5 Lessons I learned from my job search

Your stomach drops, your hands start to sweat and with WebMD’s help you’re convinced a heart attack is minutes away. You’re leaving the nest. You’re leaving your comfort zone. You swear you’ve seen a TedX talk about this somewhere. You’ve definitely seen “Life Begins at the end of your comfort zone” on a mug somewhere. Why does this new beginning feel like an ending?

Scientists agree, that’s what interviewing for a new job feels like. I might not be a scientist, but I managed to learn a few lessons along the way. Here’s a list of the five big ones:

1. Your resume tells a story, make it the right one

When I began to apply for sales engineering roles I got considerable pushback from recruiters. I could sneak my way into a phone screen but after a cursory conversation the generic response from recruiters was something like: “We’re looking for someone with more sales experience, we do have a support position open if you’re interested”. I checked all the boxes for Support, not Sales Engineering. What’s the cure here? Format your resume with your dream position in mind. I completely re-wrote my resume and focused on specific skills that were applicable to Sales Engineering. The goal was: if a recruiter read only my responsibilities and goals, not my title, could they imagine me in the new role?

2. You’ll get rejected — a lot

“It’s not you, it’s me” You’ve heard it from your exes, now prepare to hear it from recruiters and hiring managers. In the professional world you’ll hear “we’re closing the position” or “we’re not ready to hire for this role yet”, most likely as away to save face for the company who doesn’t believe you’re a good fit for the role. What’s tough about rejection is that you’re getting conflicting information about your abilities. You believe you have a shot for the job since you’re applying. A rejection from a prospective employee is another way for the universe to sit you down, put a hand on your shoulder and soflty break the bads news to you. The key here is grit, stay true to your vision of your future self even if no one except you sees that vision.

3. Practice for interviews with interviews

I’ve always been a big supporter of learn by doing. I’d rather stumble around by myself for hours instead of asking for help (my wife calls it pride). No matter what you call it there’s a lot to be learned by jumping right into a new task to absorb as much info as possible. When I landed my first SE interview I had only a faint idea of what my recruiter wanted to hear. “Have you worked in a pre-sales position before?” maybe “Do you believe cold calling is dead?”. The more questions you hear, even across multiple interviews, the more clearly you’re able to see the proverbial ideal candidate. Write down all of the questions you’re asked during an interview for future review. Equip yourself with the knowledge of what recruiters want to hear throughout multiple interviews. The more you interview the more you know.

4. Do your research

If you’ve ever been forced to watch Catfish on MTV I don’t have to explain to you how important background research is before meeting a date — or a recruiter. Don’t meet your online crush before a tineye reverse image search. Don’t meet a hiring manager without an exhaustive internet stalking session. Find them on LinkedIn, look through their background to understand where they came from. See if you have anything in common (school, interests, connections, were they in the same career position you’re in today?). I scored major points with a recruiter at Juul by sharing stories about a favorite bar near our university. Know your hiring manager’s graduating university, career story, and number of his barber. Our generation is fortunate to have an insane amount of information available at our fingertips, use it to your advantage.

5. Be memorable

“Oh there’s no price tag on this, guess it’s free!”. If you’ve worked retail you’ve heard this from a customer. At my first job, it became somewhat of an inside joke at our store. The first time I heard it I chuckled, the fiftieth time I screamed into the internal abyss. Asking a recruiter “what’s the culture like here?” must do similar damage to their brain. Of course it’s not a bad question, but it’s not a question that leaves an impression. I would go as far as to say: any question that universally applies to any company or interview is ineffective. Ask specific questions that display knowledge of the company. Speaking from personal experience, I’ve had the most success when I was able to pick up on the hiring manager’s pain points. “I know the government mandate started 2 weeks ago, you must have had an explosion of support cases coming in”. It turns out they were in a rush to hire me for this exact reason.

5.1 Find a company willing to take a chance

I was fortunate to find a company willing to take a chance on me when moving from Support to Sales Engineering. The fact I landed a position at KeepTruckin says as much about them as a company as it does about me. They were willing to invest in my growth and support me the next phase in my career. If you’re interested in Sales Engineering, Support and want to work along others with a similar growth mindset check open positions here.