Treat your tech career like a sales cycle: How to land your dream job.

Navigating the tech industry is an art similar to being a great sales executive. It would be best if you crafted your skill and focus. This edition is dedicated to 2023 and new beginnings for many women of color searching for new opportunities in the tech industry. Some readers may be looking for their first tech job, some experiencing a layoff, and others are just flat-out ready for an exciting opportunity to bring joy and give them a new challenge.

The Ambitious Woman Tech Job Hunting Playbook

1. Identify your niche - when people are looking for jobs, the worse thing you can do is apply to everything and hope the perfect job comes your way. Don't do this. Instead, outline the projects, programs, and moments you experienced a win or felt good about your day-to-day efforts. Write those moments down.
2. Determine your skillsets - Within the success moments, identify the type of skillset you possessed when executing the project. Ask yourself, am I the best at this? Would I hire me for this role? For example, if you run executive events for startups, you feel joy every time you craft a new experience for a customer; you look around at your work and it matters to you everyday. Then you should aim to enhance you career in this. Start researching companies that value your skillset and look for the opportunity.
3. Define your morals - What are aspects of your past company's culture that you valued, and what are things you cannot tollerate? This is important, if you are currently in a toxic culture, do yourself a favor and don't run into another bad situation or company. Take the time out to understand the environments that you thrive in and the type of people you need to be around in order to show up as your best self. This will help you in the long run and allow you to find success quicker.
4. Determine the company benefits that matter- Ask yourself where you are in life. Do you have a family and need a proper work-life balance? Are you seeking brand credibility? Do you thrive in the start-up world or in fully established companies? Do you need structure, or do you want to create the playbook? Is money extremely important, or is flexibility necessary? You must write down the things you need and things you can be flexible with. This way you develop a healthy pipeline of potential opportunities.
5. Engage with your network and nurture new leads- Once you know what you would like your next role to be leverage your network. Referrals are the best and if you are direct on what you want your network is more than happy to send introductions, submit referrals, and advocate for you. PLEASE BE SURE TO USE YOUR NETWORK WISELY. DO NOT REACH OUT TO YOUR NETWORK IF YOU HAVE NO DIRECTION ON WHAT YOU WANT. Work on nurturing your "leads" future colleagues, managers, mentors etc. Finding the right company and opportunity may take time but so is closing a multi million dollar deal. Treat it as if your an enterprise account executive working with 4-5 strategic accounts, this relationship may take sometime but if done right and strategically when you close the deal in this case land the job imagine satisfied you will be.
6. Prepare and constantly develop - The journey never stops, you get better everyday and new opportunities will present themselves when you identify your strengths and craft your art. Don't get discouraged if things aren't going as fast as you would like them to be. Learn something in every situation. Learn to focus and create your own opportunities.

Always outline your vision on where you want to be, be open to adjustements, and most importantly trust the journey and keep a positive outlook.

You got this, be you, and aspire to reach your full potential in TECH.

From your one and only Kalina M. Bryant ????

As always, if you are in search of a community of people who will support you, give you resources and uplift you, be sure to join the?Unapologetech Circle Community.