Applying for jobs (especially in 20204) sucks. Here are some tips to make it not suck so much.
Don’t apply for jobs all day
No seriously, don’t do it. Block time for applications and put a hard limit.
You’ve heard it and I’ve probably said it out loud at some point too, “Job hunting is a full-time job”. In my opinion, tenacity & will power can only get you so far in a tough job market, burnout will eventually win from the constant application rejections and ghostings.
To help prevent burnout, I personally capped my job applications to only 2 hours total during the week day. One hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon.
I didn’t find it useful to apply for jobs all day, there are only so many relevant applications I could apply for anyway. Applying for anything completely outside the scope of my skill set was just a waste of time.
Network, network, network?
Your network can be a great asset if they are hiring, but not when they are also looking for jobs in a tough market. With that said, domain knowledge and expertise within your network are still extremely valuable.
I leaned very heavily on my peers for portfolio and interview advice. I made sure I wasn’t making decisions about my portfolio in a vacuum. I took several people’s advice and iterated over my case studies and presentations where it made sense to make the changes.
My take on custom resumes & cover letters, as a recruiter
Allow me to put on my technical recruiter “hat” for this one.
I've found that targeted, custom resumes and cover letters are largely useless. Too many tools that promise more interviews if you just subscribe. The noise around resumes has gotten out of control.
When I was a design/developer recruiter, I did look for certain "keywords" in candidates' resumes for the positions I was hiring for. However, as a candidate, trying to stuff your resume with keywords is a losing battle.
You're competing against mediocre AI tools that can simply morph someone else's resume to fit the job description.
Personally, I believe the best approach is to simply present your actual skill set and current experience. As long as you meet most of the job requirements, just apply with a generic resume.
As for cover letters, I only ever crafted and customized one, for a designer position that a colleague had referred me to. And I only did it because someone was vouching for me - otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered with a cover letter at all. Unsurprisingly, I ended up getting rejected for that role.
So my advice as a recruiter is to skip the cover letters entirely. Honestly, I never really read them when I was recruiting. There are tools out there that can automatically generate cover letters for you, but when it only takes a single click to produce one, it kind of defeats the whole purpose and makes the cover letter meaningless.
My Job Application Numbers in 2024
Let's get down to the brass tacks - that’s right, a Sankey Chart.
As a former recruiter, I'm appalled by these numbers. As a current Product Designer, I'm appalled at the user experience when it comes to applying for jobs.
There's a part of me that wants to design an applicant tracking system that doesn't actually suck.
It's almost like companies want as much friction in their job application process. There are exceptions though, as Ashby and Lever seem to be great.
The most glaring number from the chart is the fact that 156 companies couldn't even be bothered to tell me to f**k off.
One last note about the 241 applications, I could have easily doubled that number, I just didn’t see the point in applying for jobs well beyond my YOE or skill set even though the role title was what I was looking for.
Job Search Hacks
First hack: Learn boolean search and x-ray searching for specific job boards and filter jobs based on how long ago they were posted.
Yes, you can sort results on Google.
The sooner you can apply after a job has been posted, I think it increases your chances of getting an interview. There’s a good number of sites that can help you generate boolean combinations for search engines.
If you’re not familiar with boolean/x-ray searches, here’s a simple example:
- "Product designer" site:jobs.ashbyhq.com united states remote
You can add different operators (AND / OR) in your search term to define specific results.
There are a number of modern job boards that are indexed by Google instead of waiting for LinkedIn to recommend jobs. I often found open positions through boolean searching, usually two or three days before LinkedIn even recommended them to me, and by then, hundreds of people had already clicked the link.
Second hack: I had set a few arbitrary rules for myself - I only applied to jobs that met these specific requirements:
- Freshly posted within 24 hours (if remote)
- Jobs that are a few days old to one week if local to my city / state
Third hack: Job requirements are largely arbitrary (there are a few exceptions), and statistically speaking women and minorities are less likely to apply for a job that they don’t meet 100% of the requirements. Basically, I just had to get close to the job requirements (60-70%) when deciding whether to send my application or not.
While I encourage everyone to apply for jobs that aren’t 100% fit, that doesn’t mean if a job requires 10+ YOE and you have 2, it’s a “good” enough fit.
Use common sense.
Treat each interview as a learning tool
I’ve read a handful of posts on social media about candidates sending out 800-1,000 job applications without any success. Firstly, I’m shocked that there are even 1,000 positions worth applying to?
I think at some point, you have to start thinking about maybe the problem isn’t with the ATS or recruiters, maybe it’s your resume?
If you’re not getting any screens after 50 submissions, change the format a bit. My interview rate (recruiter screen only) for the Product Designer roles I applied to was around 5%. I made sure to make every single recruiter screen count.
There are many variables completely out of my control when it comes to recruiter screens, and an important one is how well a recruiter can convey my skill set to the hiring manager. I worked hard on the clarity of my language during those interviews.
Here are problem / solutions for each stage of the job application process:
- Not getting recruiter screens? Think about adjusting your resume format / content slightly
- Not getting past recruiter screening? Think about the delivery of your design experience
- Not getting past Hiring Manager screening? Frame how your design skills can solve user problems
- Not getting past Panel Interviews? Think about how to tell a story with your case study presentation
Lastly, be kind to yourself
The job market for tech has been incredibly tough over the last few years. Take care of your mental health and make sure to touch grass as often as you can. Getting rejected for a position after going through rounds of interviews can be tough, but it’s not a reflection of your self worth.
kthxbai.