Amid intensifying competition for jobs, applicants are increasingly abandoning classic applications in favor of direct contact with hiring managers. One such approach has sparked widespread discussion in professional communities: instead of dozens of resumes via LinkedIn and job boards — up to 20 short personal letters a day directly to the authors of job postings.
The author of the method claims to have received four job offers this year without ever applying for a vacancy through standard forms. All four offers came from strong startups with an average annual salary of about 1.9 million rupees. The logic is simple: hundreds of people apply for a public vacancy, most of whom no one responds to — so you need to bypass the general queue.
How the method works
The first way is to react instantly to hiring posts where a company employee announces that the team is looking for a person. Priority is given to posts that appeared less than a day ago and gathered fewer than 100 likes: the chance is higher for those who get into the first hundred respondents. At the same time, it is not recommended to write direct messages or fill out forms, even if asked to do so — you need to find the email of the post's author and send a letter no longer than five lines.
The second way is to track news about startups that have just received their first money from investors. After that, the company begins hiring, and at this stage it is the founders themselves who hire, so decisions are made quickly. The candidate needs to understand what the company does and how he can help it, choose three people from the team, including the founders, find their email and write to them.
The author advises sending 20 letters a day and not writing them with AI. According to him, short and slightly careless letters are more noticeable now — they show that the person made an effort himself.
What is happening in the labor market
The relevance of the approach is explained by overheated competition. The key indicator is the hh.index, which shows how many resumes there are per vacancy. Currently it is about nine resumes per position. Over the year, the number of active vacancies decreased by 11%, while resumes increased by 9%.
In office professions, competition is even higher. IT, marketing and finance specialists have the hardest time. In IT, there were a third fewer vacancies in September than a year ago, and there were more than 27 resumes per position. In such a situation, the employer chooses from a long queue, and many applications are simply lost.
This is exactly where the described experience can come in handy. Its essence is not tied to a specific region: what matters is to reach the employer before others and write to him personally, rather than wait for a response to an application. It is also worth remembering the limitations: the method works well in startups where the decision is made by founders, whereas in large companies with an HR department such an approach may yield worse results. Without the necessary skills, a letter will not help.
Cryptalist analysis: The trend reflects a structural shift in the labor market: with competition exceeding 27 resumes per position in the IT segment, the value of direct access to decision-makers rises sharply, while standard applications lose effectiveness. For the crypto industry, where hiring is often done by founders and small teams, such a direct-contact tactic looks especially relevant. However, the method does not eliminate the fundamental factor — the shortage of qualified personnel remains decisive, and personalization only improves the chances all else being equal.