I worked in Big Tech. Beware of 4 career advice clichés.

• Alan Stein, 51, worked in the corporate world for 25 years at companies like Google and Meta.
• As CEO of Kadima Careers, he now advises against following certain career advice clichés.
• He suggests focusing on referrals instead of creating multiple resumes and posting them on LinkedIn.

This essay is based on a conversation with Alan Stein, CEO of Career-Accelerating Service Kadima Careers. The story has been edited for length and clarity.

After working in the corporate world for 25 years, including at companies like Google, Meta, Salesforce and American Express, I now help people find jobs at the best companies in the world.

My company, Kadima Careers, is a career accelerator. We work for candidates and help them get better jobs quickly, competently and with a lot more money. We’ve helped hundreds of people find jobs and negotiate offers.

Last time I checked, there were thousands of career experts on LinkedIn, some without any verification or certification.

These are some of the pieces of advice I think you should avoid.

Post frequently on LinkedIn

Don’t expect your posts or comments to get you a job. You have to hope that your posts are seen by the right people. That’s not easy.

You should definitely keep LinkedIn up to date and make sure you market yourself there effectively because you will keep people coming to your profile. However, you do this not by posting content, but by proactively reaching out to people or people related to the people you want to talk to.

Then, before meeting you, they look at your profile and see that you are a program manager with 12 years of experience or a sales executive working at some of the best SaaS companies in the world.

You are wasting your time if the salary listed is not what you want

You should refuse to discuss compensation until you receive the offer.

I’ve seen so many times that compensation is flexible and the best impact you have as a candidate comes after you receive the offer. Additionally, you get more practice. The more practice you get, the better you’ll get at interviews – and you might learn things, you might meet people, and there might be other opportunities that come your way along the way.

There are three exceptions, even if you are significantly overpaid.

When I was at Google, sometimes I would just throw out the number to short-circuit things to see if it wasn’t worth my time. Second, when you’re given homework, you want to make sure it’s worth your time.

The third reason is when you have so many interviews, you have to figure out which one to accept and which one will compensate you when you reach the finish line.

Research a company thoroughly

Some people say you should research a company thoroughly and impress them with all your knowledge and that will lead to an interview. Do not make unsolicited orders.

I’ve interviewed so many people in my time and some people came very well prepared and did their research. But putting together a project, a presentation, a one-sheet, a cover letter, or anything else that isn’t about that doesn’t make sense. It may work for small organizations, but the better way is to simply engage with the decision makers in the company.

You should definitely familiarize yourself with the company values, understand the products, and research the role and people you will be meeting with. However, most interviews about the company won’t require you to spend more than an hour researching. You’ll be surprised at how little most companies ask about the company itself.

Customize your resume for each job

There are a few situations where you may want to have two resumes.

When you choose an individual employee role and a manager role, there are some different dynamics there. If you have a different background, perhaps working in customer success and product management, you may want to have two different resumes.

Also, don’t overcomplicate things and think that the right search terms for the application tracking software have to be there.

Have a strong resume ready that reflects your impact and accomplishments and uses the right words for your industry – and then keep your resume.

Your resume is just table stakes. There will be no success or success in your quest. So focus on getting referrals. This will get your resume to the hiring manager.