Successful Mindsets for Interviewing
As job searches are getting longer and more tedious, Jean Hsu offers mindsets and strategies to not become demoralized.
In this market, a job search can be extra tough. It’s demoralizing to put in the effort to craft cover letters and stay on top of new job postings day after day — to barely get any response.Â
I’ve been hearing from friends who are on the job market and friends who are on the hiring manager side of things — this market is unlike any they’ve seen for quite some time! People are applying to jobs they thought they were a shoo-in for, only to be rejected at the resume screen. Hiring managers are inundated with hundreds of job applications before they even share a newly published job posting anywhere.
Whether you’re searching for a new role while employed or unemployed, long job searches can tax your energy and mental health. With that in mind, here are some mindsets and strategies to consider adopting if you’re on the job market. They are intended to make the process more sustainable, effective, and less draining on your confidence and morale, and I’ll go in-depth on them below:
Work your network
Resisting the mindset of having to do X and Y before you can do Z (unnecessary dependencies)
Watering your Garden - getting long-lead time activities started first
Logging your activities and tracking progress
Two-way fit - finding the right fit is not just people assessing you, but vice versa
Work your network
Work smarter not harder — and working your network is probably the smartest, most effective strategy in this market. With new job postings attracting hundreds of candidates, take any edge that you can get. Look for warm intros, and if you don’t have one, find a cold intro. With a never-ending stream of applications to review and limited time, hiring managers are eager to have any sort of way to filter candidates.
With the deluge of applications for public job posts, many teams are going straight to in-network hires. Schedule time to chat with that product manager you loved working with a few years back, your former manager, or a peer — they may have leads for you that aren’t visible via LinkedIn or company websites.
Avoid unnecessary sequencing
A common pitfall when making a transition is to put up roadblocks that prevent you from getting to where you want to go. This might look like telling yourself that you need to redesign your website before you can apply for certain jobs. It might also look like not putting yourself out there for certain roles until you have a particular certification or training.
Of course, be realistic — you’ll probably have difficulty finding a company that will hire you as an engineering manager if you’ve never managed any engineers. But don’t create barriers that need not exist. Notice when you tell yourself, I just need to finish X, and then I can do Y. Instead, ask yourself, what would it look like to just try to do Y? Keep an eye out for barriers that involve putting your head down and working on something alone for weeks or months without any external feedback (extra certifications, needing to take a personal project to completion, etc). You’re better off expending that energy working your network.
Kickoff with long lead-time activities
This often goes hand in hand with unnecessary sequencing. People often spend a lot of time upfront doing something on their own, like rebuilding their personal website, and then once they’re done, they’ll let people know that they’re open to opportunities.
Letting people in your network know that you’re available for work is a long lead-time activity. For each person that you let know, they carry that knowledge with them for weeks and months, and they may keep your availability in mind when chatting with friends who are hiring, or other teams at their company for which you may be a good fit. Those hiring managers are looking for any shortcuts they can take to avoid wading through a sea of applications. By waiting until your website is complete or you finally get your certification, you miss out on those months of consideration.
Tend to your garden
Sometimes the most effective activities, and often the long lead-time activities, don’t feel particularly rewarding. It can feel like planting seeds in a garden and then spending every day watering them. It may take a while to see the results, but you have to trust that the seeds are germinating and good stuff is happening underground while you go do other stuff.
Watering your garden can look different depending on your strengths and interests. If you like to write, it might look like sharing a post on LinkedIn every week. If you prefer to talk to people directly, maybe you aim to schedule 2 calls with people in your network a week. It can feel counterintuitive to catch up with someone when you don’t know if there is a job opening available — why not spend that time applying directly to available jobs?Â
But especially in this market, being top of mind when people start to hire can be much more effective than adding your application to a pile of 300+ resumes at 100 different companies.
What’s your approach?
How do you think people should track and approach their job search?
It’s a two-way street
It may feel like an employer’s market, but remember that employment is always a two-way street. Finding a good fit means finding a job that meets your needs. In this market, offers can feel scarce, so it can be tempting to take the first offer, even if it is full of red flags.Â
You may not get everything you want, but figure out what’s most important to you. Is it values alignment? Interest in the product? Remote work that gives you more time with your family? Prioritize what is most important to you, and get the information you need to ensure a role checks your most important boxes. Taking a little extra time to make sure it’s a good two-way fit may save you another job search in 6 months.Â
I hope these strategies and mindsets can help you in your job search. Best of luck out there.
Jean Hsu is VP of Engineering at Productable and writes Tech and Tea, a fantastic newsletter on navigating the messiness of life with a career in startups. Check it out!
- Conor
[Podcast] More on finding the right job—and making the right hire
As the volume of applications increases, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to both find the right new role, and to hire. Jean laid out some great strategies above, especially in an era where 53% of managers are burnt out, and 1 in 3 employees leave their jobs in the first 90 days.
We brought organizational psychologist and author of the book 'Wrong Fit, Right Fit' Dr. Andre onto the podcast to outline strategies to discern whether a job will be a right fit or a wrong fit and delve into how companies can find the right team members 👇
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