In today's episode, we're talking about changing your approach to looking for a job.
Searching for a job is hard for both the people looking for a new job and a company looking for the perfect candidate to fill a position. In today's episode, we're talking about a different way to approach your next job search.
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Today we're going to talk about searching for a job because so many of you are probably searching and applying for jobs and you're frustrated because it's taking a long time you're getting turned down a lot but what we're talking about today doesn't just apply to searching for jobs this applies as a way of changing your approach to a problem my name is Jonathan Cottrell you're listening to developer T and my goal on this show is to help driven developers like you find clarity perspective and purpose in their careers before we talk about how you might change your approach to looking for a job I want to give you a moment to pause finding a job is hard the fact that you are looking for a job is already somewhat of an accomplishment now I'm not trying to blow up anybody's ego who's listening to the show but searching for a job is difficult it's difficult for the people who are looking and it's difficult for the people who are hiring all around this is a hard problem and it's why there's so many companies that are working to make this easier but it's still hard if a company is hiring for one role and they have 300 applicants 299 applicants could be just as qualified as the one who ends up receiving the job jobs are not purely awarded based on qualifications in fact there's no one specific thing that will guarantee that a given person gets a job so I want to genuinely encourage you this is a grueling process and it takes time effort energy a lot of emotional input and investment and I want to encourage you I can't promise you that doing what I say to do on this podcast is going to get you a job I can't promise you that you're going to get your dream job I can't promise you that you're going to get paid what you want to get paid and truthfully no one can promise you those things but it should be a comforting reality for you to know that you and the thousands of other people who are listening to the show and well Beyond this show the thousands and tens and hundreds of thousands of people who are out there looking for jobs they too do not have certainty they don't know if they're going to end up being selected for that position they they're that they're shooting forward today or not now to be clear we're not saying that there are methods that may methods that may help you in your job search. Otherwise, we wouldn't be doing this particular episode. But we have to face the simple fact that when we're dealing with other humans, and really when we're dealing with life in general, the world is unpredictable. And so we have to decide how we're going to face that reality. We have to decide how we're going to face the unpredictability of our lives and prepare for it. But I want to talk to you specifically about how you are searching for your job, how you are trying to get that next position. I want you to think about the activities that go into your job search. Write them down or keep a mental list. If you're like most people, there's not a lot of activities that you're participating in. Most people define their resume, and then they go and they look for job postings that they're interested in. They think they're qualified for, or they think they're going to succeed at, and then they apply. Send in an online application, maybe a cover letter, adjust their resume a little bit, and then shoot that application into the dark. If they get chosen for that first round interview, they might send a follow-up email even. These are all perfectly fine steps to take. But in today's episode, I want to talk to you about something a little bit different. But first, I want to tell you about today's brand new sponsor to the show, X-Team. X-Team is the most energizing community for remote developers. You can work from anywhere for the world's leading brands, and you get supported to do more of what you love. You'll get the chance to work on big brands like Riot Games, who makes League of Legends, Fox Broadcasting, Kaplan Inc., Coinbase, Beachbody, and plenty more that you can go and watch. Go and find out who all X-Team has worked with by just Googling X-Team. You can live and work in one of X-Team's roaming hacker houses. These are called X-Outposts. They're around the world, and they change locations monthly. This allows you to explore and work remotely in the most beautiful locations in the world. You can take part in adventures, share passions, and learn how to be a better remote developer with other X-Teamers. Be part of the most energizing community for developers in the world by participating in their seasons. Seasons are a three-month experience filled with challenges, rewards, games, competitions, and more. And all of it is centered around a theme that will inspire and energize you. Lastly, you can get $2,500 per year to spend on doing more of what you love and staying energized. And that $2,500, you can spend it on basically anything that you love to do. Conferences, courses, or video games, gym memberships, even a pair of headphones, or co-working spaces. We're going out to eat at a cool restaurant. Go and check it out. X-Team.com slash DeveloperT. Once again, X-Team. That's X-Team.com slash DeveloperT. Thanks again, X-Team, for sponsoring today's episode of DeveloperT. So you have your list of things that you are doing in this job search. And everybody's list is a little bit different. Maybe you're calling up people. You're having coffee with people in the industry. Maybe you are sending out that resume like we said previously. There's a lot that you could be doing. But for most people, those activities stay relatively the same. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to think about the rules. The rules that are governing your job search. Now, what are these rules? You may say, well, I don't have any rules necessarily. Well, you probably have some implicit rules. Or boundaries that you've imagined. I'll give you some examples of these. I can only apply to jobs that I am definitely qualified for. This is an implicit rule. Or I can only apply to jobs that I'm not overqualified for. Or let's say that you are, as we discussed about our sponsor today, X-Team. Let's say you want a remote job. You may make the assumption or the hidden rule, the implicit rule, that you can only apply for jobs that are explicitly remote friendly. Some other unspoken rules. Once you are turned down by a company, that's the end. Maybe the unspoken rules like this one are informed by some sense of uncomfortability with breaking those rules. For example, if you got rejected, it would feel very uncomfortable to directly ask for another shot. Some of the unspoken rules are around the activities that may lead to jobs. Maybe you believe that the most likely route to getting a job is submitting that resume through the formal job posting. Now, some of these rules are certainly reasonable. And you shouldn't necessarily just throw them out without solid reasoning. But what we should do, is think about the boundaries that we're setting for ourselves. And perhaps set some new boundaries. Experimentation is just as applicable in the job search as it is in our work. And so today I want you to write a new rule for yourself. Maybe your new rule is that you don't send your resume without explicitly saying, without explicitly changing it for a given job application. Now, what this might force you to do is decide, is this particular application worth my time? Another rule you might set for yourself is that you are not willing to apply for a job without first making some kind of personal connection with someone at that company. This, once again, is a higher level of investment. But if what you are already doing is not working, then perhaps a higher level investment is actually worth your time. On the flip side, it's possible that you have been doing these things too much, that you've been investing too much per application. And maybe you will set yourself a rule that you will apply to at least one place every two days. These are, once again, these are arbitrary rules, right? I can't define for you what the rules are in your job search. But the important thing for you to understand is that our perception of boundaries is not necessarily representative of real boundaries. And so when we try to push past or around those boundaries, not in a motivational speaker way, but by looking at our actions as part of an experiment, then we can start to understand that we are not alone. And so when we try to push past or around those boundaries, we can start to understand that we are not alone. And so when we try to push past or around those boundaries, we can start to understand that we are not alone. different results. Different may not always be preferable, but we are more likely to learn and grow if we start getting different results. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of Developer Tea. Thank you again to today's brand new sponsor, X-Team. Head over to X-Team.com slash Developer Tea to join the X-Team community. Thank you again for listening to today's episode. This episode was produced by Sarah Jackson. My name is John. I'm Jonathan Cottrell. And until next time, enjoy your tea.