1 Story from Experience
I remember like it was yesterday. I had been laid off from my Remote Work Job 5 months prior, one week after I had my First Kid was born. It had been along time for me to be out of work. I was applying to jobs everyday. It was excruciating work putting yourself out there on the job hunt, it was a lot more taxing on me than if I was just taking care of some crashed server all day. I had to evaluate everything I was multiple times a day and try to convey why I was the right guy for any job that would feign an interest in me. For my type of personality, it’s the worse kind of hell. Submitting myself for a deep personal judgement amongst faceless corporations in the hope that I’d be able to feed my family for the foreseeable future.
I had decided to try and join with a Staffing Agency to help me find a job, my connections in my industry were very thin, but my skills were high, having worked in System Administration for over 10 years are this point. They immediately asked me if I would Interview at a Company they had as a client. It was a 90 minute roundtrip commute, but I was desperate at this time. I went ahead and did the interview.
TLDR: It went well.
I felt very nervous as all get out, but I was confident in my skill set and it happened to be what they were looking for. Later on in the job I would find out that they were going to go with another candidate, but I happen to be the cheaper one who had asked for less salary. I didn’t know how to handle the situation of receiving that revelation. Was I lucky I asked for less money than the other guy and got the job or was I being disrespected by being undervalued and underpaid? It might of been a little bit of both I guess.
If you are ever in Job Hunting Mode (which everyone will be multiple times in their life, I guarantee it) just know that through that hardship is the way out for most people. We all need to eat, we all need to provide for our families. The best way out of being unemployed is through. Keep trying and don’t give up till you found the job your looking for at the Salary your looking for. Settling is a surefire quick way to unhappiness, in any of life’s endeavors.
1 Idea from Me
Everyone should have a Tech Recruiter in their back pocket, even when they are fully employed. Much like everyone has a Real Estate Agent they can trust only to buy a new house every 5 years. They should be specialized in the type of Job their Client’s are interested in. Not sure why this isn’t done much in our Industry. Everyone needs someone else to help them look for all the opportunities out there, especially to be an advocate for them when they can’t be that for themselves.
3 of the Best Job Hunting Tips I ever Heard
Punch above your Weight Class - Apply the Jobs you want for the Pay you want. It claims to the old adage “Dress for the Job you Want, not the one you have”. You’ll get a lot of rejection, but those 1 or 2 Yes’s will be the thing that will change your life.
Research your Interviewers before the Interview. Pay attention to their achievements and the company they work for (everything is online these days, looking at their LinkedIn will tell you most of what you need to know. Make comments on how impressed you are with how their company solves their customers problems or tell a story of someone you know who has had an interaction with the company. This is one of the most single known ways of getting them to like you.
Employee Referrals to Internal Job Postings are the single likeliest indicator you will get Hired. Do whatever you can to deserve a referral from a person that works at the company you want to work at. Once you have it, treat that relationship as the Gold it is, because it will literally make you money by getting hired.
We’ll be having our First Weekly Live Stream for our Community on
Thursday Sept. 9 at 4pm EST at https://twitch.tv/DrTechMD
Hope to see you there!