Sandra Newman @sannewman
THE SEVEN SECRETS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE
- Private school
- Legacy lvy admission
- Nepotism hire
- Seed capital from family
- Club memberships
- Personal assistant, nanny, ghost writer answer
- Journalists who ask, “What’s your secret?” and uncritically publish the
LinkedIn is very useful to keep in touch with colleagues while your coming up. Honestly, don’t underestimate it just because it’s full of spammers. Once you’re established it becomes useless. The networks I’m past of tend to hang out in mailing lists, private rooms (Slack, etc), and stuff like that. Also what gets discussed is super mundane. Does anyone have spare tickets to ACL? Fantasy Football. Book lists. Best places to eat and visit when in “x”. From time to time somebody asks for “an in” with a particular company, or a summer internship for their kid, VC, attorneys, etc. A lot of charity conversations. Ninety percent of the time, it’s very unremarkable.
PS: I took my companies 100% “work from home” in 2012. When the pandemic was starting and a lot of us suspected that a Chinese style lockdown was coming, there was a lot of exchange of information on how to best, and quickly, implement WfH. Executives from companies in the collaboration space were there and they set a lot of other companies up within hours with the particulars to be figured out later. CEO’s, some from very recognizable names, openly discussed it. I personally provided all the information I could about or experience as a permanently WfH organization. Within days (before the official lockdowns were mandated) most of the companies in that list had already gone WfH. Some, including two really big names, went into it with the expectation of maintaining WfH as a permanent option. I like to think I helped convince them but that’s just my ego talking.
Networks don’t have to be evil centers of self interest and conspiracy. Most are boring and sometimes some good comes out of it.
I’m not saying networking is evil, I’m saying it’s just scummy that networks are the primary driver of being able to find a decent career, especially for people who have enough trouble developing social connections for their own social enjoyment’s sake.
Sadly, you are correct. I wouldn’t call it scummy because it makes it sound conspiratorial, but for most busy managers it’s easier to hit their friends and colleagues for hires than it is to hit a job site. Digging through hundreds of submissions and making calls is very time consuming. Sure there are recruiters but your first and easiest choice is to call up people you know. Maybe you can hire them, a known entity with a skill set you know it’s there, or they can recommend someone. It’s not fair, but once you’re in s hiring position I can guarantee that you will do the same. Cold recruiting is just a pain in the ass
If you are stuck with only job sites, there are ways to better your odds. The odds still suck, but they can suck less.