Comment by bradknowles

So, that was basically the lesson that my mom taught me in 1984. Right after I graduated high school and entered university. At the time, she had already been employed by the university HR department for a number of years, and she was now the official job placement expert on campus. She ran their entire Job Location Program. I even designed a JLP logo for her, while I was in high school.

The rule then was, 90% of all placements come from personal networks — people you know, or people that they can put you in touch with. Of the remainder, 90% came from headhunters that were sent out to do a specific job of finding a specific person for a specific role. That left just 1% of the total to be covered by things like listings in newspapers, job placement programs, etc…. Yes, she understood intensely how small her role was in this process. Which is what made her the expert she was.

She taught me that you always have to have your résumé ready and polished, which is hard for people who are in college and don’t have any real job experience. But you’re going to have to knock on a lot of doors, and meet a lot of people, before you’re likely to be hired.

So far as I have been able to determine, those rules haven’t really changed since. If anything, they’ve gotten worse. Especially with spam, junk listings, and AI slop.

Yes, I have a LinkedIn Profile which I have tried to polish up as best I can, but I know it needs more work. And I’m going to have to go knock on a lot of doors and meet a lot of people, before I can reasonably hope to be hired for my next job. And in the meanwhile, I’m going to be getting some official career counseling and advice.

But personal networking is key. Get yourself out there at local meetups. Get yourself out there in online groups that are doing interesting things. Get your name out there as THE expert in the things you care about. Make them knock down your door, headhunting you for their job they desperately need to fill.