Talent Tips - Talent Market

Congratulations to Talent Market’s 2023 Award Winners!

June 20, 2023

Talent Market was proud to sponsor the 2023 AF Annual Gala and Awards Showcase and we were thrilled to have presented two new awards during the event in May: The Secret Weapon Award and the Program of the Year Award.

We were incredibly impressed by the quality and quantity of nominees for both awards. Choosing the winners was a difficult task and we were very fortunate to have a panel of judges help us make the final determinations.

Talent Market’s Secret Weapon Award

Talent Market’s Secret Weapon Award celebrates a free-market nonprofit staff member who adds tremendous value to his/her organization and the liberty movement from behind the scenes. We developed this award not only recognize the secret weapons among us, but also to remind everyone how critical these individuals are to our movement.

Our inaugural Secret Weapon award winner is Ryan Lynch, the Senior Director of IT with Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Ryan has been with CEI for nearly 15 years. When the rest of the CEI staff is sleeping, Ryan is updating its network and servers. When everyone else is going home for the day, Ryan is applying updates to programs & tools that CEI can’t function without.

He is a one-man IT band fielding calls all day for help and he gladly does it with a smile and often a sarcastic joke. According to his supervisor, “CEI would be unable to function without Ryan’s behind the scenes work.”

And here’s what Ryan had to say:
“I was proud to receive the first Secret Weapon award, because the contributions of talented and dedicated back-office staff are rarely acknowledged in the same way other more public facing staff. Beyond the recognition itself, It was also nice because support staff—and IT staff in particular—so rarely receive public accolades. Those satisfactions are permanent.”

When Ryan isn’t working, he’s spending time with his brilliant wife, Michelle Minton, and the world’s cutest dog, Coconut.

Please join me in celebrating Talent Market’s 2023 Secret Weapon Award winner, Ryan Lynch.

Talent Market’s Program of the Year Award

Talent Market’s Program of the Year Award celebrates a program that develops free-market talent. We specifically wanted to recognize a program that has a solid curriculum, evidence of short and long-term impact, and impressive alumni who are making a difference by advancing liberty.

Our inaugural Program of the Year award winner is Moving Picture Institute’s Hollywood Career Launch Program.

The Hollywood Career Launch Program helps talented young filmmakers get a foot in the door in the entertainment industry. Since 2006, MPI has awarded over 200 paid internships to college students and recent graduates.

Interns are placed on the sets of MPI Original productions or at partner production companies and are provided with a stipend, mentorship, and training.

MPI only recruits interns who are defenders of freedom with a demonstrated interest in pursuing a career

in film. The program provides a huge return for those who wish to see Hollywood seeded with talent committed to freedom.

More than half of the program’s alumni are now working full-time in the film industry. The program is run by Hannah Earl, Director of Talent and Creative Development for Moving Picture Institute.

Please join me in celebrating Talent Market’s 2023 Program of the Year Award winner, Moving Picture Institute’s Hollywood Career Launch Program!

Talent Tip #154: Advice for Graduates: The Talent Market Team Shares Our Biggest Lessons

May 23, 2023

In the midst of graduation season, the Talent Market team wanted to share some of the most important lessons we learned at the start of our careers.

Embrace networking – Stephanie
When I was a fresh-faced graduate, I thought my network was about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. To me, networking was just a bunch of people handing out business cards and pretending to be interested in each other’s lives. But luckily, I had a wise former internship manager, let’s call her Katy, who showed me the light and even helped me land my dream job.And how did I get that dream job, you ask? Well, after my internship ended, I started working at a new organization and eventually ran into Katy at a conference. I was convinced she wouldn’t remember me but, to my surprise, she greeted me with a hug and pushed me to stay in touch. She became a great mentor and friend over the years, always quick to offer career advice and support. And when a job opened up on her team, I was really excited about the opportunity to work with her directly again.

Thanks to Katy, I learned that networking is not as scary as I thought it was – it’s more like a reunion with people who you actually want to see again. So, the moral of the story is this – don’t let your network be like that old box of baking soda in the back of your fridge that you forgot about. Keep it fresh, keep it fun, and who knows, you might just end up with a new job or a new friend!
No Excuses, Only Solutions – Lydia
I remember the first time I saw the office of Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) in 2015. I was just a State Chair at the time and was interning with the Leadership Institute. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I discovered this massive organization supporting so many chapters and students across the US was the result of only a handful of staff working in a tiny office. Kind of like the little alien in Men in Black operating the copier machine. Needless to say, when I ended up joining their national team, the bar was set pretty high.
I asked my supervisor how I could go above and beyond and make the most out of this opportunity as a young professional. I was told, “No excuses, only solutions.” Harsh right? Every time I say it I feel like I’m in the military getting my tail chewed by a drill sergeant.
At first, I thought this was just a ploy to get me to work hard, but throughout my career, I have found myself saying it again and again. After all, it applies to so many situations. If you make a mistake, it’s best to explain the circumstances and come up with a plan to fix it – no excuses, only solutions. If you didn’t meet a goal, understand why and create a new path forward – no excuses, only solutions. It’s a reminder to keep moving forward and stay focused on the goal. At YAL it helped me grow my region, expand my responsibilities, and most importantly, learn that success is earned. Those who are successful in their careers don’t play the blame game or waste time arguing about what went wrong. They accept challenges for what they are, learn from misfortune, and move ahead. No excuses, only solutions.
Learn to say “I don’t know” – Katelynn
“I don’t know; I’ll have to figure that out,” a Senior Attorney I borderline idolized replied when asked a question about one of her cases at a litigation meeting, the monthly meeting that every single attorney in our organization attended. For me, a brand-new baby attorney fresh out of law school, the litigation meeting was a high-pressure situation where I always tried to seem my smartest and most prepared. If someone asked me a question I didn’t know the answer to, I would fumble around saying things that kind of made some sense but not really, all while sweating buckets and wishing I could disappear into the floor. Saying “I don’t know” in that meeting simply didn’t seem like a viable option.So when I heard this brilliant attorney I admired utter the phrase with stolid indifference, you can imagine how thoroughly my jaw muscles lost all tension. That experience changed me. I learned in that moment that only smart, confident people casually make saying “I don’t know” a regular part of their vocabularies. It’s the really clueless people who act like they know everything.

Now, I go around my daily life freely uttering “I don’t know” because I often don’t. Try playing a round of trivia with me and you’ll see. (Just yesterday, I couldn’t think of a single song by Bryan Adams.) Yet I consider myself to have found a good amount of professional success and that’s because when I don’t know something, I admit it immediately and then cheerfully find the answer.

Here’s the secret: that’s what every single professional does. It’s OK not to know everything. It’s never OK to pretend that you do.
Be open to new career paths – Claire
If I had followed the career path I charted in my early 20s, I’d probably be miserable or serving burgers at Chotchkies after being fired repeatedly. Thankfully, I encountered someone far wiser than I who helped alter my path.Following graduate school, I interviewed for a policy job with the late, great John Berthoud at National Taxpayers Union. After a delightful conversation, John looked me straight in the eye and said, “I don’t think this role is right for you.” He encouraged me to explore roles that would leverage my other skills and experience. For anyone who remembers John, you know how artfully and honestly he delivered this news. But the takeaway was clear: stop applying for policy jobs, you cotton-headed ninny muggins.

I had spent the last two years getting an MPP and dreaming of a job in tax policy, and now John was really harshing my vibe. But he was 100% right. And thanks to John, I took a step back and started exploring non-policy roles in the policy world.

I ended up landing a job in talent development, which, to no one’s surprise, was a much better fit for my skills and experience. That sharp turn in my career helped get me to where I am today.

We all want to believe we have a good perspective on our own skills and abilities, but sometimes it’s other people who actually have a more objective point of view of what we bring to the table.
Ask why – Katy
When you’re a student, life is pretty straightforward: read the books to understand the subject, master the equations to get the answer, research the topic to write your paper. Every class and every assignment eventually leads you to a degree.And then, bam! You land your first “real” job and suddenly life isn’t full of assignments anymore. It’s full of random tasks and responsibilities, some of which don’t make a lot of sense.

For instance, in my first big girl job, I was responsible for a lot of database upkeep. It wasn’t the most glamorous job in the world and it felt pretty pointless. Of course, nothing could have been further from the truth. But I never stopped to ask my boss (or myself!), “Why am I doing this?” And unlike in college, it wasn’t at all clear to me why doing this was important.

Many years later, I landed at Talent Market. On my first day, I was told why tracking things in our database was important (for us, our clients, our candidates, and the liberty movement as a whole). Without this data, we couldn’t do what we do. It all made perfect sense.

And then it hit me. Had I been told this or thought to ask “why is this important?” in my first job many years prior, I would have approached things very differently. I would have done a better job putting information into the database back then. And I would have been able to make suggestions to improve our process and advance our mission. (I notice this donor moved to Florida and we’re doing a seminar there next month…maybe we can connect with her there? Should we pull a list every month of students who moved recently and then tell them about new opportunities in their area? I notice one of our key partners just got a job at a new organization we’ve been trying to connect with; let’s use this as an opportunity to build a relationship there!)

By asking “why,” I could have moved from being a data-pushing, mindless assignment finisher to someone who saw the big picture, understood the purpose, and did more to advance the organization’s mission…and probably my own career!

[Read more…]

Talent Tip #153: The Secret to Landing a Job and Lifting 300 Pounds

April 18, 2023

Katelynn Barbosa

When I was 27, I started powerlifting for the first time (too lazy for cardio) and quickly became besotted with the idea of deadlifting 300 pounds. So, I eagerly approached my coach and asked, “What’s the secret to lifting 300 pounds?”

“The secret?”

“Yeah, I have seen women lift 300 pounds and it looks awesome! I would love to be able to do that. What do they do? Is it those gummy bears they eat in the middle of a training session?”

“What?”

“Oh, I know. I bet they visualize themselves successfully completing the lift… I have heard visualization really works!”

After recovering from laughing, my coach replied, “There is no secret to lifting 300 pounds.”

“So they’re just genetically gifted?”

“No. No one just comes in and lifts 300 pounds. Any woman who can do that has lifted consistently day in and day out every single week for years. It’s just about consistency, repetition, failure, and putting the work in. In fact, pretty much all of life works like that. There is no secret to anything.”

Oh man, I had really hoped it was the gummy bears.

So I took my coach’s advice and never missed a training session. And about four years later, I stood up holding 300 pounds in my hands.

It was a proud moment for this decidedly mediocre athlete but the bigger takeaway was my wise coach’s greater message, which I have found transcends well beyond lifting weights: “there is no secret to anything.”

As this is a Talent Market article, what is the getting a job equivalent to my coach’s amazing advice? Here are my four key takeaways.

1. Show up.
I showed up to the gym consistently three times a week for four years, even and especially when I didn’t feel like it, before I was able to reach my 300-pound goal.
For the job search, showing up means crafting a great application and officially applying.

The desire to find a shortcut instead of putting forth the effort to craft a strong application is real. I understand why. (Oh, if only the gummy bears did the trick!) Tailoring your resume and writing a strong cover letter takes time. It’s much easier to just reach out to someone you know at the organization to circumvent the application process and get an interview or submit the same generic application that you submitted to five other jobs in the last month. Resist the pull of those shortcuts and put all of that effort into crafting the best application materials you can.

2. If you know something is off, address it.
About 20% of the time, a lifting session feels terrible for no reason. The moment I pick up the barbell, it’s clear that I just have nothing in the tank. But, more often than not, there is a reason and I know exactly what it is. I slept five hours the night before, I have opted for pizza over healthy protein a little too frequently lately, or I slammed Old Fashioneds last night like I was single-handedly trying to keep the whiskey industry afloat.

I always feel embarrassed when I lift poorly because of my own bad decisions and a big part of me wants to hide it from my coach. But I never do because I know the only way she can help me train appropriately is if I am honest upfront.

This is also true in the job search! If you ever decline to mention something in your cover letter because you worry it will make you look bad or raise questions, that probably means you desperately need to address the elephant in the room head-on!

What are some examples of elephants in the room that need addressing?

· If you are applying for a job that is on the surface unrelated to your current line of work. For instance, if you have never fundraised a day in your life but you are applying for a fundraising job, you better say why! I once had a candidate apply for a fundraising job who didn’t have a lick of development experience. His cover letter didn’t even mention the large, gray pachyderm we all saw. The hiring manager was very confused, and even though she was open to hiring someone without direct experience, the lack of an explanation for such a transition left her uneasy. Well, it turns out the candidate had been extremely thoughtful about the transition, reading every fundraising book under the sun and talking to tons of fundraisers to get their advice and expertise. But for some reason he didn’t put any of this in his cover letter! The same goes for any big career transition. Address it up front!

· If you were only with your previous employer for a short period, the hiring manager is going to wonder why. If you address the reason in your cover letter, you are putting that question to rest immediately. There are tons of perfectly benign reasons why jobs don’t work out. Maybe you liked the work but it wasn’t a good culture fit. Or maybe the employer went through a round of layoffs. If you state the reason upfront, the hiring manager won’t be left to worry that you got canned for insubordination or binge-watching Netflix during working hours.

3. Do exactly what is asked of you.
Sometimes a lifting session feels unnaturally great for no reason. On these days, there is a strong temptation to ignore what my coach told me to do and try to max out. Why lift 250 pounds when I know I can hit 275, baby? Because, odds are, the next day isn’t going to be a superman day and I will feel fatigued and ruin my training for the week.

My coach is an expert and she told me exactly what to lift. So I just stick to that.

With job searching, just do what the employer tells you to do. If they want a resume and cover letter, submit a resume and cover letter. Don’t send writing samples, letters of recommendation, the article you got published in the Wall Street Journal, a headshot, or a screenshot proving that you actually scored Taylor Swift tickets.

An employer knows what they want to see from candidates and they do not hide it. So just give them what they want!

4. Expect to fail.
In lifting and in job searching, failure happens frequently. In fact, if I go months without failing a lift, then it is a fact that I am simply not training hard enough. Failure is a prerequisite for success.

Most of the time, when you apply for a job, you will not get it. Even if you have every single qualification listed in the job description, are close friends with tons of people who work there, and love freedom so much that fireworks spontaneously burst forth from your fingertips every Fourth of July, there are a million reasons why you might not land the job. Don’t let it get you down.

Pick up that barbell…er job application…and keep trying.

(To reiterate, this article was written by Katelynn Barbosa and NOT Claire Dixon. Claire would only consider lifting this much weight if an oak tree fell on her dog.)

Talent Tip #152: You’re Not the Snoop to My Dogg: 4 Common Reasons for Rejection

February 21, 2023

Claire Dixon

“I just want to know why it didn’t work out between us.”

That’s how he started the phone call. No greeting. No small talk. Just straight for the jugular.

I knew I shouldn’t have picked up. After all, rule #1 of dating is never take a call from an ex unless you want to attempt to jump-start that ol’ jalopy. Because the moment you pick up, you’ll find yourself right in the middle of your very own rom-com post-break-up scene where the dumper is explaining to the dumpee why he’s not the Snoop to her Dogg.

And nobody wants that.

But do you know what everybody wants? They want to know why. If they aren’t “the one”, they long for an explanation. Was it something I said or something I did? Did the words not come out right? (5,000 bonus points for anyone now signing the rest of that stanza.)

Job applicants are no exception. They want to know why.

It turns out that the vast majority of candidates we see are declined for one of only four reasons.

And what better way to illustrate these reasons than to use four ghosts from my dating past? Names have been changed to protect the guilty.

Passionless Pete – At first glance, Pete had it all. Smart. Funny. Good job. Mature. Solid family. Handsome. But I’m not gonna lie, he was kind of a snoozefest. On the enthusiasm scale, he never broke past a 2 or 3. He could be watching his favorite football team in a nail-biter ending OR uploading his 1099-DIVs on TurboTax and the expression on his face would be the exact same. Pete lacked passion.And this is the same reason we have to decline countless candidates each year: they lack passion for the job to which they have applied. Or, to be more precise, they fail to articulate their passion for the organization’s mission and the job at hand.Our clients care deeply about mission alignment, and they want to hire candidates who are just as excited about the work as they are. That’s why the application instructions for our searches ask candidates to articulate their interest in the nonprofit’s mission. Sadly, many candidates ignore this very simple request.And in doing so, they risk ending up in the trash heap of Coulda Beens, right next to Passionless Pete. Don’t let that be you.
Experience-Lacking Luke – Luke had a lot of things going for him…but being age-appropriate for me wasn’t one of them. He was only three years younger, but it felt like we had a 20-year fissure between us. I wanted to enjoy dinner out; Luke wanted to go to a bar where your feet stick to the floor. I lived alone; Luke had 5 roommates. My idea of savings was investing in a 401k; Luke’s idea of savings was enough beer money for the weekend. I knew Luke was going to be a great catch, but he just needed a few more trips around the sun.Likewise, candidates frequently get sidelined for lacking the requisite experience for the job. In fact, I’d say this is the number one reason candidates get rejected in our world.That said, I think applying for a role that is slightly above your experience level is still a good idea. Why? Sometimes hiring managers opt for less experienced candidates who have long-term potential and a lower price tag. So why not throw your hat in the ring?Experience-Lacking Luke was ultimately just too green for me, but you never know unless you try.
Expensive Ethan
On our first date, Ethan showed up in a high-end Beemer, dressed like he had just come from a bankers’ conference. He insisted we go to a swanky restaurant. It was one of those places where the waiter brings you the first course “compliments of the chef,” which is code for “we’re going to gouge your eyes out to the tune of $457 for the next 6 courses.” I swear the sprig of parsley on my main course plate was bigger than the actual food portion. At some point during the evening, I commented on his watch, which, it turns out, was roughly the cost of the downpayment on my first house. Don’t get me wrong, Ethan was a good guy. He was smart, successful, and kind. But he was just too rich for my blood.Ethan got rejected for the same reason many candidates do: their price tag is too high.Imagine this: you apply for a job and are just as qualified as three other top candidates…but your salary requirements are $30K higher. It’s quite possible you won’t even get an interview if the hiring manager feels she can find someone else with a similar skillset at a significantly lower cost.Now, I’m a capitalist pig and I want you to make as much money as possible. So, I’m NOT suggesting you lower your salary requirements! If the hiring manager likes your background and has budget flexibility, everything could work out. But if not, you might end up next to Expensive Ethan with overpriced parsley in between your teeth.
Distant Dax
Dax was a wonderful guy, but he lived three states away. And while I was absolutely open to a long-distance relationship, everything is relative. You see, it just so happens there was another gentleman caller (we’ll call him Local Lou) who was equally wonderful and lived just across town. I met both around the same time and the logical side of me just couldn’t justify taking a 747 to get to dinner with Distant Dax when I could bike to dinner with Local Lou! And so Distant Dax became a distant memory. Come to think of it, so did Local Lou, but that’s not the point of the story.The point is that most of our clients are open to hiring virtually, but again, everything is relative. And if you’re the best candidate and you live 853 miles away from the nonprofit’s office, you’ll probably get the job. But if there is an equally or more qualified candidate within a 20 miles radius of the office, you and Distant Dax could find yourself in the same place (metaphorically speaking).

If you’re wondering how my real-life rom-com post-break-up scene went, it was fine. I told him the truth. And while I’m sure he didn’t enjoy hearing it, I think he was relieved to understand why.

Likewise, the next time an organization says they are going in another direction but they don’t offer feedback about why, there’s a good chance that the reason relates to Pete, Luke, Ethan, or Dax.

1,000 Placements! Talent Market Celebrates a Milestone!

January 24, 2023

Talent Market is thrilled to announce our 1,000th placement!

You read that correctly. We’ve helped one thousand amazingly talented individuals land critical roles in the free-market movement.
We are both excited and humbled to hit this milestone. And to appreciate where we are now, you have to rewind 13 1/2 years.
In 2009, Tracie Sharp (President and CEO of State Policy Network) and the late Whitney Ball (then President and CEO of DonorsTrust) had an idea for an organization that would be dedicated to providing the free-market movement with the talent it needs. Whitney and Tracie understood that next to financial resources, human capital is the most critical component to advancing liberty. Even if free-market organizations are well-financed, they cannot succeed without talent. Later that year we launched Talent Market. In the years since, we have become a critical part of how the liberty movement finds talent.

Talent Market has assisted more than 230 nonprofits, including national organizations, state-based think tanks, and numerous start-ups. We’ve placed talent in 46 different states and placed hundreds of individuals in virtual roles. At any given time, Talent Market is managing dozens of critical searches for talent for free-market organizations.

From the five of us at Talent Market, thank you for everything you’ve done to help us get to this amazing milestone!

Talent Tip 151: Yipee Ki Yay: Four Interviewing Lessons from Die Hard Characters

December 23, 2022

Katelynn Barbosa

How can you tell it’s Christmas in your house? Is it the Christmas tree decked-out with treasured family ornaments from childhood? Snow on the ground? Competition with everyone you know to avoid Mariah Carey as much as possible?

I love Christmas lights and Santa as much as the next guy, but in my house, it isn’t Christmas until Hans Gruber plunges 30 floors from the top of Nakatomi Plaza.

When reflecting on why Die Hard has earned mandatory Christmas-watching status, I keep coming back to the rich, textured characters. And because I have been interviewing candidates non-stop lately, I got to thinking about what makes someone successful in an interview using Die Hard characters as my guide.

Fallibility Is An Asset; Not A Liability
My favorite thing about Die Hard is that John McClane talks out loud to himself throughout the movie. He tells himself he shouldn’t have said that to his wife. He yells at himself “What are you doing, John?!” when he is about to jump off the building. He bleeds and limps after he walks over glass and admits to his police friend that he might not make it. He tells himself “Now, I know what a TV dinner feels like,” as he sneaks around an air vent.In short, McClane is a fallible, relatable hero, and he’s not afraid to tell the viewer that.

I like this quality in my candidates, too. When I am interviewing someone for a job, I don’t want Rambo or Schwarzenegger vibes. I want to see confidence, but I want the candidate to have questions about the role, to admit they have made mistakes, and to acknowledge there are areas where they can grow and learn in their career. I want to talk to a real human being!

Which brings me to my next point…
Authenticity Is King.
Remember Harry Ellis? Harry Ellis is the smarmy, greasy, corny, cocaine-loving yuppie who “negotiates million dollar deals for breakfast” and gets shot when he tries to smooth talk Gruber. You can tell he is fake from a mile away.Don’t come across like Ellis in an interview. You don’t need to talk yourself up and use buzzwords and meaningless workplace jargon. Don’t try to oversell yourself or try too hard. Bring your genuine self to the conversation.
Don’t Be Afraid to Be Earnest
I was once moved to tears in an interview when a candidate told me how much freedom means to him because his immigrant parents gave up everything to make a life for his family in this country. The honesty and vulnerability this candidate displayed made it impossible not to root for him.This is the same feeling I get about Sgt. Al Powell, the cop who talks to John McClane on the walkie-talkie throughout Die Hard, when he opens up about being scared to ever pull his gun again because he shot a kid on accident early in his career. Without fail, when Powell shoots the final bad guy at the end of the movie, saving our main characters, I tear up.

Sometimes I think candidates shy away from earnestness, worried that it will come across as hokey. But I promise it doesn’t! It gives me insight into who you are and what motivates you. It makes me root for you!
A Sense of Humor Stands Out
I would argue that Hans Gruber is the most memorable villain in movie history. Why?Gruber is hilarious. His deadpan sarcasm is the distinctive trait that elevates him from strategic genius with a cool accent to worthy of his own advent calendar.

As it does with German terrorists, during a job interview, a sense of humor stands out. If you make me chuckle, I am not going to forget you and if the opportunity I just interviewed you for doesn’t work out, I am going to have you in my mind as someone I want to place in the future!

I hope you enjoyed this list and I wish you a Merry Christmas and at least one Die Hard watching this holiday season!