More Creative Ways to Find a New Job

Eleven weeks. That seems to be how long it takes me to land a new job. That’s what it took me two years ago, and it took the same amount of time this summer. Once again, I proved to myself that applying to jobs online doesn’t work well, but reaching out directly to companies and people you want to work for can pay off.

First, a bit of backstory. Two years ago, at age 50, wanting to “save the world,” I quit my job without having a job and attempted to reinvent myself. While I didn’t end up reinventing myself as much as I had intended, I successfully landed at a company that was literally saving lives. The article I published about that process (How To Shift Industries Mid-Career: Job-Hunting Through Networking ) has been widely read and well-received. Note that it has valuable tips for any job-seeker – not just those who are shifting industries or are mid-career. Young people just starting out have told me it’s been helpful.

I recently found myself seeking a new position again. While I absolutely love the company I was with for the past two years, I feel kind of dumb because I learned a lesson in my early 50’s that most people learn in their early 20’s. That lesson is that saving the world typically doesn’t pay the bills as well as it could. My mortgage has gone up significantly thanks to increasing real estate taxes, and there always seems to be unexpected demands for cash. So, while I still intend to “save the world” outside of business hours, I have turned my attention to saving myself and my bank account during the workweek since that last article.

This job search was trickier in one significant way – I was still working full-time. So, I didn’t have nearly as much time to dedicate to it as I did last time when I wasn’t working. Still, I chipped away at it every evening at home and every weekend, and it somehow still took the same amount of time to get results (11 weeks). That may be because I was more focused this time on a narrow industry where I have experience and a lot of contacts. Last time, I was casting a wider net into a space where I originally hadn’t known a lot of people.

Here are my lessons learned (or reinforced) through this most recent job search.

Lesson 1: Work On Your Resume…But Know It’ll Never Be Perfect

In my last article , I mentioned that I had let 25 years slip by before creating a resume, which was a huge mistake. My resume at that time was not great, but I still managed to land a job through networking (to be honest, I’m pretty sure no one at the company that hired me even asked to see my resume – that’s the beauty of being referred in by a trusted, mutual contact and having no competition for the job). I was determined to beef up my resume this time, and had kept track of all my accomplishments during the past two years. Still, I needed help putting it all together, so I turned to Dana Maggi of Career Pain Relief .

I found that Dana’s much more than a resume writer – she has a detailed process for landing a job that she runs her clients through. I thought I knew a lot about job searching, but I learned a ton from Dana! She taught me ways to use LinkedIn that I had never thought of, had me create a job search strategic plan to share with my network, and yes, helped me create a really strong resume. I’ve referred a lot of people to her since I started working with her (she’s surprisingly affordable too).

As happy as I was with my resume, as I spoke with other experts (mostly recruiters), they all had different opinions as to what should be on it. Sometimes vastly different opinions. For example, I had one recruiter recommend that I put my headshot on my resume, which was the exact opposite advice I got from someone else. I started to get really confused and stressed about this until I realized there is no perfection in resumes, only differing opinions. I went with the version that seemed the best to me.

There is one piece of advice that I had heard previously but ignored at first, and it’s worth following. I was pursuing three different titles: Vice President of Marketing (for smaller companies), or Director of Demand Generation or Product Marketing Manager (at larger companies). But I started with just one resume that showed the breadth of my marketing experience (including demand generation and product marketing along with many other skills). A recruiter wisely suggested that I create three versions of the resume so I’d have one focused on demand generation for those roles and one focused on product marketing for those. Duh!

Lesson 2: Create a List of Targeted Companies

As part of Dana’s process, she had me research and list companies I’d like to work for. This was easier for me than it may be for others, because I knew exactly the niche I wanted to be in: B2B SaaS. For those of you that can’t decipher that alphabet soup, it’s Software as a Service companies (subscription-based software in the cloud) that sell to Businesses that sell to other Businesses (as opposed to businesses that sell to consumers). This is the space I had been in for two years, and when I owned a digital marketing agency several years back, those were the clients we served, so I’m very familiar with the space and enjoy it. Fortunately, there are a lot of B2B SaaS companies in Atlanta, where I live.

In addition to knowing the industry, I added something else to my wish list. I’ve gotten spoiled the past several years by working for “best places to work” type companies. Whether or not they’ve officially won an award, these are companies with positive, supportive cultures and benefits like flexible hours and unlimited PTO. Ideally, I wanted to work for this type of company.

I looked at three lists of “Best Places to Work” award winners - the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and Inc. Magazine. Fortunately, there were a lot of B2B SaaS companies on all those lists. And I also spoke with many friends and colleagues in the industry who know which businesses have positive cultures, and which don’t.

(Sidenote: Here’s a warning to leaders of unhealthy workplaces – word gets around. People are not shy about telling their friends “It’s a shitshow over here,” and that’s going to impact the number and quality of people who apply for your jobs.)

I subscribe to a couple of enewsletters about the technology industry in Atlanta that update me as to which companies either just landed a round of funding (meaning they’re probably hiring) or are moving to the area. So that gave me more ideas for companies to target. And they listed other awards besides “best places to work.” One listed the “50 Hottest Companies” and the “10 Coolest Companies.” I researched the B2B SaaS companies on those lists too.

I would check each company’s ratings on GlassDoor and read through the reviews. I know every company has a handful of disgruntled employees (I know I did when I owned an agency), but if the average rating was under about a 3.5 (out of 5 stars) or there were a lot of negative reviews, I’d think twice about pursuing that company.

As I got interviews, I would also reach out to LinkedIn contacts who knew the hiring manager (the person I’d be reporting to). I’d ask them what they could tell me – confidentially – about that person and what it might be like to work for them. This due diligence led me to withdraw from one opportunity and happily accept another.

Lesson 3: Reach Out to Your Targeted Companies

Once I had my list of targeted companies, I went on their websites to see if they had any published job openings that matched what I was looking for. If they did, I applied. If they asked for a cover letter, I wrote one, matching my experience and qualifications with what the job description listed. (I ended up applying online to random jobs at other companies – more on that later – and generally didn’t bother with cover letters there.)

After I applied, I’d see who I knew at the company via my LinkedIn connections. (I still occasionally have people ask me why they should bother with LinkedIn – insert eye roll here – this is one of a long list of really good reasons to keep your LinkedIn network fresh and robust!) I’d send them a message telling them that I had just applied to that role and asking if they knew the hiring manager. I’d ask them to put in a good word for me.

If there was no appropriate job listed on the company’s website, I’d still reach out to people I knew at that company via LinkedIn. Here, I’d send a message telling them what I was looking for and saying that I know not all jobs are posted publicly, so did they happen to be looking for someone like me? Either way, I said I’d like an introduction to the person in charge of hiring marketing leader positions. Y’all – this worked! I found a couple of positions that had not yet been posted for which I was able to be the first to throw my hat into the ring.

If I didn’t know anyone at the company, I would see who in my LinkedIn network knew either the HR people or the people who seemed like they’d hire marketing leaders. I’d ask for an introduction from them. This also worked most of the time.

Lesson 4: Reach Out to Your Network

My first focus was reaching out directly to my targeted companies, as described above. After a few weeks of that, I reached out to others in my network. These are people who didn’t work at B2B SaaS companies, but knew people at B2B SaaS companies. They either worked in agencies or other service providers to B2B SaaS businesses, or they’re people who are well connected in general.

I’d send them an email (or a LinkedIn message) and tell them I’m looking for a new position. I’d briefly describe what I was looking for in the body of the message, and I’d attach my resume and job search strategic plan. Since the latter document listed my targeted companies, it would give these people an idea of the types of companies I was pursuing. They may know other, similar companies that I don’t.

I reached out to over 100 people (another reason it’s good to nurture a large and meaningful network!). Many never responded, some wrote back with a vague “I’ll keep my ears open,” and a few called me or set up a coffee to talk about how they could help. Of course, I profusely thanked everyone who responded and offered to scratch their back anytime I could.

During my 11-week job search, I ended up having at least phone interviews (and sometimes in-person interviews) with 10 companies. I found eight of these opportunities by reaching out to targeted companies and my network. (The other two openings were jobs I applied to online – more about those next.)

Lesson 5: Applying Randomly Online Mostly Doesn’t Work

I know, I know…I literally wrote an article that said applying online “was a waste of time,” and yet, I fell into that trap again. It’s just so tempting! I had set up feeds on LinkedIn and GlassDoor that would email me anytime a company posted a new VP of Marketing role (or similar). When a job description that fits is served up to you on a platter, what’s a girl to do?

I ended up applying to 36 jobs this way. I never heard a word from 26 of these companies, I got an automated rejection email from eight, and I ended up interviewing at two of them. For those two, I actually did quite well and made it into the final rounds for both. One company hired someone else and I withdrew from the other because I had accepted another offer. So I can’t say that applying online doesn’t work – just that it doesn’t work as well as the methods I described above. (I didn’t bother posting my resume to Indeed, etc., like I did last time, because that REALLY didn’t work.)

Think about it – if a job is posted publicly where thousands of people can see it, probably hundreds will apply. So right off the bat, you’ve got way, way more competition than an opening that hasn’t been posted. And public postings imply that there’s a recruiter (internal to the company or external) that’s sifting through the resumes, doing initial screens, etc. This all takes time. I found that companies using this method tended to move much more slowly than more nimble companies that don’t do things the “official” way.

And…toward the end of my job hunt, someone happened to mention “ATS” to me. I had no idea what they were talking about. Well, apparently there’s an Applicant Tracking System that a lot of these online application systems use. It automatically searches your resume for keywords related to the job description and other criteria. And it automatically moves all but a select few resumes into a black hole from which no human will ever review them. That probably explains why I got a number of rejection emails from positions I was perfectly qualified for (but I had not customized my resume for that exact position).

I also found out that there’s a website, www.jobscan.co , where candidates can enter the URL of the online job description as well as their resume, and the site will suggest changes to make to the resume to help it get past the ATS. I found out about all this at the end of my search, so I never tried it, but it seems worthwhile for anyone who is compelled to apply to jobs online (despite my advice!).

Lesson 6: Interviewing With Internal Recruiters is Different from Interviewing With Hiring Managers

Most of the companies I interviewed with had someone in their HR department acting as an internal recruiter. This person would do the first screening, typically a 30-minute phone interview.

Recruiters are professionals, and they can be tough cookies! They do this for a living and seem to be looking for an excuse to weed out candidates. After all, they want to pass along a small number of the most qualified candidates to the hiring manager. While they may ask the more challenging interview questions, they probably don’t know a lot about your role, so they probably won’t ask a lot of role-specific questions. I found they’d ask about commute length and my salary requirements. I tried the old “spin it around and try to get them to tell you the salary range first” trick, but recruiters won’t fall for that! So, I did end up telling these recruiters my salary requirements, which I think was a good thing and saved everyone some time because we could move on with our lives if compensation wasn’t a fit.

Once I got passed along to the hiring manager (typically the person the role reports to), interviewing was easier. Some hiring managers are good at interviewing and ask a lot of questions, and some aren’t. Some are a bit awkward and are more comfortable doing most of the talking. In either case, your job here is to build a relationship with this person and get them to like you. I don’t care what they’re supposed to do – people hire people that they like. Obviously, be prepared for all the hard interview questions (Dana helps with that too), but build rapport.

Importantly, I had a few anecdotes about success in my previous job that I’d find a way to work into the conversation. Kind of like a politician who gets a question in a debate and answers the question they wish they were asked instead (but hopefully less sleazy).

Lesson 7: Leverage External Recruiters (But Don’t Rely on Them)

In my last article, I wrote this about external recruiters (those working for a placement firm on behalf of clients who are hiring):

“I very quickly confirmed what I had suspected – recruiters are not working for me. They’re happy to put me into their database of potential candidates, but they are not actively seeking the perfect job for me. They’re paid by the employer, so their focus is on finding the right candidate for their client.”

This is still largely true, but I was fortunate enough this time to connect with a couple of recruiters who met me for coffee and learned about me and tried to help me. They are out there! And regardless, it’s good to get on the radar screen (and in the database) of any recruiter in your industry.

There’s an on/off button in LinkedIn where you can make your profile visible to recruiters – it’s a signal that you’re on the market. I don’t believe a single recruiter reached out to me this way. When I spoke with a couple of people in my network (happily employed marketing leaders), they mentioned that recruiters reach out to them a couple of times a week! I took two lessons from these conversations.

First, it seems the reason these friends get contacted by recruiters and I don’t is that they work for well-known brands that are “hot” in the industry. I have only ever worked for small companies that fly under the radar. Working for big brands has never been a draw for me – I only care about doing challenging work on a team of amazing people. I don’t care if no one has ever heard of the company. But this apparently works against me with recruiters (and probably some hiring managers as well).

I’ve also never really cared about my title, but I’m also realizing (at this late stage in my career) that the rest of the world does. I wish I had been more aware of these facts earlier in my career so I could have been more savvy in playing this game. Regardless, I’m happy with where I am so I suppose it doesn’t matter.

The second lesson I took from these conversations is that it pays to be friends with colleagues that are in roles similar to you, especially if they’re at well-known companies and you aren’t. Because these friends immediately introduced me to the recruiters that had been contacting them, and they also each told me about several job openings they’d heard about through these recruiters.

Lesson 8: Persist

I had one external recruiter tell me about a position that would be perfect for me, at a company on my targeted list! He had me make some changes to my resume for this role and told me he’d get it into their consideration list. A week went by – I reached out and didn’t hear back. Two weeks went by – same thing. After three weeks with no word, I reached out directly to the company through my LinkedIn network…and found that the company had never heard of me. They were eager to talk, and I did get through the HR phone screen before finding out we weren’t a compensation fit. But if I had given up after not hearing from the recruiter and if I hadn’t had the courage to go around him, I would have completely lost that opportunity.

For another position – perfect for me and at another targeted company – the internal recruiter went dark on me too. After reaching out several times, I finally bypassed her and went directly to the hiring manager. I was apologetic and careful in my approach, because this was risky. But it worked and I got a video interview with the hiring manager. (I ended up withdrawing from that opportunity because of the job offer I had received.)

Don’t take silence as a “no.” Be persistent and follow up with other people in the organization – what do you have to lose?

Lesson 9: The Devil is in the Details

I did a lot of things that either ensured that I appeared as buttoned up and professional as possible, or to make my life easier. In the latter category, I ended up picking out a “first interview dress” that I wore to every first interview. I only had two second interviews, but if that kept up, I would have designated a “second interview outfit” too. It just made it easier to not have to make that decision anew each time and not have to remember what I wore in fear that I’d accidentally wear it twice.

Of course, I arrived at each interview early (always good with Atlanta traffic and huge parking garages). Of course, I put my phone on silent during interviews. Of course, before video/Skype interviews, I ensured my technology worked, my background looked professional, and everyone in my house was quiet. And I wrote thank you notes to everyone I interviewed with (even phone interviews). I know a lot of people don’t care about that, but one hiring manager was effusive in his praise after receiving my note and said it made an impact on him. You never know.

For the job where I had two in-person interviews and they gave it to someone else (one of the positions I found online), I asked the hiring manager if there’s anything I could have done differently, because I’m always trying to learn and grow. If he had any suggestions, I would have eagerly taken them. He didn’t, but that question led to him introducing me to one of the two recruiters I met with who was very helpful. It doesn’t hurt to follow up with people even when you don’t get the job. And connect with them on LinkedIn, of course!

Once I had accepted a position, I sent individual emails to everyone in my network who had helped me along the way, thanking them again and ensuring they were the first to hear the news. Not only is this the right thing to do, it prevents awkwardness in case one of them were to pass along a job lead a month from now. (“Oops, I guess I forgot to mention that I got a job…”)

What Worked

So how did I find my new job? I read in one of the tech newsletters I subscribe to that E&Y was giving awards for Entrepreneur of the Year 2019 in the Southeast. I like working in entrepreneurial environments, and I like working for successful people. So, I went through that list and again found a number of B2B SaaS companies on it. For those companies, I found the finalists (mostly startup CEOs) on LinkedIn and sent them a connection request. I simply congratulated them on their award and asked if they’d be open to connecting. I had planned to send a second message to those who accepted my invitation, asking if they were looking for marketing leadership.

One of these CEOs had “We’re Hiring!” in his LinkedIn summary. Therefore, in my connection request, I added a sentence that said, “I see you’re hiring – if you’re looking for marketing leadership, please let me know.” He responded right away that they were indeed interested in talking. That was on July 3, and I received an offer to be their VP of Marketing on July 26. No job opening was ever posted. I had not ever heard of this company and knew no one who worked there, but I reached out directly and it worked.

I realize I was fortunate in this job search to know exactly what industry I wanted to be in, and to already have a solid network in place. Still, I hope this article and the previous one give you some ideas that will help with your job search. Please add any other tips you have in the comments. Thanks!