Yan Pritzker photographer, entrepreneur, software engineer, musician, skier

How to land a job 2.0

Posted 13 May 2009 @ 10pm | Tagged thoughts

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Yesterday 37 Signals announced they were hiring a new designer. How did Jason land a job at a place hundreds of designers are dying to work at? He didn’t just send them a resume, he started a conversation by creating a tailor-made website just for 37 Signals. Not only did the site explain exactly why he was the right fit for that specific job and company, but he went further and redesigned the company’s Backpack website. And, importantly, the medium was the message – he didn’t just talk about his skills, he proved it by making a well designed website to deliver his pitch.

To land your dream job, you need to target your employer. Pretend to work for them and do something that proves you’re the person for the job. Show them your thought process by keeping a blog and being active in online communities. Show them your work by participating in projects and displaying them to the world.

At the same time, employers need to start getting more creative to find the talent they seek. Posting your job requests on monster with the same dry templated “5 years of experience with these 15 things” speak isn’t going to get you very far.

Why did I go to interview at CohesiveFT? It was their craigslist post that got me interested. They were quick to spot emerging trends (three years ago that was Ruby on Rails, and using Macs as dev machines), and used creative language that showed me that they were thoughtful and had personality. They stood out from a sea of dry and robotic postings produced by HR departments listing unrealistic requirements while sorely lacking a clue. And why did they hire me? I was an early adopter, I wanted to use exactly the technologies and platforms they found exciting, I had a blog where I shared my thoughts, and I had a project that demonstrated my skills in a way a standard resume could not.

Here’s the thing – it’s still early days for personal branding. Most of your peers are mass-blasting companies on Monster with the same resume template. Most of them don’t have much of an Internet presence beyond Facebook and LinkedIn. There is still a ton of room to stand out and get employers to notice you.

How to get a competitive advantage over your peers and land your job 2.0:

• Know what job you want and tailor make a website/resume/portfolio for it.
• Participate online – blog, tweet, etc.
• Get your name all over the interweb – would your employer rather hire/interview someone they know nothing about, or someone they can get to know in advance by googling?
• If you don’t know about SEO, ask a friend or use a blog platform like WordPress which does much of the work for you. This will help you get in the top ranks on Google for your name.
• Update your site regularly to get more Google juice.
• Look for job opportunities in unlikely places, where fewer people are looking (facebook, twitter, linkedin, craigslist, niche job boards like jobs.37signals.com). Forget about Monster and the other big job sites.
• Follow the companies you want to work for – their blogs, their tweets, their employees etc. Start conversations with them.
• Create things that are of interest to your future employer. Pretend you work for them and execute a project that would make them envy your work.

Hey yan, thanks for the mention. I think you captured a lot what ultimately landed me my dream job. It is very much about targeting the company you really want to work for and making sure they know why you’re the best candidate.

You’re right that the days of the résumé and cover letter are over. When I first sent my pitch to 37signals the job was publicly available and I had to find a way to stand out from what I later found out was over 500 applicants. Maybe you won’t always face those odds, but you should always think about how you can stand out and show them your strengths. I knew that lots of people have the skills for the job, but I wanted to show me — my personality, how I think, how I work. I think that was the difference.

But don’t kid yourself – the job you target should be the right fit for your skills and personality. I’ve admired the work, philosophy, and people at 37signals for a long time so the biggest appeal for me was joining a company where I would find like minds in personality and work ethic, where I be in an environment to do my best work.

When targeting a job, look for those things over salary, perks, or notability.

And be patient. Especially with a company like 37signals that only rarely adds new people. I first spoke with them about a job almost a year ago. But the timing and fit weren’t quite right. I could have given up, but I kept the conversation open, and continued to look for ways to demonstrate my interest in the position and what I offered as a candidate.

It was a lot of work, but I think that getting something you truly want always is.

I bookmarked this, Yan. Read all of it and LOVED Jason’s approach. Hey, Jason! It’s such a novel idea this and it’s best to do it now before people start bombarding potential employers with websites and videos and interactive media as par for the course.

I like it though. Right now it’s uncluttered and innovative, but I can see the potential for it becoming kitschy.

Congratulations on your new job, Jason! I’ve never heard of 37signals before, but now – thanks to you and Yan, I have. That’s marketing. If I pass this along to someone else – this is good marketing. If I start exploring your site – this is great marketing! :) If I buy anything from it – this is the right marketing.