“If You Want to Change Your Story, Change Your Actions First”

Knowing where to start in your job search process can be confusing. You might be thinking, “what’s going to be asked of me in the technical interview?” “What types of algorithm questions should I be practicing on LeetCode and HackerRank?” “Should I focus more on practicing algorithms or personal projects to sharpen my skills?” “Is connecting with people at my favorite companies really that helpful?”

Sometimes these questions come up as a result of having self-doubt. That feeling of “I need to keep practicing to get better.” These thoughts can also come up as we get frustrated with the hiring processes we have to go through. The thing is, whether it’s imposter syndrome telling us we’re not ready yet or frustration making us doubt our chances, unless we change our approach to how we apply at companies, it’s going to take longer for us to see results.

The question of what’s going to grab a hiring manager’s attention more, your LeetCode score or a portfolio project, can be answered by you putting in the work to figure out what type of company you want to work with. Most often when we think of landing a good dev job our minds default to FAANG companies and the like. But have you stopped to ask yourself if those types of companies are the ones you really want to work at? You might get paid better there, but how does it fit into your long term vision for your career/life?

How To Change Your Story

I would argue that the answers to a lot of the doubts and unknowns around our job searches could be found when doing some self-awareness and vision work. Then the question of, “Where are the best places to work for software engineers?”, or any role for that matter, would become, “Which companies match my want/needs?” Those companies are easier to find once you start looking because they’ll stand out to you.

When you know where you want to work and why those specific companies, you’re going to be willing to put in more effort into your job search approach. Instead of filling out the job application or doing an Easy Apply on LinkedIn and then waiting to hear back, now you might actually feel like taking things a step further. Now you might be willing to connect with someone at the company to increase your chances.

Likewise, it would be more helpful to do research on a company you think you’re interested in by reaching out to other engineers there for informational interviews. Those can be anxiety provoking, but remember, you’re asking them questions, not the other way around. Not sure which questions to ask? Take a look back when you made a list of your values and vision. Those will help guide your informational interview.

Even though you already asked certain questions in an informational interview, you can ask the same questions of different interviewers throughout the interview process. Different people will provide different answers because each will have their own experiences.

Conclusion

It can be scary to take the leap and actively reverse recruit for yourself because it means you have to find a way to genuinely connect with people and pitch yourself and your skills to them. I used to think that if I take my time and keep filling out applications casually, that’ll buy me more time to keep improving my skills by the time companies reach out to me for interviews. “Then I’ll be ready.” But those recruiter messages for phone screens rarely came. My resume wasn’t getting looked at for whatever reason. Either I wasn’t using the right key words or phrases, or I wasn’t trying hard enough to put my resume in front of someone.

As I’ve learned (the hard way), and as Seth Godin puts it in his book The Practice, “If you want to change your story, change your actions first.” Instead of sitting back and waiting to be chosen, be proactive and help them choose you. Put yourself on their radar.

Want more tips on how to prepare for interviews? Follow me on Instagram and Twitter and share what interview struggles you’re having.