How to Land Your Dream C-Level Job - What It Takes to Get Hired in the C-Suite with Tim Madden - Founder of Executive Career Upgrades

This is the Beyond the Story podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now, Sebastian Rusk Tim, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, sir. Hey, thanks for taking some time out of your day to hang out with me for a few minutes here. I'm glad we got a chance to connect. I know that you're fresh off a cruise ship sailing the high seas for five days. That never sucks, especially when it's Ritz-Carlton and it's a bunch of audacious Entrepreneurs and business owners, successful ones at that too. So, uh, good deal. Good deal. So I love to tell people's story on this show and for context purposes for our listeners like to back up to the beginning of the story and the beginning is always different for everyone else, but let's back up to the beginning of your story and where, where this all began and what really brought you to present day with what you're currently doing.

Sebastian Rusk

Yeah, so I was a career military guy. I was a military officer. I was soldier of the year, had one of these big rings for being one of the top recruiters and had my degree from Purdue and thought, you know, I had a pretty great career. I got out of the military and I can't figure out how to get a job. So for nine months, I was unemployed. I was getting $276 a week. Thank you, Indianapolis unemployment. That's the only reason I went back and got my MBA because for those in the military, you know, if you go to school, they actually pay you to go to school. So I needed that extra fifteen hundred dollars a month, man. So that's why I actually got my MBA. So I'm unemployed nine months. I'm depressed, stressed out. Fortunately, I didn't have a family at the time. My buddy calls me and says, hey, I know your unemployment's running out. You should apply for this job on Craigslist for twelve bucks an hour for a recruiter. And I'm like, shit, man, I applied. They didn't call me back. 30 days later, they did and said, hey, we would like for you to run Indiana's basically, you know, Central Indiana staffing operation. That's when I learned about recruiting, retention, hiring and staffing. Right. So I just luckily fell into it because I was applying for jobs and no one would call me back. So I get an opportunity here. And that's where I learned all of the things. How do you get in front of people? Right? What do you have to say? How can you get these people hired? Because our job was to bring in contracts and place people. So then after two years, I totally revamped that operation. I was following my man Grant Cardone at the time. And I was like, man, I want to be in sales. I want to make money because I'm only making 50 grand a year or something. Yeah. You know, so I was like, man, I need to make more money. And then I want to work for the largest company in the world. Why not? So that's when I moved down to Miami and worked for the largest supplier of staffing services in the world. Went to their training program, was doing well there. Then, like most entrepreneurs, what am I doing? Man, I'm getting the contracts. I'm selling the people. No one even knows who the hell this company is, even though they're one of the giants. Man, I can go do this by myself. So I started a recruiting business with a friend. We did almost $10 million in four years and then ended that partnership. Then I started now Executive Career Upgrades. We're on year five. We sell career advice to directors, VPs, and executives. We help them get hired. We do recruiting as well with companies, leadership, kind of all things career. And we've been on, you know, one of the fastest growing companies for the past two years in a row. We, last year, we're the 48th fastest veteran-owned company, and I get to go fly out to Dallas again. So it's been a trip, but yeah, it's crazy. The guy who couldn't get a job and who struggled and knew nothing now has helped. Man, I think we looked in the past three years, I looked a couple of days ago, we've helped 3,924 people. So it's just freaking ridiculous. Yeah. I love that.

Tim Madden

It's ridiculous. Have any of those been veterans?

Yeah, a couple. So we specialize in more senior level, helping senior level professionals. So yeah, people retiring with 20, 30 years of experience who were senior level officers or senior level NCOs, like the, yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

You mentioned, you mentioned Indiana. Are you from Indiana?

No, that's just where my last recruiting assignment was and where I got out of the military off active duty. But my dad was career military, too. So I literally every two years we were going somewhere and then I joined the military. So, you know, yeah, I was like, where are you from? I was born in Phoenix, but, you know, now I call Florida home, even though we are moving to Tennessee actually next year. So I'm excited. Very cool.

Whereabouts in Tennessee? Franklin, Tennessee.

Isn't that near the Nashville area? It is, yeah. 20 minutes south of Nashville. 15, 20 minutes.

Yeah. Great, great, great area. No, I was born in Indiana. That's why I asked. Yeah. We moved to Florida when I was two, so I don't really remember that much of Indiana, but anytime Indiana pops up, I was like, well, I mean, I have some association there. So what inspired the move from South Florida to Tennessee? Yeah.

We have a son who is autistic. And there's just better opportunities for him there, better communities, better support. So that's the main driving factor is just for a kid and his education.

Very cool. Very cool. And so you guys have been at it here. You guys are rocking and rolling with it. What's on the docket for 2025? What are you excited about?

Yeah, we're trying to do one strategic partnership. We're working that out, which could be massive for our business. And the next thing is, We have the B2C thing figured out. We got ads. We kind of do everything here to generate leads online. But the big push next year is to just continually enhance and bring to market some B2B products. Because as you can imagine, we've helped so many people that are decision makers in corporate America, right? We've helped directors, VPs, executives that obviously go to companies and then have to do business with other businesses. So we're like, hey, You should just do business with us. We're trying to develop different training programs, et cetera, that corporate America would likely utilize anyway, right? And then kind of leverage those relationships of the people that we helped, call them, twist an arm, use our service. Yeah.

So why does somebody need you guys?

Yeah, so hey, I'm getting a job making 300 grand is not easy. No matter who you are, where you went to school, don't care if you went to Stanford, don't care how great of a sales leader you are. You know this by helping people create podcasts is getting attention. And just because you're great at what you do does not mean you can garner attention, right? So what happens is And let's be honest, how many jobs are people getting online to make 300 grand, 400 grand? Likely not many, right? So when you get up into these higher echelon levels, it's like, number one, everyone has the same experience you do. Everyone has the degree. Everyone has the certifications. Everyone has paid a resume writer. Well, now what? So how do you really stand out? How do you get in front of people that can actually hire you? What do you say to them? Right? How do you communicate to people on that interview? How do you have conversations about money? So typically, people find us because they're applying for jobs online and no one's calling them back. They know they're meant for something more, you know, they haven't left there. They're in a toxic situation. They don't even know how to start. Right. Or they've just had some rejection or they keep making it to the final rounds, but other people keep beating them out probably because we're not, they're not following some type of a process. So those are just a few of the reasons. Got it.

So you're, you're equipping people. You're not placing them. You're, you're, you're equipped, equipping them, training them, giving them the tools and resources they need in order to actually land the job.

In addition, though, to that is accurate. We have certification programs to make sure when they go on an interview, they know how to convert it into an offer. Plus, for us, we have lots of tips and tricks to help them generate interviews as well. I built an automated system a couple of years ago. And we primarily use that to generate interviews. It's pretty cool. But yes, this is a partnership. I always joke and say, you're right. Even though we do have a couple of companies we work for, and that's improving, but I always tell people, regardless of, even though I'm not placing you, even if I was, I can't go on these interviews for you, right? I can't tell you what are you interested in. So it's like, You know, that's like asking someone to, hey, Sebastian, I need help to grow my business. I can't tell you anything, but can you just grow my business for me and then I'll pay you money? That should just don't work, right? So we just have to work as a partnership in saying, Hey, what are you targeting? Let's build a message, right? Let's set up automated systems. And now let's send you through our certification programs and give you access to our community. So that's what we do on the B2C side.

So do they come in? So when they go apply for the job, they're like, Hey, we're certified. and we did this, this, and this, and this before we started applying, or is that all just work that they go and do?

No strategy we have here is applying for jobs. We know that doesn't work. Okay. We use an automated system. The name of the game now is to get your profile in front of as many people as you can, like every day. Right? So essentially what we're utilizing automated systems for is trying to garner attention of decision makers that might be apt to hire them. Let me give you an example too. So it's not, Because we're just we're one of the only companies that does this. Now, there's a competitor who's trying to steal it from me, but that's OK. It's all good in competition. But here's what we do. Right. Here's what we do. So imagine you're a director of sales and you want to work for a Fortune 500 company. you know the person who's going to hire you is a VP of sales. So on LinkedIn, we can go to the back end and say, who is all the Fortune 500 companies and technology? Hey, there's 80. Just making something up. There's 80. Great. How many VPs of sales are at those companies? Hey, 10,000. Great. System, get your information in front of those 10,000 people over the next 90 days. System will do that for you and actually help you generate those initial conversations.

And is that just an outreach message or is that a resume or is that okay?

It's an outreach message, but you don't need the resumes LinkedIn. Once they click your profile, that is your resume, right? So really, yeah.

I haven't had a job in like 23 years, so I don't even understand how the whole process works of getting hired anymore. Before I'd go in and fill out applications. I remember those days.

Back in the day you, you did it. Do you know what I mean? But just now that's just not effective. Right. Right. That's why the number one problem people have that they come to us is literally I keep applying for jobs online and no one calls me back. Think about it. You got we live in a remote world now, too. Just because you live in Sacramento, dude, you're competing with America. And if you're targeting something half a million, it's not just America. It's probably Canada, South America and Europe because those are very high pay brackets. They'll pay 20 grand to relocate someone in their family or 50 grand. Right. So really what happens is these job postings go live. 500 people apply in two days. It's one recruiter who graduated college four years ago, right? And he's the one. It just don't make sense, man. It doesn't make sense. The hiring process is broken.

Sure. What would you say the biggest bottleneck of this entire process is for you guys on what you do?

Yeah. We give someone their completed resume by a writer who's done 10,000. and they want to spend a month making sure this resume is perfect. I'm like, dude, no one cares about your resume. What do they care about? We need to get your information in front of people. They're not going to care. You know what I mean? Plus, a resume, it's subjective anyway. It's like saying a piece of art is good or not. You could see that piece of art and be like, hey, this is one of my favorite photos, and I'd be like, I don't like it. that it's just, it's perspective. Do you know what I mean? So a lot of people, man, they just overthink so much in life in general and the resumes one. So one of the hiccups is like, dude, finalize your resume. It's been 30 days. You could be on the second or third round of interviews. What are we doing? You know, it's never going to be perfect. Right. Yeah.

So I like to think, you know, based on our conversation so far, I'm trying to wrap my head around what you do. And I think I've got a good, got a good understanding of it. Is it in this, maybe something you guys are already working on this, what you mentioned earlier about the B2B site on here, like, what does it look like to go to the companies that are doing the hiring and saying, we already have the talent here that come to us so that we can school them and get them groomed appropriately to get them in front of you so that, you know, it makes your life easier. Is there something you guys are doing with the, like the, the company that's hiring side versus just the people looking for jobs?

We just started doing that. We just started doing that. Cool. Because to be honest with you, I don't really like doing company placements. Here's why. The main reason is one of the reasons I exited out of the recruitment business the first time is because here's what happens if I got contracts from companies. Say you have a company and you're looking for someone, right? I'm going to bring you five people. You can only hire one. So immediately, the best case scenario is you're going to hire one, you're going to pay me some money, and then I'm going to have to call four people and say sorry. And I just got tired of calling those four people. The last year I did it, we made a bunch of money, and we placed good talented people. But man, I don't like calling those four people and saying, sorry, can't help you and can't do anything for you. So that is one of the downsides during the hiring process, you know, is you can only pick one. And here's what happens. You're always the owner is always going to pick the one that I don't think should get the job too, for whatever reason. So it's like, man, you should have put this guy. So those are just the challenges. But hey, people need to get hired. It makes sense for our business. And you're right, we have built just a phenomenal pipeline of talent. that has invested in themselves already. You know, most business owners, you know, would love someone who picks up a self-development book or has invested money in themselves because it's so abnormal. So, our whole talent has already paid us thousands of dollars, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars because their career is a priority, they want to level up, they want to get mentored, they want to get to where they're going faster, and business owners love those people. So, I'm like, Despite maybe how I feel about it, hey, I have an obligation to get in front of these business owners because we have a lot of really great people here where they could impact their business like significantly. So that's what we started doing this year.

So how did you resolve the whole I got to call the four? I always have to call the same four people and tell them to get a job at the same four people.

But well, now we have a bigger team. So I say, Megan, I need your help. Need to make some calls for me. Not at all.

Yeah. Well, you know, again, I'm a little biased when I say this, when I throw this idea out there, but like, you know, bridging the gap between you guys and the B2B world. I mean, there's not a better way to do that than a podcast. So, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. Interview and interview. Maybe, I mean, that may be on the chalkboard already, but that's the first thing that comes to mind is like, wow, you're entering into a new space. It's not really, it's not unfamiliar. It's just new for what you guys are doing, but there's just not fact. I'm doing that with my speaking business right now, as I've been doing it. 14 years now, but like the consistency of like, there's a difference between being a speaker and getting booked and paid to speak on stage, which is I'm primarily focused in 2025 that requires a tremendous amount of manual outreach. There's very little that you can get automated on, but I had a speaker coach on oddly enough on my show this week. And she said, I would make sure that you are inviting that person you're doing outreach to onto the show to learn more about their company, their events, and exactly what they're doing. So your email podcast interview, phone follow-up email, you got four layers right there. And I was like, wow, I'm getting schooled by my, by my own podcast guests. But I think we we've already started to enter that space where it's pretty common that if I want to do business with you, I'm probably going to answer to get you to answer on my podcast and make it all about you and create some rapport first before I'm going in for the ask or identifying, you know, if there's a, an opportunity at all. But I think there's going to continue to be, that is going to be the norm. So when people start to talk like, Oh, there are already too many podcasts out there, it's irrelevant because it's like, Oh, there's so funny.

Less than 1% of people even do like more than five episodes. It's like, dude, podcasting is, Yeah. The best possible. Yeah. No brainer. No brainer.

It'll be $130 billion industry by 2030. So I got a bright future ahead of me. I'm excited. Yeah. Well, Tim, it's been great to learn more about what you got going on. Clearly, you love what you do. You're deeply passionate about it, and you're good at it, too. That's always a plus, right? Yeah. So I want to encourage you to keep up the great work. Wishing you a great 2025, especially with the B2B side. Excited to see how that continues to unfold for you guys. Any final thoughts for our listeners?

have goals, always be working towards a target. You know, I work with a lot of people that are late in their career. And I know that, you know, some of them don't even have targets late in their career. And I'm like, man, man, you know, something that changed for me a couple years ago was I started getting just more focused on, you know, what I wanted out of life. And it's, you know, definitely transpired to something to be, you know, really a positive impact in my life. So have targets, stay focused, have goals, work on them every day. That's all I got.

Love it. Great final thoughts. Thanks again for your time, Tim. I really appreciate it, brother. Have a good day. You too. Until next time, friends. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story podcast. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. We sure do appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios. We'll talk to you next time.