What Advice Would You Give?

I recently had an exchange with someone who I do not personally know using InMail, and I thought that the exchange would make an interesting #LearnShareGrow reflection for all of us. Please have a read and see what you think. Perhaps you can relate to the sender or to me as the receiver.?

As you are reading, please think about the following two questions:?

1. Are there specific things that standout to you??
2. Based on your experiences, what recommendations would you give to the sender or receiver of such an exchange?

In order to protect the anonymity of the sender, I will refer to him as John Doe. I have cleaned up some grammatical issues while doing my best not to affect the tone of the exchange to make it easier to read.

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Sender:

Hi, I’m John Doe. Looking for opportunity and I need help

Me:

Sending you positive energy. I know it is a tough market and most people do not have openings. There are people posting openings however. I would recommend working with as many recruiters as you can.

You will find the opportunity ??????

Sender:

Thanks for response. But as you said this is a tough market applying from posts which have less than 2-3 openings may not be correct

Me:

Recruiters are best positioned to support in these situations from what I have heard from others. Wishing you the right opportunity and connections to accelerate the process.

Sender:

It's true that there are recruiters, but as I am fresher they won't respond. They won’t respond to any of us from what I have learned. I have already contacted lots of members on LinkedIn.

Sender (5 days later):

reply!?

Me:

Unfortunately, I don’t have any advice on this one. Perhaps research as much as you can about what other people are doing who are sharing your experiences. Join a community or communities of people that are going through the same experiences as they might be able to bring fresh ideas and provide a different level of emotional support. There is no single pronged strategy that I can think of that would be helpful. Every day is a day to wake up and invest time and energy while being open to changing approaches. Advice is only going to get you so far. One has to take action and adapt based on information coming back.

Sorry you’re going through this and wish you the very best as you grow through the experience. Best of luck as you continue to experiment with new things.

Sender:

I’ve been looking for 1.5yrs even though I'm from a tier 2 college and have good skills.

Me:

Understood. Are you asking me for something specifically? How else might I be in a position to support you? The final recommendation I have is to take time to continue to develop mindset. They’re very interesting things to read about like The Empowerment Dynamic TED. How can you get yourself into a creator mode?

Sender:

Any chance you can you refer me?

Me:

I do not know of any positions that I can refer you to.

In terms of a general recommendation, I am not comfortable writing about people that I do not have experience with. The recommendations that make sense are the ones that are backed with actual experiences. I can tell you that I have never met one manager that hires based on recommendations and referrals alone. Also, once somebody reviews a referral, they will want to typically speak to the person who made the referral to understand details behind why the referral was made. A referral is not the thing that makes the deal, but rather something used to close a deal if needed.

I hope the time that I’ve taken to provide you my personal recommendations and insights serve you well and that you are successful in your search.

Sender (Following day):

Oh, but if you are working you would possibly know about something in your company. I will send my CV. If you can share it with your HR department that would be very helpful to me

Me:

Feel free to post CV here. Good luck.

Sender:

john_doe.pdf <attaches CV>

Sender:

Will you promise me that you will communicate with your HR and help if there is a chance?

Me:

My friend, you’re persistent. I think you need to take a look at some of my recommendations above. Good luck to you.

Sender:

Yah, I have read them, but why won’t you help? It is not like a recommendation is a referral. Every company allows these and they can lead to the necessary tests and interviews. And in terms of experiences, according to your profile, you have been with Cisco for many years so you have experience.

Sender (Following day):

...

(The "..." is actually the message. Don't know what to tell you ??)

Me:

Resumes are submitted by employees to opportunities posted and not to HR. Must provide justification to why candidate is qualified.

There’s nothing more I can help you with considering what you’re asking for. Please do not expect further response. Wishing you the best of luck and hope you’re able to secure the right opportunity.

—

That is the exchange.

Although the outreach might persist on the end of the sender, I will not see it. Curious about community feedback. I have my thoughts, but will refrain from sharing until later. Appreciate if you would take the time to use the comments section to document your perspective and insights.?

Reflection

• Perhaps there are some things that both the sender and I could have communicated better?
• Perhaps there is cry for help that is going unanswered and needs a solution?
• Perhaps this was an experiment?
• Perhaps this was something else that wasn't what it appeared to be on the surface? (Can never be too careful these days.)
• Perhaps there are some critical skills that need to be taught to both those searching for opportunities and those of us who have worked in the industry for years?

Let’s go back to the original two questions:

1. Are there specific things that standout to you??
2. Based on your experiences, what recommendations would you give to the sender or receiver of such an exchange?

Appreciate your willingness to participate in this public #LearnShareGrow exercise. I hope that many, including myself, will benefit from this post and what you share in the comments here.

Cheers,

Andre