Thoughts on Job Searching

Here is an inspiring Ted Talk, helped me handle the rejection better after applying to many jobs. The book is even better, very funny, and engaging. It changed my perspective on every rejection I got.

I have outlined here the process I followed to get my next opportunity. Your scenario of job hunting may look very different than mine. I quit my job amid the pandemic of 2020 to take a mini-sabbatical, clear my head, establish family routines during quarantine times, rest up, and then venture into finding the right fit. Following are my reflections on the process I followed. I wanted to capture the process that worked for me for future. This process evolved over a few months through my interview process and going through the long process of interviews and rejections and eventual success!

Mental Preparation

  • Before I quit my job, I did a Google Sheet analysis of my monthly expenses, savings to give myself room to do my job search right. I calculated how long of a sabbatical I can take without worrying. This helps not panic or accept offers you know in your gut feeling, are not the right one for you. Out of desperation do not accept a job. You will perform poorly.

    • Be objective about "what is the magic number in your savings account?" The Google Sheet Analysis of monthly spending, retirement savings needed, and the annual savings rate to reach your retirement goal - you can backtrack your minimum viable salary. It will free you from comparing just on salary. It gave me the courage to consider offers where the salary was way below my current salary yet, the opportunity was of tremendous interest to me when I think about the learning and growth potential.

    • As an engineer, I like data driven decision making and objective measurements. So, this exercise was my way to answer the question of "How much is enough?". I wanted to objectively define "more" for my family.

  • Based on the above analysis contemplate the salary range you would be comfortable with accepting.

  • Define the job fit parameters - such as industries, startup vs established organization.

    • I have a healthcare domain knowledge so I deliberately looked for openings in Healthcare IT Organizations, startups and established organizations. And start-ups rooted in fundamental sciences such as analytical chemistry, physics etc..

  • Reflect and discuss with family whether moving across the country is ok or not. I was willing to relocate, so identified areas I am willing to relocate to - Seattle, Boston, Austin, and being San Diegan anything in Southern California.

  • Be prepared to handle rejection. The very first rejection will be hard on you. Trust me in a few days you will forget it happened to you. Just like you do not remember 3 weeks ago on a Friday what did you have for dinner, similarly the rejection pain fades away. Acknowledge, reflect, learn, reorient and move forward. Give yourself the room to be sad, contemplate areas of improvement, with time the pain of rejection fades away. The above Ted Talk by Jia Jiang helped me, I read the book as well. It helped me understand Rejection is an opinion, does not define me. I moved on very quickly to other interesting opportunities. In retrospect, I am glad all the jobs I did not get. Since the one I got, I am falling in love. And would not have arrived, if I got the very first one!

Job Search Process

  • Download LinkedIn App on your smartphone.

  • Create a Job Search Agent with title, locations, and add an automated daily notification for the new in the past 24 hours.

  • Daily scan the new openings, and anyone who has an "Easy Apply" button do not hesitate, apply!

  • Create a Job Application Tracking System using Google Sheet with the following columns

    • Job Title (Create a link in the Google Sheet Cell - linked to the Online Job Ad)

    • Company

    • Location

    • Application Date

      • I created the following Template. Feel free to make a copy and use it for yourself.

  • Create a Google Drive with a folder for every Cover Letter you wrote for each of the companies.

    • Name the Google Doc with the company name for easy scan and reference.

  • Use a calendar app on your smartphone to plan your interviews. Add every meeting with the recruiter, engineering team member, hiring managers to a Google Calendar.

    • Since due to pandemic 2020 WFH all are at home, add to your better half's calendar as well to help coordinate lunch efforts for your kids, while you interview.

    • Daily when you wake up scan your calendar for an upcoming interview and prepare your family's needs around your schedule.

  • Sometimes recruiters are organized to send the calendar invite that will show up on your personal Google Calendar. But if the recruiter did not send such an invite, turn the message arrived into a calendar event.

  • Organize your past project notes on a Spreadsheet. Make a spreadsheet of your past projects and added reflection notes of my accomplishments, challenges, etc. Review/Reflect/Edit often as you go through the interview process and stumble upon a unique question you never thought of or prepared for.

    • Add the what/why/how/when - and what was your contribution to it? And reflect on how your contribution led to its success. Also, have projects you failed at and learned to pivot to a new one, what lessons did you carry forward?

    • This deliberate approach to organize your thoughts in a spreadsheet will help you in preparing answers which are thoughtful and you won't ramble on.

  • Create a physical binder of all the job descriptions for the interviews you will attend. I usually have the job description and specific questions to ask scribbled on the paper and I also use to jot down notes that are unique to this organization for later reference purposes.

  • Make sure during your initial phone screen with the recruiter you have the job description printed and ask for salary range and benefits and the whole process of the interview.

  • I bought a 2 min timer - mini hourglass with sand, a 2 min timer. During my initial rounds of interviews, I used this to limit my rambling. Since I was interviewing after 17 years, without practice, initial interviews were a disaster. But worry not, reflect - you know in the heart things you bombed, you did not know, you are shaky about. Proactively fix them before the next interview.

  • Make a habit of applying for at least one job daily. Put yourself out there daily, despite your resume landing in a black hole. Trust me, people read interesting resumes and give you a chance, if you have built enough career capital.

    • “If you try, you risk failure. If you don't try, you ensure failure.” ~ Author unknown

    • So don't overthink. I applied to jobs, I neither knew the industry nor the tech stack. But in the process, I met so many great people, learned about their products, attended technical challenges which made me learn new things under two days. It was fun!

Before the Interview

  • Ensure you printed out the job description.

  • For every person in your panel, review their LinkedIn profile to study the nature of their job and anticipate what kind of questions they might ask.

  • For each interviewer have specific questions prepared to ask.

During the Interview

  • Join the interview 10 min early, to navigate Microsoft teams, zoom, google hangout issues, etc. This helps you situate the video camera, background, and ensure you have time to settle in. Once you are ready, mute the microphone and turn off the video camera and just wait for the interviewer to show up.

  • Have the job description print out handy.

  • Have a pencil nearby, I had a lot of system design questions deep into the process, I kept a stack of printer paper to draw and display to them what I drew.

  • If you had a coding challenge submission, have your GitHub code and submission document handy. Since they will be asking you relevant questions related to the documents submitted. You don't want to look disorganized, have everything the interviewer might need.

  • Be genuine about your answers, things you did not do - do not wing it. During the short interview, you cannot keep the story straight if you are making things up. So the easiest approach would be to pause, think about the closest experience that would be interesting to the person interviewing. I changed what I shared, based on the audience - engineers, product managers, HR managers, each I shared something relevant to their expertise and interest.

  • At the end of the video interview sincerely thank them for their time to come and speak with you.

After the interview

  • Promptly thank the HR business partner who helped coordinate the meetings

  • Thank the interview panel if you know their email address, else send the short message to the talent acquisition team, and request them to forward it. Add any specific anecdote which was insightful, engaging and you enjoyed learning about them or the company. It's my way of letting them know beyond a scripted thank you note, how much I enjoyed and exactly which parts did I enjoy the most.

  • Be patient, don't rush the recruiters to hurry to let you know the answers unless you have another offer and would like to know the pending outcome.

My Retrospective on my Job Search Journey

  • Apply to all the closely matching jobs, I practiced my delivery with numerous recruiters over time. Shedding any confusion I had with every awkward conversation I made. Be aware of which questions make you uncomfortable, why and then practice those questions with every new recruiter who asks you. As the months went by, I became more and more self-confident in my delivery.

    • Those awkward questions are key to understanding whether you will be successful in that job or not. I realized, later on, the questions I stumbled upon mattered to the organization. And I realized in retrospect, that area of expertise I do not have, and neither I am interested in learning. Slowly I started paying attention to all those odd conversations and reflecting on whether I would truly love the job.

    • So after every interview think back to things you stumbled upon and how would you improve next time. Do you want to improve at all in that area? Ask yourself honestly to take the next steps.

      • In some cases, I did want to improve, so read a few whole books brushing my fundamental concepts. And I am glad I did, the following interviews were smooth sailing. So pay close attention to your fumbles!

  • Be prompt to reply to any recruiter within 30 mins of their email if possible. Since I was not working, I set up a notification on my Gmail on the smartphone. I used I always answered promptly. Never let the other side wait longer. Respect their time by replying promptly. It helps the recruiter arrange meetings quickly, figure out the logistics of the next steps quickly.

      • Note - being a digital minimalist (Thanks to Cal Newport's book - Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World )- most of the time my phone has notification off most of my productive time. But during this time of job hunting, I intentionally deployed technology to aid my Job Search. LinkedIn App, Gmail (with notification), Google Calendar(with notification) were the tools of choice for my job hunting.

    • Rule of thumb I followed:

      • Be nice to everybody - despite their job title - from recruiter to engineers who will report to you to your hiring manager. Always be kind and nice.

      • There will be times, where the interviewer is clearly having a bad day and is snarky, forgive them, give them the benefit of doubt that due to the pandemic 2020 they are having a bad day. Send them good vibes but maintain positive energy.

      • Send Thanks even if you did not enjoy the interview. Be grateful that despite their mountain of a to-do list and JIRA tasks, they spend time to get to know you.

  • After every interview I did not do well, reflect and be brutally honest about, where did your stumble, was the depth of certain subjects discussed shallow - right after the interview make a checklist and conquer them soon. Do not repeat the mistake. Do not wallow in regret, just move on.

  • Halfway through my interview process, I made it a self-improvement exercise. I started asking the interviewer this final question. Especially to interviewers - who might be my future peers.

    • I asked - "If you were my mentor at XYZ, what advice would you give me to be successful at XYZ?"

      • The answers were fascinating, it showed the confusion the current organization has in processes to some very insightful and thought-provoking answers that you can learn from in general.

  • Believe the end outcome will be the right one for you, have faith. I focussed on daily learning and improvement from each interaction I had with a stranger in the recruitment process. Explored new concepts, businesses, topics mentioned during the interview.

    • Every technical challenge I had to submit, became my journey of learning opportunity. Whether it is a new python package, new frameworks, or whatnot. I committed the code to my GitHub repo as I deconstructed the new concept.

    • I focussed on the practice of working towards finding my next adventure irrespective of the outcome. It is fun!

Acknowledgements

  • Grateful to have a family who is supporting, encouraging, and true believers in me! My crazy, cute family of learners. The beauty of family spread across the globe and timezones - somebody is awake to listen to you. You have a dose of motivation, loving, and caring voice one video call away! 🙏

  • Forever in gratitude to my professors, coworkers, classmates and career counselors - for their generosity of time for quickly submitting the reference checks. 🙏

  • I am grateful I worked at DentalXChange, HealthFusion, Inc, Foresee Medical. I am humbled and in awe at the kindness and generosity of my past coworkers for giving me a recommendation during the last phases of the job application.

  • I am grateful I went to the Rady School of Management here at UCSD and our paths crossed. I came to know the following wonderful people and many more I have come to call my RadyFam. 💕

  • Thank you Robert Gadner 🙏. You have been my "Master Yoda" and role model for engineering leadership. I am grateful that you hired me back in 2000 and you were my first Boss. My career would not shape up the way it has, if it was not for your mentoring and guidance.

  • Thank you Linda Kurtz. 🙏 Your guidance during my decision time to quit a job, helping me craft a cover letter, the resume that showcases my career accomplishments was invaluable. Thank you for your Wednesday office hours!

  • Thank you Jasleen Kaur. 🙏 Your system of job application tracking system helped put the method to the madness of too many job applications and their many ongoing statuses. And grateful to you for your advice on self-reflection post-interview.

  • Thank you Katy McCowen. 🙏 Thank you for being there when I felt most vulnerable and full of self-doubt. You were the strong voice who superseded my negative self-talk and brought back my self-confidence. Eternally grateful to you for giving me the confidence to jump-start my job search after the mini-break.

Resources

  • https://www.oreilly.com/ ( Get a monthly subscription to this resource. If you are a UCSD current or recent former student, you have this resource through the library system. Use your UCSD SSO credentials to login to safaribooksonline.). This was my best resource to listen to tech talks, conferences, O'reilly Books on various technical and management topics.

  • Feel free to copy the following google sheet template and customize according to your need.

    • Job Application Tracking Sheet For every job you will apply, add the job description link to the sheet and the date applied.

    • Household Expense Analysis - Do an approximate analysis. Review your old credit card statement to get an approximate number for food, gas, entertainment, etc. etc. This is to help answer "How much is enough?".

    • Amazon Leadership Principle(LP) Worksheet Template - for each of the Amazon LP, reflect on your career and find stories that demonstrates the essence of the LP. Add three such story per leadership principle. This is a good subjective thought experiment and reflection to help prepare for the behavioral interview part. My personal observation was most of the companies behavioral questions revolve around these fundamental principles.

    • Software Engineering Leadership Questions List - Additional Questions captured from Glassdoor Interview Site.

  • Following resources helped me with the technical part of the interview.