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Comment by graham1776 | Hacker News Reader

The one thing I always tell anyone on the job hunt, which few ever seem to take me up on: Informational Interviews.

These are informal "can I take you out to coffee?" talks with people in your industry to see what they are working on, what is happening with them, what is going on in the industry. Every job I have ever gotten is through informal meetings with people I have met through my network (whether its the current newspaper, your friends, parents, relatives, or other).

At the end of every one I ask: "Is there anyone else you think I should talk to?" and "Do you currently have any opportunities at your company for me?". Rinse repeat.

I guarantee investing in 30 informational interviews will yield huge dividends vs. 30 career fairs, a personal pitch deck, starting a blog, dusting off your resume, or God Forbid: applying to jobs through Linkedin.

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Likewise. I'm not 30 but at this point I've cracked through a wall where I'm blessed to be surrounded by a large number of contacts who can give me a job should I ask. As a small addendum to this. It's a two way street. I've made a lot of matches between those looking for the job and those looking for someone to fill the job role. Participated in tech meetups in a supportive role (organising, giving talks), and have met and helped startups and other tech people through feedback and the occasional 'introduction' to someone else. This has all generated a large network of people whom I interact with on a casual basis. We don't look at only getting favours from each other. Instead we've become a group of friends that can grab a coffee at any time and chill out as well.

Downside to that. It was NOT overnight.

So with respect to the OP's question and regarding the informational interview approach, there's one thing I have discovered that surprised me. How many acquaintances I haven't spoken with in years are actually willing to jump in and help me if I open up to them asking for it. Pretty amazing that :)

> Every job I have ever gotten is through informal meetings with people I have met through my network

Same. Maybe not directly from that meeting, but all of the best offers I've received have come through my network around the local startup scene.

Another bit of advice I give is try new platforms before they're popular. For example, it was easy to get noticed as an applicant on AngelList in 2012-2013. If I were for looking for a dev job today, I'd start with Triplebyte or Hired.

On a related note, I don't believe in job fairs, but I find value in niche job boards. Product Hunt has a nice aggregated list of some of the top remote job lists for example: https://www.producthunt.com/e/find-a-remote-job.

(I've had really good luck with LinkedIn.)

I've had good luck with Hacker News FWIW.

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I've had good luck with LinkedIn. You get a lot of volume, and the quality is not always great. However, it is easy to sort through it and find good stuff. It isn't a big deal to turn down unappealing offers, right?

Do you hit up recruiters or stakeholders at companies?

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