Realizing I don't actually know how to ask for an introduction or recommendation.
All my previous successful job searches involved already knowing someone on the inside of a company I liked, and for whatever reason that's not happening this time. But I do see a few people that some ex-colleagues know.
Is it as simple as "Hey, I see you have a LinkedIn connection to so-and-so at Whatever Corp, would you be willing to recommend me to them?" or what? This feels like something I should already know but I've only worked at 2 places in the past 13 years so I don't have much practice. 😅
@varx Being on LinkedIn is a start. Unfortunately for me, I found it turned totally unpalatable after Microsoft acquired it. The last time I held my nose and opened a LinkedIn account, I did have a former colleague contact me about a job. Unfortunately, his recllection of my skill set didn't match reality, so I didn't take the job. I also found that with or without LinkedIn its hard to get a job at 55+. Now that I'm 60+, I haven't gotten any bites.
@lwriemen Yeah, I deleted my LinkedIn account many years ago when they introduced a feature where you could endorse people for their skills (don't remember the language) and as far as I can tell they were just straight up adding false endorsements.
I did finally reopen my account a couple years ago since the job market was so thin. But it's a *remarkably* unpleasant site.