Hi There!

I hope your Thursday is going well. Welcome back to another episode of Ask Ash, where I interview WatchMojo Founder & CEO Ashkan Karbasfrooshan and ask him questions about various things, ranging from covering what is going on in the news, to giving career advice to students & entrepreneurs.

National Intern Day was one week ago. As such, I thought a great topic to talk about today is how to secure a job at a top company.

As National Intern Day was last week, what are some strategies that you recommend to a young professional looking for a job at a top company?

It depends whether you have a warm intro or submit your applications blindly. In the latter, in particular, there are 2 situations:

1) If you have skills but don’t know what you want to do, look at jobs from a variety of different industries, and think of some examples of skills that fit a particular job. Don’t say you have “presentation skills” or “inner-personal skills,” give concrete examples. Being able to have those concrete examples of displaying skills needed for a specific job will only make your case for being hired stronger. Additionally, don’t apply to an infinite amount of positions, but a good amount… it’s a numbers game. There will be several instances of rejection from companies, but you only need 1 of them to give you an opportunity. From there, you need to work hard and continue to develop your skills, as companies want employees who can adapt, and have experience in a variety of different skill sets. Don’t send 100 generic applications, target 10-25 and be specific… if that fails, then blitz the other 75! 

2) If you are really confident and think you know what you want to do, then make contacts with individuals in actual roles vs just HR who are filling open roles, and make the case why you should be hired. Here’s a framework of some questions to ask yourself before searching for a job:

Open to Work? Do This Now!

1) Principle of Specialization: What is the ideal/realistic role for you where you are the Wayne Gretzky/Michael Jordan/Tiger Woods of your craft? 

2) Sum of the Parts: What is the kind of organization you perform in the best? Fit and culture matter.

3) Comparative advantage: What industry/sector do you have considerable domain expertise in? 

In May 2020, I posted the questions above to my LinkedIn Profile as a way for me to help others during the early stages of COVID find work. During that time, Frank Pavan, who now works full-time for WatchMojo, reached out to me who wrote:

“I stumbled upon your “Lost your job?” tweet and figured this would be a great way to introduce myself”

After several talks, Frank finally helped WatchMojo get its Podcast Initiatives running, and also helped me create the Context Is King Website. Keep in mind, many times, these professionals may not respond to your message when looking for a job, or just to connect. When you do end up connecting with them, it’s important to make sure that your first initial message stands out to them. HR Professionals could receive hundreds of messages about a certain position that needs to be filled. However, the people who know the role best are the ones who are actually in those roles.

Lastly, if you want to submit questions to Ash directly, you can do so by clicking the link here: https://watchmojo.com/suggest/AskMojo%20-%20WatchMojo’s%20founder%20Ash