Austin Belcak's Linkedin Analytics

7 Ways To Research Companies Before You Interview (To Personalize Your Pitch & Win The Offer): Context: Research Is 80% Of Job Search Success Research informs the entire process. It makes your apps more relevant. It boosts your informational interviews. It makes your interview answers more aligned and relevant. If you want to level up your job search? Start by doing more research. 1. Review Their Website Not just their homepage and mission statement. Click and read every link in their site footer. Look for:  - Leadership Bios  - Recent News  - Case Studies  - Interviews / Keynotes Company websites are a gold mine, but most people don't go deep enough. 2. Listen To Earnings Calls This is a 30-60 minute call focused on: - What is / isn't going well - Big initiatives - Plans to overcome challenges - & more They're free for anyone to listen. Find them by running a search for [Company Name] Investor Relations on any search engine. 3. Use SeekingAlpha SeekingAlpha .com is a financial news and analysis site. The news is great, but the analysis is magic. Analysts will write pieces on the company's future outlooks. You'll get a wide range of opinions on initiatives, goals, and challenges at the company. Use that to inform your own. 4. Interviews With Executives Find the company's executive team.Then search for: [Exec Name] Interview [Exec Name] Podcast [Exec Name] Keynote On Google and YouTube. Filter for the past 12 months. Live conversations like this contain so many golden nuggets! 5. Browse Product Reviews Get them from reputable third parties and customers: 1. Google "[Product] Reviews" 2. Search YouTube for "[Product] Reviews" 3. Look at app store reviews 4. Check company-related subreddits for feedback Customers will always share the good, bad, and ugly. 6. Run A Competitive Analysis Use a site like Owler.com or search “[Company Name] alternative” on any search engine to find the company's top 3 competitors. Now comb through their funnels, offerings, and services. - What do they do better than your target company? - What do they do differently? - What are they missing? 7. Use The Product Yourself If possible, roll up your own sleeves. Jump into the product and use it for yourself. If you can't do that? Watch demos and tutorials online. Seeing the product in action creates a deeper understanding and can spark new ideas for value adds.

7 Simple Steps For Negotiating Your Severance Package: Losing your job? I bet you didn’t know you can negotiate your severance. Here’s how in 7 simple steps: 1. Don’t Sign Anything Right Away Most employees think they have no leverage during a layoff. Employers try to capitalize on that by getting you to sign something without knowing you can negotiate it. Your first step in this process is to ask how much time you have to review the severance package. 2. Consider All Your Options Don’t just look at how long you’ll get paid your base salary. Review: - PTO payouts - COBRA and health benefits - Stock options and bonuses - Stipends for outplacement services The more options you have, the more leverage you have. 3. Assess Your Leverage - Is the company violating any of their own policies with this layoff? - Are they only laying you off or are they laying off a whole team? - Are they worried about bad PR or press? Answering those questions will help you see how much leverage you have. 4. Ask For More Than You Expect This is Negotiation 101. When you make your ask, include more than you think you’ll get. This way, when they say no to some of the items, the total offer value is still higher than what they initially offered. 5. Frame Your Ask In Their Terms Think back on the leverage brainstorm you did. Then try to frame your asks in relation to the things that matter to this company. Ex: Are they worried about bad PR? Then you say something like, “I’d be happy to sign the NDA you sent me if we can extend healthcare benefits by 90 days.” 6. Get It In Writing Don’t accept a verbal agreement as final. As is true with any situation like this, stand firm on having a written offer from the company before you sign anything or make any commitments. It may feel uncomfortable, but it’s a critical part of ensuring you get what you negotiated for. 7. Don’t Be Afraid To Seek Legal Help If your budget allows for it, an employment attorney can often help you uncover areas of leverage. If you consider the value of extra healthcare, more severance pay, etc., consulting an attorney is often a move that can pay for itself many times over. Also, this post isn’t legal advice and you should consult an attorney for that anyway :)

7 Steps To Make A Career Pivot (Without Taking A Pay Cut): 1. Get Clear On The Switch The more different paths you pursue, the more your time and energy will be split. If you’re going to change careers, you need to focus on figuring out the specific role and industry you want to target. That way, you can invest 100% of your time, energy, and effort into that path. That’s going to make this process SO much easier. 2. Find Career Changers First, make a list of 5-10 companies in your current industry. Next, make a list of 5-10 companies in your target industry. Now go to LinkedIn and: - Search for your target job title - Add current industry companies to the “Past Companies” filter - Add target companies to the “Current Company” filter This will give you a list of everyone who transitioned from your current industry to your target industry! 3. Learn From Them Don’t reach out and ask for a referral. Instead, reach out and ask for guidance. Tap into your common ground of this transition. Ask them: - What mistakes to avoid - What skill gaps you need to close - How to position your experience - For intros to colleagues These people are the best guides because they’ve successfully made the transition you want. 4. Habitually Upskill Even if you have transferable skills, employers want to see that you’re invested in this change. Create a practice of consistently working to build skills in the new space. - Read books - Take courses - Listen to podcasts - Etc. Not only will this make you more prepared, it will provide evidence you can use in networking and interviews to show you want to hit the ground running. 5. Use Your Background To Your Advantage Most people on your target team will have similar backgrounds. Play into that! Talk about how your non-traditional background: - Lets you bring a new perspective - Has pushed you to learn this industry yourself - Allows you to bring new solutions to the table - Etc. 6. Focus On Future Value Research your target companies to learn about their goals, challenges, and initiatives for the next 6-12 months. Focus your efforts on addressing those in networking conversations and interviews. This will allow you to shift the conversation away from your non-traditional background (which you want to avoid) and towards the company’s needs (what they care about most). 7. Create A Value Validation Project This will seal the deal for you. For each company you land a referral at, create a slide deck that: - Shows the research you’ve done - Highlights a set of problems/opportunities - Provides solutions/ideas to each of them This will show the hiring team you can do the work in this role.

3 Steps To Crafting A Job-Winning Cover Letter (In 2 Minutes): I know, I know - cover letters. Who cares, right? Turns out, many employers do. Many jobs require cover letters, 45% of employers read cover letters, and 72% of hiring managers expect a cover letters. If you're not submitting a cover letter, you run the risks of getting rejected from employers who value them. But cover letters are also a giant pain in the butt to write and, traditionally, they take a ton of time. That changes today. In this post, I'm going to show you a simple, 3-step process to write original, highly personalized cover letters in <2 minutes: Step #1: Prepare Your Materials To start, grab a copy of your most up-to-date resume and the job description you're writing this for. Note: I would highly recommend optimizing your resume before doing this as the quality of your resume content will directly impact the quality of the cover letter that's crafted. Here's our guide on resume optimization to help you. Step #2: Head To CoverBuild.io To Generate Your Cover Letter Next, head over to CoverBuild.io and: 1. Click "Generate Your Cover Letter" 2. Choose a template (if you used our resume builder, we recommend using the matching template) 3. Follow the steps for adding some context, upload your resume, paste the job description and click "Generate" CoverBuild is going to scan your resume and the target job description, then it's going to draft a cover letter that's personalized to both. It's going to identify the specific skills, qualifications, and goals for the role. Then it's going to use you experience to craft a compelling story tying your background to the role, highlighting your experience and outcomes (this is why a high quality resume is important!), and make the case for hiring you. Step #3: Add Your Authentic, Personalized Edits Once your cover letter has been generated, you can import it to CoverBuild's editor where you can make all the necessary edits. First, review the letter from top to bottom. It should only take a minute or two to read the whole thing. Next, you want to correct any inaccuracies around experience, outcomes, etc. to make sure the cover letter is aligned with your integrity. Finally, you want to think about how you might expand on any of the narratives to add details, context, and elements of your story that AI doesn't know about. After you've done those checks and made your updates? You can export your cover letter and it's ready to submit! Note: AI is not a replacement for you. It's best viewed as a tool that takes care of 80% of the tedious baseline work (how do I start my cover letter, what's the best way to word this, etc) and allows you to bring 100% of your mental energy to adding the finishing, authenticating touches.

Everyone tells you to network. But nobody shows you how to do it or what to say. So here’s a simple 7-step networking strategy (that you can implement today): 1. Pull Up Your Contact’s LinkedIn Profile Identify the contact you want to connect with. Pull up their LinkedIn profile, click “see more” to expand all the content on the profile. Use a tool like AwesomeScreenshot to take a full page screenshot of their profile. 2. Head Over To ChatGPT Head to ChatGPT and upload the screenshot. Then use this prompt: "I'm attempting to network with this person. They are a [Job Title] at [Company Name]. I'm attaching their LinkedIn profile here. I don't want to simply reach out and ask for a referral. Can you please help me brainstorm 10 ways I could add value to this person, including the steps I might take to get the information I need, as well as email templates I could use to send the message?" 3. Review The List & Drill Down Pick your favorite angle from ChatGPT and drill down. Ex: if it suggests sharing valuable insights, ask it to find 10 different insights you could share. If it suggests pitching ideas to help with an initiative, ask it to brainstorm 10 ideas you could pitch. 4. Voice Concerns & Hesitations If you like an angle but have a concern, share it and ask for a solution. Ex: If it suggests pitching ideas to add value, maybe you think you don’t have any value to add. So ask it: "How could I add value in this way when this person has 10 more years of experience in this field?" 5. Put In The Elbow Grease Now that ChatGPT has outlined an angle, it’s time for you to get to work. Go do the research, the brainstorming, and the ideation you need to make this angle compelling. Then write a rough first draft of the type of message you’d send leveraging this angle. 6. Get Feedback From ChatGPT Go into the same thread with ChatGPT, explain the actions you took, share your email draft, and ask for feedback. I personally like asking it to write 5 variations so I can see different angles and cherry-pick the best elements of each. Use them to craft your email. 7. Make The Outreach Your Own Before you press send, review the email from top to bottom. Make sure to add your own personal touch so it’s in your voice, your style, and is error-free. Once it’s ready to go? Press send :)

It took me 5 years to become great at networking. I’ll teach you how in 10 simple steps: 1. Quality > Quantity Too many people passively network. They go to meetups or join communities and hope someone can help. The internet has changed the game. You have access to anyone! Don't cross your fingers. Get super clear on 5-10 people who can change your life. 2. Scrap The "Me" Mindset The #1 networking mistake is leading with your needs: "Can I pick your brain for 30 minutes?" "Can you pass my resume along?" "Can you tell me how you did X?" Nobody has time to do that for a stranger. If you want in? You need a new approach. 3. Relationships Are Like Banks You need to deposit capital before you withdraw. Say a referral costs you $20 "Social Dollars." You need to start by making "deposits" in the relationship. When you've made $20 worth of deposits? Now you can ask. 4. How The Heck Do I Make Deposits? Deposits take many forms:  - Recognize someone for something they've done  - Recognize a career transition or achievement  - Add new information to a shared interest  - Help the other person achieve a goal Those are just a few examples. 5. Learn About Your Contact Read their LinkedIn profile from top to bottom. Run a Google search for their name. Check out their other social profiles. All while looking for "connection clues" that you might be able to use as an in. Hint: Screenshot their LinkedIn profile, upload it to ChatGPT, and ask it for ideas too! 6. Use The "10 Idea Strategy" Grab a pen and a blank sheet of paper. Pull up all of the information you got on your contact. Now come up with 10 ideas for ways you could add value to them. Don't stop at 3, or 5, or 8. Brainstorm 10 ideas. Do this for 3-5 contacts and you’ll have all the networking strategies you need. 7. Build An Engagement Plan Now you have 10 ways to potentially connect. Rank them based on two criteria:  - Chance of success  - Ease of implementation Focus on the top 3, these are going to be the best bang for your buck. Now you have a plan of action. 8. Make Contact! Take action on your #1 idea. If they engage? Awesome! Use the rest to build the relationship. If they don't? All good! Fall back to idea #2, then #3, etc. Sales data tells us that most prospects take action after the 3rd touchpoint. The same is true here. And that's all LinkedIn will let me share here! Check out the carousel below for tips 9-11 :)

You know you should network. But you probably don’t know what to say or how to get on people’s radar. Here’s an easy 7-step LinkedIn networking strategy (that anyone can use): 1. The 3 Principles Of Good Networking If you want to network effectively, you need to:  - Have a way to reach people  - Have a way to add value to them  - Have a way to keep the engagement going This strategy does all three! 2. Make A List Of Job-Related Keywords Think of keywords, skills, phrases, and jargon that align with your target role. Ex: If you’re in sales, that might be “sales,” “leads,” “pipeline,” “sales cycle,” etc. Make a quick list of these. 3. Run A “Post” Search On LinkedIn Start with one keyword (or the job title itself). Run a search for it on LinkedIn. From the “Filters” option, select “Posts.” Then change “Date Posted” to “Past Week.” 4. Filter By “Author Company” Click on “All Filters” to find the “Author Company” filter. Add all of your target companies to this filter. This will give you a list of all the posts related to your target role, written by people at your target companies, posted in the past week! 5. Analyze Posts & Authors Scroll through the posts. When you find one that resonates? Click the person’s profile and check to see if they post consistently (at least once / week). If they do? Bookmark their profile in your browser. 6. Leave A Value Driven Comment For each author you find that posts regularly in your target space? Leave a comment on their post recent post that is:  - Supportive  - Postive in tone  - Offers your own take / value  - Is more than one sentence Repeat for each author. 7. Rinse & Repeat Daily Every day, click through the author profiles you have bookmarked. See a new post? Leave a new comment. Repeat this process every weekday if you can. But aim to leave at least one comment / week at minimum. 8. Why This Works Content creators love engagement. By cosistently offering that in a positive way, you’re going to get on their radar. And when you’ve done this for a week or two, the likelihood of getting a “yes” to a coffee chat, or even a referral, goes WAY up. Give it a shot today!