so you didn't go to an ivy league, have a chip on your shoulder, aren't satisfied with your current role and want to work in applied AI
here's what i'd recommend you do immediately
1) get on X and LinkedIn (if you're seeing this congrats)
2) clean up that profile pic (get a headshot srs, use ChatGPT Images)
3) fix your profile, headline and bio (emulate mine if you need a reference)
4) start posting daily about your applied ai learnings, experiments, commentary
what you're trying to do is clear the minimum bar that your profile is actively contributing to the applied ai space. you don't need 5000+ followers. you don't even need engagement.
all you're trying to do is not look like a bot and look like somebody who actually thinks about and works on this stuff.
once you have this, start searching for hiring managers posting about new roles they are hiring for.
you're going to want to tune your feed so these come in as quickly as possible after they post. before your feed is tuned, just actively search for them. use grok bot or muse or codex to do this.
understand this - hiring managers, especially new hiring managers, want to pick the right person. as much as a recruiter makes their lives easier, it also takes them out of their own hiring and filtering process. them posting means they are actively engaged in the search.
this is your opportunity.
like the post and reply that you are DMing them. KEEP IT SHORT.
this does two things:
1) creates two notifications for them, for the like and for the comment
2) creates a pull for them to check the DM or click on your profile
DO NOT overwhelm them with a long message like "I'm so interested! I have 5 years of experience in program management, I just graduated from X university, etc etc."
first of all, it’s thirsty. second of all, nothing you say in that comment will be enough for them to pique interest unless you went to a top school or work at a top company (and if you did, why so thirsty?) so don't do it. stand out with brevity and restraint.
your goal is to hook them to see your profile, your post feed, your pinned/featured post(s). congrats, you just bypassed the application/resume blackhole and got them to see a much larger slice of how you think.
if you've never done this, do it. i guarantee you it will transform your job search.