Craft Job-Winning Application
Materials in 15 minutes (or less!)

Step #1: Run Your ResyMatch Scan

• Head to ResyMatch and scan your resume along with the job description.
• This is going to give you a match score as well as key insights into the optimizations and updates you need to make for the role.

Step #2: Import Your Resume And Optimize With AI

• Go to ResyBuild and choose the option to import your resume. Once your resume is imported, make the updates outlined in that ResyMatch scan.
• Don't forget to use the AI Optimize feature to help supercharge your bullets too!
• When your resume is ready, go ahead and export it.

Step #3: Use CoverBuild's AI To Generate A Personalized Cover Letter.

• Next, go to CoverBuild.io and select the option to have AI write your cover letter.
• Add in the relevant info as well as your updated resume and the job description.
• Click “Generate” and watch our AI craft a highly personalized cover letter that's tailored to your resume and the job description. Make sure to proofread!
• Select a template that matches your resume and export!

Step #4: Optimize Your LinkedIn Headline

• Go to HeadlineAnalyzer.io and paste your current headline in there.
• Review your score and the recommended updates, then adjust your headline accordingly and rescan until you get a score of 100.
• You only need to do this step once in your job search!

Step #5: Apply And Reach Out To Decision Makers

• Now you're ready to apply! After you hit submit, you'll want to find people at the company who can influence your ability to get hired.
• Use LinkedIn to search for people at your target company who might be a potential hiring manager, peer, or direct report.
• Grab their info and head over to Mailscoop.io to find their email address.
• Research your contacts and connect! Remember, we don't just want to reach out and ask for a job. Effective networking is going to start by adding value first and warming up the relationship!

8 Steps For Scoring Companies Before You Apply (Do This First!)

Step #1: Invest Time In Creating A System

• Too many job seekers waste time considering roles that aren't actually good fits
• Creating a system for scoring each opportunity allows you to proactively seek out the ones that closely align with your goals
• Then you can invest more deeply in those roles

Step #2: Start With Umbrella Categories

• What areas are impacted when you get a new job?
• Make a list of all the high level categories:
• Salary
• Management
• Culture
• Impact Of work
• Etc.
• Aim to have 7-10 of these

Step #3: Define Examples Of Great

• For each category, brainstorm 3 examples of what "great" looks like for each
• Be as specific as possible, for example:
• ❌ I want a company where I can grow
• ✅ I want a company that rewards effort via proactive internal promotions and raises so I can invest there long term

Step #4: Identify Actions To Validate Criteria

• For each example of "great" above, think about an action you could take to verify if a company did or did not meet that criteria
• For example:
• Criteria: I want a company that rewards effort via proactive internal promotions and raises so I can invest there long term
• Action: Review LinkedIn profiles of at least 10 employees - minimum 30% should have seen a promotion at the company

Step #5: Distill Into A Repeatable System

• Start by reviewing your list of criteria
• Work to prioritize the criteria until you have a set of 8-10 that cover 80% of the most important things to you
• Next, review the actions you brainstormed for those criteria
• Identify the ones that apply to the most companies that you can also complete the most quickly

Step #6: Set Up Your Scoring System

• Create a spreadsheet with each criteria
• When you find a new company, take all of the actions and mark if they do or do not meet the criteria
• When you're done, use this formula:
• # Criteria Met / # Total Criteria = Company Match Score

Step #7: Set Your Minimum Threshold

• You're going to be most effective when you focus all of your energy on value aligned companies
• To determine what “value aligned” is for you, set a minimum score
• Our recommendation is 70-75%
• Boom! Now you have a system for identifying companies that are worth a deeper investment

Step #8: Score Companies Before Pursuing

• Whenever a new company pops onto your radar, run it through this set of actions and give it a score
• Ignore companies that aren't a good fit
• Invest 100% of your time and energy into the ones that are

How To Prepare For Phone Screens To Increase Your Success Rate

Step #1: Understand That Interview Success Is In The Preparation

• If you're not prepared, you're more likely to feel nervous and you're also less likely to land the job
• So don't wait to prepare, start now

Step #2: Reflect And Realize That Most Early Interviews Are Similar

• Think back to the first round interviews you've had
• Most of them probably asked variations of the same questions, right?
• If you focus on the questions that get asked in 90% of early interviews, you can start preparing now

Step #3: Create A List of "Core Questions"

• Let's get more specific
• Which questions get asked in 90% of first rounds?
• We asked ChatGPT for the 5 most common:
• Tell Me About Yourself
• Why Do You Want To Work Here?
• What Are Your Strengths & Weaknesses?
• Tell Me About A Time You Overcame A Challenge
• Where Do You See Yourself In 5 Years?
• Feel free to brainstorm your own based on your industry and past experience

Step #4: Draft Initial Answers

• For each question, draft your initial answer
• Here is the framework we use with all of our clients to help ensure the answers are value-driven and relevant:
• Call out the company's goals / challenges
• Set the stakes for your example
• Walk through your solution process
• Share real, measurable outcomes

Step #5: Refine Your Answers Every Day For A Week

• For the next week, review each of your answers and work to refine them
• Read them out loud
• Submit them to ChatGPT and ask what you could do to make them more compelling
• Continue making revisions until you feel confident in them

Step #6: Memorize Your Answers

• Set aside 2-3 blocks of time in your week to memorize your answers
• Start by reciting them from memory with the script in front of you
• Next, move to reciting them with no aids
• Feel free to make any updates to the scripts as you memorize

Step #7: Practice Your Delivery

• Once your answers are memorized, focus on how you're delivering them
• Use a tool like Loom to record yourself delivering the answers
• Pressing "record" adds a bit of pressure similar to what you'll feel in the real interview
• Pay attention to things like:
• Your cadence
• Crutch words like "um," "so," "like," "you know," etc.
• Body language
• Continue refining your delivery until you're confident

Step #8: Now You're Ready To Crush It!

• This process is highly effective for a few reasons:
• It allows you to start preparing for interviews NOW so you're not cramming later
• It forces you to come up with highly refined stories that you can share in response to many questions
• Because you have the answers memorized, you could show up to an interview tomorrow with confidence
• Because you have the answers memorized, you'll be able to deliver them perfectly no matter how nervous you are
• Remember! The goal of memorization isn't to regurgitate your answer word-for-word. It's to allow the answer to be automatic so your brain can focus on how the interviewer is receiving the info, what questions to ask next, etc.

Job-Winning Interview Preparation System

Step #1: Understand Why Companies Hire

• Too many candidates focus on themselves when they interview, but that's a mistake
• Truth is, companies don't *really* care about you
• They care about the value you can create for THEM
• Make it about the company and you'll win more job offers

Step #2: Research, Research, Research

• Start by investing 5+ hours into learning everything you can about the company
• Specifically focus on:
• Their goals for the next 12 months
• Initiatives they're rolling out
• Challenges they're facing

Step #3: The Anatomy Of A Great Answer

• Now we'll be drafting our answers
• A great interview answer has 3 parts:
1. An intro that highlights the stakes and creates tension
2. A body that illustrates your process / strategy step-by-step
3. A close that focuses on measurable outcomes

Step #4: Draft Answers To "90% Questions"

• 90% of interviews include the same questions:
• "Why do you want to work here?"
• "Tell me about a time when you ___."
• Write down 10 of these questions, then draft answers for each
• Each answer should tie in company goals, challenges, etc.

Step #5: Review, Revise, & Rehearse

• Every day, open the doc with your interview answers
• Review each answer
• Then revise each answer to make it more concise, value driven, and company focused
• Then rehearse each one
• Rinse and repeat for 7 days

Step #6: Review, Revise, & Rehearse: The Next Level

• After a week, shift to video
• Record yourself delivering each answer from memory
• Watch the recording and analyze:
• Your delivery
• Your body language
• A/V quality
• Extra credit if you send to friends for feedback!

Step #7: Find Company-Specific Questions

• Look up the company on Glassdoor
• Click the Interviews tab
• Scroll through the interview reviews and look for the "Questions" section
• Add each new question to a spreadsheet
• Now begin preparing answers

Step #8: Research Your Interviewers

• Don't know who they are? Ask your recruiter!
• Then do this:
1. Comb through their LinkedIn profile
2. Google their name
3. Look through their social profiles
• Try to find points of common ground you can use to build a rapport

Step #9: Create A Pitch Deck

• Turn your research into a short pitch deck!
• Highlight problems / opportunities from your research
• Back it up with industry data
• Then share 2-3 ideas or solutions with an execution plan
• Send the deck to your interviewer 12-24 hours ahead of time

Step #10: Start Early!

• At this point you might be saying, "this is a lot of work! How the heck am I supposed to do this in time?"
• You start early
• Don't wait for the interview to get booked
• You can start steps 3-6 today!
• Then add the personalization later

How To Prepare For Phone Screens To Increase Your Success Rate

Step #1: Understand That Interview Success Is In The Preparation

• If you're not prepared, you're more likely to feel nervous and you're also less likely to land the job
• So don't wait to prepare, start now

Step #2: Reflect And Realize That Most Early Interviews Are Similar

• Think back to the first round interviews you've had
• Most of them probably asked variations on the same questions, right?
• If you focus on the questions that get asked in 90% of early interviews, you can start preparing now

Step #3: Create A List of "Core Questions"

• Let's get more specific
• Which questions get asked in 90% of first rounds?
• We asked ChatGPT for the 5 most common:
1. Tell Me About Yourself
2. Why Do You Want To Work Here?
3. What Are Your Strengths & Weaknesses?
4. Tell Me About A Time You Overcame A Challenge
5. Where Do You See Yourself In 5 Years?
• Feel free to brainstorm your own based on your industry and past experience

Step #4: Draft Initial Answers

• For each question, draft your initial answer
• Here is the framework we use with all of our clients to help ensure the answers are value-driven and relevant:
• Call out the company's goals / challenges
• Set the stakes for your example
• Walk through your solution process
• Share real, measurable outcomes

Step #5: Refine Your Answers Every Day For A Week

• For the next week, review each of your answers and work to refine them
• Read them out loud
• Submit them to ChatGPT and ask what you could do to make them more compelling
• Continue making revisions until you feel confident in them

Step #6: Memorize Your Answers

• Set aside 2-3 blocks of time in your week to memorize your answers
• Start by reciting them from memory with the script in front of you
• Next, move to reciting them with no aids
• Feel free to make any updates to the scripts as you memorize

Step #7: Practice Your Delivery

• Once your answers are memorized, focus on how you're delivering them
• Use a tool like Loom to record yourself delivering the answers
• Pressing "record" adds a bit of pressure similar to what you'll feel in the real interview
• Pay attention to things like:
1. Your cadence
2. Crutch words like "um," "so," "like," "you know," etc.
3. Body language
• Continue refining your delivery until you're confident

Step #8: Now You're Ready To Crush It!

• This process is highly effective for a few reasons:
1. It allows you to start preparing for interviews NOW so you're not cramming later
2. It forces you to come up highly refined stories that you can share in response to many questions
3. Because you have the answers memorized, you could show up to an interview tomorrow with confidence
4. Because you have the answers memorized, you'll be able to deliver them perfectly no matter how nervous you are
• Remember! The goal of memorization isn't to regurgitate your answer word-for-word. It's to allow the answer to be automatic so your brain can focus on how the interviewer is receiving the info, what questions to ask next, etc.

How to Craft Offer-Winning Interview Answers in 4 Easy Steps

Most people make 2 big mistakes in interviews:

• Only speaking about their backgrounds (without tying anything to the company)
• Not including any measurable outcomes or value in their answers

The good news is, you can easily solve for both of these common mistakes with the 4-Part Answer Framework:

• Call out the company's goals / challenges
• Set the stakes for your example
• Walk through your solution process
• Share real, measurable outcomes

Let's break down each step:

Step #1: Call Out Goals

• Every answer you give should start by
• Mentioning the research you did before the call
• Calling out the company's big goals / challenges
• Tying an example from your past to that specific goal or challenge
• Here's an example:
• In preparation for this conversation, I listened to [CEO]'s interview on the NextLevel Podcast. I also spoke to 3 people on the team and analyzed 100+ customer reviews. My understanding is that the team's largest challenge is [X]. With that in mind, I'd like to share an example from my time at [Company] where I helped them overcome [X] challenge.

Step #2: Set The Stakes

• Set the stakes for the example you'll share
• For this specific scenario, what did you stand to gain or lose?
• Would a major client cancel?
• Would a delay cost the company millions?
• Use real numbers and set the real stakes to build tension
• For example:
• Two years ago, a client signed on to pilot a $10M deal. We didn't find out that they were upgrading the websites for their entire brand portfolio until after the deal was done.
• Their current platform didn't allow us to capture data that was crucial to our value prop (90% of what we sold them).
• At our 3 month check in, the client told us we had to deliver useful data in the next month or they would take their business elsewhere and the $10M deal would be done.

Step #3: Show Your Work

• Once the stage is set, show them your work
• Talk your interviewer through the exact steps you used to solve this problem
• Call out skills and touch on qualifications that are specific to the role
• This is your chance to show them how you operate
• For example:
• Since the data wasn't readily available, we needed an alternative. I set up a cross functional meeting with our engineering team and the client agency (who had site data in 3rd party tools).
• While our team extracted the data, I created a team of three analysts and briefed them on our needs. They dug into the agency's 3rd party data and manually matched it with data in our system. We were able to get the data we needed for our client.

Step #4: Share The Results

• Finally, wrap up with the results you drove
• The bigger the better - use real numbers!
• And don't stop at one result
• Try to tie as many positive outcomes to your work as possible
• For example:
• We met with the client to present our solution. We showed them how we matched the data and walked them through the full breakdown of how these granular insights could improve their ad targeting data to reduce costs and drive more sales.
• That meeting resulted in a contract extension worth 316% ($20M+) more than the original deal. Additionally, our team standardized a process for data matching so we could avoid this situation in the future.

Why This Works:

• This framework is crazy effective for two reasons:
• It shows the employer that you have a deep understanding of their needs
• It makes your value crystal clear - and that value is tied directly to the company's needs

Try it in your next interview!