This is an anonymous post from an Elpha member.

Feeling stumped with job search

Posted in:Advice

I imagine this is common but I am feeling stumped with my job hunt.

In my first round of applications, I approached what I called low-hanging fruit and didn't get any of the roles that I was interviewing for (~about 4 over 2 months). Now, I need to enter into what I call the second phase of my job hunt, where I plan to be more strategic about the roles that I apply for (internal referrals, more customized approach), but feeling really stumped!

Don't know where to begin. I don't love my industry (content, agency), and would ideally love to pivot into something for more fintech, content tech, even web3. If anyone has any advice on how to get the job search process going after an earnest first attempt, I am all ears.

Iynna·Mar 07

Hi OP! First off, nice to see that you put a strategy in place with starting with what feels like low hanging fruits before tackling wave 2. I think instead of looking at this new wave as one big beast, which will feel overwhelming, you might also want to split this out a little bit. Do you want to spend some time identifying roles first and write them all down on a spreadsheet? Then identify people you want to connect/do informational interviews with? OR do you want to spend time finding people who seem to have interesting profiles/jobs an who you'd like to learn from? OR do you want to identify events/opportunities to meet people and prioritise those first?I think if you build a process around your search it will feel a lot more digestible, and dare I say even more fun! You got this!

annieli·Mar 11

Hey there, you're definitely not alone and this is really a very tough market for jobseekers around the world. Do I understand correctly you meant that you applied to 4 of the low-hanging fruit roles over 2 months? It feels like this is too low of a sample size to conclude that you weren't good enough for those roles. I coach jobseekers in Europe and I see a lot of people applying to 100+ jobs before getting late stage interviews/offers. Here's a great post from a marketer that documented her entire journey in numbers, she applied to 300+ jobs before getting a good offer: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/job-hunt-nightmare-numbers-curious-ones-valen-correa-bikie/A product designer who spent 6 months finding a new job and she applied to 200 jobs: https://ellyhsieh.com/From-Struggles-to-Success:-My-6-Month-Tech-Job-Hunt-JourneyHere's my own post from when I looked for a job in summer 2022, I applied to 20 jobs before getting an offer (although I was being really focused and went quality over quantity): https://anniecoaching.substack.com/p/how-i-found-my-product-manager-jobHope this can help and good luck!

Iynna·Mar 13

+1 on increasing the number of applications, to increase conversion! thanks for pointing that out