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- Lindsay Mustain, a former Amazon recruiter, now runs a career coaching business.
- She said that the current job market is the toughest one she’s seen for job seekers.
- She shared advice based on how top candidates stand out in the market, through “intentional career design.”
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lindsay Mustain, a former Amazon recruiter in her 40s who lives in Washington. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Before I started my career coaching business in 2017, I was a recruiter. From 2016 to 2017, I worked at Amazon, where I sourced top talent and performers globally.
Anybody who tells you that the labor market is booming isn’t telling the truth. I consider this the toughest job market I’ve ever seen for the average job seeker.
Companies aren’t overhiring like they used to; they’re doing precise hiring. That means candidates have a responsibility to clearly demonstrate how they’ll either save or make a company money.
There are a lot of other things that are playing into what’s causing the current job market crisis, too, like generative AI.
Many people tell rather than show in their résumés
At Amazon, I recruited top talent — what I call “top 1% talent.” They approached job searching in a very different way from the average job seeker. It’s the same process that I teach my clients now; I call it intentional career design.
Many job seekers come with what they feel is a very well-prepared package, but they might not have a great résumé because it’s telling, rather than showing, impact. It’s not their fault, because they’ve been taught to present their skills in line with the job description.
The three steps of intentional career design
To increase your chances of landing the job you want, there are three steps to follow.
Step 1: the “million-dollar” impact and your seven-figure signature
For every $100,000 you want to make, you need to have at least seven figures of impact on your résumé. I say “at least” because right now, the more, the better.
This could include revenue growth, an increase in reputation, reach, or profit margins, or risk reduction.
It doesn’t matter what job you do, whether it’s a support role or if you’re on the executive team. You need to demonstrate how you help a company save or make money. A company will hire someone when there is a reason for it — meaning a business case with an expected commercial benefit for the company.
Your seven-figure signature needs to be aligned with what’s happening. The job market is in flux, so if you’re marketing a skillset that’s becoming antiquated, that’s a problem; you’re not competing in the current labor market.
Step 2: Communicate your impact clearly and quickly
The second step is then what I call “Me Inc.” marketing materials. I run “Lindsay Inc.,” and you run “You Inc.” That means the tools we use to market our business need to be on point. Your marketing materials need to show proof, impact, and quantifiable results — not just responsibilities.
When it comes to your résumé, you’ve got about six seconds to make an impression.
Recruiters often look at your LinkedIn profile before giving you an interview, so your profile needs to model the same story as your résumé, but with a few other features, like a profile picture.
People talk about the bias that it brings, but a profile photo on your LinkedIn page drives more views. Humans quickly interpret profile photos and make unconscious decisions, often influenced by some biases. You want to use that bias to frame yourself as warm, welcoming, competent, influential, or likable.
Another thing that really matters is your headline, both for your résumé and your LinkedIn. Make sure your headline classifies what you do — the level, the scope, the impact. It should also have some sort of secret sauce, something that you do that’s uniquely you, as part of the candidate differentiation strategy. Just like a news headline should hook the reader’s attention and make them want to read more, your LinkedIn headline should try to get them to go past the fold and scroll down on the page.
Your LinkedIn summary should show that seven-figure signature. It should help potential employers understand in just a few seconds that you’re somebody worth spending at least 30 minutes with on the phone.
Step 3: Elevate your authority and influence
Next is the candidate choice framework, which is about visibility and understanding the hidden job market. How can you increase the visibility of your LinkedIn profile to recruiters and attract more views? You engage on LinkedIn. Engaging strategically with the right information is a key part of being a top 1% talent. You should be sharing, commenting, and building your network immediately.
It’s so important to increase your influence, visibility, and perceived authority because recruiters aren’t waiting for you to find our job openings and apply. When I was a recruiter, I went through the fair consideration process, but generally, before a job got approved for the budget, I was already sourcing candidates and talking to people to make my shortlist of who I wanted to interview first.
You want to be in the room before you ever even express interest in a job
The truth is, the hidden job market is not as hidden as it seems. It lives in conversations and relationships. It could be a friend of a friend of a friend, your neighbor’s cousin, or a LinkedIn connection you made after commenting something thoughtful.
Every person you meet is somebody you want to build a relationship with, because they’re all ways into that hidden job market. Don’t just come up and say, “Hey, can you get me a job?” Build a relationship and let that open doors because you’re so clear about expressing what you do that people think, We’d be so lucky if we even got a chance to interview them.
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