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Comment by jstx1 | Hacker News Reader

Recruiter reached out while I was also actively searching (and I had been for a while) and I ended up liking the position and the team.

I don't know what "using my network" would even mean - just limit myself to a handful of companies (that I know nothing about) and cold-message people that I haven't spoked to in months/years so they can maybe check if there are open positions (which I could have looked up on the company's career page) and then can maybe refer me? Every part of it sounds weird, the whole "find a job through your network" is concept from an ideal world where I actively maintain relationships with many people in great companies that I want to work at. I don't know how many people are in that situation but I'm not one of them.

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> I don't know what "using my network" would even mean

One example: look at the people on your direct team from your last job, and see are any of them working at companies that might interest you. If they are, message then directly and ask if they've got an opening in your area coming up.

You don't need to be lunch buddies with the person. There's plenty of people I've worked with over the years that if they reached out saying they were looking j would have no hesitation referring internally, and at even a medium size company a job opening can appear.

A lot of companies offer referral bonuses/incentives to employees whose referrals become successful candidates. Often people who work in such places are happy to refer old classmates & former colleagues they remember as competent, even if those relationships are pretty stale otherwise.

It's actually exactly as you described, and it works really well. People are surprisingly willing to help. Just send a message saying "Hope you're well, I'd love to reconnect and learn more about $COMPANY." Email works better than LinkedIn if you can get it. I got my current job by getting my manager's email from a friend and cold emailing him after seeing that he was hiring. Just introduced myself and said I wanted to chat.

Every job I've had in the past 20+ years (just a few of them) has come directly through people I knew. I've admittedly been in roles where I'm in contact with a fair number of people on a regular basis.

For my current job (10+ years), I knew I needed to move on from my last position. I put together a short list based on companies I was interested in and contacts I had. I wrote to a higher-up who I knew and had done some work for. He brought me in. I had some interviews. And I'm still there.

Another weird one the 'JuSt NetWoRk Bro' people recommend is 'Just message random employees at the company on LinkedIn and ask them out for coffee'. I've often wondered if anybody has done this one successfully without just creeping out a bunch of people and getting blocked.

Yes, I do that. Yes, it works. Don't come across as a creep. Be very clear that this isn't a transaction or that you're desperate. Show interest in other people. It's another one of those slow-burn recipes for success. I am, quite literally, on my way to lunch with someone right now, who I have never met in person but I randomly messaged three weeks ago. You'll be surprised by how fast the wheels can turn with a little grease and small shove, so long as you go in to it with no expectations and are prepared for a lot of rejection.

Yes, some people use networking to mean random reaching out for coffee, sending random LinkedIn requests, going to "networking" events, etc. Which is probably mostly fairly ineffective.

However, networking can also mean just keeping casually in touch with people with whom you have mutual interests and keeping somewhat visible.

Networking events are seriously low ROI. Always have been. That said, when you're panning for gold, you have to sift through a lot of dirt first.

Referral bonuses though, if your profile looks good I would probably do a quick coffee or even a video call nowadays and then pocket a nice little bonus if you make it :)

Keep in mind that some companies offer a nice bonus for a reference that leads to a hiring and it makes a lot more sense. I have seen referral bonuses up to 50k.

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