Advice for looking for a job during lockdown

11 min readApr 12, 2020

There are just my thoughts, there are no magic ideas, you got to do the work, I give no promises!

I haven’t spent much time proofing this, so please let me know if something doesn’t make sense and what spelling / grammar mistakes I can fix. And if links don’t work.

The plan is to update this as people hopefully share suggestions and ideas.

Over the last few months I have been asked for help and advice from a number of Ensipral Dev Academy graduates. In the last few weeks, a very recent graduate got in touch with me as he was keen to get some advice on ways to find a job during this strange time of Alert Level 4 and once we move into the other alert levels.

We are all trying to figure out what these different “normals” are going to mean for us and for our work.

I think it has made job hunting for graduates way harder, so I thought I would try and write down the advice I usually give, with a bit of a “remote” spin.

As I often do when asked things, I go online to see what others think:

Sadly most responses weren’t too positive, but they are realistic, it is going to be harder.

There were some suggestions though:

My thoughts for these strange times

Let’s help

Those of us that are already well established in our careers and the industry (people and companies), lets help:

be open to connecting with people online
offer to connect people with others in your network
signal boost peoples posts or tweets
companies — work on creating processes around hiring for remote graduates, because you are still doing to need to hire grads / juniors no matter how long it takes us to get back to the “new normal”

What other ways can people help? Please share in the comments.

General Advice

This section is on stuff that I often share when people ask me for advice, that I think they find useful ¯\(ツ)/¯ .

Not long after I graduated I wrote this blog post — What to do once you have graduated?

Some of the stuff I cover below is similar but I will try add ideas around being remote.

Keep coding!

Whatever happens once you finish your course, keep coding as much as you can.

You can keep writing code by:

=> working on your own projects

=> doing courses online

https://www.udemy.com/ — buy when on sale, never buy at full price!
https://www.pluralsight.com/ — for April
think there are other sites that are offering free during the lockdown
google search for “where can I code for free” -> first result — https://makeawebsitehub.com/learn-to-code-for-free/

=> working with others on something

if you are a Dev Academy graduate, connect up with your cohort again and make something

=> doing code activities online

https://exercism.io/
https://www.codewars.com/
there are lots more, go google

=> sign up for a hackathon

they are still happening during lockdown — https://twitter.com/HackathonsNZ/status/1248090315002499075
also @HackathonsNZ is the place to watch for hackathons coming up
even if you are a grad you have a lot to offer in attending a hackathon, plus you have so much to gain!

=> contribute to open source projects

=> sign up to help with https://live.voluntarily.nz/ / https://blog.voluntarily.nz/get-involved

What other ways can people keep coding? Please share in the comments.

Here is a post I wrote about four years ago on continuing to learn — Ongoing learning for graduates/junior developers about four years ago.

Network, network, network!!

Connect with people! With everyone being remote at the moment, you need to go remote too!

=> Get onto Twitter.

I view and use Twitter as my professional / personal learning network. I got onto Twitter when I was still a teacher and it was a great source for resources and connecting with other teachers. I now do the same thing but for the tech industry.

If you are starting out, please feel free to follow me @schuknight.

In the link to a previous blog (which I have shared below), it has a 14 Day Twitter challenge, if that is too much for you, then start by having a look at who people follow, follow some yourself, share a article you have found interesting, reply to someones tweet.

=>You should already be on LinkedIn!

This is pretty much your online CV. You can connect with lots of people.

If you are going to connect with people send a message if you can saying why you want to connect. If you can’t do this before a connection is made, then follow up with one once someone accepts your connection (network, network, network).

Connect with me — and tell me a bit about yourself, https://www.linkedin.com/in/libbyschumacherknight/

You can search for jobs. And it brings up jobs for you based on your profile.

Recruiters can find you on here as well.

If you can afford it, sign up for the Premium Career option, it is worth it and you can cancel when you have a job.

=> Networking tips

Over the last few years I have heard Victoria MacLennan deliver talks about networking. She wrote an article about it here https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-tips-great-networking-experience-victoria-maclennan/.

As well as these useful ones:

These are in the context of going to events where you are talking with people in the flesh. Definitely read these two articles and come back to them when we again can attend meet ups and networking events.

What can we take from Victoria’s networking tips for this “new normal” we are now in?

> 10 Tips for a great networking experience

In this article she outlines the benefits of networking opportunities:

Learning Opportunities
Personal Brand Development
Establishing Contacts and a Community
Career Development and Finding your next Role

These can all be worked on remotely and if you start thinking about them now, then you will be super ready for when we can get in front of people again.

> Be armed with Conversation Starters

Have a range of starters for connecting with people online. If you are wanting to connect with someone on LinkedIn, look through there profile, is there something you have in common that you can start a chat about?

>Start with a Smile

You can convey this in text. Get creative.

> Be Brave and Try again

You will need to try again and again.

> Golden Rule — be aware of others trying to join your conversation too

If someone jumps into the comments or tweet, welcome them, encourage them.

Other blog posts of hers that I think you would find useful:

> People will never forget how you made them feel

> Do you have a personal brand?

I think I have a personal brand now but it isn’t something I have consciously worked on. Thinking about it though, it definitely stems from my core values and what I see as important. Perhaps start with your own core values if you find the idea of a “personal brand” foreign.

Here is a post that I wrote about networking a few years ago — How to start ‘networking’ as a junior dev, although it is for “normal” times.

=> Join online communities

There are heaps out there:

> NZ Slack Groups

> Other places to find groups

Facebook, LinkedIn, Discord plus many others

What other communities do people belong to? Please share in the comments.

Curriculum Vitae

This section is thanks to Sebastian Kloogh (who was a recruiter in a previous life but also took the leap and completed Dev Academy recently). I didn’t have anything on CVs in here early. Thanks Seb.

Here is a link to some free CV templates and some advice — https://www.hloom.com/resumes/curriculum-vitae-guide/.

Here is a link to a PDF template example, which might be useful for some. Seb does not recommended adding a photo and I completely agree. Your CV does not need a photo, unless maybe you are going for a modelling job!

Also do not put your age, date of birth or martial status on your CV. These have no relevance to whether you can do a particular job or not.

Here is an info-graphic on CV’s as well which has some good insights about what to put on it and what not to put on it.

(Full image here)

I found this article useful when I was looking to “revamp” my CV — An opinionated guide to writing developer resumes in 2017.

LinkedIn is very important.

Seb recommended making sure that your LinkedIn profile reflects your CV and that it is professional as well. It is used every day to locate hard-to-find candidates. It’s important to have this information sorted before you look for roles as this will make you look more appealing

Where and how do I find jobs?

All the usual places are still working:

https://www.seek.co.nz/
https://www.trademe.co.nz/
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/
websites for companies you are interested in working for
people in your networks
word of mouth
social media e.g. Twitter

A friend suggested in this time of uncertainty to look at companies that are remote first, as they are probably better set up with regard to hiring remotely.

A couple of companies that I know of that are remote first:

I seemed to have gathered some info about remote work not so long ago:

a tweet about about remote job lists — https://twitter.com/joshbuchea/status/1152659632550060032?s=03
with a list produced from the tweet, that has lots of useful stuff — https://joshbuchea.com/remote-work
https://weworkremotely.com/
https://github.com/remoteintech/remote-jobs

A quick google search brings up:

With LinkedIn you can also filter your search for NZ and remote — https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/remote-jobs/?originalSubdomain=nz

Looking at jobs in government at this time was suggested via Twitter:

https://jobs.govt.nz/ — which may or may not include remote jobs, but potentially there might be looking more now

What others sites can people suggest? Please share in comments.

What about interviews?

In this article Four tips for getting to an interview, written by Mark Southard and shared by @raquelxmoss, who works for ConvertKit, it starts with this:

When I was in my job search last year, I could accurately predict when I would and would not get an interview. It didn’t matter if the skills on my resumé were highly aligned with the needs of the position; what mattered most was the amount of effort I put into the application. The more time I spent in crafting my entire application to both the company and position, the more likely I was to get an interview.

As I was also looking for a new job towards the end of last year I can completely agree with this. When I put the effort in, that is when I got to the next stage.

Before I fully committed to my job hunting I also had reflected on what I wanted.

If you are interested here is my short list:

Good people / kindness
Support / Mentorship / Development — receiving and giving
Opportunities — technical growth
Culture — safe, welcoming, caring, kind
Safe environment — challenging the status quo is not going to be seen as a bad thing

I had a lot of lists, here is my longer one with more details.

I researched the companies (particularly about the company I really wanted to get a position at), and made my cover letters/emails pretty specific for the company. I often think of this “research” as doing my homework or “due diligence”. It is very important to me that I have a really good idea of the kind of company am I looking to join.

With cover letters, I have a kind of standard letter that I always re-write to tailor it to the company I am applying for. I use information from my research to make it a unique letter and show that I have actaully spent some time looking into the company.

For example, when I was considering a job at Optimal Workshop, a few things resonated from one of the videos they had on their website. I specifically commented on this in my cover letter.

In the final section of the ConvertKit article, he talks about making sure that company aligns with what you want. I do think this is important but depending on your circumstances you (e.g. you need to get a job ASAP) you may need to think about pros and cons and what you are willing give up or put up with to get your first job.

You have an interview! Well done!

I won’t spend as much time on this but a couple of things I have found useful:

=> Write a list of questions that you want to ask them.

The interview is just as much about you interviewing the company as them interviewing you for the job. I write lots of notes.

=> Have “experience notes” with you

This is basically writing down things you have done in the past (jobs, or projects) that demonstrate your skills and experience. Read through these before your interview and I also think it is okay to refer to them during the interview to help you answer questions.
Have both technical and core skills examples and if you haven’t had a job in tech yet, you can definitely use examples from any previous experiences you have had.

I haven’t talked about technical interviews / tests / challenges as I have run out of steam. If you have ideas and suggestions about these, please share in the comments. I will come back and update this at some point.

Last piece of advice

Do I accept the first job offer I am given?

One bit of advice I often give to new grads is that once you have some experience in a real job it is much easier to then find your next job.

So have a think about what you would sacrifice to get that first job:

Are you in a position where you can wait for the “right” job or company to offer you a position?
Would you be happy to start in a company that doesn’t have great support?
Do you need to be making money ASAP?
Do you have another job/work you could fall back on to allow you to find a job you want?

I was able to go back and do relief teaching so I keep take a bit of time looking and not have to worry about money not coming in.

One caveat I add though is, stay away from a toxic environment and if you find yourself in a toxic environment, get out as soon as you can, your physical and mental health is far more important and there will always be people in this industry that will help you.

Final words

See every part of this process as an opportunity to learn and improve. It is a great way to expand your network as well.

Go hard — you get out what you put in.

“Nothing will work unless you do.”

Maya Angelou

Be kind — to others and yourself.

“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”