How to get a job when you have no connections
karenx.com
karenx.com
Seriously? I stopped reading here. What kind of company will hire a programmer, an architect or a lawyer that bakes a cake with their logo in it? I hope none, for the world's sake...
"Your website sucks, and I can make a better one, even though I don't know anything that went into making it, or the reasons why it looks like it does".
For most others it is about getting noticed, if a hiring manager has 100 CVs sent to him or her, how will you stand out? Baking a cake will not help you if you don't have a good CV/qualifications but it will help you get noticed and stand out.
Another way, which is just as silly as baking a cake is to buy adwords with the hiring managers name [1]. It is a novel strategy to get noticed.
Point is that it is much easier if you have a network to rely on for introductions, weak ties are very important when job hunting. So if you don't have any network to support you, you have to become creative in order to get noticed.
I don't know how often people actually Google themselves, I do sometimes but that is only to see if my 'personal SEO' efforts are paying off. Thinking back, how many times have you Googled your self? Paying for adwords on exec names are a novel strategy, just like the cake baking and song writing. It may work, it may get you noticed but it may also totally fail.
I keep hearing this, but it's not at all what I experienced last time I went on a job hunt.
A company that bakes cakes.
> I hope none, for the world's sake...
So you think bakers should be hired without actually seeing if they can bake?
Or are you saying that a programmer, architect, or a lawyer shouldn't be allowed to bake cakes?
Or that they shouldn't be allowed to switch careers and bake cakes?
Or are you saying that if someone well qualified for a job bakes a cake, they shouldn't be hire?
Or maybe, just maybe, you missed the point. Considering you stopped reading, I'd venture a yes. Especially considering some of the things people have done to get jobs. Creating videos and websites specifically targeting companies.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6017758
Programmers, designers, etc., should follow her example. I don't mean create a site about yourself dancing...but create something of interest about something you care about...web devs have a huge advantage here in being able to disseminate their work in a cheap, creative medium.
- Find someone who works for the company (on their website, or linked-in, whatever). Tell them who you are, and ask if there's any jobs available. They'll probably send you to a hiring manager, along with some kind of recommendation. If you've already been vetted by a team member, you're streets ahead of all the anonymous resumes the hiring manager gets.
- Go to a meetup, conference, or some other industry event. Talk to people.
Everyone with a job knows a hiring manager, and the hiring manager will trust them more than all the job seekers banging on their door.
This might fail if you want to work for Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, etc. I've heard Apple employees tend to get stalked a lot by people who want to work for Apple, so they've got the same kind of defences that hiring managers have. You'd probably need to really stand out to convince them you're the kind of person they should introduce to their boss. But these companies already have pretty active recruitment. You want to target the companies with poor recruitment (i.e. most companies).
Most companies kind of know they need more staff, but can't be bothered going through the process of advertising, weeding out hundreds of unqualified candidates, then having to pick between the 2-3 good candidates who get on the shortlist. It's almost as stressful for them as it is for the applicants. If a good candidate presents themselves before they've bothered advertising, they'll often take them without bothering to advertise (expensive), weed through the chaff (time consuming), and picking from the shortlist (stressful) ... all of which creates the risk that they'll either not find the right person, or hire someone who doesn't quite fit simply because they felt they were the best of a bad bunch. And if they don't like you, it's easy enough to say "sorry, no positions are currently available".
I had an acquaintance from college write me one day and ask me how I was. I wrote back to say hello, thinking he wanted to reconnect. In his next response he started asking me about connections for summer internships. I didn't respond. Not intentionally, just because I realized he was trying to leverage me for connections and I had no interest in talking further. In retrospect I could've been more helpful as I've been helped a number of times by people I did nothing for, but realize that most people don't like to feel used.
Of course you ultimately want to help yourself, but to be effective, you've got to start further upstream. Spend time getting to know the person, what their interests are, and see if you can first help them. Once their barrier is down they are going to be a lot more helpful.
Being upfront ("I'm looking for a job, and I'd like to know what kind of platform you guys are using / what kind of skills you are looking for ...") is also good. As long as you're polite.
If a stranger asks you for help, your first response will be "sure, why not?". You're not trying to leverage a friendship by cold calling some guy at a company - it's just business. Cold calling friends, on the other hand, can seem sketchy. If you do want to cold call a friend, it's probably better to ask advice.
Actually, it's probably always better to frame it as advice, since the people you cold call won't want to give you a firm answer.
Have you actually tried that? Did it work?
I tried getting an introduction 2 foreign tech companies in Japan. One from an ex-coworker and another from a friend of a friend. In both cases the position was not in their team, and they told me there was nothing they could do for me, I'd have to apply by sending my resume via the company's website. Which I did, and then got no response.
And these were people I know and am in good terms with, e.g. I have met person1 several times since he left the company, and have been to person2's place. I wouldn't even bother contacting a random person.
To be fair, I have managed to get introductions at 2 other companies, but in both cases they weren't highly-sought tech companies.
More knowledgeable HNers can probably chime in here, but my impression is that in Japan particularly, respectability and credentialism are played very hard.
> My (admittedly limited, but not null) experience with Japanese business culture suggests that things may be a bit different there.
On the contrary, if a Japanese company is hiring and I know someone who works there then I'm 99% sure my resume won't be redirected to /dev/null. Very likely I'll get an interview, otherwise at least a polite but human-written refusal letter.
For most companies, recruitment is so broken that a lot of managers will try to hire staff in a way which avoids the formal recruitment process.
- Find out some info about someone influential in the company you want to work for, camp outside their office, follow them home, then make a big design of the company logo (slightly improved) on their front lawn, using gasoline, and set it on fire! It'll be memorable, take time and effort and show a penchant for fun.
- Inception, make them think that it was their idea to hire you. Ref: Darren Brown/Inception
(Restraining orders and getting hired are the same thing, right?)
Of course I had to impress him enough to get the internship and impress the company enough to work there full time now, but it was meeting the CEO that got me the opportunity in the first place. I thank that random moment of pure chance for making that connection.
Connections are great, but most of us don't have them from the get go. So I guess we have to make them.
I love this article though. Deffo something I'd do if I was trying to break into an industry or area where I know no one.
Seriously, find some business you're interested in (less than 10-20 employees ideally), work directly for/with the CEO or main decision maker and work for free for 3 months. Entrench yourself in their business & make yourself indispensable. THEN, when your time comes up to leave, they're not only going to feel the pain of physically missing you, but you'll also have LEVERAGE so you can actually negotiate a salary (rather than just taking whatever they give you).
That said, your strategy may work, making yourself indispensable is a brilliant strategy in general but how will you live for those three months? Especially if you are just out of school or similar. I am also not sure how it will affect your salary - compared to a person who would get hired (with a salary) straight away.
People find it distasteful because they can't "compete" on that level. Having even just the basics covered indefinitely goes a long way, especially if you're actually working on a career of any sort. Opens up unpaid internships and fun little entrepeneurial experiments that wouldn't be possible if you had to work a paying 9-5 to cover the rent.
I know this because there were tactics I had to pass up because I've had to pay my way (food, rent, bills, the works) since I was 17.
But I still believe unpaid internships/work for free is a bad thing, with a few exceptions such as unpaid internships in exchange for college credits. It basically benefits no one in the long run. Not companies, not the economy, not the individuals.
You're right, in the latter instance, there is such a large supply of interns working for free that it becomes the expected route of entry into these firms and creates a big market distortion. You could argue these tend to be for high paying jobs requiring special skill-set, and thus could view 'complusory' internship as an extended 3-month interview.
But if you go and work at a start-up for free, you're there because you want to, not because it's expected.
Oddly enough this is a form of using existing connections and social networks to find work. You are simply using resources that aren't directly related to the company you are working for.
That said, you are displacing workers who do not have existing wealth and family connections to back their life. They cannot reasonably work for free and compete with your existing resources/wealth/support. Doing this isn't ethical and promote systemic unemployment of those who cannot work for low wage or free.
Ended up getting a job there, working my way, getting recruited & then quitting & starting my own business.
Not a "rich person", just got tired of getting rejected from starbucks/target/caribou & figured I'd might as well spend my time being useful rather than complaining about being unemployed.
For other people's definition of "rich person" magic money from nowhere that pays your bills is sufficient.
Worth noting that I still paid her rent the entire stay.
That being said some people need to realize you have to sacrifice having your own room sometimes if you are going after a goal. Good that you did that and it worked out.
Substituting 3 months of low pay (and subsequent similarly small increases) in exchange for 3 months of free work and (up to 10k higher starting salary in my case), is a no brainer if you look at the big picture
Then there's the issue of unpaid labour to do indispensable work to begin with: Unless in a well-defined intern position - that is, a person that isn't actually expected to achieve much besides some hands-on learning - it's culturally poisonous to have unpaid labour around. As a boss, you're telling your employees (the ones that get paid to do indispensable work) that there are people who can and will do their jobs for free. If that's not the case, then what you're doing isn't actually indispensable, and won't give you much leverage.
I'm sure the method worked well for you, but I'm also quite sure that there were specific circumstances in your case that facilitated that success, such that it doesn't translate directly to general advice. I'd even venture a guess that those circumstances, applied slightly differently, could have resulted in a regular job.
Hustle doesn't necessarily imply competence, however, which is why she suggests #3 ("Show them you can do the job").
But the thing people miss about gimmicks is that they have to be relevant: to you, to the job, to the company. Gimmicks for gimmicks' sake (logo drawing, cake baking, etc.) are just silly.
I think it depends on what kind of company do you want to find. One that would be happy to get a cake has very different culture than the 'usual'.
Even after that I still rarely take the time to do it.
In fact, so few people seem to write cover letters these days -- let alone compelling ones -- that they can be a strategic differentiator in their own right.
I think his point is good, just not the way he said it :)
Many people, for many reasons, are not in such high demand. Sometimes, that's something they can change, sometimes it isn't.
I've never got a job through connections, always through listings and agents, and I've done pretty well out of it. Is this no longer good enough?
Don't stop applying just because you get an interview. I walked away from a number of good jobs because I didn't like the people I interviewed with. Having more applications out there meant I didn't have to start the pipeline up again.
Don't give up on places that don't hire you within a couple weeks. In those cases where I did get a job this way, it was usually one of the earlier applications a month prior where I took that position. Some places, even fast and nimble startup like companies might take a few months to reach back.
Google usually takes among the longest in my experience. Months after I start my job search they finally get back to me.
I think the hard part is coming up with an way of setting yourself apart. I partially agree with other readers that baking a cake doesn't make much sense, but the idea still holds. With so many resumes to go through, pretty much anything that doesn't get you trashed immediately is good.
Do stuff.
It's really as simple as that. Do stuff. And by stuff, I mean stuff beyond homework.
So when I ask what have you done, you can share stuff with me.
If you don't do anything, why would I hire you?