A job seeker’s guide to SXSW – prep tips, hacks, & shortcuts

“You won’t find a job this year at SXSW,” said Sarim. “The jobs will find you – that’s just the nature of the festival turned beast, that engulfed half a million attendees last year from all over the globe.”

Sarim is a creative coach for those in the tech, art, and entrepreneurial spaces. In his lighthearted style, he shares strategy to ambitious individuals looking to get the most returns for their creativity, giving advice on the challenges of technology, marketing, networking, monetization, and productivity. Having run his own digital agency, and consulted with startups and global firms, he offers a professional approach to personal pursuits.

And today, he is offering insight into how to get a job while you’re at SXSW this year. He has experience and offers all of the shortcuts so you can avoid wasting your time like everyone else does. The following is in his words:

I’ve written this article and put together resources so that you can navigate the harmonic chaos, with knowledge of ALL the events, escaping with a plethora of business contacts and lining up your next awesome gig. Keep reading to find a list with 2000 contacts of the biggest companies & names attending SXSW, and a list of events that representatives of these companies will be attending and speaking at.

Why network at SXSW? What makes SXSW such a good place for networking?

Although SXSW was originally founded to spread Austin’s music scene across the world, it quickly evolved, bringing in a massive influx of entrepreneurs, technologists, and businesses. In fact, for the first time in 2010, SXSW Interactive (the business/tech side of the festival) surpassed the attendance of the music festival, and with continued growth has made itself a tech and entrepreneurship hub.

This means that if you’re looking for a job, you have a set of unlimited businesses to pitch to, creatives to learn from, and new friends to make.

Last year, the majority of conference registrants were split equally between large businesses and startups/small businesses. The main reason for coming was to find new business opportunities (60%) of respondents. Although only 10% came specifically to hire talented people, I’ve experienced that a large number of companies are open to hiring through this medium, especially if you play your cards right.

What do I need to do to get hired?

Contrary to the common belief, you don’t need one of those fancy badges to speak with decision makers. However, you will need to work on your image (both digital and physical) to make an impression on the people you meet. And you’ll most likely be waiting in line from time to time.

Where to find your match:

To figure out where your new employers are, you must know your own talent.

This is important because SXSW is fragmented into three main tracks (Interactive, Film, and Media) which are broken down further into their specific fields. Each of these fields has its own keynotes, speakers, sessions, and PARTIES.

The companies you want to work at will be present at their related events. Now you can both plan to meet a specific company ahead of time, but also be in a position to discover new companies that are similar in nature.

For instance, if I’m an aspiring movie director, I might plan to visit one of the various Film & TV Industry Sessions. After a long day of shaking hands and swapping names, you might retire to one of the Film Vision Screening Sections or one of the Art Installations.

Or if I’m a Virtual Reality developer, you know I’m attending the VR/AR/MR sessions and going to the Interactive Opening Party.

Every innovative company under the sun will be attending SXSW. To make things easier for you, I’ve painstakingly created a spreadsheet with the events held by the top companies (a lot of Big Four), their representative, and even their social profiles.

So onto what was promised, the huge list of business contacts & events at SXSW.

Notice: By using this list you agree that some information may be dated or incorrect and not to abuse the privilege of having this information by contacting them repeatedly or without good reason. Now that you’ve promised not to spam anyone and only reach out one time to the individuals where you are qualified to work, here is the full list.

Also, because I love you all – here’s a list of all the companies that will be at the trade show. There are about 300 companies, take your pick and make sure to look at the advice below to stand out from the crowd.

Lastly, here’s a list of events/sessions by field:

• Blockchain & Cryptocurrency
• Brands & Marketing
• Cannabusiness
• Cities, Government & Politics
• CLE
• Coding & Development
• Design
• Entertainment Influencers
• Entrepreneurship & Startups
• Esports Industry
• Experiential Storytelling
• Film & Tv Industry
• Food
• Future Workplace
• Game Design & Development
• Game Marketing & Community
• Health & Medtech
• Intelligent Future
• Making Film & Episodics
• Making & Marketing Music
• Media & Journalism
• Music Industry & Culture
• Social & Global Impact
• Sports
• Style & Retail
• SXSW Gaming
• Tech Industry & Enterprise
• Touring & Live Experience
• VR/AR/MR

How to stand out!

You may have guessed that you’re not the only one looking for a job this SXSW season. Companies, especially at the trade show booths, may speak with a 100 excited candidates a day. How on earth will they remember you? No worries, with my tips – you’ll stay on their minds all the times.

1. Prepare your digital identity to showcase your talent & creations.

This is an obvious one – potential employers and other creatives you meet are going to want to see what you’ve built. That’s what the whole festival is about, creation. It’s time to deploy your side apps, to upload that pet film project, and publish that latest blog post. Make sure to tie it to a central location like a website or a resume, or even a profile. I know we’re only a day away (darn procrastination) but this truly is important if you want to stand out. Get this done tonight before you go to any parties.

2. Update your social profiles, make resumes.

SXSW has played a part in the origination and development of many types of social media (Twitter, Foursquare, Meerkat) because of their powerful concentrated effects within the community. Almost everyone you meet will have a Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter account. It’s actually a huge opportunity for anyone looking to create an audience.

Make sure your profile is up to date, with posts showing what you’re up to, and throw on some pictures of your beautiful self.

Make sure to exchange social information with everyone you meet, not at the outset, but after establishing an in-person connection.

3. Pre-meditated and impromptu research.

Now I’ll give you a secret from my playbook. An interaction is made meaningful between two people when there’s a connection. From a company’s perspective, that might mean having knowledge about their latest innovations, projects – etc. They came to SXSW for these conversations. It’s up to you to research what they’re interested in, and then bring it up in conversation.

Earlier, I gave you a list of all the companies at the trade show and job market. That’s a great place to start. But in actuality, you’ll be attending all these events and seeing companies from all over who’s attendance you couldn’t have predicted. This is where impromptu research comes in.

Stand off to the side and look these companies up – have something to talk about. Tie your own experiences and knowledge to what they’re working on. It’s really that simple.

Bonus SXSW tips, just for you.

So you’ve read this far. I’m impressed with your ability to pay attention, young jobhopper. I hope I’ve helped you in your quest to find new work. Here are some last minute bonuses and tips that you should keep in mind.

1. You’re at SXSW to have fun. So have fun.

I know the topic of this article was to find a job at SXSW, but if you’re intent on doing that in every interaction, you might miss out on the serendipity and vibrancy that the festival brings. Take time in your day to learn about others and experience the culture as it is. Sometimes that ends up being more meaningful than any paycheck.

2. You’re not going to meet everyone.

Even if you were the Flash zipping from exhibit to exhibit, you wouldn’t be able to go to all the sessions and meet all the companies. You should try and prioritize based on your interests, and attend events to learn something you’ve always wanted to learn. Don’t bother going to the events that might be hit or miss (subjective to what you like). Most people only attend for a weekend (the film part of the festival is busiest opening weekend), so target based on your goals and desires.

3. There are just as many affiliated events and opportunities.

There are a huge amount of SXSW parties going on during the festival. Don’t just get caught up attending the sessions (without a pass you’ll be waiting hours for popular ones). If you want a more intimate setting, you can scope out parties, oftentimes these will be sponsored by a big company. More than that – everyone representing the company should be there. Talk about access.

As a prize for reading this far, here’s an official Austin vendor list for the parties that will serve food and drink, with addresses and times.

The events also have a ridiculous amount of free food and drink, and everyone for the most part has let their guard down. Have some fun, you deserve it.