How to find a job in iT!

September 20, 2023

Making a plan. Defining your goal and creating a process for job hunting.

In the previous article, we discussed the importance of your presentation and the processes you should initiate in advance to gain momentum while continuing your job search. You can read that article by following this link: Creating a Plan. Improving Your Presentation.

In this article, we will talk about creating a process because, up to this point, your job search process is likely to be immeasurable, untargeted, and unstructured. And if you don't have a measurable, targeted, and structured process, the outcome of such a process will be unpredictable.

Important! It's worth noting that the process should always be personalized and context-dependent. In this article, we will examine an abstract process related to the context of job searching, but no more. Therefore, before following this process, be sure to adapt it to yourself and your context.

Task Definition.

Of course, any process should start with task definition. And here, it's important to understand that the task "find a job as a programmer" is very poorly formulated. Another example of a poorly defined task is "Find a job within 3 months." We won't delve into why these are poorly formulated tasks but rather focus on the tasks that should be in front of you. Some of them may already be achieved, and if you don't see the need to set more ambitious tasks, you can confidently skip them.

Any process should serve a purpose, so first, you need to formulate your goal clearly and comprehensibly:

1. Clearly define the position that matches your professional interests and career goals. For example: "Junior Front-end React Developer", "Middle Back-end .Net developer", "Senior Project Manager", etc.
2. Determine the industry or field in which you want to work. For example: technology, marketing, finance, education, etc.
3. Define the desired salary range or wage expectations that align with your professional qualifications and market value.
4. Specify the geographic boundaries for your job search. For example, identify the cities, regions, or countries where you want to work. Also, consider whether you are willing to work remotely or not and if you are open to relocation.
5. Compile a list of your key competencies, skills, and qualifications that you possess and will be essential during your job search.
6. Assess your current experience and skills and determine how realistic your job search goals and criteria are. If it's challenging to measure your level, try to find information online about the minimum requirements for your position, perhaps typical interview questions, and try to answer them. Ultimately, if you have friends in your profession, ask them to conduct a mock interview for you. But remember that the main reference point should be the current requirements in the job postings you are applying for.
7. Take market demands and competitiveness in your chosen field into account when setting goals. Some professions are always in high demand or have low competition, while others might involve technologies or skills that are not currently sought after. If you work with such technologies, it might be worth considering learning something more relevant.
8. Ensure that the chosen criteria and goals align with your professional interests and long-term career plans.
9. Update your goals and criteria as needed to reflect changes in your professional situation and priorities.
10. Set time frames for achieving your job search goals. However, remember that it shouldn't be a specific date but rather a time interval during which you are focused on achieving your goals. This is important because if your first goal is not achieved within the designated time frame, all your subsequent goals will be shifted, and if you miss the first time frame, there's a high probability you'll miss the second and third as well. Therefore, you can either extend the time frames or push them further.

Measuring Progress.

Next, what you need to do is start measuring your progress. This task can be described as follows:

Goal: Maximize the success of the job search process by increasing the number of interview invitations through effective use of metrics and results tracking.

Task: Over the next three months, develop and implement a metrics tracking system to evaluate the effectiveness of the job search and create a strategy to improve results with the aim of receiving at least 5 interview invitations per month.

Example of specific steps and metrics:

1. Define a list of key metrics:1.1 Total number of job applications submitted without cover letters.1.2 Total number of job applications submitted with cover letters.1.3 Number of responses received for submitted job applications.1.4 Number of successful responses resulting in interview invitations.1.5 Number of unsuccessful responses with no reply.1.6 Number of unsuccessful responses with rejection.1.7 Number of unique companies to which messages and/or resumes were sent.1.8 Number of job applications submitted before receiving a response (from 1 to 5).1.9 How many interviews led to the next stage?1.10 What percentage of technical tests were successfully completed?1.11 How many job offers have you received?1.12 How many of them were acceptable to you?1.13 Total number of interviews.1.14 Duration of the job search process (in days).

You can use these metrics to assess the success and efficiency of your job search process. Additionally, you can derive your own metric that will be most useful and indicative for your specific situation.

Tracking Progress.

The next step is to create a table for tracking progress and collecting your metrics. The base of this table can have the following format:

1. Serial Number
2. Job Title (Description or Link)
3. Job Source: LinkedIn, Dou, Djinni, etc.
4. Date and Time of Message Submission
5. Message (preferably template-based but adapted to the job)
6. Message with Resume or Without
7. If sending different resumes, then link or name of the resume
8. Company
9. Position
10. Stage: Job added, Response sent, Response received, Clarification of details, Testing, Interview recommendation, Interview scheduled, Awaiting an update, Offer received, In the communication process, Rejected, Ignored
11. Date and Time of Stage Change
12. Date and Time of Next Stage (clarify when feedback, interview, or test results are expected. If no response on the designated day, inquire when you can follow up next. If no response after trying on the designated day, try again the next day, then after three days, and after a week. A maximum of 5 messages. After that, mark as "ignored.")
13. Comments on Stages. Results. Be sure to specify the reasons for rejections.
14. Test Task (brief description and/or link)
15. Online Tests (brief description and/or link)
16. Rating of each stage if possible, using the following criteria: 16.1 How the company representative rates you from 0 to 10 during communication and the interview stage. Specify why, what you liked, what you didn't like, what was good, and what was bad. 16.2 How you rate the company representative from 0 to 10 during communication and the interview stage. Provide comments for scores of 0-3 or 7-10. 16.3 How you rate yourself from 0 to 10 during communication and the interview stage. Be sure to leave comments on what you liked, what you didn't, what you struggled with, and so on.
17. Comments: Overall impressions, what you liked, didn't like, what fits or doesn't fit, and any additional questions. Analysis.

This table will help you keep track of your job search progress and assess the effectiveness of your approach. It allows for a detailed record of interactions and feedback, helping you make informed decisions and improvements in your job search strategy.

Analysis.

The next step, after collecting the minimal data, is to analyze them. You shouldn't wait too long; after 1-2 weeks, you should already have enough job applications and responses to roughly understand what is working best. Here's how to analyze the data and measurements:

1. Analyze the results of each metric to identify successful and unsuccessful patterns.
2. Analyze the most effective job search channels and focus on them.
3. Analyze the most effective message templates.
4. Analyze the most effective resume templates.
5. Analyze the most effective job listings.
6. Identify bottlenecks in the process and take steps to improve them (use the "5 Whys" technique. For example, why aren't you getting interview invitations? Because you're not getting responses. Why are you not getting responses? Because there's fierce competition. Why is there fierce competition? Because you apply late or because the job is on a very popular platform. Hypothesis: Respond to job listings with fewer than 100 responses or search for jobs on less popular platforms. Afterward, test the hypothesis and confirm or refute it. If the hypothesis isn't confirmed, develop a new one and repeat the process).
7. Analyze feedback from interviewers and recruiters about you, your resume, and your interviews. Identify objective issues and address them. For example, if they say you were silent all the time, and you did indeed speak less than the interviewer, that's an objective problem. However, if they say you didn't address a topic or a question that wasn't asked, it's a subjective interviewer preference.
8. Always analyze your self-assessment after communication.

Improvement of Results.

Essentially, all metrics, processes, and analysis serve only one goal - improving results. This is a part that people often overlook when they start structuring their approaches to something. Therefore, don't make this mistake and strive not just to manipulate numbers but to qualitatively approach your process and influence the outcomes.

Here's what you can strive to review and improve, if not daily, then weekly:

1. Develop personalized approaches for each job and company.
2. Study company requirements and tailor your resume and cover letters accordingly.
3. Improve communication skills for more effective interactions with employers.
4. Develop professional skills based on self-assessment and feedback from interviewers.
5. Seek higher-quality sources of job listings and higher-quality job listings.
6. Regularly review and analyze goals:
7. 6.1 Assess the progress made and adjust the strategy as needed.
8. 6.2 Conduct a quarterly review to identify strengths and weaknesses in the job search process.
9. 6.3 Continue striving for continuous improvement and achieving the target goal (5 interview invitations per month).

I hope this article helps you finally structure your job search approach and find your dream job in the shortest time possible. Stay tuned for more interesting content on job preparation and interviews in the future.