Forget job interviews. Make business meetings your objective!

On June 16, 2025   /   Q&A   /   3 Comments

Question

You often talk about “triangulating“ to find a job. That is, getting several balls rolling from different directions to converge on your “job prey.” It works! Sometimes I’m cultivating two or three people to get into a certain company. They “run into” one another while discussing me — and it’s cool when they all realize they know me. It really helps establish my cred. It’s a not-so-intuitive job strategy! Have you got more methods like this?

Nick’s Reply

Sure. Stop thinking in terms of job-interview encounters. Make business meetings your objective. For example, try to start a business and see how that gets you access to people you might not otherwise ever get meetings with. Meetings that might result in a new business, or in a new job.

Business meetings

Ever notice that some newly unemployed but smart folks are solving their “no job” problem by starting businesses? Ah, if only it were that easy! Get some funding and launch something new under the sun!

Smart business people don’t pursue just one path out of unemployment. They leverage every business meeting and every opportunity to open new paths to even more opportunities. You can, too.

Consider how headhunters work. We do a lot of work gratis. We are glad to share our insights and contacts to help anyone we think is worth helping, just like you might help out a friend.

I might spend a few hours with an entrepreneur, helping her figure out how she would staff a start-up. I might let a banker buy me lunch so he can pick my brain about how he can help a company he’s helping finance — to hire some key people.

None of these are search projects for me and none of them pay me a dime. But all create an opportunity that I cannot buy: They give me access to people I might otherwise never get to meet. Any of a variety of business meetings with any one of those people might lead me to my next assignment. (It sure beats doom scrolling through LinkedIn, looking for jobs I might try to fill or people I might place.)

Business meetings for a start-up

I know a successful sales executive who has never had a problem finding a gig — until recently. His network has dried up. That is, none of the people he knows are in a position to help him land a job or a consulting contract. So he’s licking his wounds by helping a buddy with a start-up.

Here’s what he just wrote to me:

“I need a break from my job search so I’m off to Chicago this week. I’m helping a former colleague who has started a new company. Unfortunately, he isn’t funded. One of those… well, you know the story! It’ll never lead to a job but I need to clear my head! Am I nuts?”

Yes, I know the story. I’ve invested a lot of my time with people like that. Why do I do it? Here’s what I wrote back to him:

“You’re not nuts. There may not be a job opportunity for you with this start-up. But while you’re with your old buddy, try to meet with others connected to this project. Offer to help him negotiate with any potential investors or bankers or consultants he’s got lined up. Offer to help him talk with vendors, distribution channels, even competitors he’s studying.

The contacts you make while doing these business meetings may help your old buddy launch his new business, but all of them are also potential sources of jobs for you.

Consider the objective of applying for jobs and sending out your resume. The goal is to get that interview — that business meeting with someone that might give you a job. And you know how difficult it is to get that meeting thanks to all your competition. Well, by helping your buddy with his meetings, you’re meeting all sorts of business people that can lead you to a job without all those competing resumes and job applicants!”

Business meetings to find a job

This is one way to get access to people who otherwise might never talk with you: CEOs, line managers, bankers, lawyers, technical people, investors, real estate brokers. These are people who know executives in companies that need help. These are execs who are, or who will be, hiring — or they know someone that’s hiring.

Going to meet with an unlikely start-up founder need not be just about helping him start his business. It’s about job hunting, too.

People you can do business with

This is the territory that headhunters roam, exploring the business landscape for opportunities. Not just one opportunity. All opportunities. All those people you read about who are trying to launch businesses — they know many of the best sources of funding, raw materials, distribution channels, real estate, legal and accounting advice… well, you get the picture.

People you do business with lead to jobs

Job opportunities don’t just come from job-interview meetings. They come from business meetings with movers and shakers — as many as you can schedule. But you can’t do that from an armchair or by sending out resumes or applying for jobs online. It’s far better to go do some work for someone, even if it doesn’t pay.

More than once I’ve helped out an entrepreneur gratis and in the process I’ve met people that I could do business with. That’s where I meet new clients.

That’s also where jobs come from.

In what unconventional settings have you found a new job? Have you ever created a job opportunity without looking or applying for a job? What kinds of settings or business meetings create unexpected job opportunities?

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