaps. Prepare for interview questions. If you get asked about a career gap, use this in the interview. During my break, I focus on improving my skills in X, and now I'm ready to bring that value to this role. You see how smooth that is? You give them a hint of what she was doing, and plus you provide that value to the company. Number two, use cover letters to set the stage. Mention the gap with confidence in your cover letter. Keep it short, but focus on growth. I would normally keep that between two to maybe even three sentences. This is good to set up the reader so they know about the career gap before they even see your resume. Also put this in the application section if they have an enter more details here section in their application process. Remember, Job Seeker, you're not broken. You're not behind. You just took a side quest when you have a main mission active. That's all. It happens to the best of us. It happens to all of us. We're only human. Now you're back leveled up and ready for action. So the next time someone asks you about that gap in your resume, just smile and just say this. That was the quest where I picked up the exact skills you're looking for. I'll see you in the next lesson. 15. 4-1A. The Four Scroll Components of a Cover Letter: Welcome to Lesson 4-1 A, the four scroll components of a cover letter. Among the artifacts of the modern job hunt, one item remains misunderstood, overlooked and even feared. This enchanted scroll is known to most as the cover letter. Look, I get it. Writing cover letter feels like a side quest no one asked for. But when done right, it's a chance to show off your personality, make your case, and actually stand out in a pile of common applications. This is your chance to say, Hey, this is who I am. This is why I matter, and this is how I'll help your team win. We're going to go over the four sections of a good cover letter spell. Number one, the introduction. Summoning spell. The purpose of this is to grab the attention and establish the intent while also showing your care for the company that you're applying to. This is what it should include. Greet the hiring manager by name. If you could find that person, mention the specific job title you're applying for. Drop a quick hook, maybe a win, a connection, or a reason why you're excited for the role. So here's an example of what this would look like. Dear Alex Mercer, I'm excited to apply for the marketing specialist position at Ready Player One Inc, where my passion for storytelling and data driven strategy aligns perfectly with your mission to our creative brands. First impressions matter. This is your first line of dialogue in the interview boss fight. Make it memorable. Number two, the connection, the lure drop. The purpose of this is to show you've done your research. Prove you belong in the company. Here's an example of what this should look like. As a longtime admirer of Ready Player Ones Inc, dedication to innovate Marketing, I'm inspired by your recent brand Odyssey campaign. My experience managing similar creative initiatives positions me to contribute meaningfully to your team. This part is your alignment check. Show the hiring team that your backstory and their backstory is on the same path. Next section of your cover letter spell is the value. Number three, the value, your stats page. The purpose of this section is to show what you bring to the table specifically. This should include a couple of concrete achievements that you've gained in your career quest. Add metrics wherever you can, tie your skills directly to the job description and the role that you're applying to. Here's an example of what this section of the cover letter spell should look like. In my previous role as marketing coordinator, I developed a social media strategy that increased engagement by 35% and led to a 20% growth in that quarter. I'm excited to bring this results oriented approach to ready player one Inc. This is your critical hit section. Numbers talk. Data always tells a story. So make them count. And last and certainly not least the exit, the dialogue section. The purpose of this is to leave them wanting more and tell them what to do next after reading your cover letter. Here's what you should include in it. Express excitement of the role and drop a call to action. That's basically directing them to a certain point right after the cover letter. In this case, a link to your work or an invitation to connect would be best. Use a clean and professional sign off when you're doing or just match the tone of the company that you're applying to. Here's an example of what this should look like. Thank you for considering my application. I'm excited at the prospect of contributing to Ready Player O's Inc mission and would welcome the chance to talk further. Look forward to hearing from me. Think of this as your final move before initiating the conversation quest. Be bold, but you got to be clear. Now you know what goes into a great cover letter spell. Next, I want you to refine and polish it. Check for tone, check for grammar, and most importantly, check for the flow of things when it comes to your cover letter. So here's some cheat codes for enhancing your cover letter spell. Research the company and the hiring manager, so you could really personalize the letter to them. That's a good cheat code. Don't repeat your resume. Add depth and story to your cover letter. This is the chance to really tell your story here. Also, you want to keep it concise. One page max, like a great game pitch. But don't worry. I have a few power ups for you that will help you make your cover letter in the course description. So here's what's included in this description. I have cover letter templates from entry level. Mid and senior roles as well and real world examples broken down by different industries, so you can start getting a few ideas of what it'll look like in different industry. Remember, your cover letter isn't just formality. It's another area to make a first impression with heart. Think of it as a dialogue box before the final boss fight. Don't skip it, craft it, and own it. I'll see you in the next lesson. 16. 5-1A. What is Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), and how it will level you up on the Job Hu: Welcome to Lesson 5-1 A. What is generative AI Intelligence, AKA Gen AI, and how it will help you level up on the job hunt? When you're looking for work, you only have a limited amount of time in the day to actually look for work. Using Chat GPT and other generative AI intelligence, also known as AI, like copilot, Google Gemini, Claude, and even perplexity, will speed up the time to your main mission, getting a job. These are basically a type of AI that can create content like text, images, music, videos, based on patterns learned from various databases. This means you can give AI a prompt and it will respond with helpful info, ideas, edits fast, and provides some answers when you're stuck looking for work. It's better than using search engines like Bing or Google, for instance, where the information is too much. This keeps things in one place and gets you the answers without the fluf. If you're wondering what a prompt is, don't worry. I got you covered there. Basically, an AI prompt is the input you give to an AI system. Think of it like an instruction or even a request that tells the AI what you want it to do. Now that you know what it is and how to speak to it. Now we can go over some of the ways AI can assist you while on the job hunt. So use case number one, brainstorming. Let's say you're stuck on a blank page when you're writing your resume. Enter this prompt when using AI. Can you help me come up with bullet points for my resume? Here's a list of companies and time frames I used to work with the projects I worked on, the skills I used and my education. And then you just enter that information into the chat box and then boom, you have a starting point that you could work with and polish up to form into a resume. Use case number two, writing drafts. Need a cover letter or a fine tuned linked in about section. But you don't know where to start. Just feed it your background and roll. I will spin up a first draft. Keep in mind, a first draft so you can then come in and polish it up for finishing touches. Use case number three, editing and refining. Already wrote your resume or cover letter spell, but it's kind of mid. Paste it in and give it this crumb. Can you make this sound more professional while keeping it concise and to the point? And then you see it will tighten it up like a season editor without the high cost of getting one. So why use Jen AI hat GPT? Well, there's a few reasons, actually. Time saving, less time writing, more time applying and actually talking to humans. Personalized. The more details you give, the more dialed in responses you get out. It's also a learning tool. You improve by seeing how it rewrites and restructures your content. And last but not least, you can add it as another skill. By getting used to making prompts and learning how AI thinks, you can solve problems that requires full teams to solve. You be a one person army. It's leveling up your skills for the new age of looking for work and work. But all this might sound amazing, but keep in mind, you're still the main character. GNAI is powerful. Yes, we all know that at this point. But you're still the storyteller. AI gives structure, language, and option, but your voice and your story and your decisions, that's all you. AI cannot replace them. Think of it like this. You're the main antagonist, your Link, for instance, from the Legend Laselda series. And Chat GPT, and other AI, it's your wise Navid or Nav. Let's go over how to get started with one of the most common en AIs on the market. Chat GPT. Step one, set up your account. Head over to Chat GPT site or app. You could also have it as the app on your phone. Use email, Google, or an Apple login and pick between the free and the paid plans. Just to keep in mind, just to kind of give you a heads up, paid is faster and give you more capable versions, but you can use free, but it has limited uses. Step two, learn the interface. Here's the key parts of chat GPT. First, we have the prompt box. You type in your questions here. Next, we have the response area. This is where your answers would show up. Regenerate response. If you don't like the first one, you could hit it again and AI is cool with it. It will regenerate something new for you. Step three, craft your first prompt. So let's use this prompt as an example. X chat GPT to explain things for you if you want more insight on something. So for example, we could type in what is the difference between a functional and a chronological resume? Or we could even ask it, how do I describe twitch modding experience in a professional way? You can also try to get creative with these ideas as well. Here's some tips for giving better prompts. So be specific. Something like write a resume for me is tier one. AI doesn't have much to go on. Use this prompt instead when you're going about it. I'm a former customer service rep trying to get into community management in gaming. And then you enter your current resume in. This is a tier three kind of prompt. It gives it something to work with, a foundation. Then you'll have better results for it. You can even ask examples. For instance, give me three bullet points for a job in narrative design or even rewrite this to sound more confident. You start broad and then you go in deep. So begin with something like this. How do I write a cover letter for a enter a company here? Once you have that response, you follow up with a more focused prompt like now use the company's mission statement and tie in my resume and experience into the company mission statement here as well. So AI could have something even more to work with and give you more of a refine answer. So keep in mind, at the end of the day, Gen AI is amazing, but you're not handing over your voice to a robot. You're teaming up a one to clarify it and amplify it and sharpen it, as well. So treat Chat GPT like a copilot or side kick, not your replacement. Use it to start fast, get unstuff and learn how to tell your story even better in this new age of work. You're still the heart and the soul of your message. AI, it's just a plus one item in your inventory. In the next lesson, we're going to go over some of the ways you can level up your resume using your newly added AI Skill tree. I'll see you in the next 17. 5-1B. Step-by-Step Guide to Using Gen AI for Your Resume: Welcome to Lesson 5-1 B, step by step guide to using GNAI for your resume. Crafting a resume from scratch might feel like you're starting a new game with no gear, no stats, and zero XP. But with Chat GPT, and other Gen AI, it's like spawning in with the best NPC guide on your squad. In this case, it's Navi or Nav without the Hey, listen every 2 seconds. So let's get you from level zero to pro mode when it comes to leveling up your resume with a step by step guide with fusing it with GNAI. Step one, gather your info, AKA, your inventory check. Before you ask Chat GPT to help, you'll need to use some raw materials first. So here's your inventory list before you get started. You need your skills. That's your hard skills, AKA, something like coding and Adobe sweep and your soft skills, which is something like leadership or communication. Next, you'll need job experience. That's your role. Title, company name, and the start and end dates to the places that you used to work with. And finally, you need your education. That's your degrees, any certification or relevant training that pertains to your career. Break down what you actually did in those roles and the outcomes of it. So here's an example of this. Let's use Sales Associate, for example. Here's a bullet. Help customers choose products, beat sale targets every month, and train new hires. Here's a cheat code for you. Peek at the job descriptions in your target field or Industry and get a good understanding of what is needed in your market and use those relevant keywords. It's important. Step two, craft a simple prom, your first spell. The magic of chat GPT lies in how you cast your prom. So here's a basic prompt example. Can you help me write resume bullets for my job as a sales associate? I manage customer service, train new hires, and exceeded sales goals. You want to boost empower, make sure you add these details to this prompt. So you'll need numbers. For example, exceeded sales by 15%. Next, you need to list out your tools. So, for example, what happened if you was using saleforce to manage those leads? That's important information that recruiters look for. You'll also need methods as well. So, for example, and weekly onboarding sessions with new hires. That shows that you're good at being a leader, and you know how to train people. After you set it up, this is your output you should receive. Increase sales revenue by 15% by delivering personalized product recommendations. Streamline the onboarding process, cutting training time by 20%. That's XP gained right there. Step three, refine your results. Make it your weapon. Okay, so chat GPT gives you a good first draft to work with. But don't just copy and paste. This is where you make it yours and use that copywriting skill tree a little bit and review it. Here's some tips to level up your resume wording. You need to focus in on the tone match. Keep it clear and professional, but make it your own. Add flavor. Drop in unique winds or examples. You also need an accuracy check, as well. If you add metrics, make sure that it's legit and refer back into your memory if you need to here. Here's a refinement example. This is Chat GPT's version. Exceeded monthly sales goals by 15% through tailored product recommendations. It sounds good, but it still needs a little more enhancement. So here's an enhanced version of this. Surpass monthly sales targets by 15% by leveraging customer data to deliver product recommendations. Now it got some style and some stats added to it as well. Step four, format for the P, no more ugly loadouts. Formatting your resume is like setting up your UI in a game. It's clean, readable, and it's user friendly wins. Here's a formatting prompt example for you. Can you help me organize these bullet points in a clean, reverse chronological resume format? You can also add some style requests if you want. Things like bold job titles, consistent line spacing in between the bullet points. And finally, use bullet points over scrunched up paragraphs. It's easier on the reader's eyes. And here's some final touches for you. Before you send out that resume into the world, remember, export it as a PDF. Now, you might be thinking, why? Because you don't know if the recruiter is using a Mac, a PC or something totally different. PDFs, keep your format locked in. Keep the wording and spacing into one place than just using a Word document. Also, save it with a pro file name like this. First name, last name, underscore resume, underscore jobtitle dot PDF. This will make the Talent Acquisition specialist and slash or the recruiter life easier when they're trying to find your resume in the system. Trust me, they really appreciate you, and it might score you some bonus points with them as well. In the next lesson, we're going to go over how to use JAI to level up your cover letters. I will see you in the next lesson. 18. 5-1C. Step-by-Step Guide to Using ChatGPT for Cover Letters: Welcome to Lesson 5-1 C step by step guide to using chat GPT for cover letters. All right, adventurer, you got your resume sharpened and your targets locked when you're using your AI skill tree. Now it's time to complete the side quest that most people rage quick on. Yes, the cover letter spell. But don't worry, you're not doing this alone. You got Chat GPT as a support mage, and I'm here to guide the casting spell, as well. Step one, learn the structure. This is your map. In Lesson 4-1 A, you learn that every cover letter follows a basic but powerful framework. Knowing this structure is like knowing the boss mechanics before raid you're not walking in blind. The four scroll components of a cover letter. That's the introduction, the open strong, state your intent and hook their attention. Number two, the connection. Match your skills with what the job needs are and combine them together. Number three, the value, you show them why you're the upgrade their team deserves. And last but not least, the closing. Leave them with a clear next step and confidence in you. So here's an example prompt to try in something like chat GPT, for instance. Write a cover letter introduction for a marketing role. My background includes two years of social media experience managing campaigns for small businesses. And here's a downloadable resource for you to use here. You'll find a plug and play cover letter structure template in the course description in Lesson 4-1 A. Step two, feed hat GPT the right details. The better the input, the better the output. Remember, hat GPT is only as good as what you give it. You've got to treat it like customizing a character build, for instance, every stat matters. Include this in your prompts when you're making your cover letter spell. The job title plus the company's name, relevant skills or experience in this case, significant achievements or stories you want it to highlight in your cover letter specifically. Go over a prompt example. I'm applying for a graphic design job at Pixel Creative. Highlight my design portfolio, teamwork and collaborative projects, and expertise in Adobe Creative sweep. Here's the sample output of this. As a passionate graphic designer with three years of experience, I've developed creative solutions for my clients in fast paced environments. My portfolio showcases designs that increase client engagement by 25%. And I also excelled in team collaborations to bring big complex projects to life. That's already boss level, but let's level it up a little bit more with step number three, edit and personalize. Put your players skin on. When Chat GPT gives you a great draft, you still need to make it yours. The cover letter shouldn't sound like a bot wrote it. It should sound like you, the best version of you, that is. It's just there to give you a starting point. Always remember that. So here's how to make it a little bit more personal and geared towards you. Make sure you add your personality throughout the cover letter. Include a quick story or a phrase that shows your voice. Also, match the company's tone here. Are they formal, playful? Whatever their tone is, make sure you match it in your cover letter. Also, highlight your unique value. Be specific about how your story fits with them. Here's a cheat code for you as well. Can you simplify this paragraph while keeping the main idea? So here's the original from Chat GPT. I'm confident that my skills and expertise can make a great fit for your team, but with a more edited version, it should look something like this. My ability to transform ideas into impactful designs aligns perfectly with Pixels creatives mission to deliver innovative solutions for the team. The new one is more personal, punchy, and most importantly, powerful. Step four, address any gaps or red flags and turn challenges into charisma points. Not all job paths are linear. Maybe you took a break, maybe you're switching industries, maybe you just got laid off. You should know from lesson 3-4 A that having a career gap isn't the end. It's your origin story. Let's go over a few prompts that will help you with career gaps and career transitions. So here's a good prompt for career gaps. How do I address a two year career gap in my cover letter due to, let's just say caregiving, for instance. Here's an output example of this prompt. Join a two year career break, to care for a family member, I hold my management and problem solving skills that directly translate to the demands of this role. I'm now eager to bring my renewed focus and professional expertise back into the workforce. And here's a prompt for career transition. I'm transitioning from teaching to corporate training. Can you help me connect these experiences in my cover letter? Here's an example of this prompt. As a teacher with five years of experience designing interactive lesson plans, I've developed skills in curriculum development and team leadership. I'm excited to bring this expertise to a corporate role where I can help employees achieve their professional goals. And here's a mind set tip for you. I know it's a little different. Frame every gap as a training art. It's not a hole. It's a bridge to your next main mission of your career. In the next lesson, we're going to go over some beginner questions and tips when using chat GPT, and other forms of GNAI when you're leveling up your cover letter. I'll see you in the next lesson. 19. 5-1D. Common Beginner Questions and Tips: Welcome to Lesson 5-1 D. Common Beginner Questions and tips when using Chat GPT and other Gen AI. GPT is a beast of a tool when you use it on the job hunt or not. But just like games, the power depends on the player who uses it. Remember, with great responsibility, right? So in this section, we're going to walk through the common concerns, real use cases, and practical hacks to make sure you get ST results from your AI companion without falling into newbie traps. Concern number one, what if Chap GPT makes mistakes? Even the best gear needs maintenance. Chat GPT can generate fast, structured content, but it's not always flawless. Here's what you need to do when you do a double check. Check for accuracy. Confirm industry terms or if the certifications and information you put in is correct. Grammar and spelling. It's good, but small slips can sneak in sometimes. So it's always good to triple check. Consistency. Make sure the tone and style matches what you want to do when it comes to your resume and your cover letter, your overall brand. Here's a pro prompt for you in this case. Check this paragraph for grammar errors and make it sound more professional. Here's an example of a before and after. The original output, I manage with two Gs, a team of five to run smoothly operations. It doesn't sound really good, doesn't it? Here's a more revised output. I successfully managed a team of five to ensure seamless daily operations. Use it as your editor, not your final voice. Concern number two, how specific should my prompts be? Think of your prompt like a character bull. Vague equals low stats, specific equals buff up responses. So start simple, write a professional summary highlighting these skills and my ability to reduce downtime. Here's a refinement tip for you as well. If the result isn't quite there, just tweak it with a few follow ups like, can you focus more on my achievements in cybersecurity? Iteration is how pros play to win. Concern number three, how do I make my resume stand out? Now, a lot of people will be using Chat GPT when updating their resumes, but they're doing it wrong. They're just copy and pasting. You're doing it a lot different. Chat GPT can help you turn the Mc into memorable. Start with your raw achievement, then upgrade it with impact and metrics. This is what a basic prompt would look like. Enter handle customer complaints in my resume or cover letter. It's very vague. You can't do nothing with that. Here's a better prompt. Rewrite my achievement with measurable results, handle consumer complaints. Concern number four, how do I keep my tone consistent across everything? Your resume and cover letter should sound like they're from the same person. Not like one was written by a bard, and another one was just written by a spreadsheet. Here's a prompt example for this case. Match the tone of my resume with this cover letter introduction. Then you enter both in the prompt box. So here's what it produces results driven sales professional with expertise in client acquisition and revenue growth. And here's the result. As a results oriented sales professional, I have consistently exceeded revenue targets and built strong client relationships, driving business success. Here's a cheat code for you. Try those tone tweaks. You can use things like make this more formal or adjust this for a creative and engaging tone. Use Chat GPT to keep your voice more consistent. No matter the format. Concern number five, what if I get overwhelmed on the hunt? It happens to the best of us. It happened to me a few times on the hunt, sometimes you don't have to write the whole thing in one go. Just break it down. Think module, like assembling armor set pieces for your character. Just prompt by section. So you can do things like help me write a skill section for a marketing resume, and then you can move on to the bullet section and do something like this. Create bullet points for my work experience as a project manager for this company, and then you enter the company named here. Here's a build example. Number one, start with your professional summary. Number two, move to your current job achievements. Number three, then knock out your skills and education section. Chat GPT isn't here to replace your voice. It's here to amplify it. Use it like a game mechanic. Learn the system, adopt the tools, and keep on doing edits until it feels right. And your resume and cover letter tells your story to the flest. Don't forget to grab my 50 prompts to level up your job hunting skill tree in the course description for a head start when leveling up your Gen AI skill tree. I'll see you in the next lesson. 20. 6-1A. Mastering Time Management – Level Up saving skills: Welcome to Lesson 6-1 A Mastering Time Management level up saving skills. Time, it's one of our most powerful and most limited resource. If you ever said, I've been busy but haven't gotten much done while on the job hunt, this sections for you. Let's turn your job hunt into a quest log, not a random grind. Why time management matters on the job hunt? Job searching without a plan is like entering a dungeon without a map. It can't be overwhelming and insufficient. Here's what managing your time effectively can help you do. It could help you avoid burnout. It helps you stay focused and consistent. Maximize networking potential, allows you to attend online and even in person events. Have 15 to 20 minute coffee chats. About what's trending in your industry so you can learn and level up, and it gives you an opportunity to post, comment, and engage on LinkedIn and networking on other platforms for more reach and more eyes on you and your skills. In short, you stop reacting and start advance, build your quest log. Plan your day like a P. A daily structure turns chaos into clarity. Here are some steps to create a productive routine while you're on the job hunt. Set daily goals. Break down your goals into bite size XP chunks. Here's some examples of this. Apply to 15 maybe 20 targeted job posts that fits your resume to a T, reach out to two or more existing networking contacts and just reintroduce yourself. Spend 30 minutes practicing interviews, a pro tip for this one, use the star method, of course. Time blocking is boss level productivity. Never forget that. So you could even structure your time frames in your day. Morning, research job leads and apply to roles, afternoon, engage on LinkedIn, sending networking, DMs, and talk with others in your industry with coffee chats. And finally, the evening time, you could skill up or run mock interviews so you can practice those interviewing skills. Repeat daily, tweak weekly, and stay Sharp. Here's your time management tool loadout your calendar app, such as Google calendar or even Outlook for blocking task out throughout the day. You tasks like Hunter or Notion, great for actually keeping track of your applications and interviews and most importantly, those follow ups. Focus tools. Try focus keeper for deep work without the disruptions of your phone. Organize like a strategist and execute like a speed runner. You need to defeat the time bandits, avoiding distractions. Next, you need to identify your biggest distractions throughout your day when you're trying to focus in on your job hunt. Social media, when not networking, that is, job board, rabbit holes, and unnecessary tasks that doesn't help you move forward. Here's some solutions to get past that. Set screen time limits or use ad blockers to help you focus in. Batch similar tasks together. For example, if you're just applying to jobs in one focused session. Most importantly, learn how to say no to nonparty activities. Even the nice but random friend asking to hop on for a game midday. Remember, your current job is hunting for a job. You can always play with them right after you punch the clock out for the day. Here is an interactive quest I want you to do. Build your weekly job hunt schedule. So your objective schedule your job hunting week like a well balanced skill tree. Here's the steps to complete it. I want you to download the weekly job search planner in the course description. You can have a guide on what to put in your schedule on a weekly basis when job hunting. I want you to fill out your time blocks for job research and applications. Networking and outreach, skill building, interview prep, or mock interview runs. Number three, end the week with a reflection checkpoint. Just sit down if you drink coffee, that's cool. If you drink tea, that's cool and just think what work this week? What can I tweak for next week? Keep your energy and motivation high. No stamina means no movement. Rest is honestly part of the strategy. So here's some tips to stay energized when you're on the job hunt. No job hunting on the weekends. You need to rest and recharge. Trust me, it helps with the process. You could reward yourself after your wins, such as, of course, gaming break. If you watch anime, watch your favorite anime or a favorite TV show or just have your favorite snack. You know, Game of Find the job hunt really helps. Track wins like getting an interview or a recruiter applying to you and celebrate them. Every little victory equals momentum. Never forget that. You're not just grinding randomly. You're leveling up with purpose when you have a plan when being on the job hunt. In the next lesson, we're going to go over polishing up critical hits, preparing for the final boss sending the application in. I'll see you in the next level. 21. 6-1B. Polishing for Critical Hits: Preparing for the Final Boss sending the Application in: Welcome to Lesson 6-1 B polishing for critical hits. You've done all the Quest and the side quest. You leveled up your resume and your cover letter, networked with your guild, and used your sidekick, GenaI to help you get to the final stage of this first level of the job hunt. Now it's time to take on the final boss. Submitting the application. This is where preparation meets opportunity, and your materials need to land like a critical hit, polishing for critical hits. Your application is your primary weapon in your final encounter, but even the strongest sword is useless if dull. Step number one, proof reading perfection. A single typo can make your resume feel more like a rusty dagger than a legendary blade. Recruiters will notice. Here's some tips for success in this area. Read your resume and cover letter out loud to catch any awkward phrasing or hidden typos that you might have missed. Use Grammy or use your newly AI sidekick. To do a once over to refine your grammar, clarity, and the flow of things. Double check the company's names and job titles. Don't swing and miss here. Every word counts. This is your first impression. Make it Epic. Step number two, peer reviews, strengthen your gear. A second set of eyes can always spot weak points in your armor before battle. Here's some tips to check for any chinks in the armor. Share your resume and cover letter to a trusted friend, mentor or peer. Don't worry. If you don't have any one of those, you could always send your resume to me, and I'll review it for you. Ask specific questions when you have someone review it. Ask the things like, does this clearly highlight my impact? Or is my tone confident without being too cocky. Think of this like an enchantment to boost your application status. Step number three, tracking applications for consistency. You wouldn't charge into a dungeon without tracking your progress, right? Same thing goes for job hunting. Here's some things you need to do in order to be on top of things. Build a tracker using a spreadsheet. In this case, you could do company, roll, date, applied, and follow up response as tabs. Or you could use applications like Notion, Airtable, or Hunter for visual boards and reminders. Speaking about reminders, set reminders to follow up one to maybe two weeks after applying or doing an interview and track your feedback or rejections to adjust your strategy and just make sure you don't apply to the same job twice. If you got an auto reject, that's fine. It's not defeat. It's just XP for your next run. You can just take that company off the table and move towards the next one. Now, I want you to take one final interactive quest for this lesson. A mock review of your application before submitting it in for review. So I want you to choose a job that you want to apply to. Download the final application checklist to check everything off before you submit in your application. Number three, I want you to approve read, review with appear and update your tracker. Number four, I want you to reflect. Are you confident in this submission? If yes, send it right on in. If no, it's time to refine it. No detail is too small. The companies will notice everything. Keep in mind, there's a lot of job seeker looking at that same job you're looking at. It's best to be on your toes. Being ready is key here. It's important. I'll see you in the final level of this course. 22. Conclusion: Congratulations, adventurer. You reached the end of the ultimate job hunting search course from building your character stat sheet to defeating the final boss of the job applications. You've officially leveled up that job hunting skill tree. You're no longer wandering over world of searching without a map anymore. You've got this strategy, the skills, and most importantly, the mindset to thrive in the modern job market game. We live in today. So let's recap your achievements that you gained in this quest. Build a strong foundation. You identified the unique strengths, values, and skills your core stats and learn how to use them with purpose. Master the job market map. You learn how to read job descriptions like dungeon maps, spotting the treasure, the traps, and secret PAPs others might miss Forge legendary application gear. Crafted resumes and cover letter spells that actually speak your language and grab the attention of recruiters, tal acquisition specialists, and hiring managers, leveled up with GNAITols. You unlock the power of GAI tools like Chat GPT to refine, generate, and personalize applications with efficiency and last and certainly not least conquered the final boss battle. You discovered how to polish your application to perfection, track your progress, and show up like the final form of yourself when reaching out to hiring teams. So what's next from here? Your journey doesn't end here. You may have the foundation of job hunting, but keep in mind that every application is a new quest. Every interview is a boss battle to prepare for. Is a new ally that you can help on the hunt and grow your ever growing networking guild to help you and others find opportunities along the way. You're now equipped to navigate these moments with attention, strategy, and maybe a sense of adventure for your career and job hunt. I will leave you with some final cheat codes for your hunt. I just can't help myself at this point but the cheat code. Always keep learning and adding skills that companies are looking for. Network intentionally. Join communities, ask questions, and be curious. Always ask why. Track your progress, as well. Reflect often and celebrate even the small wins. They matter. And finally, make time for rest and joy. You can't move forward if your stamina bar is empty. Always remember that. Let's stay connected. I want to celebrate your wins with you, so reach out to me anytime so we could geek out. Got a new job, a successful interview, a small win you're proud of. Tag me on Linktn so I could shout you out. You're no longer grinding blindly. You've got the tools, the knowledge, and the power to move forward with clarity and confidence. I'll always be right here helping you level up on your job hunt and your career with a video game twist to it. Until next time, keep gaming, keep leveling up and learning, keep winning. And most importantly, keep going. Thank you for pressing Start with me, assisting you on the job hunt. I'm looking forward to your win. I'm here when you need a pick me up. I'll see you in the next level.