The process behind my job search
I’m on the job hunt, which is both exciting and stressful all at the same time.
Background
Since 2009, I’ve been working as a designer and design strategist in the social innovation space. Since 2016, I’ve gained vast knowledge of the science, language, solutions, and approaches needed to address our climate emergency.
Over the past six years running The Determined and Climate Designers, I’ve led teams on a variety of projects amplifying the work of climate-focused initiatives.
I’m currently in search of new opportunities at the intersection of design and climate action.
Sharing my search
Since the start of the year, I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching to help me figure out what’s next in my career.
While opening up to my peers about what I’m looking for, I’ve also shared with them how I’m looking, the work behind my search. More than one person suggested I share this publicly, perhaps as a process others might find helpful.
I’ve been treating this job search like a design project, applying a strategic approach towards my process.
Below are the steps and actions I’ve taken since earlier this year.
Getting started
I drafted out a few lists in Evernote; What I want to do, What I don’t want to do, My ideal work scenarios, My ideal spaces to work in. It felt good putting ideas down to see what I was thinking.
As a visual learner, I then recreated this as a visual board in Mural which mirrored a whiteboard full of Post-Its.
After a few casual conversations with friends and colleagues, I added two more sections to the Mural board; What I hope to achieve personally and professionally and Companies and orgs that I admire/appreciate/might want to work for.
Initial conversations
I reached out to my mentors and close colleagues, those who’ve seen me in action and know what my creative superpowers are. I updated them on things regarding the dissolving of The Determined and transforming Climate Designers into a sustainable co-operative business. I walked them through my Mural board, which guided our conversations.
Their questions allowed me to open up my approach and think more deeply about what I wanted to do, which encouraged me to update the Mural board after each call.
Because of these calls, the Climate Action Venn Diagram was included in my Mural, something I have my Climate Designers students do at the start of every class.
At this point, the Mural board was shaping up nicely.
Keeping track
In the middle of talking to my mentors and close colleagues, I created a Trello board to track who I connected with. I kept track of each conversation in an Evernote notebook.
This was when I started to get initial connections from them, they introduced me to people I should know and/or who had opportunities that I might be interested in.
Opening up
During this time, I started to think about other badass people I know in both the design and climate space. Up until this point, I wasn’t sharing the fact that I was on the job hunt. Maybe I was embarrassed, maybe I wasn’t ready. So I added these people to a new list in Trello.
But, what was I going to ask them in my initial email?
“Hey, I’m looking for a job. Know anyone that’s hiring?”
Nah.
As someone who gets his fair share of emails from friends and colleagues who are looking for a job with vague descriptions and no clear CTA, I wanted to avoid that.
Based on my updated vision of what I want to do and the details to get me there, I set out to create an unlisted page on my website with context and content taken from the Mural board.
This way, when I emailed people asking for help with a link to the unlisted page included, they knew exactly what I’m looking for. This would make it easy for them to think about who they should connect me with or what links/info to share.
This page consisted of:
- A simple and direct headline
- A :90 second video of me explaining my situation and search
- Links to my résumé, About, and Work
- Link to my LinkedIn profile
- A list of goals I want to achieve
- Options of different kinds of work environments I’m open to along with links
- A pre-written email intro they can use to copy/paste in an email 😉
- Specific details on what I’m ideally looking for
Taking time to think about who I should email, I counted about 40+ people in that second tier. I sent out emails in batches of 8–10 so I could manage incoming replies and connections being made.
Another reason I emailed folks in batches was to address any recurring questions or ideas from them that I could then use to update my approach, search, or content on the unlisted page.
I continued to add more people to Trello. Going through my own connections on LinkedIn was helpful. Being on other social platforms reminded me of those who would be good to reach out to. Even just going for a run in the park or walking the city allowed me to remember someone to add to the list.
And honestly, I used this as an opportunity to catch up with friends in general. I felt like the pandemic closed me off from many relationships due to working remotely or with folks moving out of the Bay Area. It’s been nice to hear what others have been doing (and how they’ve been feeling) during the last few years.
Making it public
After much thought, I decided to make my search public. I duplicated the unlisted page and created a version of it for my Home page. I then posted my search on a handful of Slack teams I belong to, on my LinkedIn and Facebook feeds, and sent out a newsletter to subscribers of my website.
Because of this, I received a lot of emails, messages, and comments from others. Some were in support of my search, sending me positive vibes, others made connections, and a good number of inbound emails were from people I didn’t even know, reaching out because of my public post.
Informational interviews
And as much as I’d been appreciative of all the connections and suggestions from peers in my circles, I knew I still needed to put my own effort into the job hunt.
I spent time browsing the web, adding to my existing bookmarks more companies and organizations doing truly innovative climate work.
With links saved, I made a goal to email 6–8 companies a week. Based on their approaches or solutions, I crafted a short message asking for an informational interview with someone on their creative team or in leadership. And of course, I included a link to my site.
That personal touch
I also spent time on a variety of climate-focused job boards, like the one on Climate Designers, applying to a few of them that seemed to check off a lot of the boxes on my list in Mural.
Honestly, I feel like my next career opportunity will come from talking to people directly — sharing with them the experience I have, the value I can bring, and the perspectives I’ve gained during my professional career.
With all of this soul/job searching, I feel better about embracing my unconventional, non-traditional design path and skills. Each call with a new person has been an opportunity to share my desires, goals, and story — and has left me feeling more confident in my personal narrative.
Stay tuned
As of this writing, I’ve had mostly positive results based on email exchanges and calls. Some are strong leads, others are maybes, and a number of them are labeled as “Didn’t go anywhere”.
I’ll update this post when needed. I’m considering all of this a work-in-progress.
Maybe you’ll get some ideas from my approach that you can implement in your search. If so, let me know. I’d love to hear about it.
While you’re here
- If you’re at the start of your climate design journey and need some direction, I’m offering (pay-what-you-can) 1:1 sessions to help folks set them up for success. Along with sharing my experience and knowledge when it comes to transitioning and working in the climate space, I’m more than happy to talk about my search.
- If you are a company doing boundary-pushing climate work that might benefit from my talents, get in touch. It would be great to chat with you.
Onward!
Originally published on: AUG 9, 2022
