A resume gets you past initial screening. Reputation, relationships, and visible work built in the years before the search are what land the right role.
What if your resume were the easy part of getting the right role? The hard work happens before you ever submit it. The differentiation that lands the offer comes from your reputation, relationships, and the visible work you do outside the formal hiring process.
Seth Godin reminded us not to rely solely on resumes in Linchpin. “A resume gives the employer everything she needs to reject you,” he wrote. “Once you send me your resume, I can say, ‘Oh, they’re missing this or they’re missing that,’ and boom, you’re out.” The format compresses you into a persona similar to other candidates. That’s useful for the screener and unhelpful for the candidate.
You must have a good resume, that’s a given. It helps get past the initial gates that stand between you and the role. AI drives much of the early screening, from resume parsing to initial candidate ranking. The candidates who clear the filter end up looking more alike on paper, which means standing out has to happen elsewhere.
Work several channels at once. The formal application is only one of them. Contact the hiring manager directly, in addition to applying through the official channel. Network within the companies you want to join, since the most interesting positions are often unadvertised. Build relationships with recruiters and peers before you need them, so people can find you when you aren’t looking.
Warm introductions, internal referrals, prior collaborations, and a reputation that precedes you matter as much as the formal channel. Sometimes more.
None of this is fast. The activities below pay off over years of deliberate efforts. Pick two or three to start, then gradually expand from there:
- Maintain a blog or newsletter where you publish your thinking in public
- Post on LinkedIn, where hiring managers and peers might see your insights
- Speak at industry conferences, on others’ podcasts, or in webinars about your area of expertise
- Release your own podcast when you have a sustained perspective worth a season
- Self-publish a short book or guide on a problem you’ve worked through
- Build tools that potential colleagues can experiment with, including demos and write-ups
- Join and shape the professional communities most relevant to where you want to land next
- Meet other professionals for coffee, tea, or walks
This isn’t easy. It takes a lot of work. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll establish a reputation that helps you go beyond the resume to get the best job for you.
