How to find a job in 2020?

I receive messages from people asking if it is possible to find a job or internship in the current circumstances.

I agree that it is more challenging than usual and I know that you are trying, but it is not impossible. Here are steps that I invite you to pursue to increase your chances of landing your preferred role:

Connect with as many people as possible.

Seems obvious. However, I do not understand why people are miserly with sending Linkedin invites. It is free of cost! Find people in the domain of your interest and send requests every day!

Not all of them may accept your request, but that is ok. They are busy and do not owe you anything.

Be interesting!

Make yourself interesting. Every Linkedin request/message you send, should have some level of customisation. Stop with the “Dear sir/madam” This is not 2005.

Take an example of an email I received few days ago from a gentleman in Germany:

Do you see the level of hardcore customisation? He actually took the time to go through my content on a different platform, pointed to it and then asked if I could post something on his platform. I felt almost guilty not obeying what he was asking me to do.

Keep your social media alive.

Do not open your Linkedin app merely for sending unsolicited resumes to disinterested recruiters. Rather, share news articles, write a post, comment on posts and share your opinion. This will keep you visible. When you send your resume later, they know something about you already.

Do for free what you will be paid to do.

Let us consider that you need a job in Equity Research. Read a bunch of research reports online. Pick up a company. Invest time to write an equity research report on it. Send it to all of your connections and ask for feedback. Not all of them will reply, but some of them will. You will get a call from somebody for an interview. It is a game of consistency and patience. 

For Investment bank or marketing, make a research report on a recent acquisition or COVID impact on their industry etc. Provide them value even though they are not paying you.

You will either get a call, or you will learn, or usually, both.

Learn to tell your story

When reaching out to people via message or email, tell your story. Humanise yourself by sharing not just what you have done in the past but also your passion, motivation to do things, how experiences impacted you etc.

This will help build a personal connect in our impersonal mediums.

Stay Confident

A couple of weeks of lack of response may build frustration and shatter your confidence. This is not true. It is an information gap, and nothing more. Somebody needs you and you need them. It is a process of knocking on many doors until you reach just the one.