Job hunting tips!

It's really hard out there right now, and tons of layoffs aren't helping. I know a handful of folks who have recently lost their job and I was planning to help find new roles - and decided to make this quick reference guide on some of my top job hunting tips! I broke them out into a few sections and themes below.

LinkedIn

1. Let recruiters know you're open to new opps and fill it out: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/career-interests/
2. Get a Recommendation: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/96 From an old boss and an old colleague ideally. Or, someone who can speak to your work!
3. Make sure the skills listed are a balance of current skills (from experience) as well as where you want to go/developing skills. Only include skills you’d want to be hired for or do in your next job. Maybe you’re good at Email Marketing, but if that’s not what you want to do — exclude it!
4. Sign up for job alerts and consider downloading the LinkedIn Job App. You can put in job types, details and locations..etc. - let LinkedIn do job hunting for you!
5. Have a good profile picture. Not too professional, or too relaxed. Also, you need a great header - https://unsplash.com/ has good free images you can use.
6. Update your job descriptions and try to show accomplishments and data, where you can. Can you link to a program, article, image or something that <you've> done? Can you describe with a small summary and/or bullets what your role was, what you accomplished while using as much data as possible? For example grew sales in X region by X%... Hit target 5 years in a row...
7. Look up everyone who inspires you, and who work for your dream job/company. Add them as a connection — ask them for advice, learn from their profile, get involved!
8. Take the free courses on LinkedIn! There's lots of "skills videos", but there is also a "Job Interview" prep course.

Interviewing

Notes

Have a doc where you keep a running list of notes, questions, ideas for the interviews and organize them by the job/company. Also keep track of your contacts here and previous interviews - which you may need to reference in a flash. (Oh yeah, I talked to Alice yesterday about XYZ. I was wondering Q...?)

Common Interview Questions

Create a doc of common interview questions and have answers to those! Such as: What’s your greatest weakness? Why do you want to work here? With all the talented candidates, why should we hire you? What would you last manager say about you? What's your leadership style?

Stories

Create a doc where you keep track of your stories! Yes, you are now officially a storyteller. Why stories? They will give you interviewing mojo! Have stories in your backpocket that you can reference. Such as: Working on a team, working with a difficult person, going at it alone without directions, going the extra mile, changing course in mid-stream, when I solved a complicated problem, a story about compromise, thought of a better way to do something, when I learned something about myself, when I helped out a co-worker...

Questions to the hiring manager and to the HR recruiter

Always come prepared with questions.

Questions to ask the HR recruiter

• What would you say is the most important characteristic you look for in new hires here? How did you come to the company? I’d love to hear your story. What do you like best about working here? Can you please tell me a story that illustrates the culture here? What has been the history of this job – was it just created for the first time? If not, what has happened to the last person in this job? Did he or she get promoted, or leave the company, or something else? I am focusing on positions in the $(X) K range. Is this position close to that range? Ask the phone screener what the next step for this position will be, after the phone screen. Ask when and how you might follow up with him or her. Be sure to note the phone screen details on your tracking log. 

Questions to ask hiring manager

• Can you please share the backstory on this position? Is it a new assignment, or has someone been performing this role, and if so what is that person doing now? What is the biggest innovation or upgrade you’d like to see coming from the person in this position, over the next year? What do you expect to be the greatest learning curve for the new person coming into this job? How does this position support your department’s goals?

Job Hunting Admin

⭐️ Make of a copy of my job hunting spreadsheet here! ⭐️

In Tab #1 is where I kept track of all the the jobs where I got a reply, or was actively trying to get. The score is automatically tallied from the columns you fill out (feel free to customize). I rated my companies by: Glassdoor rating, Culture/Perks, People/Process (how the interviews went, the people that interviewed me), (Total) Compensation, and Location.

In Tab #2 is where I keep track of job titles that I want, and the variations of each. For example, if I wanted a job in Social Media, I would use the follow variation of keywords when job hunting (everyone uses their own lingo, don't box yourself in or miss opportunities!):

• Social Media
• Social Business Transformation
• Audience Development Manager
• Social Media Marketing
• Paid Media Management
• Social Care
• Paid Media Trading Manager
• Social Trading ...

As you look for jobs and notice any new words used, track it! Also, if you see something that really resonates with you - look more for those keywords.

Tab #3 is where you keep a list of the perks you want - list from must have, to nice-to-have.

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Remote Work

Seize the opportunity! It's never been a better time than now to consider working remotely. (I did it for 5 years)

• Fivrr. “Freelance services. On demand.” (https://www.fiverr.com)
• FlexJobs. “The best remote and flexible jobs, and a better way to find them.” (https://www.flexjobs.com)
• Remoters. “Resources for Digital Nomads, Remote Working Professionals & Teams.” https://remoters.net/
• Freelancer. “Hire expert freelancers for any job, online.” (https://www.freelancer.com)
• Jobspresso. “Expertly curated remote jobs in tech, marketing, customer support and more.” (https://jobspresso.co)
• Landing Jobs. “Don’t just look for a tech job. Find the one that fits you.” (https://landing.jobs)
• Let’s Work Remotely. “The best digital nomad stories and remote opportunities for you.” (https://www.letsworkremotely.com)
• Outsourcely. “Hire talented remote workers and find great remote jobs.” (https://www.outsourcely.com)
• remote4me. “An aggregator for remote jobs in tech and non tech.” (http://remote4me.com)
• Remote.co. “Hand-recruited list in the most recruited job categories.” (https://remote.co/remote-jobs)
• Remote OK. “Let’s you find a job you can do anywhere.” (https://remoteok.io)
• Remote Talent. “We are the first recruitment company who specializes in the recruitment of the best full-time remote workers around the world, who prefer to work from home … or anywhere in the world.” (http://remotetalent.co)
• Remotive.io. List of 600+ startups hiring remotely in 2018.” (google doc)
• Upwork. “Get it done with a freelancer.” (https://www.upwork.com)
• VirtualVocations. “All telecommute jobs. All in one place.” (https://www.virtualvocations.com)
• We Work Remotely. ”The best place to find and list jobs that aren’t restricted by commutes or a particular geographic area.” (https://weworkremotely.com)
• Working Nomads. “Remote jobs for digital working nomads.” (https://www.workingnomads.co/jobs)

Tips for working Remote

• Steps for getting a Remote job: https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/114-how-to-find-a-remote-job/
• Remote Resources: https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/remote-resources/
• Remote Tools: https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/tools/
• Remote Manifesto: https://www.remoteonly.org/

Remote Support Communities

Working a remote job can be hard and isolating, there are great communities out there to support you! Here are some awesome places to meet fellow remote workers and remote-friendly companies

• Virtual Team Talk
• Happy Melly
• Remote Workplace Leaders

Remote terminology.

There is a difference between a company that hires remote workers, and one that is “Remote First” from benefits and expectations to culture…When looking for a remote role, understand what type of “remote” company it is:

Remote-Friendly: A company that hires remote workers and has some remote workers on staff, as well as has office/s where people work from.

Remote First: Work where ever you want to, building a team around a workflow that is based on the concepts of remote work, whether or not everyone is remote.

Remote Only: Everyone is remote, there is no brick and mortar.

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Marketing yourself is so important and is a never ending process, as is your personal/professional growth. Always be reading, and focusing on where you want to go. Even if you don’t know the details, work on thing such as leadership, and emotional intelligence! Things every good company needs from a good employee. Make sure as you grow, your online presence does too. So be prepared to work hard, and pay attention to detail. But it’s worth it!

The last bit of advice - this is a numbers game! To land my job at Google I applied over 15 times over a period of years, and I also was interviewing with a few other companies thanks to over 250+ job applications.

Thanks for reading! Did this help? Did you learn something, or are you going to try one of these tactics? Let me know in the comments below ⤵️