By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Most professionals approach their careers like they are standing in line at an exclusive nightclub.
They are waiting at the First Door—the main entrance where 99% of the crowd stands, clutching their resumes and waiting for a recruiter to check the list. This is the world of “Apply Now” buttons and automated rejection emails.
Then there is the Second Door—the VIP entrance where the silver-spooned and the ultra-connected slip through. If you weren’t born with the password, you assume you’re stuck in the line at the First Door.
But according to Alex Banayan, there is always The Third Door. It’s the entrance where you jump out of line, run down the alley, bang on the door a hundred times, crack a window, or sneak through the kitchen. It is the path of the operator who realizes that the “official” way in is designed to keep people out.
To find your next role, you must stop being a candidate and start being the person who finds the cracked window. Here are 10 atypical techniques to kick open the Third Door.
10 Atypical “Third Door” Techniques
The “Pre-Hire” Diagnostic Audit Instead of a resume, send a 3-page “Operational Audit” of one of their public-facing products or processes. Don’t just point out flaws; provide the technical roadmap to fix them. You aren’t asking for a job; you are demonstrating that you’re already doing the work.
The “Future Peer” Content Play Identify the hiring manager. Don’t ask for an interview. Reach out and ask to interview them for an article or post you are writing about “The Future of [Their Specific Niche].” It flips the power dynamic and establishes you as a peer in the industry conversation.
The Investor Inbound For startups or mid-cap firms, don’t message HR. Message the Associate or Principal at the Venture Capital or Private Equity firm that funded them. Tell them: “I’m an operator in [Field]. I see a gap in [Portfolio Company X]. If you want to protect your investment, let’s talk about how I can plug it.”
The “Ex-Employee” Reconnaissance Find the person who previously held the role you want. Reach out and ask: “What was the one thing the leadership team desperately wanted but never got?” Use that answer to build your entire “Onlyness” pitch to the hiring manager.
The Conference “Shadow Event” If your target company is attending a major conference, don’t wait for a booth visit. Host a small, curated dinner or “coffee roundtable” at a venue across the street and invite three of their mid-level directors to discuss a specific industry friction point.
The White Paper Tag Write a high-resolution 1,500-word white paper on a trend affecting the target company’s industry. Publish it on LinkedIn or Substack and tag the C-suite in the comments with a specific question about their 2026 roadmap.
The “Internal Advocate” Referral Loop Instead of asking for a referral, ask a current employee for a “Technical Review” of your portfolio or project. If the work is good, they will often offer the referral themselves to get the “Referral Bonus” without you ever having to beg.
The Podcast Pitch Every mid-to-large company now has an internal or industry-facing podcast. Pitch yourself to the producer as a guest to speak on a very specific, non-obvious technical challenge. Being “The Guest” is a 10x stronger signal than being “The Applicant.”
The Reverse Search Firm Maneuver Find the boutique executive search firms that don’t have the listing. Send them a one-pager on your Onlyness and say: “I know you don’t have this role now, but I’m the person you call when your biggest client has a [Specific Crisis].”
The “90-Day Value” Memo Write a memo titled: “What I Will Accomplish in My First 90 Days.” Break it down into 30-60-90 day increments with specific KPIs. Send this directly to the VP of the department. It forces them to visualize you in the role, rather than just reading about your past.
The Third Door Requires Resilience
The Third Door isn’t “easier” than the First Door. In fact, it requires more energy, more research, and the resilience to be ignored or rejected by the “kitchen staff” before you find the way into the main room. But while the First Door is a game of chance, the Third Door is a game of agency.
BONUS PROMPT: Identifying the Gatekeeper
To use the Third Door effectively, you still need to understand the machine you are bypassing. If you choose to use the First Door as a backup, you need to know which “referee” is calling the game.
The Strategy: Go to the job application URL. Look at the domain name (e.g., companyname.lever.co or wd5.myworkdayjobs.com). Once identified, use these prompts:
Bonus Prompt 1: System Identification “I am applying for a role where the application URL is [Insert URL]. Identify which Applicant Tracking System (ATS) this company uses. Research and list the top three data-parsing quirks of this specific system (e.g., how it handles headers, tables, or multi-column layouts) so I can ensure 100% data extraction.”
Bonus Prompt 2: Tailoring the Signal “Now that we know the system is [Insert ATS Name], analyze my resume and the job description. Rewrite my ‘Technical Skills’ section to specifically align with how [Insert ATS Name] ranks ‘Knowledge Clusters.’ Prioritize the keywords that this specific system’s algorithm is known to weight most heavily for [Insert Job Category].”
The First Door is for those who believe the system works for them. The Third Door is for those who know they have to work the system.
Ⓒ The Big Game Hunter, Inc., Asheville, NC 2026
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ career easier. Those things
can involve job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues.
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