Hello, my friends. It’s been a while so let’s jump right on in.
The past 1.5 years have been very transformative career-wise. It all started when I was laid off from a company that I really loved while solo traveling (for the first time) in Paris.
This experience moved me to consider jumping into Imperfect Taylor full-time, which is something I had been thinking about for a while at that point.
So that’s what I did! I was so excited to be able to take that leap.
After about 8 months of working on Imperfect Taylor full-time, things were going pretty well. I was finally starting to see a lot of traffic to my blog – something I had spent countless hours on – and I started getting a few clients that I helped with SEO for their own blogs, and social media, too. But I was also starting to get a little nervous financially.
I was in an interesting spot with Imperfect Taylor. Do I move forward with it even though it’s a little scary? Do I go back to the corporate world and work on Imperfect Taylor on the side? Do I give up on Imperfect Taylor entirely? All the thoughts crossed my mind.
That’s when I received a message on LinkedIn from someone I didn’t know, asking me to come in for an interview at a news station (or so I thought) to talk about my business, Imperfect Taylor.
Thinking I should just continue to put myself out there to spread the word about Imperfect Taylor, I eventually showed up for the interview. Long story short, that interview ended up being a lead generation tactic used by a marketing company to attract business owners that they would eventually pitch their marketing services to (and I have to give them credit, it was a pretty smart & effective tactic) and I ended up being offered a job by that marketing company.
After a few conversations, and lots of contemplation, I decided that taking this job would be a great way to pay the bills and still work on Imperfect Taylor on the side! Financial troubles no more… right?
An important piece of information: I accepted this marketing job at a lower salary than my very first job out of college. Think about that for a second. It wasn’t about the money for me at this point. Remember, I wanted help paying the bills and figured this was a great way to do that while continuing to build my audience and client base for Imperfect Taylor.
Why look for a new job?
However – and this is the kicker – I ended up getting pretty invested in the growth of that company (I should’ve known this might happen given my determined personality style lol) and what was supposed to be a simple 9-5 to help pay the bills turned into something I was investing a lot of time and energy into. This was very exciting and fun for a while! But when I started spending less time on Imperfect Taylor, I started to think… wait a second here lol. This wasn’t the plan!
Throw in getting engaged and ALL of the futuristic thoughts that come with that like… wedding! House! Baby! And you really start to question if where you are at financially is strategic – and responsible – or not.
I started to think… does this really make financial sense? Prior to this marketing company, I worked in Tech making a much higher salary, working less hours with great benefits, and now as I think about the next chapter of my life with marriage and hopefully building a family…wow, I might have to change things up… again!
And… my desire to run my own company simply dwindled. I began to value working for a consistent paycheck with great benefits like a 401(k) match, healthcare, PTO, etc. more than I wanted to do my own thing. My priorities and desires were changing.
So, simply put, that company and I decided to part ways. It made the most sense for both parties. They deserved someone who was going to be fully committed at the salary that they were offering, and I wanted to go back to the lucrative career path that I had invested almost 10 years into – data and analytics.
So, where does that leave me at this point, you ask? Looking for a new job, of course!
If you’ve been a part of this community for a while, you know that the last time I looked for a job in the corporate world, I had 34 interviews before landing a job offer. Cringeeeeeeee! I was NOT going to do that to myself again haha.
Was I nervous after being out of the Tech world for 1.5 years or so? For sure. But, I mentioned determination before. I was determined to get back on my original career path.
And so, the job search began.
I asked my Instagram community what questions you all had about my job search. Hopefully I’ve answered the biggest question which was “I thought you liked your job at the marketing company, why leave?!”
And now, we’ll get to talking about how I found my new job as a Product Manager for a sports retail company. Here are all the answers to your questions:
Answering all of your questions
“How did you update your CV?”
My fiance’s sister owns a recruiting company, so she’s got a lot of experience when it comes to helping candidates on their job search. She is AMAZING and helped me update my resume and make sure my LinkedIn looked good.
I highly recommend reaching out to a professional for help when it comes to updating your resume. You just don’t know what kinds of things you should change/add/remove otherwise.
“How do you keep motivated when things aren’t happening?”
I somehow managed to maintain a little morsel of hope. I knew that the job market was not going to be easy, so when things weren’t happening I just thought “this is to be expected. You just have to keep going. SOMETHING will happen soon enough.”
Additionally, I leaned on friends who were also going through the job search process. I asked them what was working for them and what wasn’t.
Any time I received a response from someone that I asked to refer me, or received a response from a recruiter, or any time I moved the needle in SOME WAY, a little bit of hope would come around again.
I asked so many people for referrals. People who I went to college, high school, or middle school with. People I met on Instagram. People I worked with at previous companies. If I had a decent relationship with the person in the past, I swallowed my pride and asked them for help. And most people were so helpful and receptive.
When you push yourself outside of your comfort zone in your job search, I believe that the universe or God (whatever you believe in) sees that and rewards you. Maybe I am a little delulu here, but it’s what I chose to believe and helped me remain hopeful.
“How specific did you get when it came to the job title for your next job?”
I searched for “business analyst”, “business strategist”, “analyst”, “data analyst”, and “consultant” job titles. These were the main job titles that I searched for.
“Is this new job back in your original field?”
Yes and no. Product Management specifically is new to me, but I have transferable skills in both marketing and data analytics that apply directly to this role.
“What industry is your new job in”?
I am in tech for a sports retailer.
“What was the deciding factor in knowing the kind of job you wanted to switch TO?”
Because I had been out of the corporate world for a little bit, I was willing to take a similar role to what I had done in the past (data analytics / consulting) as my first step back in. However, I really wanted a role where my sole duties didn’t revolve around using SQL or doing data analytics all day long. In other words, I wanted a role that was a little more functional and less technical. And I am happy to say that I believe that’s exactly where I ended up!
“Tips for your first day / week?”
- Be prepared to briefly introduce yourself a few times. I often mentioned that “I have a data analytics / marketing background”, what I studied in school, where I’m from and where I live now, and that I’m “really excited to be here and continue to get to know everyone” – be yourself, you got this!
- Get a planner, a notebook for notes, and a pen.
- Be prepared to ask questions, meet people, and do a lot of trainings!
- Be easy on yourself! First weeks are always a little anxiety-inducing and your new team knows that!
“Tips for getting in the door for entry level jobs?”
Apply to any jobs that interest you! Don’t put too much pressure on finding the perfect fit… I still feel like I am figuring out what I really like 10 years after my very first professional job!
Be sure to reach out to any people you know who work at companies that you are interested in for a referral (as long as you know them decently enough). Most people are more than willing to help you! Plus, they usually get some sort of bonus if you end up getting hired which acts as an incentive for them.
“Did you keep track of all your interviews like last time?”
I sure did…
I applied to 231 jobs, reached out to 20 people for referrals, and had 16 total interviews over a period of about 2 months.
“Is your new job remote?”
Yes, it is 100% remote.
“Did you negotiate your salary? Do you feel comfortable negotiating?”
Absolutely, yes. I have negotiated many times now and am pretty comfortable with it. Remember that the recruiter is expecting you to negotiate (so long as you’re in a field where it’s commonplace – I know a lot of nonprofits do not entertain negotiations). Here’s a good article on how to negotiate your salary.
“How many jobs did you interview for before you got hired?”
I interviewed for 6 total companies.
“Where is the best place to look for new jobs?”
I personally LOVE LinkedIn. I feel it’s got the best user interface and it’s the easiest to use. But I also used Dice.com (primarily for tech jobs) and Indeed.com.
“What program do you use to create your resume?”
I have had the same resume since graduating college, but have tweaked it over the years thanks to (again) my future sister-in-law.
If you can reach out to someone who has professional recruiting experience, I would absolutely do that. Even if you have to pay a little, I think it’s a great investment and worth it.
“Did you have a connection at the new company?”
I did not have a connection at the new company and was not referred by anyone.
“How do you make friends with supportive people?”
I had a really hard time making friends in my early-mid twenties, and now feel like I’ve hit the jackpot. I would say… don’t settle. Here’s how I made friends.
“Did you use cover letters?”
Yes! Admittedly, only when I needed to. Some jobs literally won’t let you apply unless you have one.
I used ChatGPT for help with this. I literally copied the job description, then in ChatGPT I said “write me a cover letter for this job [then paste the job description]”. ChatGPT will spit out a cover letter. Then, I would say “write me a cover letter for this job with my experience [then paste my experience]” and ChatGPT would produce a cover letter for me that talked about the job and why my experience would make me a great fit for the role.
ChatGPT is not perfect so I tweaked the cover letter a lot to make sure it didn’t sound robotic, but overall ChatGPT saved me a ton of time. I recommend it.
“Do you send thank you notes after interviews? Do people still do that?”
Yes, absolutely. I sent a thank you note after every single interview. Here is a template with all of my thank you notes that I sent my interviewers for the job that I got.
“How many interviews did you have for the job you accepted/what were the formats?”
I had 6-8 interviews depending on how you look at it. 3 phone interviews, an activity interview where I solved a problem in front of an interviewer, a panel interview which consisted of 3 back-to-back interviews of 30 minutes each with 2 people each, and a final phone interview.
“Do you have go-to messages you send on LinkedIn once you apply?”
I know some people do this, but I don’t. I think it’s a perfectly good strategy but it’s just not something I typically do. I reached out to one recruiter one time during this particular job search and did not receive a response.
“Any tips for remote jobs?”
“Did you use a recruiting firm?”
No, but again, my future sister-in-law (who I consulted with for my entire job search) owns Omada Search. If you need help finding a job in the Charlotte, North Carolina area, I highly recommend reaching out to them! They have a bunch of resources on their website and you can reach out to them there, too.
“How do you go about targeting the right job rather than sending a bulk amount of resumes?”
If a job title aligned and a job description sounded relatively interesting, I would apply with a version of my resume that I felt was pretty solid. It was kind of like my “go-to” resume.
If I REALLY liked a role, I would edit my resume and tailor it to the job description, adding in certain projects I worked on in the past that related to that particular role directly. Then, I would save that version of my resume in a new folder on my computer titled “Company Name – Job Title” with specifics (e.g. “Amazon – Business Analyst”), so that I kept it separate from my standard resume AND so that if I was applying for a Business Analyst role at another company, for example, I could use that version as a head start before tailoring it again.
I probably created about 20 different versions of my resume. I had versions for business analyst roles, data analysis roles, business strategy roles, etc.
“How did you prepare for interviews?”
For my early interviews, I prepared with Google Interview Warmup. I thought this was a really cool resource that one of my friends showed me, and it really helped me rehearse what I was going to say.
I also listened to the “Interview Boss” podcast which helped. Specifically, an episode they did called “Listen to this RIGHT before your interview.” It helped me calm down and not take things too seriously.
I also did some meditation and the superwoman pose before a few interviews, not kidding hahaha.
When it came down to more technical interviews, where I knew interviewer questions might really drill into my skill set, I studied.
For one particular interview with a hiring manager for a data analysis job, I took an 8 hour course on Microsoft Excel to brush up on my skill set there. I knew this particular job was looking for an expert in Excel, so I bought a course and completed it in about 36 hours before my interview.
I did not end up getting that job, but that’s okay because if I had, I would’ve accepted it, and wouldn’t be where I am now! Plus, I got to brush up on my MS Excel skills and learn new things.
For the job I did end up being offered and accepting, I had one interview in particular where I had to do an activity. So, I reached out to someone I knew who had the same role I was interviewing for at another company and asked them how they prepared for their interviews to get their job. They recommended a book that I bought and read about 50% of in a few days, as well as some YouTube videos that I watched numerous times.
Other than these things, I did research on the companies and the roles to ensure I truly understood what the company and hiring manager were looking for so I could tailor my interview answers to those things, as well as studied up on the history and origin stories of the companies I was interviewing with.
“How long was your longest job?”
4 years.
“What’s more important: liking your job or getting paid well?”
You know, I think if you asked me this a few years ago I would’ve said “liking your job is more important” – but now I realize that for me, I probably won’t like a job if I’m not getting paid well.
Leaving a career path that paid me well and offered good benefits to pursue self-employment like I did really taught me the sense of security that money and benefits can bring. Not to be dramatic, but I will never take that for granted again. I learned so much on my self-employment journey, and I’m so glad I did because it needed to happen and I needed to figure that out for myself, but I am very happy to be back on my original career path.
This is not to say that I will never try being self-employed again. But right now, I feel really good where I’m at.
If you are job searching right now, I completely know how you feel. I hope this article on my experience helps you feel a little less alone and gives you tips to make things a little easier!
Good luck!
Imperfectly,
Taylor
