Graduate turned conference waitressing into LinkedIn job, then Google role

Basant Shenouda got into LinkedIn after taking a service job at a marketing conference so she could meet recruiters in person, Fortune reported. Her path shows how some early-career job seekers are trying to get around crowded online hiring channels and reach employers directly.

Shenouda, an Egyptian-born Gen Zer, told Fortune she spent six months after graduating from the University of Bonn in Germany applying online and messaging recruiters on LinkedIn without success. She said it had become difficult to get hiring managers’ attention through virtual outreach.

Instead of using LinkedIn mainly to send messages, Shenouda used it to see which events recruiters and companies were attending, according to Fortune. One event caught her attention: Online Marketing Rockstars in Hamburg, a major marketing and sales conference in Germany.

Shenouda had studied marketing and wanted to move into sales, she told Fortune, making the event a useful place to meet people hiring in the field. She traveled more than six hours by train from Cologne to Hamburg and volunteered to collect glasses at the conference so she could get inside without paying for a ticket.

During breaks from the event work, Shenouda gave her résumé to about 30 to 40 recruiters and asked for feedback, according to Fortune. She said she hoped the direct approach would make an impression while also helping her learn how to improve her applications.

The process took time. Shenouda told Fortune she showed her résumé to about 200 recruiters across several conferences before the effort produced results. After a six-month hiring process, she landed a place in LinkedIn’s sales graduate program, Fortune reported.

Rejected employers became targets

Shenouda said she did not treat earlier rejections as the end of the process. Fortune reported that she sought feedback from companies that had turned her down, including LinkedIn, and used those comments to strengthen later applications.

She told Fortune that recruiters saw persistence, relationship-building and follow-up as useful skills for sales. At LinkedIn, she later moved into an implementation consultant role in Dublin, according to Fortune. She now works at Google.

Shenouda said graduates should expect setbacks and keep reviewing how they are searching. She told Fortune that each rejection can become useful if it leads to better feedback, a stronger application or a new relationship.

Her advice for networking

Shenouda told Fortune that job seekers should speak in terms of results when meeting recruiters, rather than only saying they want work. She said she used examples from an internship at Intel when pitching herself for her current role.

She also advised asking specific follow-up questions, such as whether someone can refer a candidate, comment on a résumé or explain what went wrong in a past interview. Shenouda told Fortune that listening closely to what recruiters need helps candidates adjust their pitch.

Shenouda said relationships remain central to career progress. Fortune reported that she recommends connecting with people soon after meeting them and maintaining contact beyond a single job request.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.