Today, the job market has been very competitive.
With the post-pandemic resignation boom ensuing, where resignation rates are slowly increasing over the past few months, people are having a hard time standing out during job applications.
People are looking for different things, for a change of scenery, tasks, even colleagues, but it’s become more challenging for them to compete with job applicants who are more qualified for a position. Is it possible to be accepted in a role where one is not as qualified as their competitors?
For Max Up CEO Stephanie Nuesi, you can effectively sell yourself in any company you apply to. Stephanie has helped over 1,000 students and professionals from all over the world with her company Max Up, where she provides career coaching and professional development strategies and resources to help them land their dream careers. She has been featured on The Well, The CPA Journal, Josh Talks USA, and more.
Join our conversation with Stephanie as she gives expert advice about how to stand out in job applications through one’s resume and interview, the common mistakes job applicants usually make, her top tips to boost confidence in applications, and more. With hosts, wealth manager Lee Michael Murphy and career advisor Sergio Patterson, tune in to this week’s episode of The Free Retiree Show.
What You’ll Learn:
- How to make your resume and interview memorable in job applications
- Tips to boost your confidence in any interview
- Do’s and don’ts during job interviews and in writing your resume
- Should you tell your background story or not?
[00:00:00] Lee Michael Murphy: Welcome in to the free retiree show your go-to podcast to navigate your career, manage your finances, avoid the big mistakes in both and where we learn from folks who have done amazing things. I’m your host wealth manager, Lee Michael Murphy, and I’m alongside interview coach and Silicon valley vet Sergio.
[00:00:22] Sergio Patterson: What is up everyone. That was a good intro, Lee Like it.
I’m working on getting a pronunciation of your name, right? So I got it on that one. And attorney Matt McElroy is off today. He just had a baby, number two. So shout out to Mattie and the family. we’ll try to get by on this episode without them, but yeah, baby, number two, Serg Do you think he can handle it just as good as he handled baby?
[00:00:43] Lee Michael Murphy: Number one?
no comment, but it’s good. Shout out
[00:00:46] Lee Michael Murphy: Both children are doomed, I didn’t know that. Yeah. I didn’t know they had the baby. That’s awesome. it’s tough. I’ve got two kids, so you’ll figure it out. You just figure it out, like everything else in life.
they’re Matt’s children. So they’re going to be, it’s going to be tough, but we’ll pray for those kids. Congratulations, Matt. [00:01:00] welcome into a career advancement edition of the pre-retiree show. If you’ve listened to our show before in the past, one of the major pillars of our show is helping people advance in their career.
Labor and workplace experts have predicted a post pandemic resignation. boom New data that’s coming out is showing that the impending great resignation is alive and well. And it’s happening sooner than we all originally thought. Over the past few months, resignation rates have been increasing and people are looking for new jobs to fit their new post pandemic lifestyle.
People are looking for different things and some people, they just want a new change of scenery. They want something new in their career, which means it’s a very competitive job. So Serg what do you see in right now in the job environment? Would you echo the thoughts that I just said that it is competitive?
[00:01:52] Sergio Patterson: Oh, yeah, a hundred percent. it’s not only competitive, but also companies are hiring like crazy right now. because of everything that’s [00:02:00] going on. So it’s one, it’s like companies are hiring a lot, but then too, there’s a ton of people on the job market. So it’s. It’s crazy out there. but I think, it’s great that we’re having Stefan talk about, how to stand out. How do you know from a resume standpoint, from an interview standpoint, because you gotta be different.
[00:02:18] Lee Michael Murphy: absolutely. So that’s the discussion topic for today. We’re gonna be talking about how do you make your resume and your interview memorable, and to help navigate that discussion? We have Stephanie Nuesi she’s the CEO of max up and max up is a career consulting firm and their content has reached over 15 million views.
Stephanie herself has done workshops, in seven different countries, put on over a hundred different workshops. She’s worked with companies like Wiley, AI, CPA, UBS, and many other great companies. And she’s kind of a go-to expert in the space, like becoming memorable and a surge. We were talking about this before, but you know, the importance of being memorable in an interview, where do you think that ranks and [00:03:00] why isn’t it?
[00:03:01] Sergio Patterson: I mean, you and I have talked about this before, but I think it’s probably the most important part of the interview is really setting. Apart from the pack. so really connecting with everyone you interviewed with, and really just standing out. So I think making your interview memorable.
So they actually remember who you are and not just, you’re not just number one, two or three. they actually remembered talking to Sergio about, Tim playing soccer going up or him loving hip hop music or whatever. I think it’s so important to make it stand out and make yourself.
[00:03:33] Lee Michael Murphy: Absolutely. And as I think some months back, I was looking to bring on a hire and, I interviewed about 12 different people and it was over the span of about three weeks. So there was some time that went by, but then I was trying to think on the fly, I was like, all right, who did I interview?
And I had notes on every single one. And I could only think of three of them at the top of my head. And maybe that just makes me,a bad interviewer,
[00:03:56] Sergio Patterson: This is probably true.
this is that more than likely it, but [00:04:00] they didn’t stand out to me out of the 12th. There was three that I could see, that I could recall at the top of my head.
[00:04:05] Lee Michael Murphy: And I had to go back to my notes and really figure it out. And the ones that. I recalled they had cool things. They cool backstories. They had worked for an airline. someone was into ships and, certain things about them that just really stood out to me. So, that’s what this episode is all about.
How we gonna make that interview, that resume stand out. Cause you got a lot of people, you competing guests, what are you going to do differently? So we’re going to take a quick break, but before we do so make sure you smash that like button share the free retirees show. To, be introduced to your friends.
And, if you have a question financial related career related, or even a question for Stephanie, make sure you send them to ask@thefreeretiree.com. We’re going to take a quick break, but when we’re back, when we sit down with Stephanie Nuesi.
Welcome back into the free Retiree show. We’re sitting down with Stephanie Nuesi Stephanie, how are you doing?
[00:04:58] Stephanie Nuesi: I’m doing [00:05:00] amazing. I’m ready to get people, some jobs and also help people maximize their careers. So thank you so much for having me.
[00:05:06] Lee Michael Murphy: You don’t do. I that’s what I’ve heard. That’s what you do. But now after listening to Sergio and I, is there any hope for us? Could you ever get us a job you think? Are we beyond hope?
[00:05:17] Stephanie Nuesi: I like to say there’s never anything impossible. So.
[00:05:23] Lee Michael Murphy: there’s that is the nicest feedback we’ve gotten a long time. Thank you,
[00:05:27] Sergio Patterson: The bar is very low. It sounds like she might be able to help us maybe.
[00:05:32] Lee Michael Murphy: With some very special training, maybe she can help us, but Steph, why didn’t you give the listeners a little bit of a background on what you do as the CEO of max up and what you guys specialize in?
[00:05:43] Stephanie Nuesi: Of course. So I am a career coach and I help job seekers who want to maximize their careers, anything from mock interviews, LinkedIn profile reviews, resume optimization, and the list goes on, but I. Over what career coaching is, and we focus on how can people [00:06:00] stand out in any, every part of the process. And that goes from the application itself to interviewing to what happens when you get the offer, how do you negotiate salary and so on and so forth?
So, I’ve been doing this for two and a half years now, and I think that it was missing, last year. LinkedIn. So a massive amount of people around 50 million users joined LinkedIn and people who were not active on LinkedIn joined the platform. And you will be surprised how many job seekers were looking for jobs, but then how many little amount of career coaches and companies were offering that guidance.
And so that, that goes to show that there was a lot of demand, but not really that much of supply. And so I was glad that I was there to help as many job seekers as possible.
[00:06:48] Sergio Patterson: My question was going to be like, how did you, when was the moment that you figured out this is something you wanted to do? And it sounds like you saw an opportunity or , did this happen before the pandemic or was it you just, [00:07:00] it happened, right. you saw the opportunity and you went for it or has this been building.
[00:07:04] Stephanie Nuesi: Interestingly enough, we actually started in 2019. So way before the pandemic happened. no one knew that this was going to be. But I do like to say, if you follow the signs, you never know what’s going to happen. So I’m glad that I actually set up before the pandemic, because I already had a platform that was built.
I already had the resources and I had the website and I have the people and in this place, Job-seekers could come and asset buys to people who are actually working at the companies. even before I met them excited, we were doing monthly workshops with people working at big tech companies, big consulting firms, accounting firms, just to kind of get people jobs by telling them what they did.
To get the job, what a better way to get the knowledge from. And so I feel like the fact that we were there before the pandemic happened, kind of gave us that little bit of a platform to provide to people right. when they needed it.
[00:07:58] Lee Michael Murphy: So Stephanie, [00:08:00] as we progress in this interview, we’re going to ask you about, what makes a resume stand out. how do you make it memorable, same thing with your interview, but where do you think people are missing the mark? When you know, your average person applies for the job they submitted online?
they’re lucky enough to. Maybe be memorable enough or stand out enough with the application process, but then getting into the interview, like where do people kind of miss the mark in your experience of being memorable and standing out.
[00:08:29] Stephanie Nuesi: Great question. I think like it really has to do with the industry. So let me start by saying that, some industries require some sort of technical skills. Compared to other industries. and so the thing is that not everyone has those technical skills, right? So if you go for a software engineer for a data analyst for a product management role, you will be required to have technical skills.
And a lot of the times, half of the people that are applying for those roles are people who are pivoting. So people who are coming from I could even from sales, from all type of backgrounds going into it. [00:09:00] And then the problem is that they’re competing against people who had their degrees. People who have studied this for years, people who have the technical skills.
So that’s the better little basic one that literally stopped people from getting that push for the next round. Now, like say you have a great resume. You pass, the round and you go into an interview. Confidence is not there. People are not confident enough.
I can tell you, I’ve spoken with so many job seekers. And one of the first things I hear. I don’t think I can do it. I don’t think I’m good enough. And that right there, it’s literally part of the foundation of the problem with not being memorable. If you come into an interview, even if it’s just a fun screen with a recruiter and you don’t really talk about how you add value to the organization, literally your candidacy drops from here lower down to the floor, because the thing is that if you don’t, if you don’t believe you can do the job, how can you spec a recruiter or hiring manager to bill?
If you can do. [00:10:00] What confidence are you giving them to ensure that you can do the job? And so if you don’t have that confidence build up, it’s going, it’s good. It’s going to be hard for you to get the job. And then the other problem is a lot of people face a lot of rejections and that kind of lowers down the confidence they get.
And the reason being is because, they don’t know how to really showcase their experiences or kind of sell their experiences to those roles. And then they get rejected that right there drops down their confidence. So when they do get an opportunity for an interview, then the conference another anymore, and then they get rejected again and it becomes a cycle.
it’s I like to call it their rejection cycle on and onand on. And people are, it’s very hard to get out of that cycle if you don’t really sit down and change strategies. So that’s why I always teach people. I will say, you’re not a three, you can change strategies. You can change the way you portray yourself and the way you apply.
[00:10:52] Stephanie Nuesi: And so that’s, I would say those three things, again, going back to it. It’s people who are not [00:11:00] confident enough in themselves when they apply second, the people who don’t have all the necessary skills, but also done do what they have to do to develop those skills. And three, that rejection cycle, when people don’t seem to change strategies to really go out of that cycle.
[00:11:14] Lee Michael Murphy: Absolutely not a surgeon has talked about this before, and he’s always said, yeah, it’s hard to help people when they’re like in a rut and like their confidence is down. And then once their confidence is down, it’s like they’re striking out interview after interview. Cause they have this, they have. Igor or,you got Igor yesterday, Eagle, right?
Winnie the Pooh Igor.
[00:11:34] Sergio Patterson: Yeah. It’s like dark, right? It’s just that dark, like gray,
[00:11:38] Lee Michael Murphy: All kind of gloomy, and it just doesn’t vibe with people and that’s really common, but, I’ll add something to that and ask you a question Steph. I think a lot of people from what I’ve heard, like they don’t want appear too confident. Right. And so that’s part of the problem, right?
People don’t want to appear like, Conor McGregor strutting around, beating their chest. Like you guys would [00:12:00] be grateful if I worked at your company, probably not a great strategy, but like, how do we find that balance? You know what I mean? And I think, I mean, myself, I’ve been in interviews before and I struggle with.
They try to be humble pie, but then, also , you got to sell yourself too, right? So what’s your thoughts on that?
[00:12:18] Stephanie Nuesi: That’s a very good question. And before I even answer that, I’ll tell you that a lot of the times that comes back from people’s backgrounds and identity. So I come from a non-traditional background, right. I grew up in a different country and I was taught to . always be humble. Don’t brag about anything you do then brag about your accomplishments.
And so when you walk with that mentality into an interview, the thing is that you’re not really going to do as well, because you’re not really talking about all the things he did or at least you’re trying not to because you’re trying not to, the bragging about what you do.
And so it’s, it really, it’s hard for many people, especially if you come from those backgrounds. So. [00:13:00] Finding the right bar, the sweet spot between Albert confidence and being humble. It’s really hard. And I think it’s just something that’s personal. It’s something that is comes from
self-awareness so what I mean by self-awareness when I was doing mock interviews with people, me doing it to them and they do mock interviews. for me, I remember I used to ask how was my tone of voice and people don’t really ask that question, but I wanted that feedback. And then they’re like, why will you want to know what your, how your tone of voice sounded?
And I said, I want to know whether if you were to be the interview and do I sound cocky to you, do you think I should, talk slower? Do you think I should talk faster? You seeing in my posture, like all of those things have a lot to do with how you portray yourself when it comes to confidence. And I remember.
[00:13:48] Lee Michael Murphy: My one of my first mock interviews. the person who leads that mock interview for me told me you’re way too cocky. you’re overconfident. Like what’s going on? I got this. That’s what’s going on.
[00:13:59] Stephanie Nuesi: they were like, [00:14:00] oh, you’re, I’m sure you did all these great accomplishments. Like, how does that help me?
When the person asked me that question, I feel a little hurt. I’m not going to lie. I said, wow, that’s true. I come from this background, but I need to be humble. And then someone’s telling me that I have, I’m telling all this accomplishments and it’s just like, it sounds overconfidence. So, so what’s the sweet spot.
So I said,
make those accomplishments make sense to the interviewer and the company. So what do I mean. If you like had 10 internships, let me talk about like that make you feel this an example. You’re like, say you’re a recent grad, you have 10 internships. I great companies. You. Need to leverage that as how, what you did at those companies make sense to the person you’re interviewing with, to the company you’re interviewing for not necessarily the name of the company, nurse, Sally, the fact that you had 10 internships is really what you did.
And so if you make it in a way that what you did, it’s gray, but it’s [00:15:00] really how that adds value to the company, the whole overconfidence. And, you’re bragging about accomplishments really doesn’t matter because you’re doing that. It’s just showing them how, whatever you did in the past that’s value.
Like say, when I sit down and talk about, when I give the, that there’s this common interview question that says, tell me what is your biggest accomplish? that’s a really tough question, because then you think of all the things you have, the accomplishments you have and all the things you have to add, but then you need to think about which one of the theme side did makes more sense for this company.
how does this add value to them? Why would they even get. That’s the question. Why would they even care about what you’re telling them? that’s really just, that’s literally just it. So I said, okay. So I, work at this company, I did one project and I learned three software. There’s three. So for now I can use to do X, Y, Z projects, whatever that I could maybe utilize if I were to work at your company.
[00:15:51] Stephanie Nuesi: And this is just a really quick example of how to really showcase those accomplishments without necessarily just saying, Hey, I am. you just hire me, you just know [00:16:00] I have this, but then here’s how that helps you.
[00:16:04] Sergio Patterson: So I got a pause here. So I think we’ve talked to a number of career coaches and like I’ve listened to some and you’re pretty legit. I think like you’re authentic. I had been thinking, I was like, she knows her stuff, so I want to call this out because I think like you’re spot on with the confidence rejection, and this humble thing, it really is about your background.
Because, for me, I’m like relatively introverted. Right. And what I’ve seen though, is like, you can be, you can only be humbled so much though. So you have to kind of throw that out the door, especially in big tech. If you’re trying to work at Google, all these companies, the ones that are rising are the people that are able to self promote very well.
And you can do that in a way. That’s not. So one, I just wanted to call out. You’re doing a great job. Keep it up. I agree with you a hundred percent, but two, I think like for the listeners out there who are worried about being [00:17:00] overconfident, you have to step out of your comfort zone and literally throw that out the window because nobody else is worried about that.
They’re worried about trying to get that job. So it’s just like, it’s crazy out there. But I think if we pivot, you mentioned your upbringing, how do you think that impacted your kind of rise and everything you’re doing now?
I know you grew up in a,a single mother household in the Dominican Republic. how did your upbringing, like, did you ever think you’d be where you’re at right now?
[00:17:30] Stephanie Nuesi: Absolutely. No. if you were to ask Stephanie five, 10 years ago, what do you think you’re going to be five years from now?
She will, she would probably think that she’ll be, somewhere in a small city in Dr. Dominican Republic finding or trying to find a job. I mean, the job market in my country’s really.
It’s really bad in the sense of like getting a job is hard. so it is here in the us, but it’s just even like harder there. Right. and so if you were to ask me that I would be in this country [00:18:00] and, the, when everything that I’m doing, I wouldn’t even, I wouldn’t even believe that was possible.
And so. Growing up in a single mother household taught me a lot of resilience. And I always talk about this whenever I go. And it’s the fact that my mom would always work so many different jobs to try to bring the food to the house and trying to, raise us as people who were, discipline people who would go after our goals.
And, I remember making a post on LinkedIn about this actually. my mom used to say you’re a big. And I used to say, mom, I’m not a big dreamer. I just like, I look at the big picture. I want to be someone who people remember, and that’s why I love this topic so much how to be memorable because I wanted to be memorable in people’s lives in a way that I could help them get a job.
and so I am a big dreamer. When I set a Maxwell, it was a big. When I was interviewing for companies, it was, it was big dreams. I mean, [00:19:00] I have no background in tech and I broke into tech from sero back into. from someone who faced a lot of rejections from someone who just learned English by the way, three years ago.
[00:19:13] Stephanie Nuesi: And so all of that putting together make me like the worst candidate you could think of to get a job now, you’re adding all of that. I mean, it’s just like, I’m literally giving you the formula for rejection, the formula for like the worst candidate, like all of this, obstacles building up. Right.
And then I was like, Well, if I have all of this disadvantages, I might as well just do something to become their best candidate. Right. And that’s kind of how I use all of those obstacles to help me build up, that best candidate profile. and it’s, as it’s been quite a ride, it’s been quite a ride.
I can tell you that. but I can definitely tell you that having the opportunity to live in another country, being in a single mother hassle really helped me and build me into the person I am today.
[00:19:59] Sergio Patterson: that’s [00:20:00] great. Thanks for sharing.
[00:20:02] Lee Michael Murphy: Obviously your story is very memorable. Right? do you insert that into your interview process? Like, do you put that in like a resume or do you make sure that you communicate that during the interview process?
[00:20:15] Stephanie Nuesi: So I’ve never really put that on my resume, but I always still compile my background on my interviews. So when people ask me, tell me about yourself. I said, I’m a proud Latina. I’m a first gen. I come from the Dominican Republic and I came to the U S five years ago and I speak about sometimes when people ask me, like, what is your biggest accomplishment?
I talk about learning English in two years. and the reason why was because, I mean, everything else that came after that, it’s because of that. Right. I wouldn’t be able to be communicated with any of you today. If I wouldn’t have learned English, that’s the first in line.
So, I feel like being the owner of your story, it’s literally basic one-on-one of interviewing, right?
So I think like, you’d need to tell your story. You [00:21:00] need to, and you need to feel proud of it. You need to feel that identity that you have, it’s not a liability. So. A lot of the times we feel like that story that we have that background story, it’s kind of going to hurt those on the interview. A lot of job seekers actually have been telling me recently, like, do you think I should really mention where I come from?
Or my background or my failures? People are going to feel that I am, I’m not good enough or I’m not good for this job. I say, *if you see your background story as your liability, instead of your assets, then that’s going to be a problem*. Now, if you tell your story as kind of, yeah, and I always like to say, like, I’m an accountant, so assets and liabilities are kind of my themes.
I say, if your story’s to asset, then use it for what it is. And so if you own that as the foundation to build the best candidate, the person you are right now, use that for what it is and don’t make it sound like. and there are some, and I’m sure search can tell you there’s some works that makes stories sound like. It was a problem. Right. Although I grew up in this [00:22:00] environment, although I come from this background or, things like that, when you speak with that language, it’s going to make it seem like that was the problem, but it’s really no problem. It’s just a part of your identity.
[00:22:11] Lee Michael Murphy: Yeah.
[00:22:12] Sergio Patterson: Yeah. Words are powerful. I think what I’m hearing from you is. Connection being authentic, for all the listeners out there like Stephanie is spot on like, that’s, this is how you make a memorable interview. This is how these people that are interview are going to remember you from like Bob, Susie, and Sarah.
[00:22:29] Lee Michael Murphy: Yeah,that story is what’s going to always stand out and we all have a story. Right. And, I was going through this exercise a while back and I was like, well, I mean, I don’t feel like I’m that exciting, what’s my story. And then I thought long and hard about how I got into the profession that I’m at.
And I was like, wow, like I do have a story. And a lot of times it just takes us to sit down and really think about, our intentions, the reasons behind why we do what we do, the good it can bring. [00:23:00] And your story just kind of comes to you. And, maybe it was there all along, but you have to have that self-reflection to really find it.
And I think you’ve done a great job of that. And obviously, I mean, that’s why you stand out. That’s why you kill it in the interviews is because you’re very successful at putting that story across. And then obviously you have the skillsets to back up. And so I would say fantastic. I think that’s a great tidbit for all of our listeners.
Now, some listeners feel like they’re not qualified maybe for a certain position. They feel like, Hey, well, I didn’t go to the Harvard. I didn’t go to MIT, all these great, schools that my competition is going against. What can they do to offset that and kind of overcome, those being the underdog.
[00:23:47] Stephanie Nuesi: I would tell you an example that recently happened to me and I was the hiring manager. So I was hiring for marketing interns and our marketing lead for my company. And we were interviewing back [00:24:00] and forth. Right. And we had tons of candidates and those one candidate she’s the current marketing lit right now for my company.
And the reason why she stood out was because. It was not because of her credentials was not because of what school she goes to. It was because she went on our website and she did a whole analysis of what things she would do in the first study base. If you were given the position, that was the first green light for me.
As soon as I saw it, I was like, hold on, there’s something here. Right? The second thing is, like she went to one of our events and she ever since then she’s been. Looking at our social media at things that we do and things that we could improve. So she put together a list of things that she could work on the first 90 days to make a transition from where we were to, to where we want it to go.
And we saw her passion. As you were explaining that, and we [00:25:00] sell the passion that she could bring to the team. And she got hired. She was actually the person that we hired. I started current marketing lead and the reason why I wanted to give this example it’s because I don’t come from, a top business school.
I come from a non-targeted school. None of the companies, including big tech would go to my school to hire at all. I had to do a lot of things to stand out. And so if I were to tell a candidate, what can you do to stand out? Number one is right now, we’re living in a virtual war right now. Everything is, different.
So what I would do if I were a job seeker right now is the following. resume.
So look at, let’s say top five, 10 companies you want to work for, and then start seeing what are some beans that they’re working on right now, or what are some things that they’re planning to work in the future and how you from your background and whatever role you want to go into?
How can you add value to that [00:26:00] now? How can you demonstrate that? Well, it depends on the role you’re going into, but I can tell you for like, say a marketing role. Put together a deck, right? Half an omen portfolio, show them what do you bring to the table? and add that to your resume, right? Let’s say software engineering have to get help attached to your resume.
Right? The other thing as well is like when you’re interviewing, I always tell people talk about is exactly why. You’re doing, going for that company. And then talk about the three things that you would do if you were given the role. So I adopted the mindset of an employee. So what does that mean?
Right. Well, if you think about like, from an employee perspective, how can you change the game for the company as soon as you join the company and any underdog, right? That comes from a non-traditional background. If you’re listening to this right now, tell you’re good at. So let’s let me put that out there.
Let them make that clear. You’re [00:27:00] good enough. There are a lot of examples out there and I wouldn’t quote myself on that example that have non-traditional backgrounds that didn’t have anyone to refer them into the companies. And we made it into the companies. And *the reason why we made it was the one, because we believe we could do it.*
*And two, because we show the companies the value that we could actually the company.* And so I gave you the example of what the marketing lead did for my company to hire my company. And I tell you what I did, right. To getting too many different roles. So if you’re right now thinking that, because you don’t have advantages because you don’t go to a targeted.
Then *use your disadvantages to be your advantages*. Right? Join other underdogs are in the same, position as you do mock interviews with them. Right. connect with a lot of content creators on LinkedIn. Before three years ago, four years ago, but also my job search content creation was not a thing online.[00:28:00]
At least of how it is now, it’s not even close. Right. And so there’s literally hiring managers on LinkedIn telling you what you need to do, what they want to see on your resume and your interview. So consume the content, take the action, apply it to your job, search strategy and go apply for the role.
Literally, that’s it. That’s the first step. It may sound like too easy, but it could have literally been not more easier than how it is right now. It’s so much information accessible. So it’s a matter of like taking action from it.
[00:28:33] Lee Michael Murphy: Yeah. And going back to like, action. I mean, you talking about that new hire you brought on. At the end of the day when people do interviews, it’s just words, right? Just words, just talking, she actually took an extra step and did something actionable. She created a plan. I mean, gosh, how powerful is that?
Right? If you’re the hiring manager and you’re looking for all these people are just giving you words and some of it’s true. Some of it’s crap probably, but [00:29:00] you get a candidate that actually took some time and effort to put forth a plan. It’s like, whoa, this is action right here. They just immediate action.
They don’t have the role. I love that piece of advice and I love you sharing all that with our listeners, because I think that’s very powerful. if people want to, learn more about max up and see what you guys do, how can they do that?
[00:29:22] Stephanie Nuesi: They can go on LinkedIn, Instagram Tech-Talk, smacks up, our websites, www.themaxup.com and they could find me Stephanie Nuesi in any social media. I have my name everywhere, literally. So yeah. Looking forward to connecting with everyone.
[00:29:38] Lee Michael Murphy: What are the top candidates, as you guys help out and like, what are the types of things that you guys help people do?
[00:29:45] Stephanie Nuesi: Yeah. So, recently we actually got someone getting to Google. she’s now recruiting coordinator there. and so what we do is that we offer different types of programs. So the recent one we did was called DUI side. We hosted about 50 students from all over [00:30:00] to work and about 28 of them actually got offers.
So big time. accounting, finance and we’re talking about summer internships, right? So we did the program. And they got offers for that summer, starting may. And so we offer different programs. We do career coaching, one-on-one marketing, mock interviews, you name it. but the real Dean that I love about Maxim is the community.
We have a community of over 20,000 people. and it’s just crazy to see the growth from like two years ago to now. And I’m just hoping that, we continue to grow and hopefully your audience find something valuable.
[00:30:33] Sergio Patterson: Yeah, hundred percent Steph, I know we’re about to wrap, but something we didn’t touch on was you just got an internship at Google. So congrats on that. We’d love just to hear quickly about like the process. I know a lot of people think it’s just some magical. I had my experience at Google and it was amazing, but would love just to hear your thoughts on that interview process really quick, if you wouldn’t mind sharing that.
Kind [00:31:00] of the highs and the lows, what do you think, was the really game changer for you to really stand out and get that internship? Because that’s a very sought after internship. So we’d love just to hear that quickly.
[00:31:10] Stephanie Nuesi: yeah. And fun fact I’m actually, I got the full-time offer after the internship, so I’ll be moving to SF if anyone’s
[00:31:16] Sergio Patterson: Oh, amazing.
[00:31:17] Stephanie Nuesi: I would love to connect, but I would say, one of the things that really helped me in my process was how could I help with hand the role that I wanted to apply for the company?
So I have a background in finance and accounting, and so, there’s not a lot of us within finance and accounting that, go to like big tech. There’s more, tech roles done like, any other type of non-technical roles. And so competition was higher. And so for that reason, I needed to find a way to stand out.
I remember the application was going to open in September of 2020. I started doing mock interviews with [00:32:00] professionals in March of 2020. There was a six or seven month difference before I even actually applied for the role. So before I even apply, I was ready, the mock interviews. That was the first thing.
The second thing is that I got my rest of my review. A whole year in advance. So, data view, I know it sounds a little crazy, but it,
[00:32:19] Sergio Patterson: You, you paid someone to do it. You had someone to review it.
[00:32:22] Stephanie Nuesi: no. So actually I got like some friends to review it.
So, so at that time I got some friends to review it. And then, my mentor who actually worked at Google for four years, helped me, build up my resume by the time. But really stood out for me. I think at least it’s the interview.
I think like when I walk into the interview, I really let them see like, Hey, I will really want to work here besides me, my dream company. It’s because of the culture is because of the people and here’s what I bring to the table. Right. And so. I have tons of projects that I done from finance strategy consulting, you [00:33:00] name it.
And I put all of that in table, literally all of that in table, and here’s how it could help the company. and coming from a non-traditional background, especially in finance and accounting. To tech, you have to know the company, whether that’s Google, Facebook, Microsoft, any company, like what products do they offer?
How could you as an employee help them with the products and even with new products that they could launch in the future. And so if you think about it that way, and I add that to that employee mindset that I was talking about earlier, I said, if I were to have the three month internship, here’s how, or here’s why I would want to.
So that someone else could take upon my work and continue building upon that. And so I feel like that was kind of part of what made it successful and that I always tell people, like, if you adopt that mindset of being an employee already without being an employee and doing things ahead of time, right?
Like if you get an interview and you have like probably a week to prepare, I right. I prepared six months in advance. So that’s what I would [00:34:00] say.
[00:34:00] Sergio Patterson: Yeah, I love it. Think that’s great for the listeners. Mic drop. Thank you.
[00:34:04] Lee Michael Murphy: Yeah, Steph, thank you so much. And you know what? We’re going to always remember you because you’re memorable.
[00:34:12] Stephanie Nuesi: Thank you for having me. Thank you so much.
[00:34:14] Lee Michael Murphy: Ah, man, it’s been a blast and thank you for all you’re doing. I know you’re helping a lot of people. So shout out to you and, remember listeners be memorable, find your story, right? We all have one. it’s your job to articulate it and that’s, what’s going to open doors for you. So I think she said it perfectly.
You’ve been listening to the Free Retiree Show so long for now.[00:35:00]