How Can I?

Applying to jobs out of my league in the middle of the COVID-19 economic insecurity

This is Day 1 of applying to jobs.
My startup failed about a business quarter ago. These last three months, all I did was sleep and reflect on what had gone wrong, what had gone right, and what my next steps should be. 

While grabbing some drinks in Downtown, two of my more charismatic friends swayed me that my best next step would be to get a job. My brother agreed with them. That night I made up my mind. 

That was a few weeks ago. A few days after, the governor of California issued a "social distancing" quarantine because of COVID-19. Although I did agree with the decision, I knew it wasn't convenient for me. The market plummeted. People were laid off. 

We're still in the middle of it, so I'm applying to jobs in what seems to be the worst time to apply since the 2008 recession. If that wasn't challenging enough, I convinced myself that I will only be applying to jobs that I wanted. I'm not going to settle.

Why is it challenging? Because the jobs I want are out of my league. They usually only hire Cum Laudes from the top universities. I'm not going to settle.

So how do I hack my way into the career that I want? I have no idea right now. I have to catch their attention so that they could even consider me, somehow convince them that I am worthy of an interview, and then do the impossible which is to have them pick me over the goodie-two-shoes from Stanford. That's ok, I'm used to doing the impossible. I'm not going to settle. 

I don't know how I'm going to do it yet, but I do know that the question at hand is not "Can I?" - it's "How Can I?"

*** Quick Update ***
I got hired at my dream company, Amazon in Seattle, WA as a Project Cordinator II
Was able to do it within the month thanks to the support of my family and friends.
Feel free to reach out how to land a job after college or after freelancing / startup.