
Ask HN: Finding work for a significant other - iwritecode
Hello!<p>Long-time lurker - first time asker. Seeking a bit of advice wrt helping a significant other find a job.<p>We recently relocated from Chicago to the Bay Area (around August of 2011). The decision to move was largely my own and I perhaps softened the blow of leaving 'home' a bit by assuring my significant other that she'd have no issue finding something here in the valley. She's got a rock solid resume and wonderful dotcom experience - it seemed like a no-brainer. In fact, I went so far as to convince her to quit a great gig back in Chicago (knowing she could work remotely) because she'd grown a bit tired of it after a number of years - and the West - if nothing else - still holds the romanticism of a fresh start (at least for me.)<p>So here we are, six months in - and she's still looking for an opportunity. She's had a couple of interviews thanks to some of the folks funding our endeavor who were able to put her in touch with other portfolio companies but the consensus thus far has mostly been: "Your resume is great, anyone would be lucky to have you, but we don't know how we'd use you here." That makes sense, her primary experience for the past several years has been in a hybrid consulting/strategy/sales/marketing role - she essentially traveled around the country helping old media move advertising spend online. It seemed that most of the folks she was being lined up with were largely business to consumer which her experience didn't square with. Fine.<p>The crux of the problem - it seems - is that we haven't yet built a deep/rich network in the valley. I'm starting to build that network - I'm already leveraging my contacts to get a few referrals but by and large she's resorted to submitting resumes into the great resume firewall of consulting orgs which has yet to yield much.<p>So - I say all of that to ask this. Anyone have a strategy for helping non-hacking newcomers to the valley find work? One that keeps you from having to blindly submit your resume in a form post and hope that a human can discern what an awesome person you are on the other end?<p>Is it:<p>- Find meetups? 
- Go to networking events?
- Live in LinkedIn and ask for introductions?
- Volunteer?
- Beg, plead?
- All of the above?<p>Let this be a reminder to you all. Build the hell out of your network. Build locally, and build globally.<p>Thank you HN!!!<p>PS - This experience has definitely started making the wheels turn. Feeling like I should build something to support folks out of network/relocated. A few ideas have crossed my mind. Now gotta put some fingers to the keyboard.
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patio11
Write up a list of 10 advertising companies in the Bay Area smaller than
Google, figure out who inside needs to say "Yes" for her to get hired, then
get a warm intro to that person. Possible avenues would be convincing any of
the 432 startups in that space to take a coffee date with you, then asking for
an intro after demonstrating credibility. Given that most of them have nothing
but time that shouldn't be a terrible imposition. An offer of Real World
Experience Selling This should strike most as attractive.

Sending resumes into the firewall may bear superficial resemblance to
productive work but does not make forward progress enough to justify doing it.
If that's the best idea for a day, that day goes into the No Work Done On Job
Search column. That is OK, but you don't want to accumulate lots of them.

~~~
iwritecode
"If that's the best idea for a day, that day goes into the No Work Done On Job
Search column."

\+ 1 - wonderfully put. Thank you.

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6_Hellos
"Your resume is great, anyone would be lucky to have you, but we don't know
how we'd use you here." That makes sense, her primary experience for the past
several years has been in a hybrid consulting/strategy/sales/marketing
role..."

It sounds like you need to really define the position she is gunning for.

~~~
iwritecode
Agreed. We've been talking about this. She's had to shape her resume a few
different ways based on the type of job she's applying for to highlight
specific experience relevant to the particular position but it still hasn't
yielded much. I dont' know if it's the resume so much as not knowing the right
people/perosn in an org to vouch for her even if she applies for something
'out of band' so to speak.

~~~
justincormack
I think that usually means "we can't see our business evolving in ways that
benefit from the input of people we hire". My view is that if someone you hire
does not change and leave a mark on your business they were a mistake. Too
many people just have really narrow roles in mind.

~~~
iwritecode
This is where my head was on this whole undertaking. I assumed that the people
she'd engage with would immediately see the potential in the individual - not
whether or not the intersection of the resume and job description was a 100%
match.

~~~
justincormack
Yeah it just doesnt work like that with most startups. But you can find those
people eventually. Thy have been in the business for a bit longer in my
experience. Look for companies that have grown self funded for five years or
so not new startups. They have worked through the people give us new potential
thing more.

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ordinary
Why didn't she write this post herself? Don't get me wrong, it's great that
you want to help her out, but it would probably make a better impression if
she went out there herself.

~~~
iwritecode
She's done plenty of writing herself of late. I'm turning to the community
that I know and understand and that I knew would be a valuable resource for
feedback.

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trustfundbaby
you should provide a way for people to contact you privately ;)

~~~
icey
And just in case the OP is unaware: the "email" field in your profile is not
publicly visible. You must put anything you want people to see in the "about"
field.

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iwritecode
OP didn't know. OP is now informed and updated. Thank you!

~~~
itay
Sent an email with some info :)

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ekpyrotic
itay, if you emailed iwritecode with general advice, can you forward it to me.
I'm guessing I'll be in his partner's position in 4-5 months.

~~~
itay
I pointed him at Splunk's career page and said if anything is a good fit for
his SO, send me the information and I'll forward it internally.

No general advice, unfortunately :)

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rwallace
> Let this be a reminder to you all. Build the hell out of your network.

Not that this is bad advice, by all means, but I think there is a more
concrete lesson here:

> I went so far as to convince her to quit a great gig back in Chicago
> (knowing she could work remotely)

In most cases - including this one if I understand correctly - you don't need
to quit your old job and then find a new one. You can and should do it the
other way around.

Best of luck on the search.

~~~
iwritecode
Confluence of events really made it natural to leave the job. But agreed on
principle - I don't think I've ever quit a job to find a new one before...

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xarien
Have her create a list of value propositions she can offer a company. Start
from there.

Oh and I'd recommend scoping out potential fits and figuring out how the match
up would make sense. Basically any company who's hiring is looking for a ROI >
1.0. If she can prove that the ratio is significantly higher than 1.0, it
shouldn't be a hard sell, especially if she has a warm intro.

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flypunk
Hi, There is this little article in Inc. about the benefits of meeting people
in person: [http://www.inc.com/rene-siegel/five-reasons-you-need-to-
meet...](http://www.inc.com/rene-siegel/five-reasons-you-need-to-meet-in-
person.html) The author, Rene Siegel, is the owner of
<http://www.htconnect.com>, which looks relevant for your SO skills. In the
end of the article she invites the readers to a kind of a meetup in Faz
Restaurant lounge in Pleasanton - it may be worth your SO time.

Good luck!

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RollAHardSix
If she left on good terms, have her try and get her old job back working
remotely.

