Let me introduce six actionable steps for finding a job.

Head Picture

1. get your head right

You have to believe that you’re going to get a job. Your job is to control what you can control and to shrink the time between now and when you land a job.

2. just do it

if you’re serious about getting a new job, don’t wait to get started. The alternative is wasting years of your life at lower pay with less status.

3. split your time between landing interviews and preparing for them

You should be ready for an interview within a week’s notice. If you’re not there yet, weigh your time towards preparation and as you become more prepared, invert that ratio and spend more time job searching.
Assuming total time is limited, there are two time allocation models:

  1. Fixed job searching time with flexible preparation time, with the total time remaining fixed;
  2. Fixed preparation time with flexible job searching time, with the total time remaining fixed.

Tips :

  1. Complete the task within the allocated time. Some tasks could potentially take an unlimited amount of time, but our time resources are limited. By setting a time limit, we focus on getting the job done rather than striving for perfection.

4. if one method of job searching isn’t working, you need to switch it up

You can’t keep putting all of your effort into the same thing and expect a different result. If you’ve been trying the same approach without results, it’s time to find variations in your job search.
The biggest challenge is how the failure to work is judged, for example: how long it takes before something is considered not working.

5. you should do high leverage side projects

that are presentable, time-boxed, teach you one big thing, and are well-documented.

  • Presentability Criteria : The project should be polished and professional, with a clear presentation of results
  • Time-Boxed Criteria : The project should have a clearly defined timeframe in which it was completed
  • Teaches One Big Thing Criteria : The project should focus on a single, significant learning objective
  • Well-Documented Criteria : The project should include thorough documentation of processes, decisions, and outcomes

6. try looking for adjacent roles

if you’re not getting any bites for the role you’re looking for, try looking for adjacent roles . It’s better to have a job and be soaking in as much information as possible than to be waiting for the exact perfect thing to come along.