You can run your job search alone. But you shouldn’t have to.
I’m Lizzie Mintus. I’ve spent ten years on the other side of the hiring table. I built The Insider Route for senior professionals whose job search has gone quiet. Months of applying. Interviews that evaporate. Almost nothing back.
Over eight weeks, I teach you to run your job search the way a recruiter runs one. Materials that survive the screening software. Warm introductions instead of application portals. And a small, hand-picked group of other senior job seekers going through it with you.
Applying is free and isn’t a commitment. I read every application myself and reply to you on LinkedIn.
The Insider Route grads are getting hired left and right. From the last five cohorts alone:
Real companies.
Check for yourself.
“I’m super excited to announce that I’ve started a new role… I also wanted to thank Lizzie and the other folks I worked with in our group, giving me the most honest, helpful feedback on where I could improve my personal messaging and interviewing skills in this current market.”
“Special thanks to Lizzie Mintus and my cohort peers in The Insider Route… It is no exaggeration to say I would not be in this position without them.”
Read Sean’s LinkedIn announcement about his new position
“I also wanted to give a shout out to Lizzie Mintus and the Insider’s Route cohort. I redid my entire resume from scratch with their help, redid my LinkedIn… I would not have been ready for the interview without the Cohort’s help and encouragement. If you are stuck and need help, I would consider checking in with Lizzie on spots.”
The stories you start telling yourself
The worst part isn’t the rejection. It’s that nobody tells you why.
Here’s what ten years on the other side of the hiring table taught me. If you’re wondering whether it’s you, it’s almost always not. And if you’re angry that nobody sees your value, you’re right. There’s usually a specific, fixable reason why.
After years of good work, you don’t forget how to be excellent. A handful of invisible mistakes are filtering you out before a human ever sees your name. And every silent rejection writes another false story about who you are.
Which of these is yours?
- ✕Always the finalist, never the hire.
- ✕Can’t land an interview at all.
- ✕Ghosted after real conversations.
- ✕Can’t find roles worth applying to.
- ✕Applying into the void: no response, ever.
Each one has a
different cause
and a different fix.
I’ve watched all five play out hundreds of times. I know how to find yours. That’s week one.
The fixes are usually simpler than people expect
A varied background nobody can follow. A portfolio with nothing on it. A CTO title from a startup that a big company doesn’t know what to do with.
Different industries, different company sizes, a title that changed three times.
None of that makes you a weak candidate. It makes you a confusing one.
And when a recruiter is confused, the answer is no
Because there are hundreds of applicants behind you who have dialed themselves in.
The other way in
The people getting hired aren’t applying harder. They’re going in a different door.
Fewer than two percent of cold applications turn into an interview.
Thirty to forty percent of hires come through a referral.
Real cohort member stories
Hear it from people who are exactly where you are.
Three cohort members on what was broken, what changed, and where they landed.
Slaton White
Hired at Meta
Sean Stahl
Hired at Pokémon
Deana McCarthy
Hired at 2K
Warm introductions are how hiring has always worked on the inside track. Getting warm introductions is a learnable skill.
My team and I have a hundred thousand LinkedIn connections between us, and every cohort adds more. Between all of us, that’s a lot of doors.
“I strongly recommend Lizzie Mintus Insider Route… Once I started the course, and did the work recommended, I started getting callbacks and interviews rather than just feeling like I was applying into the void.”
Nobody in this cohort is early-career. Everyone in the room has been the person others came to for help. Asking for help yourself isn’t a step down.
It’s okay that you’ve never had to do this before.
It’s what senior people do when the situation is genuinely hard. And this market is genuinely hard.
The eight weeks
A job-search system, not a pep talk
What’s included
And you’re not doing any of it by yourself. You have me, and you have a room of people working on the same thing at the same time.
Apply for September 9Lifetime access to The Insider Route Alumni Network
Who this is for
Every cohort is hand-picked, on purpose.
Most of the value is the other people in the room. So who gets in matters. I review every application. I don’t accept everyone.
I don’t accept everyone. I take people I genuinely believe I can help. Spots are limited so I can give everyone individualized attention.
- →Senior through executive: you’ve led work, teams, or companies
- →Any industry. The method is industry-agnostic. The mistakes are universal
- →Searching now, or employed and watching layoffs get closer
- →Willing to hear direct feedback and act on it
- →Able to put in two to three real hours a week
- ✕Early career or first job
- ✕Wanting a guaranteed placement. Be wary of anyone selling one
- ✕Hoping volume will eventually work. You’ve already run that experiment
- ✕Looking for someone to do the job search for you
Who I am
I’m a working recruiter, not a career coach
I’ve run Here’s Waldo Recruiting, a boutique recruiting firm, since 2020. I’ve been part of 500+ placements. Every week somebody reaches out and asks, “Lizzie, can you help me find a job?” I can. But for years I didn’t have a way to help properly. The Insider Route is that way.
“I strongly recommend Lizzie Mintus Insider Route… Once I started the course, and did the work recommended, I started getting callbacks and interviews rather than just feeling like I was applying into the void.”
“After working with another career coach, I wasn’t seeing traction. Lizzie changed that.”
“Only two weeks into Lizzie’s cohort, and already I feel it’s been well worth the investment.”
The cost, plainly
If you’re not satisfied, I refund you in full.
No placement guarantees, because nobody honest can promise you a job. But I stand behind this work completely.
Some math
Members have joined nine months, a year, even two years into a search. The expensive option isn’t this program. The expensive option is one more month of a job search that isn’t working.
Ask every cohort
Before you apply
No. I have never met a hopeless candidate. I’ve met a lot of people who were being presented badly, and that is a different problem with a different fix. The people who come to me a year into a search are usually closer to a yes than they realize, and nobody has told them what’s in the way. If I read your application and genuinely don’t think I can help you, I’ll tell you that instead of taking your money.
This is the most common reason people wait. It’s also the costliest. If you get an interview or an offer during the cohort, that’s the best case. The group helps you prepare. I help you maximize the offer. And if it doesn’t pan out, you’re not back at square one alone.
Yes. The best time to find a job is when you already have a job. Instead of flailing after a layoff, you’re already prepared, and your search is faster and better. What you build here is options: a rebuilt resume and LinkedIn, recruiters finding you, leverage while you’re still getting paid. The program is two to three hours a week, built for people working full-time. The community is private. I take discretion seriously.
Past cohorts have held a studio president, two CEOs, and a twenty-year studio head at one of the biggest tech companies around. At your level, hiring runs on relationships. You’ve hired hundreds of people. Being the candidate is a different job. Nobody taught it to you. The room is where senior people tell each other the truth about this market. Peer review, real introductions, no pep talks.
Yes. The method is industry-agnostic: clarity, materials that survive screening software, referral-first outreach, interview reps, and negotiation. Recent members have landed in aerospace, consumer hardware, geospatial tech, and entertainment as well as software and games.
No. And be suspicious of anyone who guarantees you a job. What I promise: you’ll know exactly what’s been filtering you out. We’ll rebuild your materials together (reading resumes is my day job). And you’ll stop searching alone. If you’re not satisfied, I refund you in full.
Two honest reasons. Your LinkedIn profile is how I verify you’re a real person and a fit for the group. And I’ll reply to you there, because LinkedIn is where I work. I’m a recruiter. Recruiters and hiring professionals work on LinkedIn too. Getting your profile into hiring shape is a big part of our work together.
Cohorts run roughly monthly. Apply anyway and say so in the form. You’ll get first word on the next start date before it’s announced anywhere else.
Cohort 7 · Starts Wednesday, September 9 · 10am PT
Apply to see if you’re a fit
Two minutes, free, and not a commitment. I read every application myself and come back to you on LinkedIn.