Job search is a horror
My experiences then versus now
As a young, passionate professional, I’ve been caught in a job search dilemma and am currently even in it. However, I’ve taken a stance—the best I can do is use LinkedIn’s Easy Apply feature and save myself a lot of stress and pain, and that too whenever a good opportunity happens to show up in my feed…
Here’s my reason — job search takes a toll on you physically, emotionally, and mentally, especially when the search is long and you’re consistently bombarded with emails that usually read “Unfortunately…” somewhere in the middle.
I have decided to focus on more productive tasks — building products and sharing my thoughts and ideas with the world. Am I lazy? Maybe. I like to believe I am. That means I find smarter, better ways to optimize for time and productivity. Am I lackadaisical, not giving enough effort to something that could be worth it? I do not believe that’s the case. I just choose to direct my efforts where I can monitor the results, and get feedback and actual data on why something is working or not working rather than rely on some lame old ATS (Applicant Tracking System), recruiters who don’t know enough about the job to make a good call/choice (no offence here) and struggle with millions of others in a job pool to get a single job. That’s a very high probability of failure.
And don’t come at me with the optimize your resume, design your portfolio and all the everyday content being put out. It just hasn’t worked for me, yet. And I’m not sitting on my computer all day betting on that.
How will I sort out my bills? Well, I am a damn good designer and have worked with quite a good number of clients. I rely on referrals now to stay afloat — not exactly steady and stable, but it’s better than nothing. And I like to think of myself as a prudent person, and financially intelligent too. Maybe not so much, as I still don’t have Bitcoin, bonds, or shares/stocks. You catch my drift, eh?
Update
It has been about two years since I wrote this piece. I stumbled upon it in my archives and thought I’d share it. However, I now have a slightly different opinion.
While the piece reflects on my experiences years back, my reality now is different. I dare say it was written out of fear, hurt, ignorance and pride. I still do not have a job, but my experiences this year with job search have been different.
Job search is a job on its own, and while it may seem like a popular phrase being thrown around, I can say it’s true. You should be meticulous and spend more time optimizing a single application rather than shooting blanks at hundreds of applications. I now have better chances since doing so — got some positive reviews on my profile and portfolio and have been invited to three separate interviews in two months. I’m enthusiastic that I’ll land a role pretty soon. And even if I don’t, I’m a more confident person for it.
LinkedIn’s Easy Apply feature was a bad bet, the ATS is an excellent system, and recruiters sure know what they’re doing. I have a portfolio website that speaks to my uniqueness and engages people, and optimizing your resume still works. I was only blind to what optimizing meant earlier. I had thought it meant filling it with a lot of related experiences, so I came up with a four-page resume, adding to it as I hit another milestone or secured another freelance or short-term contract project without wondering if it was relevant to my current application. It turns out relation is not equivalent to relevance. I was simply playing a quantity game. Now I think about it, I wouldn’t read it myself if I were a recruiter.
No, optimizing a resume is not about quantity. It’s more of a quality game. You have to carefully articulate your impact in a role during those experiences, and they have to be tailored toward the success of the business (basically metrics like KPIs and OKRs). I still agree that it’s harder to articulate design impact, especially when the products you’ve helped build have barely survived in the market and the companies and teams you’ve worked with are not part of the big seven, nor do they turn in millions in annual revenue. But it is not impossible.
You can start by reframing your words. For instance, instead of saying, “I collaborated with multiple teams to launch an intuitive and user-friendly product,” you can say, “I collaborated with the development, marketing, and business teams to launch GPTi, an AI email assistant, helping secure 100 paid users in two months with an optimized onboarding flow.” Avoid vague words like multiple, several, many, and different. Be specific about what those words mean. In the example, multiple is equivalent to development, marketing, and business. Also, how do you know a product is user-friendly and intuitive? When you have actual users who are happy and returning. Point out the numbers. Don’t forget to name and briefly describe the product.
Now, there were positives from my experiences and my past resolve as written above. Building products and sharing my thoughts and ideas have contributed to my immediate success. I didn’t know it then, but I employed one of the best job search strategies ever — competence, visibility, and consistency. I worked twice as hard creating products to solve problems around me — problems I too faced. These products range from open-source design resources to ColoSach, a startup project that promotes African photography and art. I put these projects out in the world, leveraging social media like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn; communities like the Figma community and Reddit design communities.
I will conclude by saying that job search is NOT the horror I used to think it was. The truth is, I just didn’t know how to play the game, but now I do. Today, I’m equipped with the tools, confidence, and insight to take on the job market with purpose. So, let me flip the script on that old saying — “Don’t blame the game, blame the player.” He should know the rules.
