The First Rule…

of F?i?g?h?t? Any Club… Join!

A friend sent me an invitation to a Discord Server last week. It was to a group for people to chat, vent, share information, and collaborate on their collective job search. Sound familiar? It should. I’ve written before about the “Guild” of alums from my previous company impacted by “Reductions in Workforce”.

The whole thing reminded me of the scene in Fight Club where the Narrator realizes that Tyler Durden has been setting up franchises all over.

So, armed with the learnings and lessons of myself and others, I started dropping tips, advice, and posting roles for this new tribe of talented professionals.

I’m sure there’s many more groups of people collectively riding out this banana town job market. If you don’t have one: Find one. If you can’t find one: Create one. Here in Austin, Texas, there’s also the great people at the Austin Digital Jobs group. There’s probably something similar near you. Facebook and Reddit are other good places to look for groups.

Community is important. Don’t feel like you have to tough it out in silence like a gruff, blue-collar dad in a 20th century family drama.

This is applicable across any interest you have:

• Want to start a Cross-Country Ballroom Dancing club? There’s people out there ready to bedazzle some boots from REI. Find them!
• Have strong opinions about a hot dog being a sandwich or not? Someone will take that conversation action - even though it’s a distraction from the bigger question: Is cereal soup?
• Have an idea for a company? Or a vision of creating opportunities for people who can grow and prosper as part of an organization doing good work for people? Find people who believe in that too and manifest it.

This should also serve as a cautionary tale for employers who may be less considerate given the current supply-demand imbalance. Doing things like this is not cool:

• Posting jobs that you’re not actively hiring for.
• Bait and switch candidates who applied for your “remote role” then being told they are in-office or hybrid a few interviews in.
• Listing wild salary ranges like $1 to $300k a year. This isn’t the Showcase Showdown on the Price is Right!

The market will rebound and you’ll be dealing with a lot of top talent – organized top talent – with these various networks of peers who will make you long for the days when Glassdoor was the most shade someone could throw at a company. Anyone who has worked in the recommendations space knows this central truth: No collection of anonymous opinions has ever held up against a single recommendation from someone you know.

Do you want to have a company talent flocks to or flees from?

Speaking of “flocking to”. We’re looking ahead to multiple Austin-based hires coming up at Walden Media Group . If we keep doing what we’re doing (Spoiler alert: We will), we’re going to keep that hiring train running on the regular. So, if you’re looking for your next great thing or looking for a better company culture where you can do amazing things, let’s stay connected or get connected.

Thanks for reading and all you do (or will do) to connect great people and great opportunities!

Want to read more of my ramblings?

• Other articles on LinkedIn
• Other long and short-form posts online