The Simple Networking Spreadsheet I Wish I Used To Land A Data Job

At the time of this writing, the state of the data science job market is grim. Though, according to Ken Jee, there are blips of hope that it may, eventually, swing back in favor of candidates. What many miss in their assessments of job postings, industry trends and other data points, is the staying power of human connection in job searching. I kind of hate the both word and act of networking and, having worked with the children of celebrities in a former life, I loathe nepotism.

But there’s a middle ground between favoritism and a shot in the dark.

A targeted approach to job searching where you don’t feel “dirty” reaching out because instead of posting your “available for hire” ad on LinkedIn, you’ve proactively identified individuals who a) you might be able to help you and b) are actually in a hiring (or at least influential) position at their respective organizations.

How do I know this? Because I’m currently using the approach to identify open roles–without having to be one of the 500+ tossing their resume on a pile or being “an early applicant” before the LinkedIn bots auto-apply. But, being content in my current role, I’m not doing this for myself. I’m using my connections to help a friend land their first role.

I’m playing agent.

And, having recently expanded my scope of responsibilities at work along with existing family obligations and, you know, free time, I don’t have a ton of time to spend sifting through job postings or scrolling through contacts. So, like any good engineer, I’ve found a way to optimize the networking process by compiling my contacts in a way that concisely tells me who they are, who they work for, what their role is and, critically, how likely they are to a) want to help and b) be able to help.

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