Tuesday, March 23, 2021. It’s elections day in Israel. I’ve decided to wrap up a quick report (timed myself for 30 minutes drafting, 3 minutes proof-reading and 2 minutes uploading) related to the (now finally over) job hunting I’ve had in 2020-21.
By the first of April
2020, I knew I’d no longer be pursuing an academic career but pivot my career to
the high-tech industry. The timing was horrible due to COVID19. But hey, it
is what it is I told myself. I simply never imagined it’d take nearly one
year to complete this change in my career.
I documented quite a
bit of the actions which I took during the process and until I signed the
contract: I cataloged every job I applied to, monitored any indications of
success/failure along the way, et cetera.
I present below a sort
of data-overview of the process.
I expose no secrets
here. The insights pretty much corroborate the perhaps top two most known of
tips:
- Networking (apply via people you know as well as increase your LinkedIn connections – don’t be shy and kindly request employees to submit your CV for relevant positions); and
- Edit your resume/CV time and time again (buzz words, goals/achievement-oriented style, ensure aesthetic and effective design, etc.).
Between April 2020 and
March 2021, I’ve applied to 306 positions. But the overall data misrepresents
the process.
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| Picture 1 |
*salary gap5 Google position @Dublin, Ireland & Apple position @Barcelona, Spain.
*Overall response rate: 25%
* Overall Stages: 9%
The second picture helps to reflect the actual progress, particularly when considering some of my activities during these months:
- April-May: I did courses (advanced Excel, SQL, Python), learned about the high tech industry, titles, etc., transformed my academic CV into a more relevant resume.
- June-July: I continued to upgrade resume, esp. buzz words. I did a major upgrade for my LinkedIn Profile.
- August-September: I edited, upgraded my CV. Now I also had 2 versions for Product/Research positions.
- October-November: I did major CV updates in terms of pro-active and achievement-emphasizing phrasing style. I forced myself to increase the amount of applications I sent through friends, friends of friends, and new LinkedIn connections.
- December-January: I did additional tiny, but useful, CV tweaks and edits. Kept performing well in terms of applying via employee-referrals.
- February-March(until 12th): I continued to tweak and edit my CV. I kept trying to send more and more applications via employee referrals.
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| Picture 2 |
Bearing in mind small
numbers/quantities can only mean so much when interpreting data, I felt that to
inspect it through percentages made it easier for me to assess – at least more
or less – how well I was doing.
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| Picture 3 |
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