Prepare the CV

Yes this is boring, but it's also easy.

I went through my Trello/Jira boards along with my PRs on Github to list the major features I had delivered in my current role and added them to my CV.

I recommend doing this every 3-6 months so that your CV is never too out of date.

Open The LinkedIn Floodgates

Use this one with caution.

LinkedIn has a setting where you can let recruiters know you're open to new roles. Make sure you've set it up so that it's at the right privacy level for you. Beware - once you have this setting turned on, you will be inundated with calls & emails from recruiters.

Keep Track Of All Leads

Will save you a LOT of grief later

I had so many calls & leads from recruiters that I had to turn off my LinkedIn setting within 2 days. I am under no illusions that this is because I'm some kind of special unicorn candidate - this is pretty much a function of how hot the job market is, if you're an engineer.

I recommend something like a Trello board where you can track:

• Recruiters you're speaking to.
• The leads they send you.
• The interviews you've had with the leads you go ahead with.
• Who you spoke with from those companies.
• Brief summary of each interview.
• Any red flags that came up.
• What salary you asked for/they offer.

I wish I had done this because it was so stressful holding all that info in my head.

Pace The Interviews

Keep it to a maximum of 2 companies a week

At one point I had so many interviews scheduled that I wanted to cry. I know that's a good problem to have but it was stressing me out & I had no time to recover from the stress of each round.

In hindsight, I should've done all the internal recruiter/HR interviews for as many companies as possible first. This part was not stressful for me because I knew what I was looking for and why. Once I had done that, I should've prioritised the ones that I liked most & then scheduled a maximum of two follow up interviews a week.

TL;DR

Make sure you have an updated CV, get leads via LinkedIn, keep track of all the details of your job search & make sure your interview schedule is paced in a way that does not make you question your existence.

Image by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash