Job Hunt Support - An In-depth Look
I'd been meaning to create this post for some time now because I think it's important to document and share a process or tool that can be useful to others.
I know that some of my readers are more of the independent-learner kind. The kind of people who will look for resources, tutorials, articles and try to figure things out on their own before asking for help. This is a totally valid approach which I generally adscribe to, so in that spirit, I wanted to share a more in-depth piece about the framework I've created for job hunting and what you would normally see in a session with me.
The Spark
When I first started looking for new jobs, I was fully consumed by desperation. I wanted change to come as quickly as possible and I partially attribute that feeling to how long it took me to gather the courage to start. As I progressed, the first thing I noticed was the amount of time that transpired from one application to the next. It felt a lot like fishing with a stick.
I applied to a few things, waited and most of the time, there were no replies and when there were, it was mostly an automated rejection or a notice that the position had been closed.
The first few rejections felt devastating. It seriously made me question whether or not I was qualified to do anything else other than what I was doing at the time. But, I knew I needed to keep going because I couldn't bear feeling the weight of frustration that I had become accustomed to.
One night, I sat in front of my computer, during a time where AI was still far from what it is today, and I researched. Eventually, all my algorhythms understood what I was looking for and the content started showing up in my feed. Youtube videos, Tiktoks, Reels. There was so much information out there. So, I decided to structure that knowledge into something I could turn from a painful process into a system I could replicate whenever I needed it. Hence, the four pillars were born.
The Four Pillars
A Shift in Mindset
As I mentioned earlier in one of my videos, we generally start job hunting from a place of inadequacy, low self esteem and/or desperation. But, here's the deal. Most rejection early on in the process won't come from a direct judgement of your character, skills or experience. It will come from a lack of understanding and prep work when you first apply.
Additionally, more and more companies are relying on ATSs as a first line of defense to filter out resumes that don't align with what they need. At the same time, it's important to remember that you as a job hunter are also picking and choosing what your next role should be. Reclaim the power of your own choices as you make them. Not every opportunity deserves your time, and we will go into strategies and topics that will make this clearer.
What this ultimately means is that you have an opportunity to reframe the way you perceive rejection in the early stages, and to build resilience as you track your leads and start getting interviews.
Why does this matter?
The longer it takes for you to find that opportunity you've been looking for, the greater the tol it will have on your confidence. Understanding that this first stage isn't about you but rather your approach, can help you emotionaly detach from the fear of applying and focus on becoming more and more effective in your strategies as you do.
Work on that Resumé
I have a rule that I've established for myself ever since I started working in tech. Whenever I feel the specter of layoffs looming over me, I take an hour or two of my work week to update my resumé and shop around a jobs section of my choice, to see what's out there and ease my panic.
Regardless of what triggers it, keeping a resumé updated is generally a good habit. You don't want to get laid off, cry your little heart out, curse the C-suite gods and then realize updating your resumé is gonna take you an amount of energy that right now, you do not have (AI does exist but it does not yet live inside your brain to extract all your memories so, that prompt is not gonna write itself...). And so, regularly scheduled updates can be a great way to stay prepared.
As much as we hate to admit it, every job requires tweaking that resumé just a little bit at times and dramatically in others. But the work has to be intentional, not just putting it through an LLM and copy-pastig the output, but rather conscienciously reflecting on transferrable skills from one position to the next and choosing the best elements to tell your story in an effective way.
Keyword Tinkering
When it comes to the content of our resumé and portfolio, specificity will always be better than generality. When reading through a job description, there are certain terms that stand out from the rest. Particularly those related to skills, tools and experiences. It's crucial to include these keywords in your content. ATSs use parsers to match certain keywords, but those parsing tools have become more sophisticated overtime, now looking into what context clues support those skills.
Weave keywords into skill lists and bullet points directly related to your recent work experience to make this connection clearer. Make sure to include both relevant acronyms like SEO as well as their spelled-out versions (Search Engine Optimization).
Don't be afraid of transferring skills! This applies to both technical and soft skills. Leadership is not just a word, it's a role that many of us have had to fulfill in some form or another. Maybe you were in a junior position and had to step up to keep an account afloat on your own. Maybe a structural shift left you in a position where you had to step in as the subject matter expert to carry the project forward. So, do you have leadership experience? The answer is, yes.
The technical aspect is even more straight forward. After nearly ten years of operating content management systems I can assure you, even the newest, flashiest, AI-powered ones can't deny their legacy. This is true across all kinds of software, frameworks, dashboards and tools. If you've learned to master one of them, learning others won't take you longer than a few hours, even minutes.
Volume & Tracking
I want to specifically focus on this point because I believe that current job hunting is a numbers game. The greater the volume of applications you submit, the more probabilities you have of getting an interview.
More applications also means more practice at applying and writing about what you know and have done. This practice is important, as it will help you organize your thoughts prior to having an interview.
The tracking portion of it works twofold. First, with organization. Being able to track your applications is more than just making sure you're not applying to the same job twice. It also helps you spot dead ends, flag unresponsive employers and curate your search as you go so you can retain quality searches and let go of the noise. Talent Acquisition teams are often overwhelmed, understaffed or outright sloppy, and companies can be unreliable in their job listing and hiring practices in general, so tracking can help you identify them and keep a record of it in the future.
There is, of course, a lot more to it...
Every time I've sat across someone looking for help finding a job, one of these four pillars is either missing or too thin to support their search.
Some job hunters are great at tweaking their resumes every time they apply, so that it accurately reflects the skills and experience that matches the opening. But, they apply to one job a day, which means, there's not a lot of digging and researching going on. The probabilities are slimmer. There are fewer leads to follow and a lot of radio silence due to the lack thereof. This can be highly disorienting. Others apply to dozens of jobs, almost compulsively. But they only ever touch their resume once or twice at the most. They're probably wasting opportunities applying with little conscienciousness. It's likely that parsers are outright knocking them down on the spot.
Others are terribly afraid of the process altogether. They have a low view of themselves, their skillset and how it can be applicable across a variety of different positions that are adjacent to each other. So they apply very little, their resumés are uninteresting and they limit the scope of what they can do, hindering their chances.
This is what makes the four pillars a great starting point. If you're hitting all four perfectly and you're still out of a job, then chances are there are things at a different level you're not doing. Is your portfolio strong enought? Are you preparing for interviews properly? Are you reaching out to your network for support, guidance, mentorship or opportunities? Do you have a project that keeps your skills sharp for when an opportunity comes?
Don't get me wrong, the current job market is a dumpster fire. The struggle is undeniable and it's never entirely clear if an opportunity you see in a job search platform is even a real one.
But, there are many people on the same boat. If there's something I've learned is that building communities around a mutually shared struggle can give us a sense of belonging and a reliable support network to draw inspiration and motivation from when times are tough.
I've decided to make a full series out of these, because there's so much to say! I'll dive deeper into each one of the pillars, a set of tutorials so to speak so we can get into the nitty gritty.
In the next post, we'll dive deep into the Mindset pillar. What it consists of and how to make sure that you start your search on the right foot.
Want to join a Job Hunt Support session? Sign up on the Job Hunt Support page!
Comments