Hey, what's up. It's Emily and welcome back to another episode of The Straight Shooter Recruiter. If you don't know me, my goal is to help you thrive and you're nine to five and beyond. And I can do that because I've been a recruiter for over seven years. I know what I'm talking about. I've been in the BBC, on radio, on TV, careers and lifestyle. That's what I do. My goal is to make your life
better, simple, point bank period, while making it fun. And speaking of fun, today we are going to talk about how to get your dream job or maybe transition into your dream job with no experience. Yeah, you heard it here first, because it is possible. You want to know how. I know because I have done it. So this is everything that I've done, everything you're going to do, and it's not going to feel overwhelming. But before we jump in, I need you to leave a rating.
I need you to leave a review. And I know you're listening, So why aren't you following the show? Hello? Click that little button. It takes two seconds and it helps so much. Plus, at the end of this episode, I'm going to be answering your questions. Yeah, these are your questions that you sent in using the link in the description of this episode. So if you want yours answered, click that little link. Send me your questions, and chances are you're going to hear some advice from me very
very soon. So let's get into it. Okay, First things first, if you're not entirely sure what you want your dream job to be or what your dream career looks like, I actually have an entire YouTube, video and podcast episode on that, so check that out. Because if you're listening to this and you're like, yeah, I want to transition careers, but I don't know what my dream job is, that's kind of step one. This episode is intended for people who know what that next job is and they're just
trying to figure out how to get there. So if you do need help figuring out what the dream job is, I have lots of content on that. Okay, So once you have to find what your ideal job looks like, you need to get pretty honest, realistic with yourself about what skills you do and don't have. In my opinion, the easiest way to do this is to look up the job descriptions for the roles you're interested in. I'm just going to use myself as an example because it's easier if I'm honest with
you. So I would have looked up the keyword senior recruiter. I would have done that on LinkedIn or on Indeed, and then I would have pulled up three or four job descriptions for that role, and then from there I would pull apart the qualifications and the responsibilities. So what does this person do in their job and what skills are they looking for? And I would basically compare across those few job descriptions and see what's the same. So what are
themes? For example, if I'm applying for a tech recruiter role, yeah, those skills are going to be different than a sales recruiter position. So I basically was just very real with myself about what job I wanted and what specific skills were really going to matter. And from there I made a mini list. So I picked four or five of the most repeated skills and repeated qualifications and put them into a document for a senior recruiter. That's probably two
or three years of recruiting experience. It's data and analytic skills and knowledge of sales software and the sales life cycle if you're recruiting for sales. So when I started looking for work, probably about three and a half years ago, when I was transitioning out of finance into the tech recruiting space, I looked at my list and realized I had a pretty sizable gap on the technology front.
So I was not very knowledgeable about different technologies. If you would have asked me to recruit an engineer, I probably could not have done that. So that was my first bit gap. The next was at the strategic level. Every single job description I read called out having experience in strategy and talent strategy, and ultimately I did not really have it at the level these jobs
wanted. So those were my two biggest gaps. I basically need you to identify what your biggest gaps are because our goal is going to be closing that gap while also being strategic about your job search, so focusing on your skills gaps. There are a couple of ways that you can close those. The first is the most obvious and in my opinion, probably like the least necessary, which is going back to school. Yes, I could have taken a course on how to be a tech recruiter. I don't want to do that.
I don't want to spend money. I don't want to spend my Saturday night figuring out how to transition jobs that just was not in the cards for me. However, if you do want to do that, love that for you. But I do want to call out. Most companies care a lot more about your experience and a lot less about your academic experience. So I would actually focus on getting hands on experience. And here's how I did this. In the job that I was currently in. I told my manager,
Hey, my goal is to get into tech recruiting. Can you give me projects that will help me get there? And she was amazing, so she said yes, she gave me projects. She gave me things to work on that we're all aligned to tech recruiting. So I got closer to understanding what the different tech stacks were. I could understand what frontend was versus what back end was. I basically got exposure to the things that I needed so I
could put it on my resume. Maybe that I'm not an expert, but I did use the words have had exposure to engineering recruiting or to the engineering life cycle, and that makes a difference. So tip Number one, figure out how you can gain experience without having to leave your position, so that when you are ready to leave, you've actually got the skills listed on the profile ready to go. Another thing that you can do is actually connect with
people in a mentorship capacity. So I would highly recommend go on LinkedIn, look at people who are currently doing your dream job and have a conversation with them about how they learned those skills, because there might be a specific YouTube, video, or course or something that they did that really really helped set
them up for success in that role. But ultimately, the only way you're going to make a transition into your dream job, especially if you have a skills gap, is by trying to close those gaps with hands on experience. Whether that's volunteer you taking on more work in your nine to five job, or potentially going back to school. You basically want to make sure you have the relevant skills listed on your resume so you are in fact a viable candidate.
And on the note of networking, I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to have a network that is constantly advocating for you, especially when you're trying to get a new job or your first job. Basically, when you don't have experience, you have two things working for you, your ability to learn and your network. And I think your network is one of the best ways to help you get a referral because almost eighty percent of positions
are filled by referrals. That's a banana's number. And I know it's not the first time you've heard this. I talk about it all the freaking time. You know why, because it's important. So I want you to connect with people who are currently in your dream job and don't even ask for a referral yet. No, no, no, You're going to reach out on LinkedIn. You're going to ask for a thirty minute career conversation where you're just going to make the goal of this chat to learn more about their career,
how they've grown, how they got there. It's awesome learning for you, and that's also how you build relationships. After that conversation, you can either say it at the end or send it an email. You're going to say thank you so much for your time. By the way, I am actively recruiting for roles, So if you see anything that's a fit, I'd love to know. Aka, girl, are you going to give me a referral to my dream job. Can you please do that for me? Chances are
they had a good conversation with you. The answer is going to be yes. So just make sure you're proactively building your network so you get referrals answer that you can learn what some of the cool, cool goodness. I was going to say tools or sources that you might need in order to bridge that skills gap that you've preidentified, But honestly, even the fact that you've identified your skills gap is going to help you so much because it shows that you
are proactive. It shows that you're thinking about it, and all of the teams you connect with or the mentors you connect with are really going to say, like, Wow, you're taking this seriously because of that. Ah, you ready, it's Questions of the Week time. We are definitely going to answer some questions on career transitions, which I think will add even more color
to what we've already discussed. But yeah, if you still have questions or need more info, click the link in the description of this to send me your questions so I can answer it on next week's episode. Okay, my friend said, do tech consulting companies let you make lateral switches between departments. I've networked with managers and with senior leadership on different teams and they say it will happen around the one year mark. But honestly, I'm having a hard
time believing that any advice would be helpful. First of all, my friend, thank you for sending that in, and you are for sure doing the right thing by having those conversations. Being the person who's comfortable asking for help, asking for different opinions like that is the person we want to be, So kudos to you on that. Here's what I'll say. A lot of people are going to tell you the promotion is coming, or that the new job is coming. Do you know how many times I've been promised a job
that never ever, ever, ever was going to happen for me. No, not at the company I'm currently working at, but I've seen it in the past, so I always take what companies say with a grain of salt. Here's what I will say, though, if you have multiple people telling you that yes, it is possible around the one year mark, that's usually a good sign because that means all different levels of leadership are on the same page, which does lead me to believe that that does sound pretty legit.
Usually if that's a little bit like fuzzy, maybe that's not what's happening. I just hit my face on my microphone. I hope you couldn't hear that, But in any case, if you did, it was, you know, just me giving you a virtual hug. But usually if a company is being sketchy, you'll have one person say one thing and another person say another. Doesn't sound like that's the case here, so I do think that's a
positive. Plus. Moving departments after about a year is pretty standard. I would say most companies tend to be like a year and a half to two years. But here's what I would say, if you're happy in your job right now and it's you know, a good enough job for right now, start bringing it up again at like the ten or eleven month mark and see how quickly they're willing to move. If they start saying things like, yeah, we'll talk about it in a few months. Yeah, you know,
we're going to start thinking about it later. A little questionable. You said we were gonna work around this at the twelve month mark. We're at the twelve month mark, and suddenly we're going to talk about it. In another five months. So that's my immediate reaction to that. Do I think it's a huge red flag? Definitely not, But I do think we want to be mindful of just what we're dealing with here. Dear Emily, I'm a
recent grad in HR with no internship or work history. I've worked in retail in twenty nineteen, but nothing else from twenty twenty to twenty twenty three. What can I do to get into the HR industry? It seems they all want five or more years of experience. Oh, I feel you. It's like that meme where there's the baby going to work and the caption is something like when companies say they want you to have thirty years of experience by fifteen.
Like, that's literally the vibe. Here's what I'll say. Number one, even if you think you are underqualified for jobs, still apply to them. Most companies that list three to five years of experience on their entry level jobs are actually willing to hire someone who is much more junior than that. I would actually argued not to pay attention at all to the years of experience tab on job descriptions, especially if they are for entry levels. Focus on
the work and focus on the title. Do not avoid applying for positions just because you think you're too junior, especially if you are someone who identifies as a woman or as a member of the BIPOP community. We typically are not applying for positions unless we think we meet over eighty percent of the qualifications. And that's kind of scary because guess what, no candidate is perfect and very few people are actually going to meet that, so still apply. Here's what
I would do, though, redefine that experience. Okay, so maybe you do need a couple of years of experience. You studied it, that counts as experience. You had school projects that counts as experience. So really sell your experience in your academics. On your resume, maybe you call out and actually have it listed two really important projects that you did, what the role was, what the outcome was, and really focus on that when you are
looking for jobs. Focus on entry level positions like HR analyst, HR coordinator, maybe it's a recruitment coordinator. Those are the type that I think will really align you to the right role. And if those are the titles, don't worry about what the years of experience is because sometimes companies just put that on there and they don't even read the job descriptions that they post. If I'm being honest with you, I love this question. Can a school drop
out be successful in life? What's your opinion on this? Oh, my friend, Yeah, absolutely, you can. Let me tell you a little something. In fact, I would highly recommend you listen to my podcast episode with my dad because he's somebody whose life did not revolve around academics. In fact, he dropped out of college, and my dad is a very successful
business person now. So I would really recommend listening to that if you feel like you need just some like inspiration or understanding what career can look like. Let me tell you something. The world has conditioned us to think that success is defined by where you went to school, what your GPA was, how much money you make. That's not what success is. That's what the world tells us success is. I also think that school is not for everybody.
That's kind of okay. In fact, I'd argue that's a really good thing. School basically forces us to all think the same, to all act the same, to all want the exact same things, and that's just not realistic. Sometimes some of us learn better in different ways. It doesn't make someone more or less intelligent. The school system basically punishes us for not all behaving and needing the same things to be successful, which is a whole other podcast
episode that could. I could go crazy on this because I think school as a concept is bananas how it's structured today. But that's me derailing. I'm totally derailing. My short answer is yeah, absolutely, you can be successful. I think the most important thing is for you to define what does success look like for you? What is your dream career or your dream path, and how do you plan on getting there? Because you can and you will
do it. You don't need academics to get there. If your goal is to be a lawyer or to be like the VP of human resources, academics might be important. You know, you might need to go back to school. Just because the decision right now is to not continue with academics doesn't mean it won't be in your future. But if it's not something you're open to or passionate about, think of the different careers that you can tackle without a
formal degree. Maybe you start your own business. There are so many different avenues for you. Success is not linear. It's going to be exactly what you want it to be, and I know you're going to be fantastic whatever that looks like for you, my wonderful friends. I had so much fun recording this episode. I love topics like this because I think they really are tangible, like you can make notes, you can take it away, you
can figure it out. I'm totally stumbling over my words because I've been recording episodes all afternoon and my brain is mashed potatoes. It's mashed potatoes right now. I've got no brain right now, Like I'm just I'm burping. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm burped because I had a nice coffee. Like a lot is happening behind this microphone, you know, And that's okay, that's life sometimes that's just how it goes. I'm actually back at my parents place. Take a shot. Every single time I say that, I
record so many podcast episodes at my parents' place. I actually bought a second mike to stay at my parents' place because I'm here probably like once every couple of months, and for whatever reason, every time i'm here, I feel
inspired to record podcast episodes. I don't know what it is. I think, actually, yes, I do. I think it's because when I initially started this podcast, I started it when I still lived at home, so I literally started it with a plugin microphone in my childhood bedroom, and when I'm here, I stay in my childhood bedroom. Granted I've got a much more fancy like setup now, but it's kind of crazy. So I think when I'm back here, I'm like, oh, I just want to do
the podcast anyways, Like what a random derail that that just happened. But I really do hope this episode was helpful. Again, if you want your questions answered, you know where to find me. Click that link in my description. And if you want more content, I actually have a whole YouTube channel, like a entire YouTube channel dedicated to this, so definitely check that out. Let me know if you do have any questions. Thank you so much and I will talk to you in my next episode. M