Candidate Coaching
Candidate coaching for digital, marketing and creative professionals
Candidate coaching at KYO is practical work on the mechanics of a job search: the resume, the LinkedIn profile, how applicant tracking systems really work, how to use a network the way a recruiter does, and how to use AI without sounding like everyone else who used AI. It is not motivational and it is not a course. It is a recruiter telling you, directly, why you are not getting called back.
Why do qualified people not hear back?
Two reasons, and neither is the one people assume. The first is that the resume does not contain the words the recruiter is actually searching on, so it never surfaces in the search that was run. The second is speed and volume: a posted role draws a large number of applications quickly, the recruiter works the first credible set, and the role gets filled. If you applied late, or your document did not come back in the search, you were not rejected so much as never seen.
The Journal goes through the mechanics of that in more detail in how to get a resume past an applicant tracking system.
What does the coaching cover?
- 01The resume. Leading with outcomes rather than responsibilities, and making the first half page answer the question the reader has.
- 02Applicant tracking systems. What they genuinely do, what breaks a parse, and which words need to be on the page.
- 03LinkedIn. A headline that says what you do rather than where you work, and a profile that matches the titles on your resume.
- 04Network. How to use it the way recruiters do, which is specific and unembarrassing, not a mass message.
- 05AI in your search. Using it to structure and tighten your own specifics rather than to produce generic copy that reads as interchangeable.
What actually breaks a resume in an applicant tracking system?
| What people do | What it does to the file | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Two-column layouts and text in tables | The parser reads across, so dates attach to the wrong employer | One column, top to bottom |
| Contact details in the header or footer | Many parsers skip those regions, so the file arrives with no email address | Put them in the body of the document |
| Skill bars, icons and text inside graphics | Invisible to both a parser and a keyword search | Write the skills as text |
| Invented section headings | Nothing maps, so experience lands in the wrong field | Use Experience, Education, Skills |
| A PDF that is really a scan or an image | Nothing can be read at all | Export as text-based PDF, and check you can select the text |
Is coaching the same as being represented for a role?
No, and the two are kept separate on purpose. Coaching is coaching, and it belongs to you. Representation happens only when there is a live role that genuinely fits, and only with your explicit yes. Being coached does not put you into a client process by default, and your details are not circulated as a resume in a database.
How representation works is set out on the For Talent page.
Who is this for?
People in digital, marketing and creative, usually at senior individual contributor level or above, who are either running a search that is not converting or who want to be ready before they start one. It is equally useful for someone who is not looking yet but wants their profile to be findable when a recruiter goes searching, which is most of how senior roles actually get filled.
Get in touch
Send your resume and tell Kelly what is not working
Email is the fastest way in. A call can follow if it would help.
kelly.yosten@kyosearchpartners.comCommon Questions
Do you charge candidates to be placed?
- No. Placement fees are paid by the hiring company. Coaching is a separate engagement.
Will you tell me my resume is fine when it is not?
- No.
I am not actively looking. Is this still useful?
- Often more useful. Recruiters source directly, so a findable profile works while you are not looking in a way that a submitted application never does.
Do you only coach people you might place?
- No. The two are separate engagements, and coaching is not a route into a client process unless you ask for it to be.