When it’s time for me to find a new job I use a pretty standard process. Finding a great role is the goal, but I also want to be efficient with my time. In today’s post, I’ll describe that process in the hope that you may find some value in it.
Caveats: This is the approach I take because it works for me. It is meant to be descriptive. I am not prescribing a process you should blindly follow. Consider how your situation and goals are different from mine and what, if any, parts of this will be useful to you.
I think about my process as a series of tasks:
Foundation: Work done once and reused, with tweaks, on future searches
Source: Finding roles that have a high probability of being a great match
Research: Confirm the role is a match and gather info for the application
Task 1: Foundation
This task is about creating a foundation for this and all future job searches. It required a lot of initial effort, but the result is mostly reusable. All my future job searches will start with minor tweaks to this foundation.
There are four essentials I need prior to initiating a job search.
First, I need to know what my target role is. What is important to me in a company? In a team? Where in the tech stack do I want to work? What industries or problems interest me? What level do I think is correct for my skillset? By asking myself many questions I create a flexible idea of what I want my next role to look like.
Then I use that target role to create some knockout criteria. This is any piece of readily available information I can use to quickly remove a role from my search. For example, I only consider remote roles. I only consider Staff+ titles. I don’t work for Web3 or AdTech companies. I have a list of criteria and I stick to it.
I can then create my base resume. This resume is specifically written to showcase my skills for the target role. It will be tweaked for specific roles, but since my search is focused these tweaks are pretty simple. The goal is to never do a full rewrite, but also to never apply with a resume that poorly matches the position.
Lastly, I need some job boards that regularly list positions similar to my target role. They need to have a high signal-to-noise ratio, it should be easy to find which listings are new, and it should be quick to match my knockout criteria. These could be niche job boards or a saved search on a larger job board with decent filters. Browsing on Indeed isn’t going to cut it.
Having done this work once, each new job search can reuse this foundation. Even if years have passed most of it remains the same. It only takes some small updates and then I’m ready to go.
Task 2: Source
This task is all about finding potential roles that meet my knockout criteria and warrant further investigation. There isn’t any research or serious thought at this point, the goal is simply to create a list of URLs that link to high-probability job postings.
I do a job board scan once per week, looking at my list of niche job boards for new listings. I click through and skim roles that appear similar to my target role and save links to any that don’t run afoul of my knockout criteria. I try not to spend more than 15 minutes on this quick weekly task.
I also keep my eyes open for unexpected opportunities. For example, when I hear about a startup that has recently secured funding, I glance at their careers page. If they are hiring at my level I do a quick check of the knockout criteria and if they pass I add it to my list. I also remain receptive to messages from recruiters, although that can be much noisier.
Task 3: Research
This task all all about picking a role from the high-probability list and gathering enough information to answer three questions:
Am I sure I want to apply?
How long will it take to apply?
How strongly does my skillset match the role?
So I take some time to do research. This starts with a closer read of the job description. I double-check my knockout criteria, gut-check that the role aligns with my interests, and carefully compare the requirements with my skill set.
If everything looks good, I review the application process itself. Resume only? Required cover letter? A series of non-trivial required questions? Need to create an account (ugh)? Longer application processes are going to be prioritized lower.
Then I explore the company’s careers page, focusing on mission, values, and any other content that gives me an idea about what the company considers important. For startups, Crunchbase can give me an idea about company size and funding. For larger companies, Glassdoor or Blind can help me gather initial impressions, although I approach those sites with some healthy skepticism.
For early-stage startups, I also take a look at the leadership team (founders, CTOs, and VPs of Engineering). The smaller the company, the more outsized effect they will have. I look for LinkedIn or Twitter accounts and glance at their work history and the kind of stuff they post. This can help me make some useful assumptions about the working environment and sometimes provides useful information to bolster my application.
I try to keep this research under 30 minutes per role. I have a natural tendency to dig too deep and have learned to moderate how much effort I invest due to both diminishing returns and the unpredictability of receiving a callback. I don’t have a particular schedule for when I do this research, I pick it up whenever I have the time and energy.
If everything still looks good, I’ll add it to my prioritized “to apply” list. I give higher priority to roles I like more, easier applications, and closer skillset matches.
Application Time!
For any given role, I’ve now spent an amortized 30 minutes and have
A high confidence that this would be a good role for me
Enough information to create an effective application
I may go into detail in another post but, spoiler alert, there are two main steps
Tuning my resume to closely match the job description
Using my research to write effective answers to any application questions
If I should do a post going into more detail about writing the application, or diving deeper into any of the tasks I mentioned in this post, drop a comment and let me know.
And for all of you currently on the job hunt yourselves, good luck out there!