I’ve spoken to more chinese people living in Europe, than Europeans living in Europe.

Last week, I met with 2 Chinese people pretending to be Serbians - this dude is “apparently” serbian - so I spoke with i’m in Serbian

He didn’t speak a lick of it - there’s so many fake profiles, fake companies and fake people.

This week’s issue - I want to talk to you about how to be authentic and the suspicion people might have when looking at your profile.

JOBS

This is a cheeky strategy but it will work

Ok so this is a PREMIUM job board - i.e. it ain’t free, and you’re going to have to pay a few hundred rand to get access to it.

But I’ll show you a cheeky way of getting that money back

• Sign up and pay (yes $14.95) is going to leave your account

• Search like a crazy person for 2 weeks

• Save companies into an excel sheet

• Ask for a refund

Start reaching out to all those companies you’ve saved - you get money back and you get a list of great jobs

The good thing about paid job boards, is a lot of people don’t want to pay for the job board - it discourages a lot of people - like i’m sure most of you

Pay up, get the data, then ask for a refund - its technically allowed, although frowned upon 😛 

also if you do get a job this way, get their yearly subscription as a thank you

CAREER ADVICE

A lot of you aren’t really real

So let me intro you to Fraser, a recruiter I know in Scotland - yes, that land where they speak super funny English - Scotland.

He deals with a lot more candidates than I do, he has a much tighter finger on the pulse of the UK market.

And he raises a great point - a lot of people are not real, especially on Linkedin and we are becoming more and more sceptical.

It’s why I really recommend my Ultimate LinkedIn Strategy 

You really need to make sure people know you are real, myself included, before I created content and posted on my blog, my youtube and my Linkedin, when i’d message candidates, they thought

• I was CV farming,

• I wasn’t a real person,

• or didn’t run a real company

It’s why when I reach out to people, I let them know about the company i’m hiring for - I don’t just tell you “exciting growth startup” or whatever else recruiters use

It’s also why I create so much dam content.

In the words of Kanye - you need “to go HAM, hard as a MFer, let these N****s know who I am”

H.A.M is a great track by Kanye and Jay-Z. Give it a listen

So what does that look like:

• Get LinkedIn Recommendations from your colleagues, current and past

• Create content, with photos of yourself, yes LinkedIn is becoming Insta…

• Engage with Linkedin Users: other devs, CEOs, CTOs, Recruiters, Friends

• Take a nice picture, make it your Linkedin Profile Pic and have easily available contact information - Email and Cell Phone

INTERVIEW ADVICE

Make interviews more real

When you interview - a lot of you will give your credentials - mostly telling me you’re senior with over 10 years experience

That’s all good and well

BUT

• I know plenty of fake experience

• I know people who have sucked at their jobs for 10 years

• I know your experience from what i’ve read in your CV and Linkedin Profile

Want to know how to impress during the interview?

Give me your experience, and give me a reference that I can follow up with that can back it up

Nothing shows confidence like showing proof - giving references gives proof, me following up with the references, gives more proof

Want to really impress? Dont just give a developer, or a team lead - give them the CEO, the Managing Director, the CTO (a CTO is awesome to speak to)

When i was interviewing, I would give the employer a list of executives that i’d worked with and their cell numbers

Told them to call them and ask about me

Good luck out there kids :D

THATS A WRAP

Before you go: Here’s 3 ways I can help you

1. LinkedIn - I’m always hiring - but only 2 to 4 people a month - connect with me on and send me your CV - currently, I only hire people with 7 or more years of experience - if you have less, but are EXCEPTIONAL, i’ll make exceptions

2. Youtube - i’m always making content to help you out, subscribe and binge

3. Free Career Advice - i’m going to be giving away CV feedback for early subscribers for free, I usually charge $100 for a resume roast - i’ll make a recording and send you feedback - just reply back to this email with your CV - its totally free for first 10 people