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The Current Job Market in 2026: a Career Coach’s Guide for Helping Clients Succeed

Written by stephanie on . Posted in Blog, Business Development.

As a career coach, you’re used to helping clients make sense of uncertainty. Yet the current job market in 2026 continues to evolve in ways that can feel confusing for even the most experienced job seekers. Recent labor data and hiring trends reveal a market that’s stable but selective, where strategy matters more than ever.

Below is a data-informed overview you can share with your clients – along with clear coaching takeaways rooted in what employers are actually doing right now.

Where the Economy Stands: Slow Growth, Ongoing Opportunity

Recent government and labor-market reporting show the U.S. job market is still adding roles, but at a slow pace compared with recent years:

  • Employers added roughly 50,000 jobs in December 2025, capping a year with one of the lowest annual job gains on record outside of recessionary periods. 
  • Job openings have dipped, with job postings falling to about 7.1 million in late 2025 – a sign that hiring demand has softened. 
  • Economists and hiring labs expect unemployment and job openings in 2026 to stabilize but not grow dramatically unless key economic headwinds – such as policy uncertainty and skills mismatches – shift significantly. 

Takeaway for clients: Job opportunities still exist, but the pace of hiring is slower than job seekers might expect. Patience and strategy are critical.

What Recent Job Search Data Shows

Understanding how people are finding work right now gives clients realistic expectations:

  • Most job seekers now wait 55–71 days before receiving an offer – reflecting a lengthier process than many expect. 
  • Around 81 % of job seekers use AI tools to find positions – and 63 % report being screened out by AI systems before a human ever sees their application. 
  • Daily AI use in job search is common (56 %), highlighting that job search process efficiency matters more than ever. 

Takeaway for clients: Job search timelines are longer, and technology is a core part of the process. Help clients set realistic expectations and incorporate tech fluency into their strategy.

What Hiring Trends Mean for Job Seekers

  1. Employers Are Becoming More Selective

Across industries, hiring is cautious. Employers may not be reducing staff dramatically, but they are slowing hires, extending decision timelines, and seeking very specific skills, ideally ones that deliver immediate value. 

Coaching cue: Encourage clients to narrow their focus rather than applying broadly. Specificity improves conversion.

  1. Skill Mismatch Remains a Barrier

A range of forecasts point to continued skill mismatches between employer needs and candidate capabilities, especially in tech, healthcare, and data-driven professions. 

Coaching cue: Help clients identify and close skill gaps (e.g., through micro-credentials, upskilling, volunteer projects).

  1. Soft Skills Still Matter

Global trends highlight human-centered skills – such as resilience, leadership, self-awareness, and adaptability – as among the fastest-growing competencies employers value. 

Coaching cue: Support clients in articulating soft skills with concrete examples – not generic statements.

How Clients Can Navigate the Current Job Market

✔ Refine Targeting

Encourage clients to define their target roles with clarity – what they want and what they can prove they deliver. Coaches should have clients document:

  • Target industries
  • Target roles
  • Top 3 differentiators per role

This precision signals fit to both humans and algorithms.

✔ Align Branding With Market Reality

With AI screening prevalent:

  • Use role language that mirrors job descriptions where authentically applicable.
  • Balance keywords with human readability to satisfy both systems and hiring managers. 

Resume and LinkedIn profiles should tell one consistent story.

✔ Prepare for a Strategic Job Search

Because most job seekers today engage AI tools and face longer timelines:

  • Build a weekly job search plan with measurable actions
  • Track applications, responses, and outreach
  • Maintain momentum through networking touchpoints and referrals

Longer searches are normal – not failure.

Coaching Clients Through Current Market Realities

Discuss the “current job market” as a behavior environment, not an obstacle. Help clients:

  • Separate how the market works today from what they can control
  • Use data as confidence, not discouragement
  • Treat job search as product development: test, iterate, adapt

Quick Stats You Can Share With Clients

  • 50,000 jobs added in late 2025 – showing hiring is slow but not absent. 
  • 7.1 million job openings – real opportunities still exist. 
  • 55–71 days to offer on average – set realistic timelines. 
  • 81 % reliance on AI tools by job seekers – tools are common, strategy is required. 

Final Thought

The current job market in 2026 isn’t shut down – it’s selective, nuanced, and more data-driven than at any time in recent memory.

For career coaches, this means helping clients not just apply for work but navigate the mechanics of hiring systems, labor demand shifts, and skill expectations. Clients don’t need optimism or pessimism – they need clarity, structure, and an actionable game plan.

Know What You Are “About”

Written by Don Orlando on . Posted in Blog, Career Coaching, Résumé Writing.

LinkedIn is one of the most powerful tools you can use to have our clients move their careers forward. It’s also a considerable paradox. On the surface, it seems straightforward. It is anything but.

Consider the “About” section. How natural for uninformed users (that’s most of them and nearly all of our clients) to think they should use this section to tell readers about themselves. They narrate their history with perhaps a smattering of keywords. 

If only things were that simple. 

Writing the “About” section can be the most difficult writing you’ll ever do. Earnest Hemingway called good writing “more difficult than anything else that I have ever done.” 

This key section spells out what your clients offer recruiters, hiring officials, and potential members of their network. Those are the people who will determine our clients’ success. Said another way, it isn’t so much about the clients as it is about the value they offer others. Their “About” sections must be irresistible statements of your clients’ brand.

You must write concisely. Consider this approach. Begin by striving to get the words on paper. Your first proof is just to be sure the key ideas are present. Your second proof is to be sure your writing follows a pattern. Typical patterns include problem-solution, chronological, topical, reasoning, cause and effect, and general-to-specific.

The last proof strives for conciseness. Use the simplest words that work. Cut every single word that doesn’t carry its own weight.

Your stories must show how your clients’ skills can be used in other industries, other companies, and other markets. Quantify results whenever you can. The person with the number often wins. And above all everything you write must fold in, seamlessly, the key skills your client offers.

Scan applicable announcements. Consider making AI queries. Here’s an example:

“I am an experienced career coach. My client is a senior program manager. It’s important I illustrate his ability to employ the key skills associated with the best in his field. Please tell me what those skills are. Use simple wording and active voice. Include how someone can prove those skills.”

The results you will get will be general, overall skills. But those are the very capabilities leaders in the field need. 

To capture the more specific capabilities you should include in the LinkedIn profile, see how skills are described on the websites of  professional organizations tied to your client’s industry.

As you capture the skills include examples of your clients using them very well. Yes, recruiters and the like are looking for named skills, but they value proof.

While your clients may tell you which skills are involved, you must go beyond that. They think like a practitioner. But your writing must appeal to the way your readers, employers, think. 

Here’s another example. My client was transitioning from sales into public relations. When I asked her what skills were required, she said PR people should be organized. If I used her words, I would inadvertently document the minimum standards. Nobody would ever hire someone who wasn’t organized. 

When we talked to a PR mentor the skill required became vivid. He said PR people cannot organize what’s happening today. They must be able to “organize” what most likely will happen in the future. That’s the key to finding the difference between a fad and a trend. Leadership values the latter and doesn’t want to be distracted by the former.

Of course, you must go beyond trotting out a collection of skills-related words in the “About” section. Be sure you include them in the skills portion of the LinkedIn profile just as you did when you wrote the résumé. You’ll get even more impact when skills are natural parts of the Services, Activity, Experience, and Project sections as well.

Even before you proof your work, may I suggest you ask these key questions? What do you want readers to do as a result of what you wrote? Have you given them clear and compelling proof your client will make them a great deal more money than it takes to hire them?

What do you want your clients to do as a result of what you’ve written? The short answer is: be active. They must capture those skills in what they write (or you write for them) in the articles they submit in trade newsletters and publications, in their contributions to their own and others’ blogs.

Skills make all the difference in authentic networking. Most clients think networking is a mutually mortifying ritual as they impose on every friend, relative, and total stranger to ask for something that none of them can give: a job. You, of course, know genuine networking offers value to those most likely to reciprocate, but without any anticipation of results.

LinkedIn should be your clients’ key networking platform. Since so few of their competing jobseekers use it well, your client’s efforts will stand out. 

Your client can add valuable potential members of their network. LinkedIn’s search engine and its filters can uncover specific names of those who can truly help.

Here’s an example from one of my clients, a marketing executive seeking to broaden his knowledge of AI. His search uncovered an expert named Jon. Jon’s a rising star exploring new ways to use AI to grow market segment. Here’s the invitation he sent:

“Jon:

When I came across your profile, I think I’ve found opportunities for mutual benefit. 

Let me say right away I am not selling anything.

I would value your thoughts on this opportunity for mutual benefit. 

I have ten years’ marketing healthcare products. I’m happy to give you insider information on how to forecast those customers’ needs quickly and accurately.

You’re at the forefront applying AI in new markets. I could use some advice in that area.

When it comes to important things, emails just can’t replace people speaking with people. Could we arrange a ten minute conversation to see how we might help each other?

Mike”

 

I hope you now have insights on how to use the “About” section to transform LinkedIn from the “file and forget” approach most members use, to the active and forceful networking tool it should be. 

While I concentrated upon one section, the basic ideas apply to every part of your clients’ LinkedIn profile.

I am indebted to Robin Reshwan, the Program Manager for PARWCC’s new Certified Digital Career Strategist (CDCS) program. She’s done more than the deepest dive into all the value LinkedIn offers. She integrates the key ideas smoothly into a body of wisdom that will serve your clients better than ever. And there’s an added value: you can apply what you learn to your own profile.

Unpacking the Resume Writing Profession

Written by John Suarez on . Posted in Blog, Résumé Writing.

“This is why people get so brain-constipated when they try to choose a career, and why they often pick the wrong one: they don’t understand the craziness that they have to offer, nor the craziness that will be demanded of them, and so they spend their lives jamming their square-peg selves into round-hole jobs.” ~ Adam Mastroianni

One reason our industry is so diverse is that we all transferred in from different schools. I came from the school of journalism and creative writing; others come from the school of engineering, the school of HR, the school of English, and even the school of IT. As a profession, résumé writing accepts all transfer credits and says, “No matter where you’ve been, there is a place for you here.”

As attractive as that is from a career planning standpoint, anyone on the fence should probably know a few things about how résumé writers actually spend their time. In real life, it’s closer to investigative journalism mixed with therapy and applied linguistics. These things might not be included in the brochure.

  1. Client intake is a big time sink. You will spend a lot of time on intake forms and discovery calls before you ever write a word. Writing is the last step. First, you’ll be probing vague statements, reconstructing timelines, and translating experience into business outcomes. If you dislike interviews, ambiguity, or gentle interrogation, this work will exhaust you.
  2. Clients don’t speak in bullet points. They rarely say, “I reduced churn by 18% through lifecycle redesign.” They say: “I answered emails.” Your job is to extract impact without inventing it, which requires patience, pattern recognition, and restraint. As a career archaeologist and translator, you thrive on this process.
  3. Writing Is the easy part. The hard parts are deciding what not to include, choosing the right level of assertiveness, balancing the overselling v. underselling scale, and navigating human readability with ATS logic. This is judgment-heavy work. No formula or algorithm replaces that experience.
  4. Marketing and sales never really stop. Independent writers spend significant time generating leads through networking, content, referrals, or platforms. Consult calls are also sales calls. You learn to explain your process, handle objections, and close packages at a price that makes sense. Or you don’t.
  5. You provide emotional labor. Clients are often anxious, laid off, or burned out. Listening and reframing their stories is a big part of the work. You need boundaries and resilience so their stress does not become your constant stress. If you don’t like people’s feelings showing up uninvited, proceed with caution.
  6. It’s a business, not just a craft. Juggling multiple active projects means tracking deadlines, drafts, calls, and payments like a project manager. Profitability depends on how well you scope projects, manage time, and control revisions, not just on how good your writing is.
  7. You must understand many industries. You don’t need to be an expert, but you need to recognize how success is measured in different roles. Bouncing between the worlds of healthcare, tech, trades, education, nonprofit, and finance is routine. A healthy dose of curiosity is not optional.
  8. Results are often indirect. You don’t control hiring managers, timing, internal candidates, ghosting, budget freezes, or algorithms. A brilliant résumé may still not produce interviews immediately. You must be able to separate work quality from outcomes. Seasoned writers obsess over process, not guarantees.
  9. Tools matter…but less than thinking. ATS scanners and AI tools are useful. But the great résumé writers understand things like pattern recognition, ethical framing, strategic omission, audience awareness, and narrative control. If you’re looking for a plug-and-play skill, this isn’t it.

Did I leave out anything important? Let me know at [email protected]. Résumé writing is intellectually demanding, emotionally-involved, ethically nuanced, quietly high-impact, and weirdly addictive if it fits your brain. If you love meaning-making, precision, people, language, and problem-solving, you can do great things here. If you want fast wins, applause, or tidy inputs, prepare to be humbled daily.

News from PARWCC!

Written by PARWCC Leadership Team on . Posted in Blog, Weekly Newsletter.

 

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There are 2 new events happening in February: Interview Insights kicks off on the 11th – this monthly collaborative forum focuses on solving real-world interviewing coaching problems so your coaching stays grounded in reality. Then join us for Interview Insiders: a Recruiter Panel on the 18th for a live, behind-the-scenes conversation designed to give interview coaches direct access to the interviewer’s point of view.

 

Read the blog below for strategies to help your clients reframe job search setbacks to focus on their value instead of their situation. These effective techniques allow your clients to transform self-confidence into self-assurance which leads to more rapid employment and greater long-term career resilience.

 

Sign up now for your next credential: Certified Professional Career Coach! This transformative program empowers you to launch your coaching practice and expand your credentials with comprehensive training, new live coaching sessions, and industry-recognized skills.

 

In our “Things We Found Interesting” section, find articles about the McKinsey trials of AI-led job interviews, a recent report on jobless claims showing no red flags, and an opinion piece of strategies to find the right mentor at every stage in your career.

 

Webinars and Sessions

 

January

 

February

 

Join Our Newest Live, Collaborative Forum for Interview Coaching

 
Beginning February 11, 2026, Interview Insights is the official monthly gathering for the PARWCC Interview Institute community. Held on the second Wednesday of every month at 4:00 PM ET/ 1:00 PM PT, this meeting is a live, collaborative session dedicated to sharing current job interview data and solving interview coaching challenges.

 

4:00 PM ET
Weds., Feb. 11

 
Coaching in isolation breeds stagnation. Join your peers to gain the certified insights, industry knowledge, and collaborative energy you need to prepare clients for interview success in today’s volatile job market. Each session is a working conversation focused on real-time hiring trends, emerging interview formats, and the coaching dilemmas you’re actively facing with clients right now.

If you want to coach with confidence, authority, and accuracy in a market that keeps changing the rules, this is where you belong.

 
Register Here

Elite Circle Member Spotlight

 
There’s a new tier of membership at PARWCC – The Elite Circle! This designation is a showcase of members who have earned one certification from all three PARWCC Institutes/

Dahlia Ashford is one of our first ever Elite Circle Members. She holds the CPRW, CPCC, and CIC credentials. Send her a “Congrats!” message on LinkedIn.

 

Coach Mindfulness in the Employment Landscape

 

In a rapidly evolving market driven by AI and complex hiring technologies, mindfulness has shifted from a “soft skill” to a strategic imperative you need to help your clients master. By teaching “intentional awareness,” you empower your clients to navigate job search setbacks with emotional steadiness, ensuring they remain focused on their value rather than their situation. Integrating these mindfulness techniques into your services allows your clients to transform self-confidence into self-assurance, leading to more rapid employment and greater long-term career resilience.
Read More

Things We Found Interesting

 

McKinsey Trials AI-Led Job Interviews as 20,000 AI Agents Reshape Its Workforce
Read More

Jobless Claims Show No Red Flags
Read More

How to Find the Right Mentor at Every Career Stage
Read More

Member News and Updates

 

Join the Discussion!

 

Did you see the PARWCC 2026 Outlook? Check out the summary on LinkedIn and then find the in-depth article on our website.

Find key takeaways including:

  • AI is moving faster than worker readiness
  • The labor market is cooling, not contracting
  • Sector splits are creating a two-speed economy
  • Human skills remain key to employability

 

            

 

Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches
204 37th Ave N,  #112, St. Petersburg, FL 33704
Phone: (727) 350-2218
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://parwcc.com

If you would like to unsubscribe: @@unsubscribe_url@@

 

 

News from PARWCC!

Written by PARWCC Leadership Team on . Posted in Blog, Weekly Newsletter.

 

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Start your journey to become a PARWCC Elite Circle Member by gaining one credential from each of the three Institutes. These highly qualified individuals represent the best of our industry and we are proud to celebrate you! 

 

Join us on the 29th for a paradigm-shifting session to elevate your résumé writing. Transition from retrospective storytelling to powerful forward-focused narratives illustrating concrete evidence of future impact and value. This session will position you to take advantage of today’s evolving market shaped by automation, transformational leadership, and changing priorities.

 

Strip away your outdated best practices with the self-audit in the blog below. Learn how to identify which parts of your workflow are essential and which are merely habits. Sharpen your ability to spot advice that is insightful and constructive and advocate the human advantages no AI can replace.

 

Recruiters say job boards are dead – read the article below in the “Things We Found Interesting” section for an opinion piece on what hiring should look like now. Also find useable tactics to employ ChatGPT to spot red flags in job listings and a focus piece on economists in the current job market.

 

Webinars and Sessions

 

January

 

February

 

Reframe Your Resume Writing

 

1:00 PM ET
Thurs., Jan. 29

 
Demand more from your résumé writing! Utilize the strategies in this session to:

  • Shift the paradigm, moving from retrospective storytelling to forward-focused value positioning.
  • Translate achievements into predictors of success by using language, structure, and tone to emphasize capability and potential.
  • Reengineer key sections to communicate strategic alignment with modern hiring priorities.
  • Recognize tonal indicators of outdated writing and replace them with phrasing that conveys agility, innovation, and growth readiness.
  • Create a unified ‘forecast narrative’ that turns each résumé section into concrete evidence of future impact.

 
Register Here

Elite Circle Member Spotlight

 
There’s a new tier of membership at PARWCC – The Elite Circle! This designation is a showcase of members who have earned one certification from all three PARWCC Institutes.

Joana Donovan is one of our first ever Elite Circle Members. She holds the CPRW, CIC, and CDCS credentials. Send her a “Congrats!” message on LinkedIn.

 

The 2026 Anti-Entrenchment Self-Audit Checklist

 

To stay relevant in the high-speed market of 2026, use this “anti-entrenchment” audit to strip away outdated “best practices” that no longer serve your business or your clients. Learn to conduct a “Process Rebuild Test” and a “Sacred-Cow Inspection,” identifying which parts of your workflow are essential and which are merely habits that your clients need you to evolve. By performing the “Empathy Flip,” you will sharpen your ability to spot advice that is convenient rather than insightful, ensuring your clients receive strategies that actually resonate in a digitally native landscape. Ultimately, your clients need you to master the skill of “Belief Refreshing,” doubling down on the unique human advantages—like empathy and complex industry synthesis—that no AI can replace.
Read More

Check out the PARWCC Bookstore for an impressive range of resources tailored for your needs. Find AI prompt libraries, résumé samples, and Elite Circle Résumé Writing Contest Winner books.

Things We Found Interesting

 

Recruiters Say Job Boards Like LinkedIn Are Dead. Here’s How to Hire Instead
Read More

Job Hunting in 2026 is Brutal – So I Use ChatGPT to Spot Red Flags in Listings
Read More

Economists Are Studying the Slowing Job Market – and Feeling It Themselves
Read More

Member News and Updates

 

Join the Discusion!

 

“What mindset shift are you hoping your clients embrace in 2026?”

 

Comments include:

  • Stop hustling, start focusing.
  • Identify and differentiate between emotion-based and evidence-based confidence.
  • Know what you want to job search with intention and strategy.
  • Rejection is redirection.
  • Always. Be. Hungry.

 

Add your input here!

 

            

 

Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches
204 37th Ave N,  #112, St. Petersburg, FL 33704
Phone: (727) 350-2218
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://parwcc.com

If you would like to unsubscribe: @@unsubscribe_url@@

 

 

News from PARWCC!

Written by PARWCC Leadership Team on . Posted in Blog, Weekly Newsletter.

 

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Two fantastic events this week! Join us tonight for our newest LIVE Master Series teaching you how to 4x your coaching business by effectively gathering and using data to improve your marketing, sales, and operations. Then join us on Friday to discover strategies to build, train, and monetize your own GPT.

 

Your interview coaching is only as strong as your network – read the blog below for tactics to stay credible in an AI-driven market by providing ‘insider intelligence’. Learn how to practice the networking skills you preach and help your clients gain a competitive edge from your firsthand knowledge.

 

Are résumés still only historical records? Or can you shift your writing paradigm from documenting the past to forecasting future value? Get the details and effective techniques you can use now from the session scheduled on January 29th. 

 

Check out the articles below in the “Things We Found Interesting” section for pieces on the labor market reports: America has entered the slow lane and this market is built for fewer workers. Also find a playbook for how to land a job regardless of the hiring mess.

 

Webinars and Sessions

 

January Master Series

 

January

 

Just Announced!

 
There’s a new tier of membership at PARWCC – The Elite Circle! This designation is a showcase of members who have earned one certification from all three PARWCC Institutes.

Hank Chin is one of our first ever Elite Circle Members. He holds Certified Interview Coach, Certified Professional Resume Writer, and Certified Professional Career Coach credentials. Send him a “Congrats!” message on LinkedIn.

 

Last Chance to Save Your Seat for Tonight!

 

Get the Trends, Strategies, and Best Practices You Need

 

1:00 PM ET
Thurs., Jan. 29

 

Most professionals (and many writers) still approach résumés as historical records, documents meant to summarize what clients have done. But today’s market, shaped by automation, transformational leadership, and evolving hiring priorities, demands more. Explore how to shift your writing perspective from documenting the past to forecasting future value. Using real-world examples and tonal contrasts, we’ll learn how subtle linguistic and structural choices can reposition your client’s narrative to align with how hiring leaders now evaluate talent.

 
Register Here

Your Coaching Is Only As Strong As Your Network

 

To stay credible in an AI-driven market, you will need to shift from providing generic advice to delivering “insider intelligence” sourced directly from a diverse cross-industry network. By practicing the same networking skills you preach, your clients will gain a competitive edge through your firsthand knowledge of specific hiring cultures, such as the nuanced value-alignment sought by FAANG companies or fintech startups. Learn to move beyond the traditional STAR method, teaching your clients to focus on “fit” and “scope” rather than just listing achievements. Ultimately, by building relationships with active hiring decision-makers, you will transform your coaching into a high-stakes strategic asset that offers your clients irrefutable authority in any interview room.
Read More

Things We Found Interesting

 

Hiring Is a Mess: The Playbook to Land a Job Anyway
Read More

Jobs Report May Expose a Labor Market Built for Fewer Workers
Read More

America’s Job Market Has Entered the Slow Lane
Read More

Member News and Updates

 

Join the Discussion!

 

“Which résumé trends are you leaving behind in 2025?”

 

Comments include:

  • Outdated phrases including “responsible for” and “known for”
  • Only stating duties
  • Not quantifying accomplishments
  • MS Word templates

 

Add your input here!

 

            

 

Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches
204 37th Ave N,  #112, St. Petersburg, FL 33704
Phone: (727) 350-2218
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://parwcc.com

If you would like to unsubscribe: @@unsubscribe_url@@

 

 

News from PARWCC!

Written by PARWCC Leadership Team on . Posted in Blog, Weekly Newsletter.

 

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There are 3 seats left in the inaugural Certified Interview Coach LIVE cohort! Sign up now and redefine how you can teach interview confidence, clarity, and communication. This reforged program starting Thursday equips you with advanced coaching tools and practical frameworks to guide your clients through today’s challenging environments. 

 

We’re deeply grateful to Diane Hudson for her leadership in spearheading our new partnership with The Labor Club. This collaboration allows us to connect accredited career coaches like you to women navigating workforce re-entry. Thank you, Diane, for driving this partnership forward and helping us amplify our support.

 

PARWCC Career Center is active! Find over 800 opportunities from almost 100 employers and get your next gig. This professional networking platform lets you find jobs suitable to your skills and connects you to credible employers.

 

Check out the “Things We Found Interesting” section for a list of over 100 companies starting layoffs, how to help clients over 40, and an opinion piece on how AI is changing work and human experience. Also take a look at a member’s LinkedIn post celebrating a huge client win!

 

Webinars and Sessions

 

January LIVE Events

 

January

 

Build, Train, and Monetize Your Own GPT

 

1:00 PM ET
Fri., Jan. 16

 

The career coaching and resume writing industry is on the brink of a massive shift. With OpenAI launching a new AI-driven job platform in 2026, the hiring process will move toward “AI matching”, where candidates no longer apply but are matched directly to opportunities. In this session, you will learn how to position yourself and your clients for this transformation. Resumes may not be dead yet, but the future of hiring is changing. Grab your opportunity to stay ahead of the curve and develop scalable, AI-powered career solutions that prioritize your clients’ needs.

 
Register Here

Elevate Your Pink Slip Clients

 

In a landscape where over 1.1 million layoffs have occurred due to AI and restructuring, you play a pivotal role in helping your clients transition from the “punch to the gut” of a pink slip to a mindset of opportunity. By teaching essential skills like maintaining a weekly accomplishment journal and securing personal files before access is lost, you empower your clients to be “layoff-proof” and prepared for any sudden transition. Your clients will benefit from your guidance through the job-loss grief cycle, where you can help them shift their focus toward auditing their transferable skills and aligning their next move with their personal values. Ultimately, you will provide the strategic framework for a new career management plan, ensuring your clients navigate 2026 with updated marketing materials and the confidence to turn a job loss into a career breakthrough.
Read More

Things We Found Interesting

 

Here’s a List of Over 100 Companies Laying Off Their Employees This Month
Read More

I Help People Over 40 Get Hired. My Advice: Don’t Focus on Passion – Prioritize Your 3 C’s
Read More

How AI Is Changing Work and the Human Experience
Read More

Member News and Updates

 

Join the Discussion!

PARWCC Member Mark Misiano posted a fantastic year-end story:

“Welp. This has NEVER happened to me before! I was less than 10 minutes into a coaching call this morning – she was giving me updates and talking about her fears – when she interrupted to say her phone was ringing. 👀

Today was my final session of a 4-month engagement with a client who truly deserved a new job but had the *hardest* time finding a position.

She came out of 2 really negative work environments. She was battered and bruised from them….she had lost her confidence and questioned her abilities.

So during our final meeting, when her phone rang, we both knew she had to take it.

And HOLY SHIT Y’ALL! It was her dream job calling to make an offer. She had muted herself, but I got to watch the look on her face.

At first, it was pure terror. Then it turned to hope. Then it turned to elation. Then I saw the tears.

This woman – a fierce leader who just needed to reclaim her voice and step into her power – finally landed the role she deserved that will propel her career.

Despite the fear. Despite the negative background. Despite the shame she felt having to file for unemployment benefits. Despite the never-ending job search. Despite the rejections. Despite the negative thoughts her brain tried to feed her.

She did it!

And all of this happening the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day? Icing on the cake!”

 

Add your wins here!

 

            

 

Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches
204 37th Ave N,  #112, St. Petersburg, FL 33704
Phone: (727) 350-2218
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://parwcc.com

If you would like to unsubscribe: @@unsubscribe_url@@

 

 

Why Your Interview Coaching in Only as Strong as Your Network

Written by Lili Foggle on . Posted in Blog, CIC.

As interview coaches, we spend a lot of time telling our clients that networking is the secret weapon of the job search. It’s how they get their foot in the door, understand the shifting reality of their industry, and align themselves with what decision-makers are truly looking for.

 

I’m here to tell you: we must practice what we preach.

 

Formats, expectations, evaluation criteria—they’re all shifting constantly (thanks, AI.). If our coaching is going to be credible, relevant, and effective, we cannot afford to rely on expired information or secondhand generalities. We need current, specific, and firsthand intelligence from the people who actually do the hiring. 

 

A strong network isn’t a nice-to-have. It is core to our ethical responsibility to deliver accurate insight to our clients. We simply cannot coach clients to compete successfully if we don’t know how the game is played and what it takes to win. 

 

My own network has come to the rescue in high stakes coaching scenarios since the very beginning of my career. Each person has provided that insider knowledge I simply would not have gained without going directly to the source.

 

When I first started my business ten years ago, my earliest clients were high school seniors prepping for competitive college admissions interviews. Naturally, these were the easiest clients to find, since many of my friends’ kids (and kids’ friends) were applying to college at the time. But, I wasn’t about to go into those sessions blind. Luckily, I had two friends working in admissions at two different schools, and several friends who conducted interviews at a variety of institutions. I grilled them all about what impresses them most in an interview, and what candidates could do that would absolutely blow their chances.

 

Like many early-career coaches, I initially assumed the most important component was detailing achievements. I was dead wrong.

 

It was never about what the applicant had done—it was about fit. The only way to stand out in a sea of overachievers? Leave the interviewer thinking: “This student belongs here.” My clients needed to communicate how well they knew the school and how they would contribute to that specific community. That insight fundamentally changed how I coached my first clients, teaching them to focus on values alignment, not just credentials. My own research was key to their success and that year, every one of them was accepted at their first-choice school.

 

A few years ago, I landed a client interviewing at a fintech startup. I thought I was out of my depth: blockchain, Web3, tokens, validators. Huh?! My initial online research only compounded the confusion. So, I tapped into my network and set up a meeting with a friend who worked in the bitcoin world. His intel was gold: I didn’t need to understand cryptocurrency. I needed to understand the interviewers.

 

In this high-growth sector, the messages my client needed to land were not only technical specs. They were skills and values alignment: a passionate commitment to decentralization and financial freedom, coupled with extreme comfort with volatility. That insider perspective locked down my client’s critical messaging (and saved me weeks of chasing unnecessary crypto rabbit holes).

 

From coaching aspiring Ivy League professors and medical residency candidates to preparing jobseekers for coveted tech roles, the principle is the same: I went straight to the source. You cannot coach for a high-stakes, specialized role successfully without direct, current intelligence from the people who make the final call. 

 

One of the best examples of why interview coaches must have access to insider perspectives came during the PARWCC Interview Institute session on November 19th, led by Chaz Flood: “Inside the FAANG Interview: Coaching Clients Beyond the STAR Method.” (FYI members can watch recordings of PARWCC sessions on the Knowledge Base).

Chaz walked our community through crucial details that coaches cannot guess or infer without direct exposure:

  • How FAANG-level systems use levels to determine expectations for success stories.
  • Why a level’s scope determines what a “strong example” truly looks like.
  • The emphasis on core value alignment inside technical storytelling.
  • Why the STAR format is insufficient for these hyper-competitive environments.

This is exactly the kind of information interview coaches need to acquire: specific, current, and rooted in real hiring practice. As coaches, our credibility is built on our ability to coach with accuracy. That means understanding:

  • How interviewers actually make decisions today.
  • What signals they look for (and what kills a candidacy).
  • How interview practices differ across all levels and industries.
  • What matters today, not what mattered five years ago.

This kind of intelligence doesn’t come from generic lists of “top interview questions.” It is earned through relationships. It is secured through conversations. And it comes from staying connected to the people who hire and to the professional community that keeps us informed.

Our clients trust us with career-making, high-stakes moments. We owe them more than intuition. We owe them certified insight. So networking isn’t just our clients’ secret weapon. It’s ours, too. 

But with one difference.

Our clients must network within their targeted industry. Us? We must network across every industry. We can’t just rely on our own coaching peers or community. We need those cross-industry connections to scale. 

Let your network provide that panoramic view of the job market. Then go transform those high-stakes moments into calculated wins. 

The PARWCC Interview Institute is committed to raising the bar for professional mastery by bringing real-world hiring insight directly to coaches. And our new live Certified Interview Coach (CIC) program gives you the exact blueprint to coach with irrefutable authority. The first session starts on January 8th, and it’s not too late to secure your spot. 

 

The 2026 Anti-Entrenchment Self-Audit Checklist

Written by John Suarez on . Posted in Blog, Résumé Writing.

No matter how far you advance in your coaching or writing career, your longevity is a byproduct of your ability to adapt and reinvent yourself. 

This reinvention process is not likely to happen by accident. Given that the shelf-life of an idea is about as long as a TikTok trend, now is a good time to ask yourself some hard questions about how you’ll move forward this year.

At the current pace of innovation, one year of “business-as-usual” will put you 3-5 years behind. Here are 10 ways to avoid that.

Process Rebuild Test

  • Could I redesign my entire client workflow today?
  • Which steps would survive? Which would mysteriously “forget” to show up?

Empathy Flip

  • If I were the job seeker, which part of my own advice would I roll my eyes at?
  • Where am I coaching from convenience instead of insight?

Sacred-Cow Inspection

  • What “best practices” do I treat like gospel?
  • What would happen if one of them were proven wrong tomorrow?

Fresh-Eyes Comparison

  • How would a digitally native résumé writer solve this problem?
  • What tools or approaches would they use that I’ve never touched?

Services Survival Game

  • If I could keep only three services, which earn their spot?
  • Which ones am I offering out of habit or fear of change?

Bias & Avoidance Check

  • What client types or industries do I quietly avoid?
  • If I coached them anyway, what new expertise would I gain?

Annoying Feedback Review

  • What client complaints or suggestions have I dismissed?
  • Which of those are actually early-warning signals?

Alien Client Drill

  • Can I coach someone with a background that feels “alien” to me?
  • What assumptions do I carry into unfamiliar industries?

AI Replacement Reality Check

  • If a very shiny AI replaced me tomorrow, what would my clients miss most?
  • How can I double down on that human advantage now?

Belief Refresh Cycle

  • What career or résumé belief changed for me in the last five years?
  • Which of my current beliefs is starting to wobble?

Coaching Mindfulness: a New Core Competency in the Employment Landscape

Written by Jay Block on . Posted in Blog, CEMP.

You know this.  Traditional job-search processes, résumé-writing norms, and coaching strategies are being replaced by more agile, data-informed, and emotionally resilient approaches.  It is not just Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, and robots that are creating havoc for job seekers and employment pros coaching job seekers.  It’s also adapting and integrating the emotionally resilient approaches.  

Amid these mind-blowing changes, mindfulness has emerged as a core competency; one that enhances decision-making, communication, emotional adaptation, strategic career planning, and the massive action that’s required behind the planning. 

Not Just Jay Block

Consider Michael Saletta, founder of Saletta Leadership.  He says, “The superpower of all superpowers of modern leadership is mindset mastery.  The highest-performing leaders aren’t just skilled in strategy, they know how to shape and shift mindset – starting with their own.  This is not a soft skill, rather a strategic imperative.  Strategy only works if the mindfulness behind it is strong enough to execute it.” 

In the August 26, 2025, edition of, Get Hired, LinkedIn News Editor, Andrew Seaman, wrote an article: How to Get Into the Right Mindset for Your Job Search.  He writes, “People often fail to give mindfulness the time and focus it deserves during their job searches. Yet, mindfulness mastery can be that make-or-break factor that leads to getting hired.”

Definition

In the context of a job search, mindfulness can be defined as… the practice of job seekers  to maintain a heightened level of awareness of 1) their internal thought processes and, 2)  external workforce realities.  And then to proactively and strategically take appropriate action based on this heightened level of awareness – mindfulness.  

For career coaches and résumé writers, teaching job seekers how to cultivate mindfulness is no longer optional.  It has become essential.

A Strategic Asset For Rapid Employment

Integrating mindfulness training into your current menu of services will 1) optimize rapid employment and 2) significant reduce stress and time required to work with your job seekers.  This is because  the role of mindfulness, in today’s stressful, chaotic, and confusing world, is unquestionably a stabilizing, empowering, and confidence-building asset in seeking new jobs.  

Understanding Mindfulness in the Career Space

While mindfulness often appears in wellness and so-called ‘New-Age’ literature, its application in the employment and hiring space has distinct characteristics. In career development, mindfulness is best understood as:

  • Intentional awareness of the evolving workplace (industry shifts, employer expectations, hiring technologies, etc.).
  • Grounded attention to personal strengths, limitations, and varied options available to job seekers (And greater mindfulness of the value of the product being marketed).
  • Ability to remain present and engaged during high-stakes job search activities (résumé creation, networking, interviews,  and all career decision-making).
  • Capacity to approach change and adversity with curiosity and personal growth, rather than fear and humiliation.  ‘Dignity.’  

Why Mindfulness Has Become Essential in an AI-Driven Employment Market

  1. Rapid Workplace Transformation

Historically, major shifts in the employment landscape occurred over decades. Today, they occur almost minute-to-minute.  Organizations must continually update technologies, restructure job roles, and reassign responsibilities. AI advancements accelerate this pace by creating new tasks, eliminating others, and redefining what skills are considered essential (or not).  

Mindfulness enables job seekers and professionals to remain aware of these changes without feeling overwhelmed – actually creating a courageous constitution.  By observing trends objectively, job seekers and employment professionals can better anticipate market needs, identify emerging career paths, and avoid outdated job-search behaviors.

  • Increased Emphasis on Human Skills

As AI takes over repetitive, data-driven, and transactional tasks, employers increasingly value qualities such as:  adaptability, emotional intelligence, clear communication, learning agility, relationship-building, cultural awareness and self-awareness.  These competencies, often referred to as, ‘durable skills,’ are inherently linked to mindfulness. Candidates who exhibit calmness, focus, and self-control/confidence stand out in interviews and workplace interactions.

  • Complex Hiring Technologies

Like it or not, Applicant tracking systems (ATS), algorithmic résumé screening, skills-based assessments, and automated video interviews now play central roles in hiring. Navigating these systems requires both technical understanding and emotional stability.

Imagine a soldier who did not go to boot camp (basic training) trying to fire a weapon in the heat of battle – totally petrified because they weren’t taught mindfulness to be calm, aware, and prepared under fire.  That’s what boot camp is for.  It’s mindfulness training, where soldiers are taught ‘specific techniques’ to ensure professional preparedness to achieve success in battle.  Same is required for job seekers battling for jobs they deserve. 

  • Establishes Clarity

Clarity is power!  Clarity transforms ambition into direction, turning every step a job seeker takes into a successful rapid employment process.  

  • Mental clarity:  Candidates approach résumé development and the job search process with purpose, self-confidence and high engagement.
  • Emotional steadiness:  Candidates will face inevitable setbacks, in addition to their victories.  Emotional steadiness helps ensure a disciplined balance so the downs don’t trigger discouragement, and the highs don’t ‘fake-out ‘resolve,’ until the job is landed. 
  • Neutralizes Overwhelm

Job seekers are overwhelmed with career advice, market predictions, AI tools, and often conflicting job-search strategies. Without a mindful approach, this cacophony of overwhelming information and colliding advice causes fear, paralysis, stress, and at best, significant discomfort in seeking a job.  With mindfulness training, individuals can filter out the noise, evaluate relevance, and make disciplined choices aligned with their goals.   And yes, this can be taught! 

  • Improves Decision-Making

Mindful job seekers evaluate opportunities based, not just on skills, education, and qualifications, but on mindful values (what’s going on in their hearts) and long-term fit – personal and professional.  Then they create a  job search plan, mindful that the plan and strategies will probably change, in some way, throughout the process.  They are prepared for this.  And they are prepared to make the best decisions as a result.   

  • It Goes Beyond Self-Confidence

All employment pros understand the importance of job seekers having self-confidence throughout their job search.  Self-confidence is a state of mind where job seekers know the value they bring to potential employers, believe in that value, and are confident in communicating that belief on résumés and in employment interviews – to win job offers.

But what if job seekers did more than believe in the product they’re  selling (themselves)?  What if career coaches and résumé pros taught them so well and so precisely that they actually ‘loved’ the product they are selling?  Self-confidence now becomes heightened to a whole new level – where they are so self-assured (not cocky) that they don’t just win job offers… they ‘influence’ them.    

  • Mindfulness Controls Focus

Let me ask two questions:  At a time when it was impossible to get to the moon and back, did scientists and engineers spend most of their time and resources focused on how to achieve this, or did they spend most of their time focused on being stuck on earth?  

Second, in the successful pursuit of creating Apple’s Siri, do you think Cheyer, Gruber, Kittlaus focused most of their time and resources on how to help users send messages, make calls, listen to music, watch videos, get directions etc., or did they focus on all their setbacks, negative people, and failure after failure they encountered along the way?    

Mindfulness is about focus.  When coaches inspire job seekers to focus mindfully on their goals rather than their situations, success quickly, and often quite unexpectedly, follows.  

Practical Strategies to Cultivate Mindfulness

In PARWCC’s Certified Empowerment & Motivational Profession (CEMP), we teach a myriad of strategies to integrate into your résumé writing and career coaching processes.   The following are a few general techniques to help professionals integrate mindfulness into their daily career-related activities:

  • Daily reflection on goals and progress – journaled
  • Intentional review of industry news without emotional reactivity
  • Structured planning to reduce overwhelm
  • Meditation, affirmations, or end-result visualization throughout the job search 
  • An honest assessment daily of what’s working and what needs to be adjusted
  • Using AI tools mindfully, as supplements, not replacements, for human judgment
  • Assessment of one’s master mind – to ensure good ideas are always circulating 
  • Regular sessions with a human coach  

By adopting these (and other) mindful habits consistently, job seekers become more grounded and effective in their high-stakes employment campaigns.  

Final Thought

As AI reshapes hiring processes and workplace expectations, the need for human clarity, presence, adaptability, and emotional engagement increases. Mindfulness equips job seekers with resilience and direction, empowers career coaches to guide with greater precision, and helps résumé writers produce materials that truly reflect both the individual and the modern employment landscape.  In today’s fast-moving job market, mindfulness is not only a psychological / emotional advantage – it’s a strategic rapid employment necessity. 

https://parwcc.com/certified-motivational-and-empowerment-professional-cemp/ 

 

Pink Slip Clients

Written by Diane Hudson on . Posted in Blog, Career Coaching.

The term Pink Slip originated in the early 20th century, when employers in America used pink-colored paper to print termination notices for their employees (in other countries, different colors are used).

This expression has become widely recognized as a symbol of job loss and workplace insecurity. It can be used literally and figuratively, with people using it to describe any situation in which they have been “let go” from their position and employer.

The pink color was used to differentiate memos or letters written on white paper. The Pink Slip was noticeable.

U.S. employers have cut more than 1.1 million jobs through November of 2025, consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported in December. That number is the highest level since 2020, during the pandemic. Tariffs, corporate restructuring, and artificial intelligence facilitate the layoffs.  

 

Be Prepared

Given today’s employment atmosphere, where Pink Slips often reach employees with no warning, employees need to be prepared. 

If someone gets a Pink Slip today, it often arrives at the same time or after access to a company computer, email, Teams, Slack, or other platform has been terminated. It is as if the employee never existed with the company. 

At that time, there is no access to payroll, year-end and 401K files; or personal files, which may include awards (individual or group), any files with kudos for work well done, performance evaluations, succession plans, training and credentialing history, necessary emails, contact information (e.g., email or cell number of a colleague, supervisor, or customer for a possible reference), or a picture you may have placed on the computer to share with colleagues of a work party, award ceremony, or new baby.  

As such, I coach my clients to move personal files from a company computer weekly, if not daily. I also coach my clients and anyone I know, friends, family, and colleagues, to keep an accomplishment journal. This journal will be invaluable if a Pink Slip arrives. The employee will be able to build a new résumé with impact statements from this accomplishment journal. 

I encourage and coach my clients to keep their résumés and LinkedIn profiles updated at least every six months. If a Pink Slip does arrive, it is much easier to update a résumé with six months of impact statements than to make many years of updates. 

 

The Pink Slip Feeling

A Pink Slip is typically received via email today. The letter may be the body of the email or an attachment or both. 

Some Pink Slips are this simple:

Dear Name,

Please find attached a formal letter regarding the conclusion of your employment with XYZ company as of date/year. 

On behalf of XYZ company, I want to extend our sincere gratitude for your service and contributions. Your work has been truly valued, and we appreciate your support in making our client’s/company’s experience smoother.

We will be in touch with you regarding any next steps and information required to finalize this transition.

We wish you the very best in your future endeavors.

Sincerely,
XYZ President/or HR Director

 

If the employee works in an office, they may be allowed to gather personal items, such as a lunch box, cell phone charger, hairbrush, and a jacket hung on the back of the door, and then be escorted from their desk space by security. Others may be greeted by a representative from security or Human Resources upon arrival for work. The employee is handed a box of personal items and a Pink Slip notice and is not allowed to enter the premises. 

Even though a layoff is a “no-fault” separation from a job, receiving the Pink Slip letter feels like a punch to the gut. You know — that feeling you get when you are shocked and dejected. Then the flood of emotions and questions pours out: How could this happen to me? My performance rating was superior last month. What did I do wrong? How will I pay my bills? What do I do now? How do I access my personal files? Do I have value in the employment market anymore? 

Emotions set in. There are feelings of anxiousness, rejection, failure, gloom, shame, embarrassment, and maybe even depression. The grief cycle begins. Grief is not just about death. Employees grieve the loss of a job, opportunities and promotions, income and salary, benefits, and even the feeling of loss from missing colleagues, project meetings, events, and the challenges of not being able to engage in collective brainstorming. 

Their schedule may have included regular meetings for years, which are now gone. 

Most employees wear an “imaginary hat” that says the title of their discipline or role: Engineer, Nurse Practitioner, IT Specialist, Director, Chef, Marketing Specialist. Or they wear that hat with a list of accolades and awards. They no longer know how to respond when someone asks them what they do or for whom they work. 

Some Pink Slips do come with a warning and a date, a month, or a couple of weeks in the future. This allows an employee to move personal information from a company computer and speak with a company Human Resources or benefits representative to discuss items such as COBRA for medical insurance, unemployment insurance and benefits, and other severance benefits offered by the company. If an employer provides an advanced notice, the employee has time to learn and prepare for unemployment.

Coaching Through a Pink Slip

Coaching Pink Slip clients requires the coach to demonstrate empathy to build client trust. Explain the job loss grief cycle (as explained in the CPCC program) to Pink Slip clients. Ensure they understand how to navigate the immediate needs, including creating a budget, applying for unemployment insurance, and obtaining medical insurance or CORBA. 

Next, begin the career management action plan and identify the client’s needs. The client may need to draft a new résumé, update an old one, update a LinkedIn profile, and make decisions about the career transition. The client may want to change career fields or disciplines, or obtain a position that delivers greater challenges or a less demanding position. 

A Pink Slip is an opportunity for some employees to make decisions going forward about how a job or company aligns with their goals and values. You can discuss burnout and create a “wish list” for new positions. It may provide an opportunity to earn a new degree or credential or to learn new skill sets. It is undoubtedly an opportunity to meet new people, build relationships, and connect with colleagues, alumni, and friends from the past. 

 

The Human Touch

Pink Slip clients need much encouragement and confidence-building. Their mindsets need to shift from doom to opportunity, as we coach them to navigate the unpredictable and ambiguous. We provide realistic timelines, explain the workplace circumstances that include fake job postings, ghosting from résumés and interviews, and the critical requirement to speak to humans. 

I ask them many questions: What skills do you possess that are still useful as you seek new employment? What can you contribute that is valuable? What do you want to do – assume nothing hinders that decision? How can you stay confident in your skill set and job search? What did you learn from your previous job search that you will not do this time, or that you will do and enhance this time? 

As a career coach, I become their confidant. They can vent openly and even shed a tear if needed. And we keep moving forward to build their new career management plan and launch a job search strategy to help them reach their goal position. I am coaching my clients to be prepared in 2026.

Thanks, but No Thanks

Written by Don Orlando on . Posted in Blog.

The thank you email is the most neglected tool we have to help move our clients’ careers forward. Almost always the thank you email is little more than a proforma document with a “standard issue” expression of gratitude bolted on. It includes attempts by the author to “sell themselves”…again. One “expert” even suggested including small talk! It would surprise me if such a note was glanced at for more than two seconds. 

It doesn’t have to be that way for your clients.

Let me introduce the interview-generating email. It has never failed to provide just such opportunities for my clients in the 25 years I’ve used it. But first, a critical foundation.

The main purpose of the interview is for our clients to learn what the target organization’s biggest problems are. Regardless of the career field, regardless of the organization, regardless of the level of job responsibility, our clients will be hired as problem solvers. Jobs that don’t involve solving problems have two characteristics: they require the employee to ask if the customer wants fries with that and they don’t require résumé to apply.

Asking the interviewer what the company’s greatest problems are is an excellent way to evaluate the organization. Our clients expect an appropriate answer. If they don’t get one, Orlando’s First Law of Employment applies: “Everything you hear, everything you see, as you deal with a prospective employer is condoned or encouraged by the leadership—without exception.”

It’s very common for interviewers to confuse problems with symptoms. For example, falling sales is not a problem. It is a symptom. Your client should ask the interviewer what caused the symptom. For example, falling sales could reflect a new competitor entering the market, a fall in demand, an understaffed sales force…you get the idea.

It’s also possible for the interviewer to confuse tasks with problems. Problems require thought. Tasks, while important, usually don’t. If you were in my office, you’d notice two holders containing a fair number of files. If those files fell to the floor, there would be paper everywhere. Not having the files in order would slow me down. But it is not a problem.

Every piece of paper has a client’s name on it. Every folder has a client’s name on it. A smart five year old could put them back in order. No thought is required.

Problems always arise from a lack of resources. The ones that spring to mind are money, people, technology, and facilities. But problems can also be a lack of knowledge, access to the appropriate people and files, and decision making authority. 

Make sure your clients understand the information you’ve just read. Without that, they could easily misconstrue the answers interviewers give to their question.

I am not a big fan of “scripts,” but here are two ways your clients might ask the critical question:

“If there was only one thing I could do to help you the most now, what would that be?”

“Assume I’ve been on your team for a while and I have exceeded your expectations. What would I have to do for that to happen?”

As soon as the interview is over, suggest your client find a quiet place immediately. They should write down the company’s problem as best they can. Then they should assume they have been hired. What will they do to help the company fix their key problems right from the start?

Remind your clients no detailed solutions are possible. They haven’t met the people with whom they will work. They don’t know the culture. But they can certainly draw on their knowledge of their career field to outline some applicable concepts. They should write those down as well. Then they should email you the following: what problems does the company face that touch on your client’s career field and how they would help solve those problems. Clients should also include the interviewer’s name and title. If it was a panel interview, target the primary interviewer and copy the rest in their email.

You now have enough information to draft the interview generating email. Start by thanking the interviewer, outline what your client thinks the company’s problems are, suggest some concepts, and tell the interview your client will call to see if those ideas meet the company’s needs.

Here’s a genuine, fictionalized, example: 

 

To: [email protected]

Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]  

Will these ideas work for the Center?

Dear Dr. Crenshaw,

I wanted to do more than just thank you, Dr. Wang, and Dr. Chatterjee for being so generous with your time last week. The more I learn about this opportunity, the more it appeals to me.

In fact, as soon as we finished our conversation, I began thinking about ways I might be most productive, right from the first day. And so, I’ve outlined an action plan in the next paragraph. I know I’ll revise my ideas once I learn more about the Center and the people I want to support. Nevertheless, I’d be interested in your reactions to what you are about to read.

I’ve already indicated my first priority: I want to meet and really listen to all our internal and external customers. Their concerns will guide my priorities. Perhaps my perspective as a newcomer could point toward new solutions.

For example, I’ve been thinking about the relationship between our ultramicrotome and the options available to acquire cryo-microtome capability. I’m already updating my knowledge of Reichert CFS equipment and how it compares to the Leica Ultracut UCT. My goal would be to refine return on investment numbers such a major expense would have to provide. That might be useful in any supplemental budget request for the upcoming FY.

Thinking about Dr. Chatterjee’s question, I’ve arranged training on the Veeco 3100 Atomic Force Microscope at the University of Memphis under the direction of Dr. Lewis Coons. I’ll start training tomorrow.

Because I want to be sure I serve you well, may I call in a few days to explore how my ideas might work for the Office of Scientific Exploration?

Sincerely,

Arthur T. Collins, Ph.D.

 

There is no rush to get the email to the interviewer. In fact, it would be best to wait a few days. After all, your client said he took time to think the problem through.

Once your client emails what you wrote to the interviewer, he should call and ask to speak with the interviewer’s secretary. Your client doesn’t want to surprise the interviewer with his call. With a time and date planned for the conversation, the interviewer will be much better prepared.

When the two talk, your client asks the key question: “Will my ideas work for you and your company?”

The next words from the interviewer’s mouth are—by definition—a second interview!

Charge for this product and service. How large an investment is a function of a typical salary for the job. Because I work exclusively with rising, senior, and very senior executives, I usually collect $250 for such an email. Results? About $6,000 in annual revenue.

Remind your clients of the exceptional value you’re providing: a second interview. You should mention how unlikely it is for any other job seeker to respond with the same persuasive power and precision and directly to the hiring decision maker. 

Of course, your brand will become stronger. You’re offering something extra most résumé writers don’t even think of, let alone provide.

The email you write does more than lock in a second interview. It often generates a job for your client and more revenue for you.