Save your spot in my Stand Out in Job Interviews With a Career Walking Deck course on Maven! Access Advanced Career Walking Deck Templates, live workshops, private LinkedIn support chat, and 1:1 career strategy sessions when you join my career community at 👉🏼 kkarenism.com/substack
Ellen Vuong was laid off in December. She kept hitting a wall at the interview stage. With the help of a Career Walking Deck, she ended up with an offer that exceeded her salary expectations 🎉
To help and inspire fellow job seekers to build a Career Walking Deck, she has shared her personal experience below.
After getting laid off in December, Ellen mastered her resume writing and landed interviews with 5 different companies. She thought she had the job search down to a science… but kept getting stuck at the interview stage. Despite landing interviews, she never heard back afterwards.
Ellen had to drop her ego and re-evaluate her approach to interviewing in this job market. She’d first learned about the Career Walking Deck through kkarenism.com and my LinkedIn, where she kept a mental note of best practices and strategies. At the time, she was still employed so she didn’t really see the need for a Career Walking Deck.
Then with the layoff, she knew she had to step it up. She revisited the Career Walking Deck, analyzed different examples, and developed a personal brand that helped her advocate for herself in job interviews.
I built my deck around highlights that were not already mentioned in my cover letter and resume. I emphasized the types of roles I was looking for, past work and projects, and my unique approach to problem solving.
– Ellen Vuong
Ellen says that building the Career Walking Deck turned out to be a self-esteem exercise that helped her tell her career story better to hiring managers. Even though she didn’t end up presenting it during the interview, she showed up with clearer and more concise answers that didn’t require her to memorize the STAR method.
Simply having a Career Walking Deck ready at her fingertips gave her reassurance and helped her show up more confidently… She says it feels like making your bed in the morning and giving yourself a pat on the back!
Even without a formal portfolio, website, or certifications, Ellen ended up landing an offer with a startup that exceeded her salary expectations 🙌🏼
As much as I want to be minimalistic and let my past work experiences do the talking, it’s simply not enough in this day and age. Everyone needs to bring their A-Game and put their best selves forward. A Career Walking Deck may not guarantee an offer, but it sure does open doors for you.
– Ellen Vuong
Career Walking Deck Tips
Thanks for reading!
I hope Ellen’s personal story and experience with Career Walking Decks has inspired you to build your own.
- Join the waitlist for my live course on Maven: Stand Out In Job Interviews With a Career Walking Deck
- See examples, templates, and resources to learn more
- Get access to premium templates & workshops through my Substack career community
You can also find hundreds of daily tips on my LinkedIn (DM me if you have any questions).
Best of luck!