Job searching IS a full time job!

Who knew when I began this journey that I would be soon thrown into the abyss of tech job searching? Not me! Wow, I never could have imagined searching for an entry level role in tech could be so challenging.

It may not have been quite as bad, if I had known half of the things I know now from the start. In this post, I want to start to outline some of those things.

This can be broken down into a few distinct categories:

- Strategy

-Presenting yourself as a candidate

-Balancing a full time job, with job searching

This post, I will just talk about strategy. You'll need to go to a follow up post to hear more about the others!

When I started job searching, I had zero strategy. No idea what to do. I just, started. Over the past few months, I have been able to try out different strategies (so you don't have to!). Chronologically I tried:

1. Switching my profile to open to work and seeing what came my way, and keeping an eye out for posts of people saying they were hiring.

2. Applying to about a hundred jobs

3. Despair over getting very few responses and considering quitting to just do data analytics for fun

4. Creating and posting content with the intention of using my profile and skills to get me a job, not applications

5. Using a targeted search function on LinkedIn to connect with a human

6. I considered branching out beyond LinkedIn to Indeed, Angel List, other places (which I had tried a little but had not done so seriously), but then the fourth strategy picked up so much steam that I did not have to.

So, here's what I learned about these strategies!

1- Switching my profile to open to work and seeing what came my way, and keeping an eye out for posts of people saying they were hiring.

This is a good place to start. It gave me some confidence to get messages from recruiters. It also gave me the time to start perusing job postings. I found that getting my first conversations with recruiters out of the way with jobs that really were not a good fit, was helpful.

I will say- I had already undergone a serious effort to revamp my public profile at this point. I had made sure my LinkedIn was optimized, and I had already been posting some content. So, I am sure this helped. I was able to get connected with two jobs, and attract 3 recruiters over the span of a few weeks.

I interviewed for one position I LOVED early on. They actually really liked me, but decided that they needed someone more experienced than me. They were creating the data analyst role for the first time, so it made sense they needed someone mid-level. I was pretty crushed when they said no, though.

I am thankful I did get the chance to interview with them. They showed me what a good interview process could look like. I got to try my first technical assessment. Overall, it was a good start.

2- Applying to about a hundred jobs

I'm sure that this strategy works for some people, and I can see how it helped me indirectly. However, I hated this strategy. It felt completely soulless. Dehumanizing even. It made me so angry to see one job posting after another listed as entry level, but requiring such an extensive list of skills and degrees. Most of these jobs didn't even reply to me, let alone phone screen me.

It was not a complete waste of time, though. Here are some positives to this approach:

- About 20 phone screens

- The chance to see a lot of different types of jobs, and see what they were asking for

- Many chances to tweak my resume

- Exposure to many different companies, which were hiring

I do not regret a single interview or phone screen that I was a part of. I would encourage everyone who is job searching to get into as many interview situations as possible. It really sharpened my ability to talk clearly, concisely, and convincingly about my worth and skills.

I am sure that someone *could* get a job using this method, but... it won't be easy.

3- Despair over getting very few responses and considering quitting to just do data analytics for fun

Ok, not really a strategy. But- very important part of the journey. The previous strategy I listed really burned me out. It was crucial for me to draw a boundary, take a break, and re-strategize. It allowed me to get to my next strategy, which is what got me a job!

4- Creating and posting content with the intention of using my profile and skills to get me a job, not applications

I had been creating content all along, but in about mid to late May I decided to start creating content with the intention of getting a job. I went from being a happy go lucky newbie, to someone who was truly using the tools and knew, at least a little bit, what I was talking about. I changed the tone of my posts. I started creating content that showed that I was actively doing it. June 9th, I met with someone who reached out to me after seeing a post of mine. July 19th, he offered me my current position. It took so long because of holidays and company wide meetings on his end slowing things down.

Once I switched to this strategy, my job search changed completely. It was like night and day. I went from despair, burnout, and hating job searching, to being ok. After all, all I was focused on was doing what I love- creating content to help others, and data analytics! It was not so much of a drain on my energy. Actually interviewing still took a lot of energy, but at least this part of the search was not so bad anymore.

Every couple of days for the last month, I get messages from recruiters and hiring managers. People see my posts- they don't just find me through the open to work feature! Not only is it a huge confidence boost to be reached out to like that, it also allows you to bypass unreasonable job postings and apply to a role that someone has already decided you will be a good fit for. Of all the phone screens that I have done, only one of them did not go any further than the phone screen.

Early on in this strategy, I posted some content about Tableau. I talked about how you can perform data cleaning in Tableau, I talked about a dashboard I was working on, and later on I posted a cheatsheet. Each time I did, I did not include any external links in the post (LinkedIn does not like that- add it in the comments and add any images as static images that can be attached to your post right in the feed), and I used hashtags #Tableau #dataanalytcs ... etc. My current employer (the VP) saw my posts, and messaged me. One month later, I accepted a job from him!

His company was not the only Tableau focused company whose VP saw my posts. Two others reached out- well, had their recruiters reach out. The other two companies seemed good, but not as good as Zuar (my company). I was struck right away by their good culture. When the opportunity came to accept this job offer, I didn't even negotiate. I cancelled my take home tests with the other two companies the next morning.

So that's all of my strategies! Everyone's job search will be different. I personally did not feel comfortable messaging recruiters left and right, or asking anyone for a coffee chat. Maybe you will! I hear those strategies can work. I did what was right for me, and I am so happy how it turned out.