Job Hunt FAQ

job hunt interviews

A collection of questions and answers, WIP

Job Hunt FAQ

Did you prefer normal referrals on the portal or having connections share your profile with hiring managers?

I only ever asked for connections to submit a referral for me, and they chose how they did that, I think by submitting through a portal, if that was available to them.

Any tips on applying through job portals? Did aligning your resume with the job description help?

I only had two resumes, a frontend version and a full stack version. I can’t say whether or not modifying my resume for each job would have helped. My intuition said it was a waste of time; that this was a numbers game. I found ways to apply to jobs very quickly. I used an extension called Simplify.jobs that fills out job applications for you, eliminating a lot (not all) manual work. Eventually I ran the experiment of hiring someone on Upwork to apply for jobs for me, being careful that they did not apply to companies where I was attempting to get a referral. They applied to 1,000 jobs in two months in the spring of 2024, and I only got about 3 interviews from that… cold applying to jobs seemed very low ROI….

The market could have changed by now. Things are always in flux, so gather your own evidence and experience. I had the best results from referrals and from professional recruiters who reached out to me on LinkedIn. It took a little time, but eventually I was able to differentiate between professional, serious recruiters and the ones who work for contracting agencies who just want to fix you at a lowballed hourly rate, and then invariably ghost anyway.

Did the career break affect your job search or interviews?

I took about 3 months off, then began prepping and searching for jobs. The ‘searching for jobs’ period lasted 9 months. During those 9 months I was spending 30-50 hours a week just on searching, prepping, or networking.

Sometimes a recruiter (usually of the lowballing, ghosty variety) would ask about my gap in employment. Intuition said I shouldn’t admit that I’ve been looking for a job for so long, so I said that I took some time to travel and reset, and then I began working on side projects and doing some coursework to level up as an engineer, while I looked for a new role.

Most companies didn’t ask, or seem to care.

Can you refer me?

I’d love to, but I’m very new at my new role, so I don’t feel comfortable doing that yet.

Can you review my resume?

Unfortunately right now I simply am swamped and don’t have time. I am also not a resume expert.

Resume resources I used:

Did you interview with companies in the tier 3 to tier 2 to tier 1 sequence? How did this approach affect your interview process and what differences did you notice?

I interviewed companies in “whoever would give me an interview” sequence, but in an ideal world, that sounds like a good idea. However, since every company has a different interview process, you might not be getting comparable practice… but you would be getting practice at interviewing itself, which is definitely a skill that you get better at (and more comfortable with) the more you do it.

Miscellaneous advice

I plan to write a proper blog post about my job search, but here’s a bucket of random advice for now:

  • Yeah, probably don't schedule your dream company first. Get some real interview practice first.
  • Don't schedule more than one full loop interview per week. It's too much!
  • Get mock interview practice on Pramp, interview.io, etc. And through friends.
  • Create structure for yourself. Treat this like a job.
  • Find an accountability partner to practice Leetcode with, practice all other interview types with, debrief with, rant with. Try to meet as often as possible, like every morning!
  • Spend some time on behavioral questions. Especially a really good intro elevator pitch about yourself.
  • Create a structure to follow during interviews. Each interview type may require a different structure. See my example below. Stick to the structure! Read and re-read it the night before, the hour before, 5 minutes before your interview. You will get flusterd and forget to follow it. I was still getting nervous and forgetting to follow it after many, many interviews, after 9 months of interviewing!

Resources I created for myself

Resources I used a lot of

  • Leetcode (the “blind 75” or “grind 75” is a good place to start)
  • Interview Kickstart
  • Greatfrontend.com
  • FrontendEval.com
  • Pramp
  • Interviewing.io
  • Book: “The 2 Hour Job Search” (about systemetizing your search and networking a lot).

Types of Interviews I Faced

  • Classic ds/algo.
  • Frontend: React (or “framework of your choice”).
  • Frontend: Vanilla JS.
  • Frontend: JS quiz, JS “gotchas.”
  • Frontend system design.
  • Full stack or backend system design.
  • Take home assignments.
  • Timed assessments.
  • Behavioral- all kinds.

Pre-interview checklist for myself.

  • Research interview questions you’re likely to get on Glassdoor and similar sites.
  • Cram. For a few days or a few weeks, depending on the role.
  • The night before:
    • Sleep well. Don’t cram late into the night.
  • The hour before
    • Meditate, do some deep breathing.
    • Queue up any prep material that is relevant. Have it on my desk printed out, for example.
    • Do some vocal exercises.
    • Take a cold shower.