By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
EP 3131 Stop being just another invisible applicant in an #ats filled with resumes. This episode reveals the three-pillar strategy to flip the power dynamic, move from “vaguely a fit” to an “obvious solution,” and make employers chase you.
Timestamps
00:06 – The “Business of One” mindset shift.
00:55 – Pillar 1: Becoming the obvious solution to a specific pain point.
01:34 – Moving from a generic bio to a high-impact sales page.
02:48 – Why depth beats breadth for attracting inbound interest.
03:12 – Pillar 2: Using “Thinking Artifacts” to show how you solve problems.
04:13 – Why you must audition for your next role in public.
05:03 – Pillar 3: Lowering the hiring risk with a “Proof File.”
06:09 – Flipping the interview into a collaborative working session.
Networking Like a Leader
This is No BS Job Search Advice Radio, episode 3,131. Alright, welcome. Let’s talk about that feeling, right? The most frustrating part of the job search.
You send out what feels like a million applications, and all you hear back is crickets. It’s like you’re invisible. But what if the problem isn’t your experience? What if it’s your entire approach? Today, we’re going to dive into a massive mindset shift.
So here’s the game plan. The big idea is to stop acting like just another applicant in the pile. You need to start operating like a business, a business of one that solves a really specific, really painful problem.
We’re going to break this down into three core pillars. First, how to make yourself the obvious solution. Then we’ll get into showing them how you think, not just what you’ve done.
And finally, we’ll talk about how to lower their risk, making it a total no brainer for them to say yes to you. Alright, let’s jump right into pillar number one. This is all about your foundation, your professional brand.
The goal here is simple. When a hiring manager lands on your profile, they shouldn’t have to guess what you’re all about. It should be an instant, ah, I get it.
Look, vague candidates are the ones who get ghosted. It is really that simple. If your whole vibe is, I can do a bit of everything, what a hiring manager hears is, I’m an expert at nothing.
So the key is to own one single, painful, expensive business problem. We’re talking about things like customer churn or messy ops or high employee turnover. You got to pick one and make that your entire story.
And this slide just nails the difference. I mean, look at the old way, that bio, experienced professional with a demonstrated history. That’s just generic fluff.
It could be literally anyone. But now check out the new way. It’s not a bio.
It’s a sales page. It’s super specific. It’s got a number in it, and it tells a company exactly what value you bring to the table.
There’s zero guesswork about why they should pay you. Okay, so how do we carry this over to your resume? Easy. Every single bullet point needs to follow this formula.
Problem, action, proof. You start with the pain the business was feeling. Then you say exactly what you did about it, and you finish with a hard, measurable result.
That’s how you turn your boring list of chores into a highlight reel of your business impact. And forget about those clunky, personal websites nobody has time to click through. What you really need is a simple, one-page impact portfolio.
That’s it. Just one page. Fill it with maybe three to seven short case studies that use that same formula we just talked about.
Problem, what you did, and the result. And here’s the pro tip. Add a visual, a screenshot, a diagram, something that makes your work real.
Trust me, this is the document that gets passed around the office with a note saying, we have to talk to this person. So the big takeaway from this whole first pillar is this. Depth beats breadth every single time.
If your LinkedIn profile makes it look like you’re open to 12 different kinds of jobs, guess what? Recruiters are going to contact you for none of them. You’ve got to commit. Pick one core title, one industry.
That’s how you start attracting the right kind of opportunities, the really good ones. Okay, great. So now they know what problem you solve, but that’s only half the battle.
Now we’re moving on to pillar two, and this is all about showing them how you solve it. This is where you really get to flux your brain and go way beyond what’s on your resume. What you need to do is create thinking artifacts.
I love that term. These are just pieces of content you put out there publicly that prove how you think. It shows your brain in action.
It could be anything, really. A teardown of a company’s sales funnel, you could rewrite a terrible job posting you saw, or map out a better onboarding flow. The point is, smart work gets noticed by other smart people.
And this is a fantastic little psychological trick. Don’t just say, I improved onboarding. That’s so generic.
Instead, give your process a name. Call it something like my three-step onboarding compression method. What does that do? It immediately signals that you think in systems.
It tells them you have a framework, something that’s repeatable and scalable, and wow, is that valuable to an employer. You have to practice live problem solving right out in the open. You’re basically auditioning for your next job publicly.
Strategic Interview Questions to Ask
So find the leaders in your industry on LinkedIn or wherever, and when they post something, don’t just comment, great post, that’s useless. Leave a comment with a real micro solution, a tiny piece of valuable insight. You have no idea who’s watching, and trust me, decision makers are definitely watching.
And when you’re doing this, remember your audience. You’re not writing for your co-workers, you’re writing for their bosses. So you have to talk about the stuff that VPs and directors actually care about.
We’re talking risk, cost, time, growth, those big picture things. When you frame your ideas that way, that’s when you get the senior leaders to notice you and maybe even slide into your DMs. All right, on to our final pillar.
So far, you’ve shown them what you do and how you think. This last piece is all about the psychology of the hire. Your one and only goal now is to make it as easy, as low risk as possible for them to say yes and give you the job.
Okay, so a hiring manager reaches out, they’re interested. You can’t just respond with more promises. You need to hit them with proof.
You should have a proof file ready to send at a moment’s notice. We’re talking three to five killer assets you can just fire off instantly. A quick loom video explaining a dashboard, a before and after case study, a page of testimonials.
This stuff turns your claims into cold, hard evidence. What we’re trying to do here is remove something called mental friction. And that’s just any little question or doubt that pops into the hiring manager’s head that might slow down a yes, stuff like, hmm, there’s an employment gap here, or, oh, they’re switching careers.
You’ve got to get ahead of those things, address them proactively, and spin them into a positive, explaining why that experience actually makes you a better candidate. And this next one, this is a huge mindset shift for the interview itself. Stop treating it like a test where you have to give the right answers.
Instead, treat it like a working session, like it’s your first day. Ask really smart questions about their challenges and then start brainstorming solutions with them right there on the call. Seriously, companies hire the person who already feels like they’re on the team.
You know, the best time to get a job is before it’s even posted. And the way you do that is by creating warm proximity. I love this concept.
AI and the Future of Your Job
You basically pick 20 to 30 target leaders, hiring managers in your field, and you just consistently and thoughtfully engage with their stuff over time. It’s not about just networking. It’s about building genuine relationships so you’re a familiar face when a need comes up.
And look, when you do reach out and ask for help, you have to make it super specific and super easy for them. A vague ask like, hey, let me know if you hear of anything, that gets ignored. Why? Because it puts all the work on them.
But a specific ask like the one you see here respects their time and gives them a really clear, simple thing they can do for you. Your chances of getting a helpful response go through the roof. Okay, let’s wrap this all up.
We’ve just walked through the three pillars that will totally transform you from being just another generic applicant into a targeted, irresistible solution to a company’s biggest problems. And this quote right here, it’s the whole shebang in a nutshell. It’s all about being focused, proving your value, making yourself a low risk bet, and tying everything you do back to a real business pain.
When you build your job search around that idea, something amazing happens. Employers don’t just notice you, they start chasing you. So I’m going to leave you with one last question to think about.
As you go forward from here, just keep asking yourself this. The answer will define your entire strategy and ultimately, your success. There is a lot more to help you at jobsearch.community. Become an insider and you get access to all my video courses, books and guides to job search.
In addition, we do resume and LinkedIn profile critiques, as well as interview preparation for those important interviews. You can also order any of my content individually. That’s at jobsearch.community.
The Cost of a Long Job Search
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ careers
easier. Those things can involve job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues.
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 3100 episodes.
When Following Up Backfires
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