Your 5-step Guide on Job Hunting During a Pandemic

Imagine this: you have a dream job that is going really well and then one day you are surprised with mass layoffs that thrust you into unemployment during a global pandemic. Sound pretty awful? It is! I recently found myself in this situation and wanted to jot down some of the things that have helped me survive in hopes that it’s insightful to you.

1. Prepare

Get your ducks in a row. If and when the right opportunity strikes, you want to be ready. Ensure that this won't be the first draft of your resume, so aim for 5+ revisions before your big opportunity. You don't want this to be your first experience interviewing in a long time, so aim for 3+ interviews before your dream job. In other words, get your "bad pancake" out of the way so you can start cooking up some great pancakes when they matter most.

Get hustling now. Review your resume with those whose professional opinion you value. Lean towards recruiters and hiring managers to give you a review if you know any. Practice mock interviews. Update your go-to stories for behavioral interviews. The best way to boost your confidence in this process is to prepare, so treat every practice like it's the finals and you'll feel ready.

2. Give

This might seem counter intuitive when your own future is so uncertain, but it's the most human advice: when you need help, help others out. Lifting others will do wonders for your motivation and morale during a job hunt. What's the most impactful thing you can do for someone to help them in their job hunt? Go do that. I love giving LinkedIn recommendations. It gives me great joy to articulate why it was so valuable to work with someone, to describe how their style of collaboration is so effective, or to highlight some of the amazing work they've done. That one recommendation will be read by dozens or hundreds of people and it only took 10 minutes to write! Furthermore, the most effective way to ask someone to write you a recommendation is to simply write one for them. Lastly, whenever I feel emotionally exhausted or defeated in this process, I seem to always have energy to focus on the great parts of other people in order to help them. Many of the times I've written a recommendation, it's because I've run out of steam focusing on my own job hunt and need to do something to lift my mood. In the last 3 weeks, I’ve written around 10 recommendations and each one has helped me in terms of personal momentum through this job hunt.

Be generous with your time. Whether it's reviewing a friend's resume, writing a recommendation, agreeing to be a referral, facilitating a mock interview, or being a sounding board for someone's career soul-searching. This will be a light lift for you and meaningful for them.

3. Hustle

Have many conversations. You will get rejected, unless you are aiming too low or you are the best in the world at your craft. There is power in being able to overcome rejection and to learn from it. I've not yet had a job hunt where I did not experience a brutal, humbling rejection. It's terrible to get rejected from your dream company, but it's even more important for you to reach for it.

Be ready for a slog. I've never gone through or heard of a job hunt that didn't have some tough days in it. People will ghost you for a call, you will get disqualified by a recruiter for a dream job for a reason that doesn't make sense, and people will not follow through with their commitments to help you out (all of these have happened to me in the last week). But don't take it personally. It's unlikely it was directed towards you and was more likely a result of that person's crazy busy life. 

You will get rejected, unless you are aiming too low or you are the best in the world at your craft

Overall, this is a game of probabilities. Do the things you need to increase the likelihood of each shot being successful, but also take many shots. Your ideal situation near the end of the job hunt is to have two or more job offers in hand so that you can make a good decision. It's difficult to have two good job offers without applying to more than ten.

4. Self-care

A good job hunt is more of a marathon than a sprint. Take care of yourself. One of the best ways to relieve stress and keep your energy high is to exercise regularly. For me, I've recently started running more often. Right before the pandemic, I started training for a half marathon. Boy did I struggle! But my friends were doing it with me and I stuck with it. I started running longer distances and having more energy throughout the day. The challenge reflects how I’ve felt throughout the process of job hunting. I now start most mornings with a run. Find your own form of exercise that will make you feel resilient.

Be aware of yourself emotionally. You're not usually in this predicament, this process, or this pandemic. It's okay to make progress over perfection. It's okay to have an off day. Some of the best advice I got from a mentor last week was to treat this like a job, working normal hours and taking the weekend to have space from work.

Remember, everything in this process is one step at a time. Things might be overwhelming, but if you break everything down into the next small step you can do, you will build momentum that will carry you through this.

5. Ask

Do not fear the ask. Put your pride aside. Ask for people's time. Ask for people's resumes. Ask for people to review yours. Ask for references. Ask recruiters for information. Ask for mock interviews. Ask for recommendations. Ask!

Know what you want from your next job and share it with people. Ask them if they know of any opportunities or people that might be related. I have about 6 calls per week to friends just to catch up with them, ask them what opportunities they've heard of, and ask if they’d make an introduction. These conversations have produced the best leads in this process despite having no direct or obvious connection when I set them up.

In the LinkedIn post where I shared news of the lay off, I stated exactly what I was looking for in my next role. This resulted in over a dozen people reaching out to help with specific suggestions, some of which I would not have thought of (thank you to those who have reached out!).

It's go time!

Make no mistake, this is the fight of your life and you will remember it for years to come. It isn't just a struggle. It is a call to greatness. Answer it with your best self and share your journey.

About the Author

I am a product lead & super-nerd who enjoys challenging roles that use my business acumen and technical chops. I enjoy working with vibrant, brilliant people on hard problems with the potential for big impact.

I am currently looking for my next opportunity. If you have a role that might be a good fit or can make an introduction, please do! Furthermore, I have a big network of talented friends and can help you find you a match.

Thank you for reading this article to the very end. My goal was to help others with useful advice and meaningful inspiration. If you've been helped by this article or have feedback on it, please say so. I appreciate you.