Stop looking for a Job in the Comments Section
You look like an idiot
It’s inevitable. Go check out a few posts on LinkedIn from a major company. Where everyone wants to work. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Pick your favorites. Without fail, you will find enterprising job hunters and content creators alike making game-changing comments such as:
“I have a great proposal for you, please contact me right away”
“I’d love to work at your company, can you tell me how?”
“Can someone tell me who can I talk to for a possible distribution, marketing or promotion on my project?”
Some recent favorites:
“Any work for me in your company?” — to Nike.
“Will you animate my book?” — to Pixar.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Look, I get it. Securing a job at these places — whoever is your jam — is hard. Really hard. Getting original content made? Even harder. But I can promise you, this isn’t the way.
While it’s not my aim to pick on people who genuinely don’t know better, this seems to be a shocking amount of people. If you’re thinking about this approach, back away from the keyboard.
Key Issues:
- You look desperate, naive, or both.
- You haven’t made the slightest attempt to understand the hiring process or how best to apply for a position.
- You clearly don’t know the rules (and there are many) of pitching ideas, content or scripts.
- You look desperate, naive, or both.
Stop it.
What to do Instead
Recruiters and headhunters post on LinkedIn all the time, quite literally asking if anyone is interested in a job. There it is, shoot your shot. Tag your friends, post your links. Search for “Recruiter at AwesomePlace” and reach out to those people (nicely). Better yet, follow them (read: don’t Connect, Follow) to see when they post. Do the same for Creative Directors, Producers, whatever you are.
You certainly may not get a response, but your chances just increased 10x over posting aimless questions to a brand, on a brand post, about diversity, on Halloween. Shift your focus from the brand itself to the people who work there and calibrate your pitch (and look into how to actually apply).
The Bottom Line
If it truly is your dream to work at one of these places, this approach is like shooting yourself in the internet-foot. You’re doing more harm than good.
The team managing social posts at these companies do only that. The poor community manager reviewing the comments? Mostly evaluating sentiment, reach, and moments they can respond in a fun and casual way ‘as the brand.’ We agree Todd, so excited! — Amazon
This group is not reviewing portfolios or proactively sharing hiring information. And yes, I see you innovators posting their work in the comments of a major brand as a visibility hack to others who follow said brand — this is equally not the way.
Bonus
Stop asking for tech support in the comments while you’re at it. Or raging that your shoes didn’t get delivered.
(PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE) is an ongoing series about presenting work, building better portfolios and being a decent creative by Andy Sheffield.
