Connections Over Everything: Job Hunting Advice via Ashley Amber Sava 

Before this year, Ashley Amber Sava had never been without a job. In fact, she’d always had a role meticulously lined up before leaving an employer. 

That changed, however, when she was laid off for the first time and plunged into a landscape of rising unemployment and decreasing job postings — particularly in the world of tech. 

With established titans like Intel laying off 15% of their workforce and other tech companies following suit, Ashley found herself navigating very uncharted waters with the current job market. She decided to chronicle her job search on LinkedIn so others could commiserate. 

While she was only on the hunt for roughly two months, anyone who’s been unemployed knows that it can feel like forever. At the moment, this story has a happy ending: Ashley is currently happily employed as Senior Writer at ManyChat, a platform for creators who want to boost their presence on social media. Yet the lessons she learned while job searching are here to stay.

Connections > Applications 

If you’re seeking your next opportunity and feeling frustrated by the way things are going, Ashley can relate. 

“Pretty much anything I did in the past wasn’t effective anymore,” she admits. “Welcome to the 2024 job market. It’s a world of ‘Apply Now’ buttons that might as well read, ‘Apply Now and Vanish.’ Job postings that I interviewed for — poof! Gone. Roles I was recommended for internally? Budget cuts! And then there were times I would never hear anything, even when I was told to apply.” 

Ashley’s primary takeaway from the job market madness is that connections matter over applications. Of all the jobs she interviewed for, only one came from a cold application. Every other interview came from someone who knew her in real life or was connected to her via LinkedIn. 

“My advice is to keep building your connections,” she emphasizes, “even if you don’t think you need them. Even if you think your job is totally secure, keep your connections alive. A lot of the job boards out there are illusions. It’s people who get you hired, not algorithms — so don’t sell yourself short.” 

Be Sure Potential Employers Respect Your Time

As you’re looking for roles, be aware of red flags indicating a company doesn’t value your time. Ashley pulled a couple of active applications when she felt disrespected, and she recommends that you do the same. 

Here are some red flags to watch out for: 

🚩 You join an interview call, and no one shows up.

🚩 You get notified last-minute of changes to meetings. Things come up, but if this is a consistent pattern, it turns into something more concerning. 

🚩 You’re asked to do unpaid “trial projects” before getting hired. 

🚩 The job description, title or salary are changed midway through the interview process.

Many of these flags not only don’t show you basic respect, but they also indicate the company isn’t sure what it’s looking for, which is another bad sign in and of itself. 

On Being Vulnerable on LinkedIn

Although Ashley was very upfront about her job searching struggles on LinkedIn, it wasn’t until the pandemic that she regularly started posting on the platform. She was looking for connection during those isolating times and began writing honestly about content and marketing. 

Back then, few people were being that open on LinkedIn, which was still very much a professional, buttoned-up space. Ashley got a lot of pushback at first, with people reminding her she wasn’t on Facebook, but she kept speaking authentically. Over time, things shifted.

Today, she’s enjoyed incredible opportunities — from event invites to targeted collaborations — due to her voice on LinkedIn. “LinkedIn is this giant networking event that never quits as long as you’re willing to show up and speak up,” she states. 

That doesn’t mean the naysayers have stopped, though! In her last job, Ashley was asked to stop posting about marketing because her opinions didn’t mirror those of the company. “They also told me to stop building in public because it might cause concerns with investors,” she recalls. 

“Even though I got that job because of LinkedIn, they micromanaged everything I did on the platform. Then there was another time, during my job search, when I got an offer and accepted it. I had benefits lined up, equipment shipped, all of that — but then they came back and tried to muzzle me.”

The company in question created a restrictive social media policy just for Ashley to sign. (Talk about a glaring red flag!) Had she signed that agreement, she would have given the company the right to review (and veto) all her social media content before she posted it. 

The irony, of course, is that these companies were drawn to Ashley because of her voice but then wanted to control it. 

“They didn’t actually want me,” Ashley acknowledges. “They wanted the muted version of me, the one that won’t challenge, disrupt or fight for transparency. I had to pull out of that last job offer, even though I needed the job and the money.”

If you’re looking for a job and want to ask Ashley questions (or even request an intro from her to someone in her network), reach out to her on LinkedIn. “It’s not fun out there right now,” she says. “I haven’t been in a job market like this before, and I want to give back to anybody that I can.”