How I got a job at LinkedIn in 2014? A story of being shameless, luck, perseverance and resilience.

I don't know why I was thinking about this today, probably because this morning as I am going through my 12th day of my 14th day quarantine in Hong Kong I picked up the first tee from my closet and ended up wearing an old LinkedIn t-shirt. Also because in quarantine, I have time to write...

This T-shirt brings a lot of memory, It has the LinkedIn logo of course with Hong Kong 香港 with my name in the back the #36 which means I was the 36th employee in LinkedIn Hong Kong Office.

I left LinkedIn a while ago but I thought the story of how I landed a job there in 2014 would probably be a good share on a Friday evening for all of you to have a good laugh and hopefully learn a few things along the way, especially as times are hard to find a job or maybe think of your next move.

Many of you don't know at all this story, for many you know parts of it, but here is the full story of how I moved from Beijing to Hong Kong in 2014 to start working for LinkedIn. It's not a short story but it's a fun one.

Kicking Off my Search

It was January 2014, I just quit my mission as VP of Youfu Media after realising the company was just going to hit the wall and the owner obviously had a different view of how to run its outdoor media business ( through bribing clients instead of helping me building a clean business_ oh yes the outdoor media in China is completely flawed with bribes, got offered some many times but no thanks).

Also, I had two amazing discussions with one of my mentor back then Marc Poirier and one of my ex boss at JCDecaux Xavier Dupre; both gave me a similar advice as I was mentioning to them I had some opportunities in small companies or other unknown brands they never heard of. I paraphrase what they told me: "If you want to work for a media company, work for the best! Who is the best in their field, find them and aim high. Don't go small, Either work for the best or open your own business."

APPLYING

It did not really hit me hard the first time but after a few days, I started to dream bigger and wrote down a few media companies I was dreaming of working for back then: CNN, WSJ, Facebook, NYT, CNBC. I will be honest that one name in particular in that list ( where I also had interviews 3 years later) is not in my dream list anymore, I just need to believe in what a CEO believes in and what the company stands for_ Sorry Facebook but you are Out Forever!

Anyway, back at the list back then I started contacting each and everyone of them: applications on website, cold emails, connecting on LinkedIn you name it! Weeks without answers ( seriously like not even a courtesy email answer), I needed a NEW PLAN.

ACTIVATE MY NETWORK... and my brain!

Feb 2014. One day, my heart started racing ( not kidding), I saw LinkedIn was recruiting an Ad Sales Guy in Hong Kong for a regional role. I was like : WAIT, WHAT!!! no no no, this job is for me, I got to get it!!!!! How????LinkedIn has an advertising business??!!?? .

Didn't think twice I applied right away... two weeks go by, no answer!!! I have to do something about it. I was already a LinkedIn addict as a user, even did LinkedIn meetups in Beijing back in the days, I was already hacking ( legally) their platform building my own LinkedIn Sales Navigator with Excel sheets as a media sales and I loved their platform so much. I was even part of their China Beijing focus group of very active LinkedIn users in China back in 2010 with some of their Asia top management as they were exploring entering the China market... EUREKA!!!

That was my IN, literally.

How did not I think of that earlier... who was that guy who came to Beijing run that workshop?... Going back into my old Inmails, emails... damn where is it... Gotcha! His name Arvind Rajan and I just realised for the first time he was the MD of APAC.

This is what I sent him in a nutshell ( this is not the original email but I remember):

> Bingo, thank you Arvind, the next day I had an email for an interview with Emily Atkins.

LATE TO MY FIRST INTERVIEW

" Hello Emily, I am so so so sorry! I got so confused in the time zones and I missed our call, Can I call you now?"

I was waiting to get this interview for about two or three weeks, I was so excited.... and I missed it...

You can't make this SHXX up. After trying to find a job in Beijing, I was thinking I don't really need to be in Beijing for interviews since I am applying in other cities, why not go to Sri Lanka then.

Do you know what is the time difference between Sri Lanka and Sydney,Australia where Emily was?? It's 5 hours and 30 min.... Well I got stuck on the 5 hours, I had no idea there were places in this world with half hours time difference and since I was on holidays, did not use phone calendars at the time... Boom. I was late 30 min.

So here I was, trying to salvage the interview I was waiting for for weeks... and Emily was awesome. We eventually laughed about it, she was very considerate and we had an interesting interview; she told right away that I am not the typical profile for this role, never worked in digital but she will give it a shot and talk to the hiring managers.

A week later, I was drinking a cocktail with my wife in Sri Lanka to celebrate , next round!! I will remember Sri Lanka/Australia time difference for life.

( this is a pic of me with an apron I bought in Sri Lanka the day after my interview, the message says it all)

NEXT ROUNDS

Peer interview. Had two great discussions with fellow colleagues Monika Hori and Soniya Monga who were amazing and kept the excitement of wanting to work for LinkedIn even more.

After ten years in China, it was so refreshing to talk to people that had a global view of media and working for global clients, this was the real deal.

Seems I did not do too bad and got in for the last round... drum roll... The PITCH PRESENTATION.

FACE to FACE INTERVIEW and a MISSED PLANE

LinkedIn agreed to fly me in from Beijing, I stayed at my friend's place Skott Taylor. I have to be honest there, I think I slept only 2 hours, I was so stressed and the face to face interview was at... 8 AM. That does not scare me anymore but if you knew me few years back you know I can't function before 10 am... hence the stress, hence not sleeping, hence freaking out.

Suit, Tie On, let's go!!! Full suit in HK in April is not a good idea, super hot, super humid, anyway took me a while to find the office, no time for breakfast, arrived in the amazing office in Causeway Bay and meet with Nellie ( my boss), Olivier ( boss of the boss), Nancy ( Agency Partner) and Julia ( Ops).

8 AM let's do it.

9 am: Interview went well, time to release the pressure.

Noon: Already at the airport for my 2 pm flight, enjoying a burger and take a flight back to Beijing where my wife was waiting for me to take an 11 pm flight from Beijing to France. But that's not where the story ends...

At 2pm, I am at my gate and getting impatient as our flight is still not boarding, I show the stewardess my air ticket, she looks at me and say:" This is a different airlines, your flight is at the same time but Gate 31".... What!!!!?????!!!! What kind of airlines put same time flight to same destination???

Panic, running, going to the right gate... too late... The stress got the best out of me, I was so tired that I missed the first flight in my life, and still the only one to date. But my ticket was booked by LinkedIn, so I had to contact LinkedIn HR again telling them how I screwed up... they helped but... no more flights to Beijing from Hong Kong today...( reminder: I have a flight in 10 hours from Beijing to France).

After 30 min of thinking things through, I had to go to Shenzhen, cross the border, get on another flight, I arrived in Beijing airport T2 for my Air France flight right on time... My wife was so stressed and mad but all was good, she took all our luggages alone and was there waiting for me.

That was a crazy 24 hours I will remember my whole life.

And a week later, I got the job!! And I was in my hometown in France to share the news with my family, this time it was Champagne!!

So here is my story, I hope you can feel how luck is great but you have to push your luck by being shameless, dare to be yourself, don't take silence for an answer, own your mistakes and build a human connection. This story changed my life and I hope you build your own story too to change yours and land a dream job maybe.

I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane. Did you like that story? If you do, maybe next one will be about how I got my job at Rosewood! It's an interesting one too.

Here is me on my Day 1 at LinkedIn!!! yes costume was mandatory.

Thank you Marc, Xavier, Arvind, Emily, Monika, Soniya, Olivier, Nellie, Julia, Nancy for all being part of this story and my wife Yukiko for keeping it cool and getting me through it.

Happy Friday, Enjoy your weekend!