#Ask2048 is a short & snappy series of blog posts by Vipul Gupta documenting common questions asked multiple times. If you were sent here by someone, then you are in good company, my friend. Like most things in Mixster, these posts act as a spider web collecting insights from people that have visited before you for the years to come. And hopefully, it will continue to do so as this blog lives on.
No one likes job hunting. Especially me.
In the past four years, I have been on both sides of this mysterious bi-directional manhunt. We got headhunters on one side and job hunters on the other in this manhunt. The headhunters track their prey and propose their catch a “killing” offer. They relentlessly pursue across social platforms and are adept at Twitter/Linkedin introductions. Then, there are job hunters spreading resumes, Linkedin profile links, and portfolios in through every nook and corner of the internet. They apply, cover letters slow them down, and they can sense a rejection email by reading just the first five words.
No matter which side you are on. The reason I don’t feel like job hunting is because of how hard & brutal it is to find a “great” job. Finding a great job is the second-best thing in the world. Finding a job that ticks all checkboxes is equal parts excruciating as it is exciting. Luck plays a carelessly essential role with a seasoning of human bias all over the process. Multiple factors keep changing the uneven stage, and interviews make and break it all the time. At my current work commitment, I describe my job as one that I like waking up to, supports me both financially & mentally, and when I am closing my laptop at night, I feel satisfied.
Hence, when people ask me, where should I go to finding (remote) job opportunities and what worked out for you at finding satisfaction. I redirect them to this blog now.
What worked out for me!
- StackOverFlow Careers – Cover letters are optional and not needed, should I say more? I kept my Developer story updated and always wrote a cover letter for positions I valued and those in which I was interested.
- Creddle for resumes – Get the premium totally worth to support the developer behind the tool.
- Rude advice by UW – Read this, every time you update your resume. Strong early advice.
- Google Jobs for tracking specific interests.
- Tons of newsletters, HackerNews job search, and blogs on human psychology.
- Research about the company and creating one-pagers about their work, products, interviewers, and questions based on research.
- My mentors, Anuvrat Parashar, Júlio César Batista, and Twitter (on selling yourself better)
- Helped by Neha Sharma, Shashank, and Naren.
You can check out RemoteIndian for the podcast we did with Abhishek discussing how things worked out for Tarun and me as freshers joining our respective remote roles. Including this great video from Saurabh @ Remoteindian about the remote job hunt.
(Remote) Jobs Aggregation sites
- Stackoverflow Careers – One of the best sites that always worked out for me. Absolutely love it. No BS.
- A lot of remote jobs aggregation platforms help in getting leads. You can just search out remote jobs <YOUR COUNTRY> and that will show you at least 100 jobs that are out there.
- The list below is exhaustive. I recommend creating a label in your mail client called “Remote Opportunities” and subscribing to every remote job newsletter out there. I get 30 emails a day and here are some of the sites.
- Opportunity Desk (Great for research opportunities too)
- Daily remote
- WeWork remotely
- Remote Worker
- Remote Hunt
- MOAR Newsletters
- I prefer newsletters to actually visiting the sites, because the information is being sent to a central place (my inbox) and I can take a look without getting distracted or wasting time jumping from site to site. This helps you expand the number of quality opportunities that you are applying for and making sure you are putting your time in the right place.
- Huge list of resources in an awesome list format – https://github.com/lukasz-madon/awesome-remote-job#job-boards
Job Post sites
- HackerNews jobs per month – So Hacker News publishes a thread called “Who’s Hiring first day of each month”. This brings together the entire hacker news community posting about roles that are out there. A lot of them would be bounded by the US only tag but with good parser options, you can figure the remote ones out of the bunch. Check it out here.
- A search utility – https://kennytilton.github.io/whoishiring/
- Another search utility – https://whoishiring.me/
- Twitter.
- This priceless social media platform by far gives out the best results for jobs. I would recommend using Twitter as a tool to make headways into your introductions and get to connect with people faster.
- A lot of people on Twitter have helped me and I pay it forward by helping others. That’s the vibe, so don’t feel shy to reach out to someone for a recommendation, review, or answers that you are looking for.
- Then there are the usual suspects.
- AngelList – I haven’t given Angelist a fair try, IMHO so feel free to post your experience and I would add it here. Sub to their newsletter though. I like reading about new startups.
- Linkedin is great for finding jobs but if you are not active on Linkedin then don’t apply from there. Linkedin will rank you lower than other candidates. I recommend finding jobs on Linkedin, keeping your profile up to date, and posting actively for recruiters to notice you. They still love the platform to reach out to people.
- Indeed – Tried, and don’t find good recommendations from there. D
Tracking, Management tools
- My first choice is Creddle for creating resumes. Another one is Novo resume. Do suggest me new ones that I can add here.
- Creddle also provides templates for creating great cover letters but doesn’t have version history or a way to store them. Hence, I keep all my cover letters and job application info safe with me. So, when and if the interview does happen for a job I applied to a month back, I know what I wrote back to the company at 2 in the night.
- Use Google Job Search to track and get alerts for jobs from specific companies. Google Jobs search tracks every portal there is out there. If used correctly, you would never end up missing any opportunities.
- Track your applications with tools like Notion and Trello. Trello wrote a great blog about it.
- If you share my mutual dislike for whiteboarding then consider these companies that are mentioned in this list and this website. My 2 cents on interview whiteboarding lists are if you do get an opportunity then do try to go ahead with it and make the most of it. Every experience is a learning experience only if you want to work towards taking in the feedback.
- Don’t try to judge a company by reviews on platforms. I am quite frankly divided when I read reviews on glassdoor. My 2 cents is anything that can be gamed will be gamed. Reviews are the top item on my “Most Game-able Items list”. Hence, when you read about a company try to keep an open mind, source your information from authentic sources, and make sure to do your research. Companies are constantly evolving machines and I feel actions matter more than reviews.
- Similarly, you have Linkedin Job Alerts, Nokia Job Alerts, Stackoverflow Saved searches, and Twitter bots to feed the job hunt funnel.
Check bottom left to trigger alerts
I love tinkering with resumes. Help me, help you!
I deeply enjoy reviewing, restructuring, and even rewriting resumes & cover letters in the past. As a head hunter for a remote jobs aggregation startup, I shortlisted, rejected, and improved hundreds of other resumes that came in and got selected. I reviewed applications for Forbes 30 under 30 and wrote content & docs for startups in return, offered them free ice cream.
So I thought I throw this section down to folks I can help with my 11th-grade English proficiency and real-life experiences (Check Thanos below) to make sure at least their resumes, cover letters, or profiles are not the thing holding them back. I will work with you and guide you through the thinking process. I expect only coffee in return. If you like that deal and want to grab a coffee nonetheless, then feel to reach out to @vipulgupta2048 on IG or Twitter.
That’s will do it for this #ask2048
Hopefully this was some help to you! If not, DM me on Twitter to get a resume review booked.
Live in the mix, and all the best for your job search.
Here’s what Twitter suggests!
This post started from this idea and other remote blogs just below it. Hope to grow this list and keep it updated as time goes on.