The traditional hiring process is broken and everyone knows it--both job seekers and hiring managers. The over-automated, keyword-driven, impersonal way most organizations hire is a relic of software systems built 40+ years ago. As such, playing by the rules is more likely to land you a stress headache than a job offer.

This week's guest, Liz Ryan, offers a ray of hope, with strategies and techniques that will help you rise above the rest when reaching out to employers. She encourages job seekers to break the rules of the system. Instead, she urges people to proactively reach out to the organizations where they most want to work--and where they can create the most value.

In practice, this means:

Ignore the formal hiring process.
Decide where you want to work, and have an idea of how they can help the company.
Use LinkedIn’s advanced search to find the person who would be your boss if they were to get the job they wanted.
Send a pain letter to that person at their place of employment.

A pain letter is a letter that focuses on your contact's specific challenges and highlights how you can help with these problems. The first sentence should be the hook to pique the person’s interest. Include a story which highlights the pain or problem the manager may be experiencing, and end the letter with a soft and respectful, “I’d be happy to start a phone or email conversation with you.”

This Week's Guest: Liz Ryan

Liz Ryan is the founder and CEO of Human Workplace, a think tank and publishing firm whose mission is to reinvent work for people. Liz is the author of Reinvention Roadmap: Break the Rules to Get the Job You Want and the Career You Want. She writes for Forbes.com, LinkedIn, and other publications. Liz is a highly sought-after keynote speaker who has hired over 10,000 people.

Liz’s work in 2017 includes empowering workers and reinventing corporate work environments in an effort to move them away from a mechanical mode and back into a human mode.

Resource of the Week

Ben’s resource this week is a blog post from Allison Green titled, Gimmicks Won’t Get You a Job. Allison has an entire page of zany and outlandish things people have done to try and land a job. Favorites include a spouse who advertised her job-hunting spouse on a billboard and a person who sent a framed picture of themselves to a hiring manager.

Listener Question of the Week

Jessica, Ben, and Mac offer advice to Nicole Wilson, who wants to know guidelines for using unlimited paid-time-off (PTO) offered by some employers.

If you would like the team to answer a job-related question or if you’ve found a job resource you think everyone should know about email it to ben@macslist.org or call at 716-JOB-TALK. If we use your question on the air, you will receive either a copy of our new book, Land Your Dream Job Anywhere or a Mac’s List Coffee Mug, your choice.

If you like this show, please help us by rating and reviewing our podcast on iTunes. We appreciate your support!

Opening and closing music for Find Your Dream Job provided by Freddy Trujillo, www.freddytrujillo.com.

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'Somebody That I Used to Know' by Gotye (w/ Chris Fleming)