Written by: Snježana Ana Billian, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
If you've been looking to land a new job, chances are you've searched for career advice on Google. While there is no shortage of all sorts of career tips in the online space, you'll also have noticed that they often contradict each other.
Whom should you listen to? As a career strategist myself and with more than a decade of experience in the human resources field, I've identified 11 top career experts to follow based on your unique challenges and career goals.
These influencers will help you get overwhelmed by the job offers and not by the job search process. I've reached out to each one of them to ask for their best career advice. Below are some highlights, and if you feel inspired to learn more, check out my full conversations with them here.
1. If you don't have a traditional background and want to land a top company job, follow Jonathan Javier.
Having received hundreds of rejections while job hunting, Jonathan realized that applying for jobs in the traditional way wasn't going to cut it. He then turned to social media and smart networking strategies that quickly secured him positions at Snapchat, Google, and Cisco—without a target school and without ever applying online.
Jonathan had so much success helping his friends achieve similar results that, together with Jerry Lee, he founded Wonsulting, a consulting business with the mission to turn underdogs into winners. Fast-forward two years later, Wonsulting has a community of 170K winners and 30 million views annually on career development content.
Jonathan's content is unique as he often visually breaks down complex concepts into easily digestible job search tips.
My favorite career advice from Jonathan: "Rejection is redirection, and every setback is a story. Rejection creates intrinsic motivation to get where you want to be. When I have a setback, I say: This will be a great story that I'll tell my kids later on."
Follow Jonathan on LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, and check out wonsulting.com for even more career tips.
2. If you're looking for mindful ways to connect to your unique career story, follow Kerri Twigg.
Kerri is a master in helping people tap into their unique career stories through introspection and contemplative practice. But unlike many experts who stop there, Kerri combines her theater background with her training in HR to turn those stories into compelling resumes, LinkedIn profiles, interviews, and pitches, guiding people to position themselves as a top choice of any employer.
Kerri is also a TEDx speaker and a former LinkedIn Top Voice. Her recent book, The Career Stories Method, is an Amazon bestseller in multiple categories and a must-read if you're looking to reinvent yourself professionally.
My favorite career advice from Kerri: "Many people think they aren't worthy of doing amazing work and having their dream job. But why couldn't you have it? The secret to overcoming such negative self-talk is in mindfulness—either in the form of meditation or some contemplative practice—because it helps you be aware of your judgments."
3. If you're a badass and want to say the same about your career, follow Rosie McCarthy, founder of Badass Careers.
Rosie is an ex-corporate recruiter turned online career coach for ambitious millennials and Gen Z. Originally from New Zealand, Rosie has her master's degree in HR from the Sorbonne University in Paris and ten years of experience working for multinationals, tech startups, and Fortune 500 companies.
To Rosie, a badass career is an intentional career that you own. You're leveraging all the opportunities available today—side hustles and content creation—to make your job truly exciting.
Her career advice is fresh, unfiltered, and fun. These qualities even earned her the status of this year's LinkedIn Top Voice. Rosie's videos will make you dance, laugh, and teach you how to be awesome while on a job hunt.
My favorite advice from Rosie: "It's absolutely possible for you to create a badass career. If you just stop saying to yourself all those things that you can't do and give it a go, you'd be surprised about what you can build up. Just follow your curiosity, put yourself out there, and see what happens."
4. If you're looking to finally leverage the power of LinkedIn to land your dream job, follow Ana Lokotkova.
If you're not leveraging LinkedIn to take your career to the next level, you're missing out on so many opportunities. But where should you start? By following Ana Lokotkova, also known as the "LinkedIn-Obsessed Career Coach."
Having moved twice to a new country where she started her life over from scratch, Ana realized the importance of a strong professional network to help her achieve her professional goals.
Today, Ana has a dynamic network of 50K+ professionals on LinkedIn. Her timely and to-the-point career advice helps people figure out what makes them different and makes recruiters notice them online.
My favorite career advice from Ana: "If you want to grow a powerful and active network on LinkedIn, you need to remember that those are real people. Yes, networking is about what you can get out of it, but in the first place, it's about what you can give to others. If you're not showing up for others and adding value, how can you expect to get something out of it?"
5. If you're looking to position yourself for a salary increase, follow Lakrisha Davis.
As a former talent recruiter, Lakrisha witnessed many things she didn't like in the recruitment process—from discrimination to competent candidates being rejected because they didn't know how to present themselves successfully. That's when she decided to embark on a mission to advocate for job candidates instead of hiring companies.
Also known as "The Career Professor," she helps ambitious professionals create fulfilling careers and claim their worth. She's also the founder of NextUp Resume, a professional writing company helping job seekers write career documents that position themselves for salary increases, even up to $80,000. Lakrisha's career advice is transparent, actionable, and comes straight from the heart, which explains her extremely engaged following on LinkedIn.
My favorite career advice from Lakrisha: "When you're interviewing for a new job, make sure that you can successfully answer that question "Tell me about yourself" in sixty seconds. Many people are not focused when delivering this response, and they don't know that this is their elevator pitch."
6. If you're looking for insider advice from a human resources leader, follow Madeline Mann.
As the director of human resources at a technology company, Madeline noticed that many talented job seekers made mistakes that ultimately cost them their dream job. This experience inspired her to start teaching people insider information from the corporate side of the hiring process.
Today, Madeline's YouTube career channel, Self Made Millennial, has landed thousands of people jobs and has garnered over half a million followers across platforms. Self-Made Millennial was named a Top 5 Career YouTube Channel and the No. 2 Career-focused TikTok Channel. And for a good reason: Madeline's career advice is always timely, relevant, actionable, and fun. Whether you're looking to land your next job or become a thought leader on LinkedIn, Madeline has you covered.
My favorite career advice from Madeline: "We all have value to add to the world. The amazing thing about thought leadership is that being a thought leader is not about you. It's about you being the guide and about everyone you're helping being a hero."
7. If you're a woman looking to gain more visibility and access senior-level leadership roles, follow Glory Edozien.
Glory is a LinkedIn visibility coach and lead consultant at the Inspired by Glory Academy, where she teaches mid-senior level career women how to build visibility and establish thought leadership on LinkedIn.
She is also the founder of 9to5Chick, a community that provides working women in Africa with access to mentors, signature career resources, and networking opportunities.
Glory is an alumna of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers and has been listed as one of Nigeria's 100 most inspiring women.
If deep down you know that it's time to up your leadership game and showcase what you can do, Glory's content will help you take action to establish yourself as an industry expert.
My favorite career advice from Glory: "Give yourself permission to own the work you've been doing and to tell people about it. Understand that you'll make mistakes along the way and that you can choose not to be crippled by those mistakes but to learn from them."
8. If you're a mom, follow Becca Carnahan.
Becca Carnahan helps working moms manage motherhood, manage their career, and manage to laugh through it all. A mom of two, Becca understands the challenges unique to working moms looking to find more joy and fulfillment at work and in their personal life.
She's the voice behind the popular working mom blog With Love, Becca, in which she provides top-notch career advice mixed with a healthy dose of humor. Her witty writing style is best reflected in the title of her upcoming book, When Mommy Grows Up: A Guide to Parenting Yourself to a More Fulfilling Career (coming in spring 2021.) Becca is also a career coach at Harvard Business School.
My favorite career advice from Becca: "Own your motherhood journey. If you're thinking about stepping out of the workforce and someone's telling you that you're throwing your career away, that's garbage. And if you're a stay-at-home mom looking to go back into the workforce and someone's telling you that you're throwing away the time with your kids, that's garbage, too. You're not throwing anything away by owning all the different parts of your life, motherhood being one of them."
9. If you need a confidence push while job hunting (who doesn't?), follow Jasmine Escalera.
Jasmine fell in love with science already in her high school days. This passion led her to receive her Ph.D. in pharmacology from Yale and to holding high-level management positions in the nonprofit sector.
While her professional path seemed like a dream on the outside inside, Jasmine felt like she had to shed a lot of the person she was—a Latina in STEM—to conform to white men's environment in leadership.
That's when Jasmine decided that both the workplace and her confidence level needed to change. Fast-forward to today; Jasmine is a TEDx speaker and a top career coach for women of color. Whenever you wake up feeling like you're not enough, Jasmine's energetic videos will show you how to step up and own your greatness.
My favorite career advice from Jasmine: "Your background, your challenges, and your adversities—they are what make you unique. You bring a different perspective to the world and the workplace because of them. Speak up more because you have so much to offer, and know that your ideas and everything about you matters."
10. If you're a college student looking to land a job at a top company, follow Daniel Botero.
Originally from Colombia, Daniel moved with his mom to the United States when he was eight years old to pursue the American Dream. While he reached this dream by landing multiple job offers and ultimately a job in PepsiCo, he realized that many of his college friends ended up underemployed and underpaid.
Daniel realized that it was not the degree itself that helped him earn twice as much as his peers and even buy a house in his early twenties, but his ability to network and build relationships. That's when he started getting involved in recruitment and helping his friends land a job at PepsiCo, too.
Today, Daniel helps first-generation Americans and minority students receive their dream offers in as little as three months with a salary well above the average, even during the Covid-19 pandemic. He's also a bestselling author and the host of the top-rated Mastering College to Career podcast.
My favorite advice from Daniel: "Visibility is more important than ability. And also, you can hear all the tips in the world, but if you don't go out there and execute them, you'll still be looking for a job three months from now. "
11. If you're looking for hands-on career and leadership advice from a business mentor crushing it at work herself, follow Sarah Saadatjoo.
Throughout her career, Sarah has held various leadership roles in major tech companies managing up to 250 people.
She's also the founder and creator of Jobtips, a corner of the internet dedicated to helping women grow and thrive in their careers. Sarah is best known for her popular TikTok account, where she posts fifteen-second videos almost every day, sharing simple but powerful career tips set to trending music. Her advice ranges from how to crush your job interview to how to be productive and progress at work once you've landed your dream job.
My favorite career advice from Sarah: "It's easy to look at other people and feel like you're behind and that you're not where you should be. Stay in your lane, focus on your goals, and be specific about what you're looking for. Most importantly, build a group of people—your support system—who will help you get there."
For more information about Snjezana Ana Billian, visit her website!
Snježana Ana Billian, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Snježana Ana Billian is the founder of Workmazing, the go-to career platform for people looking to leave a mark and do amazing work in the world. Workmazing's online summits are devoted to sharing thought-provoking feature interviews of people who are authorities in the field of leadership, happiness, money management, and relationships at work.
Ana is the co-author of the bestseller Inspired By The Passion Test – The 1 Tool For Discovering Your Passion And Purpose. She was featured in Business Insider, Thrive Global, Brainz Magazine, and other media outlets.
In the past decade, Ana has been leading numerous human resources programs for large-sized multinational corporations, helping executives and high-potential professionals step into more prominent roles. She graduated with a degree in Economics and holds multiple certifications in personal and leadership development.
Ana is, at heart, a citizen of the world. Born in Bosnia Herzegovina and having lived in Italy and the United States, she now spends her days in Germany with her husband Thomas and their son Tim.
