Tips from my 10 most popular LinkedIn posts for job hunters. Based on mentoring, hiring and successfully referring dozens of candidates, and speaking with hundreds more…
1. Job-hunting is like dating
You don’t need 100 people to like you, you only need 1 person to love you.
Yet of the 100+ people I’ve spoken to lately who are looking for a new job, most have LinkedIn profiles and CVs which are mildly interesting to many hiring managers and extremely attractive to none.
Adaptability is valuable once you’re in a role, but it doesn’t come across well on a job application. You have a few seconds to capture someone’s attention, you can’t afford to be vague or vanilla!
A candidate profile that reads like…
- Paul Mather
- Open to work as [COO / ops director / head of ops]
- At any stage company
- In the [logistics / EV / blockchain / edtech / etc.] industry
- Likes all ops
… Is akin to a dating profile that reads like…
- Paul, 35-40
- Possible [husband / boyfriend / lover]
- Looking to date a human
- Who is [tall / short / adventurous / reserved / whatever]
- Enjoys doing stuff
- Would you hire, or date, that guy..?!
What the hiring manager wants to see is someone who presents themselves from the off as exactly what they’re looking for
- Paul David Mather, 13 year operations veteran
- Your next COO
- Seed to Series A+ startup operator
- Sustainable last mile delivery expert
- Passionate about building teams and scaling internationally
In order to be that person you first need a vision of your dream job, a strategy to land it, and the confidence to brand yourself as the ideal candidate.
Try it, you might just get lucky.
2. Self-doubt will steal your dreams
Becoming a better leader requires building self-awareness, confidence and experience.
Self-awareness is the first step towards self-development, to understand your strengths and weaknesses. The next step is confidence, to take focused action towards your goals while leveraging your strengths and mitigating your weaknesses.
I used to lack confidence, which usually surprises people who don’t know me – because unfortunately most people who do well don’t talk about their vulnerabilities! As a child I was bright, hard-working and had a loving family… but I was also gangly, asthmatic and socially awkward. I was very self-conscious about my appearance and, in my head, insufficient athletic ability.
I tried to make up for my insecurities by pushing myself really hard, often feeling stuck, doubting my decisions, and working hard instead of smart. As a result I became stressed and tired, let failure get the better of me, and forgot to celebrate my success.
For years I struggled with what I now call imposter syndrome, ultimately overcoming my fears to succeed – in spite of many ups and downs – as an Army officer, startup operator and entrepreneur.
I don’t regret my journey because it helped me become who I am today, but I certainly beat imposter syndrome the hard way. Part of my work now is helping people recognise and overcome it with a more empathic approach.
If any of these symptoms sound familiar, you may be fighting the same battle with imposter syndrome
- Self-doubt: you often feel like a fraud and fear others will “find you out”, even when your achievements suggest otherwise.
- Attributing success to chance: despite clear evidence of your competence, you believe your success is the result of good luck or opportunistic timing.
- Overworking: to compensate for perceived inadequacies you push yourself harder than necessary, eventually leading to stress and burnout.
The good news is, there’s a solution to imposter syndrome
- Recognise: identify and acknowledge the thoughts and feelings associated with imposter syndrome. This self-awareness allows you to separate them from your innate value.
- Refocus: shift your perspective from fear of exposure to a growth mindset. Remember, making mistakes and learning from them is an integral part of any journey.
- Respond: Build resilience by seeking out challenges and opportunities. Empower yourself to take risk, knowing it’s okay to fail.
3. Your LinkedIn headline will make or break your job hunt
When founders/hiring managers/recruiters search LinkedIn for candidates, or social stalk you having received your CV because it’s easier than downloading the attachment, the first thing they see is your headline and mugshot.
This is your chance to pique their interest, in mere seconds, before they scroll on by never to click through to your profile. So you better be specific, and you better be aligned with the needs and expectations of your future boss.
Put yourselves in the shoes of a first-time social impact edtech founder, who’s just closed a seed round and is looking to hire their first ops director.
Who would you click on?
1) Ops Lead, managing people and projects @ Finbank
[blurry selfie in branded hoody of current employer]
2) Operator MBA BSc | CxO / director / head of ops | healthtech / edtech / last mile / proptech | ENTJ | thought leader | <2hr marathon runner | dog parent
[airbrushed headshot with smarmy grin in a suit]
3) Operations Director scaling values-driven Edtech Startups from Seed to Series A and beyond
[regular photo looking friendly in a casual top]
(I’ll give you a clue, it’s not 1 or 2.)
4. Startup hiring processes suck
Are you a startup or scaleup struggling to hire a great operator right now?
Trigger warning: I hate to break it to you… Your hiring process probably sucks!
The market is flooded with strong candidates, for every role from COO down to ops manager, with every flavour of industry experience you can imagine.
Multiple hiring managers and recruiters have told me job postings are typically receiving >200 qualified applicants, the most popular >1000.
Yet I still hear some people saying it’s difficult to hire the right candidate…
The reason, I believe, is the hiring horror stories I hear daily from candidates I mentor (some of whom pro bono because, through no fault of their own, they’re desperate and have been treated abysmally in the job market).
Hiring horror stories
- Completed an application, only to be told via a recruiter “we’re exclusively considering candidates with top tier consulting experience” – it would have been really very helpful if you’d been honest about that on the job description.
- Process stretched over weeks because one interviewer is on holiday – I know you really value a 7th opinion from the Chief Innovation Sherpa in your 50-person startup, but maybe just make an executive call and get on with it.
- Half way through a process told “your salary expectations are too high” – how about you stop being an amateur and just list the salary on your job posting?
- Ghosted after a final interview – if you don’t have the decency to tell someone they haven’t got the job, you should not be running a business, full stop.
- Started the job then told the role is completely different, or there’s no budget to pay your salary – this is starting to border on criminal negligence…
- In some cases, albeit, these mistakes are the result of genuine naiveté or lack of experience in the hiring team. Guess what though, there’s also an abundance of out of work talent acquisition and other people who could help.
Sadly, you’ll likely get away with these bad practices while it remains a hirer’s market. When the market flips, however, these stories will be plastered all over Glassdoor as a warning to candidates, and your reputation will suffer.
So please, if you’re guilty of any of these hiring calamities, don’t take advantage of candidates who want to help scale your company (and need to pay their bills), have some self-respect and get your hiring process in order.
5. The best feedback I’ve ever received was feedback most people wouldn’t give
Most people love giving positive feedback.
Most people hate giving negative feedback.
When I was in the Army, frank unadulterated feedback was the norm. If I failed or did something wrong, somebody would tell me – more often than not someone junior in rank but more experienced. No sugarcoating, no politics: “Sir, that was [expletive] because [explanation], next time do [solution].”
Negative feedback is not always easy to take but, once you get over the defensiveness and embarrassment, you realise the benefits of progress and improved results far outweigh the costs of feeling a bit stupid for a minute/hour/day.
In stark contrast, reflecting on my civilian career and personal life, I’ve missed so many valuable learning opportunities because people avoided sharing constructive feedback they thought would offend me or hurt my feelings.
I once uploaded a new LinkedIn profile photo, which after over a year a friend described as: “you look like a serial killer.” When I subsequently asked other people about it they agreed, and had thought so all along, but hadn’t wanted to tell me!
Feedback isn’t always accurate or well-intentioned, but it usually is. If it comes with an explanation and a suggested solution which make logical sense, that’s a good indicator it’s constructive and the person giving it is trying to help you.
You don’t have to action it, you certainly should avoid taking it as a personal slight, but it is worth listening to and reflecting on. How you use feedback is your call but, if in doubt, ask for a few other opinions and consider going with the consensus.
6. Stop making excuses. Start now!
The biggest reason people fail is because they never start. They spend so much time thinking, and usually doubting themselves, they avoid taking simple actions and making progress towards their goals.
Want to get fit?
You need a gym membership, new trainers, a healthy meal subscription, it’s going to take some time to prepare…
Start now. Get on the floor and do 10 press-ups (on your knees is fine), then walk to the nearest shop and buy an apple.
Hey presto, healthy living.
Want a date?
You need a new wardrobe, a photoshoot, and a dating coach, maybe next month…
Start now. Put on your most flattering outfit, ask a friend to take some photos, download Hinge and make a profile.
Put yourself out there, test and adjust.
Want a new job?
You need to take a management course, pay someone to rewrite your CV, research networking events, it can’t be rushed…
Start now. Watch a 10-minute TED Talk on leadership for inspiration, change your LinkedIn headline to make it obvious which role you want, then message 5 people who do that job and ask their advice.
Check you out, X-in-waiting.
I’m an ex military man, and therefore a big believer in preparation. Don’t overdo it though. Preparation is a means to an end, not an end it itself i.e. a convenient excuse to procrastinate and prevaricate and never actually do what will make you happy.
What do you want to achieve? Start now.
7. Time to go against your instinct – stop obsessing about process, start dreaming big
I’ve mentored dozens of startup and scaleup operators. What I’ve found is they’re typically great at executing a career strategy, but terrible at making one.
Operators are fantastic at playing off a visionary founder, turning a crazy dream into something a team can achieve with systems and policies and processes.
But without a dream, without that character to bounce off, they often feel lost and unsure how to use their skills and experiences for their own benefit.
If you’re a seasoned operator with a colour-coded spreadsheet tracking 100+ job applications, but few to no interviews, you’re focusing on the wrong things.
If your CV is packed with 137% efficiency gains and -86% cost reductions, but it reads like it was written by a cyborg, it won’t resonate with founders.
You need to tell a compelling story about who you are, where you come from, how you’ve got to where you are and, most importantly, where you’re headed.
Your stated destination needs to align with the needs and expectations of the founder whose company you want to work at. It’s as simple as that…
Except you can’t do it without first getting out of your comfort zone.
Ask yourself some deep questions you can’t answer with logic and reason
- Who am I?
- Why am I here?
- What do I want to become?
Identifying your dream job and making a career strategy is hard. But you’re an operator so, once you have the strategy, executing it will come naturally.
I’ve done this, as have many operators I’ve worked with, you can too!
8. Free career advice sucks!
As well-intentioned as friends and loved ones are, if they care then they’re emotionally invested when they give advice. They don’t want to see you get hurt or fail, so they typically encourage you to play it safe with career choices.
- If I’d taken Mum’s advice, I wouldn’t have joined the Army.
- If I’d taken military friends’ advice, I wouldn’t have joined Deliveroo.
- If I’d taken my partner’s advice, I wouldn’t have started my first business.
No offence but I don’t love you, so I have nothing to gain or lose by advising you to take one path or another. Of course I want you to succeed. But if for you that means taking risk I’ll help you do it sensibly. Equally if for you that means minimising risk, say because you have a family, I’ll help you.
More than 50 people have reached out to me in the last few months looking for work, mostly very talented and experienced people struggling to find their next opportunity because the job market is weird and difficult right now.
I have experience:
- Joining the British Army as an infantry officer.
- Transitioning from the military to a tech startup.
- Scaling Deliveroo 500x as employee number 15.
- Hiring 30+ employees for startups and scale-ups.
- Emigrating to Antigua and becoming a digital nomad.
- Advising dozens of founders, small business owners, startup and scale-up operators, digital nomads, veterans and graduates on their career.
9. Be one hiring manager’s “hell yeah!” Not every hiring manager’s “meh…”
There’s a glut of candidates for many startup and scaleup jobs right now, especially for non-technical roles, there has been for some time.
One thing I do is help companies source and hire talent. My key insight from talking with founders and hiring managers is the oversupply of candidates means they can afford to be picky… exceptionally picky in some cases!
I’ve seen candidates tick every box on the job description, e.g. Series A B2B SaaS Customer Experience Manager in Stockholm, and not even get a first interview because they “lack deep experience in healthtech”.
Candidates – these are the biggest pitfalls to avoid, and my best advice to help you stand out and land a good job:
Casting the net wide is an ineffective strategy.
Leverage your niche skills and experience. If you have 5 years of fintech experience, don’t be “industry agnostic”, brand yourself as a “fintech specialist”. If you want to be a chief of staff for the second time, don’t put 3 other job titles on your profile, refer to yourself exclusively as a chief of staff. Apply to roles which directly reflect your profile and you’ll have more success.
Being a cold lead is a major disadvantage.
A hiring manager sifting through 100s of applications has a few seconds to decide whether to pick yours out and read it in detail. If they know your name or face, because you’ve been referred or you reached out to them personally about the role, they’re much more likely to give your CV a second look. Some people will say this is unfair. Life’s unfair. Get over it and make your own luck.
Now’s not a great time to change industry or function.
Most hiring managers are playing it safe and taking advantage of the choice of candidates in the market to pick someone with exact industry and functional experience. It’s not impossible to make a transition, if you’re determined, but as a a wildcard candidate you’ll probably need to network your way into the business and have a very compelling story to position yourself for the role.
10. In this tough job market successful candidates don’t get lucky, they make their own luck
Operators – have you ever felt a pang of jealousy as your peers in sales and marketing blithely skip from one job to the next, even in a down market, collecting title increases and payrises on the way?
Meanwhile your Zapier-linked job application tracker spreadsheet looks like the Companies House register, yet you’ve barely had a phone interview.
Guess what… While you spent the past 4 years glued to your laptop giving 110% to your role, starting early, working late, going above and beyond, your commercial peers had 768 DMs/calls/coffees/beers/wines/lunches/dinners with people in their industry who now know their skills and aspirations, and drop them a line when a new job comes up – probably before it’s posted.
If you want to progress, you can’t rely on your current employer – they don’t care about your career.
You need to dedicate time to your own development
- Career vision – have one!
- Personal brand – make one!
- Networking – do some!
You’re an operator so, once you have a strategy to land your dream job, you’ll execute and you’ll get results. Stop being a wallflower, make your own luck.