Crucial Facts About Getting High-Value Jobs

In this article, we are going to share very important statistics about the  job market.

And we are going to discuss how to use these facts to your advantage.

If you are looking for, or are even open to, getting a new job – you need to know these facts.

You need to know that there is a right way and a wrong way to go about getting a job.

And you need to know that most people are going about it in a horribly wrong way…

But before we start, I want to thank you for your attention.

And I want to tell you a little bit about why we decided to focus on helping early career professionals in late 2018.

After all, this is a bit of a change of tune for us. But it is with good reason.

This year, we are focusing on helping younger professionals…

Officially, Because People Were Asking For It

Those of you who’ve been following us know that our main focus has always been executive training and networking.

We help managers rise into executive positions. We help aspiring leaders become better managers. And we build our connections in the process.

We do all this through a combination of teaching career skills, using psychology, social engineering as well as networking.

This is why, it would be fair to say that most of our teaching is nuanced. Some would even call it advanced.

And for the most part, it’s meant for experienced and active professionals.

So… Why in the world would we shift our focus towards helping less experienced, early career professionals?

The official reason is simple: many people were asking for it.

And no, I don’t mean that we were getting a ton of requests from young professionals asking us to help them get jobs.

For the most part, they didn’t even know we existed.

What I mean is that, people connected with us through friends and family were asking for our advice and mentor-ship.

And being generally friendly, we were happy to help…

When we provided this help, we knew that our less experienced friends would get good results.

In fact, we were not surprised when by using only a handful of our techniques, they were able to work themselves into better jobs than they otherwise could. Or when they got those jobs with relative ease.

But we were surprised, when we realized how much of a difference these great jobs made in the lives of our friends who were just starting their career.

And when we saw the significant transformation to their life, as well as their future prospects…

Our attitude changed.

After all, it’s one thing to turn a manager into an executive. It’s a completely different thing to take a new graduate and ignite their career.

These experiences got us thinking. And they focused us on helping younger professionals…

Unofficially, Because It Became Personal

Today, we are doing this work for the likes of 21 year old Christian M.; a mechanical engineering graduate who has resigned himself to working retail jobs.

After spending 9 gruelling months looking for work… After 250 applications for engineering positions which yielded 4 interviews and 0 offers, Christian desperately and seriously started applying for positions like “Deli Slicer”.[1]

While there is no shame in working whatever job one can get, we think it’s a shame that highly talented individuals like Christian aren’t employed at the highest and best use of their time.

It’s not shame on him. It’s shame on society…

So, we had to do something.

We are also doing it for the likes of Clair P.; a 26 year old Political Science major with a college diploma in Public Relations, who happens to pour beer at a local brewery for work.[2]

It’s not just that she isn’t working in her field. Claire also gets no benefits, has trouble saving, and has to share an apartment with three other roommates.

What’s more surprising than her inability to find desirable work is that she is not upset with her lot in life!

Claire says that she “doesn’t feel like a failure” because she is not the exception. Her situation is the norm for many, if not most young professionals, who are stuck working the gig economy because they are unable to start their careers.

These cases are a systemic failure of our education system, and they are prevalent.

So, we had to do something…

Also, lets not forget the likes of Anna A.; a 37 year old law school graduate.

Anna decided to sue her school for misleading her into enrolling, claiming that the school advertised false employment figures.[3]

And while she may not win the legal battle, she is not alone.

About a dozen other disgruntled lawyers have also tried to sue their schools for counting waitresses and bartenders in their full-time legal employment figures for their graduates![4]

We took all these – and too many more to recount – stories personally.

And they pushed us over the edge to start helping early career professionals and building solutions like Launch Your Career.

But that’s not all.

We are focusing on early career professionals…

Because Industry Demands It

It wasn’t only the stories of struggling professionals that got us…

As Forbes Magazine’s Karsten Strauss reports, 60% of managers claim that new graduates do not have critical thinking and problem solving skills.[5]

In fact, this is such a common mindset, it is popularly catch-phrased as “the skills gap” within the corporate world.

But, however popular it becomes, we also know that it is flat out wrong!

We know that recent graduates are no different than previous generations. In fact, many younger professionals are the most educated individuals in known human history.

But the misconceptions, stereotypes and labels like “millennial” are getting in the way of young professionals and hurting their careers.

Knowing that we could help navigate these misconceptions, we had to get to work.

Finally, we started to help early career professionals…

Because of The Looming Future

You’ve probably heard that automation is coming to take away our jobs.

But, there is much more to this story…

McKinsey Global Institute – the number one private-sector think tank in the world – is saying that “60 percent of all occupations on average and 30 percent of their work activities are automatable” and their advice for individuals is that “you need to prepare for yourself”![6][7]

You see… Even if the shortage of high-value positions wasn’t a problem…

Even if the massive skill-gap was not there…

Even if we had an abundance of jobs and a shortage of workers today…

The fast approaching technological disruption means anywhere between a third to two thirds of all jobs will be replaced by technological innovations.

This is a horrifying statistic!

We simply couldn’t live with ourselves without doing something about it…

While schools continue to educate people as if it’s still the 1980s, while real unemployment pushed close to 9%[9], and while student debt liabilities became one of the largest asset classes in the investment world; we had to do something.

We had to share what we know…

We had to show you that, for the unprepared professionals, the days ahead looked grim.

And we had to share a number of key facts and strategies that would help you bear the storm.

We had to guide you not only get your next job, but also navigate your future career.

Now that you know what all the fuss is about, let me elaborate on a few of the facts that drove our decisions:

FACT 1: Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionising Work

AI isn’t just going to take low-skill jobs.

In other words, it’s not just flipping burgers or driving vehicles that will disappear.

From accounting to diagnosing eye disease, from direct sales to customer service; every function and industry is on the verge of radical change.

This is because Computer Science has recently made a tremendous breakthrough in what is known as General AI.

You see… Machine learning has been around for several decades now. But using it’s techniques we could only solve specific problems like categorising pictures, detecting faces, converting voice to text, or synthesising voices from text.

This meant we could perform some interesting tasks well, but we could not automate entire jobs that relied on multiple tasks.

Yet, even with this limitation, we were able to push machine learning far enough that we outperformed humans on some tasks.

For instance, the software we build can diagnose eye disease with better accuracy than eye doctors.[24] Or we can transcribe speech to text much faster than any human ever could.

But today, with the invention of what is known as deep learning, we can not only automate much more complicated tasks, but we can also automate jobs.[27]

For instance, we can build robots that can learn to cook from watching YouTube videos.[24]

Or we can create self driving trucks…[25]

In other words, we can now – today – have machines do complex work with incredible efficiency and without relying on a human agent.

The technology is already here. And startups are already catching up.

For you to become a desirable, highly sought after employee not only in that world, but also TODAY – you have to know how to navigate this new technically advanced world and speak it’s language.

Here’s what you need to do:

For starters, you have to become tech-savvy.

Luckily, that doesn’t mean that you have to become a neural network programmer or data scientist to get a secure career.

Let me be clear: You do not need to get a technical degree or become a tech expert.

But you do need to work with tech. After all, EVERYONE, at some level, is now going to be working with tech.

You also need to understand tech at a high level, because without that understanding, it is impossible to get involved in any decision making process.

And if your job does not involve or lead up to a position that involves decision making: your job is going to be automated away.

Beyond the tech piece, you also need to learn a group of interpersonal, creative and business skills; none of which is expected to be performed by AI.

Interestingly, most of these skills are not taught in school but instead, they are learned on the job.

To make it easier to talk about, we defined everything you need to know as “the five core skills and seven high-value disciplines“.

And to help you out, we outlined a way for you to develop them rapidly, without you having to go back to school or without you spending years working at entry level jobs.

And we’ll show you exactly how to do that in Launch Your Career.

Fact 2: The Skills-Gap is Massive and It’s Widening

One of the biggest frustrations candidates have is employers telling them that they don’t have “relevant experience” despite their education and credentials.

Numbers also back this sentiment:

• 48% of small businesses report there are few or no qualified applicants for the positions they are trying to fill.[8]
• 90% of recruiters say that the market is candidate-driven.[9]
• And 31% of employers site shortage of candidates as their chief obstacle to hiring.[10]
• And while all this complaining by employers make it sound like skilled candidates are rare, we know that that’s not the case!

We have the most educated and best trained population we’ve ever had, with a 1/3rd of the population holding 4 year degrees, and 2/3rds having had some college experience.[11]

The problem isn’t really with a lack of skills…

The problem is that when employers talk about “relevant experience” or “qualifications”, they aren’t being straight forward.

They aren’t really telling you what they want. And unless you’re a seasoned corporate player, chances are,
you can’t read between the lines.

Schools aren’t teaching you how to read between those lines either…

So… We decided to teach you.

We decided to show you what you must do to convince employers to hire you.

That’s because it’s not enough to hold a degree or have some past experience.

It’s not enough to just talk about the classes you took or the previous jobs you’ve had.

You also have to convince their brains that you are a risk free bet.

You must also prove to them that you have already done exactly what they want you to do.

And you have to be able to do this even if you’ve not had a day of “official” work experience in a given field!

We call this process qualification.

And it’s the chief reason why top performers get high-value jobs: They know how to qualify themselves.

They know how to use language and talk about past experiences in a way that creates the perception of expertise.

Since every one of us at Career Insiders developed this rare skill in advancing our careers, we decided to teach you the right way to do it.

Not just the psychology… We decided to show you the language patterns, as well as the exact words and phrases you need to use to make employers feel positively confident that you know what you are talking about in Launch Your Career.

FACT 3: Typical Job Applications No Longer Work

The way most people apply to jobs – also known as the “spray and pray” technique – is dead wrong.

When you apply for dozens of jobs by completing online applications, filling in forms, or sending cover letters and resumes; you are actually shooting yourself in the foot.

At best, you are wasting your time.

After all, the vast majority of these applications get filtered away by software and never reach any human eyes![12]

And at worst, you are positioning yourself as a desperate job seeker.

That’s because, by applying through the front door, you are also telling them that the best use of your time is filling online forms!

That doesn’t make for a compelling candidate in the new world order… Not at all.

Applying to jobs through the front door is not the right way to go about getting a good job.

This is why, we decided to show you some alternative routes with Launch Your Career.

For instance, we decided to tell you that in order to get the jobs you want, you have to use some of our warm application and networking techniques.

These help you bypass filter software, gatekeepers and HR obstacles.

We also showed you that the most desirable jobs, and the best paying jobs, were never even advertised to begin with.

These jobs circulate among insiders in what is known as “the hidden job market”.

And to help you tap into these markets, we gave you step-by-step techniques, teaching you where to look and how to ask.

But we didn’t want to limit you only to the hidden job market…

In fact, even if you had no choice… Even if you had to apply through the front door like everybody else, we still wanted to get you a win.

That’s why, we also outlined recipes for optimal success in standard job applications in our program, and taught you a slew of cutting edge, research backed techniques that make a big difference in your results.
For instance, we taught you how to automate your applications to send between 6am and 10am, so that you boost the chance of getting a reply by 5x.[13]

Or, we told you to apply between Monday and Wednesday, since the majority of hiring actions are taken during those days.[14]

Or, we taught you eye catching visual techniques – based off of years of advertising research – so that you could maximize the 5 to 7 seconds recruiters spend viewing your resume.

Or, we revealed that employers only look through your job titles, company names, start and end dates for each position, as well as your education when they look at your resume.[15] And we showed you how to present this information in a way that enticed employers to give you a call.

In other words, we gave you all the insider tricks to getting preferential treatment in your job applications in Launch Your Career…

Fact 4: The Odds are Stacked Massively Against You

Most people have no conception of the playing field.

Think of this: the average job opening receives about 250 applications.[16]

But only 25 or so resumes actually reach a hiring manager. 4 to 6 get an interview. 1 to 3 get a second interview. And only one person gets hired.[17]

That’s a 0.4% success rate.

And that’s already terrible odds!

But since the Internet is making it easier to apply to jobs, the average number of 250 is increasing.

And to deal with that increase, employers are inventing new ways to disqualify candidates.

Some companies, for instance, are asking applicants to record self-administered interviews on video as they send in their resume.

They then pay companies like HireVue to cherry pick the candidates with the best videos.

HireVue happens to be a company which uses AI to analyze and score such videos. They use software that analyzes body language, voice tone, and a bunch of other factors to grade and psychologically profile candidates.[18]

And by using HireVue, companies are able to filter away unwanted candidates without even having to watch those videos!

This is great for business. But it’s horrible for candidates who end up spending hours on their application only to have it deleted by software.

Luckily, not every employer is jumping on that bandwagon.

But they are still inventing new ways to screen out candidates…

Many employers, for instance, are resorting to lower tech measures such as trolling through social media.

In fact, 91% of US employers report that they are browsing the social media profiles of applicants. And a whopping 69% is reporting that they are rejecting applications based on what they see.[19]

Either way – whether they use AI or use their personal biases to disqualify candidates – employers are constantly looking for new ways and new excuses to eliminate candidates.

Unfortunately, we at Career Insiders see most of this activity not as screening but as discrimination.

Some people are getting discriminated based on their race or ethnicity.

Some others get discriminated based on senseless “years of experience” or GPA requirements.

And some others get discriminated based on arbitrary yardsticks such as video presentation or social media activity.

Seeing all this, we had to find ways to reverse the odds, so that you could navigate this minefield of potential failure.

So we created a set of guidelines for you to follow in your applications.

We broke down the rules for effective use of social media. We even gave you the keys to personal branding and executive presence.

And we outlined a tactical map for you to become the 1 in 250 who gets the job in Launch Your Career.

Fact 5: Your Job Search Can Take a REALLY Long Time

Most people don’t think strategically.

In fact, most people have no idea about how long a job search is supposed to take, or can take.

For a company, it takes an average of 52 days to fill an open position.[20]

But, for an individual, it takes much longer…

About 30% take three months, 15% take up to six months, and 23% take longer than six months to find a job. And those are just starting figures.

Since 2008, it is estimated that anywhere between 7% to 30% of the unemployed are spending more than a year looking for work![21]

That’s a really long time.

And it looks much worse when you consider the effort involved…

The company “Indeed” measured the job application time for every Fortune 500 company. And they found that while an average application took 13 minutes, others could go upwards of 50 minutes.[22]

Mind you, that’s just filling forms or answering questions, not creating a targeted resume or crafting a personalized cover letter.

When you include those numbers, looking for work can easily become a full time job!

And, ironically, that only happens if you listening to mainstream advice and doing it the wrong way…

Another recent study found that 30% of all candidates and 57% of candidates who earn $100k or more, will not spend longer than 15 minutes on an application![23]

Meaning, top professionals and elite candidates don’t waste their time jumping through the hoops HR departments are dreaming up.

That’s because, these high performers know that there are different – and much more effective – ways to get in.

So… We decided to tell you about those ways in our resources.

We decided to show you that finding a job wasn’t about trying hard or working for long, but it was about having the right access and taking the right steps.

And we prescribed specific, step-by-step actions for you to take, so that you could shortcut the entire job hunting process in Launch Your Career.

Fact 6: A Job No Longer Means a Career

Finally, and perhaps most importantly:

The majority of professionals have no idea about the difference between a job and a career.

Most people mistakenly assume that working in a specific field or performing a specific job function means you have a career.

For instance, one person might work in healthcare and think that they have a career in healthcare. Another might be involved with sales and think that their career is in sales.

Unfortunately, that’s not how it works.

They are confusing what they do for work with their career.

And while this misconception is somewhat excusable, it’s not the worst mistake that people make in regards to their careers.

The worst mistake, which is a mistake many more people make, is thinking that having a career simply means having a stable job!

This is a grievous error.

In fact, it is the single biggest obstacle for their social mobility.

You see… When someone doesn’t understand the definition of a career, they don’t now what jobs they should go for.

They also don’t know how to go for those jobs.

They don’t even know what jobs they can go for.

And as a result, they miss out on a ton of awesome opportunities.

In fact, they don’t even see the opportunities that are staring at them right in front of their face!

That’s why, we decided to clarify what it means to have a career in our program.
(For the record, to have a career means: to define what you do in such a way so that every job gets you ahead.)

And in our program, we explained how you can make this happen.

We also taught you how to brand yourself, and how to spin every single job or project you’ve had in such a way that it helps you get the jobs and promotions you want.

And we taught you how to do this without stretching the truth or short-changing yourself.

In other words, we taught you how to define your career in Launch Your Career.

We Want YOU To Have a Fulfilling Career

That’s why we are focusing on early career professionals this year.

And that’s why we built Launch Your Career.

The crucial techniques and strategies it teaches were instrumental to many of our members in building their careers.

And we want to share it with new, driven, early career professionals in order to expand our network.

As a program, it’s JAM PACKED with dozens and dozens of specific strategies for rapidly developing an expert reputation, qualifying yourself to the positions you desire, sourcing jobs, capturing employer attention, reaching hiring managers through the back door, mastering interviews and negotiating for maximum compensation.

It also creates a step-by-step map with hundreds of hours of free resources, which you can use to develop a high level expertise with the five core skills and six high-value disciplines modern corporations demand.

By taking this program, you’ll not only poise yourself to get a high-value job within weeks, but you’ll also establish a great foundation for a career with upward trajectory.

To put it bluntly:

A university degree – at least some of them – helps you develop job skills.

But, Launch Your Career, starts your career.

It gets you employed.

Good luck with your job search,

And good luck with the competition ahead!