Most companies ask for experience because they equate experience to “ability to create value,” when you & I know that‘s not necessarily the case. There are tons of people out there who have professional experience, yet are incapable of producing sales results.

On the other hand, there are also people who lack “work experience” yet can create enormous value for anyone who takes a chance on you. You’re learning {sales} or {marketing} out loud, all on your own, from experts like Dave Gerhardt—and you’re eager to prove yourself.

Here’s what a good CEO thinks about that:

Nick Black, Founder & CEO @ GoodUnited on LinkedIn after hiring Hunter Casillas

Most companies still don’t realize that “years of experience” isn’t a good enough signal for who to hire. It’s up to you to show them.

Use Crash pitches to blow away the CEO or department head (these are the decision makers, not a recruiter) and make them completely forget to ask about your “lack” of experience. In fact, they won’t even ask for a resume anymore. You‘ve short-cut the entire system by expressing genuine interest, personality, and initiative.

Pick a company that excites you (many great ones at inspiring.careers/companies), and make something for them! Make sure you:

Real-world projects leave no doubt as to your ability to do the work you’re proposing. They also show incredible initiative—the fact that you’re willing to prove yourself with free work up-front puts you in the top 0.01% of candidates.

On the other hand, saying “I got a marketing degree with a 3.5 GPA” doesn’t indicate anything except that you’re no worse than everyone else with a 3.5 GPA and a Bachelors. 

If you’re not sure where to start, read through this:

Clearly describe the nature of the work you want to be doing for the company. If you’re not what roles you‘d like, you can take our career path quiz and go through Level 1 (picking a career path) of our paid Job Hunting 101 course.

Good leaders love direct, clear communication from people who take initiative.

Your career will be built on the relationships you form and maintain starting now. By establishing a direct relationship with key decision makers, you‘re gaining the “inside track” for current and future job openings. Even if they hand off communications to a recruiter, you’re still being referred to that recruiter by their boss.

End your pitch (and email) with a question that is easy to say “yes” (or “no”) to:

This is easy to respond to because it’s a simple yes or no, and it’s not this week, which is probably already slammed for them. See next point. 👇

Even the strongest pitches don’t always get responses the first time. Business leaders are busy—they didn’t plan to talk to you that day!

In my experience, simple follow ups like this get more than 90% response rates:

Make a pitch in your favorite software (Notion, Loom, whatever) and email me your published URL if you’d like feedback. I can’t wait to see it!