Career Hustler 1: How David Khim Used Targeted, Warm Job Applications
This is the first interview in our ‘Zealify Career Hustlers’ series. To learn more about the series and why we are sharing these interviews, have a read of the series launch post.
Note: This post was first published on 17th August 2015.
Our first interview is with David Ly Khim. David is a content marketer on the growth team for Sidekick by HubSpot. We’re huge advocates of HubSpot here at Zealify. Not only are we customers, but we also link to their blog posts and reference their culture regularly.
We first found out about David’s hustle from his post on Sidekick about how he stood out from 437 applicants to get hired. When we read this, we knew we just had to talk to him and find out more.
In this interview we talk about how David hustled his way into his job at HubSpot, the importance of teaching yourself new skills and even what he has in his breakfast sandwich!
Hi David, can you start by giving us a brief outline of what you did to hustle your way into your job?
There are two examples that I think demonstrated hustle.
The first one, I was at a job where I felt I wasn’t growing anymore so I studied marketing strategies in my free time. I browsed Twitter and LinkedIn to find people with a skillset I wanted. I found someone, found his website, and contacted him to get coffee. He said yes so I spent hours researching him and his companies. After the coffee meeting, I proposed that I would love to work with him.
One of his recent blog posts was about conducting a technical SEO audit. So I reviewed it, did my own research into how to do an audit, and completed a hefty audit for his website and sent over the PDF.
Two weeks later, after some back and forth, I was offered a position.
The second example was getting in touch with the right person to get a job. I saw that HubSpot was hiring a content marketer for their growth team. So I searched LinkedIn for someone with a job title that sounded like I’d either report to them or work with them.
I found the right person and tweeted her that I’m going to email her about the position. She responded with “Solid.” I found her email and sent her a custom email with cover letter and resume designed in the company’s color theme as well as examples of my work. She forwarded it to a recruiter and I was on the phone with the recruiter the following week. After four interviews, I was offered a position a week later.
Why did you do it? Where did the idea come from?
I read a lot of articles by Ramit Sethi about targeted applications. Instead of applying for multiple companies, spend a lot of energy on a few companies and make sure you get in front of them. I realized that generic website applications and “contact@company.com” emails never got responses. So I’d always find a human to get in touch with.
If it’s about who you know, then I had to make the effort to know the right people, even if it meant it was through a cold networking email.
What’s the top skill that you have learned outside of education, that will help you in your career?
The skill is being able to teach yourself. Then there’s the additional habit to actually making the time to teach yourself new skills. In academics, we go to class, we’re told what to read, and how to do every assignment. In the real world, we have to find the right things to study, the best books to read, and figure out how to do assignments on our own.
If you can’t teach yourself new skills, moving forward in your career will be difficult. If you develop a habit of building your skills outside of work, your growth will be further accelerated.
Why do you think it’s important to hustle your way into a job?
Everyone’s looking for a job. If you don’t hustle, you won’t stand out. Hustling shows that you get shit done without needing someone to tell you. It shows you’re motivated and driven. Most of all, it shows the hiring manager, VP, or CEO how much you want the job.
If you hustle, I guarantee that no one else will demonstrate that they want the job as much as you do.
Have you started any other projects or initiatives that might help your career in the future?
One project I spent a lot of time on, two years actually, was The UP Lab. The goal was to encourage college students and recent grads to hustle to get to their definition of success. We did this by interviewing people who we believed were hustling.
While the project didn’t pan out and has gone dormant, my co-founder, Justin Ho, and I learned a lot from the experience. I learned how to write content tailored to a specific audience, schedule interviews with people I didn’t know, reach out for guest blog posts, and lead a team of interns and writers among other things.
One of the biggest things I learned was that, as a founder, you need to have a vision. It’s easy to end up spinning your wheels and not know where you’re going, or even where you want to go. When you realize you’re doing that, it’s hard, but you have to know when to let go of something. I learned the lesson, “don’t get married to one idea,” the hard way.
Other than that, I have my personal blog where I began to blog consistently until recently. I developed my writing skills and built an audience (even if that audience was my Facebook friends). It gave me a chance to understand what people my age wanted to read about and what type of content resonated with them.
I set a goal for myself earlier this year to publish one piece a week. This kept me accountable and created a deadline for myself to meet. It got me used to shipping even when I didn’t feel ready.
While I’ve toned down on publishing to focus on my current job at HubSpot on the Sidekick team, I still have a long backlog of concepts to write about. (:
Do you have a plan or a strategy for future career growth?
It took me a while to find out what I’m good at. The CEO of one of my previous jobs read my blogs and said that I have a knack for content, that I have a “‘natural” (I don’t like that word) understanding of copywriting and how to communicate ideas.
From then on I decided to focus on content as my vertical in marketing. From there I’m going to build out my skillset as a T-shaped marketer with a specialization in content.
From there, I can better create opportunities for myself to do consulting on the side while I help build out Sidekick.
What tools / apps do you use on a daily basis?
- Google Inbox
- Google Calendar
- Google Drive
- Dropbox — File storing and sharing made easy.
- Evernote — I take notes of everything in here.
- VSCO Cam — Photo editing before Instagram.
- Twitter — My preferred network. Follow me.
- 5x5 Stronglifts — How I keep track of my weight lifting progress.
- Pocket — I save any interesting articles to Pocket and read them while on the bus or on weekends.
- SoundCloud — Love discovering new music on here whether I’m chilling at home or working. Take a look at my profile for some curated tracks.
- Spotify — This is better for predictable playlists. It’s better for working so that I don’t constantly check what I’m listening to. Check out my #DLK Collection playlist.
- Noizio — Awesome ambient noise app for Mac.
- Yelp — I recently moved to Boston from Los Angeles and I’m still finding new places to eat.
- The Weather Channel — Weather in Boston is so weird. This app helps.
- Transit — I also didn’t take public transportation in Los Angeles. This app lets me know when the next bus or train is coming.
- Lyft — Whenever I’m too impatient to wait for the bus.
Do you have any daily or weekly routines that help keep you productive / focussed?
On weekdays, my mornings are generally uniform. I wake up at 6:30, wash my face, brush my teeth, do my hair, get dressed (usually jeans and a tshirt), and make sure everything’s packed. I head out to work on the 7:22 bus and get to work by 7:50. I head to our kitchen, make a berry-banana smoothie and a peanut butter and banana sandwich and head to my desk (now I’m writing this). I enjoy my sandwich and smoothie while reading articles and by 8:30 I jump straight into work.
After work I head to Brooklyn Boulders where I’ll boulder then lift weights or run. I alternate my lifting and running days.
After the gym, I head home, eat dinner and watch a show on Netflix (finishing up House of Cards right now). I read a book for 15 minutes before sleeping and I’ll be in by 11pm.
This keeps me productive because (1) I don’t need to think about what I need to do, I can save that decision-making energy for work and (2) Whether or not I feel like going to the gym, I just go because it has become routine.
It changes every now and then depending if friends want to go out after work, I like to keep it flexible. Weekends are up in the air. I like to keep them less structured and play it by ear.
Who inspires you most and why?
Theodore Roosevelt. I read The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt in my free time during college and I loved the concept of the strenuous life so much that I applied it to my own life.
Once he set his mind to something, that was nothing anyone could do to stop him. He challenged what was “normally done” in order to do things more effectively. He held various roles during his life and had success in many sectors. I hope to accomplish at least a fraction of what he has done.
What’s the one book or piece of content that has shaped your thinking about your career?
I know you asked for one, but there are two that I absolutely have to share:
- So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport
- The Recession-Proof-Graduate (free download) by Charlie Hoehn
What would be your biggest piece of advice to someone starting off in their career journey?
You have to start somewhere and work your way up as you build experience. Sometimes that start is at the bottom of the totem pole. But don’t be afraid to aim high once you build that track record.
David can be found through his personal website, www.davidlykhim.com where he writes about marketing and career development. He also tweets @davidlykhim.
