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Side Hustle

The birth of novel side-hustles is a great way observe broken systems. Finding a job has been very tough:

In a job market where searches for work are lengthening and it can seem like resumes are being thrown into a black hole, weary applicants are looking for any edge they can get. Having a referral is no guarantee of a job offer, but it can substantially improve the odds. According to hiring platform Greenhouse, while external applicants have a 1 in 200 chance of being hired, those with referrals have a 1 in 25 chance. (Internal applicants — the ultimate known quantity — have a 1 in 5 chance of getting hired, though they typically only make up some 0.1% of candidates, according to Greenhouse.)

My own attempts to get introduced to second degree connections have been abortive so far. People are wary of chatting with yet another person who wants to understand how to get in. They may have mixed feelings about where they work to begin with and even be on their way out. That makes it harder to summon up the enthusiasm to chat with a friend of a friend. In turn, I have been guilty of declining invitations to connect because the person indicated they were interested in a role where I work. The truth is I don't believe I can do very much for them - if I don't know the person, the referral is of little to no value. Where I have gone out of my way to vouch for someone I do know very well, the hiring manager will more likely than not ghost me. 

On the off chance they write me back, that does not at all mean that person will get an interview, never mind get hired. Yet, when we've had open roles with our org to fill, we have talked to the most random and less than qualified candidates because someone send them our way. None of these folks ended up getting hired either. So the times are indeed strange, teams in need of talent are simply not encountering candidates who would be the perfect fit. Conversely, candidates who have a solid resume cannot find anyone who will so much as chat with them. Everyone flounders, the market remains in a permanent stuck state and turns ripe for referrals as a service gigs.

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