Smarter job hunting

Whilst there are so many job seeking resources available (use them relentlessly!) here are some unexpected things I’ve learned as job seeker and hiring manager.

 1.   Strangers are willing to help.  If you are researching an organization, role or profession be bold and reach out.  You will be pleasantly surprised, heartened and rewarded by the response. If someone makes a reasonable and relevant request to learn from my experience, then I take a call.  We all know how challenging, stressful and disheartening job hunting can be and that one day we will need that same help ourselves.     

2.  Find unposted jobs, you may even preempt the open hiring process.  Use your network and the networks of your network to uncover opportunities.  50% of my career moves were unposted positions.  The added benefit was that those roles did not go to open posting, so I was effectively the only applicant.  Open posting creates a lot of work and time delays for hiring managers, they are highly incentivized to skip it.

3.  Leverage senior leader bias for action.  Leaders tend to not sit on anything; they will move things off their plate immediately.  I saw multiple people hired at Clorox who had written to senior leaders seeking mid-level roles.   If these leaders see something of value, then they know exactly who to direct the resume to and the internal recipient is compelled to make an assessment as it came from the boss!

4.  Don’t self-eliminate opportunities too easily.  Early in my career I took a job description to a senior colleague saying, “This job looks exciting, but I don’t meet the requirements”.  He said, “if they had a person with all the requirements they wouldn’t be posting”.  I applied and got the job.   In 2016 a mentor advised me to apply to Veeva Systems.   I assumed I would not add value to a Software Company and didn’t look more closely.  In 2019 I joined the company.  Be curious!

5.  Ask for candid feedback from interviews.   If you are rejected for a role, then make the effort to find out why.  The hiring manager has gathered and synthesized insights from the interview process that are of high value to you in shaping your future applications.