đ„ Want to know a secret? This ONE skill can cut your job search in half
Part 3 of 4: Inside look into the 12 Week Career Launch program, designed to land you a new job in tech in 12 weeks
Back in 2017 I knew I wanted a job in tech for the great salary and perks. What I did not know was HOW to even start looking for a job in tech. I thought⊠âIâll rely on my work experiencesâ and âIâll send hundreds of job applicationsâ. đ€·đ»ââïž Turns out, that method didnât work, because I kept getting rejections with no interviews in sight.
What I realized after years of failing to find the right jobs, is the one skill of landing a job in tech had nothing to do with my experiences, resume or applying for jobs. Years later I witnessed first hand what that skill is and how it can create opportunities I could never imagine.
The skill no one teaches you in bootcamps, universities, certifications and technical programs is networking. The ONE skill that really matters in finding opportunities. Networking is the thread between all effective job search strategies.
In fact, my first âinâ within the startup world was from a neighbor who happened to work at a startup. The startup he worked at had a clear problem and when I heard him talk about it, I replied that I could solve it for his company. So he provided a referral which turned into a freelance gig and later on, turned into a full time job opportunity.
Today, I see similar events happening on online communities like Linkedin.
First, you build trust by sharing who you are, what you care about, how you think, by âbuilding in publicâ. Then, opportunities come to YOU, because you built that first level of trust with others who are looking for people, just like you, to help them solve their business problems.
12 Week Career Launch is for career transformation. Land your first job in tech in 12 weeks or less.
Part 1 of the series, we talked about creating your new professional identity.
Part 2 is about communicating that identity through your career story.
Part 3 is about uncovering effective job search strategies to find job opportunities.
What are job search strategies?
Theyâre not always what you think! Sometimes a casual conversation can turn into a potential job opportunity.
Job search strategies can be direct, indirect and something in between. While the most common job search strategy is sending your resume down the rabbit hole of the hiring process, there are plenty of more effective strategies.
The most common job search strategies include:
Cold-applying to applications (no referrals or other connections)
Messaging recruiters + hiring mangers about roles
Connecting and talk with peers in a company of interest
Attending career fairs
Posting about yourself + your career journey on Linkedin
Tracking new job posts on Linkedin and messaging the post author
Reaching out to your friends and relatives for job connections
Reaching out to your 1st and 2nd connections on Linkedin to ask for support in your career change
Finding and joining niche communities to network + access jobs posted
This list covers the majority of job search strategies most people know about. However, some of them are more effective than others. And some of them may not work at all for the kind of roles you are looking for.
Most importantly, these strategies are most effective when done in combination with each other. The difference between effective and non-effective is whether the strategies are getting you results. Results mean getting closer to interviews and offers. In other words, conversations with company employees!
So if all job search strategies are aimed at getting a conversation with company employees, additional results can include coffee chats and informal calls with those same people. Not getting results from your job search strategies? Time to evaluate what exactly you are doing every week.
Top mistakes career changers make when job searching
Career changers start out very motivated but quickly lose steam due to lack of results from their job search activities. That simply means certain strategies are not working and itâs time for a change. Yet, what else to try? Top mistakes when job searching include:
Reaching out to too few people per week (<20 people per week is too little!)
Applying for non-relevant jobs in hopes of getting ANY interview
Applying for multiple roles (Developer, Tech Support, QA) with the same exact resume
Applying to ANY and ALL companies hiring in their field
Cold applying ONLY (send application and then waitâŠ)
Applying for roles in tech WITHOUT updating their Linkedin profile with transferable skills, relevant About intro and Profile title
When pivoting your career into tech, itâs easy to forget that NEW people have zero knowledge of your background and require support to understand your transferable skills, as they relate to the new role you want to pivot into. These NEW people are the exact people who you want to learn about your background so you can get an interview with them, such as recruiters and hiring managers.
If you are pivoting into tech without prior experience in tech, it can be unclear where to start to pull it all together, so that your job search strategies make sense for your career pivot. Your job search is unique, so your combination of job search strategies will be unique to you.
Introducing: The Job Search Roadmap
The Job Search Roadmap is the KEY tool in the 12 Week Career Launch that ties together all the job search strategies. Once you gain an understanding of the strategies that work for you, you can:
Revise your Linkedin so that it resonates with recruiters you engage with
Create a targeted resume to apply with confidence to multiple roles
After cold applying, reach out to people at that company on Linkedin
After uncovering the right job search strategies, career changers job searching for 3+ months of not gaining any traction, start getting connection calls, interviews and offers.
And the ONE skill tying all your search activities together is Networking. Whether youâre reaching out to friends, old co-workers or people you never met before, applying without outreach can quickly kill a job search. (Especially in this market!)
If youâre looking to accelerate your job search, getting really good at networking will cut your job search in half.
To recap, uncovering effective job search strategies provides:
Understanding of the most effective job search strategies
A strategic roadmap for your unique job searchÂ
Tangible job search results in the form of real-time conversations with people
Uncovering job search strategies is Part 3 of 4 of the series that takes you inside the 12 Week Career Launch. Next up is Part 4: Landing a job in tech
12 Week Career Launch is a program for career transformation. Go from an overwhelmed job seeker to landing your first job in tech in 12 weeks or less. đȘŽ
Learn more about this program by reading all the details belowđđŒ