With thanks to Miles Cunliffe, Zach Nicholson at Wave Talent, Caroline Clark at Product Karma for their insights
At a time when the tech industry is reducing headcount and cutting back on hiring, competition for available roles is high. Maximizing your chances of success has never been more important.
A personal connection with someone in the hiring process can go a long way in helping you land a job. It’s estimated that a minimum of 70-80% of business roles are filled by networking, and that many roles are shadow roles that are never formally advertised, but distributed and filled via networks.
So how do you get face-to-face with a hiring manager when the odds are so steep, or jobs aren’t even listed? In this article we’ll focus on the process of getting a first meeting with a hiring manager, and look at how either a warm intro or cold outreach can 10x your chances of reaching this point vs. applying through the job description.
Whilst this doesn’t guarantee you a role, or get you past the interview process, it dramatically increases your chances by avoiding the huge drop off in conversion that happens through CV screening and recruiter calls.
Success rate at getting a job dramatically increases if you can skip CV and phone screen
Routes into a job
There are three main ways to get a meeting with a hiring manager:
1. Warm intro
>50% success rate*
You get introduced to the hiring manager by a mutual connection. This could be a friend or colleague, and we’ll include recruiters in this category.
People usually take these meetings because they don’t want to damage the relationship with the person they already know, so your chances of getting a meeting with a warm intro are >50%.
This should be your preferred way of getting in touch with someone.
2. Direct outreach
10-40% success rate*
You reach out to the hiring manager directly, outside of the application process for a specific job, and ask to meet them.
Very few people take this route, and it allows you to make a much more personalized connection with them.
This should be your approach when you don’t have a strong mutual connection.
3. Blind application
<5% success rate*
This is where you apply to a job through the formal application process.
This is the approach that most people take. It’s very difficult to stand out in this case, as your application will be processed and standardized by an Applicant Tracking System (ATS).
You should try and avoid this approach, or use it in addition to the other approaches, wherever possible.
We’ll cover the first two categories in this article, as they have the best chances of success, and should be the main routes you pursue.
* Based on personal experience from both sides of the table
Why networking is effective
Networking into jobs is more effective than applying blind for a number of reasons:
- Makes you stand out - most people don’t reach out directly to the hiring manager, so if you do, you’ll make a bigger impression than other applicants.
- Demonstrates motivation and conscientiousness - reaching out directly demonstrates a number of highly valued PM qualities, such as conscientiousness and ownership. It also indicates that you have high motivation to get the job as it requires more effort to approach someone in this way.
- Connects you directly to the decision maker - by approaching the hiring manager directly, you can create a more personal connection with them. You also avoid internal recruiters and HR people who won’t understand what the hiring manager wants as well as they do themselves.
- Avoids the ATS - by avoiding the formal application process (at least to start with), you avoid the CV screening process, where candidates have the lowest odds of making it through to the next round.
- Avoids cool-down periods - in a standard application process, if you are unsuccessful, then lots of big tech companies won’t consider you for another 12 months. Networking has no cool downs, and doesn’t have a binary outcome in the same way as a standard application - you can always send another reminder or try another contact.
How to frame networking
“I think one thing that I see with PMs is that they get hung up on the idea that “I don't like putting myself out there and I don't like talking about myself and I get really nervous talking to other people…” But there's a way to reframe that fear, which is to think about it not as networking, which is a word that can feel a bit icky. It's about getting to know people and sharing experiences and sharing expertise. So take away the fact networking has these connotations, just get to know people on an individual basis. Be curious about people.”
- Caroline Clark
Many people are shy about networking and avoid doing it as a result. And unfortunately, this has real, meaningful career consequences if you can’t get over this block. Framing this process as building authentic relationships might help you see it as a more sincere activity and better aligned to who you are as a person.
The reality is that people at all levels want to expand their network. Leaders are always looking for people they might hire now or in the future, everyone is keen to make connections that might lead to a job or another opportunity, and most people are keen to help others and give back to the community.
