The job you want probably isn't posted anywhere.

And if it is, there's probably already a shortlist in someone's head.

That's what we're talking about today.

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Most people treat LinkedIn networking like a numbers game.

More coffees. More conferences. More LinkedIn connections with people they'll never actually talk to. It feels productive. It rarely is (I say this from experience).

Here's what's really happening: the best roles get filled before they're posted. Through established credibility. Someone mentions a problem. Someone else says I know exactly who you should talk to. A name gets passed across a table. That's it. That's the whole process.

The posting comes later, often as a formality, sometimes when the informal search didn't work out.

Which means the real question isn't how do I find the right opportunity.

It's how do I become the person whose name gets mentioned when the right opportunity appears.

Let’s face it, it’s not so different than the UN/NGO world, except now you’re not part of the internal network

That's a different problem entirely. And it has a different solution.

You don't solve it by networking harder. You solve it by showing up consistently, specifically, with a genuine point of view — in the spaces where the right people are already paying attention.

Not performing. Not pitching. Just being someone worth knowing.

This shift sounds small. The results aren't.

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A few years ago, I reached out to someone at an organization I'd been following. They'd just published a report on a topic I'd been studying for a long time — one that was also deeply personal to me. I read it carefully. Twice.

And then I did something most people don’t do.

I wrote to them and told them what they'd missed.

Not as a critique. Not harshly. But honestly — here's what resonated with me, here's what connected with work I'd done, and here's the key thing I think this report left out. It started a conversation. The kind where both people are actually thinking and connecting over a shared interest to make something better.

As it turned out, they had a role they'd been trying to fill for a while. It was posted. They just couldn't find anyone who fit what they needed. A few months after that first email, I was a well-paid international consultant for that organization.

Here's what’s interesting about that story: the role existed. The posting existed. But what got me in the door wasn't the application. It was one honest message that showed I understood their work — and cared enough to challenge it.

Honestly, this doesn't always happen. Most outreach doesn't convert to anything. But here's what I know for certain — it never happens if you're only submitting applications and waiting for someone to notice you.

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So, what does this look like in practice?

It starts with your genuine curiosity. Not a strategy. Not a funnel. Curiosity and a desire to be helpful.

Someone publishes something worth reading. Then say something real and substantive about it. Not "great article" but "here's what this made me think, here's where my experience connects, and here's what I think you missed." That's a real message. It's the beginning of a real conversation.

Someone is doing work you respect, then share it. Reference it. Add your perspective to it. Not as a tactic, but because that's how professional communities function when they're working well.

Someone is navigating a problem you've already solved — offer a thought. Not a pitch. Just: I went through something similar. Here's what I learned. Happy to share more if it's useful.

None of this requires a title. None of it requires a conference or a business card or a carefully optimized LinkedIn profile. It requires attention, specificity, and the willingness to show up as a person with a point of view.

The change is subtle, but it changes everything: stop trying to be impressive. Start trying to be interesting.

Impressive = polished. Interesting is specific, it’s real. Impressive says "results-driven leader with 20 years of experience." Interesting says "I spent three years trying to get a health system to adopt a technology that should have worked — and here's what I actually learned about why people resist change." One of those starts a conversation. The other sounds like everyone else and ends the conversation before it begins.

One thing I notice with professionals coming out of large institutional environments: they underestimate how much credibility they already have,

You've worked in systems and situations most people only read about. The question was never whether you have something worth saying. It's whether you're actually connecting with the people who need to hear it.

A LinkedIn post is a starting point. But a post alone can easily go out to the ether and never be seen. What builds real relationships is what happens beyond it.

Go to where the right people already are. Find someone whose work you respect and leave a comment that actually adds something — a different angle, a question worth asking, a connection to something you've seen firsthand. Do it consistently, on the posts of the people you want to know. You'll be surprised how quickly a thoughtful comment can have an impact.

Then take it one step further. When a conversation begins in a comment thread— move it to a DM. Not to pitch anything. Just to continue the conversation.

This is how your name ends up in conversations you're not in. Not through a personal brand strategy. Through showing up specifically, repeatedly, and as someone who genuinely has something to contribute.

That's what makes you the person someone thinks of — and mentions — when the right moment arrives.

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Here's a prompt to help you figure out where to focus and who you should actually be trying to reach:

Point 3 is where it gets interesting. Most people don't reach out because they don't know what to say. A few genuine things to get the conversation started and that barrier disappears entirely.

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Let’s face it, networking well takes A LOT of effort

You send what you believe is a thoughtful message. Silence. You leave a smart comment. Nothing. You have a good conversation that doesn't lead anywhere obvious. And the voice in your head says: this isn't working.

Here's what you can't see from where you're standing: the person who read your post and didn't comment but remembered your name. The message that got flagged to come back to. The conversation that felt like nothing but planted a seed that grew into something six months later.

This isn't a campaign with a conversion rate. It's more like farming. You show up consistently, and most days nothing visible happens. Until something grows.

LinkedIn is one piece of this. So are direct emails, warm introductions, and the occasional piece of writing that’s seen by exactly the right person at exactly the right moment. No single thing is the answer. It’s about a sustained, genuine presence across all of them..

The contract I got, well, in addition to my ability to speak thoughtfully on the subject, I’d already been published in Entrepreneur.com and a few other places. I had something I could point them to that demonstrated legitimacy, what’s called “social proof.”

The truth is you can't manufacture the timing. But you can make sure that when the timing is right, you’re ready. That someone already knows who you are and believes you’ll be the right person for the job.

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This week's action: Find three people doing work you genuinely find interesting; in the area you want to be in. This isn’t to pitch yourself. Just to make contact as one professional to another.

Read something they've written. Watch something they've presented. Then say something useful about it. The goal is to demonstrate the value you can and will add.

That's the whole assignment.

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Next issue: once you're in the room, the way you talk about yourself either opens doors or quietly closes them — and most people can't tell which they're doing. Underselling signals uncertainty. Overpitching signals desperation. The third way looks like neither. It's how you get hired, contracted, or referred without the conversation ever feeling transactional.

If you tried the prompt above, reply and tell me what conversation it started. The unexpected ones are always the most instructive.

See you next week.

Andrea

P.S. The question I get asked most: "How do I explain my value to someone who's never worked in my world?" That's the exact problem we're solving next week — with a framework you can use before your next conversation, not after.