Someone had asked this elsewhere but then deleted their own post and I don’t know why! I was meaning to come back to it and read it, so rest assured that I won’t delete this one as there were some really interesting stories of unconventional ways people landed their work.

TL;DR: I got headhunted after directly emailing dozens of people and pitching myself as an available, on-call substitute in my line of work, instead of submitting job applications traditionally.

As for me, I cold-pitched myself via Google Maps and other searches as an available substitute to those in my skilled trade (upon moving to a different region) in basically a 50-mile radius, and eventually word of my availability reached a large, overarching institution that connected me with an organization that had a full-time opening. It took me probably 4-5 months from the move to the job offer.

Edit: My story is actually a little more complicated than that, now that I recall the details from years ago; there wasn’t actually a full-time opening at my now-workplace at the time, haha. What happened was that I was briefly interviewed and quickly hired as an assistant to an overwhelmed director who ended up getting massively sick and nearly died from COVID, so I subbed as the director. They had been having interpersonal problems with her and I rapidly noticed them in the weeks before she got sick and warned them of her. While I wasn’t trying to take her place, the higher-ups said they were aware of her shortcomings (she had basically said “Shut up” to another director higher than her rank, to give you one of many examples of how bad it was, and she must have been in her 50s if not 60s).

Nearly everyone at the org apparently loved my work while I subbed for her for nearly a full month, and they eventually fired her and made me her replacement after another interview. It was definitely unusual…

  • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de
    6·
    9 hours ago

    It’s a long story so I will try and bullet point it as I don’t have a lot of time to answer.

    • Mid to late thirties and I’m thinking I’m a failure at life. Think I have ADHD but never diagnosed. Had 50+ jobs to this point and I always quit or lose them for poor attendance etc, mix in a little fraud to supplement wages.
    • Apply to an insurance company and begin training. Someone I had screwed over (I am a better person now) reported me to management and they fired me.
    • decided to apply to Apple as a Christmas temp and get hired for 3 months.
    • excel at being faux extrovert and apply for Genius Bar as a Technical Specialist. Get hired.
    • Begin work at the Genius Bar where I thrive cause being a fake extrovert actually makes you happier at times, but you leave work drained.
    • Realise we have healthcare and seek an ADHD diagnosis, which I got.
    • surrounded by talented people and infinite support from management I decide to do a software development bootcamp.
    • excel at coding as I had always been interested and I am even at a higher level than the teacher and they’re blown away by my projects.
    • suck at interviews and so do another bootcamp, 😔, as this one also get you interviews.
    • excel at this bootcamp too and still suck at interviews.
    • must have gone for 30 jobs and didn’t get any.
    • start to feel down but finally get hired to a small company.
    • life really isn’t any greener over here and I still struggle to maintain happiness.
    • company I work for is excellent. All about work life balance and the work is secondary to us.
    • been 18 months. Got a pay rise after 1 year. Then 6 months later we all get a pay rise again and a reduction in hours.
    • we only work 33 hours a week now with 21 days holiday which goes up one day each year until you’re at 25 days.
    • don’t have to lie about why I am sick. If not having a good mental health day then I tell them and I am not expected to work.