257: Consider Zigging Instead of Zagging and Set Clear Career Goals with Austin Belcak

<p>Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Austin Belcak. He teaches people how to land jobs they love in today’s market without traditional ‘experience’ and without applying online.</p> <p>His strategies have been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Inc., Fast Company, and USA Today.  His clients have landed job offers at Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook to name but a few. </p> <p>In this episode, Phil and Austin Belcak discuss how to land an IT job with a major company even if you do not have traditional experience or qualifications. He explains how to establish a connection, build relationships, and leverage them. They talk about how to demonstrate to your target firm that you have something that they need.</p> <p>They also discuss how not to fall into the trap of simply following the crowd. As well as looking at how the CoVid crisis is changing the way everyone works and lives.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>KEY TAKEAWAYS:</strong></p> <p><strong>(29.32) TOP CAREER TIP</strong></p> <p>If you see everybody else recommending something, take a step back and ask if that is truly the best way to do things. Ask yourself why people are doing it that way. Are they getting results? If not, in all likelihood you will be able to come up with a better approach.</p> <p>Often, being different is a good thing. It can help you to get noticed.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>(31.47) WORST CAREER MOMENT</strong></p> <p>For Austin realizing that graduating from university was not enough to get him a decent job was a bad moment. He ended up in an awful job that paid poorly. Worse, he had a bad boss. Yet, even after applying for hundreds of jobs online, he could not get out of the situation.</p> <p>In the podcast, he explains, in quite some depth, how he managed to break this negative cycle and find success.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>(35.24) CAREER HIGHLIGHT</strong></p> <p>Landing his current job with Microsoft is Austin´s career highlight. For him, it has been life changing. During this section, he explains w