Someone had asked this elsewhere but then deleted their own post and I don't know why! I was meaning to come back to it and read it, so rest assured that I won't delete this one as there were some really interesting stories of unconventional ways people landed their work.
TL;DR: I got headhunted after directly emailing dozens of people and pitching myself as an available, on-call substitute in my line of work, instead of submitting job applications traditionally.
As for me, I cold-pitched myself via Google Maps and other searches as an available substitute to those in my skilled trade (upon moving to a different region) in basically a 50-mile radius, and eventually word of my availability reached a large, overarching institution that connected me with an organization that had a full-time opening. It took me probably 4-5 months from the move to the job offer.
Edit: My story is actually a little more complicated than that, now that I recall the details from years ago; there wasn't actually a full-time opening at my now-workplace at the time, haha. What happened was that I was briefly interviewed and quickly hired as an assistant to an overwhelmed director who ended up getting massively sick and nearly died from COVID, so I subbed as the director. They had been having interpersonal problems with her and I rapidly noticed them in the weeks before she got sick and warned them of her. While I wasn't trying to take her place, the higher-ups said they were aware of her shortcomings (she had basically said "Shut up" to another director higher than her rank, to give you one of many examples of how bad it was, and she must have been in her 50s if not 60s).
Nearly everyone at the org apparently loved my work while I subbed for her for nearly a full month, and they eventually fired her and made me her replacement after another interview. It was definitely unusual...
Since baby boy said I could, he ain't too far off from what I remember.
When I saw him and bulldog take off after that bastard what hit that boy, I knew shit was going to go down.
See, baby boy, my hairy monkey, he had been getting in a bad way, dealing with them redneck assholes for a while. We'd get bottles thrown over the fence at us, get cussed, get threatened. He was gay friendly when he started working with us, but the more shit he saw, the madder he got. The week before he had said that one of these days, someone was gonna get killed. I asked him if maybe we should talk to the boss again, get some extra staff on the lot.
He said yeah, but he reckoned one of us would have to kill somebody since the popo ain't shit. Well, that ain't how he said it, but that's what he meant. We'd call them when someone would start trouble, and they'd be a half hour getting there. You old enough to know public enemy? 911 was a joke in that town.
So, when he took off and I heard him saying "not this time motherfucker", I knew shit was gonna be ugly. When I ran back in, I told them my boy was gonna fuck a redneck up, to call an ambulance.
Time I got back out, they was already blood everywhere. I saw my boy moving to cover my girl and get hit. Heard something crack, so I went at that piece of trash.
I ain't never been the kind of serious fighter my boy is. Even in the corp, it wasn't something I took to, but I can do okay. But that trash was on some serious shit. Too fast, too mean. Couldn't back him off, and he was going after someone to kill.
When baby boy got back up and grabbed that sorry asshole, he was screaming. When he threw him down, it was like when a watermelon gets smashed on concrete. That head hit the ground first, and I thought for sure I was gonna see brains. The sound his head made was stuck in my head for a long time after.
And I couldn't hold him. Baby boy ain't what you call small. I was trying to grab him back, stop him from killing that man. He was growling and screaming how he was going to kill him. Saying he'd show him some hate. Baby boy weren't really there. They was teeth bouncing after one hit, and I started yelling for someone to help me, but all the other staff wasn't doing nothing but watching.
But Bulldog, bless her perfect little soul, she drag herself up off the ground and get in there. If baby boy had kept swinging, she'd be done thrown, she ain't but maybe 130 pounds now, and weren't as strong then. But she stopped him.
And then we's all crying, and baby boy snaps out of it and starts helping that happy fairy boy making sure he alive and breathing right.
I can't forget seeing baby boy haul that motherfucker up, over his head and just throw him. The sound he made when he did it, you ain't want to hear. And then that thunk.
I'll say this too. Baby boy, my big ol teddy bear, that ain't the last time he put his self between some ugly motherfucker and somebody that can't stand for theyself. Ain't many men I ain't fucked that I love, but my baby boy is number one.