Leslie Ayres, The Job Search Guru. Embrace your inner job search. Get Real, Get Smart, Get Hired with blogs, videos, job search tips and advice, career guidance, ebooks, career coaching, resume services, resume writing, cover letters, job interview tips and more.

Embrace Your Inner Job Search and Get Your Perfect Job.

I'm The Job Search Guru because I'm your no-bull, on-your-side, walk-the-talk guide to knowing – and getting—the perfect job for you...

The REAL you.

The foundation of my approach is the super-simple and powerful Inner Job Search process that I've developed over decades in the industry. In no time at all, it opens your eyes to what YOUR perfect job looks like and gets you ready for a totally rocking Outer Job Search.

It's all about being real. It's about being true to yourself. No pretense. No settling. No squeezing into some box of a job and a life to please others. Just be honest with yourself and about yourself, and you can carve out a career that works for the REAL you.

NBC Career Blogger, Author of Be Real Career Guidance System, Over 10,000 Job Seekers Helped

My knowledge comes from 25 years as a hiring insider.

As a staffing agency recruiter, internal hiring manager and executive search consultant, I have interviewed, advised and coached more than 10,000 job seekers.

I’ve placed CEOs, administrative staff, mega-earning sales superstars, marketing consultants, software brainiacs, financial officers and scientists. I’ve worked with hundreds of companies from mom and pop businesses to Fortune 50 conglomerates and every corporate culture in between.

I’m an active executive recruiter, so I know what’s going on right this minute.

I spend about half of my time finding rockstar senior executives for early-stage startups, which keeps me in the thick of things. I know what your competition is doing when it comes to resumes, cover letters, social networking, interviews, salary negotiations and every part of the job search quest.

I write blogs and books to share career information and inspiration.

In addition to the articles here on my site, you’ll find me over at NBC Universal’s website WorkGoesStrong.com, where I’m the resident career expert talking about job searches, business culture and career tips. I’ve been quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News and Wired. I’ve written several books about jobs and careers; my newest book is called Be Real: The Simple Secret to Knowing the Perfect Job for You.

I love to speak to groups about how to get a job.

I share my message about how to get the perfect job for you at high schools, universities, trade associations, community centers, and conferences, and I present seminars on resumes, interviewing and what you need to know to get a job in today’s market. You may also find me at technology events talking about how to hire great people for your startup company.

I’ve been on the “this job sucks” side of the desk, too, so I feel your pain.

Believe it or not, at current count, I’ve had 55 jobs in my life, including some great career adventures and some agonizingly bad situations.

At 18, I was California’s youngest insurance agent and at 48, I managed an international pop band on an island in Thailand. I ran operations for a top-tier staffing company and spent quality years with a naming and branding company and an up-and-coming ad agency. I was a spokesperson for the future of nightlife (which got me quoted in Rolling Stone and the Village Voice, on BBC, CBS, featured on a national talk show and speaking on stages in front of thousands), and I’ve written brochures for Starbucks, guidebooks for executive education programs and blogs for one of the biggest media companies on the planet.

I’ve had jobs I’ve loved and jobs I couldn’t wait to quit... and you know what?

The jobs I loved the most fit my personal checklist of the perfect job for me, and the jobs I hated didn’t.
Happiness in a job is easily predictable, if you know what to look for.

That’s why I’m a guide for your inner job search.

It’s not just about getting the job… it’s about getting the RIGHT job, and the sooner, the better. Few things are sadder than meeting someone who has invested years into a career they never really liked, when they could have been in a job that brought them happiness. Please don’t be that person.

Necessity is the mother of job search coaching.

It was after the dotcom bust of 2001, when a lot my client companies went out of business and a lot of my candidates lost their careers overnight, that I started putting my get-a-job know-how into a system.

I began giving seminars, speeches and doing one-on-one coaching and sessions to help people discover their own personal checklist and to create a vision and a plan for what comes next… down to even the small things that, when it comes down to it, actually make a huge difference.

Knowing the little things you need is a key to long-term job happiness.

People often say to me, “You are so lucky to do what you do!” I tell them it’s not luck… it’s because I put some real thought into seeing what I wanted in my life, creating my own personal formula for success, down to the details.

For instance, my own personal perfect-job checklist includes no morning phone calls, working virtually on my own schedule and a workspace with natural sunlight. Small things, maybe, but these are things that shape my life.

Your list might include being physically active, working for a mentor-style boss, generous tuition reimbursement, doing something that helps children or being able to wear whatever the heck you want to work.

The formula for each of us is different, and when we get it right, we set ourselves up for an amazing life, filled with the experiences we love, around the kinds of people we want to be around, doing that thing we love so much we lose track of time when we’re doing it.

That’s the kind of job I want you to have – a job that gives you the life you want to have and brings you true happiness -- and that’s why I do what I do, and why they call me The Job Search Guru.

I’m here as a source of information and inspiration.

So you see that I’m both a subject matter expert and a real person, grounded and with a big heart and a whole lot of experience in the most effective way to get the perfect job for you.

My advice is solid, because I know my stuff and I walk the walk.

I’ve created a life that works for me on just about every level. Naturally, your life will look entirely different, because you are YOU, but the secrets to getting there really are universal… know yourself first, learn what the ingredients are that you need to be happy, and then take actions to get that rolling.

My mission is to change the world by inspiring you to be yourself, and by teaching you how to know the perfect job for you, and then showing you how to make that happen.
Are you ready? Let’s do it!

Leslie Ayres, The Job Search Guru

How The Resume Review Works

  1. Click Get Started and fill out the form. I'll respond to you by email within one business day (not including weekends).
  2. In my response, I'll send you a link to a more detailed form with some questions about your situation and the kind of job you're aiming for, and I'll give you instructions on where to email your resume.
  3. I'll include a PayPal link, and when I get notice of payment and receive your answers to the questions, I'll go to work.
  4. I will carefully review your resume, and write up my thoughts and suggestions in detail for you. Comments will include notes about the message your resume is sending, as well as specific input on ways to better structure it, notes of problems with spelling and grammar, and all of my suggestions about changes to make.
  5. Within two business days (again, not including weekends), I'll email your Resume Review Report will be a MS Word document which I'll send you as an attachment.

Please Note: The Resume Review is a report with my comments, and I don't make any changes to your actual resume. You will have to make the recommended changes to your own resume, so you should either be confident with MS Word or have someone who can help you. If you're not sure you can handle that, you might be better going for The Resume Polish instead, where I make the changes for you.

Seven-Day Upgrade Offer: Once you receive your Resume Review Report, upgrade to a Resume Polish or Resume Restart within seven days, and I'll credit you $75.

How The Resume Polish Works

  1. Click Get Started and fill out the form. I'll respond to you by email within one business day (not including weekends).
  2. I'll send you a more detailed form with some questions about you, your personal style, your personality and the jobs you want to go after, along with instructions on where to email your resume.
  3. I'll include a PayPal link, and when payment is complete and I get your form back, we'll schedule a telephone interview so I can get a better idea of what you need your resume to target and to clarify any questions and information on your old resume.
  4. Then I'll go to work, reformatting the design, and editing, re-ordering and polishing up the content to make your resume look and sound like a winner.
  5. Within two business days of our phone call, I'll email a polished resume that looks clean and clear, is more tightly written, and that presents your background in a more powerful way, so it will stand out among your competition. I'll also send you a text version with formatting changed to work best for job boards and online and corporate system postings.
  6. If there is anything you don't like, or you find any errors or typos, just let me know and I'll make it right.

Please Note: Sometimes a resume is beyond repair or polishing. If your current resume is very long, is densely packed with information that is not easy to edit, or is extremely technical, I might need to either charge you more for the extra time, or recommend that you consider a complete Resume Rewrite. If that's the case, I'll email you and let you know what I'd suggest.

Seven-Day Upgrade Offer: If you started with the Resume Review, upgrade to The Resume Polish within seven days and get a $75 credit.

How The Resume Restart Works

  1. Click Get Started and fill out the form. I'll respond to you by email within one business day (not including weekends).
  2. I'll send you a detailed form with questions about you, your personal style, your personality and the specifics of a the jobs you want to go after, along with instructions on how to return that form with your resume.
  3. I'll also include a PayPal link, and when payment is complete and I get your form back, we will schedule an in-depth telephone interview. My times for phone calls are weekday afternoons Pacific time, but if necessary, we can set up an evening call. The purpose of the phone call is so I can get to know you, to get a better idea of what you need your resume to target and, to clarify any questions about the information on your old resume, and I may have requests for additional information from you.
  4. Then I'll go to work, creating a format, layout and design that suits your personality, level, industry, and that works for the story you want to tell. I'll write the text, summarizing your jobs and accomplishments to feature your strengths as they relate to the job you're aiming for.
  5. Within three business days of our phone call, I'll send you the first draft, and we'll schedule a phone call to talk about it. Even the best resume writer won't choose the same words you would, or describe your jobs the way you would, so there will always be changes for accuracy, terminology or clarity, and this phone call is so we can work together to further refine it. I'll then make the revisions within one business day and will email the revised version to you for final proofing and changes.
  6. I'll make any final edits, and return the final document to you as an MS Word document. I'll also send you a text version with the formatting changed so it works best for job boards and corporate online systems.