c/career-advice

Vent: I spent $300 on a resume writer and it felt like a total waste

Honestly, I was stuck in my job hunt for months and thought a pro could help. I paid about $300 for a fancy resume rewrite from a service I saw online. They sent back this long, weird document that didn't sound like me at all. Tbh, I ended up just going back to my old version and tweaking it myself. Has anyone else tried a resume service and had it actually work out?

My resume got auto-rejected by a system last month

Applied for a project manager job in Austin. The portal asked for a PDF. I sent mine. Got an instant 'not a fit' email. Checked the file. My contact info was in a header the bot couldn't read. Fixed it, saved as a plain text PDF. Got a call back the next week. Anyone else get tripped up by resume formatting like that?

My old boss told me to never ask for a raise in the first year

Honestly, I waited 14 months and got a 5% bump, but my coworker asked at 9 months and got 8% plus a title change. Has anyone else been given this advice and found it was wrong?

I realized I was over-explaining everything in meetings after my boss in Tacoma said 'just the headline, please' for the third time.

That simple phrase made me see I was burying my main point under a pile of extra details (which, honestly, I thought made me sound more prepared).

I was sure the 'informational interview' thing was just busywork for college kids, but I tried one last month and it actually landed me a referral.

Appreciation post: I tried sending a thank you note after a job interview and it actually worked

I had a second interview for a marketing job in Austin last week. After it was done, I mailed a short, handwritten thank you card the next day instead of just sending an email. I got a call from the hiring manager three days later saying they were moving forward with me, and she specifically mentioned the card. I learned that a small, personal touch can really stand out in a digital process. Has anyone else tried something similar and had a good result?

I used to think you had to be a 'people person' for sales jobs

I was at a coffee shop yesterday and overheard a manager telling someone, 'We hired our top rep because she's great with data, not because she's a chatterbox.' That stuck with me. I always avoided sales roles, figuring my quiet style wouldn't fit. But he said she just listens to what clients actually need and shows them the numbers. It made me look at job listings differently. Have you ever been wrong about what a job really needs?

My resume got way more calls after I cut it down to one page

I kept sending out my old two page resume for months with almost no replies... then a friend in HR told me to trim it to just the key stuff. After I made it one page last week, I got three calls in two days. Has anyone else seen a big jump from making their resume shorter?

I completely froze during a client pitch meeting in Chicago last month

I was in a small conference room with three senior partners from a big firm, pitching our marketing plan. Halfway through my main slide, my mind just went blank. I mean, total silence for what felt like a full minute (it was probably ten seconds, but still). I could see them looking at each other. I took a deep breath, closed my laptop, and said, 'Let me start over, I think I'm making this too complicated.' I walked to the whiteboard and just started drawing the core idea with a marker, talking through it simply. It turned the whole thing into a conversation instead of a presentation. We ended up getting the project. How do you guys handle it when your brain just shuts down at the worst possible time?

Was at a coffee shop in Austin and overheard a guy basically interview a stranger for a job right there at the next table.

Heard this guy in a suit talking really loud, asking this younger dude about his 'biggest weakness' and 'where he sees himself in five years.' The younger guy looked super uncomfortable, like he was just trying to get a latte. The whole thing felt so weird and aggressive for a public place. It wasn't even a scheduled interview, they just ran into each other. Is this a normal thing now? How would you even handle that situation if you were the person getting ambushed?

Update: I spent $300 on a professional resume rewrite and it actually got me an interview within a week.

Honestly, I was super skeptical about paying that much, but the writer focused on quantifiable results from my last job, like 'increased team output by 15%', which my old resume totally missed.

Shoutout to the guy at the hardware store who told me to stop cold calling

About six months ago, I was trying to get more roofing jobs and spent hours on the phone with no luck. A contractor I met buying shingles said to just ask every client for a referral instead. I started doing that after each job, and this week I booked three new projects just from word of mouth. What's the best way you've found to get new clients without feeling pushy?

I picked a job with less pay but a better boss, and it was the right call

I had two offers last fall: one paid $15,000 more a year, but the manager seemed really cold in the interview. The other paid less, but the boss was someone I clicked with right away. I went with the lower-paying job because I wanted a good place to learn. After six months, I'm way happier and have already gotten a small raise. Has anyone else chosen a team over a bigger paycheck and how did it work out?

Can we talk about the day I got a promotion by turning down more work?

My manager pulled me aside on a Tuesday and said, 'We need you to lead the new Denver project, on top of your current load.' I told him I couldn't take it on without dropping something else, which felt risky. But I listed my current tasks and asked which one he wanted me to stop doing first. He actually paused, then came back the next day and offered me a team lead role instead. Has anyone else found that saying 'no' at work led to a better outcome?

Hot take: I found a 1998 career guide in my attic that said the average person changes jobs 3 times in their life.

I was cleaning out some old boxes from my parents' house in Cincinnati and found that stat in a dusty pamphlet, which is wild because my cousin has already had four different jobs since he graduated college in 2020.

A project manager in Austin asked me to run a meeting and it went sideways

They gave me the lead on a client call last Thursday, but I mixed up two key deadlines from the notes. The client got quiet and my manager had to jump in. Has anyone else had a public slip-up like that and how did you bounce back?

A hiring manager told me they skip resumes with generic 'team player' lines

He said it shows a lack of real thought and he looks for a specific example instead, like 'organized a weekly sync for a remote project'. I've been guilty of that myself. What's one overused phrase you've cut from your resume?

I turned down a manager job to stay an individual contributor

Last year, my boss offered me a team lead role with a $15,000 raise. Everyone said I should take it for the money and the title. I said no because I love the hands-on coding work I do now, and I saw how stressed the last lead was. I stayed a senior developer and just asked for more complex projects instead. It's been 10 months and I'm way happier, but my family still thinks I made a bad move. Has anyone else skipped a promotion and been glad they did?

Update on that 'networking' advice I always ignored

I was sure it was just corporate fluff, but after actually going to a local small business meetup last Thursday, I got a referral that turned into a steady client. Has anyone else had a networking moment that actually paid off?

Just hit 40 rejections for a promotion I really wanted

I've been a dental hygienist for eight years and applied for a lead role at my clinic in Portland. The manager told me yesterday they went with someone else, which makes it the 40th time I've been passed over for a bigger job. How do you keep your confidence up when you keep hitting a wall like this?

PSA: my first real salary negotiation took me six months to get right

I got a job offer last year for a project manager role at a tech startup in Phoenix. I thought I could just ask for more money and be done in a week. I spent a month researching market rates, another month practicing with a friend, and then two more months of back and forth with their HR over email. The whole thing dragged on for half a year before I signed. Has anyone else had a negotiation stretch out that long, and what finally got it moving?

I paid $300 for a resume writing service and it got me three interviews, but my friend says it's a total scam.

I was stuck in my job search for months, so I spent the money and landed interviews at two tech startups and a marketing firm, yet my friend insists I just got lucky and that these services never work.

DAE get stuck in interview feedback loops? I started asking 'What's one thing I could have done better today?' right at the end.

A hiring manager in Austin actually gave me a real answer, and I used it to land the next job I interviewed for. Anyone else tried a direct question like that and gotten useful info?

My boss said my project pitch was 'too detailed' for the client call

I spent two days building a slide deck with exact timelines and cost breakdowns for a software update. During the prep meeting, my manager in Austin told me to cut it down to three bullet points because clients get overwhelmed. Has anyone else been told to simplify technical plans this much, and how do you decide what to leave out?

Got told my presentation was 'too polished' at a big meeting in Denver

I was at a regional sales meet in Denver last month. Had to give a pitch to about 20 senior managers. I worked for a week on my slides. Made them perfect. My boss pulled me aside after. He said my talk was slick but felt like a robot gave it. Said I missed a real connection. He told me to try being less perfect next time. More human. I always thought being polished was the goal. Now I'm split. One side says a clean, professional look shows you care. The other side says being too smooth can make people not trust you. Has anyone else had a boss say their work was too good? How do you find the right balance?