I keep hearing tough stories about today’s job market. I have friends whose children are graduating and entering the workforce, but many aren’t finding jobs. Some move back in with their parents. Others head to grad school, basically kicking the can down the road.
One of the biggest dilemmas in the job market: because of AI, many companies aren’t hiring junior talent. But if no one hires juniors, how will anyone ever become seniors?
In this environment, if you’re graduating and job hunting, I think it really comes down to two things: networking and personal branding.
Instead of trying to boost GPA from 3.9 to 4.0, that time can be better spent meeting people. Resumes alone rarely get you hired these days; but coffee chats, internships, and short-term projects might open doors – if not now, possibly down the line.
But networking is like fundraising – you can’t just chase people, you need to attract them too. That’s where personal branding comes in. Personal branding comes from content, and content comes from experience – such as building things. So build something in public, create content, and build personal branding.
How do I know this will work? Because when we get to hire new talents, I know I won’t be reading any resumes; instead I’ll be going to X and looking for young people who are building cool things in public, following and DM’ing them.
Networking and personal branding – both take a long time and may not pay off immediately, but both are definitely worth the investment over a long term.