Lessons learned from the job search
Tomorrow’s the big day . . . My first day at my new job. I’ve been unemployed for 137 days now, so I’m more than ready to get started. I’m pretty excited about what I’ll be doing, plus I’m looking forward to having a steady income again.
Before embarking on this new journey, I want to take a moment to reflect on the many lessons I learned on the way. This is from my experience looking for a job in the areas of politics, public policy, government and international affairs, but most of it applies to any sort of job search.
- Figure out what you want This is definitely the first step. And, it’s probably the toughest. You got to think through a lot of stuff . . . your interests, the skills and experience you bring, where you want to work, what you want to do, how much money do you need to make, where do you want to be 5 years down the road and 10 years down the road. It’s important to be honest with yourself. While it is hard sometimes to say concretely what you want, you can at least start by thinking of all the things you don’t want to do.
I’ve spent a lot of time since high school thinking about all this. Certainly, though, during the past year, I have really tried to think through what I want and what might be possible. A distillation of my thoughts on this are in a previous post (link).
- Plan a strategy Not having any plan for the job hunt at all is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Only when you start to understand yourself and your goals a little better can you start putting together a strategy.
Defining the scope of your search is key. You have to balance the kinds of jobs you want with prevailing job market conditions to figure out how wide to cast your net. If it’s too wide, you end up wasting a lot of time on dead-end leads. If it’s too narrow, you may not find any leads at all.
I started off focusing on jobs on Capitol Hill. There were several weeks in a row where I spent many days meeting Hill staffers. Unfortunately, it turned out that there the market for Hill jobs for Democrats is very bad right now. So, I widened my search to include government, think tanks and nonprofits focused on Asia policy.
- Work on those people skills Everyone knows that networking is key. Most places advertise job openings internally before telling folks on the outside. So, really half the battle is just finding out about what positions are open . . . preferably before others do.
Doing the little things count . . . Send timely thank you notes. Confirm meeting times. Provide your cell phone number in case something comes up at the last minute. Dress and act professionally.
Sometimes you got to step outside your comfort zone. You have to drag yourself to receptions and happy hours for different groups. Once you’re there, you got to overcome your shyness and introduce yourself to people. You got to ask people you meet to introduce you to other people who might be able to help. One person advised me to try to get at least 3 introductions every contact you meet. You got to push yourself right up to but not over that fine line between being persistent and being annoying.
My main activity for the past few months has been networking. I’ve asked my college and grad school friends for introductions to people they know working in DC. I’ve looked up people in my college and grad school alumni directories who have said they are available for informational interviews. I’ve tried to go to as many happy hours and events that I am (or could be) affiliated with, like the JET alumni group, school alumni groups, Asian American groups and more.
I have to say that I am really touched sometimes about how kind total strangers have been with this job search. People who I have met because a friend of a friend of a friend introduced us have spent a lot of time answering my emails or talking to me in person, and I have really appreciated that. It has been a tremendous help.
- Don’t put your eggs all into one basket I think it’s really important to apply to as many places as you reasonably can. That doesn’t mean just mass emailing your resume. It means that if you see a job that you’re interested in and that you think you have a decent shot at getting, then you should apply.
I’ve seen people do the apply to one job at a time routine and focus all their energy on that one application. I don’t agree with that approach. The more places you apply to (given that you spend a decent amount of time and effort on each application), the more chance you’ll have of getting at least an interview.
In my case, I was sending out a fairly steady stream of applications. That translated into a fairly steady stream of interviews. That in turn made it easier to deal with rejections from potential employers and for me to reject potential offers because I had more interviews in the pipeline.
- Keep your eyes on the prize Remember to remind yourself about all the things you thought about in step one. The job search is a roller coaster ride, and sometimes you can lose sight of what you really want, both when you get rejections and when you get tempting job offers that really aren’t a good fit.
One thing I would recommend is to find a mentor or group of mentors that you can ask about for advise. In my case, I had a small group of Hill staffers and former professors that I oftened turned to. I would send them quick questions about an organization that I just got an interview with or ask them their opinions about the terms of a specific job offer. It really helped that they had been in my place before and they could help give an objective view on things.
The other thing is to find ways to cope with the down periods ’cause there will definitely be rough spots on the job hunt. One thing that I started after I quit the campaign was to start exercising regularly. I think that has helped tremendously (plus I managed to lose a lot of excess weight). Another is to reach out to friends and classmates for support. I’ve been very lucky to have a good group of friends and family that have really been particularly supportive the past few months. They have really helped me through the hell that the job search process has been.
Anyway, I’m sure any career book would say all things and more, but the above are the key things I will remember for my next job search. For those looking for something a little more comprehensive, I recommend Knock ‘em Dead by Martin Yate.
Everyone told me that the keys to the job search are persistence and perserverance. They kept on saying that things will work out. There were times that I really didn’t believe them, but I didn’t give up. And, I guess things did work out.
Alright. I need to finish getting ready for work. I busted out the iron for the first time in many years tonight. I got a few more things to take care of before trying to get a good night’s sleep.
