How to hack the tech job-search when you’re unemployed
Have you ever thought it easier to find something when you weren’t looking? The same can be said about jobs — it’s often easier to find a new one when you already have one. Many hiring managers prefer candidates who already have jobs. If you find yourself unemployed and looking for a tech job, here are some techniques that will help you stand out as a star candidate, even when human psychology may be working against you:
- Be entrepreneurial, not unemployed
“What are you up to these days?” No matter what your reason is for being unemployed — downsized, relocated, left, bad fit — you want to project a position of strength and show prospective employers how you’d be a great fit if you only focused your efforts for their firm. Are you an engineer? Contribute to an open source project. Are you a product person? Research or launch a potential product. Do you have good Marketing experience? Grow a startup or non-profit. Whether it’s been 6 days or 6 months since you last worked full-time for an employer, your initiative and ability will shine through, converting more leads into offers. Speaking of which… - Be resourceful, not needy
“What do you do with all that free time?” Awesome stuff! Travel, spend time with friends or family, exercise, read, or do whatever interests you outside of work. Bottom line: “no job, no problem” makes you more desirable than “I need something fast.” Rather than desperately hoping a potential employer will make you an offer quickly because you don’t have anything else in the pipeline, you may be best positioned to get great offers when you’re sitting on other offers. Which leads us to… - Be focused, not nit-picky
“Why this role at our company?” Once you pick a target title, company size, and geography, don’t be *too* picky as far as starting conversations go. Interview and hiring processes can move slowly, but once employers make offers, they will often let you consider them for longer than you might expect. In essence, you should begin the process for more positions than you might think you need to, right up until you have an offer you really want. - Be strategic, not arrogant
This might be my favorite hack of all. Your natural inclination as a strong candidate is to only aim for roles at or above your most recent position, which will mean facing off against the stiffest possible competition. If you target some opportunities that are at or maybe slightly *lower* than the level that you actually want, you will automatically increase your odds of getting an offer. Once you get your first offer, you will be better positioned to both i) ask for higher-level compensation ranges, titles, and responsibilities, especially among employers that have outgrown early-stage startup status, and ii) put additional pressure on other employers that are considering you but may be dragging their feet because they think they can.
These tips are paradoxically helpful because of the complex realities of human psychology. In theory, a strong tech candidate should be *more* marketable when unemployed, since recruiters should enjoy the increased odds of landing someone that doesn’t need to be pried away from an existing position, or wait for a notice period to be worked through. In practice though, human decision-making isn’t perfect, and employers often have hesitations — either explicit or unconscious — about solving their team-building challenges by hiring unemployed candidates.
On the flip side, the common misperceptions and unconscious biases that exist create a recruitment opportunity for savvy hiring managers who recognize that unemployed candidates are exactly what they’re looking for: talented, local, experienced, open to new opportunities, able to begin sooner, and particularly motivated, as they have something to prove.
I hope that these tips are helpful for unemployed job seekers from all sectors. If you’ve been recently downsized from a tech startup, check out Layoff-Aid to help jumpstart your job search, as dozens of Layoff-Aid Hiring partners in the SF Bay Area are looking to recruit great candidates just like you.
