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Forming a first impression of someone takes seconds, and that can feel impossible to nail when you’re in a job interview. Luckily, most hiring managers take more time to form their opinion.

A study published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology found that the first 15 minutes are when an impression is made during an interview, and that’s enough time to connect and sell yourself.

We spoke with hiring managers and found out what impresses them. Here are eight things to do to help you land the job.

Have you ever heard about someone “cutting the line” to land their dream job? They’re the people getting the perfect position without ever submitting a resume, or negotiating a sweet signing bonus plus five weeks’ vacation, or getting hired for a role the company created just for them. How do they do it? Are they just naturally golden? Or do they know something you don’t?

While you might use the word lucky, these folks aren’t necessarily more talented; they’ve simply perfected a way of approaching the job search in a manner others haven’t been trained in (or are fearful of adopting). This out-of-the-box approach gives them a notable advantage when it comes to standing out.

So what do they know, and how can you follow their lead to make your next transition not only more quickly, but more successfully as well? Do what they do:

It’s the end of the year. Everyone on my team is getting ready for holiday travel and planning to spend time with friends and family. But before we hang it up for the year, I’ve got one more thing left to do: find and hire two business development reps for my team here at Dropbox.

December isn’t the hottest season for recruiting and hiring, but in the waning weeks of 2016, I had two open positions on my team and a pretty thick pipeline of candidates, typical of the season. But determined to find my top hire before breaking for the holidays, I reached out to our recruiting team, and they suggested I check out the “Apply Starters” feature in LinkedIn Jobs, which rolled out late last year. The tool lets hiring managers find candidates who’ve started applying to their companies’ job postings, even if they don’t finish. That led me straight to my newest hire, Veronica Velasco. Here’s how.

I can admit it now; I  was completely clueless about a lot of things in my first job out of college. From navigating complicated office hierarchies to knowing exactly what to wear in the workplace, and just exactly how I was supposed to figure things out myself when I had no idea what I was doing. It took me a while to understand the etiquette and unspoken rules of the workplace that now seem so obvious.

Of course, I learned with time and would probably not trade my then-naivety for anything else. It did, after all, force me to learn lessons that are so drilled in my head now as a working person. If it wasn’t for my cringeworthy expectation that I was always going to be given clear instructions and then realizing I was wrong, my brain wouldn’t be set to the “automatically anticipate needs” mode that it’s on today. If it wasn’t for me being completely unhappy (and useless) in my first job, I might not have been brave enough to take the plunge and pursue the career that I really wanted.

You already know that asking for help in your job search is a smart thing to do–that’s why you did it. Research suggests that the vast majority of job offers come by networking (no surprise there), but especially through those “weak connections” in your professional circle–that intern manager from a few years back, the marketing exec you met briefly at a conference and forgot to take out for coffee afterward.

Since it’s these sorts of people who actually tend to prove most helpful, it can be tricky to enlist their support. They’re not close friends or colleagues, so they may not have a strong personal stake in seeing you succeed. But many are willing to offer a hand, just as long as you don’t give them reason to regret it. Here are some of the most common ways job seekers wind up stepping on their contacts’ toes or wasting their time, and what it takes to avoid doing so.