NoDegree

Standing out in your job search isn’t about you, it’s about them. Curiosity and empathy might be your most powerful tools. When you shift your mindset and think like the company you're applying to, everything changes. By understanding their needs and working backwards, you can show how you’re the solution to their problems. How can you practice this? Here are a few simple steps: 1. Research the company. Look into their website, recent news, and social media to understand their current goals, challenges, and culture. 2. Study the job description. Highlight the key skills and responsibilities they need. Think about how those connect to the company’s bigger goals. 3. Identify their pain points. Ask yourself: What problem does this role solve for the company? How does the company benefit from hiring someone in this position? 4. Frame your experience as solutions. Instead of just listing your past responsibilities, explain how what you’ve done in the past can solve the company's current problems. 5. Speak their language. Use words and phrases from the job description and company values to show that you understand what’s important to them. By thinking like your potential employer, you can position yourself as the person who brings value, not just a candidate looking for a job. And I promise there’s a big difference from a Recruiter and Hiring Managers perspective between these mentalities!

If being great at your job while not having a degree was an Olympic sport, this is how it would look. Video credit: @ alexpjl31 on TikTok #EducationReform

Raise your hands if you got the stress, massive amounts of student debt and not a job. 🙋🏽🙋🏽🙋🏽 How long did it take you to get your first job out of college? Video credit: Rema Lauw on Instagram

A visual representation: ✅Right skills ✅Right experience ❌No degree Video credit: TikTok Shop on TikTok

True or False? 😆

You're getting rejected left and right. You're listening to all the advice on the feed. But you're still not getting results. So I'm doing something I've never done this before. I'm teaming up with Joel Lalgee. (Kevin Logan Jr somehow found his way into this). Joel, Kevin, and I are doing a workshop. We will share insights on - resumes - interviewing, - salary negotiation - job search strategy - current recruiting insights It's a tough market but you can still secure jobs through online applications, networking, and having an optimized profile. It will be a Q&A. So if you have questions, we will have answers! https://lnkd.in/epcfZp6i

“I don’t know Kevin, I know you said you’re good, but we’ve been at this job search for 8 months”. I love final words. I mean, I know they didn’t know, but I did. I had a senior Blockchain engineer I was looking for, for an organization that recently raised series A funding working on an identity management app in the blockchain industry. Their idea is, you should own your data and lend it to whomever you want, at a price! If Amazon wants it… pony up the dough $$$ They didn’t have a dedicated Recruitment team so they had tried to go about the search alone for eight months and came up with nothing. Mostly they posted a job on LinkedIn and Indeed and waited… and waited. No field of dreams here. That’s when I came into the picture. To me it was simple. I had a lot of questions around who they’ve talked to what their process look like the areas that they looked in… It was about the organization the mission… vision… what’s the team like … what’s the environment like how would you sell this to somebody, why would somebody want to spend 8 to 10 hours a day working on your problem? After I understood that they wanted big corporate experience because they needed someone that could handle the volume but with somebody that had startup experience working because they also needed someone incredibly resourceful that would completely own the role. It took me two weeks total to find the candidate for them. Why so quick? Because once I knew the personality and skillset of human being you want it’s just me getting on phones and finding them. I know what message to send them so that they we get the people we want to reply. You have to SELL the role. Intrigue a human being. That’s what I do best. Not to mention, talent is decentralized so I have to look in the nooks and crannies. I located this candidate on Quora. Most of my blockchain roles are very non traditional. IYKYK.

Amanda Johansen is the epitome of the American Gen Z dream. As a dyslexic student, the school system was designed against her. When your ACT score and GPA define what college you get into, it’s not exactly a recipe for success. Undeterred, her athletic skills landed her a full ride scholarship. Her creativity, shunned by the education system, needed an outlet. Social media became that. She didn’t set out to become an influencer; she set out to bring her ideas to life. Her own dances, skits, re-enactments… On a tiny platform no one from school had ever heard of: TikTok. Followers became thousands, then hundreds of thousands, then millions. Her bedroom studio with a $0 budget became a 6-figure business. While her peers were finishing their freshmen year of college, she was debt-free, making more than she knew what to do with, and most importantly: Happy If you want to know what the American Dream is for this generation, she is it.

Some people might not be able to afford to go to college. Others might have gone to college but never graduated. What started from a Reddit post became the inspiration of Jonaed Iqbal, our featured guest for this month’s newsletter, who founded NoDegree, a platform specifically created with the intention of providing job opportunities for people who might not have a college degree. Despite being qualified and equipped with the necessary skills for the job, not having a college degree can become an obstacle for job seekers, especially amongst other talents competing for the same role. When faced with a competitive job market where specific academic degrees are listed in most job descriptions, candidates who have not attained a degree can feel like they’re at a disadvantage. Looking to make a change, Jonaed believes that more than a degree, candidates should be evaluated on their skills and experience, but most importantly, the ability to do the job. With the mission to provide equal opportunities for people from different backgrounds, NoDegree highlights job openings that value skill sets over academic degrees. #NoDegree #UnfinishedDegree #JobSeeker #JobMarket #Skills 

The education system spends too much time fitting students into molds and not enough time helping them to understand their strengths and discover their passion.