This document provides advice on aligning your work with your passions by finding the intersection between what you love, what the world needs, what you're good at, and what you can get paid for. It recommends making yourself visible on platforms like Twitter, Medium, and LinkedIn, taking inventory of your network, evaluating career options by researching paths of others, and considering creating your own opportunities if the right role doesn't already exist. The key is enjoying the journey and putting in the work to develop your skills and network over time.

1. ALIGNING YOUR WORK WITH YOUR PASSION
Presented by Meltem Demirors
@Melt_Dem
How to (not) Get a Job

2. SUCCESS IS A SERIES OF CUMULATIVE STEPS
Setting the Stage

3. 3
THE CONTEXT OF A HUMAN LIFE
Mastering the
basics
Figuring out who
you want to be
Becoming that
person and hitting
your stride
For more mind-bending perspectives on time, check out Wait but Why – Putting Time in Perspective (August 2013) -
http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/08/putting-time-in-perspective.html
UP TO YOU!
School Years
Growth Years
Prime Years
AND BEYOND!

4. 4
CAREERS ARE NOT A LADDER

5. 5
THEY ARE A MATRIX

6. 6
STARTING POINTS
Learning how to make slides (yay),
working hard (100+ hours a week), and
trying to “be an adult”

7. 7
PROGRESS CAN SEEM FUTILE
Quit job. Apply to gradschool. Spend life
savings traveling.

8. 8
AND YOU FAIL A LOT
Grad school at MIT – fail at two
startups in a row

9. 9
BUT YOU FIGURE IT OUT
Help build a new
company

10. 10
EVERY COMPANY HAS THREE FUNCTIONS
BUILD SELL OPERATE
• Engineering
• Design
• UX / UI
• Product
• Sales
• Business
Development
• Marketing
• Communications
• Analyst
• Finance
• HR and Talent
• Operations
• Assistant
Often work solo or in
smaller teams, focused
on project execution,
may require specific
skills or degrees
Requires communication
skills, often around
people, may involve
travel or frequent “out of
office” team
Focused on process and
task execution, often
part of larger operations
team, supporting roles

11. 11
HOW THIS TRANSLATES TO YOUR
SEARCH
• No role is 100% of build, sell, or operate, but the job
description gives you a clear sense of what’s involved
• Your personal preferences will indicate what role may be
better for you at this point in your career
- If you don’t like working alone, maybe an engineering
job right out of school isn’t the best fit
• Be honest with yourself – it may not sound glamorous, but
if you’re a super-detail oriented person who slays tasks,
maybe an operating role is a good starting point
• Know what an ideal job would be
- My ideal role would be 40% build, 50% sell, and 10%
operate because X, Y, Z

12. 12
FOUR QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. What are you good at?
2. What inspires you? What do you love?
3. What does the world need?
4. What can you get paid for?

13. 13
NOW FIND THE INTERSECTIONS
What you
LOVE
What the
WORLD
NEEDS
What you
can get PAID
for
What
you’re
good at
passion mission
vocationprofession

14. 14
NOW FIND THE INTERSECTIONS
What you
LOVE
What the
WORLD
NEEDS
What you
can get PAID
for
What
you’re
good at
passion mission
vocationprofession
#YAS
aka ikigai

15. PUTTING IDEAS INTO PRACTICE
How to Start

16. 16
1. Make yourself visible
2. Take inventory of your network
3. Evaluate your options
4. If it doesn’t exist, BUILD it!
HOW TO START

17. 17
1. MAKE YOURSELF VISIBLE
• The first thing I do when I meet someone is GOOGLE
• Key places I look:
- Twitter
- Medium
- LinkedIn
• People won’t know you’re looking for a job unless you
TELL THEM. Make it really easy for people to help you!
• Google yourself and sanitize or do cleanup where needed
• Make sure your Instagram, Facebook, and other public
profiles are PG-rated

18. 18
PRO TIP: LEVERAGE TWITTER

19. 19
PRO TIP: USE MEDIUM
• Make sure you have a profile and follow people
• Comment on other people’s content
• Try writing one or two posts – even short posts help!
• Extra Credit: cross link everything to Twitter and LinkedIn

20. 20
PRO TIP: TELL PEOPLE HOW TO HELP YOU
• Everyone is really busy – TL;DR check every email
• Be direct
• Make it easy for others to help you
• Be open to anything and everything
Meltem (MIT FinTech): Help with Job Search – Resume Attached
Hello X,
You may recall we met at Y – I really enjoyed your Medium post on
(insert fact). I’m very passionate about bitcoin, and am starting to
look for opportunities. Given your role, I thought you might know of
people who are looking for entry-level employees, interns, or part-
time help. I’ve included a brief template email to make it easy for
you to introduce me, and have also attached my resume. I would
appreciate any leads, suggestions, or advice. Of course, please let
me know if there is any way I can return the favor or be helpful to
you!
Should fit
one
iPhone
screen!

21. 21
2. TAKE INVENTORY
WHO WHAT WHERE
• Spend the time to master these tools and learn how to use them effectively
• Schedule a quarterly calendar reminder to review all of your tools and
update whatever is necessary

22. 22
PRO TIP: FIND LOCAL EVENTS

23. 23
PRO TIP: CHECK OUT VC WEBSITES
• VC’s are often at the cutting edge of new tech trends –
regardless of whether you want to work at startups,
corporations, or institutions / NGOs
• They curate great content which cross-links to jobs, other
blogs, and even events!

24. 24
PRO TIP: NETWORKING IN A NON-CREEPY
WAY
• Explain why you’re there when you introduce yourself
• Make business cards with your name, social handles,
email, and university (with graduation year)
• Have a plan when you meet people
- Review guest / attendee list and “stalk” them online
- Prepare questions ahead of time and ask them!
• Tweet from the event – use the event hashtag or speaker
hashtag
• Follow up with e-mail if there’s a reason
• Connect on LinkedIn using a custom note

25. 25
3. EVALUATE OPTIONS
• Think of yourself as a product manager – YOU are the product!
• Use LinkedIn or your alumni network to find people who have a
background similar to you and are 2-3 years out of school
- What was their path to their current career
- What skills have they built and how do they express this?
• Look at people you find inspiring – CEOs, founder, leaders –
and read their bios, look at their LinkedIn profiles, and try to
untangle their path through the “matrix”
• Look for “dream jobs” you’d like to have in 5 to 10 years – what
are the requirements? Think about ways you can build toward
bigger roles by building your skillset

26. 26
PRO TIP: USE ANGEL LIST
VC pages aggregate portco jobs Can also search startups directly

27. 27
PRO TIP: CHECK WHAT CO’S ARE HIRING
FOR AND FIND WAYS TO GET IT

28. 28
4. IF IT DOESN’T EXIST… BUILT IT!
Start or Join a
Student Club
Run a conference
or event
Create your own
internship
Do a research
project
• Purchased domain name on GoDaddy,
built site on Squarespace
• Got funding through adminstration
(and sponsors) once established
• Invite speakers you personally want to
hear from and meet
• Engage with sponsors who are looking
to hire you & your classmates
• Reach out to local startups / companies
and ask if you can intern or do projects
• Come prepared with ideas for short,
focused projects and low / no pay
• Conduct projects for school. interview
or gather data from companies
• Better yet, once research is done,
present to execs + post to social

29. 29
PRO TIP: FIND WAYS TO INTERACT WITH
TOPICS YOU FIND INTERESTING
Blog for MIT VC Conference “Treks” w Entrepreneurship Club

30. 30
PRO TIP: COME PREPARED
I’m an MIT graduate student looking
to build my experience in social media
management. I noticed you don’t have
a social media presence yet. I’d be
eager to help you build a robust social
media strategy and engage with your
sponsors, data partners, and startups
to create content marketing. Here are
three ideas I would implement:
Customizing an Internship Pitch a Specific Project
Approached Boston-based startup
with content marketing strategy,
offered to work for free during “trial
period” with potential to be contractor

31. 31
WRAPPING IT ALL UP
Your career is a journey – enjoy it!
You don’t always have to know where you’re
headed – success takes time and
preparation
There are LOTS of great tools!
Learn how to build a great toolkit and put in
the time and energy to use it
Be patient and roll up your sleeves
Sometimes great opportunities are earned
or created, not given