Transcript
At Prentus our mission is to make job
searching fair fast and fun so started
you know way back when I was doing my
first job search coming out of college
and I had no idea what to do rumés
networking all those different things no
one ever taught me about that i didn't
have an Uncle Bob so learning it was
really a struggle and eventually I
figured it out but I wanted to build
something like Apprentice so a couple
years later I became a career adviser at
a boot camp and saw it from another
perspective and it was like "Wow you
know I see people just like me that have
this talent have the tenacity and grit
but they're not getting a fair shot at a
job because they don't have those
connections and they don't understand
how the process works cuz there's all
this all these unwritten rules so I
really tried to build apprentice to help
guide that the average person from zero
you know knowing nothing about the job
search to give them a structured path
that is fun where we have communication
we have community built in and now AI as
well to help guide you on your path to
landing a role that gives you
fulfillment
if you want to be a successful
entrepreneur you have to be okay with
being low class for a long time people
come out of Stanford or Google and like
they raise $10 million an idea but those
are very much the outliers for everyone
else to build a business you really have
to understand that you're going to get
paid last even when you have employees
you know it's going to take time for
things to work you have to throw
spaghetti at the wall see what sticks
and you really have to understand that
like it's not going to be a once one
thing and then you're done and you have
a successful business and it's running
you are going to get knocked down you're
going to get nos after no after no and
during that time you know you're going
to see other people kind of succeeding
around you and wonder what's wrong with
me but it's really you just have to be
okay with the patience of it and other
another part of success is you know just
staying alive long enough you see any of
the most people that talk about um you
know what what separates successful
entrepreneurs from those that don't it's
just that they didn't quit so if you
stay alive you keep learning you take
the nose you and you go back to the
drawing board each time um eventually
you figure things out and some people
it's one year some people it's 10 but
just got to be tenacious there's there's
a podcast called 20 BC and he interviews
a lot of different founders and he
always looks for kind of like trauma
honestly in people's childhoods and you
know you do see a lot of times
entrepreneurs like there's something in
the household or there's doubt set by
someone so it's like a lot from like uh
childhood that really forms that
personality um and then you know once
you get to an adult I think I think you
still can learn it but you really have
to have something to prove whether that
be for yourself for your family for some
other mission that's like deep inside
you that's really what can help you be
tenacious and survive through the
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punches well the fact of the matter is
you know there's always new technology
things are always going to be adapting
to whatever the new reality is with AI I
will say that it's kind of a technology
that's permeating way quicker than other
technologies so the change is more rapid
that's what's getting everyone to be
afraid but just like with all the other
technologies yes some roles will be
eliminated honestly but as it gets you
know into the system there's new roles
that'll pop up existing workers become
more productive they can do more it can
be more productive in terms of ideas i'm
working on more high value things versus
admin work so in general I think that
there's a bunch of different opportunity
the cards are or everything is kind of
like shaking out right now so we don't
know exactly where in the funnel the
opportunity will be but in general I
think as long as you are someone that
that is quick on their feet and learning
then you'll be able to survive in this
market but you got you got to stay on
top of things cuz it is changing very
quick
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with AI it's like you can't just you
know be like hey no no more personality
for me like AI is going to do everything
you know every employer wants to know
who are you what are what are the unique
attributes are you going to bring what
are you good at what are you bad at
that's really what they want to figure
out and with AI like yes you know if you
haven't ever created a resume I think
it's great but you know even in our tool
we say hey this is a base to build off
of so hey here's how your bullet was was
generated for your experience for
example but put your own spin but what
what is your kind of tone of voice that
you want employers to see and then
figure out okay what else my personality
makes me me so do that and then
additionally just to make sure that like
like some of the hires people uh people
apply like there's I'll see these kind
of templated cover letters as example as
well but when someone does something
else it shows me they're human like
sending a Loom video or some other other
project where it could tell hey they've
actually tailored this themselves that
helps them stand
out the more that AI grows the more that
the human component becomes more
important I would say so we really we
also have a community built into our
platform and I'm like okay how can we
connect people people that have no
social capital right now because they
come from a certain kind of community
and how can we connect them to new
circles open up those pathways and get
them talking about themselves because
the old saying is uh your network is
your network and I think it's becoming
more more true so we want to help people
there and then I think another shift
you'll see in employers hiring is you
know with kind of these AI applier tools
the ones that just blast and and apply
for you uh there's a lot more slop when
I know when I post a job you know get
like 1,000 applicants and we're a tiny
company the Microsofts get 10,000
applicants like it's a mess so
recruiters and companies they're more
like hey I want to actually not even
post this job and just recruit myself so
they're going to be looking to tap into
referral networks and just talent pools
in general it gets harder so like yes
you know in our company like we're
trying to increase access to kind of
this knowledge and and helping people
tap in um but at the end of the day like
no matter if it's job searching 50 years
ago or today the people that do the
extra 1% effort 2% effort like those are
going to be the people that get the top
jobs and stand out from a pool of
applicants so big thing there is
whatever everyone else is doing or or
you zig when others zag that's exactly
what I
do so I would say like my path was
probably not ideal so you I went to work
at American Express i did data science
for about like a year and a half and
then went straight into a startup
founding it myself i would say it
probably is not the ideal path you want
to do is find a job with a start an
early stage startup initially cuz what's
going to happen is if you do that you
basically have to come in and say hey I
will do whatever you know you might not
have any skills yet you're early in your
career but just solve problems make the
founders's life easier and everyone else
is easier and like you're going to learn
and get an MBA times 10 so when you do
that you know you may touch marketing
you may touch sales strategy each thing
but I would say get your hands dirty in
one of those startups And one you'll
have the skills but then also you're
going to have the network now to then
find people to could have found a
startup with after that so that would be
a recommendation do that for 3 to 5
years before jumping into a startup the
flip side of that is the more like
settled you get in a certain lifestyle
the more the harder it is to start and
go back to entrepreneurship which I
mentioned you become kind of low class
initially so if you have this if you
start working you get paid a lot of
money from you know Mckenzie or
something like that and you got this
apartment and you have family and all
that then all of a sudden it's like okay
it's scary to start a company so it's a
balance you know start now wait before
you have everything or have more things
and make it safer so up to
you might be controversial i think it
honestly isn't too important but I think
I would say you want to network with
where you want to work you know so for
me it's like okay yes we we we had some
international clients and honestly
didn't work out as well when it was just
a subfocus so I think with anything in
life you want to be really focused in
terms of where you want to do and work
so if you're like hey I want to work in
sustainability in US then focus on that
country if you're like hey I want to
build farms in Namibia so really focus
on that but you know if you try to go
everywhere at once then you become kind
of I guess too general without becoming
a specialist and specializ in something
that's really where the money's
at each person has their kind of way of
learning i've always been uh learn by
doing you know when I was writing my
first programs like they're like "Oh you
have you have to write and do all this
all this logic." And I'm like I'm like
I'm just going to keep trying to compile
until it until the code actually works
so that's my my learning style i'm like
okay instead of doing a full tutorial
let me just try to build something break
it break it break it break it and then
eventually it works and you figure it
out so I would say with education you
want to yes learn but then always make
sure to apply it and then talk to talk
to people which goes back to the
networking about what they're doing cuz
if someone can someone's been in the
industry for 10 years and gone through
all the mistakes and they can give you
that sliver of those 10 years of
experience then they're going to save
you a lot of time and accelerate their
learning journey um so yeah you know but
always continuous learning is essential
to surviving
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stage you do learn new skills you know
putting a certificate at least in my
opinion is not that impressive but it's
what did you do that certificate did you
build something or hey like how did you
leverage that into something else so
when everyone again is is going out and
like learning at these degrees and
checking a box it's like Okay what what
are you doing specifically with it cuz
if you can apply that knowledge in a
unique way that's what's going to help
you stand out that's what I'm see on
like a resume or your LinkedIn and be
like "Okay wow that person's interesting
i want to have a conversation with them
to figure out what they're building."
And as an employer you also want to
invest
in in talent that you see is on an
upward trajectory cuz you're like "Okay
if I get them now you know they're going
to they're going to expand my business
they're making more money." And you want
to be part of their career so show that
and you will attract the right types of
companies and employers