How to get hired
Over the last 25 years, I have been hired by many different companies under many different circumstances. Here are my evaluations of the different strategies I have employed for getting hired.
Using your existing network. Is your goal finding new employment within your current field? This is the single most efficient and effective way to get hired I have found. When I was first entering the civilian workforce in the early 2000’s, after spending a decade on active duty with the military, I circulated my resume to a few of the places I was aware of that were hiring. While I did not have a bachelor’s degree at the time, I had some very specialized skills. Even so, many companies that I knew were in my line of work, and were actively looking for people like me, never bothered to call me. Of the few interviews I got by cold-calling, some of the companies dangled large sums in front of me, but they wanted to put me on a 1099, and I had no idea what that was at the time, and I was not inclined to figure it out.
My last interview was with a company that I had been referred to by a friend that I worked with in a different capacity. He was an active employee at the company, and he knew the hiring manager personally. I showed up looking sharp, and I was prepared to field a wide array of questions from the interviewer. I was seated in a medium-size, empty office at a round table. The discussion opened with some small talk as my interviewer flipped through the pages of my resume. He got to the last page, where my references were, and he asked about one of the names on the list. “Do you know this person well?” I replied that I did. “I’ll be right back,” he said, and left the room for about ten minutes. When he returned, he slid a piece of paper across the table and said, “How does that number sound, and can you start Monday?” I accepted both on the spot.
It was like being in a movie, but it really happened. That was the first time I realized the power of a professional network. However, the trick is to recognize the years of preparation that went into developing that rapid close. I spent years working with the person who referred me, and the person I used as a work reference, to the company. The only reason both of these people provided references for me is because I had demonstrated that I was both competent and capable during those years. I also developed rapport with these people on a personal level by being interested in who they were and how I could make their professional lives easier. Had I been unfriendly or incompetent, I doubt the reference would have come.
Personal success rating: 95% (estimate based on personal experience)
Develop a new network. Perhaps your goal is to change careers to a completely new line of work. You may not have an existing network that supports this, so you’ll need to develop one. This was something I did later in my career when I wanted to transition away from being a trainer and move into a business analyst role. A word of caution, while this strategy is very effective, it also requires significant time and commitment on your part. If you’re not prepared to spend two years building a network in the field you’d like to be in, you should probably reconsider whether you actually want to be in that field.
At this point in my life, I was married with a 3 year old and another baby on the way. I was already employed, and it was a pretty good job. Naturally, any significant decision like this had to be talked over with my wife. Once she and I agreed, I set a goal to be hired at a particular company within the next two years. I began interviewing with people whenever I had the chance, even if they weren’t at the company where I wanted to work, so that I could be prepared and in the proper mindset. I managed to secure an interview fairly early with my goal company, and at the end of the interview, the interviewer told me to stay in touch. So, I did.
Once per month for a year, I sent him a personal note via email, or I would invite him to lunch to discuss various topics related to what he was doing. I was pleasantly surprised about 13 months after this process began when he extended an invitation to interview again. This time, I met the team and got a tour of the facility. A week later, I got the call I had been waiting for, “We would love to have you, would you be interested in coming to work with us?” I had beaten my goal by 11 months. I was ecstatic, and whooped with delight (and I’m not the kind of person that normally reacts that way) in my truck as I drove home to tell my wife the good news.
Personal success rating: 50% (estimate based on personal experience)
Responding to “now hiring” signs in person. To me, this is the equivalent of cold-calling sales prospects. The experience doesn’t seem to be consistent, even within the same company. However, if you find yourself out of work, and you really need to have some income, this can be a great way to get an opportunity to get hired on at a larger company. I found myself in exactly this situation right after I got married and we were expecting our first child. Having never been unemployed before, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I spent some time spinning my wheels, but finally I found work in a factory. Working on an assembly line was unlike anything I had ever done before, and it was both humbling and enlightening. I spent about six months working there, but I recognized that a full-time position would take many years to achieve, and I wasn’t going to be able to afford that kind of time investment for the rate I was billing per hour.
So, I determined to find myself a job that was more aligned with skills I already had, but due to a number of factors, the economy seemed pretty bare at the time. As I was driving home one day, I saw a sign for a company much closer to my house, but it was entry-level work. The next day at the factory, I discussed it with a friend and we went over some of the pros and cons. After recognizing that, while I would be losing a few dollars per hour for the new position, the trade-off would be cutting my commute by 45 minutes each way every day. That was a lot of savings in gas.
I was working nights at the factory, and the interviews were only happening during the 8-10 am timeframe, so I had to get up in the middle of my sleeping time to make sure I was able to get there on time. I wore a suit and tie and was the first one to show up that morning. I waited patiently for 45 minutes to be called back. As I sat down in the seat across from the interviewer, I noticed he seemed a bit perplexed as he looked at my resume. He read it silently for a few minutes, then looked up and said, “Your resume is awesome, why on earth would you want to work here?” I was hired that day, and while the job initially was a temporary / seasonal position, I maintained a positive mental attitude and I looked for opportunities to help the company. Within 6 months, I had worked myself into a full time role and I was managing training for a brand new program.
Personal success rating: 35% (estimate based on personal experience)
LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. This is the absolute least effective way I have found to get hired. It seems tantalizingly simple, and I admit that I have applied to literally thousands of jobs on all of these job sites. It’s easy to get trapped in the mindset that you’re being diligent in your job search by waking up each morning, searching your favorite site for roles you’d like to have, and then applying to every single one you find. I have done this myself, and at the time, when I first began this daily ritual, I told myself “this is how it’s done now” and I was convinced that I just had to keep refining my resume until I could get the magical combination of words that would enable me to pass by the scripts companies use to search the thousands of applications they receive to find that needle in the haystack (me) that would be their best hire ever. However, it seemed like I never could get past them with any great level of success. Perhaps I simply didn’t have the keywords, or maybe I really didn’t have the right background to fill the role I was already filling at a new company.
Conservatively estimating, I would guess I applied for 2000 different jobs over a period of six years. Sometimes I would apply for 50 jobs in one afternoon. When LinkedIn came out with the rapid apply button, I would do a search and then just scroll down the list applying to every single position that showed up. In total, I would estimate that I have actually been called for maybe 15 of the applications I sent over the six or so years I tried this method, and that’s including responding to ads from recruiting companies. Of these 15 or so call-backs, I have had success with only a few interviews, as the companies that use this method seem to already have someone in mind for the advertised position, and they are just using this to check a box, so that they can say they have technically considered other people for the role. I can’t validate that for certain, but that seems to be the experience I’ve had. However, it’s not all bad news. I did get one pretty decent contract with a top-tier luxury goods company, and it helped me become more marketable at a time when I really needed the work. Still, if you’re looking to get hired, I would not advise this as the primary means of obtaining employment. If anything, I would use it as a way to begin building a network with people who work at the company where you’d like to work.
Personal success rating: 0.000000015% (estimate based on personal experience)
Bottom line: Building a network will take time, and as you look forward, that time seems to be infinitely long. Two years in the future sometimes feels like an eternity, but in hindsight, two years doesn’t always feel like that long ago. The old saying “anything worth having is worth working for” still applies today.
Challenge: Get started building your network today. You can’t go back in time, so do not spend time beating yourself up for not making the most of opportunities in the past. Instead, identify 3 people you can reach out to and start a conversation. Be friendly and open about your motivations. When I say open, I don’t mean saying, “Hi, I want a job at your company and so I am looking to use you as my ‘foot in the door’,” but you can still be honest and likely get a much better result if you instead said something like, “I see you work for XX company. I am very interested in applying for a position there, and I was wondering if you could give me any insight or advice?” You will very likely send more emails / DMs than you will receive in return, so don’t get frustrated. If you find that someone is not responding within a week or so, then identify a new person and start again. This process takes time and persistence. It will also help you to hone your soft skills (aka diplomacy).
There is no shame in being afraid or shy. At some point, most of us have those feelings and it takes a lot of effort to overcome them. If you’re having those kinds of feelings, or you’re not sure where to begin, then reach out to me and let’s get started on your adventure today. I am ready to be your accountability partner and to help guide you on your journey.
Be strong and of good courage, and good things will come your way.