How to land any job you want - no degree required.
58%
of students go to college to access better jobs
but only 25%
of jobs require a degree
$33k
is the average student debt
and 43%
of college graduates are underemployed — making it difficult to pay that debt back.
Why then, do so many people think getting a degree is a must?
It’s not — there’s a better way.
Are you interested in skipping 80,000 dollars of debt and 4 years of sitting in a classroom?
What about landing a job making 50k within the next month regardless of your formal work experience?
No, I’m not bullshitting you.
In this article, I break down how to win any job you want without a degree.
Warning:
Firstly, this process takes guts and commitment. It will also change your life — it changed mine.
Secondly, this process only works if you are seeking a job that doesn’t legally require a degree. If you’re interested in becoming a doctor, teacher, lawyer, etc. — this isn’t for you.
Still here? Good. Let’s get to business.
How to land any job you want — no degree required.
To start us off, I want you to stop for a moment. Think about why a degree exists. Seriously, stop and think.
Why do people think they must have a degree to land a job?
Most people will answer one of the following:
- A degree shows that I can commit to something
- A degree shows that I have the knowledge to perform the job effectively
- A degree is a sign of quality — helping separate me from the competition.
- Job listings state that I have to have one.
- So on and so forth.
What do all of these have in common? Your value.
Having a degree signals to an employer that you are a valuable human being. That you can create value. That you are worth the resources to hire and bring aboard — in the hopes that you will make them more money than you cost.
Once upon a time, the degree actually successfully signaled people’s value. Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case.
The degree has become inflated, becoming less valuable year over year. Why? Everyone has one. You are no longer “special” because you have a degree. It doesn’t help you stick out from the crowd — therefore, its ability to signal your value has become almost non-existent.
So what’s a better way to signal your value if a degree doesn’t cut it?
More degrees? Nope.
You are more than a degree — you just need to learn how to showcase your value in another way.
Keep reading, because I’m about to teach you how to go from relying on a third-party credential to becoming your own credential.
How to become your own credential
Step 1: Determine your value
Okay, so if you forget everything that I’m telling you in this article but one thing, remember this:
When it comes to the marketplace/career landscape/moving up in your career/landing a job, there are only two things that matter:
- Your ability to create value
- Your ability to showcase that you can
I can not stress how important this is. The only thing that truly matters is that you can create value for someone else and that you can show that you can.
In this context, the definition of value is the worth of something compared to the price paid or asked for it.
So, I want you to ask yourself: What can I do that’s worth being paid to do? What can I do that’s worth being paid X amount?
For the purposes of this article, let’s say you want to figure out what you can do that’s worth being paid $50k annually.
What did you come up with?
If you’re struggling to come up with something, what are your interests? Hobbies? Skills? At the very least, what do you not suck at?
Maybe it’s writing, speaking with other people, managing numbers, problem-solving, or organizing. Whatever the case, you probably have some type of soft/hard skill that you are better than the average joe at.
Now, I want you to think about how you can showcase those skills to a hiring manager (regardless of the actual role/business)?
You could list that specific skill on a resume and send it in with your application:
Hi, I’m Joe.
I want to work with you!
My Skills:
- Organization
- Problem-solving
- Communication
Please hire me!
Or, you can do something radical. Something that most people would never think of.
Don’t send a resume. Send something that speaks much louder.
What do I mean?
Welcome to Step 2: Build a Value Proposition
What the fuck is a value proposition? Glad you asked.
A value proposition is something of meaningful/tangible value, given to someone else as a means to communicate your capability/capacity of performing a specific task.
The idea is to show rather than tell.
For example:
Joe wants to work at a tech company as a web designer. He has two options:
- Apply for the job with a resume stating that he is certified in web design (just like everyone else).
- Analyze the companies website, figure out why it sucks — build a new one for them (something nobody else would ever do).
Which option is going to get him hired? It’s obvious — option two. The reason is that he is deciding to create meaningful/tangible value (a new and improved website) for the company to showcase his capability of being their web designer.
Option two speaks WAY louder than option one because he literally does the thing that he was going to be hired to do, without even being hired.
What does this show a hiring manager? More than you think.
It shows a hiring manager that he obviously has the skills, but it also shows that he is super passionate about the company. If he’s willing to re-design the website for free, what is he willing to do for money?
Who knows? But they are going to want to find out. Hired.
Now that’s obviously an extreme example — in reality, you’re probably not going to want to re-design an entire website for free, but what about the home page? Or the pricing page? Or any page that definitely sucks and can be improved with just a little bit of effort?
Re-design that page to show the hiring manager what you’re capable of, and they’ll hire you to finish what you started.
Step 3: Putting theory into practice
So we’ve covered two things:
- Determining your value (What can you do that’s worthy of being paid to do?)
- Build a value proposition (to showcase that value)
And honestly, that’s really all you need to understand to get hired (in theory).
This section is dedicated to providing you with the resources to put everything we’ve discussed into practice.
There are 4 main role types of a business that you can target with any given set of skills: Marketing, Sales, Operations, & Customer Success.
Every business on Earth has someone doing something that falls into one of these 4 main buckets.
The skill you choose to capitalize on will determine which type of role you want to create a value proposition for.
To make it easy, I’ve listed the 4 main buckets of business — underneath each is a list of soft skills that translate into that given role type.
Marketing:
- Communication
- Creativity
- Emotional Intelligence
- Curiosity
- Collaboration
Sales:
- Communication
- Creativity
- Emotional Intelligence
- Social intelligence
- Empathy
Operations:
- Communication
- Organization
- Leadership
- Conflict management
- Decision-making
Customer Success:
- Empathy
- Emotional Intelligence
- Communication
- Dependable
- Organization
What did you choose? Now leverage it. Build something that showcases you have that skill, and more importantly, how that skill translates into the business of making more money.
Resources to help you land a job at a high-growth startup quickly — with no experience.
- Praxis — A 6-month online boot camp that results in a full-time job at a top startup company.
- Crash — An online tool that allows you to become more than a resume. (This tool literally embodies what this entire article is about). I personally used it to land a job at a top startup in 1 week.
Resources that help you learn more hard and soft skills.
- Udemy — a learning platform filled with courses on pretty much anything.
- Skillshare — super similar to Udemy.
- Youtube — you know what this is.
Resources to take everything you’ve learned in this article and apply it to becoming a freelancer.
Thanks for reading.
I hope this guide helps you change your life if that’s what you’re looking for. Have questions? Just wanna chat? Let me know — happy to help.