Helping job seekers revitalize their networking strategy in Q3 | Conversations > Applications ✌️

I help job seekers unlock $100K+ roles by mastering the story that sells. Conversations ​> Applications // Career Coach // Resume & LinkedIn Writing // Job Search Strategy

I believe you should be able to obtain your career dreams and that’s what I help professionals do. 

My clients have landed roles at Oracle, Deloitte, EY, Tata Consultancy, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Eaton, Salesforce, KPMG, PWC, Dell, Higher Education or started their own venture 😌

But, landing your dream role doesn’t happen by chance, or with me creating an offer letter for you. My most successful clients know it takes hard work, patience, and perseverance.

The results? Massive career pivots, finding clarity in what you wanted to do, landing your target role in 2 months, and getting 2x your current salary. 

Ultimately, the people I work with feel respected, valued, and paid fairly in their career path.

I am a career coach guiding frustrated mid-career professionals to their target roles by teaching them to have the right conversations with the right people

For brand partnerships or creator collaborations, reach out anytime: dominic@dxconsults.com

Sick of hearing from me?  Scroll 👇🏼  to see what my clients have to say

Who am I and why should you listen to me?

I was an underdog, I never had the perfect GPA, experience, or stories to tell and I still broke into the #1 professional service firm in the world. Before that, I spent time in public accounting, start-ups, and fortune 500 companies.

I sat behind the scenes in HR and watched resumes pile in, held phone screens and reference checks, and interviewed candidates, and rejected candidates (yes, all while utilizing an ATS). 

I’ve seen how treacherous the job searching process can be; automated rejections, ghosting, 14 rounds of interviews, and 250 applications a week. I don’t want you to have to live in the process that every candidate believes to be normal.

Born and raised in Cleveland, I took an unconventional path: four years in Austin, an unexpected detour living in Indonesia, and now a return to Austin where the weather is elite and the tacos are dangerously good.

My time abroad gave me perspective, my time in Cleveland gave me grit, and Austin has given me the space to build a business around helping people do work they love. I still root for the Browns (against all odds), and I’m usually running, creating, or hanging with family and friends when I'm not coaching.

Dominic Imwalle

Career advice nobody wants to hear:

Close your laptop.
Grab a whiteboard (or paper).
Map your stories.

Last week, VP-level client in a 1:1.

They kept looking left during our session.
Finally I asked: "Did you do the work on a board?"

"Yes - collected my thoughts and wanted to make sure I had the stories right."

So few people do this.

Get off the laptop.
Grab a pen and paper.
Start mapping where you want to go.

What will you sell to the next person who takes a chance on you?

Your pivot starts with clarity.
Your clarity starts with writing it down.

Few are doing this work.

Which is exactly why it'll help you stand out.

Platforms don’t hire you, people do | Conversations ​> Applications

If you're getting interviews but not offers, here is what I’ve noticed over the last month:

You're missing translation.

Most think more interviews = more success/options. But the gap isn't your experience. It's how you're packaging it.

Here's what changes things:

- Connect your work to their outcomes
- Use their internal language
- Speak to their problems

When you learn to translate your value into their vocabulary, interviews convert.

You will constantly start to drive answers towards, "what do they get from bringing me into this role?"

This is what it takes to win. 

The person hired isn't always most qualified. It's the one who made it easiest to say yes.

Learn their language, close the role ✌🏼

I believe universities should be required to dedicate a full semester to structured job placement support before students graduate. 

I talk to talented students all the time who either don't use the resources or have a university that isn't working towards supporting them professionally

Ps) this comes from someone who just hired an intern from alma mater, excited to talk about this more soon. A major focus of our work will be helping them land a full-time role post grad.

Friendly reminder: you are the one for the role. You gain nothing by believing otherwise. 

You did the work or didn't. 
You sold your story or didn't. 
You grabbed their attention or didn't. 

It's on you, let it fly ✌🏼

If you're not obsessively preparing for interviews, you're leaving the outcome to chance.

- Not "I'll be myself and see what happens" mode.
- Not "hope they like me" mode.
- Not "I'll wing it" mode.

Whether you've got 5 years of experience or 15, the prep work stays the same (to an extent).

Here's what I ask every client to do 👇

STEP 1) Study their LinkedIn profile

- No need to connect yet, but go see where they've spent time.
- What companies? What roles?
- What do they care about?

STEP 2) What will you reference from your last interview?

- If this is round two or three, what did you learn? What thread can you pick up and build on?

STEP 3) What 3 stories will hit home with this interviewer?

- Match your wins to what matters to them. Don't just recite your resume - connect the dots for them.

STEP 4) What are you tweaking from the last interview that went wrong?

- If something didn't land, fix it. Don't repeat the same mistake twice.

STEP 5) Prepare 5-10 questions

- Not 1-3. Aim for 10. Go back through all the steps above - does it drive any further questions?

The preparation is what you control and where you can win.

AND also... you'll know if you left something on the table. 

KNOCK out your prep 🤝

I can't put to words how important it is to hang around for a long time and serve people at the highest level you can. 

I'm having so much fun on LinkedIn right now.

I get to work with great people. 
I get to see them smash their dream role.
I get to help them negotiate the salary they want.
I get to sit with them in the brutal moments of the process.

This doesn't happen if I don't hang around for 5+ years. 

All the moments of people hating on your content, telling you you're too young to serve people, or the content being "cringey" are part of the game. 

This is it. Here's to the long game. 

Smile and wave 👋🏼

ps) it's cringey until it works. and it still feels like the early days.

A recent client didn't get the job because of their resume - they got it by doing the work nobody else would.

This changes everything.

The process started with cold outreach to an old alumni.
That led to intro calls.
They asked sharp questions and got pushed to apply for a specific role.

Once applied, they were invited into a rigorous interview process.

Not for one role - but TWO.

Midway through a case study for the first role, they got the news:

The position was filled.

Most people would've stopped there or maybe lash out at the company for leading them down this path.

But here's what they did instead:

- Showed what they were capable of.
- Finished the case study anyway.
- Sent it to the team.

The team was so impressed, they:

- Made an offer.
- Fast-tracked the interview process.
- Skipped the case study for the second role.

Everyone in the process had similar backgrounds... consulting experience, strong schools, and polished answers.

But my client separated themselves by:

- Delivering a phenomenal product.
- Spending time with people.
- Doing the work required (at a high level).

If you're wondering why your applications aren't converting...

- Go beyond what's asked.
- Show them what you can do.
- Make it impossible to ignore you.

At this point you have 2 options:

1) Keep submitting the same resume

- and wait for a callback
- and stay in the same spot
- and hope someone notices

2) Do the work that separates you

- so you can close the gap to your next offer
- so you can control the outcome
- so you can blow them away

I believe I know where you want to land.

this is the goal in conversations > applications

ps) they looked back on a process of people who believed in them vs. a mountain of rejections.

I didn't realize how many folks are out there running a service with people where they don't spend time with them.

Won't get on a call.
Won't respond to a message. 
Won't grab a coffee in-person. 

Don't work with someone that doesn't make time. You're better off taking a risk with someone that'll dive into the trenches with you. 

Food for thought, let's have a Saturday

Your salary grows slow when no one teaches you to ask - here's what changed for one of my clients.

"Thank you.. I'm in."

That first job out of college hits different.
First real paycheck, you take whatever they offer.

Then the years roll by.

3-10% bumps here and there.
Maybe something wild if you're in tech, banking, or consulting.

But here's what nobody teaches you:

How to have the "here's why I'm worth more" conversation.

I just watched a client move their offer up $20K in one conversation.

They asked. They didn't apologize for it.
And they got it. If you do great work AND you're in a solid industry, the money is there.

The difference?
You have to speak up.

Most people wait for someone to notice.
The ones who win? They make the case.

Don't be afraid to schedule the chat ✌🏼

You "get" to do work that changes lives.

If you're lucky enough, you'll serve people through their biggest transformations.

Last 4 weeks, watched folks accept offers in:

Communications Associate
Project Management - Delivery Lead
Strategy and Operations Consulting Manager
CRM and User Retention

Fired off a couple of "first day" texts this morning.

Truly a blessing to see people chase down work they love and make their transformation real.

Here's to the folks next up:

Director of Clinical Operations
Life Sciences Consulting
Senior Backend Engineer
Project Manager (Healthcare)
Civil Engineering Graduate
Director of Manufacturing
Pre-Sales Solution Engineer
VP of Customer Success
Enterprise Architect
AI Operations Consulting
IT Director / Delivery
Accounting Manager

This works because:

- People commit when they see the path forward.
- The right story attracts the right opportunity.
- Information opens up new doors for us.

By staying in it, you'll:

- Build confidence in your next move.
- Prove to yourself what's possible.
- Find people that advocate for you.
- Land the role that fits your career.

Let's go have a week 🤝

I've never taken for granted the privilege of being in someone's corner when they're chasing something big.

Across 13 folks right now, there are 6 interviews with OpenAI, Salesforce, Palantir Technologies, and Google this week.

For a few others, they're celebrating first days with the United Nations and Deloitte

(those are just the companies you'd get googly-eyed over :)

All roles I'd pinch myself to be in, but I'm just as happy to serve + support those chasing these down! 

These folks didn't get there off of luck - they did great work for years, reached out to people, and advocated for themselves. 

That energy of winning is contagious
Go learn from the folks winning 🤝

If I'm not serving people on here, hanging with loved ones, or thinking if it'll all ever work out. 

I'm probably figuring out how to incorporate more orange in my life or training.

have a Sunday 🤝

ps) I know it'll work out, there's no other option. 

s/o Garmin Forerunner
s/o Share Aura (they'll never be on LinkedIn)

I love seeing someone nail their professional dreams. Nothing lights me on fire more. 

The moment they crushed the interview, signed an offer, or finally figured out what they needed to pitch. 

I'm also obsessed with seeing how people launch their business, scale, and grow teams. The grit, grind, and figuring out what will work are the moments i love being around.

I'll be wholeheartedly focused on two things when I'm not working 1:1 with folks this year:

The Advocate... this will be a more focused recruiting arm to serve series A founders. These founders don't need more resumes on their desk or team members spending time screening, they need a partner in the process for high-stake hires that'll help them scale. More to come!

(yes, you will see me commenting from this page 😉)

The Operator Reset... this will be a branch of the 1:1 coaching but I want to partner with two leaders this year, fly into their city, run a 1:1 workshop for two-days, and set them on the right path for their next role!

(peep my featured section if this is you)

I love this game. I love serving people and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon. Thanks for always supporting me and giving me a platform to serve others. 

Have a day 🤝

3 coaching engagements wrapped up recently. Here are the questions I asked to close them out:

"What was the first moment you thought, 'Oh… this is different than anything else I've tried'?"

"What part of the process felt uncomfortable at first, but ended up mattering the most?"

"If someone shadowed you for a week during the search, what would they be surprised you weren't doing?"

"What would you tell '3-months-ago you' to stop worrying about?"

"If someone came to you today saying 'the market is terrible,' how would you respond now?"

These calls have been incredible:

- Honest feedback that helps me serve better
- Proof that the right questions unlock clarity
- Laughs and shocking realizations

This matters because:

- You stop repeating what didn't work
- You admit where you were wrong
- You learn what actually moved the needle

The people you serve deserve your best work.
Ask the right questions.

Take their progress seriously.

Learn from what's working ✌🏼

Friendly reminder: you never know who you'll run into during the interview process. The only piece you can control is your preparation and creating more options.

I tried to work for 24 hours in a row. Hit a wall at 19 hours around 5:00 am, came back alive to crush out the last few hours at 10 am.

A few tools that made this an awesome:

S/o Gamma proposal decks ready for today and some exploring with the new Claude integration. 

S/o Lovable built out two new webpages to host offerings for this year (coming soon 👀)

S/o Claude, I've given you an honest try and had you build out my entire financial forecast for the business. I'm with you.

S/o Google Scripts... built out a weekly email automation I'm going to send to my clients with fresh LinkedIn posts with open roles from folks in their arena.

It's not always pretty. But it's honest. 

A few quotes from some background noise through the night

"You have no idea what you're doing, and therefore you're invincible."

"But there are a few people who find something they have to do, something that obsesses them..."

"When you have worked through failures in the past, you fear them less in the future. You know you can bounce back."

have a Friday 🤝

“If someone came to you today saying ‘the market is terrible,’ how would you respond now?”

I ask this when I close out with a client.
I haven't had someone deny the market once. 

"It is"
"The market sucks"
"I've never seen anything this bad"

But here's what followed today that I loved:

1) Patience is everything. 

- That would be my focus outside of the market... you aren't going to get this right in one swing, give yourself grace through it. 

2) YOU have more control than you think. 

- Sure you can't know if your resume is going to be read, but you can own the value you plan to bring to that role. 

3) create your own "mini-market"

- Instead of relying on the macro job market, build a smaller community of advocates and attention around your work. They focused on LinkedIn visibility but the idea was also the long game, "you won't get the job immediately, but you're going to get eyes on the things that are valuable to the job you want"

And that's what people notice. 

My favorite take was the mini-market note, I hadn't thought about all the work I'm doing with folks 1:1 is essentially creating a community for them to operate in. 

These are thoughts from someone who received an offer.

let's rock this week 🤝

Ps) their job search wasn't 30 days either. Lasted a whole 5 months. 

Bonus: 5 offers over the last 4 weeks, don't go at this alone. Reach out if you need support!

You've spent 10-20 years doing genuinely great work, building something real, earning the respect of people around you, and yet the moment it's time to figure out what comes next, you're standing there with no clue how to navigate it. 

I continue to see this time and time again on calls. 

From the outside, the career looks wildly successful, the kind of trajectory people point to, get jealous on LinkedIn about, and admire without knowing what's actually happening underneath.

But then it's time to make the next move, and there's a sticking point that nobody really talks about because it feels almost embarrassing to admit when you've been this successful for this long.

You've somehow become too junior for the executive roles you actually want, too expensive for the mid-level roles that are open and available, and too unsure about what you're even supposed to say out loud when someone asks you what you're looking for.

So what do you sit down and honestly ask yourself when the dust settles?

Is it time to pivot entirely?
Is it time to take a real shot in a new market?
Is it time to finally invest in your story?

These questions aren't fun and they certainly aren't easy to answer alone, especially when your career has grown faster than the narrative most people see about it.

The work is there, but the way it's packaged, positioned, and communicated to the world simply hasn't kept up with who you've become, and that gap is exactly what keeps talented people stuck between roles that don't actually fit them.

This is what I'm focused on this year with leaders. Locking ourselves in a room until we figure this out and have a plan moving forward. 

Don't be afraid to invest the time to clean it up, get clear on what's next, and let the right people finally see what's been true about you all along ✌🏼

Bernadette Pawlik, Job Search Strategist/Recruiting Insider

My practice is based upon over 25 years of recruiting experience---real expertise built on real experience behind the scenes in every step of the hiring process.

I know how professionals go from jobseekers to candidates---because I identified and qualified hundreds of candidates.

I know the "secret language of job descriptions"and teach my clients how to decode them so they pursue the right roles.   I've written job descriptions from manager through CEO.

I know how recruiters and hiring managers evaluate resumes. I evaluated thousands and personally witnessed how hiring managers react to them.

I know how recruiters leverage Linkedin to find talent: I used Linkedin as the foundation of my search practice.

I know what works during the interview process, and what fails:  I'm interviewed hundreds and received feedback on scores.

My goal is to give my clients the same "insider tools" that I perfected behind the curtain for over 50k hours recruiting. (This can be confirmed at www.pawlikdorman.com)

Whether it is resume revisions, Linkedin upgrades, job search strategy, interview skills or long term networking for career success..my direct experience informs every service I am privileged to provide to clients.

I am also a founder of the #JobSeekerGuides, an all volunteer group of recruiting professionals dedicated to overturning the myths and misinformation about the recruiting process.

Finally, I can't promise you a job, a double digit pay increase or a spectacular career trajectory.  I can promise that if you are my client you'll move forward in your job search and/or career confident because you are empowered by real insider tools and skills.

Senior Partner

Pawlik/Dorman conducts retained senior executive searches for a strategically limited number of clients.  Our mission is client relationships that are long-lasting, not merely transactional.  Our goal is to understand not only our client's talent needs, but their culture, strategy and vision. 

We focus on an initial client needs assessment which requires input in writing from each member of the hiring team to conduct not only a comprehensive search but to expedite the process. 

Our goal is candidates who not only "fit", but who thrive. 80% of our business is from repeat clients or referrals. Those referrals come from both clients, and candidates who were not hired, because we believe how we represent our clients build or detract from their brand as well as our reputation--so each candidate is treated with respect.
  
We welcome your questions at pawlik@pawlikdorman.com or 773 296 0950.  In addition, we are always delighted to brainstorm on search issues, career guidance or resume effectiveness.  To do so, please send an e-mail to pawlik@pawlikdorman.com referencing Linkedin.

Send me a connection request any Sunday and I'll accept.

I call it Open Connection Sunday.

Why do I do this?

Because Linkedin should be more of a community, and less of a marketplace.

Because when people are told to just network to success, that reeks of a privilege that not everyone has.

Because in my own self-interest, I hope what I write each day gains more traction.

You needn't send me a flattering note.

Please don't try to sell me anything though---I'm good!

Enjoy your Sunday wherever you are.

Bernadette Pawlik

Career Coach & Job Search Strategist/25+ Years of Executive Recruiting Experience/”The Insider’s Advantage” to Careers

Why are people being treated like crap during their job searches?

Here goes:

1) Recruiters are compensated for filling open roles, not for the candidate experience.

2) Companies don't always value the recruitment process. So hiring 2 juniors because they are cheaper looks like a way better deal than hiring a more senior, more expensive person, because leadership thinks recruiting is just an automated process that doesn't require acumen.

3) Hiring managers have forgotten the anxiety they felt during their own job searches.  Maybe their careers have been a seamless trajectory from success to success.  Maybe it is better to choose selective amnesia over the pain of their own job searches.

4) Job seeker "time" is different from "hiring team" time. If you are a job seeker and had an interview on Monday, you're thinking about that job every single day. Hoping for a positive response. If you're on a hiring team, you're onto other urgent matters. 

5) Expectations are set unrealistically by self-proclaimed "career experts." They are advising people to get bent out of shape and light the torches to storm the recruiting community if they are ghosted.  Whereas recruiters will say: Here's the way you establish a relationship with recruiting so you learn your status sooner rather than later.

6) Finally, what people don't know is this: Recruiting is the most human of business processes. Hiring managers---human. Recruiters---yet human. Technology ---yep, selected by humans. The more human factors there are, the greater the chances of things not working.

Follow me.  I write good stuff based on almost 30 years in recruiting.  I also do job-search and career-strategy coaching.

Comments are appreciated, since they keep my posts alive.

I have a brain.

I use it every day.

I use AI.

I use it every day.

When I use AI I use my brain.

Every day.

I also use my brain when I search on Google, consume news, and watch YouTube videos.

I use the same tool of analysis and critical thinking with AI as I do at other times---my trusty brain.

AI is a tool.

Many people want to frighten you into not using it.

Other people want you to buy their whiz-bang AI product, purporting that it solves all your woes.

Since you have a brain (and a good one!) and have used it before, I know you're not going to fall for fear or magic.

May the force of our lovely and amazing brains be with us, whatever we do.

Follow me for stuff.  Frequently good stuff.

Comments help my posts survive! Yours are appreciated.

Our crazy ass last Sunday reminded me of my job search misadventures.

1) We left the house full of optimism to see a well-reviewed play.

10 minutes into the play, I'm realizing this is going to be 2 hours of paint drying. 

Job search equivalent: I prepped for an interview and realized after 7 minutes that this is basically a gulag, but with guards in bespoke suits.

2) Driving home, the rain began to pelt the car, and we decided to stop for an early dinner.  Unexpectedly, this little restaurant was awesome!

Job search equivalent: The job I had applied for and forgotten began to court me, and the job posting didn't do it justice.  It was a great job.

3) The rain doesn't stop,  we get into the car, my husband rolls down the windows to unsteam them, and can't get the back window up.  I'm in the passenger seat, pelted by heavy raindrops.

Equivalent: Turns out the employer thinks since I'm unemployed, they can get me for 20% less than my last comp.

4) We figure out a way to get home without me being soaked. We decided that when we get home, we're ordering pizza in.

Equivalent: I decide I'll go back to the employer with a case for higher pay. Even if it isn't perfect, I'll figure out a way to make it better.

5) Since that wonderful, awful Sunday, we've told this story at least 5 times.  It is now part of our shared history, and we note that shared history about the unexpected is the best history of all.

Equivalent: Every painful search I ever had taught me something.  Perhaps only how to get through it.  Perhaps how to make it better. But no search was wasted.

Comments help keep my posts alive; yours are very welcome.

I was a bad recruiter before I was a good one.

Even though I started in Fancy Assed Retained Executive search, my "onboarding" consisted of being given a key to the ladies' room and directed to my windowless office.  

A partner (these are the Big Swinging Ones) thundered down to my office, handed me three position descriptions, and I could hear his voice fading as he went down the hall: 

"I'll be back in 2 weeks. I want 6 candidates to present to each client when I return."

I knew next to nothing (okay, I knew how to get to the ladies' room.)

I found 18 candidates for each search, only 4 of whom were right for each, leaving 14 in varying stages of life disruption.

Not from "evil" or "stupidity", just from being undertrained, unprepared, but very, very determined.

I got better over time.

So much better, in fact, that I founded my own firm, ran it successfully for over 20 years, and wrapped it up about 3 years ago after hitting my "number."

Here's the point:

You never know the level or the competency of the recruiter or recruiters with whom you work.

Competency is not a given.

What is a given is this:

Everyone is doing their best.

Because no matter how inept, every recruiter has mouths to feed---even if, like me, early in my career, it was mine and two cats.

Follow me for stuff. All of it honest, some of it useful.

Comments keep my posts alive; yours are appreciated.

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Dominic Imwalle

Bernadette Pawlik, Job Search Strategist/Recruiting Insider

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The Battle

Dominic Imwalle

Bernadette Pawlik, Job Search Strategist/Recruiting Insider

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Engagements

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