[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by NorCalAthlete

1. Research, research, research
2. Take a sniper shot, not a shotgun blast approach
3. Be a doer, not an idea guy
4. Anyone can point out problems; try to focus on actionable solutions


1. Research. Research the company you're applying to, the position, the team. Find the hiring manager / recruiter on LinkedIn. Find their Facebook / Instagram / Blog / Youtube channel. What are they interested in? What catches their eye? What are their side hobbies? What charities do they donate to? What's the company mission? What's the market / competition like? What products do they sell besides the obvious? Why do you want to work for them? What's an improvement you could make to their products - or a market they could expand into? What's a gap they have that you've identified? Etc, etc, etc. I highly doubt you've done this for 3 companies a day - most people don't even do it for a single company they "really really really want to work for" and that includes FAANG.

2. Once you've compiled all this, start hunting their job postings. Find one at least closely related to what you think you can do - don't worry about meeting 100% of the requirements, but aim for at least 70-80%. Then tailor your resume to that job posting. You may end up with a few different versions of your resume - that's fine. Get the meat and potatoes in there and then dress it up with tweaks for each position / hiring manager you're trying to appeal to. Reach out to someone at the company you know on LinkedIn or Facebook and see if they can give you a quick intro to the hiring manager or recruiter. Personality and culture fit DO matter. Once you make the connection, save the job listing link / # and have it ready along with the corresponding resume. Give it directly to the recruiter / friend / manager if the conversation goes well. Or try to have it passed along to them. You may need to be persistent - being local always helps.

3. Active language / projects that demonstrate quantifiable progress on something. It's easy to spot the bullshitters - "facilitated this" "helped with" that etc. Put it in terms of "I did [x] with [y] to achieve [z], utilizing [a] and [b]" When the interview - even if it's just an initial phone screen - comes, have stories ready about projects / times you've been that person of action. Even if you failed and it didn't pan out. You can always spin failure into lessons learned and fail forward.

4. Following on from #3 + #1. If you can identify what you think is a gap with the company, come up with a potential solution, and propose that as the reason you want the related position, it will come across well even if they disagree or are already working on closing the gap. Or even if you've misinterpreted the way they're taking the company (though that might be a small yellow flag, so do try to learn what you can about their industry and competition).

There is almost always work for those who DO and take action. You may indeed have to move for it - that's good that you're already accepting that and being flexible. It can help to target large companies with offices in multiple states - especially if they're primarily located in heavy population centers (VHCOL areas). Often, they have a difficult time getting current employees to move to remote locations for roles, so for example if you look up someone like Google, Facebook, Cisco, WalMart Labs, etc they have offices spread out across the US. Contrast that with Amazon, who are primarily in Seattle / SF Bay Area and anything outside of that is data center or distribution center. Apple similarly is primarily just the bay area, though of course they have Apple stores everywhere if you're looking at that. Picking a field as well will be useful - a discipline like Global Supply and Logistics will have far more location possibilities than software engineer, but sales will have even more locations available.

Figure out what you want to try and get your foot in the door for that first job. Be hungry, helpful, and knowledgeable, and you'll gain mentors in no time who can show you the ropes and boost you further.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by NorCalAthlete

You guys are too generous lol but thank you. I’m laying in bed drunk and typing this all out on mobile or I’d drop in more links and videos and stuff.

Back on topic :

1. “Sales” consists of a lot more than just “in the spotlight” people. Particularly in tech or big business, any salesperson tends to have a sales team supporting them - they may be in the spotlight but they rely on sales engineers, architects, technical marketing managers, etc that all fall under the “sales” umbrella. So don’t count out sales roles just yet.

2. I’ve never been one much for social media either, but I recognize and acknowledge the role it plays these days. It’s absolutely still possible to get hired the old fashioned way, with a handshake over beers after you just met someone, but given the current pandemic circumstances it would behoove you to get savvy real quick. Particularly when you already have a starting point - your POC at the finance company. Consider it a dry run if nothing else. Look up their LinkedIn, google their email, see who their coworkers are that they’re connected to, branch out from there.

3. A 3 hour interview is no joke - see if you can contact the recruiter and ask for any particular topics to brush up on over the next few weeks.

4. 55+ hour weeks isn’t great but it’s not terrible for a first job either. Particularly if you can get OT rates. I’d be wary on legally requiring you to work excessive hours, but it’s not uncommon unfortunately for a “company culture” to strongly encourage such behavior and expectations.

5. But hey, if they’re gonna pay well, fuck it. I’m assuming you’ve taken at least a couple statistics courses by now and understand a standard distribution. I’m blanking on some of the terms but the top 5% of stuff - you could consider that jobs that pay well, that you love doing, and that you’re good at. At the bottom, you have the jobs you hate, suck at, and don’t pay well. A lot of people will tell you “do what you love” or chase your passion. I say “do what you don’t hate, as long as it gets you everything you love.” Maybe that’s money, access, whatever, but point is it opens up the other 90% of shit in the middle. I’m a fan of Mike Rowe’s philosophy of “passion isn’t something you find or pursue, it’s something you bring with you to everything you do.” You’re young and starting out - your passion may change once you have to do it for work. So instead, try to learn to enjoy amd be passionate about whatever you’re doing. Derive satisfaction from success and competency - whether that’s as a plumber or an accountant, project manager or engineer. Take pride in your work. Figure all that out and 55 hours will fly by.

6. Speaking of hours though one of my pet peeves is busy work and inefficiency. I have a saying - “bureaucracy is the epoxy that lubricates the gears of progress.” Spend a bit of extra time chopping down or streamlining the workload for your coworkers and managers and see if you can’t get everything they want done in less time than they expect - and spend the extra time enabling everyone else around you to do the same. Take it as a challenge to improve the things that aren’t necessarily in your job description and it’ll be worth it one way or another - even if only as a good story and resume bullet for the next job if they don’t appreciate your efforts after a couple years.

These should be printed and distributed to every college student or job applicant on the planet.

You sir, win the internet today. Congratulations.

Nothing more needs to be added. Stellar job!!