What is the secret to getting a job? First I had to realize there was no easy way such as applying online. See the black hole of death post (SaT-5). The secret is obvious but for some stressful.
Now an equally important question to “how do I get a job I love” is “what job do I think I want”. That is a rabbit hole for another time and a great story. See this future post, which may or may not be posted yet. If it is posted READ IT FIRST before you finish this story.
Back out of the rabbit hole you are probably still wondering what is the secret to earning a calling? What I did to find my career is networking! A lot of persistent networking. You must talk to everyone you know about what job you are looking for. In America this is easier because everyone asks you what you do for a living so you have a natural in. These conversations get you connections to people in your chosen field of career, which lead to interviews.
My chosen career hypothesis was a robotics startup. This was a pretty niche area so I did not find too many connections through people I knew. Therefore I networked in other ways, which everyone should do. I went to meetups (there is an app for that), conferences, and trade shows. I cold emailed the CEO or other top talent persistently. Persistence means three attempts per person. If someone I knew referred me or a relevant company had an alumni from my college I almost always got headway. I flew to a robotics conference over 1,000 miles away and ended up meeting my future boss. You may say that sounds expensive but a plane ticket was nothing compared to the opportunity cost of earning money from a job. Another bonus was that the people at the conference were super impressed I had traveled that far to network with them and gave me interviews on the spot.
Once networking occurs usually the communication defaults to email. This happened with two companies after the robotics conference. I knew that sending a first email back after meeting was important. What I later learned is every email after that is important networking too. And there will be a lot of them. There were 60+ emails back and forth with the company I ended up choosing before I got an offer letter. Do not wait. Email back as soon as you can.
Finally, you get the job of your career hypothesis and you learn if that position fits you and if you fit it. You also learn about the indirects you guessed earlier. This learning helps you on the journey to the next steeping stone of the next position whether it is in the same or a different career.
::The best way to start a career is to network with people::