Got an offer after 6.5 months! Some tips that helped me.

Got laid off at the beginning of June, and I finally landed an offer last week after 6.5 months of being unemployed. It was a tough journey, but I ended up in a role that I’m really excited about. For those job hunting - don't give up. It only takes one!

Seeing offer posts on this subreddit helped keep me motivated over the past few months so I thought that I would give back a little and share some key things that helped me secure the job:

1. Think of an interview like a conversation where you're selling your skills and experience. Instead of coming up with answers on the spot, you should prepare 3-4 strong stories from your past experiences that highlight key skills the company values.

The trick is that one good story can be adapted to answer multiple different questions. For example:

If you have a story about solving a tough bug in a project, you can use it to answer:

"Tell me about a time you solved a difficult problem."

"Give an example of when you showed persistence."

"Have you ever worked under a tight deadline?"

By tweaking how you tell the story, you can make it fit different questions while still keeping it authentic. Be sure to also prepare for some possible follow up questions too! And make sure you structure your story to include what you did, why you did it, and what you learned from the experience.

2. Don't just apply to jobs - work on making yourself a stronger candidate.

It’s tempting to spend all day spamming applications, but quality matters more than quantity. Set aside dedicated time for applying, but also invest in improving your skills.

For example, as a software engineer, I spent a lot of time learning new tools, practicing coding problems, and doing some small projects. I ended up adding those new skills to my resume and talked about them in my interviews, which made a real difference.

So make yourself as marketable as possible—whether that means taking courses, working on personal projects, improving your portfolio, or something else. When you finally get that interview, you’ll have more to talk about and a better shot at landing the job.

3. Make sure your LinkedIn is up to date—or create one if you don’t have it yet.

LinkedIn is one of the best ways to get noticed by recruiters. A lot of the interviews I landed came from recruiters reaching out to me because my LinkedIn was updated and had details about my past experience.

Make sure your LinkedIn includes industry-relevant keywords so recruiters can find you. Also write a concise and compelling summary about yourself, and fill out your skills. Try to connect anyone you know on LinkedIn to grow your network as well. If a recruiter messages you on LinkedIn, you're basically getting an interview without even applying, so there's no downside to setting one up!

4. Go into every interview with a learning mindset.

Interviews are stressful, but I've found that the best way to approach them is with a learning mindset. Instead of worrying about saying everything perfectly, treat it like a chance to learn something new.

The person interviewing you is likely in a role you might want in the future, so pay attention to how they talk about their work and ask them good questions. This way, even if you don’t get the job, you’ll walk away knowing more than you did before and you'll be more prepared for the next interview.

I hope this ends up helping someone. Good luck out there, you got this! ❤️