54:05
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
applicant tracking system, people, resume, positions, linkedin, job, curtis, keywords, book, talking, tailoring, job description, search, company, applying, write, place, buy, work, applicant
SPEAKERS
Damon Pistulka, Kurtis Tompkins
Damon Pistulka 00:02
Hi everybody, this is Damon Pistulka with the egg your way round table. Glad to be back here again today. We hit today we actually came in at five minutes after the hour like I told people we would happy about that and I’m loving really loving the fact that I got Curtis conference here today.
Kurtis Tompkins 00:22
Curtis glad to have you. Glad to be here with you, David, thank you for having me today.
Damon Pistulka 00:27
Good, good. Well, Curtis, you know, it’s it’s cool to get to talk to you here. You’re kind of like the quiet working soul. I think when I when I when I think of you and I think of how it is because I get up fairly early in the morning here on the west coast and you’re on the East Coast already and you you put out posts and if people don’t understand this follow Curtis. He does what you pour upload every morning that you’re writing And it’s always something that thought provoking. And it seems like it really is. It always gets my mind just kind of work it. And I really appreciate that. I really appreciate that you’re doing that. So just thank you for that first of all. And then how do you find the inspiration to do that?
Kurtis Tompkins 01:23
I’ll be honest with you, Damon, there are some times I may be going along my day. And while going along my day, a thought will pop in my mind. And it might not be that whole thought that you see in the morning, it will be a part of the thought. Yeah, for example, the other day I talked about quicksand. Yeah. It popped into my mind and when a thought pops in my mind, you know, you got to write it down. Because you didn’t do anything during the day you’re gonna forget it. So when I write it down, and I start to think, what can I say? Because my thought process in the mornings Kind of like the inspiration, like the team huddle to bring the people together to get them going for the day. Okay? So write those things down, formulate it, sometime it is good. But when I get up in the morning, and when I’m about to post it, there’s something in I say, nah, we have to fix this part. We got to get this part out of it, and I’ll fix it, and then you guys get to find the product. Okay,
Damon Pistulka 02:23
okay, that’s cool programming. If anyone that tries to do something consistently like that will, will attest to the fact that it’s not easy, right? It’s not easy to do that like that every day. And you do a great job at it. That’s cool. I’m just checking to see if we’re, if we’re actually live here on LinkedIn. Okay, I will see. But it’s telling me in one place we are so I’m assuming we are. Let me check here. Oh, yes, we are. We are good, good stuff. That’s, that’s really good. And I tell ya, you know, it’s not just me, I’m sure you got a lot of feedback from others on that. And do you? Do you track? How many views? Do you get a ton of views on it? I would think with the consistency over the long term, you’ve been doing it, you get a lot of people looking at it, and you get a decent amount of views. There are some days, you know, you have a little battle with the algorithm. And you may not get as much out to as many people as I wanted to, but you got it. You got 1000 that view the polls every day, and it’s Yeah, that’s cool. That’s cool, man. That’s, that’s cool. Because it’s just like I said, it’s, it’s not it’s not easy doing that. It’s not easy doing that, and to write those things every day like that, and they’re thoughtful and they’re thought provoking. And it’s really it’s really a gift. It’s really a gift. That’s cool to see. So you’ve been busy. You’ve been busy lately. I mean, first of all, first of all, just with the coven people out of work, I mean you got to be hopping already. Because so many people are, you know, new to the new to the job search, and well, not so new now, but they have on the market looking for work. Did you did you see quite an uptick when, as soon as people started to get laid off that people were reaching out? or How did they How have you seen it progressed?
04:20
Well, I didn’t see a lot immediately, you will see people reaching out probably sometime after because I guess it took a while because, you know, some people had resources that they were able to pull from. Yeah. After a while you started to see people reaching out, you know, whether it was just for assistance, or it was to actually get services done.
Damon Pistulka 04:43
Yeah. Yeah. I never thought of that to the unemployment is certainly helped, and especially unemployment benefits have certainly helped and I you know, depending upon what they do here, the government does let after this it will it will share I’m sure it’ll make a big difference. All right. So you you’ve written a book and we’ll talk about the book here in a minute. But it the book deals with the, the ETS, the applicant tracking systems.
05:13
So what, what does an applicant tracking system do? Okay, so an applicant tracking system, what happens is, when a job seeker submits a resume online, it goes through that system. And what it does is it checks the resume against the job description. So it compares the resume gets a job description and checks for keywords that the recruiter or the hiring manager sets beforehand. And when those keywords are listed on the resume, it can rank there. We actually candidate to a good place to say today the prime candidate whether they rate just say 80% 90% or what have you, and they don’t have those keywords on their resume. They will be ranked as a lower chance And, you know, many times when I’ve gone into what they call the black hole scene at all. It’s simple in simple terms, that’s what it does, it does a lot more, but it’s simply that’s what it does.
Damon Pistulka 06:12
So basically, when a job is is created or a job description is created, they’re going to then take that job description or what they think the key words are for people that would fit that job. And the applicant tracking system is going to take a look at your resume, it’s going to scan it basically and read for those words. And the more of those that you you connect with, you know, the right places or in positions or whatever, then it then it ranks you how well you fit for that position. Right. Hmm. So it’s obviously then you know, if you’re doing your resume in a way that it can easily read it and the keywords are clear and fit your job, the job that you’re looking for. That makes a big difference that
07:05
right and you said something key, you said that the keywords fit your job. Because there are some people when they think of keywords, they just want to throw them any place on the resume. And that’s not how it goes, you have to structure it the right way. So when you’re looking at that job description when it comes down to what we call tailoring your resume, taking those keywords and putting them in the right places on your resume and kind of weaving them having a smooth flow. So the applicant tracking system, one will be able to read information and source those keywords. And then one of the most important parts beside the applicant tracking system, when the recruiter or hiring manager actually gets your resume when they read it. It makes sense. Yeah.
Damon Pistulka 07:51
Yeah, because you can make it go through the applicant tracking system very well, but it could be just garble on when you read it. Exactly. reading it. Ah, That’s that’s pretty, that’s pretty important. That’s for sure. So, basically, it’s pretty, it’s critical to understand the applicant tracking system and how it works. Because you won’t make it past the first base if you if you don’t get through the applicant tracking system.
08:20
That’s correct. And if I can, I want to throw these stats out there. Yeah, so people can understand the importance of applicant tracking system over 90%. And this is over 90% of Fortune 500 companies utilize applicant tracking systems. So there are many applicant tracking systems out there, many of them, but over 90% of Fortune 500 companies use them in smaller organizations are adopting them as well. Many have already. So when you go in and use your meeting an application online, you can’t say well, maybe they don’t have an applicant tracking system. Do you know? Yeah, optimize that resume, you know?
Damon Pistulka 09:04
Yeah. When I’m imagine that, as, you know, applicant tracking systems have been around for a while. But as places like these job boards or LinkedIn, for example, where they’re posting jobs, some of them may start to to put a applicant tracking system back end. So they could provide that to smaller companies as well. I don’t know that. But I would think that that might be a way that they go, because the applicant tracking system, especially in today’s market, I’m sure that people that post jobs are getting flooded with hundreds, if not thousands of resumes for each position.
Kurtis Tompkins 09:42
Oh, yeah. Especially Wow. Yeah.
Damon Pistulka 09:45
Yeah. And, you know, so it’s critical and to do that, and so let’s, let’s talk a little bit about your book. I mean, you you, you wrote a book, resume writing simple. And I’ll get the end I didn’t get but I’ve got the we’ll put the graphic up here on it and, and get you the link to it as well. And talk about that in a minute. But you you wrote this book recently, right?
Kurtis Tompkins 10:19
Yes, it was last week.
Damon Pistulka 10:24
Yeah. Yeah. So what what was what was behind the book anymore? Why? What was your drive to write write a book about this?
10:35
I’ll say jobs seekers are having a hard time when it comes down to apply for positions online. Many have very, very, very, very frustrated and I said very all those times and it’s more than that, but they are very frustrated because they believe that the applicant tracking system is the enemy. Yeah, one stat that I wrote. He wrote that awesome press release. Yep. He highlighted 75% of candidates don’t make it through the applicant tracking system. Yeah, well, that’s some people find it disturbing. But I find it Okay, cool. Now, what strategy Are we going to use to get past that? So going back to the book, my thought process is they are having issues when it comes down to applying online. They’re frustrated, don’t know what to do. They’re trying to figure out why they are receiving those rejection emails. They’re getting a whole lot. And then something that you and I talked about the other day, some people have applied to thousands of positions, yes. And they got no feedback. And they’re trying to wonder why something is wrong with that strategy. Yeah, if just say for example, if I apply to 50 positions, I’m going to at least get 10 something’s going to come out of that. You see what I’m saying? So beautiful. Applying for thousands of positions and many are doing this and they’re getting the results and trying to find out. What is it that I’m doing wrong. So my thought process was to put together something that’s going to kind of coach them guide them something easy to understand, easy to read, so that they can implement these things and change their strategy. One of the things is formatting the resume properly for the applicant tracking system. Yep. Because it’s not just the key words, there are certain things that many people here in the US may have on their resume. That’s not good for the applicant tracking system. Somewhat these extra graphics, somewhat is fancy text, inserting text boxes and things of that nature. Yeah, things are not what you should have on the resume. Keep it simple, you know. So the book outlines those things and kind of helps them to put themselves in a better position with the formatting and then it actually shows them How to tailor a resume is an actual job description and an actual resume in there. And it’s tailored in the book. So that helps them to show them and it tells them where to get the keywords from. And then show you how I selected them. I mean, it is it’s simple. It’s a short book, but it just makes the process easier for the job seeker. That’s the whole point. Yeah,
Damon Pistulka 13:26
yeah. And for those, for those listening, I just put the link to the book in the in the comments on Facebook, and I’ll do it here as well. And in LinkedIn comments for it, because this is this is something that I think you said one thing there. And I remember that now because in the gentleman say like you’d applied 4000 or 4000 places and hadn’t heard anything, I mean, so people should not think that they won’t get a response they will they probably shouldn’t be expecting You know, AutoSum they’re gonna at least get an automated response or something correct. Okay, cool. That’s, that’s that’s something good to know. Because I’m sure there’s a lot of people that are applying, applying applying and they’re not getting anything back and they’re, they’re going, Oh, well, that’s just the way it is. But if, if, like you said, If I apply for 50, and I don’t see anything, there’s something wrong and know that I think that’s a valuable piece of information for him as well, I just dropped a link to your book into the LinkedIn live as well so people can see it there. The Joseph step he’s with us today. He’s got an AC just saying and just saying that he bought his copy the other day. Thank you do I want to buy mine the other day too. But then I realized I have to use my wife’s account and I don’t remember her password because we are in our house. We have one. What do you call a prime account? Got you. Yeah, so you got to do that. But But Get up there today in the done because it and if people don’t know that your book is ridiculously cheap, it’s like 599 for the for the heart the the print version and 399 for the Kindle version. So, man, don’t have a cup of coffee tomorrow, then buy the book. It’s all good. You know, me 99 on your phone and Kindle and why wouldn’t you do this thing because it’s, oh, Joseph 30 wants to sign here we go. He’s got to do now the sign copy, sign copy. So that’s good. But
Kurtis Tompkins 15:37
so when you’re
Damon Pistulka 15:39
when you help people with this, the applicant tracking system is just part of what you do overall a job ready today. And if people haven’t seen you before, on LinkedIn, your company page before it’s job ready, as you think it would be said to the number day is d y correct. You’re not ready to DUI today. And you’ve been doing this a while now.
16:03
Yes, I have this I have. So job ready today has been in existence a little over three years now. We just celebrated our third year in March of this year by doing when it comes down to the helping job seekers and things of that nature. Coming up on a decade, coming up over the decades, it’s been a good Wow. Couple of resumes written you can imagine
Kurtis Tompkins 16:28
advice, all that good stuff. So yeah,
Damon Pistulka 16:32
so that’s that’s just brings out that I was kind of interesting. How many darn resumes do you do you write them in a week or month or look at in a week?
Kurtis Tompkins 16:41
Well, it varies. Um, I would I’ll tell you this this week. I probably took a look at
16:51
Now, granted, this is some partial and some resumes but
Kurtis Tompkins 16:56
ah 50 plus. Wow. took a look at this week.
Damon Pistulka 17:03
That’s not a lot. I mean, that’s a lot of resumes and a little bit of time,
Kurtis Tompkins 17:06
that’s for sure. Definitely. So it’s a long days,
Damon Pistulka 17:10
well, I’m sure to that. After doing it that long, you can pretty much spot I mean, you just look at and go, Oh, there is a big one right there. And you can say people, you know, hundreds of hours of, of headache because they’re not just keep hitting that send button hitting that send button in the applicant tracking system just kicking it out, or even if they the company’s not using the applicant tracking system. Let’s talk about that a little bit because they’re, you know, not every company is going to use it. But you’re also helping these people with one thing that that we talked about the other day was tailoring their resume to the job position.
17:52
That’s right. And that is so important. Just like we use this example marketing. I don’t To be a marketing genius, but I do know this. If someone is trying to advertise a product, let’s say for example, apple, I mean, I’m a big apple fan, okay? If they are advertising a product, and they tell the customer what they want, I guarantee you’re not buying a Mac. I’m not buying that iPhone. It’s not gonna happen. But their strategic, they tell me what I want. Oh, yeah, we want this the the new cameras, a 13 megapixel camera. I’m exaggerating, but you don’t have Yeah, a new Mac and you’re able to fold it in to the side and do this. that intrigues me on the commercial. And when I go past the store, and what I’m doing, it goes to credit card or debit card, it’s time to buy. But the whole point is to tailor that resume and show them what they’re looking for. Now, let’s be clear. I’m not telling anyone to lie because you don’t know what you do is you go to that job description. Take what it is that they said. So they said they need someone that’s an expert in Microsoft Office. You don’t just say, Okay, well, I know office. Tell them what they want to know. They are expert. So show them. You’re an expert. Don’t really just mention it, but demonstrated in your history to show your expertise. So that that’s important. Like you said, if they don’t use an applicant tracking system, they get a bunch of resumes with people who saying, okay, telling them what themselves as the candidate will want somebody to know. So for example, if I decide I want to write my resume, and I say, Oh, yeah, well, I’m a skilled person at this. I like chess, I like this. I do this. I do that you’re going all around in circles. Focus on what they want. Yeah, we’re an expert in this. So show them why you’re an expert in this game. There it is. That’s a great point because we write a resume to explain about us
Damon Pistulka 20:00
But they want to find a candidate that fits what they want. So just it’s a great point that you’re making here because just like selling something today, the way things have to be marketed and sold, we need to understand what the buyer wants and give the buyer what they want. And in that case, the buyer, which they’re going to pay you money is the employer and they’re telling you what they want. Listen, and you right, then I think you’re tailoring it. So now I’m getting it I’m talking about I’m getting what you’re saying here so that helps me a lot because you know, I will tell you the last time I tried to look for a job, it’s been a while, but you know, not much luck. And I think a lot of what it was in my case was I don’t know if they’re using applicant tracking systems then but if you think about what you’re saying and tailoring just tailoring stuff to to the state Your resume to each position understanding what they do. And I assume too, if they’re looking for, like you said a Microsoft Excel expert or a Microsoft Office expert, the more you can demonstrate it in each position, the better you’re going to be and things like that.
21:18
Right? If that’s something that you have you have the expertise, let them know, of course, don’t want to overdo it. You know, it’s a strategy but show them like you just say, just show him. Yeah.
Damon Pistulka 21:28
Yeah. That’s interesting. So when you’re doing this, I mean, we talked about this a little bit earlier and things we’ll get at talk about results and things like that. But how many mean if you just had a guess, somebody that’s trying to find a job today? How many resumes that how many times they have to apply before they’re going to get a? An interview? We needed 1000 is it 100 is it
22:00
Now, I’ll be honest with you 1000. That’s over the top. Okay, I think 500 is over the top. This is just me talking now. Yeah, yeah.
Damon Pistulka 22:10
By juicy. You talked enough these people every day you got at least that idea. Yeah.
22:16
So I would say it’s according to a number of factors, because I will say this. You have some awesome recruiters and hiring managers out there. But you also have some that goes candidates. So you have candidates who may be on point, they may have submitted their resume the right way, but the company delays and getting back to them. Now, that’s a part of the process that neither you know I can do nothing about. Yeah, on their end, but when it comes down to applying to me, if you’re going to keep on applying and you’re doing it the right way, actually tailoring your resume to each position. You should have a better success rate. I won’t. I won’t throw it away. percentage because I don’t want people to think that they’re going to get it after they do it this many times, but you have to, you’ll succeed to me more than you are now. So if you’re not tailoring, and you have an zero percent, if you get 15 20%, you’re going into another place. Now you’re starting to do it, right. Yeah. And if you don’t mind, I’ll say this. tailoring in the initial stages when you first learn, I’m not gonna lie, say it doesn’t take a while. Because you’re just learning how to do it. Yeah, but as you continue to do it, you’ll start to get proficient at it, and then it’ll become easier to use. So when you see a job description, you will be able to see it as I see it.
Damon Pistulka 23:45
Yeah, because that’s another thing I’m saying. As you’re saying it, I’m trying to digest that and thinking of myself looking at a job description. It’s going to take a while for you to be able to go through and, and pick out key points ago. Here’s some key points that I know Need to highlight or change on my resume to tailor it for this?
Kurtis Tompkins 24:05
So yeah, I’m sorry.
Damon Pistulka 24:06
No, go ahead. Go ahead. No, no, what
24:08
I’m saying there, there are definitely places in the in the job description that you can look. I think I’m going to give it give a golden nugget for the audience today. And I’m hoping to be able to help them and this is something that’s covered in the book. It starts in chapter three, I mentioned in a couple of times, but in a job description, you have the responsibility section. You have the preferred qualifications and you have the minimum qualifications. That’s some job descriptions, or it may be just the responsibilities and the qualifications in general. In those sections, you need to take keywords from there and add them to specific places on your resume. To be able to get it past the applicant tracking system. So keywords, how they’re evaluated with the applicant tracking system, they, according to the place that you put them, and this is I’m just talking in general some applicant tracking systems, they evaluate according to the place that you put them. Sometimes it’s number of times that the, the word is mentioned, things of that nature. And another key point and I’m just giving it as it’s coming to me. When you look at a job description, and you see a word, a key word mentioned multiple times, that indicates important. So for example, if it’s saying a computer specialist, and it’s mentioned in that job description 10 times, you might want to focus on that. You might want to get that key word and make sure it’s in your resume in the proper places. So that that skill will be seen. Certainly right there.
Damon Pistulka 25:57
Cool, cool. Well, we just said had some on here that said they just bought the Kindle version. Thank you. What, uh, let’s see who it is. I can’t see him on my on stream yard here, but I can, I can probably see them. Ron Higgs, Ron and Fran Ron. Yeah.
Kurtis Tompkins 26:16
I heard some awesome things about the gentleman. Yeah,
Damon Pistulka 26:19
yeah, he’s a good dude. He lives up here in the Northwest. And, yeah, just a stellar individual. So that’s cool. That’s cool to see you here today. Ron. Thank you, Ron. Yeah. Well, it’s it is I tell you this is this is an interesting thing. Because you know, basically what they’ve done is they’ve taken what Google is developed through the Google platform of us searching for everything under the sun for our lives for our businesses, and any other thing you can think of and and just turned it around on the resumes Haven’t they
26:51
actually made its algorithm the Asian that is a lot, but
Damon Pistulka 26:58
so do you sort of do the ATMs Do like Google does. And you kind of see updates to the algorithms or they kind of their search strategies through this, the in the selection process stay pretty consistent.
27:11
I think that they may make adjustments as time goes along according to the needs of the company. Yeah. And I guess they kind of dependent some of them on the actual applicant tracking systems. Like, you know, Tally or somebody may use tally or they may use a fresh team or something like that. Um, it’s probably depending on what they’re doing, but they set that the criteria that they’re going to use when they’re searching for the applicant. So I think it varies. Okay. Okay. That’s cool.
Damon Pistulka 27:44
So yeah, when you’re, you know, in your in your work, you’ve been in this quite a while. We were talking about this before, you have to have some people that have come back to you more than once.
Kurtis Tompkins 27:59
Oh, yeah.
28:00
Definitely, yeah, we have a couple of clients, and I’m grateful to them all. I would call their names, but I don’t know how to do that. But but they are awesome. I have one particular client, a recent client, I will say, he came to me. Probably about about about 10 times. Yeah, you have others that have come a couple of times. I mean, and this doesn’t make me as a soul, you know, oh my gosh, but when you find someone and this is in business, period, when you find someone who meets your needs and, you know, take you to that place, you need to go, you’re gonna go like for me? Yeah. I worked with a Bowman digital media the other day, wrote my press release. And he did a couple of other things that folks don’t know about. Yeah, too. To help me out when it comes down to my business, so when the time come where I need the services, you know exactly where I’m going, I’m going yeah.
Damon Pistulka 29:07
You’re the IRA Bowman and Bowman digital media right here.
29:13
Right? And it was time for me to sell my business we’re using I’m going
Damon Pistulka 29:17
yeah. At the old exit your way guys here wait.
29:23
Oh, no, this but you know, it’s it’s, it’s it’s fun because
Damon Pistulka 29:30
you know, when you are around people like we are on LinkedIn that are really good at what they do and a lot of different things. We can solve our business problems easier than a lot of other people can.
Kurtis Tompkins 29:44
That’s right.
Damon Pistulka 29:46
Because you can I mean, cuz like you said, if it’s, if it’s somebody somebody that I know that needs some help with, with preparing for their job search, they will be coming to you. Somebody needs digital media. They’re gonna get go to IRA, if they need, you know what, whatever if they get if the stress is too much, we know where we’re going there. Right? So you, Alexander, get them taken care of you know. And that’s that’s the nice thing and I think about LinkedIn, hell, you and I would have never known each other if we wouldn’t have been on LinkedIn
Kurtis Tompkins 30:20
right when I was inside of the country.
Damon Pistulka 30:23
Yeah, we’re on opposite sides of the country, that’s for sure. And completely different kinds of kinds of work but it’s nice how it brings people together and good professionals together that we can we can share, share a good solid, good solid knowledge and do these kinds of things. Right. Oh, when when and it’s always fun. It’s always fun. I mean, people well if people really understood that what LinkedIn could be like are the you know the live we did the other night with IRA was was a lot of fun talking and laughing and How you can get to know people as as you know, Joseph was on here and Ron Higgs as well. And Ron Higgs is funny because Ron Hagar lives like 20 minutes from me, and I’m on LinkedIn. Wow. Yeah. And, and, and same thing, Joseph, he lives he lives a long ways away, but met him on LinkedIn last year. And this and most people don’t understand that you can build real relationships with people become friends, and really have a good time using it and, and working with really good people. Right? That’s right. That’s, that’s, that’s one of the things I enjoy the most about it for me anyway. So the Sure, I think here a couple other things, that would be a good nugget for people to do. So think about Hmm,
Kurtis Tompkins 31:49
like the competition. Oh,
Damon Pistulka 31:54
that’s awesome because we talked about that when we were prepping for this and I should have looked over my notes because they Good. Yeah, you got me going back on my notes because yeah, this is the thing that we are talking about because right now, we got more people than ever looking for these jobs, that one job now, more people going after a single job. So that’s something where this maybe you could have gotten away with not tailoring before, maybe you could have gotten, you wouldn’t get away without doing the ETS work. But what are some of the things that you’re seeing and suggestions you have for that?
32:33
Well, I’ll see this field is going to be another level of competition. Hopefully when this when the COVID our what will how people say what outside opens back up? Yeah, there you go. There’s going to be a lot of competition because like you said, there are many, many, many people. In June the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they report 17 point 8 million people unemployed.
Damon Pistulka 33:04
What is it normally, before this?
33:06
Well, I looked at the report and I kind of compared it to about 10 years ago, and it was 8.5 million. Okay, that’s just about double. Yeah. So it was 17 point 8 million in June and we’ll get the numbers for July. I think it should be out probably tomorrow, Monday, something like that. Okay. All right. When you really think about that, this is a million people, even though if it was a million people that’s still like, wow, to me, but 17 point 8 million people. Competition is going to be more than the norm. So you have to really stand out. mediocre is not going to do the job. Yeah. Although before this point, I will tell you mediocre is not going to do the job but that the bar has been set from here to here. Yeah. So you really have to come with you. gain your A plus game method to make sure that you stand out because we can’t think that and of course, you should notice, after looking at thinking about what the applicant tracking system does, but the recruiter or hiring manager is not going to sit there and go through, okay, let’s see what these hundred applicants or these 500 applicants are about, it’s not going to go like that. They have to save time. So you have to make sure that you are standing out from the crowd. That is it’s so important. It’s so important, because you got to consider you not only have people who are just say mid level, you have people that have been in CEO positions, CFO positions that are looking for work now. Yeah. And they may tell they resume say, you know what, I may want to just take a step back for right now and get something mid level so that I can, you know, build up and then maybe one day and get back into it. It’s just certain things to think about. Yeah. Competition is great, you know?
Damon Pistulka 35:02
Yeah. So that’s a that’s a good point. So you’re seeing and you’re expecting even I’m assuming it when, if unemployment runs out, or as we start back to work, you know, it’s there’s going to be a lot more people looking for jobs. And I mean, have you heard anything about our people thinking that six months from now, a year from now that we’re going to be? I mean, anybody given any indication of what they think the job market is going to look like, a year from now? Or is it all too early to tell? Or has anybody said anything?
35:38
I think, I think it might be too early to tell. But there was some and I’ve been kind of, you know, you follow the news and looking at different things. There are some that are kind of predicting, sort of a recession of some sort. I’m hopeful of the opposite, of course. Yeah. But you know, there’s just you know, people are kind of in a state of uncertainty. And that’s been that way since what March? Yeah. So we’re kind of just going going with the flow. But as you mentioned, and I believe you said this closer to the beginning of the show.
Kurtis Tompkins 36:12
There are opportunities.
Damon Pistulka 36:14
Yeah, there are. There are there are still. There are still jobs. There’s still jobs out there. They’re still industries going. I mean, I’ve got friends that are in essential businesses. I’ve got, I know people that are actually that are in e commerce and other things, clients that we work with there that that they’re actually hiring, they’re, they’re going crazy. And, you know, even we’ve got some clients in the oilfield industry and oilfield services and you know, they were just smashed in March, when they the price of oil went down like crazy, but now they’re starting to see it come back. They’re starting to see some, some jobs and some spending happening again, and I think that everybody’s cautiously optimistic. Just wondering if, you know, if anybody had dared and I didn’t if you hadn’t heard anything I hadn’t heard anything said like, you know, by the end of 2021 will hopefully be back at 10 million unemployed or something like that, you know, but that’s a it’s that’s not an easy thing to, to intelligently guess or predict I would say. So. When when people another thing that you guys talked about with IRA that I that I wanted to make sure and I’m glad now that you got me back in the notes here is one of the things that there are a couple things that people need to do during their job search, though is think about if they need to, they should be thinking about ways to make money now.
Kurtis Tompkins 37:43
Yes,
Damon Pistulka 37:44
yes. There’s there’s part time employment and there’s things now that there have there weren’t before you know, driving for Lyft or Uber, or Freelancer work or things like that, that they can be doing to help to help them out. out a little bit in the in the meantime.
38:02
That’s right. There are some things that to be to be thought about. And I’ll give an example. I didn’t Of course, I didn’t do this recently. But even though we’re in the, the COVID world right now, like you said, there are things you got to think of creative ways that you can make money in a legal sense. So something that I did, and I’ll share it. I bought some iPhones on eBay. Yeah. made sure they were good. I mean, I’m, I’m a tech guy, so I checked them out. So everything was okay with them. I flipped them. Yeah, every last one of them. Yeah, having an item that you know, something that is in demand that people want. There’s always somebody that’s going to need a phone. And if you have a phone that somebody can use, and you have it for a decent price, yeah, there’s nothing against you selling it. Yeah. I don’t know if you want me to provide some resources for when things open back up, but I can do that as well. Let’s do that. Event staffing. Some people may say, Well, you know, what do you do? I mean, you you can be a brand ambassador at events. You can assist with the setup and breakdown of the event. talking to customers and things of that nature. One company I can think of off the top of my head is atn. staffing. So that’s a is an apple t as in Tom, and is a Nancy event staffing all together content. So they can go and register for that. And I mean, look, certain things they have going on, you can make $20 an hour, sometimes $30 an hour. And I mean, it’s a one time gig, and you’re going to be working for five, six hours. Just add that up.
Damon Pistulka 39:50
Yeah, you know, yeah, it adds up over time. That’s right. And then the other thing I think, too is is things like that, get you out of your place. get you out, you know, because that’s the other thing that, that I when people are searching for a job you can get into it. And I don’t mean into it passionately a good way I think into it get down on yourself get really, you know, it’s not going well kind of thing. And if you don’t take care of yourself, it’s, it’s not gonna work well.
40:21
That’s right. And I mean, I’ll be honest with you and I’ll share this with the audience. I know this because I’ve been there. Yeah. I’ve been in position where I had to search for a job I be at I was at a company and the company they laid us off and not just me, everybody. Yeah. So after doing that, and you know, you’re searching for position and you’re trying to find when you’re saying okay, this may not be working out that may not be working out. Then you look at the bills because I you know, I do a little budget, exhale. You look at the bills, and then you look at the finances, and then things start to go like okay, What in the world is I going to do? How am I going to get this done? How am I going to pay for my car? How I’m gonna do this? Yeah. When I look back, this some of the same things that I am able to teach to people now it had to come to experience. Yes. So you learn, okay, I wasn’t doing this, right. This is why I wasn’t getting the results I was looking for. This is why when I sent that application, and I can pull up, I got emails from years ago, I can pull up some of the rejection notices. Oh, yeah, we thank you for applying. I know why now. Yeah. So it’s all about like you said, keeping yourself from that place because if you allow yourself to get there, you can get sick. That’s not true. Sometimes, honestly, you’re searching for a job. Yes, that and I wrote an article about this. I forget exactly what it’s called. But he It was a schedule that he gave, kind of blocking out time for the jobseekers where you can do certain things at certain times of the day and I believe he added in a way you take a break. Sometimes you got to get up from this computer, walk away. Go take a breather, walk outside if you’ve got a an area where there’s a professor Pete talked about this but an area of nature. Yeah. Where you can walk through nice trees and it’s nice and serene and quiet. Just walk and go and clear your head. Don’t think about everything and sometimes you sometimes you have to put this down. Yeah, put it down. Just clear your head from everything. tell anybody want to call you anything. Give me an hour. Yeah, let me relax. Yeah.
Damon Pistulka 42:40
That’s valuable. that’s valuable for sure. Because it is a grinding process. And I remember my last time and it and it is it is you can get so wrapped up in it and you can be worried so much about what you know, I’m not making the progress, whatever it is that you have to you have to just relax and go to Do something else and put that out of your head for a little bit and just like you said, go out into nature enjoy the the breeze on your face, the view, whatever it is that you’re looking at, or are just watching kid play in a park or some darn thing to help you
43:15
really relax, right? It’s something else that and you just have me Help me to think of this. Don’t feel bad for having fun. While you are in that type of situation. Some people think that they’re not entitled to smile to enjoy something you entitled, just because you lost a job or something like that. That’s not your fault. You know?
Damon Pistulka 43:37
Yeah,
43:38
smile and enjoy and that’s going to help you get your spirits up and now kind of bring you to a place where you’re good. The next time you get to the computer, you have some something happy some adrenaline to keep going, you know?
Damon Pistulka 43:50
Yeah, yeah, that’s that’s wise. Man. That is why that was me. That was me. That was me. I got an appointment. I didn’t think I you know, I’ll have fun when I’m doing So I’ll enjoy my life and I’m doing it. That’s Bs, man. You got it. You’re not you’re that minutes gone when it’s gone.
Kurtis Tompkins 44:06
It’s right back.
Damon Pistulka 44:08
And it doesn’t matter if it’s friends, family yourself that minutes gone. And when we when we see it that I just it’s gone. That’s all I can say. That’s right, and never comes back. That’s right. So, you know, it’s it’s really important that so that’s got me choked up a bit but it’s good. So this, this kind of stuff when you look at it, who are you seeing more people that are able to apply for jobs remotely than they used to? Whoo. Oh,
44:46
man. companies. There’s all a lot of remote positions that are available. Yeah. Even on I’m on on Facebook. I’m seeing a opportunity. They’re saying okay, well hiring me before Customer Service or what have you. Yeah, some companies are still they’re still rolling. Because I mean, computer internet connection can have a little monitor in the headset. nice quiet area, man. You’re good to go. Yeah. So there’s a lot of opportunities and not just there. There’s a website called automatic calm, but with two T’s. Okay, automatic comm they have positions with Java developers, I believe, and maybe some HR positions. They’re all over the place, but the company is strictly online. Yeah. And Amazon also has some virtual positions as well, man, it’s a wealth of things out there. Well, that’s that’s just something that that I think people need to think outside their geography, right.
Damon Pistulka 45:46
So I’m living in my town or my region, you know, I’m in the Seattle area. I should, I shouldn’t shouldn’t not think that I can’t find something in in Los Angeles or something. At least in your time zone. It’s a little harder. Cross across too many time zones, but, but if you stay in the same time zone, there’s a lot of opportunities remotely, there are
46:07
so many opportunities. And even in that case, there are some that can work with you. They may say, Well, based on your time zone, will we need you to sign on this hour? Because like, what customer service, for example, you know, there’s so many shifts that they can use. Yeah, that’s true.
Damon Pistulka 46:22
That’s true. And that you just hit on something too. So if you’re sitting here and you’re not finding the exact position, but you could find a remote position, and it wasn’t quite your normal daytime hours, you may be able to work that around with with your job search and a little bit more and be able to do something that’s an interim kind of deal. If you were if you had the qualifications and could do it. That would be another way to maybe, maybe do that.
46:49
Right. Some interim. A lot of interim positions today. We have a little contract. Okay, this is for three or four months any jump on it? Yeah.
Damon Pistulka 46:59
Yeah, that is true. That is true. The interim stuff would be very interesting. Because, yeah, there people is that that’s what they do. You know, there’s a lot of people that do interim work, and they go from project to project. So that’s, that’s certainly viable for that. Right. Let’s see, I’m going through my notes. Now again, I think about something else but the
47:25
Have you seen your your work gains because of the remote? Are you doing more video calls with people in your job now? Or is it pretty much that that’s been pretty much the way you’ve done it for a long time right here? Well, I would, I would say that there’s more video calling going on now than it was before. Okay. I, you know, post cold pre COVID going to see my my clients, my organizational clients, I’ll go you know, see them and do whatever I need to do teach them on resumes and all that good stuff, or just, you know, do different things that’s needed. But now it’s more remote. Not more remote. I have everything remote right now. Yeah, but now, I’m video called the zoom. I think I’ve been on zoom more now within the past couple of months than ever. Yeah, I mean, it’s not an everyday video call, but I’m talking about overall. Yeah, it’s much more than it has been probably ever.
Damon Pistulka 48:25
Yeah, it’s it’s kind of nice. I think I’d like video better than the phone for sure now and getting used to it and being able to see people see the rack and stuff. And I think in your work as well being able to see the person and understand who you’re trying to tailor a resume for would would help you to be able to tailor that resume even a little bit
48:46
better. Yes, it can bring that it can build a I would say another level of relationship. Yes.
Damon Pistulka 48:52
Yeah. Well, that’s cool. That’s interesting. Because it’s it’s just when you see Think about how COVID just accelerated everything accelerated everything celebrated, you know, the remote accelerated the the unemployment, any anything across the board. It did all that. And then it created opportunities to because the ecommerce companies that were positioned to take advantage of this are doing really well. And there’s there there are companies like well I know my own experience, grocery stores, Home Home centers of any sort, you know, any kind of any kind of crafting, you know, so we’re talking about people that are looking for for work right now and if you know there’s a couple things that you can do that will be very therapeutic for you if you can craft something if you because my wife is a crafter that’s why I know you know, anything from painting to whatever but those stores have been wild. The busy Yeah, and I do a fair amount of home improvement projects is because I like that’s my exercise and those stores you can’t there’s not hardly stuff on the shelves at the end of the weekend. Right? And this kind of stuff is these places are hiring and I see some of the some of the work my son who’s 21 got his buddy’s got work at Lowe’s and in one got work at a grocery store in North pathing it’s good it’s good ready? It’s good employment for them right now. I mean, people like we’re talking some other part time work they can potentially look at so right um, but no, it’s been it’s been great I want to put the I’m gonna try to put the video up No, I’m not like I have a moment he he’s got the LinkedIn live down. He’s gonna get it but if people haven’t seen your, your book, I want to make sure they see the book title. I want to make sure that we I put the link in there but you Got a your book is now out now been out for a little bit resume writing simplified. We got I got it this is the webpage you want to go to. That’s where we’re that’s where we’re going to be. You can get it purchase it right there as we said before, it’s the price of a cup of coffee. Oh yeah, more time. One one month of Hulu. Come on this is this is something that’s gonna pay back a lot more than that. So if you if you’re at the point and you need some help getting through this ATMs or you need to talk to Curtis with some advanced help on tailoring your resume and getting your package ready to go so you can get these that get this new opportunity.
51:52
Where do they need to reach out to get a hold of you, Curtis? Okay, well, we can go to the website like you mentioned earlier. www dot job ready the number two d y.com. Or you reach me on LinkedIn, on Twitter, Facebook, you can search Curtis Tompkins or search our job ready to date, you will find me. Definitely.
Kurtis Tompkins 52:15
Here’s a Go ahead. They wanted to see what actual copy of the book did.
Damon Pistulka 52:23
I know I forgot about it. It’s 50 pages long. He condensed this down into the best stuff for you to you and I are we’re talking about the other day. And I won’t bring that up. This is not something that’s going to take you 14 hours to read. This is something to be able to read and apply as you said, it’s a real practical book. And it’s meant to help you walk step by step through your resume, get it ready for the ATMs and do that. And that’s that’s a that’s a wonderful point about that because there’s in when you’re searching for a job, you want to get to the point and get things done. So great, that’s for sure.
Kurtis Tompkins 52:59
500 All right.
Damon Pistulka 53:02
Yep. Yep, we got we and I want to shout out to a couple people. I see Kelly Robinson’s here with us and Paula Goodman, all of a. So they’re they’re here and Kelly says she’s not a Facebook person. So she’s learning she’s seen it live on Facebook and Paul is on LinkedIn. So thanks for thanks for showing up there guys. And, and we are we’re about wrapping it up here with Curtis Tompkins. They can also find Curtis on LinkedIn. And if you missed the beginning of this, don’t miss it on the end. Curse Curtis, follow him on LinkedIn, Curtis Tonkin, he will have a post out every morning that will get you going. It is good. So and then if you need the resume help, he is awesome at that. So Curtis, thanks for being with us here today. Go out and get a book less than a cup of coffee and it will help you a lot. We’ll talk later and everyone have a great weekend.
Kurtis Tompkins 54:00
be here. Thank you so much. Bye
