From Ghosting to Getting the Offer: How Welen Landed His Next Role

Podcast Transcript

Welen: The phone rings and it’s the recruiter telling me I got the job. I thought I misheard him — that I just got to the next round. I couldn’t believe I’d reached the offer stage.

Rob: Welcome to another episode of Promoted, a podcast about leaving low-wage work for good. I’m Rob Kairuz, today’s host and a Merit America coach. Today we’re talking about turning silence into a job offer — what it takes to prep hard enough that when the interviews finally come, you’re ready to move fast. I’m excited to introduce today’s guest, our resident Iron Man: Welen, who went from a quiet job search to two interviews in one day and a job offer the next. Welcome to the show, Welen.

Welen: Thanks, Rob. Really happy to be here.

Rob: This is one of my favorite stories, and I call you Iron Man because you kept getting knocked down and kept going back to build — until you were ready to blast off. Let’s start with your background. Where were you before Merit America?

Welen: I ran my own small business for about ten years, a freight brokerage in the transportation industry. I wasn’t happy with where my career was going. Over time, I just wasn’t able to keep up with client outreach. My clients were getting bought out, the market was shifting, and I realized I needed to upskill and try something different.

Rob: What made you look for something different, specifically?

Welen: I wanted to provide for my family. To have a job where I could pay my bills, spend time with them, save for retirement, and have something to pass down to my kids. I thought I had that with my business, but after my kids were born, I couldn’t find the time to keep doing client outreach on top of everything else. I needed a higher income, more stability.

Rob: Walk me down the road to those two interviews. Was it easy at first, or was there a ramp-up?

Welen: Definitely a ramp-up — more of an iterative process. In the beginning, I did what everyone says: use AI to tailor your resume for every single application. It sounds easy, but it makes the process incredibly tedious, and it got confusing — sometimes I’d land an interview and have no idea which one of my resumes they actually saw.

So instead, I built one master resume with every skill and experience listed, then built three or four specific resumes off of that for specific job titles. That way I wasn’t reinventing my resume for every posting, I just matched the job title to the right template. The lucky part was getting picked by two different companies on the same day.

Rob: You said it! Here’s a fun question: when you were a kid, what did you picture your life looking like?

Welen: It’s funny, but I’ve had the same dream since I was a kid, and I kind of still do — I always wanted to make video games. My background is in game design; it’s why I learned to code. Pretty different from where I ended up professionally.

Rob: If you ever make that game, I’m the first one playing it. Let’s talk about that day in late April. We were hosting an event in Orlando, and I messaged you to come by. At first I thought you were ghosting me — then one of our learners tells me you’re there with big news. That was the day you had those two interviews, am I right?

Welen: Yeah, that morning I had my first interview, for a role north of Orlando. It wasn’t my first choice, but at that point I’d take any interview. I’d been preparing for about a week for both. That first interview went great — no nerves, just confidence — and I got invited to a second round on the spot.

In the afternoon I had my second interview — the one I really wanted. For that one, I went a step further: I used the job description and AI to help me design a dashboard project specific to their industry, so I could show it to them live. The interview started cold, straight to business, and I thought it was going badly. So I mentioned the dashboard and walked her through it, and when I turned off my screen share and saw a big smile on her face, I knew I nailed it.

I had just enough time afterward to surprise you at the Orlando event — sorry for going quiet on you all day, I was just busy. The next night, I was out to dinner with my wife, and I got the call from the recruiter. He told me I had the job offer, and I genuinely thought he meant I’d moved to the next round. I even called him back to double check. He said, “No, you got the job.” That was the day.

Rob: How did you get ready for those interviews?

Welen: I used AI again, fed it the job descriptions and asked for the top 15 questions an interviewer might ask. Then I wrote out my own answers one question at a time, had the AI grade them, and used the suggestions to improve. After a few rounds of that, I had a solid list of questions and answers. Then I just practiced out loud, over and over — with friends, family, my coach, talking to myself in the mirror. I didn’t want to freeze up on the actual day, because when I get nervous, I blank out completely.

Rob: Being over-prepared is a good problem to have. And the dashboard idea really impressed me — I tell my data learners about it now. How did you come up with that?

Welen: It started after I finished the Data Analyst Pro program. Everybody talks about building a portfolio, so I started with YouTube tutorials and some independent projects. But I realized my projects were too broad — not focused on the specific industries I was applying to. So I started using the actual job descriptions to narrow it down. AI was really helpful, generating project ideas ranked from easy to hard, sometimes even pointing me to real datasets on sites like Kaggle.

Once I landed an interview, I spent the days leading up to it building a custom dashboard for that company. I did it twice before it landed me the job. The first time, I finished the project and just emailed it to the hiring manager. I had no idea if they even looked at it, so I lost all that leverage. The second time, I learned to wait — bring it up in the interview, offer to show it live if there’s time. That way you can walk them through it in real time, chart by chart, metric by metric. It’s interactive, and it’s memorable.

Rob: I tell my learners exactly that now — you’re not just getting their attention, you’re commanding the room. Let’s get personal for a second. What were the biggest challenges during this time, professionally and personally?

Welen: Honestly, mostly mental. Sending out a hundred, two hundred, three hundred applications and getting nothing — no feedback, no sense that a human even saw it — is brutal. I used to feel like I wasn’t being productive unless I hit a certain number of applications a day. Eventually I realized, for my own mental health, I needed to split my day up: a couple hours applying, a couple hours learning something new — more Python, more SQL, Power Query — and a couple hours building portfolio work. Breaking it up that way kept me from feeling trapped in an endless applying loop, where you can burn out fast.

Rob: Yeah, this process is hard and the job market right now is brutal. What would you tell someone who’s stuck in that loop right now, not hearing back?

Welen: It’s a marathon, not a sprint. You ‘re going to be at this for months. But when an opportunity does show up, grab it with everything you have. Use every tool at your disposal, AI included, to prep for that interview, build something for it, and make yourself the best possible candidate. Pour everything into it.

Rob: What I’m hearing is: don’t throw away your shot. Fight for that opportunity when it comes. Tell us about your role now — how are you using data analytics day to day?

Welen: I’m a Materials Planning Analyst. Right now I’m actually building another dashboard, this one is for my team of seven. We’re in the aviation parts industry, so a big part of the job is making sure airlines get the parts they need, when they need them. So — apologies in advance if your flight’s ever delayed. That might be on me.

Rob: Glad I don’t have any flights coming up. So, how has your life changed since starting the new role?

Welen: Personally, I feel like I have more freedom now — more money to save and spend, to take my family out, and still put money away for retirement and my kids. Professionally, I feel more structured. Before, it was just me running my own business. Now I have a team I can count on, and who counts on me. I can see the hierarchy above me, and I know I’m going to move up.

Rob: You’ve got that aura right now. Let’s talk about confidence — how has it changed through this whole experience?

Welen: It took time to break out of my shell. When you and I first started doing mock interviews, Rob, I was rough — it was hard for me to answer even low-stakes questions. But it just took repetition. I’d practice in the shower, in the car, talking through my answers out loud to anyone who would listen — you, my wife, whoever.

Rob: Hey, those early mock interviews weren’t bad — give yourself some credit. I remember asking you what your favorite movie or TV show was, and the second you answered, you lit up — you got animated, genuinely yourself. That’s the energy you need walking into every interview. Last question: everyone’s got their own version of the American Dream. What’s yours, and do you feel like you’ve reached it?

Welen: I’d say I’ve reached a piece of it. For me, the American Dream is having a job that lets you pay your bills, save for retirement, and splurge a little on yourself and your family. Long term, I’d love for my wife to not have to work anymore — to be the sole breadwinner, so my kids never have to worry, and by the time I retire, everyone’s taken care of. I think I’ve hit the first step of that, and now it’s about holding onto it, continuing to improve, and building with this company.

Rob: I can see you going all the way to the top. Thanks so much, Welen, for sharing your story — I know it’s going to inspire listeners who want to make their own leap into a new career.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Promoted. If you’re interested in exploring how Merit America can guide you toward a rewarding career, visit our website at www.meritamerica.org.

(Transcript is edited for length and clarity.)