📘 The Job Search Formula: Detailed Syllabus
Finding the right job isn’t about luck — it’s about following a proven system.
On this page, you’ll find the full breakdown of The Job Search Formula — the exact framework my clients use to go from stuck, ghosted, or underpaid to landing jobs they actually want.
This syllabus is normally reserved for clients, but I’ve opened it up here so you can see how the program works, step by step.
Think of it as a roadmap: you’ll know what to expect, what skills you’ll build, and why this process works when so many others fail.
Get hired, not ignored.
50% of job hunters polled on LinkedIn aren’t getting interviews or offers despite submitting resumes and applications for months, and despite a historically strong job market.
Nonetheless, the other 50% of job hunters say they’re getting interviews and expect offers soon.
The difference between successful and unsuccessful job hunters is the effectiveness of their:
1. Search Strategy
2. Personal Branding
3. Tactics & Time Management
4. Interview Skills
Break out of the rut and establish the skills and confidence you need to get the job you really want.
🤫 Psst! Here's the secret to get a good job!
The secret to getting a good job is no secret, they just don’t teach it well in most schools and now with the internet and AI, there are more tools to use, and more things job hunters have to get right than ever before.
The basic process hasn’t changed:
Here are the keys to getting a good job.
And the details behind each step.
Step 1: Write a resume that makes them want to hire you
1.A. Know your role
Establish awareness of how a role fits in the broader organization, rather than simply write a resume that matches the job description.
From industry to industry and even company to company, job titles may be the same, but the actual requirements of the role can differ greatly.
For example:
A project manager in advertising has a very different job than a project manager in Information Technology, both of whom may lack a foundation in Engineering training that may be required for a Project Manager in Software or Construction.
The problems are:
- Different industries and companies use the same words to describe different jobs. People don’t understand the nature of their roles relative to the overall enterprise.
- The job you’re trained for often differs from what you’re required to do. Job descriptions frequently don’t align with your actual tasks.
- With all the mismatch between what you think should be and the actual case, you enter a state of cognitive dissonance that leaves you unsettled, unhappy, and permanently disengaged.
The solutions are:
Find the standard title and role for the actual job you do (or want to do).
Become an expert in your job description.
Be able to articulate how you are the best candidate for the role.
Understand the discrepancies between your job descriptions and your actual role, and understand the reasons for them.
By doing so you become the expert in the contribution you make and its relevance in the modern enterprise.
1.B. Clarify Your Brand Positioning
Express who you are and your fitness for the job you want.
Every company and every person needs a clear, compelling brand.
We spend too much of our lives ordering off “the menu” of life: someone else’s idea about what is a good job, a good career, and a good life.
While your resume needs to follow the conventions, it also must reflect your personal story and commitments, or you’ll be stuck in a box you can’t escape.
The problem is:
Many resumes fail to fulfill their purpose because they don’t meet the necessary standards, but most people stop before they’re done:
- People write resumes like companies write job descriptions: formulaic boilerplate.
- People get stuck in boxes on org charts because they’re too busy trying to follow other people’s rules.
The solution is:
- Write a resume that speaks of you and the job you want.
- Personalize your resume with insight about you and what you want to do.
- Clarify the contribution you intend to make, commit to make it, and write a resume from that commitment.
When you write a resume that speaks of you, you’ll have confidence in expressing who you are and your fitness for the job you want.
Have a resume and LinkedIn profile that speaks to your personal uniqueness as well as the job description.You may come to realize that there are interviewers who are your fans even before they meet you.
Step 2: Broadcast your availability and fitness for the role
2.A. Advertise relentlessly
Deliver your message everywhere a likely employer or advocate may be.
There’s a saying about many failing companies that they’re the “best kept secret” in their industry.
Whether their products are good or their operation is efficient, if too few potential clients know about them, they’ll never have a high enough deal flow to keep them in business.
Once you have clarity of purpose and direction, and a resume that clearly defines your fitness for the role you want, you must spread the word and share your resume, advertising, and brand message in places where your ideal audience will be.
The problem is:
Platforms like LinkedIn or dozens of other job boards, sites, and services, plus AI, have introduced overwhelming noise into the marketplace and will waste your time if you’re note well-targeted.
When you begin your job search:
You want multiple offers (3-5), in the same week or two, and you always start with none.
You want multiple advocates (9-20) who will refer you for the role you want, and you have few
When everything’s working, on average you can expect a 25-30% success rate as you move from one stage of the process to the next:
1-in-3 or 1-in-4 conversations will lead to another conversation
1-in-3 or 1-in-4 “final interviews” will lead to a job offer
1-in-3 or 1-in-4 job offers will be a job you really want (e.g. Gallup stat that 1-in-3 or 1-in-4 people are truly satisfied or happy at work)
The solution here is to:
Create a “job-hunting machine” that delivers your resume and message everywhere, everyday, even when you’re sleeping.
Spread your message far and wide, leveraging automation, other people’s time and attention, and your own confident, carefully crafted and polished messaging.
Leverage your experience, expertise, and preparation to have productive, enjoyable conversations about your goals, capabilities, former contribution, and capability to contribute.
After creating a strategic job hunting machine you’ll become a magnet for exciting opportunities. Imagine your inbox overflowing with exciting job offers.
Lead and guide the process of going from unemployed and scared to:
Answering phones, texts, and emails.
Having meaningful conversations.
Scheduling calls and interviews.
Receiving multiple job offers from people who are enthusiastic about having you on their team.
2.B. Network with ease
Create new relationships, get positive feedback, and expand your confidence,.
Experts say that most people get new jobs through people they know. A job hunt is the perfect opportunity to expand the network of people you know.
This “hidden job market” is your secret weapon to more relationships, more job offers, and higher salaries.
Modern communications technology and social media makes it easier than ever to find and meet people who are in your target role, work with people in your target role, or hire people in your target role.
The problem is:
Good people don’t leave good jobs, so the best jobs in the best companies with the best bosses aren’t open as often as the others.
The worst companies and the worst roles have high turnover and they hire frequently, so a meaningful percentage of all job openings at any time are bad jobs and/or undesirable employers. This may correlate to the ⅔ of people who are unhappy with their current job.
Most people put more time and thought into planning their vacations than they do into planning their careers. As a result, most professional networks are poorly developed and underutilized because we only consider developing our networks when we’re between jobs, and we search for work infrequently.
Before you start doing anything specific, think about beginning with:
Clarify your goals and career direction. Develop a simple career strategy and career plan.
Learn the basics of professional networking, establish and develop relationships that will grow with you and serve you over time.
Be mindful in your relationships and have an offer you can make to other people, so you have a reason to think of you as useful, and you make a place in their mind and memory for you.
2.C. Interview your interviewers
Don't just try to “get the job.”
“80% of people who left their roles in 2022 regretted the decision.”
Generally, the manager magnifies the culture and expectations of the company.
Even if the manager is a jerk, remember that two levels of management above her are responsible for placing her in the position and keeping her there. While people quit the manager, the manager is the face of the company, its policies, expectations, and culture.
The problem is:
- Often, you don’t know why you’re unhappy at work because you attribute your unhappiness to the wrong root causes. You think your boss is the problem, but often, s/he’s just a symptom of the problem.
- We rarely search for work and select bosses, so we lack the skills and criteria for choosing wisely.
The solutions are:
Establishing explicit criteria for what you want in a job, manager, and company so you can set the right expectations and hold your boss and company accountable to them.
Understand the nature of the modern enterprise and your role in it, so you can have the right expectations and commit to do your part.
Interview your interviewers as much as they’re interviewing you, so you can decide whether they qualify as worthy of your time and commitment.
This will elevate your interview experience, leave a positive impression, and increase your call-back rate.
This will create a good relationship with your boss and team from the very first interview.
You’ll become a model employee and have fun and influence at work.
Step 3: Receive offers graciously
3.A. Negotiate Confidently
Be confident that you have good pricing information, and be in a strong negotiation position.
Labor in the United States has not had a chance to meaningfully negotiate salaries for decades.
A small number of compensation consulting firms perform annual surveys of the salary ranges paid by the largest companies for a standard assortment of job titles and roles. After the survey, the consultants share the results with the companies who participate. The companies readily standardize on the averages.
Today, if you work for a big company in a common role, there is very low probability that you’re receiving a salary much different than everyone else in a similar role, adjusted for geography, anywhere in the country.
If you are underpaid, it’s because you were low-balled or you were honest when they asked you how much you earned in your last job, and they offered you that much or a small raise, even though they know the average pay across the market for your role is higher.
The problem is:
- Companies and their consulting companies have near omniscience about the current state of the labor market because they work full-time in the business of interviewing, hiring, and assessing that market.
- Employees have a low level of insight, information, and expertise in compensation standards and the employment market for their skills because they only look for jobs occasionally, and rarely often enough to become well-informed.
- Employees often are looking for work while they’re unemployed, so they may be doing so in a state of scarcity and fear, which can lead them to perceive they’re in a weak negotiation position. In this frame of mind, people become willing to make concessions that may not be necessary.
For that you’ll have to learn how to negotiate in a way that respects the fact that you’re in a rigged labor market:
Negotiate so the employer is forced to tell you their budget for the role.
Do sufficient research that you have at least three different samples of reliable data for the market average compensation for your role.
Begin your series of lower-than-inflation-rate raises from the highest foundation possible.
That’ll allow you to choose your best company and job ever.
Step 4: Choose the best job for you
4.A. Take your time
The bigger your hurry, the weaker your negotiation position.
As a recruiter for seven years, I saw over and over again that companies either paid what they were able, inside the budget for the role, or they actively worked to minimize the amount they paid to the people who worked for them. Then they gave minimum or no raises to people after they came to work for them.
The probability is that you are either paid fairly for your job or you are underpaid, and the longer you’ve been in your role at the same company, the more likely you’re underpaid. You will want to do everything you can to maximize your initial offer, so you can go in with the best positioning for your tenure in a role.
The problem here is:
- Companies have better information and generally have a better bargaining position that employees feel they have through the hiring cycle.
- You may feel a sense of urgency and a sense of fear that you may lose a position if you’re not 100% enthusiastic and accommodating when an offer is made.
The solution here is:
In such cases apply some patience and a simple negotiation practice. Do a test to see if you’ve got the best offer available.
4.B. Finally, Celebrate!
Knowing you got the best offer and the best job available!
click the button below and get on the road to a good job starting now!
Anybody can do this!
Testimonials
“For me, when the right opportunity landed, I didn’t hesitate. I’d already done the deep work with Dylan to define what ‘ideal’ looked like—and that gave me the clarity and confidence to pounce when it showed up.”
Kevin F., Chief Product Officer
“Even last night, all you said was, ‘Spend 15 minutes and read that document.’ And honestly, I feel like I’m almost a different person than I was yesterday.”
Jim M.Product Strategist
“Definitely getting a lot out of the plan… I like it being structured. I like the fact that you’re pretty open with your feedback.”
Biren S.VP of Product & Engineering
Hi, I’m Dylan Cornelius.
When I started my career, I worked as a recruiter for seven years. Despite my experience, as a job hunter, I searched for new jobs haphazardly and always accepted the first job offer I received.
After earning an MBA degree and a career change to information technology, I’ve been laid off several times, and half of my jobs have seemed unnecessarily difficult or uncomfortable.
Eventually, after being passed over for promotions four times in three years and facing yet another layoff, I got serious about figuring out how to get a better job and keep it.
Soon after, I was getting promoted, picked to lead teams, and frequently acknowledged for the value of my contribution to my coworkers and teams.
During this time, I also met an amazing lady who trained me for my first two marathons and still inspires me every day.
Reflecting on my three-decade career, my experience in the job market, and thousands of hours of therapy, counseling, coaching, and training, I realized I have a lot to share. I don’t want anyone to have the difficulties I’ve had, nearly all of which are avoidable.
Now I help mid-career managers and knowledge workers accelerate their work search, interview confidently, get multiple offers, and improve their career trajectory.
About us
Our mission is to enable 6-figure professionals, executives, and new grads to create and execute their strategic plans using the Strategy Acceleration Roadmap, even if they need help knowing where to start.
With more than 30 combined years of management, leadership, and coaching experience in some of the best businesses in the world, we’ve helped thousands start and grow their careers.
Work with us to define and confidently execute your most important plan today.
