Level 0: apply with resume to jobs board
Level 1: apply with skills profile to open roles
Level 2: make job hunt a social campaign
Level 3: send tailored pitch direct to hiring manager
Level 5: create value for company so they create a role for you when they weren’t even hiring
Some of my best co-workers over the years have ended up where they are via a level 5 approach to career opportunities. But how do you create a job for yourself where one doesn’t exist?
When companies post an open role that’s their way of advertising they need a solution to a problem they’ve been able to package up and define neatly enough to call it a role and put a price range on it in terms of expected value. In most cases, it’s all a pretty rough approximation. But the problems someone at a company has managed to define, package, and price are far from the only problems they’re facing and trying to solve every day, let alone all the opportunity to create more value they’d get to if they had the time, plus those they haven’t even thought of yet.
That’s where you come in. It doesn’t usually work if you come in from day one thinking about what you can get out of them – a job, money, etc. To create your own role, it works best if you truly respect and value the company, product, and mission. Ideally you are a customer. You can immerse yourself in their product, marketing content, hopefully get to know people who work there in a normal non-creepy way, and learn everything you can.
Then start doing stuff for them! If you make a really awesome project, be a great promoter, offer to solve a problem for free, or generally do something unasked that makes their life easier and better and makes them and the company look good, you’ll have some social capital to work with. Find something you do really well and some way it can be beneficial to them. (Be aware, however, that some of the fluffier stuff can be a tax on them as much as a help. For example, constant unsolicited email intros to your “network” for open ended convos with fans or fellow travelers who do not have a clear value prop.)
Use the initial value you create to get a meeting – buy them lunch or coffee – or email exchange to ask them some more open questions about their growth plans, pain points, etc. Be generous with ideas and actions to help.
Then put together a proposal. Create a role for yourself and a detailed 90-day plan of what you would do and the tangible outcomes you expect it to create. Offer to do it for cheap or free if you want, or put your desired price on it. Tell them if after 90 days both parties aren’t happy, no problem.
This is a long play. But even when it doesn’t pan out, you actually gain a ton of value just by doing it and it enhances your career value and opens other opportunities more than sending out apps.
Get creative. Be bold. Experiment. Have fun!