Exactly 1 full time job I have ever done came from an online job application to a company where I knew no one.
All my other jobs? They’ve come from connections.
Connections are absolutely critical, even if we do get the job from an application. I made two connections at my current job while applying, and it made all the difference.
So today, let’s talk about how to make connections when applying for remote jobs.
Laying The Foundation
Ideally you are building a web of connections to people at a company where you want to work months in advance of applying.
This is part of a job switching strategy that I’ll document in detail next month. But for many people, the need to switch jobs or get a fully remote job is too urgent to rely on this slower, more measured approach to building your connections.
The point: when you switch to a new role, you should never be going into the job with 0 relationships to anyone who works there.
So here’s a break down of how to build relationships on LinkedIn ahead of applying, even if you plan to apply in the same week.
Step 1: Do Your Research
You want to know 3 things:
Who’s in the team you will be joining
Who would most likely be my manager
Who does content that I like
The team will likely be the easiest. Go to the company page on LinkedIn,
Click the employee list
Click “All Filters”
Search one of the key works related to the role you are applying for, such as “Product” “Marketing” or “Sales”.
Doing this will also help you find your likely manager.
Finally, you’ll need to spend time checking each person’s content in the company. This is usually too much if you don’t have a ton of time, so prioritize around people in the team you will be joining.
Step 2: Engage Engage Engage
Once you’ve found who in the company is posting regularly, engage with them.
In a future letter, I’ll go in depth about engaging. For now, consider this template a gold standard for engaging thoughtfully.
“That’s a really good point about {topic}. It’s so important to consider {post point of view} when talking about {topic}. I’d like to add {opinion about topic}.”
You can also engage on the company’s content if the company posts regularly.
Please note that when you do this, you should only engage on posts where you really have something valuable to say, and where there is something to be added. Don’t engage like this on an announcement page.
Try to engage on at least 5 posts from 3 people. This will put you in their mind as someone thoughtful who pays attention to what they think.
Step 3: Connect
At this point, you are ready to connect. You’ll want to try to connect with as many people as possible.
How you connect is critical. I’ve written elsewhere about this topic, and you can check that here:
One key to connecting when you are applying to a job is to be transparent.
State in the message you send with the connection request that you are applying for the job.
Here’s how you might word it.
“Hi Name, I am applying for {position name} at {company name{ and wanted to connect.”
After this, follow up with 1 sentence that uses one of the patterns mentioned in the “How to Make Effective Connections”.
Step 4: Polite Message
If this person is not interviewing you, it may be worth getting on a call with them.
To get on a call, be prepared to add value to them. Tomorrow we’ll do a deep dive on how you can add value.
For now, here’s the message you can send to try to set up a call:
”Thanks for accepting my connect request! I’d like to {describe how you want to add value}. Let me know if this was helpful.”
Once they answer you, most likely saying it was helpful, reply by saying something like:
“Awesome! Would you be up for a 15 minute video chat? I’d like to learn more about what it’s like working at {company name}”
This will open doors. This is how you build your foundation so when your application comes in, you stand out.
That’s all for today! Thank you for reading. If you liked this, leave a like. If you have a question, leave a comment.
Super helpful article - thanks Alex!