It’s challenging to get jobs these days. You’re no longer competing with just the people in your class, city, or country, but the entire world. If there’s a job post on Google, you know that there are going to be many people just dying for that job.

This process makes it extremely difficult for recruiters and human resources to sift through all the resumes that are coming their way. Imagine posting a job role and getting 1000s of people applying for it. A few recruiters can’t review all the resumes.

So what do they do instead?

They deploy these application tracking systems (ATS)to filters your resume based on keywords. These ATS’s help the 1000s of resumes to a more manageable number.

This is the traditional way of applying for jobs. If you’re a rockstar candidate and highly qualified for the role, then this could work. More often than not, you’ve just sent your resume into the ether and may not ever hear back.

In this post, we will go through non-traditional ways of getting a job. The mantra that I want all of you to keep in mind is, “don’t go through the front door.”

The best analogy to this is that it’s Saturday night and you’re waiting in line at your favorite bar or club, and there’s a bunch of people. The traditional path is to simply wait in line and hope that you get in before the club or bar closes.

However, there are other ways to get in also.

If lucky, you may know the bouncer on a first-name basis, and you cut the line and go straight in.

You can also negotiate with the bouncer and say, “Hey, I know the cover is $10, but I’m prepared to give you $50 to let me cut in line.”

Bottom line, in this new global world, waiting in a long line with everyone will slow you down and make it infinitely harder to get to where you want to be, whether that’s at the new local bar or getting that job.

So how do you use the back door instead to get that job?

Act like you’re in the job already – if you’re interested in a career at Robinhood, leading the user growth team, put together a project of how you would approach user growth and share it with Robinhood recruiters and ideally the hiring manager. Show them up-front that you’re committed to doing the job and understand how to do it already by showing them your project. Find customers for Robinhood. Do it now and show them that you’ve already found a way of bringing 500 users to Robinhood with a few simple tweaks.

Create your job description – companies are always looking for energetic hustlers that are willing to come in and add value immediately. Don’t just wait for the job description to be available on the career’s website. If you see a mistake or something that the company is lacking in, fix the error for them or show them how you are uniquely qualified to solve the problem and are willing to lend your time to solve it. Suppose you see an early-stage startup and noticed that they are missing a few features on their product that can immensely improve the experience than show them what they are missing. Do the leg work research on why this feature is essential and build out a roadmap and business case.

Connect and build relationships with Venture Capitalists –VCs are natural connectors and always looking to find ways to add value to their portfolio companies. If you see a company in the portfolio than reach out to the VC with your resume or your project on how you can add value to their company immediately. If the VC love what they see, they will connect you directly to the CEO of the company and get you in front of the line.

Add immense value to a company – Let’s say there is a company that you’re interested in, but they tell you that they are not hiring right now because they are focused on raising some more capital. Connect them to contact a VC firm that may be a target of theirs. Help them build their round by making a simple introduction. This shows the startup that you are not only interested in the company, but you’re ready to make contributions immediately.

Volunteer to be a beta user– Great companies love getting thoughtful feedback from their customers to help improve it. Volunteer your time and become the best beta user for a company’s product. If you’re interested in a new productivity tool company, start trialing their product and provide thoughtful feedback to the product management team. Make sure you’re offering high-quality input and continue to build a relationship with the team. Over time, you will become so knowledgeable on the product that they may ask you to join their team or will immediately fast track you through the application process since they already know what you are capable of providing.

As mentioned before, you never want to walk through the front door. There are many ways of getting a job that doesn’t require you to submit a resume.

These non-traditional methods require the following:

• You are not asking for permission
• Taking initiative
• Adding immense value
• Time-consuming – it’s going to take time if you want to provide value thoughtfully
• You take responsibility when it’s not officially yours
• Relentlessly resourceful
• You’re not going through traditional channels

There are many ways to connect and build relationships with people at these companies, such as Twitter, Linkedin, cold emails, etc….

Be resourceful and start adding value to the company you dream of working at beforehand. This is not going to be comfortable and will take some time but will put you in control of your fate vs. waiting for the applicant tracking system to filter your resume.

Remember, when you were cutting in line at the club, you had to pay a little more than the traditional cover to get in. It’s going to require more effort, but you’ll start getting into places faster.

Good things come to those who work smarter than the rest.

I would love to hear of other non-traditional ways of getting the job.

Good luck!