If you think business is about money, people will control you with it. If you want money and they have it, you’ll do what they want. What do you think looking for a job is? It’s finding people with money and asking them what you can do for them.

It reminds me of a student of mine at NYU who came to me asking for referrals for a job. After a short conversation explaining that I didn’t find that method of looking for a job helpful, I suggested doing something to give to a community. We decided to organize a panel with panelists from the community she wanted work in. Organizing the panel would give her reasons to talk to people in the community but, instead of asking them for something, she would offer something: participation in an event. Even if they didn’t value the event, they’d know others in their community would.

What do you know? After the event, one of the panelists offered her a job. He never asked her for a resume or interview. Why would he need to? He already saw her working style, saw her take initiative, saw whom she worked with, and all the things resumes and interviews are supposed to cover but can’t do as well as working together.

The place where he worked, by the way, gets tons of applications all the time. She bypassed that whole process.

And organizing the event cost her no money, just time. Does it count as spending time if you enjoy what you’re doing and are learning from it?

What can you do to build value in a community and makes you visible?

• ← Cabbage
• “Eating healthy is expensive and takes too much time” is wrong →