I get a lot of job search questions, so here is what I’ve learned in active searches. This article originally appeared ten years ago on Google+. I migrated it to LinkedIn five years ago when Google+ was being retired. This update includes some AI tips.
In my first active search, very few of my co-workers at MEDITECH knew I was searching, my boss Daniel Deftos did. He supported me in finding out what was best for my career. I enjoyed my time at MEDITECH and saw after I left how well they had developed an inclusive culture, which at the time I took for granted.
I began the job search in late December 2013 and got an amazing offer from Carbonite in late April. At the time the average job search took 6 months. I learned a lot along the way and interviewed with some really cool companies.
If you want to get a job the two most important things are networking and your resume. These are the keys to getting you an interview. A good resource for networking is Blue Sky Resumes, check out their guide about LinkedIn:
http://blueskyresumes.com/blog/7-linkedin-mistakes/
LinkedIn (LI) is the best job networking site. You should be on the other sites too (Career Builder, Monster, Craigslist, Dice, etc). In December 2013, I had about 400 LI connections and upgraded my account to Jobseeker Premium. When I completed my search I had 1,375 connections. As of 2025 I have 6,546 connections. I've gone from following LinkedIn's advice of only connecting with people I've met in person to being an open networker and back to limiting who I connect with. The only people I'm likely to disconnect, or not connect, with are people who are clearly trying to scam or spam. I tend to go back and forth between paid and free accounts depending on if I’m looking for employees or new roles for myself.
Resumes
My friend Stever Robbins is, what I describe as, a life coach. He had a podcast called "Get-It-Done-Guy". You should listen to his 4 podcasts from December 2013 on resumes.
No matter how many times I heard and read that resumes should be individualized for each company and that they should have bullet points starting with action verbs followed by nouns, it was Stever that got me to understand. Here is an example of bullet points from the resume that got me the interview at Carbonite:
Gave managers real-time high-level view of status of 400+ projects and 40 applications by implementing Jenkins, a continuous integration server to automate builds and escalate build problems to the appropriate engineer.
Integrated Jenkins open-source CI software to MEDITECH internal technology.
Developed performance metrics. Increased speed by parallelizing work. Decreased build time 93%.
Collaborated with stakeholders throughout the company to communicate and insure progress towards needs of our internal customers, the software development staff.
Verified goal achievement via demos to stakeholders.
Facilitated backlog grooming meetings with stakeholders.
Specified new workflows and internal development tools.
Reviewed functionality and efficiency of existing development applications to identify and resolve functional and usability gaps between existing and new systems.
AI can make this a faster process for you. Give your AI agent a copy of a generic resume and the job description and ask it to make a tailored version for the company. It’s critical that you proof-read it though. If there is anything false or that you don’t want to discuss in an interview cut it. After the creation of the custom resume then ask the AI agent to also draft an intro email. I know this sounds very impersonal, but keep in mind that it’s using your data and the job description as a source. For the email you definitely want to make edits to make sure it is consistent with your “voice”.
Another powerful use of AI can be to ideate on career opportunities. If your industry is contracting you can ask it to review your skills and suggest jobs that would fit your interests and talents. You might want to give additional prompts to refine suggestions. As an example, say it suggests some international roles but you want to stay local, tell it that moving isn’t an option at the moment and what options might be closer to where you live.
Networking
Having friends at your target companies is a great way to get noticed. More people get hired this way than from sending their resumes to places they have no contacts. LinkedIn is a great tool to see who you know at a given company. I got interviews at GSN Games, Amazon.com, and Google all through friends. My strategy was to check job boards (mostly Dice, ZipRecruiter, and LinkedIn) and when I saw a job that interested me I would do some research. First, I would check to see my connections on LinkedIn. If I had any I would ask them about the company and for a referral. Most companies offer bonuses for employee referrals, so don't feel like you are asking for a huge favor when you ask for a referral. Second, I would read reviews of the company on GlassDoor. Any company that was less than 3 stars on GlassDoor I would pass on.
While I have lots of well connected friends, it was actually external recruiters (AKA: vendors or the less polite term "Head-Hunters") that got me the job at Carbonite. Some external recruiters are amazing. For example, Jill Zinner is a friend of mine from the game industry and she was able to show me how bad my original resume was and pointed me to Blue Sky Resumes. I enjoyed working with several other vendors including the staff at JobSpring and the staff at WorkBridge.
Carbonite
I had heard of Carbonite several years earlier via a web advertisement for their software. I remember, at the time, thinking that was an awesome name for a backup software company. I had found Mark Goodstein of Techpros on LinkedIn. He had called me and we had a long discussion about what I was looking for. He also gave me some more resume advice (which led to the version that got me the Carbonite interview). He also introduced me to his co-worker, Lauren Greenhow. When she first called me about Carbonite, I was luke-warm about the opportunity. At the time I was interviewing at Amazon.com for a manager role and at Google for a programming role. I agreed to interview with Carbonite and she setup an interview between me and Kanda Alagappan.
Kanda is the perfect person for his job! Interviewing for him was a joy. He made it clear what Carbonite's culture was like and why I wanted to join the team! Prior to that interview, both as a candidate and a hiring manager, I had never laughed so much in an interview before.
I like to point out that without vendors (AKA: head-hunters) I never would have gotten this job. I had not seen a post for it. The real irony of how I got connected with Carbonite is that I have one very close friend and one acquaintance that were working there when I interviewed! I hadn't realized this until after my screening interview with Kanda. The lesson, it doesn't matter how great your network is, vendors are an amazing resource.
Final Thoughts
If you have not already, connect with me on LinkedIn. While I’m no longer an open networker, the only way I would deny a connection request is if you were obviously trying to scam or spam people on LI. I have a ton of 1st degree contacts that are recruiters. Friending me will make you 2nd degree contacts to them. The LI search is based on relationship closeness. The closer you are to somebody the easier it will be for them to find you.
If you’re interested in a job let me know. I can obviously help you with Home Chef, but I have several vendors who I've made friends with that are looking for talented people.
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