Definition: Wasta means “intermediary” in English (in french: Piston) and is used to describe the situation when someone finds a job via a connection inside the target institution and takes the place of another candidate that might be more skillful for the same job.

Being close to the higher education field in Lebanon, I frequently hear this sentence from students. I am also fortunate to hear it outside the academic institutions — quite a lot.

The typical sentence cited above also became a “salt-and-pepper” in almost every conversation. Sometimes, it is used as a joke. A simple search on google images shows how deep this word is involved in our culture:

While this is no at all ironic at all and it has dramatic deep effects on the career’s culture for Lebanese grads (and non-grads). But hey, let’s go deeper into this subject and decipher its facets and come up with few conclusions. Let me drive the rest of this article as a series of QA so that we can go to the point.

Question #1: What’s the dramatic effect of being in a wasta culture?

Dramatic, Dangerous, Killing.

Behaving as someone who can’t find a job without wasta is very dangerous for your personal philosophy. More precisely, it has 2 effects on the short and long term.

On the short term, believing is wasta stops you from working on yourself and enhancing your soft and hard skills to become a better “candidate/profile”.

On the long term, this becomes a truth. We are what we say. If we keep saying “we need wasta to find a job”, this becomes a reality at some point, and this is very dangerous because it lefts us in the loop of Anti self-improvement and then become a lazy and non productive nation.

Question #2: How I can find a job in a crowded market without a wasta?

“If you want more, simply be more” — Jim Rohn.

Put yourself in the shoes of the employer. Employers receive hundreds if not thousands of CVs. How will the employer choose whom to interview based on your CV?

Be sure that all the CVs of the fresh grads are “almost” equal unless the Candidate really have something to add. Recently, I interviewed around 35 developers for a job in my startup and they were all equal (even those with 3 years of experience) but the ones who were chosen for the job are fresh grads who self-taught themselves a technology I needed to deliver my minimum viable product.

In addition to the hard skills you can improve, you definitely need to improve your soft skills. At the end of the day, you are not going to only “code” or “market” or “manage” in the company. Rather, you will work in a team. Being able to work harmoniously within a team with a team spirit keeping in mind the business goals/logic is important for all companies.

Question #3: Do companies really employ people who have wasta?

If you can’t change the public sector, change yourself

Not really, especially the private small and medium enterprises. We all know that wasta exists in the public sector and this is because of the corruption that is killing the government and the architecture of Lebanese political society.

Go for the private sector. It has a lot of opportunities to grow. Besides, I do not think that private companies, especially those that are small and medium can afford employing someone with wasta and pay money for nothing. Sooner or later, people with wasta will fade away and people with skills will shine.

Question #4: What is the difference between wasta and connection?

Connection is ethical— wasta isn’t

Having a connection that helps you finding a job is a shame and you should do your best to invest in your connections to find a job or to look for a better job. At the end of the day, you are always applying for a job via an intermediary. This intermediary can be the HR, a person inside the company, a website or any other connection or friend.

Employers like to recruit people they can directly trust. This means if you know someone inside the company who trusts you and this can help you applying for the job, then why not?

But — Attention- Do not abuse that. Use the connection only to apply and to consolidate your application and do not beg your friend to get accepted. This will ruin your trust and professionalism.

Question #5: What else I can do to boost my first job finding?

There are a lot of ways that can help you finding a job. The old way of going physically to companies or sending CVs online is almost over. Building connections in the professional field (not simple linkedin connection) is important. This could be done through events and conferences as well as recruitment events in the universities. During such events, do not only deposit your CV: look for a job you like, which company fits, and try to make a human connection with the delegate of that company.

Back in 2007 I had a great idea of doing a mini-CV. It’s not a resume, nor a business card nor an annoying CV. It is something between the business card and the CV and could be handed on inside conferences and seminars. It could be an A5 paper, like a flyer about yourself and which show a top level about you without being annoying with a big CV. I did this and got a job because of it. Did you try it?

Finally: Conclusion / Take outs:

• A successful entry for your career path is “believing that its possible to find a job without wasta”. Get ride of this concept from your head and live as there is no wasta.
• Working harder and smarter on your “hard skills” is a way to boost your profile and make it appear in a crowded market full of regular profiles that have been limited to what they have been taught in the school.
• Working on your soft skills also boost your application. Hard skills are the car and soft skills are the fuel.
• Build new connections, attend seminars and conferences, get updates about your industry and use your connections to apply.
• Always have a flyer about yourself, not a CV. It’s un common and very top level / at-a-glance representation of you.
• Didn’t find a job? solve a problem and start a company. There are a lot of accelerators out there that can help you with seed money to validate your idea and come up with a minimum viable product for investment.