Note to Self: How to Find Your Next Role

Daniel Verastiqui

23 Feb 2025 — 4 min read

Congrats, Daniel. You landed a sweet new role at a tech company in Austin. That's great to hear because you were kinda losing your mind there for a minute, and by a minute, I mean for the last six months. But that's all in the past now, and like everything in the past, you will soon forget it ever happened... unless you write it down. So, allow me to put together some notes for you for next time, whether that's in six months when the new company discovers you don't actually speak conversational Russian or in six years once you've streamlined everything to the point that it all runs without you.

Either way, here are some things we'd both like to remember so we can hit the ground running.

Tell everyone. Normalize reaching out to friends, family, and coworkers, past and present, to let them know you're back on the market. Whatever the reason for leaving your last position, there should be absolutely zero stigma associated with finding new employment. Too many people are being "let go" or "made redundant" for us to keep our job searches to ourselves. Embrace the opportunity to reconnect and start your journey on the right foot.
Focus on LinkedIn. There are job boards, and then there is LinkedIn, which was explained to me as a digital networking event that never ends. Build out your profile to promote your personal brand and use this tool to sell your value to potential employers. Connect and follow people with similar roles and, most importantly, people who hire people like you. Profile, Premium, and job alerts were your best friends.
Don't bother with other job boards. To reiterate, you had absolutely no success with Indeed, Monster, Dice, BuiltIn, YCombinator, WeWorkRemotely, ZipRecruiter, Craigslist, Personal ads, standing on the corner, etc. Most of them just filled your inbox with SPAM.
Supercharge your resume. Get the latest advice on what recruiters and hiring managers are looking for in resumes. Things like branding statements, hard vs soft skills, and don't mention how fast you type were new to you. Use an app like rezi.ai to build your first draft, then switch over to Word where you'll have full control. Promote your personal brand, demonstrate value, and keep it to two pages or less. Do not customize your resume for each job posting; there will not be enough time for that.
Build an ATS-friendly resume. Wherever you end with your resume, reformat it to be ATS-friendly, which means taking out columns and fancy formatting to make it more machine-readable. It will look odd, but that's what you'll submit when applying for jobs. Use your human-formatted resume when sending it directly to people or carrying it into an interview.
Use Cover Letters. You got very little traction when you skipped cover letters. Remember: this is your opportunity to show how your skills relate specifically to the listed job. Review Greg Langstaff's courses on writing cover letters, specifically on having a collection of bullet points that you can pull from to customize each letter quickly.
Build a portfolio website. Your primary website is dedicated to Cool Daniel and his work as a cyberpunk novelist, so you'll want a separate website to act as your Resume on Steroids. You already built one at danielverastiqui.net, but you disabled it after you accepted an offer. Update it and submit that URL to potential employers when they ask for a Portfolio Website or Personal Website.
Fill the pipe. Apply early and often. Ignore the advice about limiting yourself to 30 minutes of job searching a day. In 24 hours, a job posting can get thousands of applicants, which means your resume may get lost in the slush pile. Let LinkedIn email you whenever a job matches your skills, and jump on the site to do a manual search a few times a day.
Don't settle. Job listings are meant to attract interest, so if you get into a phone screen or interview and the vibes aren't right, don't be afraid to walk away. Continue with the interview process if you'd like some practice, but pulling the plug is always okay. You can literally do anything, so why do something you don't want to do?
Prep like crazy. Learn whatever you can about the company by visiting their website and watching their videos, but don't just learn what the company does. Instead, figure out how your experience, skills, and excitement to learn line up with what the company does. Find an aspect of their business that you can get really jazzed about and dig into it.
Take care of yourself. Don't stress-eat boxes of Runts all day. Rejoin Orange Theory and categorize it as a Medical expense in YNAB. Walk the dog. Write. Spend mornings or afternoons with your children. Take advantage of the extra time, and don't let anxiety ruin it. The right role is coming, and you want to be in a good mental and physical place when it arrives.