Getting hired at a startup series: Do what others are not willing to do to get the job (5 of 5)
Tip #5: When you fall in love with a company’s mission and would die to work there… you have to be willing to stand in the pouring rain for days to get what you want.
When I was in college I heard a story that really impressed me. I was a freshman at UMass Amherst and sitting in a Finance Society meeting. Finance society was a group on campus for anyone interested in Finance. These kids were really energetic, productive, and motivated kids. Their attitude: "I can outwork anyone. Period. Give me any challenge and I'll go after it. Nothing can stop me." It was infectious, and I certainly felt at home, as a motivated individual myself.
In 2004, working in ibanking was “the dream.” It was the thing every Finance student wanted, despite the scary stories that awaited them. But, back then, that was the thing (remember… Facebook had JUST started that year in ‘04… and many of the big tech companies you know of today hadn’t started yet: Twitter, Airbnb, etc). But no Wall Street firms came and interviewed students at UMass Amherst. They went to the Ivy's. They went to Amherst College (right down the road). But they didn't step foot within our business school.
90% of students didn't see this as a problem. 9% saw this as a problem. And 1% did something about it.
That 1% of kids did something that really impressed me. They bought crisp suits. They printed off 1,000 copies of each of their resumes on nice egg-white card stock. And they hopped in a car and drove their asses down to Wall Street.
They'd proceed to go on handing out their resumes to thousands of people outside the New York Stock Exchange and the bank’s offices around the corner. In the pouring rain. Any woman or man in a suit/pantsuit (back then) walking into Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, CitiGroup, or UBS, got a resume. The students told every person walking by that if they hired them it would be the greatest decision they ever made in their entire lives (very Tom Brady-esque). They wouldn't disappoint them. They wouldn't regret it. They'd shine to the occasion. They'd be the best employee ever hired by the firm. They'd prove their worth.
99.99% of the people the students spoke to turned them down. But 0.01% didn't. And that upcoming summer a couple of UMass Amherst students worked on the floors of Wall Street, through pure, undeniable determination. And a winning attitude. 0.01% looked at these students and saw one of the most unbelievable stunts to get a job they had seen in a long, long time. And for those few students, it paid off.
At the end of the day, you have to be willing to stand in the rain to get what you want.
You have to be willing to suffer, with a smile on your face. Deciding what you want and going for it with determination. And conveying this to every single person around you.
Everything else is tactical. And everything tactical can be taught. Even determination can be taught. But all tactics don't matter unless that prevailing determination is evident first.
If you got turned down when applying… if you weren’t invited in for an interview…. go stand in the rain outside of their office until they give you the interview. Hold a sign that says "I want to work @ your company. I know I’ll add value." Even if it means you adding to that sign: “Will work for free” (if you have the ability to do that). Don't leave for lunch when you get hungry. Don't leave to go home to sleep when you get tired. Bring a tent. Stay there. Sleep there. Even if it means in the pouring rain. Then greet the employees the next morning when they come into work. Don't leave until the cops are called to take you away. And when they do, do it with a smile on your face. And the next day, go back.