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Prepare for your job search the right way

I could have called this as the Research phase too. Both are telling.

You need to prepare which involves bunch of research.

Here are the tools and tips to help you:

What makes up the preparation

Note: I put in some twinkles (✨) for every tool that I have used and prefer for any reason.

1. Identify your career values

It doesn't really makes sense going for jobs that doesn't align or straight goes against your career values, based on your personal values.

First, use what you already have.

Reflect on your past

Think about the jobs and experiences that you have had in the past and consider what you liked and disliked about them. What values were most important to you in those roles?

General tools and tips to find out about your Personal values

Specific tools and tips for assessing your Career values

A fair warning, some of these may not be up your alley and were deemed not useful in candidate assessment, so maybe not include it straight on all your profiles. Also, most will have upgrade option. If you find out any would get paygated, put in an issue or more friendly contribute.

Now, once you're done with figuring yourself out. It's time to cast your eyes to the wild jungle of jobs out there.

2. Research potential employers and jobs

Here the main tip is to find out which spaces and what type of companies has look up skills in job ads and also to see where you can find jobs the easiest. Also, here's the place to figure out what jobs pay and do they even have remote/hybrid jobs advertised?

You can start the easy way searching on job boards.

Tips and resources helping you research companies within spaces or industries of your chosing is discussed in detail in the direct approach.

So, let's see what resources you have to cover the next important step in the research step.

3. Salary research

Should stand on its own.

  • ✨Averagesalarysurvey.com--quite useful if you live or move to Europe.
  • Comprehensive.io--a new player in the tech salary benchmarking space.
  • Glassdoor--tries to help with salaries too, depends on the geography you look for a job in though.
  • InDeed--doing their best to deliver salary data for companies and job titles.
  • ✨Payscale.com--multiple countries.
  • ✨RemoteOK.io - Remote Work Statistics--if you'd be looking remotely. N.B. they also run a job board and remote worker's marketplace.
  • Salary.com--covers multiple countries.
  • Salaryexpert.com--by ERI includes relocation and cost of living data too. Geared towards 🇺🇸 US folks.
  • SalarySearch--by Croner 🇬🇧 UK only.
  • ✨Levels.fyi--especially useful for folks in Tech.

If you move internationally there are a few handy resources to help with figuring out:

Cost of Living, Employment cost and Personal Tax

You have to check all three together to have a leg to your global plans. Best resources are:

  • Numbeo--has a job board for Remote and job with relocation offered beside being the best crowdsourced cost-of-living database.
  • Deel's Employment Cost Calculator--comes in handy when you have the option to move to another country and make use of the arbitrage on the total cost to the employer.
  • Tradingeconomics.com's List--quite up-to-date, but if you are married and/or even have a family, it may get more complicated. In that case you'll have to google for the country's latest tax calculator, eventually in the countries official language.

Relocation guides

THere are too many to mention, but it's always sane to check user reports and reviews, thus best resource here is:

  • Nomadlist--for and by digital nomads. Also, has a job board/freelance marketplace RemoteOK
  • relocate.me--is a great resource for techies looking to relocate, mostly within or into the European Union 🇪🇺. They also run a job board.

4. Get your resume in order

Now this is one of the hardest to do as they say. My 2 cents is that you:

a) take it easy on yourself, b) if you have the skills and experience, make sure you present them in the best and easiest to read format c) if you don't have the skills or experience, go learning and do projects that helps to fill the void, now.

If anything you may want to use a resume builder, especially if you have nothing or you want to totally redo your resume.

Resume Builders and Graders

I'd leave alone the resume templates and concentrate on builders if you've not a polished CV already.

  • CakeResume--Easily create an impressive online resume in minutes with this Taiwan-made, tech-focused platform. Users rave about our drag-and-drop editing feature, clean interface, and the ability to export to PDF. Also, doubles as a job board.
  • Enhancv--as they put it: "the best free-to-use resume creator online today! create a resume in just minutes that looks modern, creative and unique."
  • Novoresume--in their words: "make a perfect resume in 2023 and get your dream job using the free resume builder. select a template. personalize it. get more interviews."
  • Resumemonk--on the premium you can build multiple versions.
  • Skillroads' AI Resume Builder
  • ✨StandardResume--well loved in the tech space.
  • ✨VisualCV--has some interesting resources too like International CV guides.

Grammar Checkers

Yep, they help to not stand out with poor English.

  • ✨Grammarly--even the free version may be helpful if you have issues.
  • ✨HemingwayApp--quite good at helping you sound more simple and avoid sentences with more than 24 words.
  • ✨ProWritingAid--is the one I use for anything complex or important enough, including reviewing my cv.

AI Writers

Well, the judgement is still not in if it would be a no-no. So, let's have a few here that can do the job alright. Just make sure you add on your own way to say things else there may be too much friction when you hit the interviews stages.

  • ✨chatGPT--probably needs not a lot of intro as you must have heard about it. Just to mention though it can help with interview preparation.
  • ✨Quillbot--AFFILIATE link if you sign up for a paying tier, which is optional. Helps with finding differnt styles for your copy, but also to see if you use wording that you'd find elsewhere on the web which feels like a template too much.

Setting up your profiles

Will cover the best practices and tactices within personal branding.

5. Do have a Cover letter, just in case

Yet another controversial topic. Some will insist you absolute have to include one to stand out. My take is that if they insist in a job ad and you cannot approach the hiring manager straight, you need one that is easy to personalize/tailor to the job requirements and company.

If you go direct then you'll need to write something in your cold or semi-warm outreach email anyway, so better be ready with something.

Now, if you're not good with it you can always through some machine learning solution on the problem, and then edit change it to you're heart's content. See above.

6. What about interview and negotation preparations?

We covered salary, already as it is quite essential. You'll find the interview preparation helpers and resources in the next phase hunt. While the negotation and closing tips and resources will be listed in the close phase.

If you believe preparation was hard

Pop over to check out the vast expanse of the middle, grinding part we call the hunt.

Found anything you'd change or add here?

See how you can contribute.

How to suppport this project

You can...

Buy Me A Coffee

or if you click a link clearly marked as 💶 AFFILIATE 💶 and you purchase within a time frame, typically between 30 and 90 days, I may get a bit of commission.