How to Get Your Dream Job When Nobody is Hiring | Ask Mr. Wonderful Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary

Hi everybody! Welcome to another episode of Ask Mr. Wonderful. Now this week, we got a deal with the 10,000-pound gorilla in the room, and there are 30 million-plus people out of work right now. It's extraordinary, unprecedented, and the majority of the questions have to do with that—about being laid off, about what to do next, about businesses that have basically collapsed. I mean, I can't answer all these questions, but what I'm gonna try and do is take a few here that I think, you know, address a lot of issues.

I mean, it's heartbreaking to read this stuff. It's just brutal, and I get it, I get it. But, you know, these are unprecedented times. What do you do when you have to shut down an economy? But at the same time, let's address it. Well, I want to give some advice on how to communicate to people when you're looking for employment. I mean, because that's really what these questions are about. How do you do that? You know, I look at dozens and dozens of resumes every day. I mean, people are sending me stuff, you know, and also for all the companies I'm an investor in, and by the way, they're hurting too. It's not like it's a free lunch for anybody here.

But I want to talk—let's deal with this one, Andraia, 'cause this was a good one—it's short, sweet, right to the point. "Just got laid off, even though my company got PPP two weeks ago. I did all the social media, I worked with all the online platforms to generate sales, and now I have no job. What should I do?" To think that that's not an essential job in this world is a huge mistake. What's happening now is companies that had retail operations obviously have to shut them down, and it's more important than ever to be able to reach out and communicate directly with the customer.

So, in this case, let's talk about Andraia trying to get redeployed—re-employed. So here's the things that matter the most: If you have a skill, she was running social media, sounds like, and let's make the assumption that Andre is good at what she does. I mean, you have to start there. I'm always an optimist about people because otherwise, why would they have kept her during good times? So she knows what she's doing.

Here's the way to get re-employed in this incredibly hard time: First of all, I know it sounds mundane, but you have to keep your resume current. You know, who are you? But it doesn't have to be fifteen pages. I keep telling people never make it more than three paragraphs. Nobody's going to read more than that. In fact, the first few sentences are the most important because there're so many people looking for work.

Start with LinkedIn, although it matters on every platform, but I'm just saying LinkedIn right now is getting inundated with people putting up their posts about who they are and how they can fix things. So number one is draft three paragraphs—that's one page—on who you are and why you can help a business. What is it about you that is so good that someone would want to take you? Believe me, you're competing with a lot of other people. But in the first sentence, something like, "I increased online sales for the company I just got fired from by 400% in two quarters." It's gotta be a lot; it's got to be a grabber.

It's not like where I went to high school or my dog's name was Kippy and I went, you know, I coached soccer. No one gives a [ __ ]. This is an extraordinary time. What they want to know is what can you do for them now to help their business? Now, what can you do right now to help in this extraordinarily difficult situation? So, it's always about, "I can help you generate revenue. I can solve your IT problem. I can do this. I can do that," but it's direct in the first sentence about you.

Number one. Number two—and look, you may not like this—but there's so much competition, there's so many people unemployed that you have to be ready to work for free for a while. Now this is a trick that I learned over in Europe. Many people in Europe are what's called apprentices, and they come into a company to prove their net worth. They come in to show that they can do something. You need to do the same thing.

Think about this: You're already fired. You're sitting on the sofa; you're doing that anyway. What if you could stay in your home and work online for somebody to prove that you can increase sales in the case of Andraia? I hear this idea of showing a company—you know, obviously, you have to scan to try and find who that is in your local region. I'd suggest do it in case they even want to meet with you. But you might as well go nationwide at the same time because you basically need to be a digital assistant and say, "Look, give me 30 days for free. I'll work for free—for nothing. Just let me show you what I can do for you for just 30 days. Let me show you how I can actually help you drive sales."

If you can do that, if you're in her case, if she's really good on social, what can she do for a business? Any business to show that she can help it for 30 days—that gets you in the door. That's what you need right now—the ability just to show your net worth to somebody. Because once you become part of the solution, they're not gonna let you go. And even if you have to work for a second month for free—so what? You're sitting on your ass anyways, but now you're starting to show yourself to somebody.

And by that third month, maybe 60 days, now they say, "You know what? This is working. Can we make you a contractor? Can we pay her every week? Can we do something?" That is what I'm telling a ton of people to do. But there's certain metrics: get that resume to three paragraphs about how fantastic you are and what you've done to help your current boss, or the one that just fired you.

Number two: Put a picture of yourself up there so they connect with you. Do a video—make it 30 seconds. Stick it on that post of who you are. But the most important is you will do it for free for up to 60 days. You will work for free! Stop whining about it; just try it once you get in there. Once your DNA is in that business, once you're solving problems, they can’t let you go. Whether you're good or you're not, either you can make this work or you can't. But in these times, why not take a shot at that?

Don't make that resume, don't make that pitch about you more than three paragraphs. Nobody's going to read it. Nobody! They're gonna read the first paragraph, so think real hard. And if you're not good at writing, connect with somebody who is, okay?

Second piece of advice: Keep your network broad and wide and active. Don't sit there at home just watching movies all day. You gotta spend at least 20% of your day reaching out, staying connected with people that you worked with before, keeping your social platform active. That's how, when we get out of this mess, you're gonna get a new job even if they don't hire you back. You know that this word furlough you're seeing everywhere? Don't make the assumption they're gonna hire you back. Many businesses are gonna realize, "Well, I can downsize as a result of this opportunity," and they may be one of the people they never bring you back for.

I mean, they just cut you out. That could happen. I mean, it's an opportunity to reboot many companies, and they're going to take advantage of it. Unfortunately, now you may have a position that they'll bring back; you may not. The other thing to be aware of in America today is at least 20% of the people in large and small companies are going to get the opportunity to work at home forever as a result. Many companies are going to cut back on the amount of commercial, you know, office space they use, or the amount of retail space they use.

America 2.0 is gonna be far leaner and meaner, but in better opportunities in some cases! Let's say you're taking care of an aging parent, you're raising kids, or you don't want to commute. You don't want to buy a car; you want to save money that way. Maybe you're one of those people. And the way to get that opportunity is to prove that you can do it now, which is why my whole thing is, "Alright, you'll work for free from wherever you are." It doesn't matter where you are. What matters is: Can you solve a problem?

I want to read another one, and this one really got me because there are so many restaurants that are wiped out. "Hi Mr. Wonderful, I had a fantastic catering business and a small restaurant operation. 70% of our business was to corporate. We would make those lunches that they pick up, and we did a fantastic business doing that. We knew our customers wanted lunch every day, buffet-style. And then all these offices closed. What do I do? I've lost 70% of my business."

Alright, so here's the story: She applied for PPP through her bank and didn't get it, but her payroll company came through and she got the PPP. So there's really two questions there. First of all, this interesting information—if you are a small business, and this is a small restaurant with catering. Now obviously, if 70% of your business is to corporations, you're basically out of luck because no one's gonna cater for a nighttime—we're not much.

So she was making big lunches in the boardroom style—you know, those big aluminum things, and people go in and scoop the lasagna or spaghetti or whatever. It wasn't a salad. Okay, so that's one issue we're gonna deal with a second. But what I want to say about the PPP: a lot of people are talking about, "Well, my bank isn't giving it to me; I didn't get through; I got cut off." There's nothing in the PPP rule, the Payroll Protection Program, if you have a small business, that says you can only apply in one bank.

But she did; she went to multiple banks, or in her case, the payroll company. Now, many, many different financial institutions, including payroll companies, can provide these loans—in this case, so she was smart. She went in on her bank but her payroll company, and they came through first. You're only getting out one loan—it's not I'm suggesting fraud here. I'm just saying you can apply at many different financial institutions in your region, and maybe one of them will get it for you, which she got.

Now let's address the catering business. The bottom line is nobody's ever going to want to see a big vat of food anymore. That's all done because of health reasons. People are worried about the spread of the virus, obviously. So the new catering business, which is going to emerge as businesses open up, they're still gonna want to eat lunch. It's going to be individual portions in small plastic containers. And here's how you have to reboot your business if you're in the catering space, and I'm now speaking to every caterer, okay?

I want to see on your website how clean your operations are. How cleanliness is now the number one issue for you? I want to see it scrubbed down. I want you to talk about how when you prepare food, the hairnets are on, the full, you know, whites, or whatever it is you have, and how you're wearing gloves and how you're wearing a mask. You're gonna have to do this—this is the new 2.0. People have to feel confident, and it can't be [ __ ]. You actually have to do this; you've got to be super clean now in preparing because I just went through this with another in my portfolio of companies—how this has to work.

You're gonna offer four different basic lunches: Chicken number one, beef number two, a full vegan offering—vegan lasagna is a good one, alright? The point is it's all standard; you gotta throw a fish into it. So you're gonna have a salmon or mackerel—Cod's very popular too. So think about it: your proteins are gonna be beef; they're gonna be chicken; they're gonna be a lasagna perhaps; a vegetarian; and you're gonna have a fish. You could choose like basically, you know, soy salmon or miso Cod—those are the two that are really, really popular for those lunches.

So pick one. The reason you're only going to do four is you need to have standardized purchasing of your protein. So let's say you're now gonna provide catering. Some companies are moving back up, so they're gonna order lunch. But the images of your menu are all in individual containers because that's how people are going to get them. The salad is in an individual container; the dressings are in a packet; the knife and fork are already sealed in a plastic package with the napkin.

These already existed before coronavirus! Alright, but the point is there is no big vat of food anymore; you're not gonna sell that to anybody. You're gonna have to get used to making individual portions. Let people on your website, or even if you're gonna provide a checkoff menu, choose one of those proteins. The salad is standard; it’s the same; it's a mixed green salad. Everybody gets the same thing— that lets you prepare the same. You've got to simplify this thing!

Alright, and the pricing is going to be slightly higher because that's gonna be your costs. They're gonna be now individualized. But everybody feels comfortable if they're opening up their own lunch, and it's just basically their own unique package. And the last thing, because you can put a little sticky seal on it that you put your brand name on it, and you're prepared it, and you sealed it, and it's super clean—that's the only way this is gonna work.

So when, if you've got 20 people in a boardroom or it's maybe virtual, they're going into the board, and they will get it and go back to their area of work, which is more likely gonna happen—it's all individualized. This is starting to come back now. There are some companies that are putting up to five, six people at work, even in New York City—that's happening. Everybody's wearing a mask, but they need lunch, and they want to get it from somebody they know is preparing it cleanly in a very clean way, but it's all individual packaging.

So that's how that's going to work. Now, I want to talk about a third issue too, and I'm gonna use myself as an example. I was going out of my mind sitting here the first month; I was going crazy, and I've got so many investments that are suffering and struggling. I thought, "What can I do to help them?" You know, I worked in getting PPP loans. I actually helicoptered money into some places where I needed to invest to keep them alive and keep them open because it was important for them to do that.

I'm gonna give you a couple of examples. You know, back when I was 20 years ago—30 years ago—I was a construction worker for a while. I put rebar into cinder blocks; I was a bricklayer for a while. These were summer jobs I had trying to put myself through school in college. I got a job once as a gaffer for a company that did sports television. They were filming volleyball games and college football games and stuff like that. I was slinging beer at nights to put myself through college, and then I took the job as a gaffer.

Gaffers kind of run around, set up the lights, take down the cables and all that stuff. But from that business, I eventually got trained how to be a cameraman, then a sound man, then a film editor. I never lost those skills; I still have them. Many of you are in the same situation. You have things you did a long time ago; they don't leave you—it's like riding a bicycle; you remember them forever. So I said, "Okay, well maybe I can help my companies as a social media guy. I mean, a lot of people know who I am. So maybe I can record my own commercials right here in this kitchen and help some of my companies."

Because I know how to edit; I know how to record; I know how to do stuff from those days, 20-30 years ago, when I was doing that. And I never lost my editing skills, so I just got my chops instead of editing on a platesteenbeck, which was film—like literally film—I learned how to use Premiere Pro, an Adobe product. It's the same basic idea; it's digital! Right? Go back to your roots and find something that you can do that you've learned a long time ago.

Maybe your career's stalled, maybe you're not gonna get hired, maybe you want to work as a bricklayer. Yeah! I know how to do that. But I can make these commercials! So I've been every day I get up in the morning, I say to my companies, "What can I do for you?" I'll give you an example. You know, and I know this is, you know, maybe you're gonna say it’s crap promotion for one of my companies. Yeah, but so what? It’s a great example—LovePop greeting cards! Fantastic company. They had lots of retail stores because when you purchase, when you actually purchase a greeting card, it's often in a store.

So we had little stores all over the malls in America—they're all shut down, but the company didn't say, "Oh, woe is me!" They said, "Well, what can we do to direct to our customers?" which is the right thing to do. You think of it that way, and they came up with an idea for Mother's Day, which is happening this weekend. Instead of making a greeting card, they made these flowers cheaper than ordering real flowers! These are beautiful; they're pieces of art!

And they said to me, "Hey Kevin, can you record a commercial?" So I shot this course, understand, right now, right here in the kitchen. I did it because I know how to do it, and they used them on social media to help, and they sold millions of dollars worth of these! Now, this is a fantastic idea, and I like to think I helped.

Also, Benji Locke— I don't know if you remember this deal—these locks that, you know, obviously are one of our biggest ways of selling it! It was in retail, and we're not doing that anymore, so what could we do on social media? What could we do? So I called my friends at QVC and I said, "Hey guys, could we try and sell these Benji locks? I think everybody in America would like to have one of these!"

You know, maybe your bicycle helmet—hook it up to your bike; close your purse, your duffel bag, whatever it is, but it's a great product. And would you let me try to sell it to rec? And then I also said, "Why don't I shoot some—why don't I do something with what I know socially?" So now that we're all quarantined, I'm working with all my companies trying to get stuff out.

As we have to switch from retail distribution, now we've got to go back and do online. We have to work with, you know, Amazon; we gotta work with QVC; we gotta sell direct. So I'm shooting some video now for one of my companies—you may have heard of called Benji Locke. This is a really interesting technology; this is the first fingerprint lock that also has a key.

Let me show you the travel version of it as well! So look at this—I mean, I'm gonna be filming this for QVC! I'm gonna go live on QVC with this thing, and I want to show people how you can basically use a lock like this with your finger and open it up. It's amazing technology. See how that works? But I gotta produce some social media before we go nuts, and so what I've done is I've tried to set up a shot here—I'm using an industrial lens to actually get rather interesting images of this lens going right through the locks.

So I've set up a program that says, "Okay, come out for the shot, then go zooming back in," and we're gonna get some really interesting images of these locks that we can use in the social media for the whole QVC thing. It's a great shot! You can see it right there! Yeah! We're doing it in the kitchen—that's my whole point. Every year, the technology gets cheaper. As long as you stay current with it, you understand how to use it—that's the whole key.

Why not use your skills from, you know, the past to create new employment? If I can help my company sitting here, you know, stuck in my little studio, Miami prison for the next—I've been here two months already—but every day I shoot more stuff, and I try and do as much as I can to help them out. So for Benji Locke, it's get this social media shot, cut it, post it, push eyeballs to QVC, sell locks— that's the plan! And the same for all my companies under that for anybody.

But the whole point is, use your skill sets from the past to help your businesses today or get a job today or do whatever it is you have to do. Because I don't care—every year of your life, you're learning something, and you don't forget it. You can bring it back now! You know, I remember the gaffer days when I wrapped tape around light poles, and then the editing days, and then the sound days and the camera days.

Well, here I am doing it all over again. That's my whole point! And you can do the same thing! In America 2.0, it may not be the job you lost that's going to be the job you get back. It may be a skill you learned a long time ago. And people say, "Well, yeah, I used to sling beer." Yeah, so did I! And if I was really facing dire straits, I'd go back and do that again—if and when we're slinging beer again. But maybe some other skills that you had, maybe you were a copywriter, maybe you're a graphic designer, maybe you were a film editor like I was.

Maybe you're gonna bring these things back. And by the way, I’d rather get up in the morning and do this stuff than sit on my ass because you're just gonna get depressed. I don't care who you are, how much money you have or don't have—you have to have a purpose for your day. And it's gotta be a routine. And I talked about that a lot last week about routine and what it takes.

But now I'm talking about employing yourself, making yourself useful to others, and finding a new way to make money. And I think in America 2.0, it's those skills that you might have done decades ago that are gonna come back and help you. Whatever it is, redefine yourself. Find out what you're good at; put it down on paper and reach out and offer to do that skill for free for up to 60 days. You know, I know people who say, "What, are you nuts?" No, I'm not nuts!

You think about this pandemic. Can you imagine this pandemic thirty years ago when there was no social media? When you would have been isolated in a way we can't even communicate with anybody except by a telephone, maybe? And you wouldn't know who to dial? I mean, now you can reach out to millions of people on social, and yeah, there are lots of other people doing it, but it's a way of communicating we never had.

And now it's gonna redefine. And by the way, technology's made it easy—all of these web, you know, video platforms you can use to reach out to people. I'm kind of just throwing it at the wall, saying, "Do things that you know you're good at!" And make sure you don't spend your whole day just sitting on your ass watching movies! That is not who you are! That can be incredibly depressing.

I've got hundreds of emails about people who have lost their jobs, and you know, somebody's lost their job. The key is to stay healthy, if you can, and redefine who you are. Until next week, take care and stay healthy and stay wonderful.

Listen to this email: I'm getting a lot just like it. "Dear Mr. Wonderful, my brother and I have been 50/50 partners in a liquor and wine store for 18 years. After the virus hit, he decided he did not want to show up to work anymore, but asked me to send him $2,000 a week as an equity owner. He said, quote unquote, 'Take it out of my half, and we could settle up later.' My wife and I are now working 18 hours a day to keep the store afloat with curbside service and deliveries to all the apartments and condos around us. This is a horrible situation because my wife and brother are now really pissed at me. My brother thinks you're an [ __ ] on Shark Tank but would trust your opinion. What do you think my next move should be? Help us, thank you!"

Michael, you know, I'm getting inundated with questions like this. Just a mountain of them! Obviously, in the world today, there's a huge amount of disputes. And nothing kills the momentum of business, large or small, like a money dispute—and in this case, family as well. So I've asked my friends at CNBC to help. I mean, I can't curate all these questions, but I think thematically, there's some great things to deal with here. So I've asked them to set up a site they have; we're gonna let you post your video there, and I'm gonna answer as many as I can.

I know I can't solve all the problems in the world, but I can answer as many as I can! And we're gonna try and pick the right themes out of all those. So use your phone, put a video together, make it real easy, and go to cnbc.com/moneydispute. Let me know what the issue is; I'm gonna try to help. Thank you! And by the way, my friends, stay healthy! Stay safe! Take care.

Now I have a great email here because it gives me a chance to talk about the five things you need to know to get hired! And I think there's gonna be millions of people over the next six to nine months as things normalize looking for work because we know there're over 30 million that have been laid off, which is unprecedented. So, I think this is very important information.

This is from Finola. Now Finola is an Irish name. I love that name! "Hi Mr. Wonderful, my name is Finola. I'm a controller at a civil engineering firm—accountant, basically—that's just been furloughed. That means fired? Yeah, I know what that means, Finola; it's not good news! Before I got laid off, I'd been talking to a competitor, and they sounded interested in hiring me for slightly higher pay, so I was interested. Now they formalized the process and have asked me to come in with a resume next week to do an interview. Well, I think that's good news! Can you give me some tips?"

Yeah, Finola, you've come to the right place! I'm gonna give you five tips, and I want everybody who's interested in figuring out how to get hired or wants to get hired to listen to these because I'm gonna treat it as if I'm hiring you, okay? I've done a lot of interviews in my time; these are the things that matter.

So, let's start with this: you gotta perfect your resume! I don't need to know the job description of every place you've ever worked; I need to know what you accomplished that was something the average Joe wouldn't have done. I don't hire for competence; I hire people who routinely go above and beyond what's adequate. You've gotta communicate that! Don't leave blank spaces on your resume—that's number two. Plenty of people have gaps in their work experience; try and fill your time with things that matter to you. Just because you don't know a full-time job doesn't mean it isn't time to go and be idle!

Get a volunteer gig or show your compassion and energy; take an online course—show you want to better yourself. I don't like to see gaps in a resume; nobody who hires does, so be careful when you're filling it out. You're doing something all the time!

When you do the interview, number three: watch your body language. If you're shaking your knee nervously or anxiously picking your nails at a time when we're meeting, how can I trust you to confidently represent my company in a high-stakes meeting?

I like some peace and quiet, but focus on a similar vein; this is number four: dress the part. It doesn't always mean a three-piece suit and a hot watch. Look, if you're in financial services or something, a tie's a good idea. But if you're a coder, I don't care if you wear a t-shirt and jeans; it’s what the other people are wearing. You don't want to stick out like a sore thumb. Okay? Look, you don't need cufflinks if you're a coder; I just want to know if you can code.

Number five: Show me you know how to plan for yourself and from my company. How does the job I'm hiring for fit into your career and life plan? I don’t want to hire somebody who’s there for a one-off, in-between job or leaves disappointed that the job I gave them didn't lead to a career trajectory they had hoped for.

I don't want to hire someone who joins my company and thinks they're just going to be comfortable. In business it's good; I always want business to be great. I want to be growing! My staff only knows how to think ahead; good business isn't good enough! We're constantly working and planning towards being better. If you can communicate that in a job interview, I'm gonna hire you, and so is everybody else.

So Finola, good luck! Stay focused; stay at peace when you're in that interview, but make sure you're explaining to them how you can make it better for your boss. That's the key to success. Be thinking that, and good luck!