Where Do Jobs Come From?
Steven Kneiser
5-minute read
Are there any real junior jobs anymore?
You’re willing to put in the hours,
but they still ask for 1-3 years of experience
wat.
the.
heck.
The Average Job Search™
- Time to revisit the ol’ résumé
- Give up on the old format & google a new template
- Sprinkle some recent salt & pepper on LinkedIn
- Visit the first few job boards that come to mind
- Spam 10 applications
Optional cover letter?
“How about NO”
Way to really roll the dice!
“Wait,
LinkedIn has a job board now?”
- Try 1-3 LinkedIn Jobs searches
- Praise modern tech for innovations like “Easy Apply”
AND NOW WE WAIT…
*sniff* *sniff*
Does anyone smell existential dread?
*deep gasp*
“COULD IT BE
a red notification dot FOR ME?”
- Check the LinkedIn Feed to clear that permanent notification dot
- Oh, a local recruiter posted about a new job!
- Discretely comment your email
(you sly fox you,
getting in at the ground floor)
*leans back in chair*
“That’s enough TCB for 1 day”
TCB: Takin’ Care of Business
🎬 End scene
Why do we look to job boards? Okay, well it’s obvious why, but of all the options? That’s just the most low-hanging fruit. This is your life’s work we’re talking about here. Why do we apply for the easiest-to-find jobs …then act SuRpRiSeD when we get stuck in the trenches: a vicious, cutthroat, over-commoditized fight to the death with other candidates?
“Mommy,
where do jobs come from?”
Well…
you see, Jimmy…
Job boards are where jobs go to die
The secret problem:
Many people simply don’t know there’s a better way
The secret answer:
Most junior roles are created
with someone in mind
Most junior roles are created
as an excuse to bring someone on
Is that true?
Could we help companies
create a junior role just for us?
The key to this magic trick starts with understanding that “a job description” is merely one of the final stages of a company’s cry for help. There are hidden junior roles out there at every company
…they just can’t yet justify the huge investment of time, money, & energy to bring in help from the outside. Can you even imagine the legal paperwork & hoops they have to jump through before your first day? Neither can your future manager, because they’d rather stay focused on making progress on their own work (they got managers too, if not customers & clients).
In your early days, this probably isn’t the easiest way, but it’s the most time-tested. What if you had job-catchers grabbing opportunities before they even wrote a job description?
Interception. Touchdown.
You just got the job.
The Circle of Li—*ehm* Jobs: from birth to death
🚨
🚨 What’s that?
A service light is going off
Something’s just not right…
This is where jobs come from
It always starts small:
one person handles it
until they can’t
They start chatting with coworkers
because they can’t do it alone
- Maybe a deadline is coming up
- Maybe they need extra expertise
- Maybe they’re “tied up” in meetings
Something’s wrong
& it’s not going away
“Can I get some help with this?”
Persuading coworkers. Nice.
The Magic of Delegation™
except this time it’s still not enough!
This is your chance,
the one you’ve been waiting for
Where one job dies, another is born
After many meetings
many meetings about those meetings
many meetings “bringing others in the loop”
“Fine, we’ll bring someone in
.
.
.
but ughhhhhh”
Ouch, they’re “bringing someone in”?
4 words:
- time
- money
- energy
- & ughhhhhh
Yep, the full 5 Stages of Grief:
- Denial
- Anger
- Bargaining
- Depression
- Acceptance
Hey you! Want a job?
Congratulations!
You really outdid yourself this time
You sneaky snake, you…
You slithered into that first interview
& you’re just sittin’ there
sittin’
there
talkin’
☝️ yep, that's you
- talkin’ ‘bout passion
- talkin’ ‘bout Credentials™
- talkin’ ‘bout high school G.P.A.
But the only thing on their mind is
ugh.
Did you catch that?
I said “ugh”, not…
“gosh this doesn’t feel like the best use of my time. I need to tweak X & send that over to Y so that I can do Z”
It’s this nameless, faceless stress that they’ve yet to process & are too overwhelmed to even label. It’s an all-consuming burden that makes their brain turn off & want to do anything else to avoid it.
They just don’t have the bandwidth
to think about you right now
with this lurking around
Don’t prove your awesomeness & competence
Prove your awareness & comprehension
…of all that ughhhhhh
Best-case scenario:
you know ughhhhhh better than they do
& have some perspective to share
That’s more for consulting & freelancing
but lean into that if you can
How can you make that go away?
Whatever makes the ughhhhhh go away
is gettin’ paid today
k?
You can always share your story
on the way, but not today
No need to overstay:
you’ll probably bond more
with a different coworker anyway
Conclusion: do what now?
What did we learn here today?
Let me be clear:
- Where one job dies,
another is born - Every job has a life-cycle, from double-checking with a co-worker to a paid advertisement on a job board
- Most junior roles are created
with someone in mind (sometimes as a reverse-justification to bring them in). No wonder “junior jobs” seem unreasonable). We’ll find other ways to make you that “someone in mind” - They do a quick mental search of their networks before even committing to write a job description (which always slips into the realm of HR tedium)
- Job boards are where jobs go to die
- Nobody cares about certifications! Even if they help get you through recruiters, managers often want great communicators with just enough skill to figure it out
- As much as reasonably possible, keep the focus of the interview on dissecting “the problem” & others’ relationship with it (ideally >50%, unless they run a really tight process.) …also don’t forget that they probably got assigned an agenda to run you through so do them the huge favor of helping them sprint through that “so you can get to the good stuff” of actually discussing your questions about the team & the role (instead of burdening them with your life story. This is not even a first date). This will get a dedicated essay soon.
- Reduce their uncertainty
Don’t pile more on