Or even better. Build yourself a startup.
With what money and time? making a startup isn't free either.
Targeted Bets: An alternative approach to the job hunt
51–60 of 113 posts
Re: Targeted Bets: An alternative approach to the job hunt
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Don't do that. > Don't never ever EVER do that. Why not? Is the world really going to implode because someone wants a job so badly that they slip a message into some random CEO’s inbox, an inbox that’s probably already flooded with irrelevant emails from strangers asking irrelevant things? Don’t ever convince yourself that someone is so important you can’t email them. That’s a self-defeating mindset. Send the email…
I guess the risk is that if the CEO doesn't like getting bothered and remembers your name, it might hurt your chances being hired in other ways?
In that case it seems there is good upside and minimal downside. The upside is high chance of getting an interview. The downside is reducing your already very low baseline probability closer to zero.
This is a lot of words to say: you have nothing to lose by doing this.
Re: Targeted Bets: An alternative approach to the job hunt
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Don't do that. > Don't never ever EVER do that. Why not? Is the world really going to implode because someone wants a job so badly that they slip a message into some random CEO’s inbox, an inbox that’s probably already flooded with irrelevant emails from strangers asking irrelevant things? Don’t ever convince yourself that someone is so important you can’t email them. That’s a self-defeating mindset. Send the email…
I honestly don't know if it was sarcasm or if you were serious. At any rate, the downside of this is as follows. The goal of having Human Resources, talent acquisition, recruiters, and other similar roles is to let hiring managers (and everyone above them, up and including the CEO) concentrate on doing their job and only assist the aforementioned roles in hiring. Of course hiring manager is ultimately responsible for…
Blacklisting someone for sending a polite cold email to the CEO is bananas. No company worth working for will do this. Worst case is they will ignore you.
Re: Targeted Bets: An alternative approach to the job hunt
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a you issue. Not everyone is asocial.
If your idea of socialization is the transactional exchange of emails between yourself and someone who happens to work in a company you might be interested in also working, then most people would agree you have a very peculiar definition of socialization.
It's not transactional. You are assuming everyone applying is trying use you. It's sick.
Re: Targeted Bets: An alternative approach to the job hunt
#55I tried this a lot. It did not work for me. But I also only sent one email and did not follow up. A few points:
1. Getting rejected does not say anything about you. The guy they hire says a lot about the company.
2. "If the interviewer(s) in question feel like you're trying to circumvent them, you're probably making your case worse"
This is the whole point. In most cased you don't deal with an expert, but with HR. HR are idiots most of the time. HR, like real estate, has also very low entrance requirements. This does not mean that all people are idiots, but the field attracts idiots.
3. A job is a sale. You have to sell yourself. And unfortunately there is only one way to make the buyer happy: Sell him what he wants, not what he needs.
Re: Targeted Bets: An alternative approach to the job hunt
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
A judicious email to the hiring manager? Sure, why not roll the dice. We’ve had candidates spam our every Senior+ level staff at my current job (many not even in the relevant department) trying to get their resume boosted. Those went from candidate to rejects very quickly.
Never spam a company, I agree. If you're going to "circumvent", pick one or two (and honestly, even 2 is pushing it) contacts you know the most and email them. And make sure they are at least related to the department you're going into unless it's an director/executive person (I'm not much more effective in getting someone a sales role as you would be going to the online portal). Anymore than that and you won't be se…
If these candidates had some type of meaningful reach-out I would at least give them the time of day - but if you send me and 15 colleagues a generic, templates email in just comes off as lazy and a waste of our time. Considering our head of HR has to draft a memo on how to handle such candidates it truly morphed into a non-trivial situation for the firm.
Re: Targeted Bets: An alternative approach to the job hunt
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some people don't though, and their referrals are much more valuable than dozens of additional applications. Much like many other decisions you're making in the job market, it's a polarizing choice that increases your overall chances when the alienated class of people isn't too large. If 90% of people ignore those emails but your chance of getting a first-round interview goes up 5x compared to a cold application when…
Soooo... My guess is the next step in evolution of automated resume submission apps will be looking up hiring manager (or above) and sending a tailored email to "decrease false rejection rate". Can we expect a "Show HN" post with this feature soon?
There are a number of tools out there that help map who you may know at a target firm or may know someone at the firm. I think it's critical that you handcraft craft a thoughtful personal email and not generate a flood of "fake personal." It's also a good idea to dig your well before you need the water and help others find work in what is a very challenging economy. My $.02 your mileage may vary.
Re: Targeted Bets: An alternative approach to the job hunt
#58FWIW one of the things about advice on job hunting (and a lot of other things in life tbh) is that no one ever seems to acknowledge that, more often than we like to think, it's just luck. Yes reaching out to your network is good, putting yourself out there through direct contact where possible is good (early in my career two jobs which were real stepping stones came from emailing a head of and ceo directly after a co…
> it's just luck
So true. Looking back, I got my current job because the preferred candidate dropped out and apparently there was no other preferred candidate, the one before that I bombed the interview but I guess they saw potential etc.
Re: Targeted Bets: An alternative approach to the job hunt
#59Or even better. Build yourself a startup.
If you can’t find a job, make a job. Sounds reasonable but fraught with risk. Having been in the software industry for 30 years I feel the need to provide some balance and context to your advice. YMMV Getting a startup to even survival level money takes incredible effort, skill, and time. Outside of those, luck is by far the most important aspect. Which is out of your control. You have to fight and beat dozens of bia…
Yep - I worked for a start-up many years ago - it was run by someone with a good idea, enough money to sustain development, and it had paying customers but it was a long way from paying everyone's wages let alone paying the boss good money.
Re: Targeted Bets: An alternative approach to the job hunt
#60FWIW one of the things about advice on job hunting (and a lot of other things in life tbh) is that no one ever seems to acknowledge that, more often than we like to think, it's just luck. Yes reaching out to your network is good, putting yourself out there through direct contact where possible is good (early in my career two jobs which were real stepping stones came from emailing a head of and ceo directly after a co…
It's definitely luck.
The advice helps you cast a wider net to catch that luck.
I just wish there were more job search advice for weird people. My net is tattered and falling apart after two years of fishing.