Hey! This is my first post and as the title reads, I'm drained after 5 months of continuous job hunting. Applying to over 300+ companies, reaching out on LinkedIn, and all the other job-hunting tactics required daily starts getting to you after awhile, so I'm looking at maybe learning some methods people have used to shake up those feelings? For instance, I'm not really interested or can focus on personal projects because of the stress of worrying about finding a job (and paying off loans soon), and whenever I do list a personal project on my resume, it never comes up in an interview so I feel "what's the point". I would love to find joy again working on personal projects like how I used to a few months ago.
My current routine is:
- Wake up, down a glass of water, head to the gym
- Shower and get myself ready
- Eat
- Do work on the computer
- Play Pokemon Go
- Do work on the computer
- Eat
- Sleep
Thanks for any input you might have!
Top comments (3)
Hi Anthony,
Sorry to hear about your troubles landing that first tech job. It is definitely a challenge and can be demoralizing when the process takes a long time. But fear not, your first job isn't far away. If you are getting interviews, then you are on the right track. Also, in my years of experience it takes a good 2+ months of flooding the job pipeline before something truly tangible comes up.
Here is some advice I gave a job candidate in a similar situation as yourself
Change your routine. (ie when you go to the gym, when you're looking for jobs, etc)
Constantly review your resume to see if you are being clear about your knowledge & accomplishments
Reflect on how you responded to questions during your interviews to see if you can make your answers more clear & direct
As you apply to positions you like, consider creating a side projects around the technology the job reqs is asking for so you can become familiar with it
Work with a recruiter, attend job fairs and go to meet ups around the technologies you like
Look at jobs outside of your geographic area, but include a note to the hiring manager for why you're looking to move there.
You have to be like an athlete that trains their body everyday. Meaning, you have to be coding or involving yourself in the practices of software development every day. You have to show you're putting in the time honing & improving your skills (a la GitHub projects or a live site or blogging). You can't expect to hit the ground running without being prepared. Plus if you are solving problems everyday, then you'll have more to speak about in your interviews.
Here is what I mean by software development practices
Once you start doing this, you'll look at job reqs differently and come into interviews more prepared.
Hey Anthony. Unfortunately, job hunting like you are doing is not the best approach... The best positions are not filled this way...
I feel sad that you are not interested in personal projects. Those are the ones that will get you the best jobs! The fact that they don't show up in job interviews is irrelevant: they will get you the best interviews, to begin with!
The best positions are filled from people that are trusted before the position is even available.
And YOU can create this trust for yourself.
Personal projects, blogs, videos, presentations, participating in open source projects, networking on user groups: those are some of the ways you can create trust.
My suggestion is that you spend most of your time focusing on doing the great things that will make you a trustworthy developer. That way, you won't have to "shake those bad feelings". On the contrary, those are fun things to do, and the ones that work!
To help you out, I even wrote a book about it, explaining the real process of getting the best jobs. You can get it on Amazon, or get a free PDF version.
Good luck!
Hey! To apply for IT/Tech positions, I leave you the referral link to Outdefine, our job board with several remote job searches open for IT or Tech profiles with different levels of seniority in different areas (marketing/software/development, UX and +), in case anyone is interested or knows someone with a tech profile who needs a job: outdefine.com/r/JulietaCura-4363
You can find many jobs for technical and not so technical, but digital profiles too. And you can also get rewards in tokens on the platform, connect with our community of professionals and companies in the Community section, and it's free to use, of course!