In this concise career‑development monologue, Evan Carmichael argues that the traditional "numbers game" of sending countless resumes is ineffective, likening it to gambling in a casino where the house always wins. He proposes replacing the resume with a future‑oriented "artist statement" that blends past achievements with clear, concise goals, mirroring how visual artists present their work. Carmichael then introduces the sociological principle of the "strength of weak ties," explaining that casual acquaintances can open doors to new networks far more than close friends, but stresses that the right weak ties matter more than sheer quantity. He illustrates the concept with a personal anecdote: after years of cold‑emailing editors, a referral from a weak tie led to his literary agent David, resulting in a long‑term partnership and multiple successful books. The story underscores that success comes from strategic, smart effort—working hard and working smart—rather than blind persistence. The overall message is to stop mass‑applying, craft a focused career narrative, and deliberately cultivate high‑value weak ties.
Chapters
Stop playing the numbers game and never send out another resume. Instead of betting the odds, play the game that improves your odds. Most people who visit the casino are gamblers, meaning that they are essentially giving away their money to the house over time. Sure, the house will keep their drinks topped off, and maybe they'll even get a free buffet in exchange for their donations, but over time, most people who play casino games will lose. How do you pick the machine that will give you the best odds? Create an artist statement that describes your future self. Instead of the standard resume, many painters, sculptors, and other visual artists typically create an artist statement that describes their work and purpose. It's easy to see the difference between a strong artist statement and a weak one. The weak one contains a lot of big words, uses passive instead of active language, and goes on forever. Stronger artist statements get to the point quickly and leave little room for confusion. My watercolor paintings are about nostalgia and sentimentality. I create sculptures and other physical installations to show the evolution of humankind and its impact on the environment. My weekly podcast explores how the world of work is changing, especially for baby boomers and others who are more accustomed to traditional careers. Naturally, most artist statements are composed for creative endeavors, not job applications, but why not modify the concept for something more career-oriented? The key is to focus half on your past accomplishments and half on what you hope to achieve in the future. Short is good, but it's not a race to find the fewest possible words. There's a popular principle from sociology called the strength of weak ties. The short version of this principle is that our acquaintances can open more doors to more people and thus introduce us to more opportunities than our friends can. This is because we tend to travel in the same circles as our friends, But people we know only casually, weak ties, tend to have much different networks of friends and other acquaintances. It's been well documented that for this reason, weak ties are incredibly valuable when it comes to looking for a job. But even more important than having a lot of weak ties is having the right weak ties. Here's a real-world example of this principle in action. When I first wanted to write a book, I didn't know a lot of other authors I could lean on for advice. I dutifully searched online and went to the library to research books in the process of connecting with an agent or publisher. I then set out to contact editors and agents myself, but I didn't get very far. Most people simply didn't reply to my queries. When that approach didn't work, I started asking everyone I knew if they had any advice or connections they could pass on. I finally connected with a guy who would soon become my literary agent, David, through a referral from one of his other authors who had been reading my blog unbeknownst to me. 7 years later, David and I have worked together on 4 books. I've also been able to refer several other successful authors to him. In a way, meeting David was a human equivalent of a winning casino game. It's a very strong relationship that was initially forged from a weak tie. The example is relevant for much more than writing books. Success isn't found completely in persistence. It's found in working hard and smart. Try, Try again, sure, but try again in a strategic manner. The point is that, just as with applying to jobs, when it comes to building relationships, quality matters over quantity. The goal, in other words, is not necessarily to connect with more people, but to connect with more of the right kinds of people. Stop playing the numbers game.
