(I’m trying out a new format for the Remote Life OS: Jobs Newsletter. Love it? Hate it? LMK in the poll at the bottom 👇)
Last Friday, I caught up with my old colleague, David.
We were trained the same way. We learned the same approach to landing jobs: cold outreach, smart networking, adding value, etc.
But he was frustrated.
“I’ve only heard back from one person. This worked great years ago. Now everyone’s doing it. There’s too much noise.”
He’s right.
The tactics that worked in 2019 are table stakes now.
So what do you do?
You have three options:
- Find new strategies
- Send more personalized messages
- Play a longer game than everyone else
Option 3 is the most interesting. Because it requires less work, yet it’s the hardest to do.
Most people quit after two weeks. They give up after one polite rejection or radio silence.
But if you stick around? If you follow up one month, three months, six months down the line?
You’ll break through.
🎬 Spotlight: MasterClass
🔬 Deep research is the secret to standing out in your application, cover letter, and interviews. Every newsletter, I’ll do that research for you with one company with open roles from this newsletter, so you can skip the work and improve your application.
🏢 What they do:
Streaming platform offering courses from world’s best instructors across diverse subjects
📍 Headquarters:
San Francisco, California
👤 Employee count:
772
📈 Employee growth:
6% YoY growth (730 → 772 employees)
🗒️ Company reviews:
3.2/5 ⭐ rating (101 reviews) | 54% CEO approval
💸 Funding stage:
Series F
⚔️ Competitors:
Coursera, Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, Skillshare
📓 Three key initiatives:
- MasterClass Certificates: MasterClass Certificates is an explicit product line of multi-hour, co-created certificate programs run in partnership with institutions and organizations (examples include The Moonshot Factory, Navy SEAL Foundation, and NVIDIA), offering multi-hour programs and shareable certificates. Source: MasterClass Certificates page
- People Intelligence: People Intelligence is a product/learning offering focused on interpersonal skills to help members ‘read, lead, and influence’ in professional settings, announced in the MasterClass Newsroom. Source: MasterClass Newsroom / Press
- AI Instructor Experiences: AI-powered instructor experiences, representing an initiative to extend instructor-led content with AI-driven interactions and experiences. Source: MasterClass Newsroom / Press
✈️ Remote work stance:
MasterClass offers a hybrid work model! 🏡
The company has offices in San Francisco (HQ) and Kitchener, Ontario, with teams having flexibility to choose which days they meet in person.
Some roles are eligible for remote work in specific locations (CA, NY, WA in the USA) or hybrid arrangements in Kitchener, with compensation varying based on location according to their location-based strategy.
🤖 Featured AI Tool: Agentic Browsers (Comet, Atlas, etc.)
Agentic browsers like Comet (Perplexity’s browser agent) and Atlas from OpenAI just launched. You’re about to see a flood of content telling you to use these agents to apply for jobs automatically.
My advice? Don’t.
Using AI to fire off mass applications won’t help you stand out.
It just turns you into another number in the pile, at scale.
Instead, use these tools for what they’re actually good at: research. Dig into:
- People
- CEOs
- Companies
Learn what makes them tick.
That research is what helps you craft applications that get noticed, not automated spray-and-pray.