get one's foot in the door

Probably from a practice attributed to door-to-door salesmen of placing a foot in the opening of a prospective customer's door, thereby preventing the person from closing the door until the conclusion of the sales pitch.

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get one's foot in the door (third-person singular simple present gets one's foot in the door, present participle getting one's foot in the door, simple past got one's foot in the door, past participle (UK) got one's foot in the door or (US) gotten one's foot in the door)

1. (idiomatic) To initiate contact or a relationship; to gain access, especially to an entry-level job.
   • 1935 February 19, “When You Let the Gamblers In”, in Milwaukee Journal, retrieved 10 June 2009, page 8:

     And the legislature had better study Texas, before it commits this state to parimutuel betting, thus letting the professional gambler get his foot in the door.

   • 1994 October, Binny Miller, “Disarming Hostile Majorities: A Queer Reading of Lani Guinier on Voting Rights”, in Gay Community News, page 10:

     Guinier recognizes the need for minorities to get their feet in the door, but argues that "insiders" must be authentic representatives in order for minorities to achive real political power.

   • 2007 February 4, Sara Boyd, “A Formula for Greatness”, in Washington Post, retrieved 10 June 2009, page Y14:

     But despite his academic credentials, Julian had to fight just to get his foot in the door at most laboratories.

   • 2021 December 29, Tom Allett, “How Wilston Jackson made railway history”, in RAIL, number 947, page 52:

     He was able to gain employment as a cleaner relatively quickly. It was a 'foot in the door', but it wouldn't appease his ambition for long and he later qualified as a 'passed cleaner' (a fireman in all but name), based at King's Cross and St Pancras.

• have one's foot in the door / have a foot in the door
• foot-in-the-door technique