8 things i learned from the job hunt

I started the job hunt mid-August, less than two weeks later and I'm working a full time job that is beyond what I could have ever planned for myself. Going into applying for full time work, I mentally prepared myself for a long, tiring three months of trying to get a good fit for a job. Little did I know, it wouldn't nearly be that long. Nonetheless, these past 2 weeks have taught me loads. My blog has clearly been a side-note (I'm so sorry!), as I have spent every free waking moment scanning Job Postings, updating my LinkedIn, changing my resumes, writing cover letters... the list is never ending. Looking for full time work is hard work, it takes resilience, patience, and straight up determination. But it definitely isn't quite what everyone made it seem.

Stop listening to everyone else.
There is a long list of things people told me that they knew to be true that wasn't at all true for me. One word of advice was to apply for 100 jobs and set a realistic expectation of how many interviews to expect from that (she suggested 2 interviews as a realistic goal). If I applied for 100 jobs I would have went absolutely crazy. I would have lost my mind. Another word of advice was to apply for a broad range of related careers, to not just apply for specifically what I saw myself doing. I tried out that advice... but quickly realized if I actually got some of the jobs I applied for, I would have been miserable. Basically: hear everyone out, but follow the advice that sits well with you. You want a process that doesn't make you crazy, and you want a job in the end that you'll love- anything that leads you astray on either of those things perhaps you should reconsider listening to.

Excel is your best friend.

I never loved Excel so much in my life. I recommend keeping an Excel spreadsheet of all the jobs you are applying for and some basic information that will help you recall the job once you have applied for a ton of them. You may forget you applied for the job when a Recruiter contacts you a week later regarding the application, so preventing that kind of confusion is a good call.

Don't fear networking.
I definitely contacted a good chunk of people that had connections in the field of graphic design that I didn't ever imagine myself reconnecting with. Even if those connections don't pan out, you never know, it's worth a shot. Also, don't be too prideful to reject help or fear it. Ask advice from people in careers like the ones you are looking into, contact people you look up to and ask to hear their story. Network, network, network. At the very least, you'll learn a lot from others and open up doors for the future.

Resumes: make variations, use keywords.
I started out with one resume, and ended up with three. Make a few that vary in what the employer would be looking for in an employee. Perhaps have a really broad resume for a job a bit out of your ideal, specific field, and have one that is tailored to the exact career title you preferably want. Also, for medium to larger scale companies, add in keywords from the job posting into your resume. As you can imagine, they don't look at each individual resume but rather stick it into a database. Make sure your resume will pop up as a good fit for the job by tailoring your resume to the career.

Cover letters: Don't spend an hour writing one.
Learn from my mistakes. Make a few templates, write a couple pages that you can mix and match into cover letters, and don't spend all day long writing cover letters that people skim at most. If I learned anything, I learned that Resumes should say more than a Cover Letter does. It proves your passions right, it proves your determination and experience... a Cover Letter is all talk. Remember that.

Phone interviews: Don't over-prepare, don't dress up.
That one time I had a phone interview with a recruiter and I had 10 pages of written notes sprawled out across my bed. True story... and it did me no good. Didn't help at all. If anything, over-preparing will make you frantic and anxious. I've had phone interviews where I dressed up thinking trying to follow the articles online that suggest you dress professionally even if it's a phone interview, so that you in-turn act more professionally. I found that the phone interviews I did in my pajamas I did far better in. Take articles at face value (even this one).

Yoga.
Breathe. Take up yoga, if you are anything like me. But stop stressing, love. You'll find a job. You'll end up where you need to be. Stress will just add one some wrinkles, it won't bring you any luck.

Most importantly, stick to your gut.
Pursue the job you want, not what everyone else tells you to pursue. At the end of the day, stick to your gut. Because at the end of your life, you want to look back and be proud of the decisions you made, you want to know you made them because you knew they were right for you, not because someone told you to.