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Looking for a Job Is Tough

(blog.kaplich.me)
184 points skaplich | 4 comments | 14 Nov 24 01:15 UTC | HN request time: 0.619s | source
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friggeri ◴[14 Nov 24 02:43 UTC] No.42132623[source]▶
One piece of advice I usually give is to avoid applying to jobs through company’s career websites or LinkedIn. Instead, tap your social network: see if there is someone you know/have worked with who either works at the company you’re interested in or is connected to it someone (as an advisor, investor, personal friend of someone in a leadership position) and ask them for a warm intro. Social proof gives you an advantage over the legion of anonymous online applicants.
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1. PittleyDunkin ◴[14 Nov 24 03:04 UTC] No.42132721[source]▶
In my experience, even internal referrals barely give you an edge these days unless the referrer is quite high in the company org.

Of course things can change rapidly; perhaps the influx of ai-produced applications may bring this practice back.

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2. cj ◴[14 Nov 24 03:22 UTC] No.42132838[source]▶
Internal referrals won’t necessarily give you an edge, but they definitely nearly guarantee at least getting into the door.

At our company the (unwritten) policy is anyone who is referred internally will always get at least 1 shot at an interview even if the resume would been have otherwise been rejected. The bar isn’t lowered on merit, though.

3. danielvaughn ◴[14 Nov 24 03:35 UTC] No.42132916[source]▶
Yep. Several months ago I leaned on a friend for a referral. This person is relatively well known in his industry. He’s written books and has spoke at a lot of conferences, and been interviewed by a lot of outlets. I got a personal referral from him, and I didn’t even get a phone call with a recruiter. Crazy.
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4. ghaff ◴[14 Nov 24 20:26 UTC] No.42140810[source]▶
There's still a lot of luck of the draw.

It certainly helps if the person is the hiring manager or some skip-level of the hiring manager as opposed to just an industry "name."