Part 1: How To Use Social Intelligence To Get A New Job

Part 2: Q&A (CV/resume hacks, how to put multiple different roles on a CV/resume, AI advancements in job-seeking)

Part 3: In Conclusion

How To Use Social Intelligence To Get A New Job

Did you know that doctors didn’t realise how important it was to wash your hands until the late 1860s?

Ignaz Semmelweis was the doctor who first figured out that doctors washing their hands stopped a huge amount of pregnant women dying right after childbirth.

He first discovered this in 1847. For those math wizards at home, you’ll be able to work out that this is about 20 years before the medical community implemented this whole ‘hand-washing’ thing.

Why the gap? What happened? Surely this discovery would’ve changed things immediately?

If only.

You might’ve realised in your time on this planet that people can be quite stubborn. Stuck in their ways. Afraid of change. Disconnected from reality. Resistant to your ideas, no matter how good they are, no matter how right you are.

(That includes you. It’s okay, I still think you’re cool.)

Semmelweis told the doctors they were killing their patients. Mums who had just given birth. Did he really think they were just going to admit they’d collectively killed thousands of new mums?

What he lacked - as Robert Greene says in Mastery - was “social intelligence.”

As Greene writes, he didn’t appeal to anyone else in any way; all he did was rant and rave about how right he was and about how all these doctors (himself included) had been killing their patients.

How do you think they reacted? They denied and they ostracized. Semmelweis was fired from his hospital, was eventually committed to an insane asylum (the term of the times), and died two weeks later.

Yes, he was right. But it didn’t matter because he either refused or didn’t know how to relay his findings in a way that allowed them to be accepted. He was self-absorbed, in other words. Not maliciously so, it appears, but a high level of self-absorption is always going to alienate people, no matter how right you are or even how many lives your “rightness” would save.

It’s the same when it comes to getting a new job, albeit with slightly lower stakes (thank goodness). You can have all the skills and experience in the world but if you don’t find a way to appeal to the self-interest of others, you’re going to have a hard time getting a new job.

This is why, when it comes to getting a new job, it’s not only about who you know; it’s about how you treat who you know.

I’m not saying you’re ranting and raving like Semmelweis. But when you’re reaching out to your current network - people you already know - are you making it only about you?

Are you prepared and willing to help them if needs be? Or do you just want to get something from them?

When you’re trying to build relationships with new people - recruiters and hiring managers on LinkedIn, for example - are you just sending them your CV or resume and asking what roles are available at their company?

I’m in a group chat with a bunch of “recruiter content creators” and we all receive a ton of these messages every week. If we answered all of them, that’s all we’d be doing. All day. For free.

Having some level of social intelligence means thinking about this stuff. It means putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and thinking, “What’s in it for them?”

If they create content on LinkedIn or any social media, they want engagement. Simple as that. And they probably want engagement that’s thoughtful over engagement that’s generic.

If they don’t create content on LinkedIn, they probably still want to receive a message that feels like it was written for them as opposed to some generic message. Why? People want to feel special, not generic. They want to feel like they matter, not that they’re being used.

I mean, don’t you?

Well, let’s see. Which message would you want to reply to:

“Hello may I share my resume with you to see if you have any openings that match my background.”

“I am a rising senior studying [x] at the University of [x], and have quite some experience in the tech industry with internships and non-profit work. I think I can learn a lot from a senior like you and can benefit from your advice and reach. I am looking for my next big step into a Software Development-related full-time role starting next summer, or starting part time this September. I am also looking for a resume revamp to put my best step forward. Is there anything you can help me in here? Let me know if you need anything from me. These are my current resume. 1 is a single page that I have been using till now. And the other is a 2 page that I recently created, to include a professional summary. Thank you for your time and consideration.”

“Hi Matt Hope you are doing good. I am a [role] with 11 years of experience in [industry] as [role]. I am currently looking for new opportunities. My work link: [x]. May I know if you feel my work is fine enough to get an opportunity to work with you and would be grateful to you to get your recommendation. May I know the best time to connect with you for further discussion.”

“Hi Matt. Loved your post on [x]. Made me re-think my networking strategy, so thank you. I’ve applied to the [x] role at [company.] Are you the recruiter on that one? No rush to reply, would love to hear from you soon. Even if I don’t, have a great week and I’ll be following along! Cheers, [name].”

You’d want to reply to the last one. Especially if you receive 50+ messages a day.

The first 3 are self-centered. (Again, not maliciously.) They don’t personalise it for the reader at all; they could’ve sent the same message to a thousand people. They also give the reader - a stranger they don’t know - homework. Homework they likely expect to be done for free. Not exactly the best start to a relationship.

The last one is personal, it’s short, and it doesn’t give the reader any homework. Having said that, it’ll also go down even better if the person creates content and you’ve first built some kind of relationship or connection on their LinkedIn or social media posts. You’ve given them something (engagement) and so you’re more likely to get something (a response).

It’s pretty obvious when it’s written down like this, isn’t it? And yes so many of us fail at it.

Why?

This quote from Robert Greene’s Mastery sums it up:

“Social intelligence is the ability to see people in the most realistic light possible. By moving past our usual self-absorption, we can learn to focus deeply on others, reading their behaviour in the moment, seeing what motivates them…”

We often don’t see people in the most realistic light possible. We rarely move past our usual self-absorption. We barely ever focus deeply others.

The solution, then, is clear. And we probably heard it when we were kids:

“Put yourself in their shoes.”

PS The above is how I built a small freelance-writing ‘business’ back in the day. I sent short, personal, non-homework-giving messages and in 119 days I went from 0 clients and 0 revenue to 4 clients and a-bit-more-than-zero revenue. All the clients were either 7-figure entrepreneurs, New York Times best-selling authors, or podcast hosts who had millions of downloads and guests the likes of Kobe and Shaq. People who got hundreds of messages a week (if not a day) and were hard to get hold of, in other words.

Just want to let you know I’ve walked the talk. Hypocrisy is the worst, isn’t it?

Q&A

1. Are there any CV / resume hacks that actually work?

That depends on your definition of ‘hack’ I suppose.

For example: there’s no such thing as ‘beating’ the ATS. No ATS I’ve ever worked with - or any ATS that any of my recruiter friends or colleagues have worked with - has automatically rejected any CV or resume based on lack of keywords or weird formatting or anything else.

If a CV / resume ‘hack’ means using a single-column format, having bullet-point lists of your relevant achievements and responsibilities, having a simple black font on a white page while keeping a nice amount of white space, making it 2 pages, removing any headshots, and saving it as a PDF, then yes, this particular ‘hack’ might just work.

2. I'm currently in a company where I fill multiple roles. I do business development, I'm managing projects, and I'm also creating marketing strategies. I'm now looking to land a new communication-based role (so anything in marketing, PR, product/project/brand management), but I feel that putting all of the things I do in my current job is a bit too much. It makes me look like a jack-of-all-trades and master of none. Yet, if I just focus on one of the things, it looks kinda baren and bland. Is there a way to "spin" or "frame" all the things I do for, let's say a position of a marketing manager or communications manager? Or should I leave the other things out (although I feel they are all quite intertwined)?

The way to ‘spin’ or ‘frame’ this is to simply list your relevant experience. (Revelatory, I know.) As you say, there’s probably a lot of overlap between business development, project management, and marketing. Just take whatever is relevant to marketing manager or comms manager roles and write that down. And to get a better sense of what’s relevant, look up some marketing manager or comms manager job descriptions. You’ll probably notice some commonalities and then you can tailor it here and there for each role.

You can also choose a better job title, one more suitable for the roles to which you’re applying. I wouldn’t say this if you were doing a completely different role but seeing as there’s some overlap and there’ll be plenty of relevant experience, it’s okay.

3. Are jobseekers in trouble due to AI advancements?

This might be a case of ‘famous last words’ but I don’t think AI has advanced as far as people think it has - at least when it comes to the job search.

I think, in general, the jobseekers who are using AI - without editing or personalising - are in trouble.

Right now, it’s still pretty obvious when someone is using AI to ‘network’ or write a cover letter or even write a CV / resume, in some cases. It can be off-putting to the recipient but, more importantly, it’s ineffective in getting you what you want.

If you’re networking, it’s far more effective to send a short, personal message to a few chosen hiring managers and recruiters than to send the same networking message written by AI to a hundred people.

If you’re writing a cover letter (far from necessary) or your CV/resume, please, please edit and personalise it. You can certainly ask AI to ‘write a CV/resume based on the below job description’ but the AI has no idea who you are. It might be a good starting point, but that’s it. You absolutely must spend your time and energy making it specific to you.

If you don’t, it will only be a waste of your time and energy. Job searching can be hard enough; best to use your time and energy on actions that will actually use you forward as opposed to what seems ‘cool.’

In Conclusion

Thank you so much for reading. As ever, I really do appreciate it. Did anything in particular stand out for you? If so, hit reply and let me know.

Next week, the email will be titled The Ultimate Guide To Changing Role And Industry. A lot of you have been asking about changing roles and industries for a while now and I wanted to put something together for you. I hope it’ll be useful.

Cheers!

PS If you have a friend or loved one who’s looking for a new job, feel free to forward this email to them and include this link: https://howtogetanewjob.beehiiv.com/subscribe

PPS I’ll be scheduling the live audio/video session for some time in September. I’ll keep you posted.

PPPS I watched Big Hero 6 and Soul this weekend. Both Disney movies. Highly recommend.