Monday, July 22 - "Is It Impossible From My School?"

Good morning!

Here’s what’s on the JD today:

1. A remote-only company hyper focused on product is expanding their small team.

2. Raul asks, “My school is small and the alumni network isn’t great. Is it impossible to get into a top firm, or to get any job, from my school?”

IN HIRING

Aha!

• Aha is a smaller company that brings customers the opportunity to create impressive product strategies.

• Most of the non-technical roles are product related so this would be a great fit for those aiming to focus the next stage of their career on product.

• Here are a few of the most interesting roles available

  • Product Success Manager - Click here for full details

  • Product Marketing Manager - Click here for full details

Click here for the company’s career page

TODAY’S QUESTION

Raul asks, “My school is small and the alumni network isn’t great. Is it impossible to get into a top firm, or to get any job, from my school?”

The biggest disadvantage to attending a lower tiered school is that it doesn’t attract the type of people who end up working at McKinsey or Goldman and can refer you to any firm in the corporate world.

Recommendation: If you aren’t at a top ranked school, with alumni at all the top firms, here is what I recommend:

• Start but soaking up all the opportunities presented by the current alumni network. Make sure your school is in your headline so they know you have a shared past. There’s likely more value than you expect.

  • Here is how to change your headline.

  • Use this list to get started and change the filters to reflect your school/industry/role.

• Once you have tapped your school’s network, use the same lists but remove school entirely. Make it a habit of sending 5-10 cold connection requests a day. The connection rates will be lower but should be steady around 5-10%.

• Finally, use other ways of meeting those who work at your target company or industries. At these events, no one will care what school you went to if you’re asking questions and getting to know people.

  • This is a great way to find free events for networking.

Conclusion:

Networking is more difficult if you’re not from a top 10 university but with persistent effort and a bit of creativity, you’ll find there are more opportunities than you may think.

Get your question answered by replying to this email (or just say hi 😊).