Everything You Know About Job Hunting is WRONG!! The One Weird Trick to Get Your First Interview
Having been on the other end of the hiring/recruiting process a few times, job hunting feels a lot easier these days since I don’t take things nowhere near as personally as I used to when I was younger. And it turns out most of the “job hunting tips” out there on the internet is pretty misleading or often plain wrong.
There’s lots of emphasis on “crafting the perfect resume” in a lot of guides out there but actually the #1 priority should be to let the company know you’re human. People fear the unknown and unfamiliar, and what HR people fear the most is getting sued by some random person on the streets that they don’t even know. Why making personal connections is still important and still the best way to get your foot in the door. I would even say that it’s probably better that they don’t like you than not understanding you since there’s the possibility of them changing their minds later on — but if they don’t understand you then there’s nothing they can do.
If for some reason meeting someone in person is not possible, craft a personable cover letter in the same tone that you would write a normal email or social media post because that’s much more likely to land you a first interview rather than a letter written in a robot voice, telling them what you think they want to hear. (And if they like that sort of thing, you don’t want to work there anyway because they will treat you as the robot slave that you presented yourself as.) Don’t be afraid to be opinionated or show sides to your personality about the things you care about, even if it’s slightly tangential. It’s a performance of sorts, after all.
All of this involves getting comfortable under your own skin and not caring so much about what other people think, which is a life-long journey and a very difficult thing than most people give it credit for. Interesting thing is that a lot of the things I’ve learned in the arts has gotten a lot more relevant now more than ever, in ways that I never would’ve imagined beforehand. But it was mostly my insecurity that prevented me from making those connections — not my intellect or brain or whatever.
Anyway, sorry for click-baiting you here, but the “one weird trick” to finding work is just to be yourself and be comfortable with that. Not much else to say, really.
Would be interested in hearing what other people have to say about this stuff, also! I’m just another half-millennial perpetually looking for work, after all.
