c/career-advice

Hit 1,500 cold calls last month and finally saw the pattern

I always thought volume was the answer, but after tracking every call in a spreadsheet for 30 days I realized it was the timing of my follow-ups that actually mattered, has anyone else noticed a specific number change how they work?

3 comments

drews55•2d ago

Three years to finally listen to my dad about business insurance

I spent three years paying for a bare bones liability policy because my dad kept nagging me to get a proper umbrella policy. Last month a client's kid tripped over my hose and I found out my basic plan covers nothing, so now I'm paying out of pocket and kicking myself for not listening sooner. Anyone else have an old piece of advice they ignored way too long?

3 comments

rowanr88•6d ago

Finally took that advice to cut the first 3 paragraphs of my cover letter

I had a friend who hires for a marketing firm read my cover letter last month. She said nobody reads past the first sentence and I should just get to the point. I cut it from 200 words down to 75 and got an interview on Tuesday for the first time in 6 months. Has anyone else tried trimming their application materials way down?

3 comments

caseywalker•8d ago

PSA: That conversation with a retired welder changed how I think about side hustles

I was talking to a guy who spent 30 years doing pipeline welding and he said he never took side jobs because he figured his hourly rate would drop too much. He told me he made more just putting that time into learning better techniques on the clock. Has anyone else found that chasing extra cash on the side actually hurts your main career growth?

3 comments

garcia.cameron•11d ago

Had a buddy in accounting tell me 'your resume is just a receipt for your skills' and it hit different for some reason

My buddy said your resume just proves you can do what you claim, but everything after that is just relationship building in interviews so do you guys think resumes are more about proof or about showing personality?

3 comments

samreed•12d ago

I finally bombed a job interview after 3 perfect ones in a row

I had 3 good interviews in a row last month for a project manager spot in Austin. The fourth one last Tuesday went sideways when I mentioned I used a spreadsheet to track tasks, and the hiring manager said they use Asana and seemed put off. I tried to recover by talking about adaptability, but it felt like I lost them after that. Has anyone else had a run of good interviews and then totally messed one up for a simple reason?

3 comments

angela728•13d ago

Found out most job postings are fake and it changed how I search

I read a study from Clarify Capital that said up to 40% of online job listings are never filled. They just sit there to collect resumes or make the company look like it's growing. Has anyone else noticed this in their own job hunt?

3 comments

scott.alex•13d ago

Had to pick between staying hourly or going flat rate on a big sewer repair

A customer in Portland wanted me to quote a full sewer line replacement, and I had to decide between billing by the hour or giving them a flat $4,500 price. I went with flat rate because I figured it would be simpler for them and guarantee my pay if the job hit a snag. Has anyone else had a flat rate job backfire on them when unexpected problems showed up?

3 comments

tessap97•17d ago

Hit 100 rejections before my first real freelance job. Was it worth it?

I'm trying to figure out if the whole 'grind it out' advice is actually solid or just toxic hustle culture. In my case, I sent out proposals to 100 different people on Upwork over 6 months before one finally said yes to a $400 web design project. That one job led to 3 more referrals, but man, those first 99 rejections felt like a total waste of time. Did hitting a specific number like that actually matter for you, or was it just luck?

3 comments

fionamurphy•17d ago

Invested $800 in a career coaching program and it paid off in 3 months

I was stuck in my admin job for 4 years with no promotion in sight. Last spring I finally spent $800 on a 6-week career coaching program through a local community college. It forced me to update my resume, practice interview answers, and actually network with people in my field. Within 3 months of finishing, I landed a project coordinator role that pays $15k more a year. Has anyone else tried something similar and seen real results?

3 comments

alext52•18d ago

That manager in Chicago taught me a lesson about asking for help

About 3 years ago at my first real office job, my boss pulled me aside after I spent 2 hours stuck on a spreadsheet. She just said 'you wasted 2 hours when Connie could have fixed it in 5 minutes, ask next time.' It stuck with me because I was trying to look capable. Anyone else have a moment where someone's blunt feedback actually changed how you work?

3 comments

grantc80•22d ago

Paid $300 for a 'career assessment' test that just told me I like people

The report said I should look into 'people-oriented roles' after I paid $300 and answered 150 questions. Could have saved the cash and just asked my mom.

3 comments

val974•23d ago

Offered a 30 day trial period and it stopped the constant hiring mistakes

I kept hiring guys who looked great on paper but couldn't handle the physical side of concrete work. After three bad hires in a row last spring, I started offering a 30 day trial at a lower starting rate with a clear checklist of what they needed to learn. That way both of us could see if it was a good fit without me committing to full pay and benefits right away. First guy through the trial actually stayed and became one of my best workers. Has anyone else tried something like a trial period for new hires in their industry?

3 comments

waderamirez•24d ago

Spent $300 on a LinkedIn profile writer and got zero interviews in 3 months

Hired some guy from a gig site to rewrite my profile and it sounded fake as hell - nobody even looked at my page. Anyone else get burned paying for fancy resume help instead of just talking to people in your industry?

3 comments

troyc17•25d ago

I thought switching careers would take 6 months. It took me almost 2 years.

I was working retail in Dallas and decided I wanted to get into IT. Every online course said you could pivot in a few months with a certification or two. I picked up my A+ and Network+ within 5 months and started applying. I was getting nothing but rejections for about a year. It wasn't until I did a free internship at a local MSP that I finally got hired, and that was 22 months after I started studying. Has anyone else had a career change take way longer than the internet promised?

4 comments

black.oliver•27d ago

Picked the IT job over the electrical apprenticeship 8 years ago and I still wonder

Back in 2016 I had two offers on the table. One was a junior electrician gig with a union crew in Cleveland starting at $18 an hour and the other was a help desk job for a small insurance company at $15. I took the help desk because it had health insurance and a desk with my name on it. Eight years later I make decent money as a network admin but my buddy who took the electrical route is pulling $45 an hour as a foreman with zero student debt. He owns a house and I still rent. I don't hate my job but I catch myself thinking about that other path every time my back hurts from sitting in this chair. Anyone else make a decision that looked smart at the time but turned out different?

3 comments

miaprice•29d ago

TIL showing up 15 minutes early to every interview got me more callbacks than any resume trick

After sending out 50 applications with zero replies last month, I started arriving early to every phone screen and in-person chat - turns out hiring managers actually notice and mentioned it in 3 of my last 5 follow-ups. Has anyone else found a weird little habit like this that suddenly made a difference?

3 comments

henryr45•1mo ago

Wasted $400 on a fake certification course last spring

Found this "project management pro" course online, looked legit. Turned out to be a bunch of outdated slides and no real accreditation. Anybody else get burned by one of these?

3 comments

black.oliver•1mo ago

My uncle told me in 2007 that nobody would ever make money posting videos online

I remember him laughing at my cousin for uploading guitar covers to YouTube, and now that same cousin just bought a house in Nashville from his channel earnings, so who really got the last laugh here?

3 comments

dylan_ward•1mo ago

That one critique from a senior dev 5 years ago that changed how I code

I used to cram everything into one function cause I thought it was faster. Then a senior dev at my job in Austin pulled me aside after a code review and said "your code works but nobody can read it." He told me to break it into smaller pieces even if it felt wasteful. At first it made my files longer but after about 3 weeks I realized I was fixing bugs way quicker. Has anyone else had a piece of feedback that seemed annoying at first but actually helped a ton?

3 comments

max_schmidt77•1mo ago

Watched a guy go from $0 to $6k a month in 8 months on Upwork

I follow this freelancer in Atlanta who started with zero reviews. He took $20 crappy data entry jobs for 3 months straight. Built up a portfolio of 50+ jobs. Then switched to offering SEO audits at $400 each. Now he's turning down work. Has anyone else seen the slow grind actually pay off better than quick wins?

3 comments

wyattramirez•1mo ago

Wasted $400 on a certification that got me nowhere at my job interview in Austin

I thought a specialized fitness certification would make me stand out, so I dropped $400 on a NASM corrective exercise course. Spent 3 months studying, passed the test, and felt like a pro. Then I took it to an interview at a big gym chain here in Austin, and the manager didn't even ask about it. He was more interested in how many clients I could bring in, not how I could fix their posture. That $400 could have gone toward better marketing or even new gear. Now I'm stuck with a cert that looks nice on a wall but doesn't help me land jobs. Has anyone else dumped money into a credential that never paid off?

3 comments

the_jessica•1mo ago

Rant: Wasted $400 on a career coaching course that was just common sense

I signed up for a 6 week career coaching program last spring because I felt stuck at my kitchen job. The coach kept telling me to 'update my resume' and 'network more' like I couldn't figure that out on my own. I paid $400 total and by week 3 I realized she was just reading from a script. The only useful thing she said was to apply to 5 jobs a day, which I could have heard for free on YouTube. I feel like an idiot for not checking reviews first. Has anyone else fallen for one of these expensive coaching programs?

3 comments

wesley639•1mo ago

Just realized a piece of feedback from 5 years ago that totally shifted my approach to client walkthroughs

An older agent pulled me aside after I lost a listing in Portland and said 'you talk too much about features and not enough about what the space actually feels like.' I started asking buyers what they wanted to feel in each room instead of rattling off square footage, and my close rate jumped about 15% within a year. Anyone else have a critique that forced you to rethink your whole pitch?

3 comments

charlie198•1mo ago

Walked into a career fair at a convention center and it was just 15 booths selling courses

I went to this big career event downtown last month thinking I'd meet actual recruiters from real companies. Got there after paying $12 for parking and it was literally 15 tables of people trying to sell me their $400 resume review packages or $2000 certification courses. One guy tried to pitch me a 'career acceleration program' that I'm pretty sure was just a PDF of LinkedIn tips. There was exactly 1 legit employer there and they were hiring for a call center role paying $14 an hour. Has anyone else run into these fake career fairs where nobody is actually hiring?

3 comments