First and foremost, you need to have a decent resume. It’s tough out there but you can stand out highlighting things you’ve accomplished (work or school) and value you’ve added to projects, department or the companies you’ve worked for. Then, go to the companies LinkedIn and find out if there’s any one that you’re even second degree connected to (someone you know, is directly connected to the company). Ask your direct connection for a coffee or a quick zoom. Catch up genuinely first if you’re not close friends/connections. People who know they’re being asked for a favor are much less likely to help you both in the short term and long term and you never know when you’ll help each other out in the future (this is the backbone of networking). Once they ask you what you’re up to, this is when you mention you’re looking for work at company x. LET THEM OFFER TO HELP FIRST. If they don’t, it could be for various reasons, but the most likely reason is, it’s probably not a close or reliable connection.

Repeat all those steps over again until something hits.

The other piece of advice is to go to networking events/conferences where people from that company would attend. A lot of these have ice breakers and opportunities to get to know companies on a deeper level and meet a lot of influential people within the industries you’re interested in.

There aren’t shortcuts here unfortunately right out of college, but it gets easier once your network increases and you can start tapping into those the longer you’ve been in your career. And if you want to change industries? You start from the LinkedIn step above again.

It’s a journey, but can be rewarding! And you end up meeting some really great mentors along the way this way too.

That sounds fucking terrible.