So, last week I signed a contract for a 2 month UX design role with a small company who is helping develop an app for a customer of theirs. Unsurprisingly, after signing NDA’s and the contract, I can’t and won’t go into any more specific than that. So, I am ecstatic that I am gainfully employed, even if it only ends up being for the initial 60 day contract. I think there may be the opportunity for more work after this contract expires, but there is not a guarantee for that. Fingers crossed that my client is happy with the work I provide, and decides to bring me on to other projects.
That being said, I had been in the process of looking for a job for almost 11 months. I have eaten through savings and am now looking to start rebuilding the nest-egg for when I am older and even more decrepit (my feet are shit, yo.) So I asked my good friend ChatGPT to generate 20 questions for me to answer concerning the “Modern Job Search.”
Disclaimer: I am not a recruiter or a job application specialist. I have no expertise in the process of getting jobs or hiring people. I do have experience in applying for jobs in the modern work landscape, but experience does not always equal expertise. That being said, I have opinions.
So let’s get to the questions… Allons-y!
1: What are the key differences between searching for a job today and a decade ago?
There are differences between searching for a job today and searching for one 2 years ago. The job market landscape has changed immeasurably in the last 24 months. The resume format I used in November ‘22 to get a job and multiple interviews (and a couple of offers I did not take), did not seem to even get a sniff in this most recent job search. The only thing I can think of that is truly different is the number of applicants to jobs has exploded due to the ability for people to work remotely. This explosion had had a couple of effects:
The volume of applications being submitted means that humans are no longer the first first filter for applications. Some kind of algorithm/expert system is being used to do the initial screening for applicants. There are many issues associated with this but the biggest ones is that your resume needs to be machine readable as well as humanly compelling. Creative resumes are no longer useful tools to set you apart from other candidates.
It causes choice paralysis for the talent acquisition folks and hiring managers. Have they seen application packages that would be a good fit for the job they are trying to fill? Yes…. but is there a better, more perfect candidate fit for their special unique role out there just around the corner who just hasn’t submitted their amazing purple unicorn resume yet? Maybe…. So I think we should wait and see if someone better comes along.
2: How has technology changed the way we look for jobs and how employers find candidates?
As I mentioned above, There is a new reliance of algorithms to do the initial screening.
3: What role do social media platforms (besides LinkedIn) play in the job search process? How can candidates leverage platforms like X, Instagram, or even TikTok for job hunting?
Networking is everything right now. Leveraging every network you have. Social media, church, parents of your kids’ extra-curricular activities, family, the butcher at your grocery store… anywhere. Can X or Mastodon help you get a job? Yeah, ithey can. It just has to be the correct person running across your information.
4: How effective are online job boards and websites compared to networking and referrals?
I think that online job boards and websites are piss poor at connecting people to jobs at the moment. I had been on my job search for, let just say 660 days, that’s 11 30 month days. I was applying online to, on average, 3 jobs a day for that entire time. That’s just under 1000 job applications, Imma round up to 1000 to make the maths easier (heyo my British reader!). Of those 1000 applications I got initial around 15 initial screening interviews (interviews with a HR person from the company who is not the hiring manager). Of those 15 screening interviews, 7 ghosted me, 3 got me to the next step, and 5 get the dreaded “thanks but no thanks” email. Aside from those “thanks buy no thanks emails” I think I got about 500 other emails gently letting me down as well, but the other 500 applications went into the ether never to be heard from again. So… a 1.5% return rate on applications to interviews. That is not a great return rate. (DISCLAIMER: I am a good UX designer. I am not the most amazing designer out there, but I did get some design accolades from previous places I have worked, and some of those designs, when put into production, had significant measurable results. Again, not the best, but solid).
Conversely, I got about 20 interviews via networking or working with a recruiter who has an established professional hiring network.
Network was extremely more effective. The contract I have right now is due to a conversation I had with a friend of a friend of my brother, and completely side-stepped the application process.
5: What are some common mistakes job seekers make when applying for jobs online?
It’s not personal. It feels like it is, but it isn’t. If you can, apply directly from the company website for the position. I have never heard of anyone getting a job from appling though Indeed or via the LinkedIn quick apply process. Go to the source. Sometimes the position that is being advertised on LinkedIn or Indeed is no longer a valid posting, and the employer site is the only one that knows that for sure.
6: How can candidates avoid being filtered out by applicant tracking systems (ATS)?
That is a fantastic question. The only methods I have hear is to constantly and consistently tailor your resume to include the exact verbiage of the position description. There is a difference between your resume saying that you have experience with all online wireframing tools and your resume saying “5 years experience with Figma.” Other than that, it is a crap-shoot.
7: What are the pros and cons of using a recruitment agency or headhunter? In what situations might it be beneficial to work with a recruiter?
There are mainly pros (if you live in the US and have a partner who already has benefits). Recruiters build up relations with hiring managers and are therefore already a filtering agent for hiring managers. Recruiters are not going to put candidates in front of their carefully maintained network for potential contract holders if they do not feel that candidate is an appropriate one and hiring managers know that. You have a better chance of landing an interview and therefore a job by working with a recruiter or recruiting service.
The issue with working through a recruiter or a staffing agency is that often you are not hired directly by the company that you are actually doing the work for. Staffing agencies often have benefits for their contractors, but those are often not great. I feel like I have a good rapport with the primary staffing agency recruiter I work with. She was not able to help me land a job this time around, but she has been instrumental other times.
8: How has remote work influenced job search strategies?
Remote work has opened up a whole world of possibilities. Both employers and candidates are not geographically limited now.
9: What should job seekers consider when looking for remote positions versus in-office roles?
In interviews, the candidate should ask about how communication is maintained and how conflicts are resolved remotely. Basically find out how the remote teams stay connected and how they deal with adversity.
10: What are the most critical soft skills that employers are looking for in 2024?
Communication. Ability to convey ideas to peers, clinets, customers, dev teams, and executives.
11: How can job seekers effectively demonstrate these skills during the application and interview process?
Easier said than done. Have effective presentations ready. Make sure you have practiced them enough that you don’t actually need to follow the script, so to speak. Have a solid portfolio (if that is the kind of work you do)
12: Should candidates tailor their resumes to better align with specific job postings?
Yes, but it is harder to do that than one might think. If you have the time and energy, tailoring your resume each and every time is a good tactic to hopeful get past the ATS’s. However if we take the example of my journey this employment go round, it is inefficient to modify your resume 1000 times. I would suggest having different flavors of resume. This one is more for jobs where you are a stand alone provider, this resume is better for leadership positions, this one focuses more on your creativity and personality, etc… I have about 4 different flavors of resume in my Google Drive right now.
13: What role does continuing education and professional development play in the job search?
Not as much of an issue as an employment gap. Continuing ed and publishing/presentations are very important, but some employers do not want to see that, because those activities take away from the focus on getting shit done in your job. Weirdly enough, some employers do not want thought leaders or innovators.
14: How should job seekers approach salary negotiations in today’s economic climate?
Same as it ever has been. Try not to be the first to blink for naming an expected salary. It is complete bullshit though. The employer should post a salary range in the job description. It is really poor form not to.
15: What impact do company culture and values have on job seekers’ decisions today? How can candidates assess a potential employer's culture during the hiring process?
Both the employer and candidate have near limitless opportunities (in some regards) for choice of position. The employers manifest this in looking for the purple unicorn candidate and have to deal with paralysis of choice. Candidates should also be using this (if they have the capability to survive being between jobs) to not take jobs that seem to be populated by toxic people or organizations. There is a company named after a South American river basin that asked a friend of mine to jump through so many hoops in the hiring process (hours and hours {potentially days worth} of homework and prep in their 5 step interviewing process) for a UX researcher position that my friend withdrew their candidacy for the position because of work/life balance issues that they could see rearing their ugly head if they were offered and took the job.
Look at how the company schedules their interviews with you. How many people are associated with the hiring process. If you worked at the company would you want to be on the other side of the table during another hiring process. How much time is wasted in the interview process? Is the employer comfortable enough to let you talk to their employees unsupervised?
16: How can networking be leveraged effectively without feeling disingenuous or transactional? What are some authentic ways to build and maintain professional relationships?
This is a great question since networking seems so transactional. When you reach out to someone for networking purposes, your network people understand that it is for networking purposes, and they know that they can reach out to you as well. It is a transactional interaction, but that is OK. When I have approached people in my network that I don’t typically keep contact with (Hey, Mackenzie! You da best!),I always tell them about what I miss about working. I miss the camaraderie and the conversations, and when I reach out, I am honestly reaching out for human conversational purposes. They know I am looking for a job, but I really am trying to just have a human connection. I love my doggos, but they are terrible conversationalists and even worse coworkers. Come up with a reason to interact with the person that is beyond, “Hey… you get me a job? Cause I needs job.”
I hate networking. With a passion. Mackenzie knows that when I reached out to her, it was to shake the network tree, but hopefully she knows that even though we did not work directly with each other, I respect the hell out of her and her capabilities. We talked about if there is an actual difference between Customer Experience and User Experience beyond different buzzwords, and how it would be great to get a UX voice at the table much further upstream with the authority to stop a project/product if there is a UX issue. Add something to their world, even if that something is “merely” a shop conversation.
17: Is a cover letter still necessary, and if so, how can it make a difference? What are the best practices for writing a compelling cover letter?
I am dubious as to whether or not a cover letter is still necessary. What does a cover letter add that isn’t contained in my resume/portfolio/website? My best practice for writing a cover letter was to feed the job description and my resume into ChatGPT and ask it to generate a cover letter for me. Then I would take that generated letter and ask Gemini to edit it to be a little shorter. Then I would edit it to sound more like my voice and ask ChatGPT what it thought of the edited letter. Since Chat GPT has enough context, it remembers the first cover letter, it gives a breakdown of how it feels the washed and edited cover letter read. Then I took that feedback and made final changes. Then submit it in the digital application package for no human to look at.
18: How can job seekers effectively prepare for virtual interviews?
Make sure you are calm, well-rested and fed. If you are doing a presentation, make sure you have practiced it OUT LOUD so you know what works and what doesn’t. Take a breath, and be yourself.
19: What are the signs of a potential job scam, and how can candidates protect themselves? What should job seekers look out for to ensure they are applying for legitimate opportunities?
Anything that is cold texted to you or messaged in WhatsApp is a scam. That is an easy blanket statement. Imma put my tinfoil hat on for a sec and outline the types of job scams I have heard of.
The get yo money scam: The direct text and WhatsApp phishing schemes fall into this category. We want to bring you on to do remote work for x much an hour, just give us your bank details and the money will start rolling in
The thanks for the data scam: This scam is where a company is just looking for demographic data that job seekers willingly give out when applying for a job. Yes, I will give you my employment history, yes, I will give you my educational history. There is no actual job at the end of the rainbow, but now they have you information and you are getting debt consolidation offers via text message on the regular now.
The we need to look better for our investors scam: Look investors, our company is doing so good we are actually expanding in these tough economic times. Just look at all the open position reqs that we have. We have to be worthy of your investment if we are hiring this enthusiastically. These job descriptions often seem haphazardly thrown together and contain a myriad of buzzwords that ultimately mean nothing.
The we are looking for free work scam: We have a design challenge for you, can you prep a presentation illustrating an solution to the weirdly industry specific design challenge?
I do not actually think those scams happen very often, but there is a non-zero amount of these instances. Most of the broken positions are due to budgets being pulled after the position is posted or some other reason that a zombie job description is in existence.
20: How can one stay motivated and positive during a prolonged job search?
This is the toughest of all the things. It is hard and demoralizing. The lack of communication, even automated communication, is depressing. You as a candidate have no idea as to what is going on or where you are in the process. It is stressful and demoralizing.
To recap:
If you are currently searching for a job, I feel for you
It is a shitty economy to look for a job right now
Until this contract becomes something more permanent, I am still looking
It is much easier to look for a job when you have a job
Easier on your soul
I used Stable Diffusion for the hero image at the top
The Basque burnt cheesecake will be happening when I get my first paycheck
I need to draw more
I have been doing more yardwork
I hate yardwork
But the yard does look better
If you want to know the prompts I used for the AI portions of this post, message me
Been doing a boatload of flow charts for user decisions for the new job
Trying to get existing state wireframes put together as well
Then it is time to redesign
AI is interesting
They changed how ChatGPT does it’s output since last week
I am not sure I like the newer output style
I need to get into some meetings and talk all businessy
Business Business Business
Anyway… I am gainfully employed, for a bit at least
Have a great week everyone