The Long Job Search features stories and advice from women who got hired after a prolonged job search. In sharing their stories, we aim to support and inspire those navigating similar situations during their job hunt.
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I have 10 years of experience in project management, event management, and employer branding. I call myself an operations generalist since my day-to-day has always been a mix of scaling operational excellence with marketing sprinkled in.
The long job search during tech layoffs
This is the second time I have been laid off in 3 years.
My first layoff happened in March-April 2020, at the height of the pandemic when I was an Events Manager at an ed-tech start-up.
After 3 months, I accepted a 100% remote, 6-month contract position at tech company, Twilio, as a Program Coordinator for Diversity Recruiting Events & Partnerships.
Three months in, they extended a full-time offer to me. I was there for three years, was promoted twice, and finally broke six figures making the highest salary I’ve ever made, along with access to RSUs.
I was then laid off in February 2024, and it took me 7 months to land a year-long contract position at a University with a 50% pay cut. The plus side was it was 100% remote. It was only last month (4 weeks left before my contract expired) when I interviewed and secured a permanent position with the same team where I negotiated a salary close to what I was making in my previous role.
What was challenging was not knowing which companies were “stable” enough and who was offering salaries comparable to what I was making.
Most of my friends were also laid off. The companies I had on my hot list, interviewed for, and got rejected from eventually had layoffs soon after.
I often had to combat feelings of inadequacy (thinking maybe I was not as skilled as I thought if I was being rejected this much) and if I should just take up any job to keep the lights on, knowing I would have to work harder and longer to make up for the lost income.
I had to accept that looking elsewhere outside of tech for “safer” and “stable” opportunities would likely improve my job search.
For the hiring managers who were kind enough to provide feedback, it was equally relieving and frustrating to hear my rejections came down to innocuous deciding factors because of how competitive the applicant pool was.
Learning to job search with intent
After hitting the 5-month mark, I was starting to feel depressed. A specific moment that kept me going was when I came across an Elpha newsletter with a Spotlight on “how to job search with intent.” Curious, I clicked through to read the article and everything the author (@renataoleo) discussed stopped me in my tracks. She discussed the same beliefs and approaches I lived by and shared, preached, and coached other mentees on.
The same ones that I was not currently living aloud because I was too busy dunking on myself for being a “failure.”
I found another one of her articles about putting your full self forward in life and your career, and her words breathed life right back into me.
I was so moved, that I reached out to Renata and expressed how amazing I thought she was, how I felt like she was “my people,” and how her words reassured me to get back up again. We connected and had a coffee chat a few days later.
After our chat, I finally felt like I found the strength to pull myself out of this fog of sadness I was feeling.
From her article, I decided to “stop being on my best behavior” in interviews and treat them more as conversations, weaving more of my personality into the discussion because I was tired of the bullshit around trying to sell myself as the ideal candidate. Instead, I confidently and unapologetically spoke about my interests outside work (anime) and why it would be a mistake to not have me on any team.
Radical candor (or perhaps just being burned out), paid off because I soon landed three back-to-back interviews, two where I made it to the final round, and one where I was offered the job.
Balancing guilt, support, and exploration
I am thankful to have a support system (my fiance, my parents, and my sister) who encouraged me to take my time searching. My mom has worked in retail her entire life and did not want to see me take up a part-time in the service industry unless it was absolutely necessary.
My partner who works as a nurse had no issue picking up extra shifts at the hospital. While I am lucky to have a partner who could manage the bills when I was unemployed, I still couldn’t help but feel guilty and inadequate.
After reassuring me that we were financially okay due to our savings, we decided to stay the course with our travel plans. We spent a month abroad (where I took interviews at sometimes odd hours) traveling around Japan, Tunisia, and Italy. Traveling gave me the headspace I needed to reset, slow down, and be more intentional with my job search.
Managing finances during the search
I received a decent severance package. But because of the high cost of living in the San Francisco Bay area, I knew it would only last me so long. I maxed out my zero APR credit cards for necessities and relied on unemployment until it ran out.
While I made some adjustments to my finances and overall lifestyle—like cutting back on streaming services and a few wine subscriptions—I made sure to prioritize the 2-3 experiences that truly bring me joy and that I was not willing to sacrifice. One of those is my passion for travel.
Job search strategies
What didn't work:
Referrals. I reached out to people who could vouch for my work as well as strangers who were incentivized to submit referrals. From the numerous job applications I put out, I only received two callbacks from referrals.
What did work:
- I joined a staffing agency and uploaded my resume to a database (though I can't recall which one). Be cautious of job scams when doing this. Recruiters or headhunters would then send job opportunities directly to my inbox, reducing the stress of searching on my own. For the roles I interviewed for, my recruiter provided prep support. I was cautious about the opportunities I entertained. Joining a random database ultimately led to the job I have now.
- I aimed to apply for jobs within 24-48 hours of them being posted. This can be challenging since many career sites don’t indicate when a job goes live. Setting up Google and LinkedIn alerts for companies and roles I was interested in helped me stay on top of new postings. I never applied to “reposted” jobs on Linkedin. I assumed it was reposted for a reason.
- On LinkedIn, I used specific Boolean strings, filtered for 'posts,' and combed through the comments to see who was discussing open positions.
- After applying to a job, I would then DM the hiring manager or recruiter to let them know I applied simply to get on their radar.
Handling rejection and redirection
After facing multiple rejections, it’s important to step back and have an honest, objective conversation with yourself about all the potential factors impacting your job search.
Most of the time, it isn’t your resume.
But if you have no idea where you could shift your strategy, it makes it that much harder to successfully find another job.
Everyone is different, so you need to thoroughly understand 'all things you'—your strengths, weaknesses, habits, and motivations—to see how they intersect with your overall job search strategy.
For me, I began targeting different industries (like healthcare), applying only to jobs where I met 85-90% of the criteria (due to the saturated job market), and aiming for 'lower level' roles (I have 10 years of experience, and the posting required at least 5 years).
I delve more into this topic in a LinkedIn post where I linked my free “bounce back kit” to help people determine where in their job search they should take a closer look.
⭐ Landing the job
I received a mass email from a head hunter about a 1-year contract program administrator position at a prestigious university. After the head hunter confirmed the pay, I initially rejected the offer to submit my resume for consideration because it was for a junior-level position at half the salary I was previously making.
But after six months of rejections, and realizing some income is better than none, I reached back out 20 minutes later to say I changed my mind.
My representative submitted my resume, and I was scheduled for an interview with the University the following week.
I was surprised at how enjoyable my interview was.
I threw caution to the wind and leaned into being 10% more honest than I normally would since I got the impression that my interviewers seemed genuinely interested in my motivations and interests.
I was offered the position the following day.
I'm fortunate to have a strong relationship with my manager, and I've always been transparent about my goals—especially regarding my growth within the company. I made it clear what it would take to keep me there: a new title, a raise, and staying on his team. My manager became my sponsor and helped make that happen.
Final words of advice?
Give yourself a clear timeline. For example, 'If I don't land my ideal job in [Y industry] within [X months], then my backup plan is [Z].' This approach kept me grounded and focused on actionable steps, ensuring I always knew what to do next and when.
Reassess your non-negotiables, and trust your instincts when they urge you to stand firm. Where can you be more flexible? In my case, I was willing to accept a pay cut to remain a remote employee. After a 7-month search, I found a role and company that aligned with my values, where I'm not stressed, love what I do, and enjoy the people I work with. The wait was worth it in the end.
