Doug Levin With JobStars USA

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Doug Levin, who is the owner, resume writer, and career coach with JobStars USA. Welcome, Doug.

Doug Levin: Hey, Lee, thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about Job Stars USA. How are you serving folks?

Doug Levin: Sure. So Job Stars USA is a career services practice that I started back in 2013. We provide resume writing, career coaching and job seeker services. So all sorts of things ranging from resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, personal bios, career coaching in terms of making a career change. Interview prep and then some kind of job seeker services. So things like applying to jobs on behalf of clients, sending the resume to recruiters. Everything is geared around the B2C, helping individual job seekers achieve their career goals.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Doug Levin: Yeah, so like I said, I started the business in 2013. Coming out of undergrad, in 2005, I joined the company CareerBuilder, and I worked there from about 2005 to 2011. You know, back in those times, CareerBuilder and monster were kind of the top two job boards. And so I kind of got, um, you know, a good education on the whole world of job seeking recruiters and job placements. So basically, I worked there for six years. My last role at CareerBuilder was with They had a they had a business called CV resume and it was basically their resume writing service. And so I ran that for two years and learned about the resume writing world, learned about the career coaching world, and after kind of having enough of the corporate world and had just earned my MBA, kind of had an entrepreneurial itch, decided to quit my comfortable corporate job and start a business. So I kind of, from 2011 to 13, kind of laying the foundation, eventually launched my website job stars, uh, another few years of kind of learning the craft and kind of fine tuning the offerings, doing kind of some side hustles along the way. By 2017, I was doing this full time, and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

Lee Kantor: So those big job boards like monster and CareerBuilder are those like, do people really get jobs that way? It just seems like a lottery ticket strategy.

Doug Levin: You know? It’s definitely not necessarily the best way to go if you’re a job seeker. I mean, I do think some people certainly get jobs, you know, whether it’s indeed or ZipRecruiter or monster. I mean, these are very popular places to go search. It’s very like just convenient and easy for job seekers. But the problem is, you know, it’s it’s definitely highly trafficked. There’s a lot of competition. There’s a lot of spam jobs. I do think there are real jobs on there. Um, so, you know, it’s it’s a tough, tough place to pin all your hopes as a job seeker. Um, yeah. But, you know, using personal referrals, um, connecting with recruiters, you know, attending in-person events, networking. These are all things you can do besides just, you know, kind of relying on the job boards.

Lee Kantor: So what’s a spam job? And why would someone create a fake job?

Doug Levin: Well, back when I worked at CareerBuilder, lots of companies would kind of purchase. Um, you know, like I said, spam jobs where for one reason or another, they’re posting a job so that they can get access to applicants. Um, whether it’s, you know, people uploading their resume, their phone number, email. I mean, there’s a bunch of nefarious reasons why. I don’t know exactly, but we did have a problem at CareerBuilder where companies would, you know, they would pay CareerBuilder for, hey, we’re posting a job, but then we would learn it was spam job and whatever they were using that for. Um, it wasn’t beneficial to the job seekers. It was making them upset. And so we had well, CareerBuilder had to put in some safeguards to be like, we’re only selling job postings to, you know, actual, legitimate companies.

Lee Kantor: Now, if you were a job seeker in today’s market, um, what are some of the kind of do’s and don’ts to, um, you know, get your next gig?

Doug Levin: Yeah. I mean, I think the number one thing that I would recommend is to leverage your personal connections. So, um, identifying people you can actually count on to, um, put in a good word for you is, is the number one avenue? Um, now, not everyone has the most extensive network of people they can ask, but, you know, kind of that water cooler, you know, two people in an office, you know, um, really has that connection where if you know somebody that works in a company and that company is hiring. That person you know can put in a good word with the decision maker, the hiring manager. They might be friends. They might pass each other in the hallway. And that carries a lot of weight. So it’s a little more strategic to kind of think of it that way. And again, like I said, I understand not everyone’s going to have those connections. Um, but that’s number one. Beyond that, um, you know, if you’re forced to apply to jobs online, which a lot of job seekers are, you know, it’s important to personally, I recommend avoiding the job boards. So kind of what we talked about with the indeed the monster, the ZipRecruiter. I would recommend going directly to a company’s website and applying versus applying through one of these platforms. Same with LinkedIn. So let’s say, you know, Boeing, for instance, is hiring for a position you want to apply to. And it’s and you find that job on indeed. Let’s say you know option A is you can apply through indeed. Option B is you can go to the Boeing website, find the find the posting and apply through there.

Doug Levin: The reason you want to apply through the company website versus a large job board is it’s just another step. It’s another layer. Um, and most job seekers aren’t going to put in the effort to, you know, kind of find the job on the company website. And so they’ll just kind of apply through the job board and it’s just flooded with applications. And even if your resume is perfect, um, you know, the competition is just so high when it’s so convenient and easy to apply. Um, so that’s, that’s, you know, applying through company website. The last thing I would say is making sure your resume is ATS friendly and visually appealing, which basically means if you’re applying to jobs online, you know, taking that example of applying to a job on on the Boeing website. Boeing uses an ATS, right? So there’s all different types of ATS. Ats stands for Applicant Tracking System. Um, it’s basically software that manages the flow of applications. One of the functions of an applicant tracking system is the ability to analyze your resume against the job description that they’re hiring for. So they’re looking for keywords. It’s an automated process. So it’s really important that your resume is free of distortions like graphics images charts, tables things like that. So when we say ATS friendly, you know it should be a document that’s free of those things. And then also it should have the right kind of keywords that are tied to the job posting that you’re applying to so that you have a good score. Um, so yeah, there’s a lot of different things. Those would probably be my top three broad tips for job seekers.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned LinkedIn. Is there, um, some do’s and don’ts around your LinkedIn profile? Are there some things that you’re like, hey, never do that. If I see that that that person’s never going to get hired or things that are like, okay, then this is going to give them a leg up.

Doug Levin: Um, yeah. So, you know, LinkedIn is an important piece of your presentation as a job seeker. So, you know, really it’s your resume and your LinkedIn profile. Those are going to be the two things that recruiters are going to focus on. Um, usually the resumes first, you know, you’ll apply. They’ll look at your resume if they’re interested. Then they’ll if they want to do a deeper dive, check out your LinkedIn. So when you’re approaching, how do you present all your information? The resume and LinkedIn should work in tandem with each other. You know, be complementary to each other. So in a case where, let’s say you have 20 years of experience and you’re trying to keep your resume at two pages, which really isn’t a lot of space. The LinkedIn is kind of your opportunity to kind of backfill and complement your resume. So maybe certain things that don’t make the cut on your resume could go on your LinkedIn. You don’t have the same space limitations over on LinkedIn as you do on the resume. So it’s a strategic thing where, for instance, LinkedIn has a project section where you can include long form descriptions, you know, projects you led, um, programs, engagements, things like this that might just take up too much space on the resume.

Doug Levin: So, you know, if you have projects you want to highlight, use the project section. Build that out. Um, I mean, to your broader question of are there do’s and don’ts? You know, I think everyone’s a little different. Um, I can’t. Nothing comes to mind as far as. Oh, this is a, you know, definite do or don’t red flag, but you just want to make sure that your LinkedIn profile is, is populated with good quality content. Um, so similar to keywords on a resume, you kind of want to think of it the same way over on LinkedIn. So if you imagine a recruiter might be searching on LinkedIn for certain keywords or terms, you want those populated in your resume or in your LinkedIn profile. So in the summary or in your job descriptions, you know, you just want to think about from a search perspective, if a recruiter is looking for someone with B2B sales experience, for instance, you’re going to want that term, um, in your LinkedIn.

Lee Kantor: Now, what about LinkedIn posting? Is there anything you could be doing proactively, strategically to connect with people in the organizations you’re trying to work in and, and either through your own posting or commenting or or dealing with, you know, other people’s posts from the companies you’re targeting. Do you have a strategy around that?

Doug Levin: Yeah. So I think, um, posting is a good way to kind of stand out in the crowd a little bit and to show a little bit of your knowledge or personality or a different side of, you know, your professional presentation. So posting is, you know, different for everybody. Um, one way to approach it is to share other people’s, you know, kind of like a retweet over on Twitter X, you know? So on LinkedIn, you can follow, um, people that you admire in your industry or more broadly. So if you’re a little hesitant to like, you’re not sure what you should post, you can start with just sharing other people’s posts and commenting on it. Um, or, you know, if you do feel comfortable enough to post, um, you know, posting about things, you know, you know, your personal experiences, whether you’re in sales or marketing or you’re in a particular industry, um, you know, just kind of sharing nuggets or tidbits that people might find helpful. And, um, it’s certainly, you know, a way to demonstrate expertise and just willingness to put yourself out there and share your opinion.

Lee Kantor: Now, should you also be using LinkedIn as kind of research for your own intelligence when it comes to targeting individual companies? So like you mentioned, the importance of, oh, if you know somebody at that company, you know, ask them to say, hey, my buddy sent a resume in, you know, so maybe that’ll get them higher up on the list at least. Maybe they’ll get an interview because of that. But on LinkedIn, should you be kind of saying, okay, who’s the second or third degree connection? Maybe, um, that I can kind of warm my way in there to at least identify or find somebody that might know me or somebody that I know so that I can get that referral in.

Doug Levin: Oh, 100%. I mean, I think LinkedIn has to be the number one place where you can kind of map your, you know, connections to companies, to decision makers and really, you know, find who the who the right person is. Um, that’s either making the decision or could be the connection that you need. So, um, one thing is, you know, obviously everyone kind of has a LinkedIn profile, but, you know, companies also have their own profile, you know, so one thing that I like to do and one thing I recommend is following company pages. And so once you follow a company page, you can actually click and see who the employees are of that company. Now if you’re like on just kind of the free LinkedIn service, um, there’s limitations to kind of, you know, the level of employees you can see that work at a company. If you have LinkedIn premium, however, um, you can kind of, you know, peel back the layers and find all the employees that work in a particular company. So, um, and that can be very valuable because let’s say you find a company that’s hiring for a particular position. Um, oftentimes they’ll even show who posted the job. And then so if you can pull that person up and see what common connections you have, I mean, you might be able to, you know, identify that that connection and kind of work your way into a referral or something like that. So, I mean, yeah, LinkedIn to me is just a gold mine for kind of doing research on companies and decision makers and, and finding what you need.

Lee Kantor: Now, you also mentioned recruiters and um, some people, you know, get bombarded by recruiters contacting them, but other people never hear from a recruiter. Um, what are some of the things you could be doing that catch the eye of a recruiter?

Doug Levin: Yeah. So recruiters, um, you know, I think the first thing to understand as a job seeker is that recruiters don’t work for you. Um, recruiters work for, you know, the company that they are trying to place positions for. And so, you know, unless you’re highly specialized or highly, um, you know, highly sought after, you know, recruiters again, their interest is in finding the best candidate and serving their client, which is, um, which is the company that they represent. So, um, but, you know, a savvy recruiter still wants, you know, qualified candidates, you know, coming through their, you know, their inbox or their desk. Right. So most recruiters, um, I mean, and it depends if we’re talking about an in-house recruiter that works for a company or a third party recruiter that works at a staffing firm. But let’s take the example of a third party recruiter that works at a staffing firm. They typically earn their salary when they place a candidate into a role. And so they’ll earn like a percentage of that placement. And so a good recruiter is going to want, you know, qualified candidates coming across their desk so that they have more, you know, a deeper pipeline of candidates that they can present to, to the company. And so while I, you know, while I kind of suggest, hey, it’s important to remember that recruiters work for the company, not you. They still want to hear from, you know, qualified candidates. So as a job seeker, um, you know, there are ways to outreach and, you know, kind of introduce yourself, whether it’s going to a recruiter, um, like a staffing firms website.

Doug Levin: Most staffing firms have a contact us. They’ll say, upload your resume. Leave us a note. You know, and that’s a way for recruiters to for job seekers to kind of connect with recruiters. There’s no guarantee or promise of anything. But, you know, that’s one simple way to just get your resume into the hands of recruiters. And if they find you valuable. Valuable, they might have an opportunity. Um, another thing is like, uh, distribution services. So there are. There are resume distribution services where you could basically email your resume to recruiters at staffing and search firms. That’s a little more like, um, less work than what I just mentioned as far as going from firm to firm and uploading your resume, that’s kind of more convenient. Um, it’s like an email blast and you’re sending your resume out to a bunch of recruiters, um, oftentimes thousands at once. And that’s just a simple way to to kind of, um, get your resume out there. Otherwise, if you want to be recruited, if you want to be headhunted, you know, it’s it’s really building a strong LinkedIn profile, making sure your profile is populated with content, um, the right keywords and all that so that recruiters can find you. You have to make yourself visible and attractive so that recruiters want to contact you.

Lee Kantor: So let’s talk a little bit about Job Stars USA. Um, who is the ideal candidate to be working with you?

Doug Levin: You know, so I work with a pretty broad range of clients. What I would say is, you know, we’re exclusively B2C, which means business to consumer. So we work with entry level through executive level professionals. However, we don’t, um, kind of do the B2B side. So large outplacement or anything like that, which is beneficial for, you know, our clients because we’re we’re able to kind of keep a little more of a boutique feel, um, a little more personal focus. We’re not serving these large outplacement contracts. Um, having said that, within the B2C Career services. Like I said, entry level through exec. Um, a broad range of industries. There isn’t necessarily one particular client. I’ve worked with 22 year olds coming out of undergrad. I’ve worked with CEOs of companies. So a really broad range there.

Lee Kantor: So what is their the pain that they’re having where they have to call Doug. Are they just frustrated or they just want this to happen faster. Like what is their struggle.

Doug Levin: Yeah, I think it’s both those things. It’s a lot of different things. You know, the job search is is full of rejection and frustration and difficulty. It’s highly competitive. Um, I guess I would say kind of the most prominent thing is people need help with their resume, um, building something that’s visually appealing, that works with applicant tracking systems, that communicates you know, the extent of their experience and achievements. There’s a lot that goes into that. Like even with even with AI and all the different resources out there, building resumes is a craft. You know, I’ve been doing this a while now, and it really is it a craft. And so a lot of people just, you know, don’t have the time, don’t have the experience or the, the want to, to kind of engage in that. Um. Also a lot of times, you know, it’s, it’s the career coaching side. So it’s the interview prep, it’s the career change. It’s the dissatisfaction with the career path and identifying a new a new way forward, um, or preparing for interviews. So, yeah.

Lee Kantor: Is there merit for people who are maybe they’ve already started their career, but to, you know, kind of job hop their way to higher salary faster than by staying in one organization for a long period of time.

Doug Levin: Um, I wouldn’t recommend that. I suppose it’s possible. But, you know, the risk with job hopping is, you know, it kind of, you know, doesn’t look great on a resume. And you’ll get questions about how come you’re only in this role for a little while or, um, and so it might be beneficial or advantageous in the short term, but in the long run, I think you’re probably better off sticking it out with the with the company that you’re with. As long as it’s a good company and there’s upward, you know, potential and that most employers hiring managers appreciate longevity.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team. Where should they go? How do they connect with you?

Doug Levin: Sure. So job stars.com. It’s all one word. Uh, I’m the owner. You’re welcome to reach out and, um, send a contact us through the website. You can give me a call (312) 788-9686. Happy to, um, review your resume or LinkedIn profile or just kind of provide any support that I can.

Lee Kantor: Well, Doug, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Doug Levin: Awesome. It was a pleasure. Thanks for having me, Lee.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.