When one Head of Internal Audit (HOIA) and Internal Audit Collective member found himself unexpectedly out of a job, he supercharged his existing, more sporadic approach to his job search. 

As he put it, “We can be a slave to our experiences when we only know one way to do something. What if we start thinking differently? It may not work — but it may.” 

The Internal Audit and SOX job landscape is changing. AI is taking on more lower-level work. At the same time, economic uncertainty remains widespread. Nearly every business is trying to do more with fewer resources. 

The equation isn’t hard to figure out. AI doing more work + hard-to-predict economy = fewer job openings + more layoffs = more Internal Auditors applying for fewer jobs.

So he changed the game. He did four things that helped him build trust and credibility throughout the hiring process. 

The approach ultimately landed him an amazing HOIA role that was never advertised, winning out over several other highly qualified candidates. 

When I heard his story, I immediately wanted to share it. His approach is simple but powerful, and it can work for Internal Auditors at any level.

1. Get Specific About What You Want

What industry do you want to work in? What specific type of work do you want to do? What characteristics are you looking for (e.g., maturity, team/organization size, location, footprint)? 

Now more than ever, specificity will help you get your foot further into that door. 

The HOIA targeted publicly traded fintech companies based in the UK or Ireland that were looking to expand into US markets. He had helped his prior employer with exactly such an expansion. So that was his specific pitch in his cover letters and LinkedIn messages: He had done it, and he could help them do it. 

Anyone can point to their number of years in the role or experience owning processes X, Y, or Z. Getting more specific about your goals, capabilities, and track record can set you apart.

How can you get specific and tie into your successes? What work or role will let you showcase your problem-solving skills, achievements, and industry- or process-specific experience? 

You should also get specific about where you want to work. Which companies fit your requirements? Make a list and start there. Hitting a dartboard always starts with aiming for it.

In this case, the HOIA made and prioritized a list of leading fintechs. One top-choice — a UK-based global fintech that was growing fast — didn’t have an open position, but he reached out to a company leader and made his specific pitch. They had a brief conversation over LinkedIn messaging. But nothing materialized. 

Until about 11 months later. But we’ll come back to that. 

2. Proactively Engage With Your Target Organizations

Engage with your target organizations every day. 

But you need to do more than connect with people in these organizations. You need to show that you’re invested in — and knowledgeable about — their business. You can do this by reading, liking, reposting, and commenting on LinkedIn posts from the company and its leaders. 

Every day, the HOIA invested time engaging with the content posted by his top-choice employers. 

“When you’re reaching out to these big companies, you don’t have a starting point with them. So you have to make the extra effort. Make sure that you’re getting visible,” he advised. 

In fact, when the global fintech’s HR team reached out 11 months after his first connection to gauge his interest in the HOIA role, they’d noticed his long-term engagement with their content and team. 

The company later confirmed that they track LinkedIn engagement to assess whether candidates are genuinely interested in working for their company in particular versus just looking for ANY job. They’d seen too many situations where someone joined and then left after a short time. They didn’t want to waste time on candidates who didn’t actually want to work there.

“My rule is to spend 15 minutes on LinkedIn every day. Try to make new connections. Know there will be days when you send requests nobody accepts. Create good drafts of communications you can send to different leaders across the market, because you have to do things a little differently depending on who you’re reaching out to,” said the HOIA. “Then, if somebody does reach out, you can truthfully say, hey, I’ve been following your company for a long time. I’ve been reading your posts. I really believe in the product, and I know I can do this. And I’m already connected with 10 people at your company.”

3. Be Consistent, Realistic, Resilient, and Persistent

Timing matters. Being in the right place at the right time isn’t exactly something you can plan for.

Today’s Internal Audit and SOX job applicants need realistic expectations about the time it takes to find a new role. Because in most cases, it will take significant time — especially if you’re applying at the Director, CAE, or HOIA level.

At first glance, this HOIA’s story sounds like a right-place, right-time fairy tale.

In reality, he waited 11 long months before his engagement yielded anything more substantial than that seemingly unproductive conversation over LinkedIn messaging. 

Then, after receiving the call from HR, he went through a rigorous vetting process with 12 interviews over 4 months for an unadvertised role for which they were vetting multiple candidates.

He had to stay in what he hoped was the “right place” for well over a year, consistently engaging on LinkedIn with the content and people in his target organizations. 

He made himself a student of these organizations, being authentic instead of opportunistic. 

“You don’t know if it’s going to happen. So you have to continuously do it,” said the HOIA. And he admitted, “I thought it might be a waste of time… At one point I thought, it’s eight interviews already. How many interviews are going to happen? I may be letting other opportunities go by. But you have to stay resilient and focused on what you want. It completely depends on you.”

4. Invest in Building Trust Beforehand 

Loads of candidates have the same qualifications you do. You can’t rest on your certifications, degrees, or lengthy resume. 

The HOIA cautioned, “Depending on who’s going to hire you, and depending on that person’s personality, they might take it as a negative thing,” assuming that the more certifications, degrees, or years of experience someone has, the less likely they may be to listen to anyone else.

What matters more is “who you know” — but not necessarily in the way you may think. It’s more about who’s aware of you and your skills, and less about who you know specifically. 

What also matters more: Your most recent specific experience in your sector, and what you’ll bring to the table for a new employer. 

“How do you build trust without working for someone? The way I was able to do that is my Linkedin profile and engagement, and what I have achieved in the last two years. Nobody cares what I've done in the last 15 years,” said the HOIA. He continued, “If I work for a fintech and I’m targeting a fintech, my profile should talk about how and what I have achieved in fintech. If I’m hitting those points, that’s building trust before even having a conversation.”

Do your LinkedIn profile, activity, and connections tell the story you want to tell? 

Are you sharing that story with enough people?

A Foundation of Trust Improves Your Odds

Organizations don’t necessarily want the “most qualified” candidate. What they want is a highly qualified person who’s low-risk to hire. 

Doing these four things helps you build trust and credibility as a high-quality, low-risk candidate:

• Getting specific proves you know what you want to do — and are committed to doing it.
• Proactive engagement proves you’re a self-starter who doesn’t need to be told what to do.
• Understanding that hiring takes time proves your resiliency and consistency.
• Making new connections makes more of the right people aware of who you are and what you can offer. 

This HOIA’s championship-level LinkedIn engagement helped him do all of these things, building trust and credibility with a long game that yielded big results. 

So, for those currently between roles, I hope this message gets you in a better mindset, providing some tactical inspiration for your job search.

For those still employed, keep in mind that there’s a high probability you’ll be in the job market again at some point. Successfully managing your career also requires being specific and proactive, understanding timing, and regularly expanding the network of people who know what you can do. 

And if you still have doubts about this approach, get this: Guess who else reached out to the HOIA on LinkedIn after he accepted his job offer from one of his top-choice global fintechs? An HR leader from another top-choice fintech. He had also consistently and proactively engaged with this company’s content and people. 

He is thrilled to be right where he is. But he’s going to carry on with his 15-minute rule, keep engaging, and keep establishing new connections. You never know where it could lead.