I’m in tech; senior level. But I’ve been looking for work for over 3 years. I’ve been getting advice/tips/tricks from other people, but nothing has worked so far. These are things I’ve tried:
- Blindly applying for a job through the job form
- Working with a recruiter to get me a position.
- Asking to chat with someone on a team with an open position.
- Asking to chat with someone on a team with NO positions.
- Working to establish myself as an expert on social media.
- Asking friends if their company is hiring.
- “Slow networking” (not asking for a job directly, but trying VERY hard to be patient and get to know someone first)
- Fast networking…taking the direct “hey, you hiring?” approach.
- Lynchpin networking (connecting people w/ other people)
- Giving talks at conferences
- Guerrilla tech support (providing my 2 cents on a post even if no one was asking for it).
- open source contributions
- Temp agencies
- state jobs
- looking for “hiring” tags on social media.
- connecting with high-profile people and asking if they need help.
- developing a complete MVP that would help someone (yet I couldn’t quite market effectively).
- Leveraging previous employers to see if they have anything new.
- Offering “low hanging fruit” gigs on social media.
- Putting my resume on job boards.
- Getting a role well below my pay grade and working my way up (if I try this I get automatically disqualified for being too overqualified).
- Providing free consultation to businesses.
- Hosting a podcast interview with someone from a company.
- Writing a guest post for an article (I’ve kind of done this, I think).
Edit:
- I’ve also had my resume, LinkedIn profile, and other social media, looked over by professionals and nonprofessionals alike. I’ve even gotten coaching. I’ve probably gotten more coaching than interviews at this point.
Another edit:
- The only think that’s worked lately (as terrible as it sounds) is groveling and telling people the severity of my situation. And that’s just gotten me very very small dead-end projects in someone’s back pocket. I’m definitely trying to leverage these as best I can.
Any other strategies people have found that works? How did you get your job? I’m running out of ideas.
I’m seconding what the other commenter had to say. Tech is a bit hard to get a job in right now, but it hasn’t been that way for 3 years. At this point it’s time to look in the mirror and see what’s going on with you to make you seem unappealing. You could also just have a very bad resume, so work with someone you know who is doing better and have them review your resume and even do a mock interview. There is no magic bullet for this, you gotta figure out why people keep passing on you. If you’re not even getting interviews, then it’s your resume. If you are, it might be your personality or interview skills. I can’t really say without knowing you.
And good luck! I think you’ll find something if you figure out whatever the road block is.
Yeah, unfortunately most of stuff that makes me unappealing is stuff I have no control over (at least from what I can tell; maybe I’m playing a victim?)
I’d love for someone to tell me why they’re passing on me. Literally the only feedback I keep getting is I’m “not a good fit.” And then an eerie radio silence from everyone at the company. Not a good fit how? Culture? Skill? Am I not fitting the company vision? Nobody ever tells me! I’m more than willing to adapt, but I need to know how I need to adapt.
Any ideas here is appreciated. Thanks for the encouragement.
One thing that helped me was reading every book I could get my hands on from common Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree programs. (I picked a random respected school and googled “school name MBA book list”)
People who control hiring decisions have a lot of jargon, but after reading 15 or so books off the Harvard book list, I understand the lingo.
I also did a lot of random weekend coding to make sure I had some public code I could link to from my resume. Anecdotally, I feel like I got asked a lot fewer bullshit coding quizes after that.
Well your professional writing seems to be nice, so I’m really not sure. “Not a good fit” is corporate speak for “we dislike you as a person” most of the time, or even worse, “we find you to be wildly incompetent”. It’s basically the most scathing thing you’ll get post interview.
If you happen to be a minority, you’re also going to have a harder time for that reason as well.
That’s what I’m scratching my head about. I’m a white guy, as plain as they come, so I should have every advantage. The only thing I figure is the fact I’m neuroatypical so I don’t fit into typical techbro culture (who wants to fit in with that culture anyway?). Is that really a minority and a cause to be rejected so much, though? I don’t think it is.
And, yeah, that’s the implication I get for corporate speak.
Honestly I would keep talking about it and seek advice from successful people. I’ve never spoken to a millionaire and not come away better for it; if you can meet and talk to successful people they might be able to help you with whatever is causing this road block.
I’ve been trying to network with successful people. I always get ignored or ostracized. And can’t figure out why. During the time I’m not rejected I’ll glean as much as I can.
It sounds more and more like a social problem for sure. Have you read through any self help on it? I found How to Win Friends and Influence People to be genuinely helpful and followed it up with The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. Kinda came away feeling a lot more confident and charming.