Hey, friends.
Having a total and complete blast in the UK so far. I'm in Manchester now--where I've never actually been before, even though it's only an hour train ride from Leeds. And it's been incredibly fun to explore the coworking spaces and techie hubs in both places, which is awesome.
This weekend, I head to the Jorvik Viking Festival (yes, really) and then it's down to London for some meetings and hangtime. Which brings me to what I'd like to chat about today: My Fancy-Sounding London Meetings.
I always make an effort to try and meet people when I'm in London (or any new city). It's just never a bad idea to have professional ties to a new place. And this time around, I decided I wanted to meet with recruiters.
See, since I'm a freelancer, I don't actually get hounded by recruiters that often. You guys know how cool I am--but recruiters can't quickly decide if I'd be a match for a role/gig based on my LinkedIn title. Which is totally fine by me. And now that I'm a few years into my career--without a full-time position to my name--I'm totally curious about my market rate.
London is the (old-school) advertising capital of the world, so there are approximately a billion "creative recruiters" roaming around town/LinkedIn. I started following a few of the good ones over the last year or so, just to see what they were offering. Also, in the UK, they list actual real salary ranges right there in the job postings. Which is fascinating to me.
Anways. These recruiters. All of them put their emails in their LinkedIn posts. All I had to do was introduce myself. I sent out about four emails that looked just like this:
And boom--now I've got meetings set up for both Monday and Tuesday next week.
I can't tell you how many people would write something like "I don't know if I'm senior enough for any of your roles" or "I'm not sure if I have enough experience yet, but..." in this email. You may think you're being honest, which is great... but it will read like you're just not really ready for a promotion.
Remember to keep it short. Keep it to the facts. And never, ever say you're an "aspiring" anything.
Long story short: If I announce next week that I'm the new Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi, you'll know how it happened.
Alright, I should get out of this café. Looks like the rain has stopped for a hot minute in Manchester--time to go explore, me thinks. I also kinda want to go buy some new shoes.
As always, hit reply and tell me what you think.
Hug,
Alexa
PS: I'm still taking sign-ups for my first-ever career coaching program, which includes an hour of editing and brainstorming time with yours truly. I have to cap it at 30 people, so hit me up ASAP if you'd like to join in. I can truly guarantee that this one little week with me will save you hours upon hours of tragically sending out resumes into the night while crying.
PPS: Curious about my viking adventures this weekend? Follow me on the Snap, babes. My handle: @alexashowtime
PPPS: You guys are great. And I've got so many new subscribers this week! Thank you for sharing the #entrylevelboss gospel with your friends and loved ones. Keep it up.