Get my Free Digital Marketing Jumpstart Kit<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nStep 4: Set clear team expectations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
This is something that I wish I had done years ago, but I genuinely believe in the next five to 15 years, that personal brands are going to be more important than ever. So if you haven’t already it’s time for you to start sharing your thoughts or your work related to what you want to be known for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Build up your expertise in something that way, that when you actually are looking for a job, people can look at your body of work and understand how you think, how you approach different problems and what you’re all about. For example, if you’re looking for a marketing job, this can be as simple as starting a medium page, where you just write about some sort of case study on something you find interesting in marketing that week. By creating this sort of body of work consistently over time, you will give yourself more opportunities for people to notice you. And again, be so good that they can’t ignore you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, maybe you want to start a podcast where you interview different startup marketers and learn what they do in their day-to-day work. By simply digging into these stories, you would have a better understanding of what sort of startup marketing work you yourself would actually like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And also you’re going to be on the radar of these people so that when each of their companies is hiring or somebody they know is hiring for a marketing role, you’re going to be one of the names that comes up. All you need to do though, is create an opportunity to make it a value add experience for the other person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The great thing about this sort of approach of publishing your work publicly is that it demonstrates to a future startup that you have what it takes to think like an owner. Ultimately, when startup founders are looking for building their early team members, they are looking for people that act like owners and not employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that’s exactly what you would be doing if you follow along with this step. Literally sitting down every now and then to record my YouTube videos, I’ve had companies reach out to me for consulting services, as well as YC backed companies that have marketing budgets that want to sponsor videos for me going over their product. But this would have never happened if I had never published in public. The important thing here is to just start. So start small if you have to. If you’re still in school, put together a website for your portfolio of different projects that you’ve done in school-related to entrepreneurial ventures or whatever it is that you are looking for a job in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 5: Being so good that they cannot ignore you.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Ultimately you want to do things that help you stand out from the rest of the pack. There are tons of applications that are getting flooded into every organization every day for jobs. So the only way that you stand out is by thinking differently. For example, one time I had a guy FedEx overnight deliver a handwritten thank you note immediately after his interview, I hired that guy. Another time I had a person write an awesome cover letter where she detailed her 30, 60, 90 plan to how she would kickstart our marketing efforts from where they had been left off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So simply by taking the time to actually demonstrate that you’re serious about helping this business in whatever way possible, you will be able to be so good that they cannot ignore you. More recently, I was looking for my next startup role and in order to do so, I took this exact approach. What I did was I identified opportunities that were interesting to me related to go-to market strategy and growth efforts. And what I did was I just reached out to CEO sharing three to five ideas that I had for them to accelerate their business. It was by being willing to do this sort of work upfront, that I was able to get my foot in the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, I was able to get an over 50% conversion rate of all the CEOs I reached out to in learning more about their businesses and the role at hand. And it was from this experience that I was able to approach things from a place of abundance, where I had different opportunities in front of me. And I was able to choose the right one for me. You only get these sorts of opportunities, though if you create those opportunities for yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Big takeaways<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
There are two things that I want you to remember when it comes to working at a startup:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- The first one is to build in public and share your expertise. By taking a value-first approach to looking for a job, you will open up more opportunities for yourself and give yourself optionality when it comes to actually finding the one you want.<\/li>
- The second big takeaway is zero in on exactly what you want and then go get it.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
If you liked this article, be sure to check out my YouTube channel<\/a> to get new videos every single week. I’ll help take you from zero to self-starter as you grow your business, get more customers, and hone your business acumen. Also, feel free to share this with anybody that you think might benefit from learning how to get a job at a startup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n