This week I got to accept a job that, for the first time in my life, I’m genuinely excited about starting, but six months ago I was convinced I was going to be working in a soul-crushing corporate role for the rest of my life. Here’s how I went from the bottom of the mountain to the top.

A bit about me: nearly two years ago I was made redundant from a job I’d had for a long time. It was a horrible experience. By the end I hated working there, but I wanted to leave on my own terms and my ego took quite the beating as the door hit me on the way out. 

Happily, getting made redundant after a long stint working there meant I got a reasonable pay out, which meant I had the money to study an MA in a creative field that I’d always wanted to pursue and I’m very glad I did. But when that course ended in August, I found myself broke, with low self-esteem and more than a little confused about what I was going to do next.

My sympathies

First off, if you’re currently searching for a job, you have my infinite sympathy. The process is a drain on your time and energy, and the relentless rejection (there will be plenty of that!) batters your self confidence. But as Winston Churchill probably didn’t once say: ‘If you’re going through hell… keep going’.

You suck at this… and that’s okay

Applying for jobs is a skill like any other. If you’d never kicked a football before, you wouldn’t expect yourself to be much good at it, but by sticking at it and consciously trying to get better each time, you will get better results. In my case, I hadn’t kicked this proverbial football in the better part of a decade and I was rusty; at the start of my job hunt I was barely getting automated rejection replies. By the end, I had three concrete job offers and a couple more follow-ups that I rejected because I didn’t need them.

Apply for jobs you actually want

It is a million times easier to write a new CV and covering letter (more on that below) for a job you could see yourself enjoying. Of course, beggars can’t be choosers – we’ve all done jobs out of necessity – but, in my experience, it’s better to put your time into one job application that you really want, rather than rattle off five quick applications for jobs you could just about cope with. Your passion for the role will shine through in the interview, too.

Write a new CV

If you take nothing else from this post, take this: you need to write a new covering letter AND CV for each job application. I resisted this for a long time because I was playing the numbers game with my one-size-fits-all CV. But after six months of applying, I did not get ONE SINGLE INTERVIEW from a CV I hadn’t tailored to the job description. Same goes for the covering letter. 

Yes, at first it will take you a long time to do applications, but the more times you write out your CV and your covering letter, the faster, and better, you will get at it. This post is a great guide on how to write your covering letter.

https://www.reddit.com/r/datascience/comments/tag8l5/my_guide_to_writing_a_killer_cover_letter/

For my CV, I didn’t write out the whole thing each time. But I did write a new intro, new key skills and a new description of my most recent employment to make them more closely align with the job I was applying for.

Whenever you see a post about someone who ‘applied for 500 jobs and didn’t get a single interview’ I’d be willing to bet this is why.

F*&% AI!

Now, if you’re thinking, ‘I’ll just get AI to write my covering letter and CV each time’, pump the brakes. Your AI of choice doesn’t know you, it doesn’t understand the job you’re applying for and it has no concept of what the employer views as important and what is just recruiter fluff on the job ad. Popular job ads get hundreds of AI applications that will largely look the same, you need to stand out from the crowd.

Also, if you get an interview, you are going to have to talk through why you applied and what makes you a good fit in person (or at least over a video call) and AI can’t help you with that. Ignore anyone who says it can.

STAR

Finally, get good at STAR answers, that is:

Situation: Set the scene, providing context for the example.
Task: Define the challenge, goal, or responsibility you faced.
Action: Explain in detail the specific steps you took to address the situation.
Result: Share the outcome, focusing on accomplishments, positive impact, and lessons learned. (Within reason, no one's going to call you out on these, you are free to massage the numbers in your favour)

In every single interview I got, I was asked some variation on ‘name a time when you’ve balanced client demands with internal stakeholders’. ‘Talk about a time when you’ve dealt with adversity.’ In some cases, I was asked three or four of these back-to-back. You can look up example questions online that recruiters and hiring managers like to use and it’s worth practicing them. You don’t want to be winging it in a high pressure moment!

Good luck!

If you’re going through it right now, I wish you all the best. I don’t know how much my advice is worth, but I’ll happily reply to anyone who has any questions!

TLDR: Don’t use AI, write a new covering letter and CV for each application and practice your STAR answers before any interview. It makes a huge difference!