Interesting Data Gigs # 88: The other side of FEAR could be GREAT

Open roles at Grammarly, Notion, Zipline, 1Password, Resend, Intercom, TikTok, and more

Author

Marcos Ortiz
April 14, 2024

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The other side of FEAR could be GREAT

Hey Data Geek.

Remember one thing: Closed mouths don't get fed.

Are you looking for a role? Ask for it. You never know if, in that way, you could find your dream role.

This week I just read a tweet from Tin Ferris about the confidence of Jamie Foxx:

Ask yourself this question:

  • What’s on the other side of fear to ask your favorite PM what is like to work for his/her company?

  • What’s on the other side of fear to ask the Software Engineer you admire what is like to work on her/his company?

  • What’s on the other side of fear of asking a CEO you deeply admire what is he looking for right now from a hiring perspective?

Sometimes, this doesn’t work, but if you put effort into this; you could surprise yourself with how many of those “busy” people return the message.

This week, I just did that with Intercom, First Round, Notion, Jesse Pujji, and Sam Parr on X:

I’m not even looking for a role right now. In fact: this week marks 2 years since I started working with Riot Games as a contractor through X-Team (BTW, we are hiring at X-Team).

But you should keep this in mind:

❝

“The best time to look for a role is when you don’t need a job”

Always be open to having a conversation with a leader of a recruiter from another company.

This will keep you sharp in the interviewing game.

Practice makes the master.

The Deep Research Game

So, this week, I invite you to play a game with yourself:

  • Grab a piece of paper or open your favorite Notes app on your phone

  • Look on your phone or your laptop and put there the top 3 products you truly love and enjoy working with 

  • Now, take the top product, and write everything you love about it in one section, write everything that could be better inside the product from your perspective. Take your time to do this

  • With that information: use LinkedIn to find someone inside that particular team inside the company that makes that product.

  • Send a connection request to the person you found who is part of that team, and as part of the invitation, send him/her the documents with the notes you wrote about it.

  • The Call to Action: “Love to hear your thoughts about this. No string attached”

90% of the time this works because this shows commitment and deep care about the company and the product. This shows you took time to think about this particular product, and always these actions are well received by the other side.

You will note that in none of these steps, I mentioned I’m looking for a new role. The whole idea of this exercise is to build trust and rapport with the person you shared all this.

The idea here is that if there is an open role inside that team, with the seed you put in that person’s mind about the work and effort you took to write that document you shared with her/him for free with no strings attached; it’s a big chance that he/she will recommend you for a role.

Sometimes this won’t work, and you have to do it again with another company/product combo, but again: Practice makes the master.

With time you will be better at this exercise, and I am sure you: if you play your cards correctly, this could lead to an amazing job opportunity; perhaps your dream job because you will be working on a product you love and care about.

Good luck with your job search, my friend.

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Marcos out

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