Searching for jobs online can sometimes be intimidating because there are a lot of job sites to navigate through. That’s why we’re bringing you this highly anticipated episode with expert tips on how to job search online and always stand out among the competition.
A survey estimates that 22% of the workforce (36.2 Million Americans) will work remotely by 2025. If you’re someone finding it difficult to make your digital presence known to remote employers and companies, then on this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, Porschia will be talking all about Job Sites 101 with Mac Prichard. They focus on how you can secure that next position.
Mac Prichard is the founder and publisher of Mac’s List, a job board and career hub for the Pacific Northwest on a mission to create a more human hiring process to improve the workforce for all.
What you’ll learn:
Why having clarity on your career before a job search is vital
How to properly utilize job sites
How to stand out with your profile on job sites
Quotes:
“Learning job search skills early and keeping them up-to-date is gonna serve you well throughout your career” – Mac Prichard
As a thank you for listening to this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, we are sharing our FREE master class – Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have! It’s a training based on solving the common problems our clients have experienced to reach their goals. You can get access to the master class here!
Episode Transcript
Porschia: [00:00:00] Today, we are talking about job sites 101, how to job search online with Mac Pritchard. Mac Pritchard is the founder and publisher of MaxList, a job board and career hub for the Pacific Northwest with the mission to create more human hiring processes to improve the workforce for all. MaxList was founded in Portland, Oregon in 2001, and became a certified B Corporation in 2017.
Today, MaxList serves job seekers and employers in Oregon and Washington with their top tier job board, as well as courses, books, and other resources that bring people together to find better jobs and happier careers. Mac built two small businesses on the strength of his professional network, and he has taught thousands of people how to grow their [00:01:00] careers through relationships with others.
Mac shows job seekers and employers how to break down the barriers between them by teaching empathy, curiosity, and people focused hiring with a practical nuts and bolts style. Mac is also the author of the book, land your dream job anywhere and host of the weekly career advice podcast. Find your dream job.
Uh, Mac was also kind enough to have me on his podcast, uh, not too long ago. So hi, Mac. How are you today? I’m
Mac: well, it’s great to see you again, Portia.
Porschia: Great to see you. I am excited to have you with us to discuss Job Sites 101, how to job search online. But first, we want to know a little bit more about you, Mac.
So tell us about seven year old Mac.
Mac: I grew up in the Midwest in a small city in Iowa, Davenport, and [00:02:00] I, my family moved to a new neighborhood. Uh, it was filled with old houses around a park and it was, uh, there were lots of large Catholic families, uh, around that park, including ours. And it was such a wonderful place, uh, to be, uh, at age seven and, and, and later in life because there were so many kids, Portia.
And we would gather in that park and play games, kickball, four square. And you could walk anywhere and we all had bicycles. And, uh, so it was a, it was a, uh, it was a great community and wonderful to be part of it.
Porschia: Yeah, sounds great. So what did you want to be when you grew
Mac: up, Mac? Well, in grade school, uh, I had the conventional dream, especially in the late 60s of being an astronaut.
But even in grade school, I had an interest in, in politics and government. And when I finished college at the University of Iowa, I knew I [00:03:00] wanted to do three things. I couldn’t have said it this concisely, Portia, but it was clear to me that I wanted to get paid to write. I wanted to work on election campaigns.
And I wanted to do human rights advocacy on Latin American issues and by the time I was 25, I got to do all three of those things and, and more. So I, uh, had a great start to my career and have had a good career sense, but some bumps along the way that I know we’ll likely talk about.
Porschia: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, it definitely sounds like a whirlwind to get all of that done by 25, Mac.
Uh, that I think is, is probably a book in itself, right? That you could write about that. Um, so yes, tell us about some highlights or pivotal moments in your career before you started MaxList.
Mac: As I said, I had three great jobs right after college. I worked on a U. S. Senate race in Iowa, and then I had done an internship in college with a human rights [00:04:00] organization in Washington, D. C., and they hired me after the campaign ended. And that position led to another job in Boston with a second human rights group.
Uh, and it, uh, and so I had. We were taking members of Congress on fact finding trips to Central America and with the Human Rights Group in D. C. I learned my basic public affairs skills, how to write news releases, pitch stories to reporters, and those skills have served me throughout my career, which has been in communications and government, politics and nonprofits.
But. After three great jobs in a row, Portia, I hit a rough patch. I had a long period of unemployment and I can see now with the benefit of hindsight, it happened in part because I wasn’t clear about what I wanted to do next. So I had this great resume that would get me interviews, but I could never get an offer because I know the hiring managers.
In retrospect, they could sense the [00:05:00] uncertainty about what I wanted to do next and as you know, employers want to hire people who are excited about the job they offer and they want to hire people who are clear about what they want to do because they know that’ll be good for the candidate who will thrive in that position and it’ll be good for the employer as well, that person’s best work and I just wasn’t in that place.
So, I actually was unemployed for seven months. Uh, because I thought job hunting would be easy after these three great jobs in a row. Uh, and, uh, along the way, uh, I cashed the last unemployment check, which I never thought I’d do. Uh, and I did talk with someone, uh, my wife was working at Northeastern University in Boston at the time, in the career services office who met with me, and she taught me the basics of, um, goal setting, how to do informational interviews.
It was a brief conversation, but it was a very important one and those skills and, uh, and the direction she [00:06:00] sent me and helped me find another great job. So, Since then, my career has been in, uh, largely in communications. I’ve worked for elected officials, governments, nonprofits. And 15 years ago, I started my own public relations company, as well as, as MaxList, the regional job board that you mentioned in my, uh, bio.
Uh, but the common thread that has run through all the jobs I’ve had is trying to make a difference about issues I care about or in the community where I live and work. I
Porschia: can definitely tell just based on what you’re interested in and those three jobs that making a difference is important to you.
There are two things you mentioned Mac that I think are really important for listeners to. Um, here because and I’m sure that, you know, you hear this, um, yourself from members of your job site. But a lot of times people beat themselves up because they feel like they don’t have it all together. The job [00:07:00] search is not going fast enough, and they’re really judging themselves, right?
And so sometimes we have clients who go to a university career services, um, center, like the one you went to. And we also partner with some university career development, uh, and services departments. Um, and they have that brief conversation. It sounds like probably similar to what you’ve had. And sometimes, um, they have the light bulb moment.
I’m guessing like you did and they can hit the ground running. And then sometimes. They still need some more help after that. Um, a lot of the major universities that I’ve spoken with, they have like 20 minute time slots for people. And so, uh, for a lot of people, they need a little more than 20 minutes. So, um, that’s where I think coaching can really be helpful or working with a mentor or looking into other professional resources.
So that was one thing that I really wanted to highlight that I think is great that you did. Um, the [00:08:00] second Point that you mentioned was really about getting clarity around your career and how people want to hire someone who, you know, articulates that in an interview, like what we talked about on your podcast, um, but also I think through their resume.
And so, um, when people are applying now. You know, there’s so much technology involved with resumes. If you don’t have the right keywords that are associated with that clarity, you’re getting kicked out. So, um, I just want everyone to hear what you mentioned about having that clarity around their career, uh, before they start, you know, a major job search and then also the resources you use.
So, Thank you so much for sharing that.
Mac: You’re welcome. And I want to second your point about clarity because if you’re not clear about what you want to do next, first of all, be kind to yourself. That’s normal. Uh, and, and it takes some time and effort to, and work to, to figure it out, recognize it and, and invest in doing that [00:09:00] work because, uh, when you begin your search and start talking to people about your interests and what you.
And, and, uh, if you don’t know what your goal is, your search is going to be so much longer and harder than, um, it, uh, it has to be. And the other thing is you make it so much harder for people to help you. Because if you don’t know exactly what you want, people can’t provide that specific kind of assistance that otherwise I, or almost always, uh, happy to provide.
Porschia: Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, so Mac, you have a very interesting background that we’ve heard a little bit about. Um, what made you decide to start a job site?
Mac: Well, because of my period of unemployment first and that you and I talked about and I had another one, uh, Porsche, I’m a slow learner. Uh, later in my career, my thirties, that second experience.
It reminded me of the [00:10:00] importance of having a professional network and not only asking your network for help, but being of service to your network. So, um, I moved to Oregon more than 30 years ago and, uh, in the 1990s, I worked in state government and politics in the Capitol here, but I always lived in Portland, the large city to the north of the Capitol.
Um, I took a position with a. Uh, non profit based in Portland about 20 years ago, and I wanted to stay in touch with my professional network in government, and the idea I had for doing that was to share job postings, so I did this informally for almost a decade, and eventually it became a part time job, and at that point I was running, um, my own public relations firm working with governments and non profits and foundations, and I was paying someone to Send out these postings.
Um, and, uh, that’s when I [00:11:00] turned, uh, uh, I, I launched the MaxList website. And, uh, and, and so it was, it started from a place of service. And along the way, Portia, I built a community because I was. Hearing from job seekers who I didn’t know who wanted to receive these postings, and I was hearing from employers who wanted me to share postings, and these were companies and nonprofits that I didn’t know, um, at one point, the It was requiring so much time.
I thought, well, I’ll just stop doing this. And then the phone began to ring and people I didn’t know were calling me and saying, are you okay? I’m not getting your emails anymore. So that, those calls and that experience showed me that indeed I had created a community but most importantly, I was solving a problem both for job seekers and employers and that sense of service remains central to the work, our work at MaxList.
Porschia: [00:12:00] Yeah, I mean, service is definitely the word that comes to mind when you mentioned that you were sharing these job postings informally for 10 years. I’m sure people definitely got used to hearing from you and all of that and missed you when you stopped. Um, so I know a little bit about MaxList already, but you mentioned that you all focus on the Pacific Northwest so Oregon and Washington.
Does MaxList, uh, provide job postings for specific industries, or are they jobs just kind of across the board in different industries? Tell us more about that.
Mac: We’re what’s called a geographic job board. We’re focused, as you said, on those two states, and most of the positions, um, Are in those places.
Increasingly since the pandemic, we’re seeing employers here open to, um, remote work or hybrid work. So we’ve always attracted a national audience. We get about [00:13:00] 75, 000 visitors to the website a month. Wow. Portia, the majority of them are outside the Pacific Northwest. So there, why do they come? Um, one. One of the things that makes us different from the other great job boards out there is we provide lots of free educational information.
So you’ll find hundreds of articles about how to look for work. You mentioned the courses and the books. We donated copies of our two books to all the libraries in Oregon. They’re also available for sale, but we think providing lots of free content is not only Good for the communities we serve. It’s also a good business strategy.
And then we have our podcast, uh, where we interview different career experts like you. But it’s not just for job seekers. Many of the employers we work with are small organizations. And as you know, typically a company or nonprofit won’t [00:14:00] add a HR person until they’re at maybe 25 people. And the majority of our Employers are much smaller than that.
So the person who’s calling us up or going to our website to post a job, they got hired to do something else. Um, they’re an engineer, maybe a program manager, uh, an office administrator. They are not a professional recruiter or HR director. So they haven’t been trained in how to write a job posting. They, they haven’t had formal instruction in the importance of including, uh, salary ranges or using clear titles.
And they, um, haven’t had formal instruction in, in how to get the word out about their position, not just on job boards, but through other strategies that, you know, uh, recruiters who. Do this for a living do so. We provide lots of free content about how to hire smarter. Uh, and, uh, and that’s one of the reasons why, while we have a [00:15:00] geographic focus for our job postings, uh, our work, our educational work, uh, tracks, uh, a national and even a global audience outside the U.
- Wow. Wow.
Porschia: I didn’t even know all of that, Mac. Thank you for sharing that. I definitely can imagine how all of the resources on your site are so helpful, um, for businesses. Uh, some of our small business clients are in that same position that you mentioned where they don’t have an HR manager or director and then even if they do, I find a lot of times that that person is so overwhelmed with payroll and compliance that you’re right.
They don’t know, uh, the best practices of how to write a job posting. So, it’s great that you have that out there. Um, I was also happy to hear about the remote positions that you have on Mac’s list. I’m going to add to my own list. Uh, to send to our clients, um, add, you know, your site as a resource. [00:16:00] I had completely not even thought about that.
I would say about 40% of the career coaching clients that come to us now, Mac are looking for remote positions exclusively. So it’s a very, uh, big deal. So I’m glad that you serve that audience as well. So, uh, to dig in more to job sites. Um, how should professionals and executives use a job site, um, to job search online?
Mac: Well, before you sit down in front of the computer, it’s so important to do that work that you recommended at the start of our conversation, getting that clarity about your jobs. The other, uh, step that’s, uh, very important is to have a target list of employers, companies, nonprofits, public agencies, whatever the sector is that interests you, where you are interested in working or you know you want to be there.
So, uh, Job boards [00:17:00] are, um, a wonderful tool and they can provide, um, uh, you can use them for research. So once you know what position you want and, uh, uh, you’ve identified your target companies, you can use a job board to figure out what the market pays for salaries for the position you want and at the places where you want to work.
You can also pull job postings for those, uh, Uh, positions and see what kinds of skills and qualifications matter to the employers who are hiring in your market for the job that you want. And that’s going to help you understand how to best present yourself so that you can, um, put your best foot forward when you’re getting ready to either tweak your resume or, or write that cover letter to actually respond to a job posting.
Um, You should pay attention to, um, to the sites where, [00:18:00] that are likely to have listings for the kinds of jobs you want or, uh, uh, where the companies that you’ve targeted frequently post, uh, it’s usually a mix Porsche. Uh, you’ll find, um, and when you do your homework talking to these employers where you hope you are interested in working, you want to find out where they post their job.
Sometimes most employers will have some sort of job page on their own website. You want to pay attention to that. Um, you may also discover that they, um, post on LinkedIn or Indeed, and they usually will focus on a, a region that will have a regional site like mine in that mix as well. And then, um, Sometimes, uh, there are sites that are devoted to specific occupations or, or professions.
You want to find those niche sites and make sure you pay attention to them as well. Uh, and depending on where you are in your career, You probably only want to spend a portion of your day [00:19:00] looking at websites, uh, or job boards, rather, uh, because so, uh, the way hiring works, referrals and word of mouth are so important and you want to tap into that.
So I, again, job boards are a great way to. Do the research you need to figure out what the market pays and what employers are looking for. There are a great way to find out about publicly posted positions. Um, and if you’re early in your career, you probably since you’re looking at entry level positions that are tend to be more frequently posted.
Um, And not filled through referrals, you probably want to spend maybe 40, 50% of your time looking at job boards. But if you’re a mid career or in a senior position, it’s probably 20 or 30%. So what are you doing with the rest of your time? You’re recognizing how hiring works. And as you know, um, hiring managers want to reduce risk.
[00:20:00] Nobody wants a hire, uh, hiring to go back. It’s not good for the candidate. It’s not good for the employer. So how do employers. reduce risk. They put a lot of stock in referrals. They ask their employees for references. Um, they ask, um, uh, uh, their colleagues and former employees, and they are open to hearing from people.
And I would challenge your listeners, and I, I, I know you’ve had this experience. I have too. We’ve been put in charge of selecting people for an interview. We’ve got a stack of resumes. Um, you work down the hall from me and you come down and you say, Hey, Mac, um, I just spoke to Mary. Uh, she said she’s applying for this position and she and I were on a committee together, uh, for our professional chapter.
Um, I think you should talk to her. Now, is Mary going to get the job? Maybe, depends on how she does in the interview, and what kind of application packet she puts together. But I guarantee [00:21:00] you, I’ll be looking for Mary’s application, because Portia, who I respect and trust, has told me I should keep an eye out for it.
And I got to get, I’ve got maybe 50 resumes and I got to get to 10 for the screeners. Um, so I’m looking for ways to reduce that number and you’ve just made it very easy for me to do that. You’ve also, uh, helped me manage risk because you’re putting in a good word for this person. And I know because you and I work together and, uh, you care about your reputation, you wouldn’t do this lightly.
So you, once you understand that, uh, and you know where you want to work and the job you want. Then your challenge becomes after you step away from that computer to build relationships and connections with people inside those organizations. So you can generate those referrals so that you can reach out to the Porsches who will come down the hall and say to Mac, you should take a look at Mary’s resume.
Yeah,
Porschia: I, I love it. You shared so many gems [00:22:00] there about, uh, I think job search strategy as a whole, uh, even beyond job sites. And I loved. A lot of what you mentioned, um, I tell our clients to put themselves in the shoes of the recruiter, like you mentioned, and think about, uh, the way you phrased it was reducing risk, right?
From their perspective, um, how are they viewing candidates? And then also, I liked what you mentioned about really knowing and understanding how hiring works and how, um, that could look different for different job candidates, depending on where they are in their career and what kinds of job targets they’re focused on, um, with our clients.
We talk about creating a customized job search strategy, which I think is just another way of saying what you mentioned is that, you know, everyone’s strategies going to be different. Um, so, you know, what is that right mix [00:23:00] of applying for jobs online? On sites like Maclist or, you know, getting out there and networking, you know, in professional associations and, and what I call working your network, which is another part of that customized job search strategy.
So I really am happy that you shared that so people can really understand, you know, the job sites are one piece of the bigger puzzle. That
Mac: makes sense. I, you’re making such an important point here because, and I say this with kindness and respect, I regularly over the years have met people and they say, I look at your site and I say, thank you.
And I said, well, how’s your search going? Well, I look at your site and, uh, indeed, and maybe monster all the time. And I’m, I’m sending out applications and, um, they’re making, but they’re not doing anything else. All they’re doing is applying online, and there’s an extreme form of this, I’m, I, I’m sure you’ve run [00:24:00] across it in, in your practice, the people who believe, well, it’s a numbers game.
You know, I’ll sit down on Monday at nine and over the course of the next five days, I’ll send out X number of resumes and I’ll get, uh, uh, and it’ll be a large quantity, but eventually I’ll get three or four interviews. So maybe, uh, I’ve got to send out 300 resumes before I get five interviews, um. That’s one way to do it, but you’re making it harder and longer than it has to be.
Uh, and I, I would also argue that, um, you probably are not going to get as satisfying a job as you would, uh, if you spent the majority of your time, uh, going out and, and talking with people. So, uh, I’m a job board operator. I’m very proud of the value our postings offer both employers and applicants, and I encourage people to always look at job boards, but to your point, uh, as you said, it’s, it’s just a [00:25:00] tool and it shouldn’t be your only tool.
You need more than just a hammer. Uh, something wonderful. Yeah.
Porschia: Yeah. You need that whole toolbox. Um, so I want to ask a couple of tactical questions, um, about, uh, job sites, um, just from your perspective. I’d love to know, because I know you’ve seen thousands and thousands of people and candidates on job sites.
So how can a professional or an executive stand out from other candidates on a job site?
Mac: A couple of things, uh, many sites have, uh, registration pages, so make sure you fill it out. If there’s an opportunity to add your photo or upload your, your resume, um, do that and look at all the fields that are available to you and take advantage of them. And, and keep it current, um, sometimes people will register on a site a couple of [00:26:00] years ago and they have a job and then they, you know, four or five years later, they are ready to move on, but they haven’t updated their, their registration materials, uh, and, and the contact information might be out of date and, and they might not hear about something as a result of that.
So that’s step one. Um, second, when you see position on the. Uh, on a job board, uh, be ready to customize your materials. You can’t send the same resume, uh, and the same, uh, cover letter or generic message to every employer. It’s not effective. Again, employers want people who are excited about their position, and they want to know why you want to be there and what it is that you uniquely offer.
The third step I’d recommend, this goes back to stepping away from the computer, do some homework, look at the company’s website, go on [00:27:00] LinkedIn, see if you know somebody who works there or who knows somebody who knows somebody who works there. Not only want people who are excited about their job, they want people who understand their problems that can help them solve their problems.
So if you can have a conversation. With someone inside that organization about that particular job you’ve seen online and get a sense of What’s keeping the hiring manager up at night? Why are they hiring this person and weave that into your cover letter and your resume that’s gonna make you stand out Um, again, I say this respectfully, a lot of people will walk into interviews and talk about their excitement about a position or they’ll express that in their cover letters and other application materials.
That’s wonderful. You should do that. But you also need to think about the audience that you’re Uh, trying to persuade here, which is the hiring manager and, and she’s got a problem that, that she wants this [00:28:00] person to solve. Um, if you want to stand out, draw that hiring manager out about those problems and, uh, and show that, uh, you can solve them.
And, and if you’ve gotten an example, a story about how you’ve done that in the past, that is, uh, that’s gold. And then, and you know, obviously that happens in the interview, but in before, while you’re still on that site and you get before you send out that application, do that research, see if you can get some insights into what challenges are and put that in your application materials.
Um, another way to stand out. Is to follow up, you know, you, you, and I know people, um, it’s hard to make these calls or send these emails. Nobody likes rejection, but it, uh, I talked to recruiters and HR directors on my podcast all the time, and they are They’re great. They want to hear from candidates there.
As you said, particularly in the smaller organizations or shared, you know, one person HR department can be overwhelmed [00:29:00] and, um, you can send them an email and it draws, you know, we’ve all got that inbox with 50 messages and then the 51 goes to the second page. You might be on the second or third page.
People are, uh, if you don’t hear right away, follow up again. But when you do that, uh, you are, you’re standing out your, your competitors likely won’t do that. Yeah.
Porschia: Great tips, uh, filling out the registration page, customizing your documents, uh, doing your homework and following up. I think that if people really, um, Are intentional with those steps, they will see some great results.
So I think you were kind of alluding to some of these earlier Mac, but I’m interested to know what are some of the biggest mistakes you see professionals and executives make on job sites.
Mac: Number one, putting all your eggs in one basket, assuming that the only thing you have to [00:30:00] do is visit job boards, um, and respond to postings.
Uh, the two problems with that, one is you’re competing against a large number of people. Uh, and the other is no one knows for certain, but there’s some chunk of jobs out there that never get posted publicly. Uh, and that’s the so called hidden job market and their estimates that it’s, you know, 60% or more, whether it’s 80.
Um, the fact is those jobs are not getting posted. And so you need to step away from that computer. Sometimes they are the. Uh, they’re the job you want and you may never hear about it if all you’re doing is, again, putting all your eggs in one basket and looking at a, at a, uh, job board. Uh, number two, um, and we talked about this, but it happens again and again, is sending out that generic resume and cover letter.
Um, if you [00:31:00] do that, you’re not going to stand out from your competitors, uh, you’re, you’re, um, and you’ve got, it, it doesn’t take long, Portia, as you know. But if you spend that 10 to 20 minutes tweaking your resume and your application materials, that’ll give you an edge and, and help you avoid that mistake.
Um, and then I, uh, I think another mistake is not following up once you send in materials. And number four, uh, is not using your network. You know, if you. Uh, know somebody at an organization and you’ve applied there and you haven’t told your contacts or your colleagues or your, you know, your fellow grads, uh, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.
And again, you should do that before you apply. I meet people all the time who tell me they, I’m in Portland, Oregon, and Nike is headquartered here. And I meet people who want to work at Nike, uh, [00:32:00] which is understandable. It’s a great company. And I’ll say, well, have you talked to anyone at Nike? Well, no, but I look at their website every day.
If you know where you want to go, uh, don’t rely on the website alone. Start building relationships and contacts inside those places now. Um, yeah. So those are some common mistakes. Yeah,
Porschia: those are really great for you to highlight. Um, 1 of them that I talked to just about every client or even perspective client about is that hidden job market that you mentioned.
Right? So, if you’re only on job sites, um, and you’re not. kind of attracting, um, attention to yourself from recruiters and, uh, maybe just other colleagues that you have that work at different companies that, you know, see you in some way, like you mentioned, that can go down the hallway and, and mention your name to someone you’re really missing out.
So, uh, great, [00:33:00] great, uh, mistakes for people to make sure that they avoid. Um, so Matthew told us a little bit about MaxList already, but, uh, I want you to just give us the, uh, overview. Tell us more about MaxList, uh, so that everyone knows why they should run and register, uh, especially if they’re looking for remote jobs, uh, Or are there in the Pacific Northwest?
Mac: Well, wherever you might be listening, uh, I encourage you to visit the site. And if you only come from the educational material alone, it can help you, uh, uh, improve your job search skills. I would remind listeners, and we all know this, most of us will be in the workplace maybe 40 years, and we’re going to change jobs, um, six, ten times.
Uh, who knows what the exact number will be, but you, you, you learning job search skills, uh, early and keeping them up to date is [00:34:00] going to serve you well throughout your career, uh, because you, you shouldn’t wait until you get laid off or you’re unhappy. Uh, or you decide one day, uh, I’m going to look for work.
So, uh, come to our site to look at that educational material, listen to our podcast, take one of our free online courses on, on interviewing, um, or go somewhere else, but, uh, Pay attention to those skills. And, uh, and it’s not just job search skills. I, I think people who have clarity about, uh, what it is they wanna do, we keep coming back to this.
You and I in this conversation are, are not only get the best jobs, they have the most rewarding careers. And there’s plenty of content on our side about how to do that. Um, And yes, we, we do have remote positions. Um, uh, and we, uh, uh, I, and I was so pleased that you came on our show, uh, find your dream job is our weekly career advice podcast.
We’ve been doing it for [00:35:00] seven years now, Portia and, uh, uh, 85% of our listeners come. From outside the Pacific Northwest and 30% are overseas. So we’ve, uh, to me, what that says is that the, the information we get from the experts like you who come on the show is universal. It works in Portland, it works in Atlanta or, um, but it also works in Toronto and London and Sydney.
And, um, so come on down and check it out for yourself.
Porschia: Absolutely. So we will be providing a link, uh, to your website and other social channels in our show notes, uh, so that people can find you online. But what is the best way, Matt, for someone to get in touch with you? If they’re interested in following you, they can tell that you have a wealth of knowledge, just even in this short conversation.
Mac: Connect with me on LinkedIn and, uh, you can also find our podcast wherever you get your [00:36:00] shows. Uh, and of course, uh, there are, there’s information about me as well as my email address and LinkedIn on our website, maxlist. org. And if you do connect with me on LinkedIn, please be sure to mention that you heard me on Portia’s show so I know how you found me.
Porschia: Yeah, absolutely. So, Mac, to wrap up, I want to ask you this question that we ask all of our guests. How do you think executives or professionals can get a positive edge in their career?
Mac: I hate to sound like a broken record, but I think that It’s two steps. One is, is that clarity about what you want in your career, and if you don’t have it, talk to people who are doing things that interest you, and you’ll figure out quick enough if that’s something you want to do. So that’s step number one.
Know where you, know what you want to do, and [00:37:00] know where you want to go. And step number two would be work on those, uh, both job search and career management skills. And it’s, they are really life, central life skills. And, uh, the sooner you, uh, learn them and, and the more you invest in improving and maintaining them over the years.
Uh, the more satisfying your work day will be and the more successful your career will be.
Porschia: Love it. I love it. Matt, you have shared a lot of wisdom, uh, and secrets with us today. I’m sure our listeners can use it to be more confident in their careers and when they are searching on job sites, uh, we appreciate you being with us.
Well,
Mac: thank you for having me. It’s been a pleasure. Portia. Thanks, Matt.
