How to get a job without applying

Job applications suck.

• For applicants, they force you to distill your life into one page and a few paragraphs, which have a high likelihood of not being read.
• For companies, each job gets hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants, most of whom are spam-applying to every possible role.

In an ideal world, both sides would get rid of applications altogether. This is the secret: neither side wants applications to exist, but they’re needed because the market for talent is inefficient. You don’t know about the companies hiring, and they don’t know about you. An application is the most popular way to bridge this gap, but it isn’t the only way.

I’ve been lucky that I haven’t had to apply for the majority of work I’ve done. I wrote, built up a reputation, and now regularly get unsolicited job offers. Humble brag, I know, but there are a lot of people like me and you can become one of them.

The best people don’t apply to jobs. Instead, they do these things:

1. Be so good they can’t ignore you. Just be cracked. Do insanely good work in the job you have now. Build your skills, build a reputation, impress your coworkers.
2. Tell people about your work. It feels cringe to post about your work, but it’s one of the best ways to get attention from outside your network. Post on LinkedIn, write a blog, create a portfolio, share ideas and your expertise. You need to market yourself because no one will do it for you.
3. Network (unironically) or, better, make friends. People hire people, so increase your luck surface area by meeting lots of people. Ideally, do this because it is fun and you’re interested in spending time with them, not because you need a job. Go to in-person events, training sessions, and conferences. Join a community.
4. Be clear and specific about what your expertise is. What are people hiring you for? What’s your “unit of work”? For me, it’s a blog post, but it could also be an event, mobile app, social post, edited video, day rate, or many more. Ideally, you could charge for this unit of work, which would enable you to go freelance (and get more work).
5. Get your foot in the door any way possible. Send cold emails and DMs, work for free (or intern), send unsolicited work proposals, provide permissionless samples, offer a work trial, organize and host an event, volunteer, knock on doors, send a letter (or doughnuts), create a website, presentation, Loom, Figma.