THANK YOU FOR READING THIS BOOK
You’ve taken the first step toward finding your dream job. There’s
a lot of advice packed into this book, and I’m excited to share it
with you. But before we dive into the theory and advice, I’d like to
share what this book is about.
HOW THIS BOOK IS ORGANIZED
The web is full of useless eBooks and information that only
discusses why you should do something. Everybody loves to
be happy, have an awesome relationship, travel the world,
and swim in money. But HOW do you do it? That’s why I
made exercises for every chapter of this book.
Every chapter signifies a step that will bring you closer to
finding your dream job. I can’t guarantee you will find a job,
no one can—you decide your destiny. I give you the tools.
I will give you 6 simple, but hard steps that will start your
journey towards finding your dream job. I will discuss what
makes other people successful. But this information is
useless without action. So put everything you learn into
practice and feel free to reach out to me if you need help.
WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR
This book is for anyone who is looking for a new challenge. It
doesn’t matter whether you’re a college grad or a seasoned
sales professional who is looking to switch their career: this
book is for you. This is for people who are unemployed,
students, and people who have a job for years. To get a
dream job, you need a special skill set—I hope to teach you
those skills with this book.
www.dariusforoux.com
/DariusForoux /DariusForoux dariusforoux@gmail.com
ABOUT ME
When I was 15, I told my economics teacher, “one
day I’ll own a big company and will take it public.”
I no longer want to do that, but that thought at 15
did give my life direction. At the time, I didn’t know
what kind of company I wanted.
So I thought to myself: you can grow any
company as long you know how to do marketing
(later I found that it’s not that simple). Hence, I
decided to study Marketing, Psychology, and
Persuasion for the next decade and a half. Of
which 6,5 years getting two degrees at two
universities.
In 2008, I got my Bachelors Degree in Marketing
Management from a Dutch College (NHL). And in
2011, I got my Master’s Degree in Business
Administration from The University Of Groningen.
I’ve started several companies, one of them is still
successful. You could call me an entrepreneur,
but I’ve also worked for large corporations such
as ING and Gartner (where I learned about HR,
office politics, persuasion, office romance, and
way-way more).
Now, I’m on a mission to transfer everything I
learned to others. Like me, you also don’t have to
do work you hate for the rest of your life. Life is
too short for that.
So it becomes and endless cycle: I learn,
I teach.

INTRODUCTION
Statistically, there’s about a
50% chance you are unhappy
with your current job.
In the US, 48% of workers are satisfied with their
jobs (Source: The Conference Board). The global
number of unhappy workers is 48% (Source: Kelly
Services annual survey). That’s 1 out of 2 workers.
Furthermore, the unemployment rate is 5% for
America and almost 10% for Europe.
Sounds depressing, right? But there’s good
news! We live in an abundant world—with
enough jobs for everyone. You might hate your
job, but that can change.
In this eBook, I will unveil the best practices of
today’s job market. I will tell you exactly how
others landed the job of their dreams. All you
need to do is follow the same path as many
other successful people—the steps are simple,
but the actual work is hard. So are you ready to
get to work?
3
WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK
I’ve been in your shoes. I’ve been unemployed.
I’ve been miserable at my job. I’ve chosen the
wrong career. But I also overcame all of those
things. And now, I’ve committed my career and
life to help others find their dream job.
We spend so much of our time at work. We can’t
waste our time on something we hate, just
because we need the money. We no longer have
to be slaves to companies, and we no longer
have to exchange our time for money. You
deserve a job you like, so you can add value,
develop yourself, and be great.
“Choose a job you love,
and you will never have to
work a day in your life.”
— Confucius
 4

#1
ADOPT A GROWTH MINDSET
Our education system stems from the industrial
“Without continual growth and revolution. The sole purpose of education was to
progress, such words as mold people into factory workers—people who
do what they are told. This system still exists.
improvement, achievement, and
But the problem is that the world has changed.
success have no meaning.” We no longer need sheep—we need people
— Benjamin Franklin who solve problems and add value to other
people’s lives. You can do this in multiple ways:
entertaining people, making products, offering
One of the biggest myths is that work is something services, writing books, teaching, etc.
we are forced to do. Work is stupid, boring,
compulsory. In contrast: weekends are fun. TGIF! If How do you change your mindset? The answer is
easy: Adopt a Growth Mindset. Such a mindset
you are one of those people who looks forward to the means you always strive for growth,
weekend—it might be time to change. improvement, and progress. I’ve researched the
brightest minds in history. Think of Richard
You spend most of your time on this planet Branson, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, Ariana
sleeping and at work. You need sleep, but you Huffington, Mark Zuckerberg, Helen Keller,
don’t need a job that destroys your happiness. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford. I’ve studied them all
Before you even start your job search, pause, and —they have a lot in common.
think about the ‘work’ myth.

THE BRIGHTEST MINDS IN HISTORY ARE: THESE ARE THINGS THEY DON’T DO:

• Problem solvers • Complain

• Open to new ideas and people • Worry
• Optimistic • Blame others
• Fully present • Get angry
• Forward-looking
• Leaders
 5

YOU LIVE IN AN ABUNDANT WORLD, FILLED

WITH OPPORTUNITY.
There is no reason to complain, worry, blame others, or get angry. Instead, focus on growth, and be
forward driven. Adopt the characteristics of people with Growth Mindsets. Companies are looking
for those character traits. If you can solve a problem—someone would be crazy not to hire you
(unfortunately, there are a lot of crazy people, but it’s their loss if they don’t hire a problem solver
like you).

EXERCISE #1



GETTING THE RIGHT MINDSET

If you want a new job, act that way. Look at finding a
job as a job.
Your job is to find a job.
so you have to show up every day, and become
successful at what you do.
You’re the CEO of your brand. If you’re currently
unemployed, you show up every morning (you
decide when, you’re the boss), and you’re going to
work for at least 8 hours. If you have another job, this
will be your evening and weekend job.
Smaller goals are easier to achieve, which will
boost your motivation. For instance, you can set a
goal of reaching out to 5 people who can help you
get a job, every day.
When you reach your daily goal, your brain will
reward you with dopamine, which gives you a
motivation boost. This is an excellent way to build
a habit of working toward your goal every day.
Don’t limit your goals to sending out resumes, or
contacting people. Set goals for learning skills that
you want to develop (more on this in chapter 3).
For example: read a book a week on your topic.

When you do small things every day, you will find

Your first task as the CEO is this: Set Small
yourself one day with a new job and new skills.
Goals.
 6

#2
KNOW YOURSELF

Drucker says:
“He who knows others is wise; he
who knows himself is “Most people think they know what they are good
at. They are usually wrong. More often, people
enlightened.” — Lao Tzu know what they are not good at—and even then
more people are wrong than right. And yet, a
Too often, we base the decisions we make about life person can perform only from strength. One
cannot build performance on weakness, let alone
and career on assumptions. There is no such thing as on something one cannot do at all.”
a ‘general’ career path. Degrees don’t guarantee job
success. And job tenure doesn’t result in promotion. Knowing yourself is the start of everything: love,
happiness, success, career. We need to make
We live our life in the future by saying, “If I stay
decisions based on our strengths—only then
another year in this role, I will get a promotion next can you make the greatest contribution. Also, set
year.” But that promotion might never happen. out on a mission to discover what you want to
do in life. It sounds heavy, but it’s not. I’m sure
Similarly, we believe that degrees give us job you know the answer to this question. Don’t be
guarantee. Life is not that simple. But that afraid of the answer: even if it means you have to
doesn't mean that life has to be hard. change your career, relationship, life, or the place
you live.
Instead of following what other people do, or
what you think you are obligated to do, follow If you already know what your purpose is—take
your inner compass. But the problem is that we action. What’s the worst thing that can happen?
don’t know ourselves—that is why we end up Are you afraid that it will be hard? Or that you
making decisions that make us unhappy. The will fail? Join the club. Everybody has fear. But
answer to this problem is easy: Know thyself. instead of giving in to fear, learn to embrace
Shakespeare said it. Nietzsche said it. And even struggle and difficulty.
Drake said it. All of them successful in their
unique way. Live your life with passion, with some pride.
Strive for challenge. These type of things will
Peter Drucker, one of the most cited progress our life, and ultimately will make us
management theorists, even wrote an article happy. It isn’t a secret. Martin Luther King Jr. put
about knowing yourself. It’s called Managing it best: “There is no gain without struggle.”
Oneself, published in the Harvard Business
Review (1999).

CAREER HOPPING
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the
number of career choices? There are
thousands of jobs you can pick—how do
you know which one to choose?
In his book, The Paradox of Choice, psychologist
Barry Schwartz says too many options results in
paralysis, “Learning to choose is hard. Learning
to choose well is harder. And learning to choose Gary Vaynerchuck, a successful entrepreneur,
well in a world of unlimited possibilities is harder and author, says:
still, perhaps too hard.”
The grass is always greener on the other side. It’s From fifteen to thirty, I was building businesses. I
one of those myths that many believe. Many of
us have thoughts that go like this: “Did I make
the right decision?” And: “I should have chosen
another career.”
EXERCISE #2
MANAGING YOURSELF
According to Peter Drucker, the only way to discover your
strengths is through feedback analysis. When you make a
decision or take action, write down what you expect will
happen. 12 months later, evaluate your decision. What
are the results? What did you expect? Feedback analysis
will show you what you are not doing enough, or fell
short on. It will also show you what you are doing well
and outperformed your expectations.
7
If your job makes you miserable, I say: decide to
quit. I’m not saying you should quit immediately
—that’s irresponsible.
Deciding to quit and handing your resignation
are two different things. Once you decide you
are leaving your job, you are free. Then, draw up
a plan that will land you a new job (use this
book).
But there’s a big BUT. Don’t be someone who
hops from job to job. Someone who quits when
things get difficult. Adopt a long-term mindset
and focus on being the best at what you do—
naturally, that takes time.
“I was thirty years old before anyone ever saw me.
put in actual work.” That’s why I encourage you to
know yourself, and know your passion. Once you
figure that out, you can spend all your time on
turning that into your career.
You can use feedback analysis for everything. The
principle is easy: you can only improve things you
measure. For instance, if you decide to change your
sleeping routine—give yourself at least one month to
collect enough information to evaluate whether your
new routine is effective.
I use Evernote to write down my expectations. Then, I set up
a reminder in my calendar in 12 months. If I don’t put it in
my calendar, I will 100% forget the most important part—
the analysis. Try this method for your next decision.
 8


 For instance, one of my friends likes to play

HOBBY OR CAREER? basketball. He said, “I love basketball, but the

chance of me, making the NBA? Quite small.”

You need self-awareness to understand whether

I’m a big believer of “Do what you’re you’re good at something. Otherwise, it’s just a
passionate about”, but I’m a bigger hobby. If you want to compete with others for a
job, you have to be good.
believer of “Do what you’re good at.”
My friend didn’t give up when he realized he
could not make the NBA. He might not be an
The world is a competitive place—this is not
exceptional basketball player, but he can still
new, it always has been. Fortunately, you don’t
work for a professional basketball team—and
have to compete for food anymore, but you still
that’s what he did.
have to compete for friendship, relationships,
customers, and jobs.
When it comes to work, pick something that
complements your strengths, and you can turn
Sometimes you can turn your hobby into a
into a hobby. David Beckham said: “I don't have
career. We look at musicians or professional
time for hobbies. At the end of the day, I treat my
athletes and think, “I should totally do what I
job as a hobby. It's something I love doing.”
love.” But sometimes that is not the thing that
When you love what you do, you spend time
will make you happy, or successful.
perfecting your craft, and that is what will give
you a competitive advantage.

EXERCISE #3 You can also view my manifesto as an example. If you

WRITE A MANIFESTO
have no idea where to start. I've made four questions
you can use as a framework.

A manifesto is a simple reminder of what you stand for. This Is The Person I Want To Be:
I created a manifesto because it reminds me what I
value in life and how I want to live my life.

A manifesto doesn't have a set form. You can create This Is How I Will Treat Others:
whatever signifies your values and how you want to
live your life. For some people that means a drawing,
others write down one sentence. Others write a book. My Definition Of Success:
For example, Chris Guillebeau, author of The Happiness
Of Pursuit, wrote a 29 page manifesto. He published his
manifesto on his website, which is worth checking out! Why I Do What I Do:
 9

#3
DEVELOP YOURSELF

Epictetus, who was a former slave, turned

“Happiness equals philosopher, said the following about control:

progress.” "Ask yourself: Does this appearance (of events)

concern the things that are within my own
— Tony Robbins control or those that are not? If it concerns
anything outside your control, train yourself not
to worry about it.”
We are living organisms, meant to evolve
continuously. Over the course of thousands of years It's such an easy concept and once I realized this,
of civilization, we've made giant leaps. Progress is in my life completely changed. I stopped wasting
time and money. I stopped complaining and
our DNA. That is why our body and mind starts to fall
started doing.
apart when we don't use them.
What will help you grow? Developing yourself,
Scientific research proves that if you don't use improve your skills, your health, your happiness.
your brain and body, you lose it. Just google:
'brain use it or lose it'. Multiple studies prove that The most important thing is to stop wasting
this is the case. time on meaningless things like reading the
news, social media, going out too much, binge
So, what does this mean? To stay sane, we HAVE watching TV-shows.
to grow, move forward, keep busy, work out,
read. We have to do whatever it takes to strive Do you think you will look back at your life and
for growth—it is necessary for our survival. say, “I’m so glad I watched so much news! I knew
exactly what was happening in the world” So
what?!
SPEND YOUR TIME WISELY
You will likely look back at your life's work,
"I'm so busy," is what many people say. There's relationships you built, and that you did the
no such thing. Doing meaningless work, just things you always wanted to do.
because you need money, is not being busy.

Many of us waste time complaining about

almost everything. Why would you complain
about things you don't control?
 10

Invest time in yourself—educate yourself. Time is A poor person doesn’t own any books. Education
finite, so spend it wisely. Only then will you look stimulates your mind, gives you energy, and
back at your life and say, “I’m glad I gave it my improves your brain power.
everything.”
Scientific research even shows that people with
Poor people believe that education stops when low levels of education have more chance of
they leave school. Rich people never stop dementia and worse cognitive function (source:
learning. That’s the difference. When you go into ERGO study). Always keep developing yourself—
a rich person’s house, you see a library. there are infinite things in the world you can
learn.

EXERCISE #4
CREATE A LEARNING STRATEGY



1. Find out what kind of competencies you need to be

successful.
Resources for learning:

2. Do a strengths/weaknesses analysis of yourself. You • Udemy—the world’s largest online learning

have to be clear on what kind of value you can offer.
3. Create a plan of how you’re going to develop your
competencies you need further.
4. Spend at least 30 minutes studying/reading/
practicing every day (even weekends).
platform.
• YouTube—people offer free knowledge about a
wide variety of topics.
• Amazon—I love books, they are summaries of
people’s expertise and experience. Use books to
your benefit. I read a book a week.
• Blogs—search for people who write about the
topic you are interested in. Learn from them.
Research how they became successful.

We live in the most exciting time ever. We have access to unlimited knowledge and information. That
means that now, for the first time, you can become anything you desire. You can learn anything from
your bedroom. All you need is a laptop. Remember: knowledge is only potential power—you need to apply
everything you learn.

#4
GET THE INTERVIEW
“You don’t have to be great
to start, but you have to start
to be great.” – Zig Ziglar
The question people ask me the most is, “How
can I get a job without having prior
experience?”
When we adopt a growth mindset, we no longer
let challenges stop us from reaching our goals.
That is also true for experience—not having
experience or credentials is just an obstacle.
Once you believe you can overcome any
obstacle, you’re halfway there. Now, all you need
is creativity. The easiest way to overcome the
experience obstacle is to look at your past—try
to uncover skills you’ve demonstrated on certain
occasions.
A friend of mine went backpacking in Asia and
Australia for a year, by herself. She learned
planning skills, negotiation, reading people, and pick out your resume from a pile, you have no
above all, she had guts.
Another friend coached a junior basketball team
for two years while he was going to college. He
learned leadership skills, planning, and dealing
with anger (those kids sometimes drove him
crazy at times).
11
Look into your past, and look further than your
previous jobs. Think of what skills you’ve learned,
and what experiences you’ve gained.
You will also practice your self-awareness with
this little exercise. Companies love people who
are self-aware and are willing to learn from
everything.
While uncovering your ‘hidden’ talents and skills
will increase your chances to get an interview,
the next tip will double that chance.
The second, and most important thing is:
provide value upfront. The beauty of this
method is that your prior experience doesn’t
matter. What matters is: how good are you?
People don’t hire resumes. People don’t hire
cover letters. People hire people. HR or a hiring
manager doesn’t care about your resume—they
care about your story, your performance, and
potential.
Plus, if you still think of applying for a job as
‘sending out resumes,' you’re fighting a lost
battle. Once you depend on someone else to
control.
Reverse engineer the process. Make them come
to you. Instead of creating a resume in Word,
shoot a video and put it on YouTube. Or do
research.
 12

Below are few examples of people who didn’t BECOME AN EXCELLENT NETWORKER
rely on their resume for a job. Copy their
A good way to identify key people in an
mindset. Think outside the box. What can you
organization is to use your network. You don’t
do in your field?
need CEOs or world leaders in your network to
One great example of someone who provided benefit from opportunities people can give you.
value upfront is Conner. This British teenager
posed as a Beme employee on Twitter. One of my friends got a job in London by asking
his former high school classmate, “How is it to
That is not really according to the rules (you can’t work for an IT company?” My friend was
represent as a company’s support person), but it introduced to a recruiter in Amsterdam, who
did eventually catch the attention of the app’s introduced him to a recruiter in London. One
founder, Casey Neistat. month and six rounds of interviews later—he
got a job he loves in an awesome city.
In an interview with TI, Neistat said: "Conner
found a need and filled it. That shows ambition, Never think, “It’s not worth asking this person.”
and that's exactly the type of person we want at You have no idea where a simple question can
Beme. Hard work should pay off." take you. Become a Yes person. At least until
you’ve found a job—don’t blame me if you ever
Francine Lee is another example. Francine did a wake up in Bangkok, without hair on your head.
usability test for Dropbox Photos and wrote an
article about her findings. She posted the article Most people like to help out other people. But
on Medium and caught fire. What you won’t find most of us are afraid to ask for advice. We think,
in the article is that she got a job at Dropbox. “What’s in it for them?” Sometimes the answer is:
just helping someone—that’s in it for them.
Connor and Francine took bold moves. They
were proactive, creative, solved a problem, and
There are only a few things to consider:
by doing that, they added value. Instead of
responding to job openings, they took control
and let the company come to them. • Don’t offer them coffee in exchange for advice:
they can buy their own.

“Successful people are always • Don’t be annoying or disrespectful: send one

looking for opportunities to help
others. Unsuccessful people are
always asking, 'What's in it for me?’”
— Brian Tracy
message, and if you don’t get a response—try
again in a week. If you still don’t get a response,
leave it there.
• Approach them like you approach like-minded
people: share something you’ve read or learned
with them, ask them questions, be nice, be
yourself.

That’s it. All it takes is ASKING.

 13

WHAT ABOUT THE RESUME?




So now you might wonder: “Are you going to cover resumes?” No, not really. Because people don’t care. My
advice is this: get a nice looking resume. I recommend Canva to create a 1-page graphic resume, with a picture of
yourself. If you go the traditional route, you need it. You might also want to send your resume to people who
you’re asking for a job. That’s it. When you have the skills, they don’t care how your resume looks, as long it has
the essential information.

EXERCISE #5
GET A MEETING
1. Identify 10 companies or persons you want to work
for.
2. Study your potential future employer
3. For every company, identify at least 2 people who
are in your field (if you're in PR, identified the Head
of PR, PR Managers, etc.)
4. Find ways to contact them. Twitter is the best
medium to interact with people. You can also try to
find their email addresses.
5. Now, start interacting with them. Respond to their
tweets. Ask questions. Send them valuable
information.
6. Don't expect that everyone will respond. Especially
at first. If you get a response from 5% of the people
you reach out to—you've done an excellent job!
7. After 3 interactions, ask them for a meeting. Offer
them free work, advice, or whatever it takes. You
need to get in front of people if you want a job.

The goal of this exercise is to start a conversation with people who are doing what you want to do. You
want to understand what makes them successful. How they got their job. You want to learn from them.
Start with a list of 20 persons. And keep adding to that list. Within 3 months, interact with 100 people.
Colonel Sanders heard 'no' for 1009 times before he sold his KFC recipe. When people say no, don't take it
personal.
 14

#5
NAIL THE INTERVIEW
The questions might seem different, but they
“Be harsh with yourself at have one purpose: get you talking. If you want to
nail this question, you need to tell a story. A
times.” — Seneca story is the only right answer to these type of
questions. So, how did you become the ideal
candidate for this job? Tell that story.
This is the easy part. You’ve done all the work
by this stage. You’ve researched the company 2. The Brainteaser. Truck gives the following
and provided value. Now, it’s time to close the examples: “How many telephones are in the US?”
“How heavy is the Statue of Liberty?” “What’s a
deal, by (you guessed it) ADDING MORE good product for Pepsi to launch next?”
VALUE.
You might have to take a test, create a
There’s a lot of advice about job interviews on spreadsheet, or write code. The right answer is
the internet. But most of it is obvious: prepare, not the only important thing an interviewer is
view it as a sales call, do role-plays, keep eye looking for. They want to find out how you think.
contact, don’t be insecure, and don’t lie. You Even if you don’t know the exact answer—what
know all of this. It’s good advice, and you should is your tactic to find out the correct answer?
be mindful of all of those things. But those
things will not get you the job. You can’t ‘hack’ a It’s important to think like the role you’re
job interview. Even if you lie and cheat yourself applying for. If you are interviewing for a
into a job—do you want to keep that behavior management position, think in terms of
up forever? leadership and how you would solve problems
that managers encounter. If you’re interviewing
The most critical ingredient you need, if you for a sales job, you can lay out the exact way you
want to nail your interview, is self-awareness. might approach a prospect.
Penelope Truck, who is called “the world’s most
influential career coach” by Inc. Magazine, says
3. The Behavioral Question. Trunk says
there are 3 types of interview questions.
these are questions like: “Can you tell me about a
time you had a fight with a co-worker?” “What
1. The Classic Question. Truck says these would happen if you disagreed with your boss’s
are questions like: “Tell me about yourself?” direction?” “What is your weakness?”
“What are you passionate about?” “Where do you
see yourself in five years?”

The behavioral questions were also important to
Steve Job’s interview process. Daniel Smith
wrote in his book, How To Think Like Steve Jobs,
that, “Steve Jobs used the process to test how
quickly candidates could think on their feet.”
Smith also gave an example of a question, “A
classic Apple interview question, for instance,
was: ‘How might you go about investigating a
technology without giving away to anyone that
you’re investigating it?” The point is to
understand how you would solve problems, and
how you solved problems in the past.
Remember: interviewers are interested in your
performance. Tell a story. How did you solve
problems? How did you overcome certain
challenges? End the story with a quantified
achievement. For example, “Outperformed my
sales quota by 20%.” Or, “Delivered project ahead
of time and on the budget.”
Every job has achievements, targets, or
something you’re measured on. If your current
company doesn’t measure performance, that
doesn’t mean that it can’t be measured. Some
careers like education and government don’t use
targets. In that case, set your own targets.
“What get’s measured,
get’s managed.”
— Peter Drucker
15
THE DIFFERENTIATING FACTOR
A perfect way to stand out from other candidates
is to demonstrate your skills by writing a report,
and bringing it along to the interview.
This is exactly the same as the ‘adding value
upfront’ technique, discussed in the previous
chapter. This is round 2. The content of the
report is up to you. One of my friends applied for
a job as a content writer at a fashion magazine.
Before she went to the interview, she researched
which blog-topics the competition ranked better
on. Then, she pitched 5 article ideas to them—
she wrote the headline and summarized what
the article should be about.
When she showed it to the hiring manager, she
was blown away. They must have thought, “She
is not even an employee, and she is already
offering value.” My friend even told them,
“Regardless if I get the job, you can use these
blog ideas.”
No matter what field you’re in, and what job
you’re applying for—companies are about one
thing: growth. For example: if you work in
customer service, you’re the voice of the
company—and you can impact the growth of
the company directly. If you have an interview
with a company, you can call their customer
service a few times and ask them some
questions. Then, write a report on how you can
improve that.
You don’t have to be an expert. In fact, the
quality of your report or findings doesn’t matter
—you can only do so much. But what DOES
matter is that you demonstrate your skills
instead of just talk about them. What’s better,
saying that you’re proactive, or showing them?
 16

BECOME A CLOSER



During the interview, ask them what it exactly takes to be successful for the job. Then, do your best to
demonstrate you have those capabilities. Finally, it’s time to play it back and ask whether your demonstrated
XYZ enough? Or do they want to see more?

10 minutes before the end of the interview, go for the close by asking, “How is the rest of the process?”
And, “Did I show enough to proceed to the next round?

You can also ask, “Have I demonstrated what takes to be successful in this job?” Be as precise as
possible with the things you’ve demonstrated. Don’t wait until the hiring manager or recruiter
proposes next steps, take the initiative by asking them.

EXERCISE #6
CRAFTING YOUR PERSONAL STORY

1. WRITE DOWN ALL YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS IN YOUR LIFE, This is a great exercise because it also
PER YEAR. Start from the earliest thing you can
reminds you of the things you did achieve.
remember. It can be something small like getting a
diploma for knowing how to tie your shoes. Don’t You can be proud of yourself—there’s nothing
freak out if it’s a short list. When I did this exercise a
few years ago, I was shocked by how little I wrong with a little self-appreciation.
achieved. Before this I had no good self-awareness
—I thought I was doing awesome. But once I
realized that I didn’t achieve almost any of my goals, When you go to an interview, create a story
I started working like a mad man. In 2014 alone, I
achieved more than the previous 5 years together. around your achievements and where you are
working towards. What are you most proud
2. WHAT’S YOUR WHY? People are interested in what
motivates you. If you don’t have an understanding of? What could you do better? Did you miss
of why you wake up in the morning, you lack a any opportunities? What are your goals?
direction in life. If you don’t know your why, make
something up. You can always change it in the
future.

NEGOTIATE LIKE A BOSS
“Let us never negotiate out of
fear. But let us never fear to
negotiate.” – John F. Kennedy
If you receive an offer, congratulations—but
you’re not there yet. A hiring manager or
company recruiter’s job is to get you on board wants.”
with the least amount of money. The topic of
money has two sides.
On the one hand, money does not necessarily
make you happy. On the contrary, it does make
life a lot easier.
Rita Davenport put it best: “Money isn't
everything...but it ranks right up there with
oxygen.”
Money does not necessarily make you happy. In
a study from Princeton University, Daniel
Kahneman and Angus Deaton found that
happiness did not increase when people earned
more than $75,000 annually.
That is an average number. If you live in an
expensive city like New York, London, or
Singapore, that number is probably higher (I
lived in London, it’s not cheap).
17
#6
You can debate the exact number, but that’s not
important. Once you reach a point that your
income gives you peace of mind, money is not
that significant as before.
Money is only important if you don’t have
enough of it. Benjamin Franklin put it best:
“Money has never made man happy, nor will it,
there is nothing in its nature to produce
happiness. The more of it one has, the more one
Because money doesn’t buy happiness, you
shouldn’t immediately say yes when you get an
offer. Many job applicants jump up and down
from joy when they get the job. And because
they are so happy—they can be deaf to the final
part of the job application process: agreeing on
your salary.
Most companies have a salary range for every
role—your salary can depend on your age,
experience, degrees, etc. Before you go to an
interview research how much salary you’re
worth. You can use sites like salary.com and
payscale.com to do this.
When you have the conversation about salary,
you want to find a balance between The Wolf Of
Wall Street and Gandhi. You don’t want to ask for
too much, and you also don’t want to feel
underpaid.

“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go
out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.”

 — Bruce Lee
EXERCISE #7
PRACTICE NEGOTIATION WITH THESE 5 PRINCIPLES
1. DON’T GIVE AWAY YOUR CURRENT SALARY
DURING THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS. 99 out
of 100 times, they will offer you exactly the number
you mentioned before. When someone asks you for
your current salary, or what salary you are looking
for, brush it off gently. You can say, “I don’t think
salary is important at this stage. I suggest we focus
on whether I’m a good fit for this role and vice versa.”
When you’re dealing with aggressive recruiters, they
might push you to give them a number.
Understand: their job is to sign you for the lowest
salary. If they insist, turn the question around. Say,
“I’m happy to discuss salary. What is the salary range
for this role?” This gives you a better position to
answer that question. Even when they give you a
range, don’t give them a specific number. Instead,
say, “Between x and y.”
2. BEFORE YOU GO TO THE INTERVIEW, SET A
GOAL OF WHAT YOU WANT. When you discuss
salary, without having a clue of what you want, the
conversation will lack a direction. You probably say
yes to the first offer. But when you know what
number you want, you can work with the hiring
manager towards that number.
18
3. STAY FLEXIBLE. If salary is non-negotiable,
suggest discussing something else. Vacation days,
cell phone, new laptop, company car, are things that
I’ve seen negotiated. One of my friends tried to
negotiate his salary when he got hired. The
company couldn’t give him a higher salary—they
had a strict policy. But they could give him a signing
bonus of $5,000! Take a look at the bigger picture:
$5,000 compounded on a yearly basis over the
course of 30 years at a 5% interest rate turns into
$21,610.
4. DO ROLE-PLAYS. Ask someone you know who has
experience with hiring people. Don’t expect you will
nail the negotiation during your first round. Make
yourself comfortable with asking uncomfortable
questions. You will realize it’s not that
uncomfortable after all.
5. PRACTICE EVERYWHERE. Negotiation and
bargaining can make you, and save you money. You
can even negotiate the price of a cup of coffee.
Noah Kagan, the founder of SumoMe, says that you
should negotiate small things to gain confidence
and overcome your fear. He came up with the
‘Coffee Challenge’: next time you buy a coffee, ask
for 10% off. Try it today.
 19

FINAL THOUGHTS
You have to do more than just responding to a
“He who has a why to live can vacancy. An awesome looking resume and a
well-written cover letter will not land you an
bear almost any how.” awesome job. And you will probably hear a lot of
No’s along the way. But that shouldn’t hold you
— Friedrich Nietzsche back. Become a master at what you do. Become
irreplaceable; impossible to outsource.
Otherwise, you will have to find a job once the
There’s nothing wrong with doing work you company doesn’t need your services anymore.
hate. Casey Neistat, famous YouTuber, says
And finally, life and career don’t progress linearly.
that having a job that you hate is a good way Sometimes we think that, when we set out a
goal, we have to move toward it in a logical way.
to find out what you love. But just don’t
Let’s say you want to become a CEO. You don’t
believe the myth that work HAS to be bad. And have to climb the ladder, one step at a time. It
can take you a long time to go from junior to
that only weekends are fun.
middle to senior manager. You might not even
be around to reach your destination.
So many people go to jobs that they don’t like.
But if you have a job you love, work isn’t boring.
Instead, go through your career laterally. Take
That is why successful people love Mondays.
some jumps. Taking risks means you can also get
Instead of just living for the weekend, why not
setbacks. But you shouldn’t be discouraged—
have a job that gives you the feeling that it’s
most millionaires have at least lost all of their
always weekend?
money once in their life. They always earned the
money back. Richard Branson, one of the most
The world has changed since the financial crisis
successful and richest people in the world,
of 2008. Companies are still firing people by the
started and failed business 14 times. He is still
thousands. That means there is a lot of
around and still successful.
competition in the job market. In the past, it was
enough to get an education and do
extracurricular activities to get a job. If you’re a As long as you have the skills and knowledge, you can
college grad now, you have to work for free so earn money. Money comes and goes. Your brain is the
you can get experience because most roles
invaluable part of life—invest your time to develop
require at least a few years of experience.
your skills.
 20

THANK YOU FOR READING

If you ever need anything, or if you want to share feedback about this
book, just send me an email (dariusforoux@gmail.com).

DARIUS FOROUX

/DariusForoux

@DariusForoux

@DariusForoux