Recently I had a meeting with someone from my government’s job seeker assistance program, who recommended I make better used of LinkedIn in looking for a job.

Specifically, she recommended that, if I find a job posting anywhere, I look the company up on LinkedIn, find someone who already works there, and message them directly to get the name of whomever is in charge of hiring, and even to ask if they’d be willing to give me a referral (which can be especially enticing if the company offers referral bonuses).

I hate doing this sort of “networking,” where every interpersonal interaction is a veneer of courtesy in order to maximize returns, even though I know it’s a necessity in today’s professional world. It does not sit well with my particular brand of neurodivergence.

Since Hexbear is the most based community I know, even when it comes to professional bullshit of this sort, I was hoping someone here could sanity-check this approach. Maybe I just don’t want to start hassling someone on social media without someone else telling me it’s okay (besides a civil servant).

A little more background:

• I was laid off last September from an unfulfilling but steady job with a video game publisher.
• I have several years of experience in entry-level tech support jobs, with a bit of work on things like databases and scripting. I prefer the latter sort of work because people are confusing and frightening, but my last employer wouldn’t even let me do minor work on that stuff, and the ones who do work on it are very defensive of their positions so they didn’t offer any help either.
• I know the tech sector is kind of fucked right now but that’s all I have to work with.
• I studied computer science in university but I had to settle for a degree in general studies because I failed integral calculus four times. This was before I was diagnosed with ADHD.
• I don’t have any certifications.
• I don’t have much of a code portfolio. I try to keep working on it but it’s already all I can do to stay motivated with the job hunt.
• I consistently get good feedback on my resume and I’ve always been a stand-out employee when I am working.

Now that I’ve written all this out I realize that my position is pretty envious compared to a lot of people. Still, after months of applications without so much as a callback, I’ve completely lost faith in my own judgment. So any feedback is appreciated. Thank you, comrades.