The AI Marketer's Playbook
The AI Marketer's Playbook is an actionable podcast focusing on AI and marketing. Each episode covers AI strategies, tools, and trends that are changing marketing. Listen to interviews with industry experts, analyze case studies, and get practical tips. This podcast is for anyone looking to leverage AI in marketing to improve results.
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The AI Marketer's Playbook
57 | Frederic Bonifassy on AI-Powered Job Search Strategies
Frederic Bonifassy built a global career by ignoring the job boards — and now he helps others do the same. In this episode, he shares how he integrates AI at every step of the job search process, from customizing CVs with ChatGPT to generating tailored value proposition decks using Gamma.
With a track record of coaching senior professionals into new roles with 30% salary bumps, Frederic reveals the secrets of tapping into the “hidden job market,” building real connections, and positioning yourself as a solution — not just an applicant.
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Hello and welcome back to the AI Marketers Playbook, where we cover actionable insights to help you leverage AI and marketing strategies in your business. I'm Isha, your host, and today I have with me Frederic Bonifassy, the founder of Talent fb. Now, Fred helps senior professionals land without applying online often and under 90 days. And after moving to Singapore in 2011 without a job, he has built an entire career in recruitment and talent acquisition, reviewing over 150,000 cvs, interviewing 23,000 candidates, and hiring 16,000 professionals globally. Now through talent, frederic now coaches, directors. VPs and senior leaders using AI powered job search strategies. His clients see up to 30% increase in salaries, job offers in weeks, and total clarity on their next move. Fred has also built his own custom gpt, which we will cover later, and he integrates AI in every stage of a candidate's job search. Fred, we're excited to have you on the show.
Frederic Bonifassy:Thank youre, and uh, that's an amazing introduction. I would've not done better than you.
Audrey Chia:Awesome to hear that. Now, you mentioned that you are not originally from Singapore, but you're currently based in Singapore. Tell us a bit more about your backstory.
Frederic Bonifassy:Sure. So, um, a bit of a crazy style. When I, before Singapore, I was in Morocco in North Africa, and, um, I was, uh, finishing a contract of three years as an expatriate working for a software company. And one night with one of my friend, it was a crazy idea. We literally closed our eyes and we point on the map a destination like randomly. And we, we, we click on, on, on the Singapore, and then we like Singapore. Where, where is that? Which country? We, we didn't even know what was, where was Singapore and what was it? So I did a bit of research, instantly felt in love with the, with the country. And I said, okay, we need to go. So him and I. We, we said, okay, let's go. But then at the end of the day, for different reason, he decided to stay, uh, in Morocco, and I was the only one who booked my flight ticket. Wow. One way, one way only, no return, because I didn't want, I really wanted to set myself up for success, and I didn't want to think about the return. And since then, it's been 15 years and, uh, I'm in Singapore. Singapore pr, got a family, two beautiful boys, and, uh, super happy of, of having made this, uh, silly, silly move.
Audrey Chia:Wow. Not many people can tell a story like that. Fred. I'm sure you're one of the few people who actually made it happen and how. How has it been in Singapore over the past 15 years? What, what was your experience like? Especially, you said you came without a job, right? How did you, uh, get started? How do you find your footing? Tell us more. Um.
Frederic Bonifassy:Again, uh, another very interesting story at, at least for me, um, when I came the first year, you know, full of excitement, joy, happiness, hope, and I thought, you know, uh, I'm going to get a job super fast. But, um, you know, the, my, my excitement, um, went down quite fast. And after six months, you know, from rejection, after rejection, I didn't have a lot of friends. Um. It was really hard, you know, a new culture, even though Singapore is, is uh, very internationally open. Um, so many ethnicities and different of culture. I didn't find myself in, in one of the box yet. Yes. So it was really hard on the first journey. And one of my friend though. She really helped me on, on my cv, on the LinkedIn, uh, on the cover letter, and she was telling me, Fred, that the more important is not what you've done in the past. The more important is how you tell your story and how you communicate about the value and expertise that you can bring to a company in the future because she, she knew that, uh. The, the, the perceived value of someone is not only based on what you've done yesterday, but it is also what you can do today and what you can do tomorrow. So if you emphasize your introduction and your presentation more based on what it will be like to be working with you in your future. Rather than what it has been like to be working for another random company like few years back, it doesn't give enough clue or reassurance, um, uh, to the company that you have in front of you to bet on yourself and to, and to hire you and to give you salary. So that's that. In terms of pitching, that changed everyth. From that point, after the eighth or ninth month, I started to get interviews, job offers. I got a job thanks to that friend and that friend. She didn't just help me get a job. She actually gave me a beautiful wedding, family and two kids because I might Wow.
Audrey Chia:You know what? She's the best offer you can get.
Frederic Bonifassy:Exactly. Exactly.
Audrey Chia:Wow. And that's also how you went and decided to go into the recruitment space. Is it after your experience, you know, looking for jobs?
Frederic Bonifassy:Another very weird, uh, story again, it's, uh, I never really chose recruitment. Recruitment chose me because I studied marketing at school. I got a marketing degree from, uh, a business school in France, and then my first experience in Morocco as an expatriate was in sales. And I came in Singapore looking for a job in marketing and sales. But because I, I, I'm a social, I'm a social guy and I love to talk to people. Somebody said You would be a great recruiter because a recruiter must be good in sales, must be good in marketing, and must be good at people. So I, I was like, what? On a try? Yeah. And I got a first job as a recruiter in an agency.
Audrey Chia:Wow. That is an incredible story. I think recruitment is something that, you know, really helps to unlock someone's full potential. Right? Yeah. And you spoke about perhaps building out, you know, processes that are AI powered as well. In this process, we've seen a lot of, you know, uh, chat GPT problems on LinkedIn to help people find jobs. Are they legit, firstly, and secondly, how do you actually use AI in this process?
Frederic Bonifassy:Okay. Um, it might sound crazy, but my first advice that, uh, I always give to someone who said to me, Hey Fred, I've been looking for a job for the past three months. I send hundreds and hundreds of CV and somehow I feel ignored, or My skills are not appreciated in market. Or, um, I haven't received any invitation for an interview. Uh, uh, every time I say it's normal, you are facing such a, a, a, a huge competition at the moment. It's not your fault, it's the job market who has evolved, changed.
Audrey Chia:Yeah.
Frederic Bonifassy:But you, you have not. So I need them to understand that the same way of looking for a job from the year 2000 doesn't apply today and doesn't work anymore. So that's the first thing they need to understand, that they need to understand something must change in their approach to the job market. Yeah. Second of all, I'm asking them, um, put yourself into the shoes of a recruiter. Who is now receiving hundreds and hundreds of application, even if you are the top, uh, best genius in the world, you've been working with Elon Musk, uh, you are from Harvard, and you have like three MBAs, do you really think that your CV only in a pile of 200 cv? Do you think your CV will make a difference here based on the eyes of recruiters? No. So even recruiters now are using AI, are applying all this AI technology for screening shortlisting, assessing via video technology, via audio technology, personality assessment, et cetera, to make sure that they got a short list of maybe the top 4, 5, 6 best candidate for a role. So that's why it's super important for your CV instead of doing it manually. Uh, my recommendation is to select the top two or three job description they want to target. They ask JGPT to in, uh, to inject the keywords of this job that they want to target into their CV before applying for a job. Ah, so in that case, all the CV and all the optimization from the job description they are targeting will be into the CV and the, if you wanna push the extra level, you can also add a cover letter that you can also fully, fully customize to the job you want to, you want to target it. It might seem silly, but, uh, a lot of people, almost like 90% of job seeker are using just one single cv and they use the same CV and they spray and pray. Yeah. You know, they spray the CV like they apply to hundreds of jobs in, in one day, and they just pray at home for an email, an email to come, okay, you are invited for an interview. It, it just doesn't work like that today.
Audrey Chia:Interesting. I love how you say it, um, about working backwards, right? Because if the recruiters are using AI to look for keywords, then by, right. You need to use AI to add the keywords in strategically. Absolutely.
Frederic Bonifassy:Yeah.
Audrey Chia:Makes sense. And what about those, for example, um, prompt packs, right? Where people are saying, Hey, just use this chat, GPT, prompt to optimize your cv. In your opinion, have you seen those prompt packs? Do they actually work? Um,
Frederic Bonifassy:I don't think there's one magical prompt that's going to be the answer to all your questions or, or at least one prompt that will get you, um, in front of these recruiters. Um, what, what I, what I suggest as well is, is quite a unique in my coaching program because I, when I tell them, I say, okay, you need to stop applying for jobs now. Don't do it anymore. If you wanna have a job, don't apply for job. They're like, why, why are you doing that? What, what do I do then? You know what, what's the, so I said, because if you apply for a job, you're just gonna be among the mass of, and the volume of applicants. Yes. And, um, and your cv yourself, you as a person has very, very little chance to be seen by your next future boss, because you're gonna have so many barriers at the entry AI screening question, knock, uh, the knockoff, uh, it's called the knockoff question, I think. Uh, plus the recruiter, um. They all bias, judgment. You know, if you put a picture and they don't like your picture.
Audrey Chia:Yeah. Done
Frederic Bonifassy:a cup of coffee, maybe the, the, the button reject is easier for them to press. Yeah. It's, uh, unfortunately we, we still live in a world where human bias is still there. So AI is one of the remedy That's great. But, um, there's still a human. So what I do is I ask them, go straight away to the top decision maker. So don't apply for a job. If you see a job you really, really like. You ask three prompts on charge GPT. The first one is, can you please analyze the, this company, let's say company A. Uh, can you please analyze company a last year challenges? Then you're gonna have a few bullet points. Then problem number two, can you now analyze this company a, uh, current objectives because they all communicate about what they want to do publicly, right? Articles, blogs and stuff. So these LLMs are going to fetch this public data information that is very, very important for you. And then problem number three, position me and then you attach your CV and your LinkedIn as a, as a solution for them and give me one or two. SP unique selling points that will make them interested in having me because now we are going to create a presentation, couple of slides, and, uh, you asked Chad g PT to also do all the work for you. And once you have it, you can even go to Gamma app. Um, I can do demo for you, uh, later on. But Gamma on app in, in less than 30 seconds, you already have beautifully designed slides that you can bring your value, expertise, strategy, roadmap, potential outcome, timeline, and you send that directly to the to the hiring manager who would be silly today to receive an email from a very ambitious and motivated talent on LinkedIn, no via email with a strategy based on the job description that they are currently hiring. So, of course the, the hiring manager is going to talk to internally, to the HR and say the person has not applied officially for the block for the job because they want it to be noticed. And I noticed them. So can you please start the discussion with them? And then you skip all the queue, you skill, you skip all the screening, all these knockout questions. It's fantastic. Wow.
Audrey Chia:Have you, what, do you have any statistics to share regarding like, success rates for of clients Who would, who did this?
Frederic Bonifassy:Yes, absolutely. So, um, the success rate is between 20 to 30% success, meaning that, uh, every time you send 10, you probably have. What maybe like, uh, two, three people who, a hiring manager who going to say, uh, yes. That's very interesting, Fred. Um, we can discuss about it or, um, thank you for sending this. Um, I will ask, uh, the hiring manager to start the process or simply somebody can say. Hey, um, uh, uh, thank you for sharing this, uh, this, uh, strategy. We are not recruiting right now, but, uh, I will make sure to reach out to you in the next 4, 5, 6, uh, six months if I know that there's an opportunity matching your, your skills. But the, the best thing to do is not necessarily to send them an um, uh, this presentation when you know that they're hiring because when you know that they're hiring, it means you can't really control your process. Progress. So maybe you reach out to them and maybe they already have a final candidate in the process. But let's say you do that consistently and you have your top 20, 30 target companies. If you reach out to them at the right time, you, you can't control the time, but that's why you need to do it consistently. But if you reach out at some point where they identify that one of the top leader is leaving, but it's, uh, confidentially confidential and. No job has been posted yet. Yes. Or they know that, uh, a new job is going to be posted and the company started to ask the employee to give referrals because they're going to get the referral fee. Or somebody like, uh, there's a succession planning that needs to be done, or maybe someone is going on retirement and we need to replace the person. So this hidden information are from what I call the hidden job market, which represents 80%. Of the whole job, global job market today, there's only 20% of jobs that are being advertised and everybody see, but there are 95% of the job seeker who are fighting for just 20% of the job market because that's the only thing they see. So if they are a bit, uh, if they know how to look. Behind the water. So I call the iceberg analogy. I love to do the, the visible part and the, the unseen part. The, the job, the job, um, hidden market. If you know how to tap into this 80% of job by networking connections, private events, head hunters for um, uh, for, uh, confidential search, et cetera, you are going to be part of the 5% most successful talent who get a job today. Without even, um, struggling sending the application and being referred and being introduced and presented for, for, for internet.
Audrey Chia:That's amazing to hear. I think it's also a strategy that I like to tell my clients when it comes to personal branding, right? Don't wait until you're looking for something, then you start doing personal branding.
Frederic Bonifassy:Absolutely.
Audrey Chia:Start building it up, and I'm sure if you have a very strong personal brand where you're just posting maybe even just once a week, right? Very consistently sharing your thought pieces and then you pair it with your outreach strategy, they'll make you someone who's definitely top of their list, uh, agree when they're trying to recruit someone.
Frederic Bonifassy:I, I totally agree. And, and sometimes I find a lot of resistance from these people because they feel, um, LinkedIn is only, um, they only use LinkedIn when they're looking for a job. Yeah. Then I say, I say to them, if you only use LinkedIn when you look for a job, then imagine the time you waste when you need to restart everything from scratch again. Yes, you, you should not do that. You should build your, your, your personal brain in parallel. So then when a company decide to let you go, you don't have to restart all your, your connection and networking and messaging from scratch. You, you just need to reactivate them and, and, uh, and uh, you know, go back to some events and share value. Propose help offer support and, and the principle of reciprocity. This is something that I love. The more you give, the more you receive. If you do that genuinely, if you offer free help to other senior professional at one point when you need the help, the best, they will be there. They will respond and they will help you.
Audrey Chia:Yes, definitely. You also mentioned, you know, catching the hiring manager's eye, right? So I've also know that knowing that, uh, for some folks who are looking for jobs, sometimes they don't know if they should write directly to the hiring manager, or should they write directly to the head of the company or the head of certain, you know, departments. How do you make that distinction? Um, what advice do you typically give?
Frederic Bonifassy:Sure. So I'm gonna share with you one of the story that I got, um, literally not less than six months ago when I was finishing my contract with, uh, right ship. Uh, it's a maritime tech company. Um, it, I'm still human, so it happens that I reject application sometimes they good, sometimes then bad, but I do mistake like everybody else, you know, it's a human bias. Um, so I rejected someone. Who a couple of days after reach out to the CEO of the company who I'm working very, very closely. We are in the same, in the same space, open space, and, um, and this person, um, reach out to, to, so basically what happened is one day the CEO reach out to me and, uh, come to my desk and say, Hey Fred, how are you? Yeah, I'm good, thank you, blah, blah, blah. Uh, and he said to me, by the way, do you remember, um, this person. He asked me to check on the database, and I'm like, oh my God. Oh my God. Okay, well, what did I do? What did I do wrong? So I check on the database and I, and I, and I said to him, yeah, I've rejected the application because, um, in, in my judgment, I felt like this person didn't tick enough boxes, you know, to go to the next round, to the first round. And then he said, yeah, I, I understand Fred and I, and I really appreciate your, your judgment. Thank you so much for your help. Um, having said that, though, this person approached to me and, and they proposed me a certain strategy and they made a lot of effort studying the market and proposing some ideas. So I, he told me that he really liked this productivity and the fact that they did, um, some work for him and he felt like the, the, the least he could do. He used to offer a chitchat, at least with me at the beginning. And then he asked me if I could revise my judgment very politely. But what do you think, uh, coming from the CEO will I say no? So obviously I said, yes, of course, boss. Let me, let me call the person right now. And then eventually it happened that, uh, the person did really, really well. Um, they didn't have, they didn't take the job. Uh, they didn't, uh, got the job at the end because we offer, we offered somebody else that was that brought a bit more experience in, uh, what we were looking for, but I remember that the person went until the final round. Oh, so you need to fight a little bit for, for the job you want. You know, it's not because you receive an email of rejection that you have to say no. If it's a company you really, really want, you need to fight for this company. And in whatever ways, yes, you, I, I would always recommend that because it happened to me. I felt stupid enough to, to realize the mistake I made. We all make mistakes. So my, my message to, um, whoever listened to this, if you receive a, a rejection email to your dream company, don't give. Continue reach out to other people, especially the top leadership and senior people. Show your value, your expertise. Build a, build a case based on some research that you've made on the challenges and the objective of the company, and try to fight for, for your dream job.
Audrey Chia:Wow. I love the advice and I think this is something that even I did in my very first job, uh, when I was applying for one of Singapore's Vegas ad agencies at that time, okay. It was very hard to get in without a referral or recommendation, and I didn't know anyone, no context there, had no idea how to get in. So, um, I actually wrote an ad about myself and then I. Printed it in like a 3D kind of like printout. I had it snail mail, like, like directly to the creative director I want, and I said, I want to work with you. And that got me an internship, which, uh, landed me a full-time job. So I think anyone listening, it's really like what Fred said, right? How much do you wanted? If you really want a job, I'm sure Exactly. You can put in the work to, to find a way to get there. Right.
Frederic Bonifassy:Exactly. It happened to me so many times that. My, at the beginning of my career, I dreamt of working at Google and, uh, and I didn't know because, um, uh, I, I got a lot of friends who were at Google, they referred me, but somehow I never got the call from, from the recruiter. So at one point I felt like, okay, I've tried the normal route and I've always been rejected. I'm not gonna give up. I'm gonna do a last crazy thing that maybe will, will get some attention. But I didn't know. So what I did is. I decided to learn about the, uh, AdWords and AdSense product back then, uh, from Google. And, uh, and I've done a very quick analysis on Football Club Barcelona because I'm Afu, I'm a football fan. And, um, I tried to look at, uh, what are the top keywords that are being entered on Google search, uh, related to football club barcel. I've done a very, very shallow analysis with a few number percentage and stuff, like nothing too serious, but I've done that and I proposed some idea with, uh, not exactly a strategy, but more like an analysis or a benchmark. And on top of that, I register. I recorded a one minute video of me talking about my passion for food. And I attached that and I sent, not to the recruiter anymore, but this time I tried to look at all the top senior people at Google Delin because, uh, I was still in Europe back then. Uh, I sent, I remember my data. I, I, I sent this to, uh, 10 senior people. I got five responses and I got three invitations for interviews.
Audrey Chia:Wow. That's amazing, man.
Frederic Bonifassy:Yeah. And, and thanks to that, um, one of the HR reach out to me. I got two screening call on the phone. They sent me a flight ticket to fly directly to Dublin in the headquarter, and they also buy me one night accommodation in a hotel. They, that was the, the normal process for everybody. So I was not, yeah, it was not, uh, based on what I've done that I was privileged. It was a part of the process, but still I believe it for, for, for that. And, um, uh, after the end of the two days, you know, they selected other batch of candidates, but the, the way that, uh. That totally transformed my job search from there. Yes, I found that, uh, you know, the, what I've done was so unique. I always now need to apply the same technique for all my job at my dream company. I need to make yourself unique and to not do the same as everybody else.
Audrey Chia:Yes. It's like when everybody zigs you, Z. Right. So how do you find it? Uh, unique differentiator, but I'm also very curious to know Right. Given that it's so competitive nowadays and everyone is using ai. Yeah. So what would make a candidate stand out, uh, in terms of just. Paper wise. So for example, if somebody isn't sending the tailored, um, personalized invitation and they're just trying to optimize their, uh, CV or cover letter, how, how would they make it stand out when everybody's using, probably using AI to do the same.
Frederic Bonifassy:So, um, if you, if you wanna get attention, you. It's sad to say, but I feel like, uh, the CV is not that useful anymore. Your CV will still be used for the administrative process because, um, we need to record the data, the communication inside the system from an HR talent acquisition perspective. But I, I, I really believe that, um, you don't need your CV today to open doors for your dream job at your dream company. Like I said, use ai. To make yourself, um, visible enough to the eyes of the hiring manager. And your CV can be just a normal cv. It doesn't have to be the best CV ever, but what, what I love to see on the CV is when, uh, candidates are integrated, some AI parts inside the cv. One example, if you have, um, a blog. And, uh, you do have a video of presentation about your blog. On your first page, you add this link and you can even create a video on YouTube, and you put the URIL on YouTube inside into as a, as a link itegrated to your cv. That's one thing. Another one you can even, everybody can build an AI custom. An AI custom agent on JGPT. So imagine you duplicate another number two GPT and you ask, uh, the recruiter if it's late at night or because of a time zone or whatever, they need to get some more information about you and they cannot join you because maybe it's nighttime in Singapore or for any reason. Before even jumping on a call with you, they can already get your, your double AI agent answering some of the question at your place. You know, they, you, you can actually pre-download and preload all this question inside your, the, some of the buttons that they're going to click. You're going to have a duplicate of yourself. That's just amazing. And another one can be. If you are passionate about your, your topic and, um, you love the audio format, why don't you open a couple of episodes and you turn yourself into a, a podcaster and, um, you talk about different problems, industries or challenges you encountered in your career, the pride and the joy that you, you, you have when you solve problem or some of the testimonials or review you had in your past career. And again, you attach that and you put that into your cv. That's a fantastic way of standing out from the crowd and to feel like, wow, this candidate really embraced AI and, and, uh, it's amazing to see how they evolve with technology today.
Audrey Chia:Wow. I think those are amazing suggestions and I think that, um. Beautiful part about it is it's useful, it's creative, and it also showcases the effect that you're ready to embrace, you know, new technology, right? And you're not shying away from it. And there are also ways for you to explore AI in so many different ways. Having said that thread, would you have a demo that you can also show our audience so they can see, you know, how it's actually done or what's currently possible?
Frederic Bonifassy:Absolutely. Let me share my screen.
Audrey Chia:Perfect.
Frederic Bonifassy:Let me know when you can see the screen.
Audrey Chia:Okay. Yes, this is good.
Frederic Bonifassy:All right. So basically Gaia, GPT. She's my AI custom agent. So hi there. Nice meeting you. I'm an expert in job search, recruitment and acquisition. I joined Fred's team. Because I really love his mission of helping senior professional, yay. With a job search, and I want to help as much as I can. Please ask me anything and we'll do my best to help you too. Okay. So the first thing my clients needs to do, uh, basically when they embark my program, they immediately, on the module one, they have access to this customer, IGPT. So they just need to click on Let's start and then let's see what's happening now. Welcome to the coaching program. You've made a big and bold step forward in investing in yourself. Okay, let's start with career clarity. There's a couple of questions here that you need to answer, and then once they, uh, you, they, uh, receive the answer. They will give you a personalized job search strategy, unique selling points, the jobs, et cetera. So let's start by filling up this question. I already got that ready here. So I put my answers here. The next step is, okay, the profile snapshot. So senior recruiter, talent, Christian manager, 15 years industry. Key achievements. These are your salary main driver. So this is a recap of what I want now, career clarity, analysis, and suggestion. So they're going to give some pointers on what you're doing. Uh, where are you well positioned and what you need to do. The, the extra step to reach your dream job at your dream company. So they say, you know, if you are, you are not the problem, the system is, and you're stuck in job search 1.0. So you are outdated basically. And they say it doesn't work anymore, especially for senior role. Now all the senior role are filled via referrals and headhunting, et cetera, et cetera. So you have more information. You can also get your us, your USP unique selling point. They also give you recommendations to target your next job. The reality check, why is it difficult? And the next step, so here, the next step they say, um, audit your resume layout, and then the LinkedIn. Okay, so what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna put my CV and my LinkedIn profile and let's see what she has to say about it.
Audrey Chia:What I like about this also, it's a step by step process, right? So it's gonna guide you through, and it's great that there is also that feedback of like, Hey, this is where you're at. This is where you want to be. Just like how you would stick to with a coach.
Frederic Bonifassy:Yeah, exactly. So I put my CV and my LinkedIn profile, let's see now. Okay, thanks for sharing. So what is strong improvements? Improvement needed? Okay. LinkedIn profile your strengths, your action points. They also give you some idea about the headline, the about section, the future, the activity, now the next step. And they say, uh, give me a list of your Top 10 Dream Company. So I do have my company here, and I'm gonna ask them now to tailor. What I call, um, a value proposition. So value proposition, it's a deck of a few slides that's going to analyze the company's challenges, the market, the industry, and to position you based on what you've done in the past and what you currently know as a solution and a problem, problem solver for the company with a mini strategy. So we are gonna do that in just a couple of clicks. So step by step for your 10 company. You choose your company. So let's say here, they took the company, Spotify, uh, let's work company by company for quality over quantity. And then they say, find these words on LinkedIn, head of talent acquisition team manager, or this type of job research the people on LinkedIn. Then you can see if, um, you can, you can search for the latest post the comments podcast interviews, great for icebreaker. You see exactly what kind of activity these people left on LinkedIn. So then you know that if they are active on LinkedIn, they will be reactive in reaching out to you, or at least in interacting and, uh, replying to your messages. Because sometimes you don't need to spend your energy trying to reach out to someone. If you notice that the last activity was like one year or two years ago on LinkedIn, you know that your, your chances of, uh, responses or engagement from that person will be very, very low. So, and then build a tailor value proposition deck, 10 slide maximum, they propose a deck, uh, based on um, intro problem, unique insight solution experience. Okay, now let's start with Spotify. Let's see, build me a value proposition deck for the role talent acquisition manager at Spotify. And now we are going to, so they will do enough. Search enough research to understand, um, all the information about Spotify, obviously, and based on some job description that they have found online, they're going to propose ideas. And first of all, they analyze the problem at Spotify. That happened last year or previously, previous year. And then, so that's the number one. Uh, number one is the intro. Number two is the problem. Number three is the unique insights. So TA teams are reactive. I build predictive hiring machines. I reach tech plus human, and I believe in TA as talent marketing storytelling that attracts not chases. So that's the unique selling point. Then proposed solutions for Spotify, then relevant achievements. What I've done in the past that answers some of what Spotify is looking now. The employer, brand success, technical leadership, et cetera. So now I'm going to copy this, okay? Value tech. All right. I copy this, and now I'm going to do, do, do, do. I will share this tab instead. Can you see Gamma app now? Yes.
Audrey Chia:Perfect.
Frederic Bonifassy:Gamma app. Um, I do have a premium account that is available for any of my member and uh, basically when they click on generate with just a simple prompt, they only need to click paste. They go to the edit prompt. You can choose. You can choose more options on the left, but usually it's an amazing, uh, it's an amazing tool because you don't even need to do too much to tailor or, or to, uh, to change what has already been, um, uh, done by default here. And yeah, and just voila, you have all your slides being created for you beautifully designed with pictures, with, uh, nice flow. You have the strategic challenges, your objectives, your unique selling point, et cetera. And. In less than 30 seconds, you can already download this document as a PDF. You go on LinkedIn, you find your top two three targets of the people that you really want to get their attention, and you send that to them. You would be surprised that there's less than 5% of people who are creative enough to do this kind of approach and, and not enough people realize how important it is to their. Um, to their disturbing them and, and reaching out to them and get their attention. Most senior professionals, I, I'm surprised they say, oh, they are too busy. I don't want to, I don't want to, um, I don't want to annoy them or I don't want to, you know, to, to, to discuss with them directly. But actually this senior professional, this is what they're looking for. This is what they're waiting for. They want to be challenged. They wanna be discussed with, they wanna exchange ideas. Especially for something that is as valuable as this, right? It's, it's just, uh, it's just incredible. Yeah. Wow. And like I say, 20 to at the best, 30% of responses. So 1% out of three will, uh, will definitely say, uh, yes. I love it. Thank you so much for your time and for sending me this great presentation.
Audrey Chia:Wow. I think that was such a beautiful workflow, right? And it really aligns back to what the candidate can offer, what the candidate wants, as well as what the hiring manager wants to see, right? That proactiveness, that insight, what value you bring and. Curious follow up question, right? So if someone is like, okay, now I have the deck, you know, and I have a tailored cv, should they send an a DM to the person they are looking to chat with? What is the best way to do a very polite outreach without seeming too intrusive? Because it could be quite random to just, by the way, here's a deck for you.
Frederic Bonifassy:So that's, uh, that's the beauty of my three C system. It's a cycle called content. Chats, conversions. And uh, and I've done that because I got inspired by a lot of, um, other Linkedin guru in the world. Um, and it's also a psychological aspect when you reach out to someone for the first time. We all have our defense, uh, the, our defense psychological barrier at the top at the max. So when we got a call from someone we don't know. When we get a message from someone, we dunno. We always like. Who's that person? What does he want? Why, why does he annoy me? But now let's say you do have, um, you do have a seduction game one week or two weeks before you send what? Adjust the mo here. Let's say for one or two weeks, you stalk nicely the person that you want to get their attention. You can send straight away a LinkedIn connection or you can start to like some of the comments, some of the posts, uh, you can tag them, you can, uh, uh, if they accepted your connection, you can even endorse some skills because if you do that day after day. You are going to appear on the notification on a, on a couple of days before you make your ask, meaning that they will know you exist, they will know you, they will see your name appearing a couple of times. At one point, they will click on your profile and, and they will, they will check you up. So if before that you have fully optimized your LinkedIn profile and you are very clear with your CTA, with your hook, with your mission, with your headline, with your about, they will read your story, they will. Uh, I get, I hope, uh, and I, and I like to think they will like your content and they will like your profile if you do it in a very nice, uh, in a very professional way. So in, you will already be inside the, the, the brain. So it's like planting a seed step by step. So if you do that game one week or two weeks at the max before starting reaching out to them and say. Hey, by the way, I know that we've been connected and we've been checking out our respective profile back and forth. I really like your space. I really admire what you guys are doing. I love your products, blah, blah, blah. And then you continue the chat and you say, by the way, on my free time, I thought of doing this for you. Don't worry, it took me less than 30 minutes. But I just want you to pick your brain and to to send you this. And and hoping that maybe it will give you some ideas or maybe it's already something you have implemented or not. It's based on hypothesis and assumptions because you are not in the company. You dunno what they've done yet. But the simple idea of proposing something for free is already huge for most senior professionals and they will feel. Somehow that they owe you something in return at some point. Because you've done this work, you indirectly, you try to make them feel guilty that you've done something for them for free, and they know that in return, at least they have to open the document, they have to read it, and they have to give you a feedback. That's an excellent icebreaker to start any discussion with someone you don't know and to convert a cold stranger into a warm referral for future job opportunities.
Audrey Chia:Wow. I love that. And I love that you're not asking directly or making the ask directly, right? You're first warming them up, having more, uh, normal conversations before saying, Hey, there's something of value. And I love that you're using Robert Cialdini's concept of reciprocity, right? Give before you asks. So let's say they do that. Do they immediately follow up with, oh. Are you currently hiring? Or if you're ever hiring, let me know what is the best soft CTA for someone?
Frederic Bonifassy:Yeah, that's the part that is, uh, that is a bit difficult because as a job seeker, you can understand that some of them can be in a desperate mode. They, they are looking for a job and they, um, they don't really understand that this psychological game that you do. Uh, can take time. Mm-hmm. So, hence the importance of doing this. Even when you are working and building this connection at any time, uh, even if you are currently working, you still need to do it from time to time because if you do it in a, at the time where you are the most vulnerable, the more. Um, uh, emotionally low. Yes. And, and you are really, really looking for a job. You are probably going to accelerate the process and you're gonna feel a bit salesy or a bit asky. Yes. And the person can feel that as well when they read the messages. So it's, uh, it's not easy. I can understand. But if you do it properly and if you do it out of a comfort situation where you still have your job and, and you are not expecting something right now, immediately in return. That's the best scenario that you can do. But for people who are actively looking for a job, I train them. I, I train them, I coach them, and I tell them exactly the tone of voice they need to use. I give them many, many prompts and examples, and we do rehearse together, making sure that it's going to appear. Um. Value based. Yes. And not, uh, and not despair. Desper based. Yeah.
Audrey Chia:Yes. And it's actually very similar to how a lot of business owners, um, you know, reach out to other clients on LinkedIn. Right. You don't just sales pitch and be like, Hey, by the way, I do all this. It's more of that conversation.
Frederic Bonifassy:A lot doing that actually.
Audrey Chia:Oh, really? Yeah. That is not something you should do. You
Frederic Bonifassy:need to do that every day straight away.
Audrey Chia:So it's really important to at least warm up that relationship. Right. Have that conversation and then, um, smartly segue into the ask eventually only at the right time. And like what you said takes a lot of nuances, a lot of, uh, training, right. For someone to master this skillset.
Frederic Bonifassy:Yeah. And the ask can be, can be as simple as, uh. You know, you, you do the ask as soon as you have a first call. So you cannot ask if you have not got the person on the phone or met the person for coffee chitchat first. Very important. You, you need to wait for the voice of physical interaction first, and once you discuss with the person and you establish a certain rapport, and you, you, you, you break the ice and you kind of build a start of a relationship. Only from there you can ask the person, what do you think of my profile? As a fit for your company in the next couple of weeks, couple of months, would you think, do you think there will be any opportunity or do you think I would fit the culture fit? So you, again, you try to position yourself more as a, as a value addition to the company and not just, uh, asking the person to be in the awkward position to say, Hey, sorry, I like you, but we are not recording now. So I will just keep your CV and, and good luck.
Audrey Chia:You know what I
Frederic Bonifassy:mean?
Audrey Chia:Yes. And it's, it's so beautifully nuance, right? You want to position yourself as equal to not desperately looking for a job. Exactly.
Frederic Bonifassy:Yeah. Yeah.
Audrey Chia:And that allows you to have more game on your end. Now, maybe taking a step back, right? You, you have seen the whole world of recruitment and of course you're end, uh, avid use of ai your. And you have seen, probably seen how AI have changed many job roles and functions. Mm-hmm. So can you tell us a bit more about, you know, how AI has changed the job searching landscape, what companies are looking out for now, and whether people you feel need to upskill themselves.
Frederic Bonifassy:Yeah, so that's a, that's an interesting question. And the industry has definitely changed since, um, COVID and post COVID, you know, from 2021, 2022. Um, this, uh, health issue became an economic opportunity for most companies. And, uh, and I explained that because. Most companies realized that the fact that people were working remotely and they didn't need to come back to the office didn't affect the, didn't affect the performance that much and that bad as all the economies and the people were predicting it. So they all realized that there might be an opportunity here to save a huge amount of cost. First of all, on headcounts. And second of all, on office space. Uh, office rent. And, and, uh, so the whole world realized that more flexibility needed to happen post COVID and people who were used to work every day, nine to five at the office post COVID. You, you remember a lot of, uh, a lot of resistance from all these people who wanted to, uh, continue having this, uh, um, work, uh, work. Um. Work life balance and, uh, being able to spend more time with the family. Work from
Audrey Chia:home. Yes,
Frederic Bonifassy:exactly. Work from home, all of that. So it's, uh, he has, he has come to a common agreement where people and company must find a compromise in, um, in, uh, in finding, uh, flexibility on both. So that's why I feel the future of work now using AI is not just, uh, having more and more headcounts on a permanent basis because, you know, company needs to generate more profits and, uh, they, they know that they can do more with less at the moment. And AI actually with, with the fact that all this company they let go a lot of headcounts, they could reinvest. That money, that, uh, that, uh, that amount of money into systems, softwares, and AI technology. So now what they need to do, they need to train the rest of the, of the staff and the employees at the company to use AI to enhance their capability to go faster, to go better, but with less people. So there won't be enough, there won't be as many duplicates as what we used to have, um, in the past. I, I know that Google, for example, had an army of. Uh, like five or 6,000 recruiters globally.
Audrey Chia:Yeah.
Frederic Bonifassy:And, uh, during the COVID, I think, if I'm not wrong, I think there were like, uh, two third of the recruiters were being asked to, to go,
Audrey Chia:wow.
Frederic Bonifassy:Same for Facebook, same for Microsoft, same for, um, salesforce.com. A lot of corporate functions, they just disappeared because I realized that for the cost of a software on a a hundred bucks a month.
Audrey Chia:They could
Frederic Bonifassy:actually go faster and go better than having, uh, having to pay salary of, um, so many, so many people at the end of the year. So that's the unfortunate, uh, way of, uh, and the direction of the future of work.
Audrey Chia:But I think it makes sense, right? Because everything will constantly change and it's really up to the individual to figure out how do you pivot with that change. Right, exactly. And how do you make yourself relevant? So maybe what is like one final tip that you have for people, whether it's regarding ai, whether it's regarding job search, what is one tip that you can share with our audience?
Frederic Bonifassy:Sure. So. A lot of people think that AI is going to take over the world, replace everybody. Um, I, I'm a, I'm a very optimist person. I like to see the, the, the glass half full instead of, um, half empty. Um, I feel like AI can definitely help you, uh, become a better professional and, uh, I don't think AI is going to replace your job, but the person next to you who knows how to use AI is going to take over your job. So that's the main difference. It's, uh, it's who will be able to use AI the best way as possible to be, uh, on top of the game, to fully embrace this, uh, this new technology and to enhance them and, and having better, better performance as compared to you. If you don't jump on the train, then is gonna be game over. So my, my best advice for everybody who is listening this, um, don't hesitate to invest in yourself. Read books, listen to podcasts, uh, subscribe to Recia and, uh, and be, uh, be the best version of yourself. Um, AI 3.0.
Audrey Chia:Awesome to hear that. Fred. I think for me, maybe one final takeaway I have is, uh, it's easy to feel fear, but whenever there is a challenge, there is also opportunity. So if you're feeling fear, turn that into a source of motivation. If you're being rejected, I personally have been rejected hundreds of times. Um. Don't be afraid to just put in a little additional work to just, uh, be different, right? Reach out to people that you want to work with. Uh, talk to recruiters, talk to hiring managers. Work with Fred, Eva, you know, I'm sure you gained so much value. So Fred, thank you so much for your time. Now, where can our listeners find you and who should reach out to you?
Frederic Bonifassy:Sure. So, um. Uh, maybe, uh, two ways. The first one is, uh, like everybody, I'm, I'm available on LinkedIn. Um, I can leave the, the, the, the LinkedIn, uh, link, uh, somewhere maybe in the comment. Yes. And I also have a live webinar every Thursday morning at 9:00 AM Singapore time. So it's a free webinar and, uh, everybody can join. So if you wanna find out more about what I can, uh, what I can offer and how I could help you transform your life and your career. Happy for you to, to take a booking and to join the, the webinar call every Thursday at 9:00 AM Singapore time.
Audrey Chia:Awesome. So guys, if I were you, I will definitely be on that call. I'm sure Fred has a lot of amazing insights to share. So thank you again, folks for tuning in. Don't forget to hit the bell for more actionable AI and marketing insights. We'll see you next week. Take care.