Me: "Do you use social media?"
Them: "NO! Social media is so toxic!"
Me: "You mentioned earlier that you are trying to get a job in X field, correct?"
Them: "Yes, that's true"
Me: "Have you found the relevant sub-Reddit, part of Twitter etc where people in that field hang out and/or share ideas?"
Them: "Well, no."
Me: "So how about this: first find the online place where those people hang out. Second, why don't you write up a blog post or summary of something you've done in the field and post it there. If you haven't done something IN the field, then maybe talk about how you learned about the field or what you find interesting about it etc. Then post that in the sub-Reddit etc."
<few weeks go by>
Them: "I followed your advice and someone from a firm in the field I'm interested saw it, read it, commented on it and reached about having a conversation."
Me: "Excellent! I always say that the lifetime marginal benefit of going from zero to one social media post about you describing/writing about your preferred industry is ENORMOUS"
(We usually move on to another topic with the mentee after this)
Prior to social media, the only way you could do this was to do one of the following:
- go to college in that field
- hangout, physically, where the folks you wanted to interact with were
- physically send letters to people with your article/summary idea
- etc
I feel like a lot of folks forget this and are blinded by the downsides of social media (which, to be fair, there are many)