My strategies have been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Inc., Fast Company, & USA Today. My clients have landed job offers at Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, Uber, Deloitte, Accenture, Sequoia Capital, ESPN & more.

When I graduated college, I became obsessed with one question:

What did these people do differently to be chosen by the top companies in the world?

As college winds down, we have to face the fact that our schools don’t offer any kind of guidance on how the “real world” works. We pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to take a bunch of classes that make us “well rounded” and we’re supposed to figure the rest out on our own.

It’s a broken system.

When it finally comes time to apply for the job, 9 times out of 10 the person who is hired is not necessarily the best fit, but the best interviewer. They figured out the “game” and used it to their advantage.

After you’ve waded through all of that crap and are finally able to land a job, you could find yourself working 10-12 hours per day for far less money than you’re worth.

Sound familiar?

Yet, despite the fact that it may take you 30 years to pay off your loans or save up enough for a house, you feel bound to your current company because it allows you to put food on the table every night and enjoy the occasional glass of wine.

But some people seem to have figured it out. The people working at Google, at Tesla, at Facebook. People in their 20s with their own apartments, wearing fancy clothes, eating at the nicest restaurants, and taking exotic vacations.

That question consumed my life. For the next 12 months I researched every aspect of the recruiting process for top companies…and then I went through it myself. I spent countless hours combing through the companies’ application processes. I got coffee, and drinks, and dinner with people who received offers from these companies, as well as those who were rejected. I went to over 50 interviews. Interviews at top companies like Google, and interviews at companies you have never heard of. Finally, at the end of each interview, I asked for feedback.

I spent over 2 years gathering as much data as I possibly could on the individuals whose salaries were in the top 1% of their age group (and, frequently, the 1% of the entire population) and who worked for the best companies in the world.

This analysis showed me exactly what set these people apart. Their “secret sauce” was laid out in front of me, plain and simple. Now I want to share these strategies with you.