How To Get a Job in Your 20s

Josh Felgoise (00:00.206)

Welcome to Guy's Set, the guy's guide to what you should be talking about. I'm Josh, I'm 23 years old, and I'm here to find all the tips, advice, and recommendations for guys in their 20s. Let's get into it.

Josh Felgoise (00:17.902)

Hi guys, welcome back to guyset, the guys guide to what should be talked about. Today's topic, think will be, or I hope, will be really helpful for you or anyone you know if they are currently looking for a job, going through the job process, in an interview process right now, applying for jobs, looking for jobs, anything like that. I think this one will be really helpful. So send this to anybody you know that is in that

process right now going through that about to go through that if they're a junior in college or a senior in college about to graduate or they're hitting a time in their job where they want to start looking for a new one. Maybe it's at that two year mark that I've talked about in the last couple episodes that I'm coming up to with my age group of like the 23, 24, 25, where people have been graduated for about two years now and they're going to start.

Looking for new jobs new experiences and just see what else is out there as you're hitting like a one and half two year mark at your job So I'm doing a full episode on Interviews and resumes because I think that different perspectives on this topic can always be helpful So I wanted to share mine with you and for the first time ever in my life I am on the other side of it. So I'm actually helping hire and recruit

for some jobs at my new job that I've been in for about four months and I've never been on this side of it and it's crazy and it's weird to see and it's enlightening. So I want to share what I've learned so far because I think that's one of the best things I can do with this podcast and share with you guys is what I learned from my experiences and that's just like what I'm here to do. And if you're in this process right now interviewing

About to look for a job putting your resume together and starting to apply It is grueling like it is such a shitty process Like I remember when I was I was first applying for jobs when I was in college having to put your resumes into easy applies and quick applies and then writing out cover letters and then changing a couple sentences in each cover letter to fit the job and change the role title and make sure that it

Josh Felgoise (02:40.246)

was the right thing you submitted. remember a couple of times I submitted the wrong thing to the wrong company. And then going into interview processes or processes, processes, processes, and making it to two or three interviews and then getting rejected or not even hearing back when you submit your resume or not hearing back after the first interview or getting rejected out of the first interview. And it's just so shitty and tiring and can be so disheartening. So if you're in that process right now,

I feel for you and just know that like I I've been there, we've been there and like every person that you see at a job has been there at one point or another. And I think one of the best things to do when you're in that like grueling shitty application interview process is to like take a step back from it, from it, spend some time like writing out your thoughts.

and writing out your goals for your career and what you want. And I think that can really help you in the interview process, writing out like what you're best at, or not even just writing out, like getting a hold of like what you're best at, what your skill set is, how you can best benefit and best help a company. like making those things clear can be the most beneficial thing you can do because it'll shine through in interviews that you've actually done the work on it.

so if you're not hearing back or things don't feel like they're working right now, they will, they will at some point, I I'm telling you, they will, don't give up on it. And I would recommend and like really push that consistency in this process is really important and setting yourself to a standard to apply to a number of jobs every day, putting your application and resume out to like five people a day.

reaching out to five people in a network every day, trying to connect with five people on LinkedIn every day, like setting a number like that, like five. I'll put five resumes out, I'll connect with five people on LinkedIn, and I will try and reach out to five alumni from my school every day. And like making that a part of your routine if you're in that nitty gritty process. But I wanna take a big step back into your resume and the resume in general.

Josh Felgoise (04:56.234)

What I've seen from the resumes I've looked through in the past week or so, there's like been hundreds and hundreds of resumes. I've no, maybe not. It'd be just like, there's been hundreds of resumes I've looked through. And the first tip I'm going to give you may sound simple. It may even sound dumb to you, but I've seen some resumes that don't follow this rule. And I want to make sure if you're listening to this episode right now, your resume must be on one page. Like it cannot exceed one page.

There is none of us are so important that we have so much information and so many experiences that can exceed one page. Like how the amount of resumes I've seen that are over one page is crazy. Like it's, I would, I was shocked about that. I've seen some of that are like four pages, six pages, eight pages, some that just like put your, their interests and experiences on like different levels and different, make sure your resume is on one page. If you take nothing else away from this episode,

Your resume must be on one page, like must. So that's the first tip. The second tip is the format of your resume. And you can try and get all fancy with your resume, but I would highly, highly recommend sticking with the, like the format. And I Googled it to make sure what it was called. It's called the Wharton format, like Penn Wharton format. And it's simple. It has your name up top. It has your phone number, your LinkedIn, your email. It has your school, your GPA. has your experiences.

And I think it's so important to have the experiences that are the most relevant to the job you're applying for first and most recent experiences first too. So put your most recent experiences, but within experiences, make sure that the bullet points under the experience do not exceed like four bullet points. You can do like three or four. I've seen a lot of resumes recently that have like 10 bullet points under it. And I'm so happy for you that you've done 10 different things that you want to highlight.

but pick the most relevant for like, I'm sure we could all pull 10 or 20 or 30 things and make them out to seem really impressive in a resume. But I think it's important to decide which are the most important and most relevant for the job you're applying for. And you can always find the best for getting even deeper in those bullet points in, in each of the bullet points, make sure it has a value add to it or a result or something you can share from it.

Josh Felgoise (07:22.136)

So the example here is instead of saying like conducted research for this, you say conducted research for this that led to X, Y, and Z like share the value that you brought to the table or brought to the team. So I like not I sorry conducted research on blank that led to this, this, and this. So an example from my experience, which is in marketing, yours is probably very different, but you can probably spin it.

in order to make it relevant for your job or the company or whatever you're applying for. My example would be like, instead of saying like built social media presence on Instagram, I would say built social media presence through gaining a hundred thousand impressions across X, Y and Z channels, if that makes sense. So you say like what you've actually done, the value add the results and what you've really brought to the team and to the company. I think that makes it

Like highlighting what you've actually done that led to the value is so important. So make sure that it's not just like implemented analysis, like no implemented analysis on this that led to this or implemented analysis on X that created Y and Z. You know what I mean? Like make sure you're explaining and illuminating the value you brought forth to the, to the team. Okay. the next thing is

You can probably remove some of the things that are a little older. So like a high school experience, you can probably remove maybe something from freshman year of college. You can probably remove if you're looking for things to get rid of, get rid of the stuff that is least relevant to what you're applying for. I know I've said that, like I've said the word relevant already eight times in this episode, but get rid of the things that aren't important to what you're applying for. The next things on your resume are like the skills and interest sections. I think you should have.

Four to six of each of those. I don't think you need to list every single thing you're interested in Share like four things that make you sound like you're a good person or a human at the end of the day Like music sports podcasts If you write a blog, I don't know like whatever. Yeah, i'm not gonna make up some random interest for you water bottle enthusiast. Yes I am like

Josh Felgoise (09:34.572)

I would say interests are usually used as a conversation point. Like, you're interested in puzzles. So am I like, you know, something you can like relate to the interviewer with. And that's where they mostly come into play. So I'd put like four things ish for the skills and make sure the skills you put on the resume you actually can do. So don't say that you're proficient in CAD. I don't even know what CAD is, but don't say you're proficient in CAD if you're not, because then if you get to the job or they ask you to.

do this on CAD as a test and you can't do it, like that would suck. So make sure that what you put on your resume for the skills are actually skills that you can apply to the job and you can actually do. I put on my last resume that I was proficient in, I just put like Premiere Pro as one of the skills and it ended up being a very big part of my job. So I had to learn how to do that very quickly. So make sure what you put on your resume you actually can do.

So now let's go on to the interview section, which is the reason I went through this podcast in the first place. And then a lot more ideas and things I wanted to talk about just came up as I was thinking about it. And I was like, resumes need to be a thing that I go on about because there's a lot that I want to make sure everybody listening to this has right. And it's something that you're not really taught. Like you're, giving it, you're given an academic advisor in college or in high school.

But you have to keep changing your resume with your new experiences and with your new jobs. And there's no, mean, personally, I don't know. It's probably like a great opportunity job, Mark. If you're out there and you want to start a resume company, like I would invest. Um, but you have to keep changing it. And there's not really someone, unless you have like an older sibling who I use for this to look over it. Uh, my sister's friend is really great at resume. So I usually send it to her, but unless you have like a personal connection or somebody to look over it.

It's hard. So I'm I want to be the person here to give you some pointers on it If you don't have that person in your life to turn to about it If not, I would ask a friend to read it over just getting another set of eyes on it a friend a family member somebody a co-worker even No, maybe not because then they'll be like, why are you unless you they you're like they're like your best friend that then that's different but maybe not co-worker but getting another set of eyes on it to make sure that Something isn't off or worded incorrectly or worded weirdly

Josh Felgoise (11:56.398)

is always helpful too. those are the last couple of things on that. Okay. So now onto the interview section. So I'm going to go into the details here of interviews and like what you should do before, what you should do after. So I would say when you're, once you're reached out to for an interview, I would give them a good amount of availability for your interview. I wouldn't give them like, I'm free on Monday from nine to five. I would say I'm free on Monday from nine to 11 on Tuesday from two to five. And on Thursday from

three to six. Let me know if any of those times work for you and I look forward to hearing back from you best Josh. That type of thing. I wouldn't say like, I'm available nine to five Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Like don't don't don't look that desperate, but give them a good amount of availability so they can make the times work. I would respond briefly and nicely like I don't think there's any need to overdo it. I kind of just laid out that response. You don't have to overdo it with like exclamation marks. One or two is always one or two like tasteful exclamation marks is always nice, but

No need to like worry about your response too much. Most of the time the people on the other side I think are barely reading those emails and just kind of like looking through for the time. So you don't have to like make sure you're I mean again, like don't don't be sloppy about it, but don't obsess because I've been in the boat where I'm like I obsess over the email I send and I'll read over it like 18 times. And at end of the day, it's just like offering some times some time slot availability for an interview and they're just looking for the time. So make sure it's not sloppy, but don't

You don't have to invest like make sure that every word is in the right place. And you know what I mean? You know what I mean? I don't have to go into that too much more onto the interview. I would get dressed nicely. I wouldn't. I mean, it depends on what you're interviewing for. I think a shirt and tie is always a good option. I feel like I rarely wear a tie in an interview. I'll usually all, mean, always, always wear a button up button down. call it button down. What do you call it? Button up button down. I don't know. I probably won't hear back from you on it anyway.

but I always wear a button down. I think a jacket's nice. I don't think it's always necessary. Tie's nice, not always necessary, but truly depends on what you're interviewing for. If you're interviewing for like a consulting role or a finance role or something like that, then probably, I mean, it doesn't hurt. So it never hurts to get dressed up nicer. Shave your face, make sure your hair's combed, like really easy things like that that you may not think about, but I think are always good to make you look presentable for an interview.

Josh Felgoise (14:21.878)

and make it look like you're giving some effort and you've given this thing some time and some thought. That's on like the presentation side. I would try and enter the call five, four, three ish minutes early so that you're on before the person and you're prepared and you're on time before an interview. I will usually play a hype up song for myself and like jump around and get all my nerves out.

There's something to that that really helps me and makes me feel calmer and more calmer but also more energized at the same time. I'm ready to talk and say whatever. And it also gets out all that stress and anxiety that I've had building up to that interview. So I highly recommend that. do that before presentations too, before I have to talk to any important thing that makes me feel nervous or anxious. So find a great hype song or something that works for you.

when you get on the call, everybody on that call is a human. So be a human. Like I've had some really good interviews and some really bad ones. And the ones that I think are the best are when I am being a human and having a conversation. And when you look at it as a conversation, it feels so much easier than a question and answer session. So it's not them being like, what, why do want this role? And you just being like, well, I want this role because of this and this and this, and I'm interested in this role because of this.

And I think I bring this to the table and I think I bring this to the table. So I start off by making some conversation about how the day's going. Have like the same conversations you have with coworkers like, how was your weekend? No, the weekend was good. How was your weekend? the weather. it's pretty humid outside right now. Like, you know, so have a little conversation before and then get into it. Let them kind of be like, all right, so tell me about yourself and

I would be ready to answer really open-ended questions like that. think in the time that I interviewed from like junior year on, I felt like the interviews became so much more open-ended than they first were. I feel like it used to be like, tell me a success and a failure and how you overcame that failure. And now it's more about like, walk me through your resume or tell me your story or tell me a little bit about how you got...

Josh Felgoise (16:35.97)

to this position right now and why you're applying for this role and why you're interested in this role and what you'd bring to the table. There are much more open-ended questions that you can kind of take wherever you want to go. And I think for some people interviewing comes really easy and others, I mean, not easy, but it comes easier to some people than others. I obviously have a podcast, so I feel comfortable talking to whoever is listening and a lot of people in general.

and that's not an easy trait. So I'm not trying to glaze over that or say that it's an easy thing to do. But if you remind yourself to relax and stay present and remember that this is a conversation you're having with somebody and not a question and answer, like you're on trial. And when you say the wrong word or misstep or say something that you thought was wrong, like it will be forgiven. It's, not a, you're not in court. So remember that and.

Try to hold that thought throughout the interview and stay relaxed and stay present. That's probably the biggest tip I can give someone. It's a very uptight situation. It's a very anxiety inducing situation. Like that will always be there at the back of your head that like you are interviewing for something you want. You may really want this job or you may just be wanting a job. It doesn't really matter. It's always going to be a stressful situation when somebody is literally judging you like

based on you and your answers and your skills and your ability to have this conversation. Like it is literally a situation in which you are being judged and that is very hard and stressful. But if you can take yourself out of that or take that element out of it and remember that this is a conversation you're having with another human who also probably wants somebody great for this role and think to yourself that like you are the greatest person for this role.

And you will bring amazing skills and an amazing element to this company and be what this company needs. Like if you can be that confident on the call, it will go better. So try and remember that confidence or fake it till you make it. Like I would say on most calls that I'm on, I still, think still till this day, and I don't know when I will ever let go of that. I am faking it till I make it like really, I don't know if I'm, I should be saying that or not, but I feel like

Josh Felgoise (19:04.16)

on a lot of the calls I'm on, it is a fake it till you make it situation. And I think the more I've been in the work field force, workforce, the more I realized that everybody is kind of just faking it until they make it. And I don't know when you ever do make it or if I ever will make it. But I know that I will continue to fake it till I make it till I get to a place where I feel that I am so confident that I have made it truly like fake the confidence until you feel that confidence.

fake that you're in this conversation until you feel that you are in the conversation. I would also prepare a few things. So I would prepare some research on the company. Know the C-suite, which means the people at the C level, the CEO, the COO, at the bare minimum, know who the CEO is and have done some research on that person and what they've done and how they've led the company in the past year or so. Try and see what the company's been up to in the news, in the media.

on their social media accounts, what they do, what they're, obviously know what they do if you're applying. I hope that's like the first thing you know. But at least know like what they've been up to in the media, on the PR front, public relations front, all that stuff. Just stay up to date within that lease like the last couple months so you can reference something and it sounds like you've been really prepared. Somebody did that in a recent interview I had and I was like, damn, okay, like he knows what's up or that person knows what's up.

Just make it clear that you've spent time researching the company and you know enough about them. And again, as I said, like be really be prepared to answer those really broad questions like walk me through your resume or tell me about yourself. Tell me about your hobbies. What do you do outside of work? What do you do for fun? I've always found that question to be so hard. Like what do do for fun? I'm like, like what do you do for fun? Like I cook, I go to the gym, I watch TV, I watch movies. I, you know, like what

That's a really hard question. So if you can think of something unique about that and be prepared on that like I play pickleball That's kind of unique. You know, that's something that I you could say To find that thing I would also be prepared to and and know a like recent success story as well as a recent Failure. I'm bunny ears in my fingers at the moment Air quotes just that's the proper way to say that

Josh Felgoise (21:23.636)

and always spin the failure into how you got out of that or how you've made it better. Don't be like, I did this wrong and this wrong and end it there. Be like, I did this wrong, but then I talked to this person, made this happen and blah, blah. Spin it to be positive. And you can most likely find an experience like that and spin it to be positive and almost make it sound like a success story at the end of the day. I also think it's nice

or a good idea to like have some ideas for the team or things that you would want to do on that team or in that company, things you'd like to see them do in the next couple months or the next year or things you'd like to implement or work on and bring that to the interview. I think that also shows a really great amount of preparation that would be really helpful and explain and make sure that they know how you can apply your skill set to the team.

All that stuff is just going to make you like look like a really great candidate. I would say a lot of the times an interviewer just wants to know that like one, you're going to be a good fit for the company because you're a good person. You can keep a good conversation and you have the skills and the knowledge to back up what you're saying and you you bring a perspective. I think that's the most important thing to make sure that you're highlighting in an interview and will come through if you.

can talk about the experiences you have laid out on your resume and you can bring out like some depth and some recent like examples to back them up. That will be enormously helpful for you. The last thing is on do you have any questions? When the interviewer asked you at the end of the interview, like I think every single interview I've ever been a part of, they ask you at the end, do you have any questions? Of course you have questions for the interviewer. Like never say no, never say no. You always have at least one or two questions for the person.

So my favorite questions to ask an interviewer are can you tell me about a recent project that you or your team has worked on that you feel was really successful? I have always found that question to be really great and bring like forward a really good conversation with the interviewer because then you can actually ask them a follow-up question on it and you sound like you know what you're talking about and you also sound interested and excited about what they're working on which always is a plus in your book.

Josh Felgoise (23:45.664)

Some more questions that would be good to ask or I think are great to ask are where do you see your team in a year and what are you working on to get there or something like how does your team measure success and what is a current project you're working on to get there like something like that that that is about what they're actually working on. Ask about the team, ask about them, ask about the company, company initiatives, company goals, stuff like that that

make you sound really interested and excited about what that company is doing. I think that always sets you ahead. And then always ask about the next steps in the hiring process. Just be like, Hey, like, I'd love to know what the next steps are in the hiring process. They'll usually say something like, yeah, we'll get back to you on the next step is an email, blah, blah, blah, like whatever something, but I think that's just a good way to end it. Always thank them. And I think the best thing to do after an interview is to email them, email the recruiter or the person you just talked to and say, thank you so much for your time today.

I really liked hearing about this is the most important part. I really liked hearing about X find something that you talked about in the interview to point back to. So thank you. Hi. Hi. Whatever. Thank you so much for your time today. I really enjoyed hearing about your experiences working on this project. I look forward to hearing back on the next steps in the hiring process.

Thank you again and best Josh, something like that. You know, something short, sweet, but refers back to something in the conversation to show that you're excited about it, listening, caring, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, So send a follow up email and yeah, thank you for the time. I look forward to hearing back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, get it. Okay, so those are my tips for resume and interview and job process, hiring process.

Applying resumes all that good stuff send this to whoever You know that is currently going through that. I think they'll find something in this episode to be really helpful I at least hope they really will find at least one piece of advice in this episode That will help them in the process if you're going through this I wish you the best of luck and just keep your head up stay consistent and you will get there at some point or another and I

Josh Felgoise (26:07.124)

Love the expression. sounds cheesy and corny. It sounds stupid. But I really do believe that a closed door is another open. What's the expression? Hold on. Hold on. I always try to land the plane well. Never do it. A closed door is an open door.

When one door closes another opens. That wasn't as great as I thought it was, but we often looked long so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that which has opened for us. That's nice. Alexander Graham Bell. Thank you. Thanks my dude. but yeah, just remember that like rejection. no, this is, this is the one I wanted. This is the one I wanted. God damn it. Rejection is redirection. I love that quote. I really do believe it. I think it's a really helpful guiding statement when you're facing a lot of or facing.

a time where you're naturally going to feel rejected in this exact process is like is one of the biggest ones. Remember that rejection is always redirection and you will find what you're supposed to find with jobs and with work and and it will work out at some point it will work out. That's the episode. Thank you so much for listening. I hope there's something in here that resonated with you or was at least helpful. If you like this episode I really hope you did please like subscribe leave a review give this episode five stars.

Send it to any friends that you think will be helpful for send anything you want me to talk about and that should be talked about to my email advice at guyset.com advice at guyset.com. And then send any questions you have. There'll be a a Google form at the bottom in the show notes right now. You can send any questions right there. I'll be doing an ask guyset soon. The 50th episode of the show is coming up so soon which is so fucking crazy and I'm really excited about it. So I'm some fun stuff for that.

Follow guys set on all the social medias, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, Twitter. I don't even know if I have a Twitter Reddit at the guy set T H E G U Y S E T and I will see you guys next Tuesday. See you guys.