Introduction to The Career Search

Welcome to the introduction to my guide to the career search! Here I will give you an overview of the different chapters and what they will cover. I have ordered the chapters starting with fundamental ideas then going through the goal setting, planning, applying, interviewing, and finally offer stages. I would highly recommend anyone who is going through the job search to read the complete guide as I believe everything that I cover is important to helping you land that ideal opportunity. However, if you want to jump to a particular chapter, this overview will help you find the chapter that is right for you.

Establishing Fundamentals

The goal of this chapter is to establish the fundamental ideas behind my approach to the job search. These act as the guiding principles and I will reference these ideas many times through following chapters. Once you understand these fundamentals, the rationale behind the strategies I lay out in the following chapters will be clear. 

Finding The Right Career

Finding the career that is best for you is no easy task. We often have to make this life defining decision with limited information. You will never be able to try everything before you commit to a career path, but you can do your best to make an educated decision. Here the fundamentals of knowing yourself and knowing the landscape come into play. In this chapter, I will explain how to reflect on your needs, wants, strengths, weaknesses, and interests and research what opportunities are out there so you can make an informed decision on what career path might be best for you.

Defining Your Ideal Opportunity

Once you have decided on a career path, the next step in finding the right opportunity is to define what it looks like. In this chapter, I will lay out the different dimensions you should use to assess the right company and role. Once you work through this step, you will have a clear understanding of what you are looking for and how to direct your search.

Understanding Your Work

While you might be very good at your job, explaining your work in your resume, application, and through the interview process is often not something we practice often. In this chapter, I will walk through how to break down your work so you can clearly convey what you do and demonstrate your mastery.

Organizing Your Search

Organizing your approach to the job search can be daunting. There is a lot of information to keep track of and if you don’t have a methodical approach and good structure for keeping things organized, it can easily get out of hand. Here I will break down the approach I would recommend for your job search and the tools you can use to keep everything organized.

Building Your Resume

There is a lot that has been written on resume writing, but rarely do I see guides that get it right. Primarily, the goal of a resume is not to summarize your work experience, but to convince recruiters and hiring managers reading your resume that you are a good fit for their role and worth speaking with. Here I will walk you through the philosophy behind a good resume and how to build one that will maximize your chances for landing that first interview.

Curating Your Online Presence

Your online presence can play an important role in helping you network, convey your mastery of your domain, and open doors to new opportunities. In this chapter, I will explain the philosophy and the steps for building a powerful online presence.

Nailing the Interview

Interviewing is something we don’t do often enough to naturally cultivate a strong understanding and mastery. Many guides give helpful surface tips, but in this chapter I will really go deep in explaining the philosophy behind performing well in an interview, how to prepare, and what to expect so you can nail your interviews.

Landing the Offer

It might be enticing to accept an offer as soon as you get one, but we always want to make sure we are getting compensated as fairly as possible for the work we will be doing. In this chapter I will talk about the importance of lining up multiple offers, taking your time to negotiate, and determining which offer is best for you.