There are so, so many ways to find jobs, many of which are unexpected.

In the interest of transparency, here's my full career history of how I got to the interview moment for every single position I've held across the last 10 years.

Some of these are repeatable & anyone could do themselves. Others are luck, or right time right place, or any of the other unexpected factors that have nothing to do with your skills.

Besides these, there's a slew of jobs I didn't get! These are the few that worked out.

1/ SOCIAL MEDIA SPECIALIST: my college girlfriend's sister knew a woman running a 15ish person social agency & got me an interview.

2/ SOCIAL STRATEGIST: that small agency was bought by a mid-sized agency, where I'd eventually stay for 5ish years. Promoted to Social Strategist about a year in as the team grew & clients needed different types of thinking.

3/ SENIOR SOCIAL STRATEGIST: wanted a promotion, but there wasn't anywhere to go. Researched & built a senior strategist job description, salary range, and what I hoped for, which I presented to my then boss. Got it a week later.

4/ DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE STRATEGY (SOCIAL AOR): Internal recruiter at agency reached out. I initially ignored, then when I decided a few weeks later to pursue something new, I applied through their career site. Internal recruiter noticed, re-engaged me, & guided thru the process.

5/ DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE STRATEGY (360 STRAT): External recruiter working for an agency. Job was for a senior strategist. I pitched the owners that they were looking too junior & needed director level strategy for other strategists to succeed - they elevated the position.

6/ DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE STRATEGY (MID-SIZE AGENCY): an old mentor I'd previously worked with recruited me as he joined a new agency. We got dinner and schemed even before he'd started there, and I became his first hire.

7/ STRATEGY DIRECTOR (LARGE AGENCY): Twitter DMs. My now boss & I had tweeted back & forth on advertising thoughts for some time. Reached out privately for career advice, turned out there was a job that fit. Interacted w/ her + another member thru DMs the whole hiring process.