I wrote this guide to help my younger high school self get a job. 85% of you probably won’t read this, but for those that do, I am confident you will find it useful.

How to find opportunities:

1. Capitalize on Fresh Funding: Companies that have just secured investments are your golden goose. They're in expansion mode and hungry for talent. Do your research. Know what the company is all about and where their struggles might lie. Then, take a bold step: email the CEO directly. Pitch them on how you can be a solution to their problems. Remember, audacity has its rewards. You can use Pitchbook or Crunchbase, or even read on TechCrunch about recent funding rounds.

2. Code to Impress: You don't need a degree to showcase your coding skills. Build a small, relevant project and flaunt it on your social channels. Or better yet, design something specifically for a company that catches your eye and send it directly to their head of engineering or CTO. It’s like shooting your shot in the tech world, but with code.

3. Social Media is Your Weapon: If you’re on social media all the time, you should see relevant roles on Twitter and other socials often.

4. Exploit Daddy's LinkedIn: Yep, you read that right. Your parents’ network can be a goldmine. Scroll through their LinkedIn, identify potential connections, and don’t be shy to ask for introductions. Remember it’s easier to ask for an intro looking for advice then a job.

5. Waiting makes you a waiter: If a company posts a "We're Hiring" sign, don't just sit around hoping they'll notice you. Be proactive. Reach out, express interest, and follow up. Persistence is the name of the game. Apply to the role, and then email the relevant person who might be hiring for that role. You’ll be surprised how rarely this happens and how useful it is.

6. Blog Your Way to Stardom: Start a blog, write about industry trends, challenge the status quo, and share your insights. Controversial takes can make waves. Just ensure they're well-researched.

7**. Create Video Pitches:** Instead of traditional cover letters, create a video pitch. It's personal, different, and shows initiative. Plus, it's hard to ignore a face and a voice.

8**. Leverage Student Organizations:** Join or lead student organizations. Network with alumni who can offer introductions. Demonstrating leadership early on can set you apart. See if you can find alumni who share your passion.

Hacks to elevate your approach:

• Finding Anyone's Email: Use tools like Hunter.io or Voila Norbert. Just plug in the company domain, and these tools will generate the most common email format for that company. Most likely it will be FirstName.LastName@Company.com.
• Getting around demo accounts: Many services like Hunter and others will limit what you can do with a free account. Instead of creating multiple email addresses, you can use the “+” symbol to your existing email. For example both Jessica@rally.video and Jessica+5@rally.video work!
• Mastering the Cold Email: Start with a catchy subject line. Address the recipient by name. Be concise but compelling. Express genuine interest in their company. And always, always personalize each email. ChatGPT is great for this!
• Example email to Airbnb CEO:
• Example with Airbnb:
• Hi Brian,
• Hi Brian, I am a senior at your old high school Niskayuna and I wanted some advice.
• I have been travelling to various campuses as I select which college I want to attend next year and have been staying at multiple Airbnb’s. My uncle bought us an Airbnb gift card and I thought the experience was simply fantastic. As a future computer scientist, I had some ideas on how to make the experience even more user friendly.
• Who is the right person to reach about this topic in the gift card team?
• PS: my mom rented an apartment with Airbnb and was amazed to be refunded within 14 days of the damage as the traveler didn’t replied
• Follow-Up Frequency: Don’t be a pest but be persistent. If you haven’t received a reply in three days, send a polite reminder. Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Reminder emails to startup founders are best sent on Sunday, while reminders to CEOs are usually best sent on Wednesdays or Thursdays.
• Ask for advice, not a job: It’s far easier to get someone on a call or offer their help if you are looking for advice and feedback rather than an outright job. If you get on a call with them, there is a good chance you approach the subject of an internship then.
• Become a Stalker (Legally): Use Google Alerts to keep tabs on companies. When they're in the news, it's your chance to strike with a timely, topical pitch.
• Resume and cover letter screens: You can copy paste your resume or cover letter into ChatGPT and get real time feedback on how to improve it.

If there are no jobs, here is what you say

• Managing Social Media: Most executives struggle with managing social media, especially if they are a startup or new to the game. One easy paid opportunity is to suggest running socials for companies like Twitter, TikTok etc. If you’re really good at copywriting, you can also suggest taking over an account and writing posts on the executives behalf.
• Managing Community: Community is a powerful unlock for many companies and they don’t realize it. Companies struggle with managing discords, slack channels and even youtube communities. If you can do this for them, there is a large opportunity and low time commitment.
• Bug tracking: If you’re good at coding, you can help companies find bugs by being a software tester for them.

What not to do

You can’t control many outcomes in life but you can control your character and your reputation for the most part. Be ethical, kind and earnest as much as possible. People expect you to make mistakes, so don’t try to cover it up or cheat.

• Lie about your experiences: I have seen people say they worked at companies that just went bankrupt or shut down on their resumes. While hard to prove, if you get caught lying like this, it will raise an immediate red flag to current and potentially future employers.
• Be ungrateful if you find a job: It’s easy to rest on your laurels if you find a role, but getting a job is half the battle. The real opportunities lie in doing great work and building a strong connection. You never know when you’ll work with your colleagues or former bosses again. For reference, two of my former colleagues became my cofounders and I invested in a former bosses company.
• Spam or annoy executives: If after two emails you are not getting any replies, drop it. There is no need to spam or over-email someone.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! Please email Jessica@rally.video if you have other suggestions or feedback!

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