An Experiment in Networking at Scale
Looking for work will challenge your 'everything'.
Truer words have never been spoken, especially today.
Everyone knows that looking for work is a slog currently. Applying to jobs is like pushing a rope. If the posting is older than a couple days, "don't bother" is the advice I've continually gotten from very experienced recruiters.
"To Your Network!" then. This is the call to arms touted by LinkedIn talking heads, recruiters, and the recently hired.
The problem with traditional networking is it requires a ton of legwork. Even if you're emailing individuals, messaging on LinkedIn, or pressing the flesh at in-person events, it just doesn't scale very well.
Even posting regular laments on my LinkedIn feed only hits those people that are actively on LinkedIn. So, to keep things interesting while I hunt for my next thing I came up with another way. My solution was to go a little old-school and use the one thing everybody uses every day, all the time; email.
TL;DR
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I've BCC'd a bunch of people that I know with details on my job search. I'm going to do it every week until I'm employed or get tired of it.
People genuinely want to help
He's right, they do. But how? People have busy lives, and while they may genuinely want to help, it's not always obvious how. Its also not top of mind, or even bottom of mind for most.
My mass emailing solution is to make it easy for people to help. Its also a gentle nudge each week for my friends and former colleagues. It also provides a dead simple way to share a connection, an opening or an idea - just reply to the email.
It's also super easy to ignore if they're too busy, don't have anything, or don't like me anymore (or never did).
We'll see how it goes. I may report back here on the results.
If you're reading this and want to participate, just hit me up on messages and I'll add you to it.
If that's too much, maybe a share to your feed here on LinkedIn?
Product Leader | Discovery, Strategy, Vision, Delivery
4 个月I've met a few individuals who employed a version of this idea with grace and success including BRUCE JOHNSON Alexei Sacks Dave Loegering and Andy Carroll, MBA. They may have some smart words for you. Another idea to consider is showing up to any networking meeting or gathering on a mission to help someone else. While I tried to incorporate this mindset, no one does it better than Ben Nicholas.
Count me In!
Digital Product Development and Marketing
4 个月Love this. Keep us updated. And I hope it works
Radical Empathizer | Digital Product, Data & Technology Executive | Product Strategy, Development & Delivery Expert | Innovation & Transformation Leader | Startup Advisor
4 个月I really like this approach. Having known the scaling challenges associated with traditional networking, I'm excited to be part of this experiment and optimistically anticipate a good outcome. Excellent work, Josh Kahn.