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Re:What I learned from spending 3 months applying to jobs af... by patricklynch on Monday November 21, 2016 @02:26PM (#13008331)
The fact that his response rate when from < 5% for "applying the right way" to 22% for "maybe you upset a hiring manager" suggests his new approach, in spite of your reservations, is better for cases where you don't know anyone who can give you a warm introduction to a given company.

If anything, assuming most companies have an 'employee referral' program, emailing a random non-recruiter may have the additional advantage that, for no cost to you, someone at that company becomes incentivized for several thousand dollars to lobby for you.

Re:What I learned from spending 3 months applying to jobs af... by camtarn on Monday November 21, 2016 @03:54PM (#13009109)
It's very much a tragedy of the commons scenario, though: if one person emails a random within the company, they're going to stand out, maybe even get put in as a blind referral. If everybody starts doing this, then it's just spam, and the emails are more likely to get dropped on the floor.
Re:What I learned from spending 3 months applying to jobs af... by seangrogg on Monday November 21, 2016 @03:26PM (#13008869)
This is actually a very good point. Having an incentivized advocate really skews things in your favor and many companies have such programs in place to bring in new hires...
Re:What I learned from spending 3 months applying to jobs af... by daviross on Monday November 21, 2016 @06:03PM (#13010090)
Alternately, it suggests that people getting emails like this should be sure to send them to Recruiting with a "Could not follow instructions, do not hire" note.