Stop Mass Applying. Do This Instead.

During my early career, I applied to 127 jobs and got a whopping 2 interviews.

Most of those applications went into a void. I hit submit, waited, heard nothing, and did it again the next morning. For months.

It was awful.

Skip ahead...here's what I've learned after 12 years on the hiring side, and the advice I shared with two recent grads when I watched them do everything right and still stall out.

The application portal is not a strategy

Ella did everything on paper. Graduated with honors. Journalism and PR degree. Three strong internships.

She was applying to PR and communications roles in New York and hearing nothing back. Zero interviews booked.

Erin hit the same wall. Recent grad, product and UX roles, relevant academic experience.

She was "reaching out to company after company and getting nothing back, not even a no."

Neither of them had a resume problem. They had a distribution problem.

The move: go around the front door

Unfortunately, in this job market, applying on job boards isn't enough to have your resume magically picked from the pile.

You've got to do more, whether that sounds fair or not.

Here's what I advised Ella and Erin to do if they wanted to stand out:

Pick your top 3 to 5 companies. Build a one-sheet about how you specifically would solve their challenges. Then send it to a human being, outside the application process.

Erin's version was an offer to help with a design project... for free. I get it, free is hard to swallow. But getting real brand names and real projects into your portfolio can be the difference when hiring managers are looking for real experience.

(Btw, internships were mostly done for free when I graduated. Not saying it's right, just saying I definitely did the work for free. In NYC. Where it isn't exactly cheap.)

These projects can also help you build a relationship with that company, ultimately helping you skip the interview round altogether!

Ella's version was a one-pager of her writing that spoke directly to each company's challenges and audiences. So not exactly free work, but certainly providing a vision no one actually requested.

Keep in mind, the one-sheet is not a cover letter. It's a short document that says: here's what I noticed about what you're working on, here's what I'd do about it, here's how I've done something like this before.

Why this works: Every other candidate is answering "do you have experience?" You're answering "do you understand our problem?" 🤯

I know it feels transactional, but hear me out

When we talk about networking, one of the real fears that always comes up is:

"It feels like my whole future depends on whether people like me."

I get why. Reaching out to a stranger to ask for something feels like a transaction, and you can feel the imbalance from a mile away. You're the one with the ask. They're the one with the power.

But here's the thing about the one-sheet: it flips who's giving.

You're not asking for a favor. You're showing up with something. You noticed a problem in their work and you thought about it hard enough to write a page.

Bob Burg and John David Mann put it better than I can in The Go-Giver: "Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment."

Give more than you take. Do it well enough and often enough, and the receiving side takes care of itself.

Follow up more than feels polite

Ella told me she hesitated to follow up because she didn't want to seem annoying.

I hear this constantly, so I want to be clear: the amount of follow-up that feels appropriate to you is less than the amount that actually works.

Follow up multiple times. Space it out. And every single time, share something of value.

Nobody thinks the friend who texts again is desperate. They think the friend who never texts back is the weird one. Your follow-up is the second text.

Not "just checking in" though. Send your portfolio. Send an insight about their brand. Send a relevant article with one line about why it matters to them. Give them a reason to open your emails.

Two more things that made the difference

Build a place to send them. Erin didn't have a personal website when we talked. If you're reaching out cold, your website is what makes you real. A clean portfolio page that's current, with live links, does more than a PDF attached to an application. Ella had one but hadn't kept it updated.

Fix that before you start sending.

Show future capability, not just history. Everyone in the early-career stack has roughly your experience on paper. Let that one-sheeter showcase how you think about their challenges, their audience and their goals.

Your assignment this week

1. Write down your top 3 to 5 companies. Real ones, in your reach.
2. Research each one. Use AI to dig into their challenges, recent news, what they're launching, what they're struggling with.
3. Write one page per company on how you'd help. Keep it tight and specific.
4. Find a relevant human at each. Send it with a note that leads with genuine interest, not a pitch.
5. Follow up in a week. And then again. Each time, bring something useful.

Skills get you in the room. But the relationship gets you the offer.

Most of all, trust yourself.
💜 Brianne

PS: Erin landed a design job at Macy's one month after our chat. If you are interested in scheduling a mock interview, click here.

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