Career lessonDecision principleCareers
Depth on four firms beats applications to forty
Richard Koch · The 80/20 Principle
The idea
Koch's principle is that effort and results are not linearly related: a small share of causes produces most of any effect. Applied to recruiting it argues against the spray of forty applications, each generic enough to be ignored, and for genuine depth on a handful: knowing the firm's deals, the people, the questions they ask, and having a reason for that firm that could not be pasted into another letter. The Library calls that the right answer, and it is also the answer that candidates resist, because breadth feels safer than it is.
Most offers come from a few deeply prepared applications, so prepare deeply rather than widely.
When it works
Deciding where to apply, how many applications to make, and how to allocate the weeks before deadlines.
When it may fail
Four is a number for a candidate with a clear target; someone exploring still needs breadth first. And rolling deadlines punish depth that arrives late, so the four should be chosen early.
How to use it
Pick the four firms where your reason is strongest, and for each write the one thing you know about them that a generic candidate would not. If you cannot write it, the firm is not one of the four yet.
Where it came from
Book The 80/20 Principle · Richard Koch
What the source says. Effort and results are not linearly related; applied to recruiting it argues for depth on four firms over applications to forty, which is the right answer.
Connected ideas
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Concepts
Put it to work on L3VLUP
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