Networking at Scale: (Vol 2) - results

I started a new approach to finding work last week. Read the details here.

tl;dr - I bcc'd as many former co-workers and friends as I have in my contacts in gmail. Helping them help me find work.

I have to say the results were better than I expected, I'll share some stats at the end.

Something else unexpected was the amount of encouragement I received for the approach I was taking, and for me personally.

People do want to help Gary Koelling , you were right. Tangibly feeling this from a simple email was a cool balm on the rash I've developed from endless job applications, blind rejections and ghosting from people I'd talked to many times.

So I'm going to keep going with this. I'm emailing once a week. Some have told me this is too much, some have said it's just right. ??♂?

Job postings are still a thing, but with a lot of caveats.

Some friends shared a recent curated article about the prevalence of 'Ghost' jobs that suggests up to 70% of jobs posted are not actively open roles.

Shocking, but not surprising. Anyone paying attention has seen articles like this. I have to say it's certainly been my experience. However, despite the success of the networking email I'm still submitting job applications albeit with more targeted criteria.

1. Job has to be no older than 3 days, ideally I'll only apply if it's a day old.
2. Must have less than 100 applicants
3. Can't be a job I've seen posted over and over and over again. (I'm looking at you J.P. 摩根 , 塔吉特百货 , and Netflix )

I'm also trying new, and better job posting sites, my two favorites are:

Welcome to the Jungle : used to be Otta, excellent UX. Hat tip Laura Evans

Leethub.io : Curated tech job board. I trust the jobs here. Nice ux of a techie sort as well.

Stats from first email and companion LinkedIn post.

Email

• 22 people responded with either support, a connection, job link or hot lead.
• 13 introductions or connections
• 4 direct leads on jobs with connections to the organization
• 1 interview?

LinkedIn Article

• 1,389 impressions
• 814 members reached
• 80 article views

Way better positive activity than just applying to jobs. 100x better.

I'll keep doing this every week until I'm gainfully employed.

Thanks for reading, if you'd like to be included in my networking email, just connect with me here on LinkedIn.