I’ve compiled a few steps that I think are helpful to creating the front end funnel of a job hunting process. I found that as a young person open to a lot of options, I didn’t find many resources that weren’t geared toward a job search with just one title in mind.

The goal is that:

(85% of open positions are filled through networking; 70% of positions are never even listed online)

Process

Setting a process will ideally help you manage your time without feeling overwhelmed.

  1. Set up a time span and expectations for job hunting. You should devote at least three hours a week and several hours a day to this process, in my opinion. Set up constraints for yourself so you can understand how your search is going.
  2. Think through what you do and don’t know about what you want in a job. You want to form three categories: things I know I want in my job, things I don’t know I want in my job (but can figure out/ will have opinions on), and things you don’t know or don’t have opinions on (and are open to anything on).
    1. For example: my process looked something like this. I know that I want a flexible learning environment that allows me to establish connections with thoughtful people I really admire and I know I want a really good direct manager that I chat with really often, I don’t know but can figure out what position titles this may encompass, across a number of industries, and I don’t know but don’t care to make a decision across a number of large cities that I’d be fine working in.
    2. In short, consider: hard constraints (job location, hours per week, paid time off, salary bracket that’s feasible for you, healthcare), soft things you want the job to help you develop (understanding of what x job in x industry looks like, ability to move to other similar jobs, project management skills, qualifications with certain tools, or maybe just potential for 1:1 mentorship from a manager who you find deeply admirable/the best person to teach you about an industry), and ideas, problems, and work you find fun, engaging, meaningful, etc (maybe you really care about eco sustainability, or opera being perpetuated and integrated in fine arts curriculum, or furthering human rights causes*)
      1. ** Having general questions that you think are interesting helps you tell your friends who know you well about specific things you think are interesting. Occasionally super specific projects pop up and you’ll be the first to come to mind, or people will be better at thinking through what organizations they know that do this work!
  3. Reach out to your friends who are thoughtful and work in the professional world. It can be anyone! Compose a small blurb about what you’re looking for - maybe something like, “Hey (friend) - I’m job hunting at the moment and looking consider new organizations / positions especially ones suggested by friends who know me well. I’m looking for positions that allow me x, but most importantly x - If anything comes to mind that I should look into, I’d love to hear about it. Also, if you have any friends who I should chat with as I build up as I explore, I’m happy to send you info if you feel up to making an introduction!”
    1. *there’s a bunch of ways to adjust this ofc but this is the general gist. Context, criteria, open ask for suggestions of organizations and positions, and making sure it’s easy for them to help you.
  4. Create a google doc page to track the tips and suggestions you’re given. The general goal here is to keep track of everything here at a high level, and take notes as you learn more about each opportunity, and make sure you’re following up with them in the necessary ways.

Here’s a very messy example of how I ran my last job search in 2020.

Here’s a very messy example of how I ran my last job search in 2020.

  1. Set up calls, and create next steps to follow up on all the leads you’re given.

    1. If someone gives you a really helpful answer, and you think they’d be open, ask them if they can jump on a quick call and if they have any other advice, or how they got their previous jobs, or to where they are in their career generally.

    2. Once someone directs you to a place of employment, research what they do. Linkedin stalk their employees and see what their position titles are and what experience they had previously. Google the job titles and “daily responsibilities” to get an idea of what you’d do. Look up the organizations on glassdoor to see if employees have left negative reviews and to get an idea of the salary bracket. See if you have any mutual connections, or one away connections with people at those employers. (remember that a lot of people unexpectedly have sway in hiring at their organization, casual conversations are great but don’t forget that they could advocate for hiring for you if you seem like a great fit, so general rules of professional convos are good)

      • Some good questions to ask

    3. Set up calls with people at the organization in question. Send them calendar invites and follow up when you’re done with polite emails. The calls can just be to learn about the role they hold, how they got to where they are if their job sounds interesting, or to ask if they know if any of the teams are hiring internally. even if they have no job listings there’s a 50% or higher chance they have at least one position open.

      <aside> 💡 When having calls with people who are more senior than you, don’t be afraid to talk more generally about ideas in the problem space you work in. If you can demonstrate your awareness about how the field is developing, technical innovations, etc - you might be able to establish greater trust. One great way to do this is read about their work, and ask a question at the intersection of their work and your own expertise, to avoid questions they get asked often. Ex: ‘I read your work on applying machine learning to identify abnormal activity in the financial industry. We always had problems with people playing games with bots at my job in the gaming industry - have you seen people applying similar technology to that application? or ‘It’s amazing that you helped fundraise the costs for this organization, with my previous non-profit work on food security, we found outreach especially hard across so many generations with different default modes of communication - how did you approach that?’

      </aside>

    4. Keep doing your own research to expand your ‘top of funnel’ (early leads) as well. Search positions and for organizations generally doing work similar to what you like. Look at competitors to organizations you find interesting, and apply there too (knowledge from other organizations doing similar work will also give you a leg up when chatting with the team)!

  2. The goal is to then create a list of organizations you’re interviewing at, and run “processes” with them at the same time. You should talk to multiple people in the org, have an idea of what person or people would be your manager and meet them, and know what your month over month performance indicators of success would be. As I mentioned at the beginning, this also increases your success at finding a great job - the more you chat with managers and hear how people answer questions, the better you’ll know which team has the most to offer you.
    1. How to easily multiply your chances at succeeding at an interview without being any smarter:
      • Strategically email adjacent people and gather information in advance
      • Research the organization and what they need, their teams internally, and try and present this to establish trust and your ability to pro-actively show them that you can take initiative (a little goes a long way, but I've heard of people entirely pitching projects to companies to solve problems that they guessed the company had based off of their research)