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Comment by version_five | Hacker News Reader

This may sound dumb, but how does one find so many opportunities to get rejected from? I'd love to be able to get myself in front of more people to be rejected more, but the real problem is getting the funnel in the first place. This is true both for business development and for job applications in anything but a very junior or well defined position. Getting rejected is relatively easy to take once you're in a groove (and usually it's possible to get a high conversion rate anyway). It's getting into the conversation in the first place that I find very challenging

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You have to put yourself out there, you have to connect with people, you have to be visible, and you have to be creating opportunities for yourself.

I know it sounds trite, but it really isn't. It is about visibility.

The old saying "It's not what you know, it's who you know" may ring true, but a truer phrase, "It isn't just who you know, but who knows you."

On a quiet day, I get pinged with opportunities three or more times, many I quietly ignore or politely decline, others I'll let them run their natural course.

On a busy day, it is like swatting flies.

And whilst there are opportunities available, not all are worth pursuing because the price isn't right, or the problem isn't interesting, or, even though someone reached out to me, they then expect me to jump through their hoops and I've always been a lousy hoop jumper.

> On a quiet day, I get pinged with opportunities three or more times, many I quietly ignore or politely decline, others I'll let them run their natural course. On a busy day, it is like swatting flies.

To make OP feel better, not all these invites are useful. I have had loads of people saying "you look great, we'd love to have you work for us!", then when you reply they're like "send a resume", then get ghosted.

I agree, many are not useful. Those are usually the fly swatting days. And to re-emphasize, I am a lousy hoop jumper.

I might send a C.V. if we can get past some basic questions, e.g. compensation range, remote/on-site, type of work, whether this is yet another CRUD that is no more than a pretty UI on an SQL db, and so forth.

But generally I take the attitude "I've already got a job, and you asked me, convince me I should." I'm polite and professional (most of the time) but I'm not wasting my time on leads that will go nowhere.

If I'm the ugly duckling with twenty bucks in my pocket and I espy a hot lady at the bar, sashaying up to her and saying "you should buy me a drink" ain't gonna cut it.† Too many companies are the ugly duckling.

† Though... uh... now that I think about it that actually worked with my wife so maybe you shouldn't listen to my advice.

This is a description of being part of a gatekeeping network - not about sending applications and (maybe) receiving rejection letters. (Which is indeed very rare. Even a rejection letter signifies they feel some minimal level of obligation.)

I am not sure I follow your meaning with regard to "being part of a gatekeeping network."

By network, I mean opportunities being offered based on established relationships, rather than asking for opportunities or applying for postings. By gatekeeping, I mean the effect achieved when positions are filled like this.

I added "gatekeeping" for bite, but I realise there is no bad intention behind it.

Not criticising the behaviour either. It's just the state of things.

There is a good thread here that has many current opportunities: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30515750

I remember feeling lost after I quit my job at the bank I used to work for. Remember seeing one of those threads and reading all the offers. End up sending my CV for 6 of them. 3 wrote back. 2 offered me a challenge. I've been working for 1 almost two years now. I'm happy with them and I like to think they're happy with me either. Great thread. Highly recommend.

How did you decide which ones to send your CV to? It's been so overwhelming for me as a career switcher (from actuarial science) to know what I would want to do.

I wanted to work with vanilla JavaScript, so I look for that in the job description. We do use React also, but I learned to like it.

Continually try to step up and the boundaries of what you're comfortable with. Keep growing and learning new things. Always seek and take opportunities that are slightly or greatly above whatever "level" you're currently at.

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