Adventures in Job Hunting: Open Thread!
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Readers were talking recently about someone who put in a job application and, as the next step in the process before an interview, was asked to “spend no more than five hours” on a relevant job test. (Commenters generally agreed that this was insane.) We haven't had a good job hunting thread in a long while, so let's discuss! Some questions for you:
- When was the last time you went through a formal job application process? What was it like?
- How has COVID altered your job hunting plans — did it delay a job hunt that you wanted to happen, or has it opened new doors as more companies have gone remote?
- For those of you who have recently been job hunting (or who are hiring), what are some of the best job hunting sites and tips that you've found? If you're working with a recruiter, what are your best tips for that?
- Just for fun: Does anyone have any other fun job hunting stories to share, similar to the “five-hour test” story?
Stock photo via Deposit Photos / phasinphoto.
I’ve found that job hunting is very different than it was a few years ago. I’m in a small, rural-ish city for DH’s job; the incredible expansion of remote-only work is a game changer.
The other issue is that even if you, as an applicant, are “right” about something (bear with me here), employers don’t always want to hear it if you’re the only one saying it. For example, if in 2018 you cited brutal commutes as a reason to leave your current job, you may very well get pushback from a hiring manager. Will you want to be at this job long term? Are you just not aware of office norms? What happens if you move to a different suburb of the city and the commute gets long? Why can’t you get up at 4:30 am to make the drive in? Will you want to Mommy track because you cited your commute and daycare hours as a reason why this job is no longer working out?
Now – you may as well be telling people that the sky is blue when you explain that you’re done sitting in a car for two hours a day. It’s a non-issue and it’s fantastic. Every applicant is saying the same thing.
I’m also stuck rural and agree with everything you’ve written. Suddenly my expectations are no longer entitled and ridiculous, which is both infuriating and a relief.
If you want cynicism, remote work has found to have many benefits to an employer: significantly lower costs for office space, the ability to pay employees less, and the ability to have more regular schedules. A city employer no longer has to pay Manhattan salaries; they can pay somewhere between Manhattan and Knoxville salaries. They don’t have to worry about Jane flexing her time from 6:30 am to 3:30 pm because of traffic, while Steve works from 10 am until 7 pm, and they only overlap for about five hours a day. Now you just schedule meetings at 8 am or 4 pm. No more “sorry I’m late; there was an accident on 128,” limited applicant pools, employees quitting when they need to move to a new city, any of that nonsense.
I’ll be honest though, as someone in a Knoxville-esque area, this is taking some real time for the employers here to grapple with. We simply don’t command the money to pay more than Knoxville salaries, but everyone is swooping in hiring out employees for that mid-level money. This is going to have a real impact on the overall labor market.
Yes and no. It’s tough on employers from that perspective; it’s easier on them because (a) they can initiate a nationwide job search, too, (b) they can hang on to employees whose spouses no longer need to work for a local company to have the career they want, and (c) people are fleeing bigger cities for smaller cities, which means more local candidates.
Those are all pretty small positives if you can’t afford to pay your workforce as an employer.
Context: I was a life science PhD student applying for life science consultant positions this past winter.
I really liked the virtual application and interview process. I found job postings through Indeed and Glassdoor and virtual career fairs. I didn’t have to travel and could do the interviews from home. It made them lower stakes and less stressful for me. I did have to do an awful video game-like assessment for one – not clear that it mattered since I got an interview despite failing miserably at it.
I have been almost 100% WFH since and still haven’t met my coworkers in person but I found a great job and it was an entirely virtual process.
/first time posting on the blog – I have appreciated the fashion and work tips for transitioning into a consultant role!
Curious – what kind of job did you get?
As a medical scientist type, I always assumed everyone did a post-doc after a PhD or went to work for a biotech company, and wondered what these “consultant” jobs are?
I describe it as helping pharma and biotech companies make decisions (whether to acquire a startup, which promising drug to pursue, marketing and sales force strategies for a particular drug, etc.). While the decisions are largely business-related, it’s valuable to the clients for the consultants to have a good understanding of the science and technology involved, especially with things like portfolio strategy and mergers and acquisitions.
While post-docs have definitely made the same transition into life science consulting, most of the PhDs I know are straight out of grad school.
Interesting! But I’m surprised you don’t need more experience in the “field” before you can consult. Or are you working for a consulting company like Mckenzie (sp??). That would make sense…
Currently job hunting and hoping (crossing fingers and toes) that I get an offer mid to late this week. I had planned to start looking last summer while rotating with another department in my firm. Covid delayed the rotation to this summer and it was not a good time to start looking – I was hoping to either find another job in 2020 or lateral into this other department full time. So I stayed a busy season longer than I wanted (or should have for my own mental health). I felt I was pressured into a promotion that I don’t want this summer (whaaa?! I know, but absolutely nothing excites me about being a manager in public accounting. Also the raise wasn’t all that it was hyped up to be.)
Going through a recruiter has really been the only way to find quality roles and cut out the work of applying to jobs, crafting cover letters, and tailoring my resume to each one. It’s also been less pressure interviewing remotely, since there’s no traveling and I can stay at home office where I feel comfortable and confident. Working remotely also makes it easier to take those interview calls since you arn’t stepping out of the office at odd times during the day or wearing a suit when you’re normally business casual.
I am in a red state and I think employers are not concerned about delta. Most of them are already back in office and expecting that to remain the case. I was laid off so I should suck it up, but I have anxiety about being in an office with people I don’t know, an office setup I don’t know, just so staff can collaborate. It’s a crappy place to be.
It is absolutely true that sometimes before an interview you need to pass the test and I also faced it. I’m a student and some months ago I decided to find a part-time job to the position of a sales consultant and I posted my CV on various job search sites. To tell the truth, it wasn’t such a pleasant process because a lot of employers called me with an offer to pass an interview but everyone called the salary higher than it turned out to be in the end. Salaries were quite low, but the requirements are the opposite. Finally I found the right job for me but not everything turned out so simple. When I was going to apply for a job it turned out that any employee must be vaccinated. Because of these circumstances I refused this position. I’m not ready for vaccination yet. The apotheosis of the situation is that because of this case I could find a dream job, becoming a freelancer and finding a chance to work through the internet from anywhere.