Shoutout to the informational interview trick that got me hired

I was stuck in a dead-end admin job in Columbus for about 18 months. Every application just vanished into some online portal. Then I read about asking people for just 15 minutes of their time to ask about their career path, not for a job. I sent out 12 requests on LinkedIn and got 4 replies. One of those calls led to a reference that got me an interview at a small marketing firm. Has anyone else had luck with this approach or found a better way to break through?

2 comments

2 Comments

henrycooper13d ago

Tried that exact trick about 3 years ago in Cleveland. Sent out 8 requests to local marketing people and got 2 responses. One guy spent 20 minutes telling me his life story and then ghosted me when I asked if his company was hiring. The other one ended up being a total dead end too. Guess I should have tried Columbus instead.

felixlee13d ago

3 years ago I tried something similar in Austin and got 1 response from a guy who just wanted to complain about his own job for 45 minutes. Made me wonder if I should have just sent the requests to my own fridge and saved the stamps. At least the fridge wouldn't have made me feel like a free therapist.