What is your job search process?

Hello. How's the job search going? What's your search process?

Don't get discouraged, keep applying

I am starting to get replies to my applications! I'd estimate only about 5% of my applications got replies. I used to get so discouraged by rejection emails but I started realizing it's just inevitably part of the process. You have to accept the majority of jobs you apply to will be rejections. But the more you apply to, the better odds you have of getting a reply.

My process

Here is the process I've been using for finding a job. Got any tips or advice? What do you do differently?

Mornings and afternoons:

• Apply to jobs every day online on LinkedIn
• Reply ASAP to any requests to interview or other incoming opportunities, within 24 hours ideally
• Write follow up emails to all interviews you have, thanking them for their time and asking for next steps in the interview process
• Prep for interviews by having notes such as these:
  • Introduction you plan to give
  • Why you're a good fit for the job
  • A list of questions prepared to ask
• Practice interview questions on LeetCode

Nights:

• Work on side projects
• Publish updates to side projects on LinkedIn daily
• Another thing I did recently was write an article on Dev.to. If you stumble across a tip or technique you think others might find helpful while working on your side projects, write an article about it. For example, I wrote an article on how to clear the VSCode terminal whenever you save.

What's your process been like?

Comments

[Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard]

Hi Austin, I recently switched from being a dev to being an agent for dev careers. Meaning I also help developpers find a better job. Mostly in France, but you can connect with me if you want
linkedin.com/in/jean-michel-fayard/

There are different things you can try, but I insist on "try".

Not using LinkedIn properly is normal, it's a social status game, not a straightforward useful tool.

• You should prioritze "job-getting-skills" over "job-doing-skills" because you are probably much better with the later than the former. For example I would skip entirely leetcode after a few practices.
• I would spend only a minority of my time applying to jobs because that's the less preferred way to hire for companies
• I would lookup "recruiters of front-end developers", or whatever you are looking for, and contact recruiters directly.
• Via LinkedIn because recruiters spend their life on LinkedIn
• I would lookup for people that look like a future boss and discuss with them, not to know whether they have a job for me, but to discuss what it takes in general to find a job in this area
• When you prepare for interviews, make it so that the discussion is more about them than about you
• Last but not least I would highly recommend not to search for a job alone. Build your support network.

[Austin Coleman]

Thanks for the advice! I have mostly been focused on building and making things recently because during my career I did not work on anything publicly facing. So I'm hoping it helps people who look at my resume know that I can make things and they are publicly available.

[Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard]

For sure, it is much better to show what you can do then to say you are good at building things

[Emerson Castaneda]

I would recommend you to take a look of this particular approach described in the book: "Never Search Alone: The Job Seekers Playbook" By Phyl Terry (2022).

Process here is ordered in 5 steps:

Step 1: Set Up a Job Search Council
Chapter 1: Managing the Job Search Roller Coaster
Chapter 2: Recruit Strangers (or Acquaintances)
Chapter 3: Launch your JSC
Step 2: Conduct Your Listening Tour
Chapter 4: The Mnookin Two-Pager
Chapter 5: Gratitude House
Chapter 6: Reverse Exit Interviews
Chapter 7: The Golden Question
Chapter 8: Recruiters
Step 3: Form Your Candidate-Market Fit
Chapter 9: Candidate-Market Fit
Chapter 10: LinkedIn/Resume Synch with Candidate-Market Fit
Step 4: Start Networking and Interviewing
Chapter 11: Networking
Chapter 12: Interviewing
Step 5: Negotiate and Prepare to Start
Chapter 13: Negotiating Salary
Chapter 14: Negotiating What You Need to Succeed
Chapter 15: Preparing to Start Your New Job
Chapter 16: The Last Word

References:
phyl.org/the-book
goodreads.com/book/show/62322179-n...

[Austin Coleman]

Thank you for the suggestion. I just bought it.

[Austin Coleman]

Really loving it so far. It inspired me to write this article: dev.to/austincoleman/youre-not-alo...

[Emerson Castaneda]

I'm so glad you found my advice helpful! I know the job search can be tough, but I'm confident you'll find something great. Please let me know if I can do anything to help.

I really appreciate the way you took my advice to heart and put it into action. It's clear that you're serious about finding a new job, and I'm confident you'll be successful.

[Austin Coleman]

Thanks for the support Emerson.

[Vadim]

Usually it looks like that:

1. Randomly surf LinkedIn, Glassdoor and something like that
2. Save interesting jobs somewhere
3. Forget about it for a week
4. Return to my saved jobs list, eliminate those I don't like anymore

Run through this several times (usually 2-3 months) and then I end up with companies I REALLY like.
It mostly based on my feelings rather than anything else.

But it only works when you're not desperate of finding new job asap.

[Austin Coleman]

Another thing I just thought about was maybe I have not been properly using LinkedIn's search to find roles most relevant to my skills and experience. So I've been trying to do more targeted searches recently. Such as:

"javascript (react or react.js) NOT senior NOT staff NOT lead NOT principal"