The Social Way to Find Your Next Job
This probably sounds familiar to a lot of job hunters: A company posts a job opening and within hours, hundreds of resumes flood in. The hiring manager starts reviewing them (or has AI do it for them), filtering to the 20 most qualified candidates. All 20 of these people can do the job. They have the right degrees, the right experience, the right skills. So how does the company actually choose who to hire?
According to Scott Galloway, speaking on Shane Smith’s podcast, 70% of the time they pick the person who has an internal advocate. Not the person with the perfect resume. Not the person with the highest GPA. The person someone inside the company is willing to vouch for.
If you’re reading this thinking “great, another rigged system I have to navigate,” take a deep breath. Here’s the thing—consider this actually some of the most empowering news you’ll hear about job hunting.
Why the “Best Candidate” Rarely Gets the Job
Let’s revisit those 20 finalists the hiring manager is staring at who all look good on paper. They’ve already done the hard work of filtering out anyone who doesn’t meet the basic requirements. Now what?
They’re humans making an uncertain decision. They don’t know which of these 20 people will actually show up every day with energy and commitment. They don’t know who will mesh with the team culture or who will stick around for more than six months. The resume can’t tell them all of that.
But you know what helps them make that call? When someone they trust says, “I’ve worked with Sarah. She’s the real deal. You should hire her.”
This isn’t nepotism or an unfair system. It’s risk mitigation. It’s human nature. When you’re about to invest months of training and a year of salary into someone, you want more than a polished cover letter. You want some signal that this person is who they say they are.
And 70% of the time, that signal comes from an internal advocate.
What an Advocate Actually Means
Here’s what an advocate is NOT: someone who agreed to be your reference, a LinkedIn connection who clicked “accept,” or even necessarily someone you worked directly with.
An advocate is someone who will champion you when you’re not in the room. Someone who brings your name up when a job opens. Someone who tells the hiring manager, “You need to talk to this person.” Someone who puts their own reputation on the line by vouching for you.
How to build advocates:
Be a great teammate and hard worker—people recognize these traits
Help other people first, before you need anything from them
Stay connected over time—not just when you’re job hunting
Be someone people genuinely want to see succeed
Speak well of people behind their backs (Galloway’s advice)
Follow through on what you say you’ll do
Here’s the uncomfortable part though. You can’t manufacture advocates the week before you need them. The relationships you build today might not pay off for months or even years. As one of my previous investors memorably said, “life is long”.
The Strategy Shift You Need to Make Today
If you’re in high school choosing a college or trade program:
Look beyond academics, campus life, or program format to focus on the alumni network
Find out how big and active the alumni network is
Figure out whether graduates act like extended family and actually help each other
If you’re in college or trade school right now:
Visit that professor who keeps office hours nobody attends
Connect with alumni who come back for career panels—and follow up
Stay in touch with internship supervisors after the internship ends
Send updates and ask for advice even when you’re not job hunting
If you’re currently job hunting:
Stop submitting 50 cold job applications a week
Identify 10 companies you actually want to work for
Find real people at those companies to have real conversations with
Reach out with a simple ask: “Would you have 20 minutes to share your experience?” (Not job interviews—conversations)
If you’re pivoting careers:
Your existing network is more valuable than you think
You might not know anyone in your target industry, but you know people who know people—one degree of separation massively widens your network
Connect to the organizations you want to be a part of by thinking of your network broadly i.e. a college roommate’s older brother, a former boss’s connections
Play the Long Game
I know for many this can feel like a heavy lift, especially if you feel you’re on the outside looking in. If you’re the first in your family to go to college, or you went to a school without a strong alumni network, or you’re more of an introvert, this probably feels like yet another invisible barrier.
But here’s why this can be so empowering. The resume game was rigged too—you couldn’t do anything about your GPA or whether your school had enough “prestige”. But relationships? Those are dynamic and abundant, so start cultivating the ones you already have and set a goal to build new ones starting right now.
Galloway says it well: “Speak well of people behind their backs.” Help others. Be generous. Stay connected. Be someone people remember fondly and want to help when they’re presented the opportunity.
This week, reach out to one person who helped you at some point—a former teacher, a past supervisor, someone who gave you advice. Thank them. Tell them what you’re working on now. Ask how they’re doing. Don’t ask for anything.
That’s how you start building advocates. One genuine connection at a time.
Read more about Scott Galloway’s full interview on finding jobs through internal advocates and access the full podcast at Fortune: https://fortune.com/2025/12/27/scott-galloway-key-to-getting-job-be-as-social-as-possible-internal-advocate/
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