How it took me 15 months and 61+ rejections to land a job in tech.

Two years ago I read the book by Randy Pausch called “The Last Lecture”. He talks about how life will put brick walls in front of you and it's up to you how many brick walls you want to knock down to get what you want. Most people will stop after 3-5 times. In my case, I had to knock down 61 brick walls to get my prize. Here’s how I did it.

After passing my probation in my new job, I can finally look back on my journey of continuous struggle and rejection with fond eyes.?

I am writing this blog to celebrate failure wholeheartedly and help others on their career journey.

In 2019 I set up my coaching business on a mission to help people make bold steps in their career. As part of my plea to myself to be the best career coach there ever was, I decided that my unique selling point was to always be someone who “walked the walk” and lead by example.

After 3 successful years of building a reputable business, I landed a job at The London School of Economics (LSE) as a career consultant to refine my coaching skills. After 12 months, I decided it was not for me and craved something more fast-paced, more progressive and better-paying. “Tech” was the buzzword everyone was talking about—family, friends, online communities. It was an industry I had never ventured into, so naturally, I was drawn to the challenge.

I knew the industry would be the answer to what I craved in my career at the time, but had no idea how to get there, and as a career coach - that was quite embarrassing.

I did what I advise every client not to do: emotionally apply to every job listing possible on LinkedIn. No thought was really put into my application process aside from me telling myself: “I could do that” over and over again, then hitting “apply”.

LinkedIn became my night time companion and pressing “apply” was my fix.

After receiving around 20+ job rejections, zero interviews and 3 breakdowns with my partner, I knew I had to switch something up.

I stopped applying for jobs and decided to speak to as many people in the industry as possible. At this point I understood that I wanted to transition into “Education Technology” a.k.a EdTech, as that was the technology that matched my experience.

During the following year I met with senior executives from LinkedIn, Coursera, Google and possibly every EdTech startup you can name. I sent hyper-personalised emails to CEOs, and was recommended by internal staff for various job applications from all the networking I did. I even made a “why you should hire me video” to one of the biggest e-learning companies but cannot name who, as my pride won't let me lol.

Despite not getting further, I was learning about the industry and had iterated my CV at least 100 times (I wish this was an exaggeration). A recurring theme in 99% of my calls were:

“You’re great, and you’re not doing anything wrong—it’s just bad timing.” Ah, the joys of job hunting amidst a cost of living crisis and budget cuts.

At this stage, I was applying to “customer success” and “partnership” roles, leveraging my entrepreneurial experience. I managed to reach the final stages of two thriving tech companies however upon facing rejection again, I hit a dark place and decided to stop -purely for my sanity. For context, every single job I've landed prior to Decoded, was a result of one application, smashing the interview process and getting the offer. I’d never gotten rejected from any interview process until 2023 so you can imagine how severely and utterly bruised my ego was. Some days I thought I was losing my mind, and other days I found it funny. So funny, that I decided to make a "rejections" folder purely to laugh at myself.

I took a proper break and stepped back from the process. I made the conscious decision to think about things from a more holistic approach and do what most coaches do when they cba to invest in coaching.

Coach myself.

I dragged myself to every artisan café in my vicinity and cringed out at the questions I was asking myself. It had to be done: “What is the one thing I am really good at?”, “where do I find myself in flow?”(bleugh), “what is the one thing I smash and feel is my thing?”.

Answer: public speaking.

OK, but how the F am I going to land a public speaking role in a tech company. Surely that does not exist.

My hunt for this fantasy role did not stop and about one year later I became an expert at finding trendy new EdTech companies on Linkedin. By this point I was debilitated by my job search. It took over my entire being, my pillow talk, my narrative with my friends, conversations with my family and even my self-esteem around my business. How on earth could I be a career coach when I couldn’t land a job myself? It was awful. I remember my partner telling me to document my struggle, but it was so bad that I couldn't possibly expose myself. I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel and so it wasn't worth sharing.

Hitting so many roadblocks in my job search shifted me to think about success differently. If I can't find success in my career right now, then where else in my life can I find success?

It sounds random - but at that point, the only thing that came to mind was Muay Thai. No, not the cocktail. Martial arts. Thai kickboxing. For about 10 years I have been fantasising about going to Thailand and training in a Muay Thai camp. When am I ever going to do it if I don't do it now? So without hesitation, after a chat from my supportive other half, I resigned, booked my flights and headed to Thailand alone, 8 weeks after making the decision. I was able to make this decision quickly as my business could support me for the next 4-5 months.?

(N.b get those multiple streams girlies so you always have options to do you.) I rated myself for being able to do that.

I won't lie - going to Thailand was one of the best experiences of my life. I went for two weeks, trained twice a day in the 35 degree heat and got battered but felt so strong. I’d never felt more alive, powerful and successful. I was so proud of myself for taking the bold step to achieve one of my longest standing goals that hid in my iPhone notes page for eight years.

When I came back home, I had a new lease of life, 18 bruises on my legs, and a sick tan.

My job search continued and about 3 weeks later, I found a “facilitator” role at Decoded and realised I had a business connection with someone who previously worked there. Luckily for me, this person sent a strong recommendation on my behalf, as her company had previously hired me as a facilitator. After the recommendation I got an interview without hesitation. (Thanks Sam!)

The rest is history. And no, I won't go through my whole 5-stage interview process (that’s a whole other blog) - but when I got this opportunity, I told myself I wouldn't give Decoded an option to say “no” to me. Not because I deserved it, but because I worked hard for it. Subsequently, I was offered a more senior role than I originally applied to which was a huge turning point for me and my career.

It's been nearly 2 years since I first decided to look for a job which is wild. I have learnt so many nuggets of wisdom on the way. Not only has this process gifted me with empathy for anyone I coach in the future but it really has taught me that consistent rejection in life is necessary. There were so many moments in my job search where I debated going back to corporate (ugh), or just doing something for money - but even if I wanted to I couldn't, as I got rejected from those jobs too LOL. The universe was definitely conspiring for me to wait for something big, aligning with my values - but I had to learn how to be resilient enough to knock down the those many many brick walls.

I’d like to thank everyone in my network who helped me in this process, got on calls with me and gave me encouragement and advice. I can happily say that I’m now in a strong position in my career but despite my road to success, the process taught me to look at life with a more balanced perspective.

Here are 12 valuable lessons I learnt from my 61 rejections:

1. Focus on a company/industry vs. job title. Identify what kind of tech/”x” industry you want to work in by matching it with your experience. Edtech, medtech, adtech, fintech, list goes on.?
2. What is your core strength? What are the 1-2 things that you are great at in your current role and how can you transition that skill or refine it?
3. Get on Linkedin and network your a$$ off. Optimise your profile so you are visible and get on as many calls as possible.
4. Call etiquette is key. If you are getting on a call with senior executives, make sure the call is 20 mins, have questions prepared and let the person know prior: what is the purpose of the call?
5. Do not emotionally apply on LinkedIn. You’re allowed 1x round of this, that's it. After that, be intentional and remember quality > quantity. Applying to lots of roles does not make you productive.
6. Detox: Delete LinkedIn app on your phone if it starts to feel like a toxic ex.
7. Rest: Take a step back from rejections to gain clarity. Breaks are so important for your mental space.
8. Balance: Aside from your career, where else do you find yourself successful? Dip into that when career stuff feels too heavy. Use it as fuel to your fire.
9. Visibility: How can you stand out in a competitive market? Think about how you can up your personal marketing in the form of hyper-personalised messages, videos to attract your future employer or any creative application.
10. Accept it takes time. Don’t take the timing/rejections personally. Unfortunately we are living in a cost-cutting period and so looking for a new role can take longer than expected.?
11. CV optimisation is boring but key. You need to iterate your CV 100 times for various roles for it to slap. Long process yes, but having an optimised CV is crucial for landing first interviews.
12. Cultivate strong relationships with absolutely everybody you work with - you never know when you are going to need their support.