“If you want people to help you, you need to be the kind of person people want to help. People are more willing to take time out of their day to teach you when you are enthusiastic about learning.”
Ken Coleman, The Proximity Principle, p. 15
The Proximity Principle was published in 2019, but I can tell you from personal experience (quite a bit before 2019) that this statement is true, and that it helped me get a job when I didn’t even ask for one.
I was a few years out of school and was working as a software engineer in and around mobile phones. I soon realized that the environment wasn’t a good fit and I really wanted to see what was available along the lines of what I took a keen interest in during grad school: image processing. I decided to try out an “informational interview.” I didn’t know at the time much about it, but I was about to find out just how powerful a technique it is.
The story of how I got a job without asking
A friend of mine had taken a course on image processing at the university I attended from a professor who worked in industry. I sent the professor a note, explaining my interest in this topic asking him if he could share with me a bit about how he used image processing in his job at work. He invited me to visit the company.
When I showed up, the receptionist told me I would not be meeting with the person I contacted, but rather with another person. This person turned out to be responsible for the research behind the company’s machine vision product, which depended heavily on image processing. (Machine vision is essentially a system that uses a camera to take pictures of products on an assembly line, then analyzes the images for defects and reports anomalies in real time).
He gave me a tour of the facility and told me about the machine vision product. I was surprised at the time because he spent quite a bit of time with me…but now I realize people love to help people who are “enthusiastic about learning!” My day didn’t end with the tour and product explanation, though. We had one more stop…a engineering manager’s office.
The engineering manager asked me a few questions and then said, “Did you know, we have a position open?”
No way! I certainly did not know that. Even though I was hoping eventually to get a job elsewhere, I truly went into the day with a curious mind. I wanted to learn about applications for the knowledge I learned in school.
I ended up being offered a position and I took it.
Let’s break it down a little bit further
I had a friend, and we both went to the same university. I told him that I was interested in understanding applications for a different aspect of my degree. He told me about a professor who taught on the subject and worked in industry. I contacted him, mentioning what we had in common, image processing and the university. He introduced me to a researcher (note, I never even met the professor I contacted), who was excited to share what he did for a living. He then introduced me to the hiring manager and voila, I had a job offer.
Friend who I knew->professor who I didn’t know->researcher who I didn’t know->engineering manager who I didn’t know->hired me.
Key takeaways
The key takeaways for me are:
- Be specific about what you are interested in learning about.
- Find something in common when making a connection.
- Ask for information.
- Be genuine about your interest in learning.
engineer your life
Are you thinking about a job or career change and want to know more about the field, industry, product, or company? Try reaching out to someone you know who might know someone in the right place, or who knows the right information. Set an intention to learn. (And then see what happens!)