My journey from Microsoft to Salesforce with the Career Walking Deck

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Alexander Holomozyi recently landed a job at Salesforce as a Senior Enterprise Account Executive 🎉

To help and inspire fellow job seekers to build a career walking deck, he has shared his personal experience (in his own words) below:

When you’re building your career at a large company like Microsoft, one of the best strategies for growth is reaching out to leaders in other teams — especially in areas where you see your future.

But here’s the challenge: these people are incredibly busy.

Often, you get just 30 minutes, sometimes less. So the big question becomes: “Who are you, and why should they invest their time in you?”

That’s when I came across the concept of a Career Walking Deck — a short, structured presentation that introduces who you are, your strengths, what you’ve done, and where you want to go.

It’s not a resume. It’s a story. It’s a visual, thoughtful way to bring clarity to your journey.

I discovered the idea through kkarenism.com. Although she works Microsoft, I actually found her work just by Googling around when I was researching how to structure my growth conversations. I reached out to her personally, read the free materials on her site, watched a few of her interviews, and even bought a couple of her Canva templates. I didn’t end up using the templates directly, but they really helped me visualize what a great deck should look like.

The result?

It gave me confidence and clarity. I started using the deck in my internal career conversations at Microsoft — not just for interviews, but also in informal chats with directors and senior managers. The deck helped me open doors, build trust, and understand what I needed to do to take the next step.

The career walking deck became one of the most effective tools in my career development toolbox.

But the best part?

When I moved to Salesforce, one of the key interview stages wasn’t a typical pitch — it was a personal storytelling session: “Tell us about yourself and your impact.”

And guess what? I already had a polished, thoughtful narrative ready — because of my Career Walking Deck. I adapted it slightly, reused the key slides, and delivered my story with structure and authenticity. It left a great impression — and I got the offer 🎉

So yes, I’m a huge believer in the power of the Career Walking Deck — not just for landing jobs, but for truly owning your story, building clarity, and growing your network. If you’re navigating a transition, especially in a large organization — start with your story.

And make it visual. It works.

Thanks for reading!

I hope Alexander’s personal story and experience with career walking decks has inspired you to build your own. Please get started here where I share examples, templates, and resources.

If you’re getting interviews but not offers: My Maven cohort course teaches you how to build and use a Career Walking Deck to stand out, communicate your value, and turn interviews into offers. Enroll now >> Stand Out in Job Interviews With a Career Walking Deck

You can also find hundreds of daily tips on my LinkedIn (DM me if you have any questions).

Best of luck!