Episode Transcript

Chris Villanueva 0:36
My name is Chris Villanueva, I am the founder and CEO of Let’s Eat, Grandma we’ve helped over 10,000 professionals with our resume services, our content has touched hundreds of 1000s through our blog and our podcast with meaningful advice for job seekers. Now I’m here to tell you this that I’ve personally run the gamut in my own life, and I’ve had my own personal struggles.

Chris Villanueva 0:59
Our job seekers have struggled and if you are listening to this episode now, and I’ve caught you with the title of this episode, you may be going through a hard time yourself, and so with this episode, what I want you to do is a not just get the encouragement that okay, this is a tough time, but also to understand that there are some things that you can affect in your own life to move forward and to get traction in your job search, which will eventually lead to you to your dream job.

Chris Villanueva 1:29
So these four things, I believe, if you really take them to heart, are going to help you out in your job search. What can we do to shorten this tough period of time or screw that. You don’t even want to shorten it. You just want to mentally get through it. Well, the first piece of advice I’m going to give you is create space at all costs. Create space at all costs.

Chris Villanueva 1:54
Thought about putting this at the end of the episode, but I had to open up with this piece of advice, because this is your first priority. And this is what I want you to make as a job seeker, or potentially struggling job seeker, this is what you have to make the first priority. I’ll flash back to the year 2017 I remember, as I was building this business, Let’s Eat, Grandma, I had a lot of anticipation for a good 2017, this is the very end of the year, and things were growing, you know, for the past few years, and I remember I sunk a lot of personal investment, and this was actual personal money for me and my co founder, into the business and we were so excited, and we just been working so hard and doing every positive thing to make the business blow up the following year.

Chris Villanueva 2:44
But you want to know what happened following three months, six months, 12 months, not at all what we had hoped for, pretty much crickets in terms of what we were hoping to achieve and expect for the following year. It was a bust, and this is because we had a really powerful forum that was driving a lot of traffic for us, and we noticed that it just started to go downhill. We still were serving our clients and still delivering, you know, happiness and positive expectations to them, but we struggled to make our expectations happen that year.

Chris Villanueva 3:21
It was really hard. And despite this difficulty, despite, you know, losing several $1,000 of my own money and feeling like, oh my gosh, this is a terrible anxiety inducing feeling. And this is the worst feeling ever. Despite all that, there was one amazing life changing thing that came as a result of that. This was my decision in that year 2017 I’ll call it my, my big struggle year, I will make the decision to every single morning without fail, to wake up and drink my cup of coffee, and while I drink that cup of coffee to meditate and pray for 20 minutes straight. I still continue this practice today.

Chris Villanueva 4:02
I may not be perfect, but I’m nine, about 95% still get to this day. That was a game changer for so many reasons. And the first reason is it offered me mental, spiritual and even some physical space to really get my act together for the day, and that set me up for success. 2018, much better year, I was able to eventually turn things around and hit record numbers for the following years, and I attribute that to despite the chaos and the storm around me, to be able to create mental space for me, which would eventually get my energy up to the levels that would allow us to hit records.

Chris Villanueva 4:43
So don’t underplay the space you’re going to be making for yourself. Don’t underplay the value in fitness beyond just some of these other tactical strategies I’m going to give you in this episode here. But that isso important, what are you doing every single day to. Create that safe and powerful space for you to rejuvenate, and for me, it is 20 minutes a day, but this is how I create space for myself, no matter what, if I’m failing, if I’m not getting anything successful in the chaotic world, if I just got punched in the face that night, whatever it may be, doesn’t matter.

Chris Villanueva 5:20
I will always have the comfort and stability and consistency of my prayer closet and being able to connect with God, and I’m not trying to push anything on you, but for me to connect with my own spirituality and understand that everything is going to be okay at the end of the day, and that no matter what, I am going to have that space for myself.

Chris Villanueva 5:43
Okay, so decide what that is for you. I’m not going to say that you have to create your own prayer closet for 20 minutes a day and make this happen with your cup of coffee for you, it may be connecting with family members. It may be putting emphasis on diet and exercise and getting that gym pump in. It may be sauna, golf, whatever it may be, but you have to make time every single day for yourself to boost your energy All right.

Chris Villanueva 6:08
So the first part, create space for yourself at all costs. Okay, so the second tip I’m going to offer you, the second thing for you to try that could be a game changer in 2024 is try a suitability map. Okay, so we just had a workshop here for Let’s Eat, Grandma clients, in which we helped our clients workshop some strategies and some things that they can do to stand out in their job search. This was a nugget that I wanted to pull from that workshop called a suitability map.

Chris Villanueva 6:38
This is something that could be a powerful tool in your arsenal, which could help you stand out and do the things that other job seekers are not doing. This will help you compete. Note that a suitability map originally was intended for an interview, for you to show up with an interview with this document in this context, however, I’m telling you you can use it for an interview, as well as for you to get your foot in the door to submit with a resume. So take this advice and consider it as something that you can use to stand out. I’m going to pass this over toMarin, who delivered an amazing workshop the other day. But Marin is a top career coach out there.

Chris Villanueva 7:19
She’s an amazing person to work with, and she has a website it’s made to hire.com so I just want to give her a shout out, and I’ll also include her LinkedIn profile in this episode if you want to connect. But listen to her talk about the suitability map, and consider this is something that you can use in your job search to start getting noticed, to land more interviews.

Marin 7:38
All right, so here’s the one that is, I think, the most exciting. And this is what I call a suitability map, or a suitability chart. So go with me for a second on this idea that when you see a job posted, it’s always the same, right?

Marin 7:53
So you know, they describe roughly what they’re looking for, they describe the company, and then they go into detail on the responsibilities, and they always have something like eight to 12 bullet points that are very specific about what it is that they’re looking for in this this person who they hire and we go through this process as job seekers when we’re looking at postings, and we don’t even realize we’re doing it, but it’s like a mental checkbox thing that we do when we look at that responsibilities list and we go, I have that, I have that, I have that right and usually it’s that culmination of that feeling at the end of the job description that makes you go, yeah, I can get this job. I’m going to apply.

Marin 8:34
So the problem is the interviewer, they don’t know that. They don’t realize that you have all of that. And so that is my goal with this document. My goal is that this document makes it really obvious for them that what they say they want is what you have. So I recommend you do that as a one pager. So here is an example of what that could look like. You can make this certainly make this your own play with how you want to format it. But the idea is, you’re branding it with the company.

Marin 9:06
You’re calling it, whether you call it a suitability chart or suitability map, you’re putting your name on it, position that you’re applying for. And then you can see here and I know this is hard to read, so don’t get caught up in the words, but just the idea on the left side, Zach has taken from the job description, he’s taken probably eight things they say they want, and then on the right side, he has directly answered how he has that again, think about right so your resume is going to be great, but add to your resume this additional document that directly maps you To the job.

Marin 9:40
You guys, I can’t even tell you how powerful this tool is in terms of connecting you to to the role, and making them go, wow. Like it’s essentially a sell sheet on why you should get this job. So that, I suggest goes after your resume in your portfolio.

Chris Villanueva 9:59
All right. That is a suitability map. The key point I want to make here is you don’t have to just use this during an interview or before the interviews. You can use this ahead of time, before you’re even getting the interview to attach with your resume. I’m telling you, no one else out there is doing this, and this could be just that one thing that helps you to stand out, get noticed and eventually get that offer that you want.

Chris Villanueva 10:23
All right, the third thing to try, if you are still struggling in the end of 2024 leading up until 2025 is get feedback. Get specific feedback on not only your resume, but your strategy, preferably from someone with professional experience in those areas.

Chris Villanueva 10:43
So on one hand, we have the branding expert, the resume writer, the LinkedIn profile writer us at Let’s Eat, Grandma you have career coaches, so that’s who you have people who have looked over 1000s of resumes, who can really give you that tactical advice that should work and on the other hand, you have people who are insiders in your desired industry or position title, I recommend sending your resume out and getting feedback on that to not only us experts, but also to people who are insiders in the field that you want to be in.

Chris Villanueva 11:14
The reason why you want both is because a you want to make sure you have somebody who is going to give you that feedback after looking at so many resumes and after giving and implementing advice that works, and you also want to put your foot in the door through the networking piece.

Chris Villanueva 11:32
What you’ll notice when you use both is you’re going to be able to capture principles of good resume writing, and you’re going to also be able to get your resume physically in front of people who can make a difference for you from a tactical standpoint, an example of that might be, hey, Susie, I see that you have been working at, we’ll say Salesforce, for the last three years as an AI specialist. I don’t think that that position has been around for that long, but I’ll just use it as an example. Since it’s hot right now.

Chris Villanueva 12:01
You’ve been in this position for three years, and this is a role that I’ve been looking to break into myself. Would you mind looking over my resume and just giving me five minutes of your time to look at this? You know, it’ll be easier if you if you’re, you know, giving this resume out to somebody who you know, but people want to help other people, and so I would not be surprised if you have a more than 50% response rate for people who again, you’re just looking for advice and you’re looking to get the tactical advice by the end of that conversation, I want you to ask if there’s anyone else that they know that you should talk to.

Chris Villanueva 12:38
Sometimes you’ll just take the advice and that’ll be great, and you’ll walk away with something really powerful. And then the other time, you will walk away with another connection that will get you closer to a job at Salesforce or a job as an AI specialist, whatever you want to do. So this, do not underestimate this powerful strategy, which is soliciting advice as much as you possibly can, which will not only create a better branding for yourself, but will also lead you closer to your dream job. Because networking works at the end of the day, that’s the best way I know how to do it.

Chris Villanueva 13:16
All right. The fourth tip I will give you, if you are struggling today, end of 2024 leading into 2025 You’ve tried everything. You’re not getting the results you want. This thing sucks. This one is powerful. And I will say, I’ve done it myself. It’s move and manifest. Get outside your bubble and what I would say is, if money is not an issue for for you right now, I would say, go the volunteer route for this and moving to manifest. If money is an issue, I would say maybe go the side gig route and try to find ways to make money from this. But get outside of your bubble, move outside your laptop and start taking action to provide value to the world today.

Chris Villanueva 13:59
Today. I mean, find something today that works, sign up for something after this podcast that is going to work for you. So for me, in my own experience, I remember in 2017 This is when I started to Uber myself, to make ends meet and just to get out of my bubble. Oh my gosh, things didn’t work the way they wanted to. I struggled for an entire year. This is what I did specifically to get out of my own bubble, I will tell you, not only was I able to get extra cash for the tough situation that I had, I’m not saying you have to Uber yourself, but through this, through having conversations with people, and I kid you not, I was able to receive a paid DJing gig.

Chris Villanueva 14:37
I was able to find a sales consultant who would eventually help take our sales up to the next level. The following year, I was able to get an interview, or this might actually be an offer. Don’t remember which one it was, at a hospitality company, something that I had experience in. I was able to get a free oil change. I was able to get a deal on a car, and so many other opportunities. Just through having conversations with my passengers who were in the back seat, I kid you not. Did not show my resume one time.

Chris Villanueva 15:08
I did not share my LinkedIn profile. This was just friendly Chris, having a conversation with people, and having a curiosity about what these people were doing and letting that conversation flow. I didn’t really try to get all this things that I listed. I let the conversation flow organically. But people want to help out who they like. And you, after having conversation in person after conversation in person with these sort of people, you are going to run into somebody who can get you to where you need to go, and they’re going to give you a sense of energy and a sense of inspiration that you would not otherwise get.

Chris Villanueva 15:44
So I use the Uber example in my own case, but this could be something different from you. This could be volunteering for a music festival in your city. This could be babysitting. This could be working for your church. This could be anything that you feel you would have energy for, and you’d be genuinely interested in, and you feel like you’d be engaged in, in the activity.

Chris Villanueva 16:07
So for me, you know, I spoke with person after person, I would say, probably at least 1000 people, and not all of those, again, were networking opportunities. But through moving into this physical world and having a sense of openness. This is how I was able to make things happen. So again, move to manifest. This is something that you are going to physically do this week, whether it’s paid or not, that can get you in front of people that you could feel like you’re getting energy from and a sense of purpose and excitement as a job seeker, to not underestimate this. It works.

Chris Villanueva 16:48
So again, if you’re struggling this year, I am so sorry that this may be something that is is difficult, something that’s eating at you, and I completely understand. I’ve gone through it myself, but I want to let you know that this is only a temporary phase in life, and you, I promise you, are eventually going to get something that ends up working again. These are four things for you to try to move you forward, to gain you some momentum for the following year. And I believe in you. You’re listening to this podcast, you’re at the very end of this episode here, and you’re somebody who takes life into your own hands, and you’re somebody who I know is going to eventually get what they want.

Chris Villanueva 17:26
So thank you so much for listening. Thank you for tuning in today. Hope this episode served you in some sort of way. Now go out, take action and land that dream job you’re so excited about. Take care.

Chris Villanueva 17:38
Career Warrior Podcast and before you go, remember, if you’re not seeing the results you want in your job search, our highly trained team of professional resume writers here at Let’s Eat, Grandma can help head on over to letseatgrandma.com/podcast/ to get a free resume critique and $70 off any one of our resume writing packages.

Chris Villanueva 17:59
We talk all the time on the show about the importance of being targeted in your job search and with our unique writing process and focus on individual attention, you’ll get a resume cover letter and LinkedIn profile that are highly customized and tailored to your goals to help you get hired faster. Again, head on over to letseatgrandma.com/podcast/ thanks, and I’ll see you next time you.