I was let go and found myself unemployed and job hunting in a tumultuous hiring market. I detail this highly personal experience in my article, “This Is What It’s Really Like To Find A Job In 2024”. What I’m sharing here are the tactics and techniques that really made an impact and helped me get hired.
Here’s What Worked
My Resume: I could write 1,000 words on the resume alone. I’ve been freelancing for Ramped, a great AI resume builder, and uncovered some powerful insights to help me optimize my resume. Last job search, I went from a one-page resume to two. This time, I went back to one crisp page, optimized for recruiter skimmability and ATS-readiness. Even more crucial was I finally put in place a framework for my bullet points.
Frameworks: Frameworks are essential for helping you communicate what you want and need to say effectively. On my resume, the first bullet for each role describes my responsibilities and the type of company. The other bullets speak to my successes using the STAR framework (Situation Task Action Result) or Google’s XYZ framework (Accomplished X as measured by Y by doing Z). Beyond resume bullets, these frameworks work great for case studies and interviews. Use them.
Case Studies: Enhancing my portfolio proved valuable as I leveraged work samples for interviews and found relevant projects to speak to. I repurposed one into a presentation for a final stage interview which meant I didn’t have to start from scratch. One found its way to a hiring manager before we even talked and he was eager to hear about Ramped Career’s Path to Profitable Paid Growth on Meta. Nearly every job application asks for a portfolio but it’s safe to assume next to nobody is looking at it until you’re in later stages of interviews. Meanwhile, it’s up to you on how you leverage it. Sharing my screen to show instead of just tell in interviews was something I tried to do more of this search.
Personal Notes: I got anecdotal feedback from one startup founder who said my personal email after I applied was a big reason he wanted to talk to me. Anything you can do to connect with people on a personal level will help you stand out.
Interview Prep: I learned to ask one question in every interview upfront: “What was it specifically about my background that made you want to talk to me today?” That question, along with some role play, prepped me for interviews in a more impactful way than LinkedIn sleuthing or note-taking.
My People: I had a collection of people I stayed in touch with on and off throughout my search that helped me keep it together mentally and emotionally. They were dealing with similar situations and exhaustive job searches too. We were in the trenches and that helped me feel less alone. Shoutout to Graham, Jon, and Daniel. 👊🏻
New People: I learned a silly phrase that rang true for me in this search: Your network is your net worth. Case in point: I landed my new job through a side door — thanks to a referral from someone I met in an interview at another company. Thanks, Mikey! I am incredibly grateful.
The Right People: I recognize that I am deeply collaborative and that I learn best live, from people. So while I invested in a three-month growth course from Reforge during my last job search, this time I invested in GrowthMentors, a service that let me book time with experts in my field. From interview prep to homework help and career advice, I got a lot of tactical value from my three-month membership. But the most valuable thing that came out of it was one single connection — a real mentor.
A Mentor…Or Two: I’ve never had a mentor. I’ve had no lack of generally supportive people in my life, but no one who really took me under their wing or provided deep guidance on an ongoing basis. That is, until now. I found two gentlemen: one through GrowthMentors and one from earlier interviews, who I am staying in touch with and learning from. It’s game-changing. And I never thought I’d find one. To the point where it’s taken me months to refer to Mustafa as my mentor and not “my mentor guy”.
Slack Communities: I leveraged five industry-specific Slack communities:
1. Online Geniuses
2. Efficient Growth
3. Right Side Up
4. Startup CPG
5. DTC House
The two main ways I did that?
1. Job Listing Channels
Alternative job boards became a real thing in 2024 as job-seeking folk needed something other than the overflowing LinkedIn JDs to find something slightly less competitive. From #hiring to #jobs, the regular flow of job posts in these marketing and e-commerce communities provided me with an alternative source of roles to apply to but most importantly had a person attached to them with knowledge of the company and sometimes an offer for a direct connection to the founder or hiring manager.
2. Ask The Community Anything
When I was working on freelance project or stake-home assignments as a job candidate, I found an unfair advantage: crowdsourcing a head-scratcher I needed help with. We all have questions at work and in the past I might have Googled like mad and asked a friend or two. Dropping my challenge in these channels would always result in really good conversation and some expert advice…for free.
Here’s What Didn’t Work
One in the Hand > Two in the Bush
I opted out of some roles early on in my search because comp was below what I was making most recently and below my minimum desired. If I had to do it all over again, I would take the role I could get and figure out next steps from there. Maybe I could add on a side gig and make myself whole or maybe it would be a stepping stone to more desirable pay through a different job either internally or externally. What I cobbled together to call a paycheck throughout my unemployment was less than 20% of what I normally make. Something to take the pressure off and keep me working would’ve made things a whole lot simpler.
Focus on Freelance
While I got some gigs here and there, I focused most of my efforts on full-time role. Next time, I would give myself a set of amount of time — say 30 or 60 days — to focus exclusively on full-time before switching gears to a freelance focus for a period of time. While I’ve considered fractional, freelance or consulting work as my full-time profession, I’ve found it serves me better as a way of extending my runway for finding a full-time job.
Email Automation
I did a cool thing where I acted as my own digital salesperson to market myself. I hunted down the names of every recruiter and hiring manager I could easily find through LinkedIn sleuthing. I used this free tool, hunter.io, to find their email addresses (with decent accuracy) and set up an automated, five-touch email series pitching these recruiters, hiring managers and potential bosses. I was proud of myself for thinking of this and executing it using Yesware, but it didn’t work. At all. To be honest, I was shocked how poorly it worked. I got only a few responses, and most of them were vacation autoreplies. No meetings booked, no resume looked at, no interview that came through because of my hounding. I would still recommend following up on your job application — standing out in the sea of sameness is the way. But you’ll have to get more creative than I did on how you do that.
This Is What It’s Really Like To Find A Job In 2024
If you’re still here, I wrote another piece: This Is What It’s Really Like To Find A Job In 2024.
If you’re struggling on your job search, connect with me on LinkedIn and shoot me a message. Let’s chat. I’m not a career coach, but I want to help.
