How I turned frustration with the job hunt into Open To Work Social — a platform powered by Customer-Centric Marketing

Most people experience problems.
But very few ever decide to build the solution.

That’s true for everything — from the way we communicate, to how we get jobs.
And for me, it became personal.

If you’ve been on the job hunt anytime in the past five to ten years, you already know: the résumé system is broken.
It’s outdated, impersonal, and designed for machines — not humans.

I realized this after seeing dozens of talented people in my network struggling to get noticed.
They weren’t underqualified. They weren’t lazy.
They were simply trapped in a system that no longer works.

So instead of complaining, I did what I’ve always done when a system feels broken —
I built a new one.

That’s how Open To Work Social was born.


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The Origin Story of the Broken Résumé

To understand how we got here, you have to understand where résumés came from.
The concept actually dates back to 1482, when Leonardo da Vinci wrote a letter to the Duke of Milan detailing his skills in engineering and design — essentially, the first résumé.

But for most of modern history, résumés weren’t documents for machines to read.
They were personal introductions — written, hand-delivered, and usually discussed face-to-face.

It wasn’t until the 1970s and 1980s that résumés became formalized in business culture, and by the 1990s, they evolved into digital Word documents.
Then came the early 2000s and the explosion of job boards like Monster, CareerBuilder, and later, LinkedIn and Indeed.

At first, these digital tools felt like progress.
But something shifted.

As job listings went online, companies started using Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to manage the flood of applications.
What began as a way to organize résumés turned into a filter that erased individuality.
Instead of hiring people, companies started hiring keywords.

A 2022 Harvard Business School study found that 88% of employers believed qualified candidates were being filtered out by their own hiring systems.
The result?
Millions of résumés are never even seen by human eyes.

That’s when I realized:
The résumé wasn’t evolving with the human experience — it was devolving.


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From Frustration to Creation

I’ve always been fascinated by the intersection of business, creativity, and human behavior.
So when I saw talented people getting lost in the algorithm, it wasn’t just frustrating — it was opportunity.

Most people will say, “Someone should fix this.”
I’ve never been good at waiting for “someone.”

So one weekend, I decided to fix it myself.
I built Open To Work Social — a platform designed to humanize hiring by giving job seekers a voice.

I didn’t start with investors or a product roadmap.
I started with empathy.

Because every problem worth solving begins with understanding people.


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Built in a Weekend — Designed for a Lifetime

I coded and built the first version of Open To Work Social in a single weekend.
The idea was simple but revolutionary:

> “If résumés can’t tell your story, build a platform that can.”



Instead of applicants silently uploading documents into black holes, I wanted job seekers to publish stories — about their careers, challenges, lessons, and goals.

Each profile would function like a personal brand hub.
Each post would become content — not just data — indexed by Google, shareable on social media, and discoverable through storytelling.

The traditional job hunt happens behind closed doors.
Open To Work Social flips that.
It brings it into the light.

When people publish stories, they connect with other job seekers, recruiters, and hiring managers — as humans, not entries in a spreadsheet.


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Why Résumé Culture Failed

Before we talk about what works, we need to talk about why the old system collapsed.

1. The Résumé Is Static, but Life Is Dynamic

People grow, pivot, adapt, and re-skill — but résumés don’t.
They freeze us in time, often summarizing who we were five years ago, not who we are today.

2. ATS Software Prioritizes Compliance Over Character

The average company receives 250+ applications per role.
ATS tools scan résumés for keywords — rejecting anyone who doesn’t “fit” the digital mold.
It’s efficient, but it’s dehumanizing.

3. Networking Still Beats Applying

A study by Forbes found that over 70% of jobs are filled through personal connections — not online applications.
Yet most job seekers spend 90% of their effort applying to postings that will never see daylight.

4. Content Has Become Currency

In today’s digital world, visibility equals opportunity.
People who post regularly on LinkedIn, publish blogs, or share insights are statistically more likely to get hired — not because they’re better, but because they’re seen.

That’s the insight behind Open To Work Social.


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The Customer-Centric Marketing Model Behind It

Open To Work Social isn’t just a job platform.
It’s a working case study in Customer-Centric Marketing — my core philosophy for every brand I build.

Here’s how it works:

1. The Job Seeker Is the Customer and the Product
Most job platforms treat job seekers like inventory.
We flipped that.
Every member is treated as a brand, with storytelling tools, personal pages, and publishing capabilities.


2. User-Generated Content Fuels Visibility
Every post, story, and comment adds SEO value to the platform.
When members share their experiences, they’re promoting themselves and expanding the site’s visibility.


3. Community Replaces Algorithms
Instead of waiting to be discovered, job seekers discover each other.
The platform becomes a shared marketing ecosystem — where the success of one fuels the success of many.


4. Human Stories Drive Engagement
Recruiters and brands don’t just see skillsets — they see personalities, perspectives, and lived experience.
And that’s what actually drives hiring decisions.




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Why Marketers Should Pay Attention

Let’s be honest — most marketers haven’t built brands from scratch.
They’ve worked for established companies with budgets, brand recognition, and pre-existing traction.

It’s easy to look like a good marketer when you’re managing momentum.
It’s a completely different skill to build from zero.

I’ve built from zero.
Several times.

When I launched Only Fans Insider Magazine in May 2025, it had zero followers, zero articles, zero budget.
Five months later:

18.5 million article reads

2.4 million monthly Instagram views

Average read time: 11 minutes, 13 seconds

Marketing spend: $0


That’s not luck. That’s strategy.
That’s what happens when you design a system where your customers become your marketers.

It’s what I call Strategic Symbiosis —
a model where everyone benefits by amplifying each other.

That’s what Open To Work Social is built on.


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The Evolution of Hiring — From Résumé to Relationship

Let’s step back and look at the macro trends shaping the job market:

LinkedIn has over 1 billion users, but engagement is concentrated among a small percentage of content creators.
That means most professionals are still invisible, even on the world’s largest professional network.

AI résumé screeners are rising, and so are AI-generated résumés — creating a never-ending arms race where authenticity loses.

The freelance and gig economy continues to grow — expected to represent nearly 50% of the U.S. workforce by 2030 — meaning more people are building personal brands, not applying for traditional jobs.


In this new world, storytelling and visibility are more valuable than formatting and bullet points.
Employers don’t want résumés. They want proof of thinking.
They want personality, initiative, and authenticity.

That’s what Open To Work Social delivers.


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From Job Seekers to Thought Leaders

Here’s the magic of Open To Work Social — and why it works so fast.
When people publish on the platform, they’re not just job seekers anymore.
They’re content creators, mentors, and thought leaders in their own right.

Every story becomes a conversation.
Every post becomes a search result.
Every author becomes part of a growing ecosystem of visibility.

It’s not about applying.
It’s about belonging.


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Why This Is Customer-Centric Marketing in Its Purest Form

Customer-Centric Marketing isn’t about selling harder — it’s about aligning your growth with your customer’s success.

That’s the DNA of everything I build.
When your customer wins, your brand wins.
When your customer promotes themselves, they promote you.

That’s what makes Open To Work Social so powerful.
It’s not a platform that advertises itself — it’s a platform that is advertised by the people it helps.

No ad budget can buy that kind of authenticity.


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A Call to Action — for Brands

If you’re a brand reading this, let me ask you something:

Are your customers your audience, or are they your partners?
Do they simply buy from you, or do they build with you?

Because that distinction — right there — is what separates the good from the great.

Most marketers will never build from zero.
But if you want to build something that scales naturally, that attracts people because it helps them, not just sells to them —
then you need a Customer-Centric Marketing strategy.

That’s where I come in.


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Let’s Build Something That Works

If you’re tired of traditional marketing models that burn budget and ignore community, let’s talk.

I’ve built multiple brands from zero to millions in reach — organically.
And I can help you design a marketing system that turns your customers into your marketers.

📩 Connect with me on Open To Work Social
🌐 Or visit josephhaecker.com

Because the résumé is dead.
The community is alive.
And the future of marketing — and hiring — belongs to those who build for people, not algorithms.


Joseph Haecker
Fractional CMO | Platform Builder | Author of Building Customer-Centric Brands
Helping brands grow by turning their customers into their marketers.