Do you know how hard it is to get an administrative job with a symphony orchestra?
A symphony administrator told me how to do it. A woman called him and asked for a job. He said, “I can’t hire you, there is no budget.”
That’s not the end of the story. She said, “I’ll work for you for free.” It was a wage he could afford. She did a great job for 3 months and went back to school. What do you think will happen when she applies for her next job and has experience and great references?
You can’t afford to work for free. Not forever, anyway. Can you do it for a few hours or days? Over the weekend? Helping people out of a bind is a great way to network your way into a job. They will feel compelled to let others know how much you helped them. In the programming and computer networking field it is a very common way to work yourself into a company.
I can point to specific examples where this worked for accountants, secretaries, company presidents, salespeople, office managers and more. These were jobs worth anywhere from $6/hour to $250,000/year. These people all helped someone who mentioned they were snowed under with work. After a few hours they offered to come in the next day. After 2 days they said they’d help out the next weekend. The boss, owner or chairman of the board heard about it and hired the person.
If you are unemployed, what’s the damage? If you have a job, why not spend some of your evening and weekend time helping out with something you don’t normally do? I know people who got promoted because they came in a few extra hours to their regular job to help their boss out on the boss’s project.
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Something To Do Today
Do you know someone who needs help? Seize the opportunity. Go on in and see if you can help.
Tomorrow: Giving 30 seconds away can get you a job too