Good morning RP

I thought I would take a moment to document how applying RP theory to other aspects of your life can be a real boon.

Today I am going to address finding a job you want (as opposed to a job you need)

As you all know pretty much an HR department or recruiting company is staffed by women. This is mainly because;

  • The work is easy, especially now that you have automated filtering of resumes and keyword searches

  • It involves a lot of talking, communicating, and socializing

  • It gives them a lot of perceived power, with no actual work

Because of this HR, rather than helping the company find the right skill sets, has become a barrier to hiring. If you have ever worked in a company with an HR and tried to get staff hired you know what a nightmare it can be. Even if you do part of their job for them and write up the job ad, they will often take weeks to post it, and when you do get applicants they are NOTHING like what you asked for.

This is because pretty much every recruiter / HR person is grossly unqualified for their job. This is doubly true if you work in any sort of technical field.

LinkedIn has been a fantastic thing for the most part, and it's given me a wonderful insight into the people I have to deal with when I have been looking for a job.

I did some research to all the recruiters / HR people I have on linked in and they have the following things in common;

  • Female

  • English / Arts / Gender Studies majors

  • ZERO experience in any sort, in any of the job they are actually hiring for.

So, faced with this horrible scenario, how do you get the jobs you actually want?

Simple.

You don't deal with these horrible women, you go under the wall, and approach your potential bosses directly.

You do your research into the company you want to work for, (LinkedIn is AWESOME for this) and find out who your potential boss might be. You then approach them via phone (Best) or email and explain you are seeking to get employment in that field, and you'd like an "Informational interview" to ask THEM some questions.

This serves two roles.

  1. It helps you figure out if you really want to work for this person, and
  2. It gets you face time with your potential boss, so you can demonstrate your interpersonal skills and start building a relationship.

Keep it short (no more than 30 mins) and offer to do it over coffee, somewhere neutral

Now, as we know 90% of bosses will be men, so it means that you can talk to them "man to man" and not be saddled with any of the bullshit that HR brings to the process.

Then while talking you can demonstrate your value, in a subconscious way.

Once you have done that interview, always follow up with a thank you call / email and maybe even something small like a $5 Gift card.

Many times they'll hold onto the gift card and it will be a reminder of you.

More often than not as soon as the position that you'd fit arises, you will be the first person they will call because you have just made their life so much easier. They have the person who can do the job and there is almost NO need to deal with HR, apart from telling them to draw up the hiring paperwork.

So rather than having to deal with the lazy, stupid HR department you are making them work to your advantage. You have changed the power dynamic so that instead of having to demonstrate value to women (and all the bullshit that entails), you can deal open and honestly with a man.

I have been applying this in my real life job hunt and I have had a 95% success rate in getting the informational interviews, and I am in talks with 2 different potential employers about possible roles with their organizations.

So remember RP, even when it comes to finding a job don't even bother trying to deal with women just find a way to go around them and get to the people who have the real power.