The concept of focusing on interlinks between elements of a domain you have a problem with is not just applied to resolve an issue at work, it can be applied to other scenarios such as finding a job.
Like most of the people when you have a problem, you break it into smaller pieces and fix smaller problems to resolve a bigger problem. Most of the people I know apply this problem-solving to find the right job fast, but for most of them, it’s not working well. I even feel comfortable to say that this is a recurring problem, a recurring complex problem.
Facing the problem of finding a job, people will break it into pieces. They will work on their resume, they will look for jobs that fit their credentials, they will try to use connections to get to the hiring manager, they will take professional help to improve aspects in the search process, they will break it to the smaller parts that they can, with no success.
There is an alternative. Instead of finding the next job that will repeat exactly what happened last time and force you to look for another job, you can take a different approach.
Find companies you inspire to work for. Make sure they have a clear vision that resonates with you, read glass door reviews to make sure that the culture they communicate is not what people complain about. Make sure you have several companies that are a perfect fit for you, but also make sure you are the perfect fit for them. You have to know a problem they are dealing with and to show how you can help resolve it.
Once you find the company, the goal is to determine who is the potential hire manager and to generate enough internal recommendations from people he trusts and works with. This is where interlinks come into place.
After you identify the person who might offer you a job, you need to dive into interlinks. Create a map of all the roles within and outside the company he is working with. Use the Internet to find the people that fill those roles. Understand what is the strength of those connections. Eventually, you should have a three-dimensional map of people connecting to the decision-maker and how strong their connections are.
This map is the input for the next step. Now you need to find 3-5 people that have stronger connections to the potential hiring manager. Try to have at least one connection outside of the company and the rest inside the company.
Your goal now is to connect those people, start to interact with them and create professional relations with them. The best way to do it is by using the problem you know the company has and you can help to resolve it. Meet with those people and chat about the problem and how you resolved it in the past, send them articles or posts that you wrote related to the issue. find creative ways to demonstrate that you understand the problem and know how to resolve it. Don’t ask for anything, just demonstrate an understanding of the problem and abilities to resolve it.
Your goal is that those people will start to tell the potential hire manager that they know someone that can help with the hot problem. Most of the hiring manager, even if they are not actively looking for someone, will ask you to meet if they will hear 2-3 people that they trust talking about you.
Most of the cases that this meeting will lead to an offer that will be much better of what you could find by using the old way of looking for a job. In most cases, it will be even faster.