“Say you’re a computer engineer who applies to work at Google. You really want this job but you are not hired. Don’t go and get hired on at Microsoft as a computer engineer, go get a job in the Google cafeteria.”
One of my advisors gave this scenario in a Praxis group call and it stuck with me.
If you are fully committed to getting something, do what it takes to get there. People will so often completely give up on their goals because they fail once. There is, of course, a time to reassess what your goals are and decide how important they truly are but if you’ve done this and still land at wanting what seems out of reach, don’t give up, get more creative.
I heard a story of a guy who, in order to gain an opportunity to get hired, dressed up as a pizza delivery man and brought free pizza to an entire office simply to get access to people and tell them about his interest in the company. This is the kind of creativity you need to get into a job.
Forget your status or how much experience you have. While those things can come in useful, until you can prove your value to a specific company, those things mean nothing.
The point my advisor was making about the cafeteria is that if you go into that job and work harder than everyone else around you, you’ll stand out and gain opportunities to move up because of it. A second thing is simply that you’ll get to interact with people that are much higher up in the chain. While they’re waiting for their sandwich to get toasted, you have the perfect opportunity to ask them questions, pitch them ideas, and who knows, maybe you can even tell them you’re a computer engineer.
By gaining these relationships first before trying to get a job, you build up enough social capital that you have to fight much less to win the same audience.
The guy who’s already been talking to a bunch of Google team members and has proven his work ethic and skill has a much better chance at getting hired on in a higher position than a guy no one knows who worked at a high level at Microsoft.
Don’t be afraid to start small and work like a dog while you’re there.