Job Search Survival Kit: TL;DR Don’t Panic
Job searching is hard. I just completed a job search cycle and feel extremely fortunate with the result of it — I just joined Squarespace as a Director of Engineering. For anyone unfamiliar, Squarespace is the leading all-in-one platform for websites, domains, online stores, and marketing tools. Squarespace is a great fit for me: While I was definitely lucky to be hired for this role, my approach to the search helped to define this great outcome. So, how did I do it?
Note: I am an engineer, so a lot of these recommendations are geared towards engineering job searches.
Preparation
Keep in mind — job searching is its own full-time job. Think of it like a marathon, just one that you will hopefully exit before the finish line. You will need a strategy, tactics that follow, perseverance, greatness and luck. It is not easy in 2019 to find the perfect fit, but it is also not impossible. You can do this!
In order to get a job, you need to:
- Look for the right opportunity (Strategy)
- Self-advertise so companies with the opportunity find you (Marketing)
- Qualify for the opportunity (Talent)
- Look when the company needs someone for that opportunity (Luck)
- ‘Keep it all’ together long enough to land that opportunity (Health)
Strategy
What is your ideal role? You’ll need to answer this, as it is most likely your interviewer will ask it, but more importantly, this is the correct first question to answer. Do you want to stay in your current industry? Same role/discipline? Same geographic location? Maybe you want to work remotely vs. in an office?
Determine your desired industries, locations, salary ranges, type of company (non-profit, research lab, public sector). Reminder that these things should be ranges or have multiple options, else you might prematurely filter out good opportunities. Also, create a list of ‘must-haves’. To illustrate, here is the list of things a company must have from my search:
- Mission that improves the social good
- Role that will allow me to grow technically
- Impactful role that is set up for success
- Shared values (D&I, cooperative, servant leadership, growth mindset)
- Fair compensation and benefits
Marketing
Now that you have an idea of what you are looking for, you are ready for the internet to bring you news of suitable opportunities. :-)
First step is an oldie but goodie. Update your resume. A good friend (and top recruiter for a FANG company) gave me some good advice on this. Treat your LinkedIn profile as if you were an SEO consultant keyword-stuffing a website. You want to show up in as many relevant searches as you can. If you are wanting engineering jobs, don’t forget to add in all relevant technical keywords.
On your resume, flesh out the details, paying special attention to linking your listed achievements to the impact they had for the company. If you are discussing a technical achievement, a statement on the level of scale and/or complexity of the achievement will help. This will come in handy if you are looking to work at a company with large scale.
Indicate to LinkedIn that you are looking for work. Once you have done this, you will start getting an influx of interest. At every company that you work at throughout your career, it is good practice to strive to meet at least three people you would choose to work with again. When starting your job search, start by reaching out to those contacts.
If you are looking for an executive position, consider working with multiple executive search firms. Search firms are great in that they typically are managing a number of openings, and for each, they can provide you with a dossier describing all salient details of the company. This makes researching the opportunity much easier — although you will want to do some research independently. Nothing against search firms, but understand that they are incentivized to send as many qualified candidates in for an opportunity as possible. Make sure it is an opportunity you actually want — there is no need to be concerned about the effect of saying no to a search firm recruiter. They hear no a lot… and btw, so will you during this search.
Talent
I am certain that you, dear reader, are one of the most talented people in your field. After all, you are reading this publication. However, just because you are awesome, doesn’t make coasting through the job search process a good idea.
If you want a coding job, brush up on your coding. Leetcode is a good way to keep sharp by offering collections of coding assignments to work on data structures, algorithms and more. Topcoder is another good service where you can practice your coding. Both offer contests for those who are competitively minded, and you can get job opportunities by performing well on contests and having an advanced personal ranking on the site.
Have you always wanted to learn something but never had the time? Work on skills while you look for a job. It will get you into a student’s mindset, and students do better in technical interviews than those who think of themselves only as professors. While on my search, I started a Coursera class in Machine Learning, and it really helped me to get into a focused state of mind.
Luck
If we could make ourselves lucky, we would. And then we’d put the lottery out of business. :-)
Dans les champs de l’observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés. — Louis Pasteur, 1854
For those non-French speaking readers, the rough translation is: “Luck favors the prepared mind”. We have already discussed brushing up on skills in the Talent section. Now let’s look at engineering luck, in other words, increasing our odds of getting a job.
Research the companies you want to work for. If they are public, read financial statements and articles about them. Think about the possible future chances of success for each: Is the industry trending towards the company’s product or away? Looking at the margins in the company/industry can be a good indicator of how stressful the job will be. Also consider if they have an open role that you want. Who might have held the position before you? Is that role actually set up for success?
Diversify. Diversify. Diversify. You will be a nervous wreck at points during the job search. Cultivate MANY opportunities to avoid putting all your eggs in one basket. For me, six opportunities were the most I could juggle at once, and with six, the chances of getting an email/call each day was reasonable (which lowered my anxiety). Answer every recruiter, every search firm. You never know if your six opportunities will all bust, and you’ll need to refresh and go for another six. For all opportunities you don’t get, try to find out what caused the company not to pursue you — that information can be hugely helpful for you as you position yourself for future job interviews.
Health
The job search is a rollercoaster. I found it to have both exhilarating highs and terrible lows. Here’s a great HBR article on this very topic. Diversifying really helps with this. Still, pay attention to your mental health, especially during job searches. If you meditated before you started your search, don’t stop. See about an exercise routine, even a low impact one will help. Eat well. Remember, you are going to need to show your best self to get the job offer — don’t show up with bags under your eyes from an all night video game bender with wrinkly clothes.
I wanted to make sure I tended to my mental health during the job search, so I opted for Talkspace. It is text based therapy. I did not think it would work when I first heard of it, but I am glad I tried it. I found that being able to reply via (secure) text whenever I wanted to, day or night, was really comforting. Each text you send is followed by an indicator showing you by when you will receive a reply. Also, comforting. YMMV, but make sure you have a mental health outlet during this stressful time.
Getting the Job
To get this great new job, you’ll need to apply, survive the interview process (usually calls and on-site visits, sometimes several), beat your competition to the job offer, and make the right decision on which job offer to accept. Let’s take each in turn.
Applying
If you can, get referred by someone you know. You’ll get the most favorable odds that way. Not to mention, you’ll have an insider who can help you in case the recruiters aren’t keeping in touch.
Apply to any job you think you might want. Stretch! No one is keeping score of where you apply — you won’t be getting a demerit (where my private schoolers at?) if you apply to a role you aren’t qualified for.
Cover letters. Either don’t bother, or make it count. I have interviewed hundreds of people and read thousands of resumes in my career. A good cover letter tells three things: Why the company is interesting to me, what I bring to the opportunity, and how the company can get in touch with me. No cover letter ever got someone a job, but a good one will differentiate you from the rest of the resume pool.
The Interview Process
First, a recruiter call. 20–30 minutes, not the time for you to be meek. Highlight impactful things you’ve done. This is where your unorthodox career path (which, sorry to say, everyone has one) can actually shine. You can offer the company something others truly can’t. Recruiters are a screen, your job is to pass. If you are talking with an executive search firm recruiter, you can ask some questions that you couldn’t ask a company recruiter. Take advantage of that.
Hiring manager / tech screen: This is usually the next step, and the final screen before an on-site visit. Prepare for this, be honest about what you do/don’t know, ask clarifying questions, illustrate your thoughts. This is not the time to be bashful. Many of these calls go bad when the interviewee is “low energy”.
The on-site interview. This is the big one. There are a zillion posts out there on this, so I won’t be redundant. Be yourself (but smile). You want to project an air of capability, so you’ll need enough energy to do so. Bring questions to ask each interviewer. If the company tells you in advance who you’ll be interviewing with, take the time to look each person up and have that help you determine what to ask to whom.
Also remember — you are ‘on stage’ from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave. You may be graded as much on how you conduct yourself at reception as to how you answered that system design question.
Always remember the follow-ups. After every interview, a note expressing your gratitude for the interviewer’s time at minimum is a wise idea. After an on-site, a more detailed note is in order, addressing your thoughts on each interview. You can certainly skip this, but your competition for the role won’t be, so, good luck!
Deliberation
You will have a lot of rejection in a job search. The important thing is NOT TO WORRY about it. There are roles where you aren’t a fit, and ones where you are a fit but didn’t interview that well. Also, there are bad interview panels (believe me, I’ve seen my share over the years) and companies with bad interview processes. Most interviewers start off interviewing by looking for clones of themselves — a very limiting practice, but common.
You will also get job offers. It would be great if you had three offers to consider, all on the same day, and got to choose the best one. As Austin Powers once said, “And I’d like a toilet made out of solid gold, but that’s just not in the cards, baby”. Do the best you can. If you have a great job offer in hand, but other opportunities are still deliberating, ask yourself why not take the great job I have in front of me? Remember your ‘must haves’, involve your spouse/SO/close friends and family — this is a big life change and these are the people who will have to deal with your complaints if it goes bad. :-)
Salary negotiation is important but outside of the scope of this post. There are lots of good posts on this topic. I encourage you to avail yourself of them. I will note that for most roles, salary information is available on salary.com and other like sites.
Conclusion
If you got this far, congratulations on your new job! Now that you’ve accepted, remember to:
- Thank the people who helped you along the way
- Let all of the recruiters know you are off the market
- Tell the companies you aren’t going with that you accepted another offer. (This would be a great time for you to refer a friend of yours for the role.)
- Celebrate!
Final thought: Most engineers go back into ‘introvert’ mode the moment they get a new job, and within days they forget the rollercoaster. This might be a good time to start a routine of keeping in touch with those who are in your professional circles. Not only is it a good idea in general, it could also help you with your next job search.
Onward!
