Near the end of February 2023, I was laid-off when the company I was working for suspended operations. It was a little scary at first, but I took it as an opportunity to learn and grow.
I know there’s a lot of people looking for a job right now, so I thought it would be helpful to share what I did and what I learned from it. It took me around 2 months to get hired, and here’s what I learned…
- Continuous development. I decided to treat my time-off as a job to enhance my skills. I developed some apps, did some CTFs, studied books, and researched areas that I needed to improve. Treating my time-off as a job of self-development helped a lot because I was able to rapidly enhance my skills and fill-in knowledge gaps
- Be intentional. I decided that I would only apply to companies and positions that I was genuinely interested in. When you are genuinely passionate about a company and role, it’s easier to demonstrate enthusiasm and connect with the interviewers
- Experience helps. Practice and experience can make a significant difference in interviews. The more interviews you go through, the easier they become. Even brief interviews with recruiters can be helpful in refining your approach and messaging
- Your story is important. Develop a compelling narrative about why you’re interested in the position and why you’re qualified for it. This can help you stand out among other applicants
- Strong foundational knowledge is critical. They likely won’t ask you to invent a new algorithm during the interview, but they will test your knowledge of fundamental concepts relevant to your job category. Sometimes they go a little deeper into specific topics to assess your depth of understanding, but they don’t expect you to know everything
- Research is essential. Take the time to study the company, the job posting, and the interviewers before the interview. You can study and prepare thoughtful questions with good research
- Prepare a list of questions. Use your research to craft thoughtful, relevant questions about the company, the position, and even the interviewer. This shows that you’re not just looking for any job, but that you’re truly invested in this opportunity
- Reflect after each interview. It helps to reflect on your answers to the questions after the interview. Many of the companies ask similar questions, and it helps to think about think about how you could answer the question better next next
- It’s not a quick process. Two months should be the minimum expected time to get hired. Most of the companies that I talked to wanted 4-5 rounds (recruiter screen, initial interview, onsite, homework, final interview) before making a hiring decision, and it can be difficult to schedule all of that in 1 month
Overall, being laid-off was a challenging experience, but it gave me an opportunity to reflect and enhance my skills. I hope this can be helpful for others that are going through a similar experience.
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