5 lessons from unemployment

I've been a bit vague about my professional situation in 2023. The reason was that I was unemployed for most of it; nine months, to be precise.

I did get a job in the end. In fact, I passed the probation period this summer 🥳 and not only that, but I'm happy to say that even though it was my first offer after searching for a relatively long time, it's not just "the first place that would take me". I sincerely feel it's a great fit for me, both professionally and personally.

Yet what can I say? That time was challenging in every single way. Unemployment sucks. Up until that point, I'd only ever been out of work for a maximum of three months at a time, so this period was quite something else. The worst thing was the anxiety that the longer I was unemployed, the greater the stigma, and that finding something would likely get even harder.

Despite the difficulties, I also found some clarity. My most recent experiences at work at that point had been rather negative, but they also helped me form a specification of the kind of company and role that I wanted to gravitate towards. And as much as we might like to pretend otherwise, it's impossible to decouple work from the fact you're a human being with feelings, so I also Worked On Myself on a more emotional level, doing some exploration of my mind and nervous system, reflecting on certain patterns, and confronting some of the recurring triggers for distress. This was hard in its own way, of course, but that helped immensely.

It seems the job market is still pretty rough, so I wanted to share some of the things I learnt during this period — not just to document my own growth, but just in case it encourages someone else not to give up.

First, some stats:

1. 57 job applications in total, of which:
2. ...11 positive initial replies, usually leading to a first interview
3. ...8 invitations to a next stage, e.g. tech test or second interview
4. ...6 companies that completely ignored me, i.e. didn't even send a boilerplate rejection
5. ...2 application processes that I (gracefully) yeeted after having an interview and realising we wouldn't be a good match at all
6. In addition to all this, I added 27 jobs to my list that were gone by the time I got around to trying to apply for them.

Conclusion: it was tough out there. It still is, if my LinkedIn feed's anything to go by.

Alright, you might think ~6 applications a month doesn't sound like very much. But first of all, having just come out of an unhappy work situation, it didn't make sense for me to apply to companies or roles I thought would be a bad fit. Secondly, I had other things going on in my life. Thirdly, this supposed monthly average is actually false because I "lost" a couple of months — in October I was on my very intensive course, and then in December I was mostly either sick, off visiting my family, or preparing for the holidays.

Here are the five main things I took away from my period of extended unemployment.

Optimise your application tracking

How do you think I got those numbers I just mentioned? For years, whether actively looking for a new jobs or just wanting to deposit interesting opportunities I came across, I've been using a colour-coordinated Google Sheet with the following headings:

1. Date applied
2. Cover letter
3. Role
4. Company
5. Job link
6. Kununu rating
7. Notes
8. Post-interview notes

That's just something I made up myself, but if you search online, there are lots of job tracking templates to start you off. Just look at the range of ones available for Notion, for example.

It also meant that when the time came for me to an accept an offer, I could easily see which other interview processes I was still in. I emailed those companies thanking them for the time they had invested in me and wishing them all the best — after all, you never know when your paths might cross again.

Unemployment is not a universal experience

A couple of months into my unemployment, I posted on a local Facebook group about how I wanted to connect with other unemployed women in tech in Berlin. I did meet up with somebody and after about an hour of talking, I left the café feeling like we were living on different planets. Not only did this person have a slew of global players on her CV that would already put her a cut above most of the job-seekers out there, but she just wasn't in any sort of hurry to find a new job. She was wondering detachedly about whether to return to a prestigious former employer, and even suggested that I ask for my old job back.

I agree that finding yourself unemployed can be an opportunity, in the sense of offering a moment of introspection that can galvanise you into making some much-needed changes to your life. And for me, this was somewhat the case. But despite living in a country with a decent welfare system, it didn't mean I saw using it as a viable long-term option. The complexities of my own situation meant I needed to get back on the horse ASAP, and it was rather unhelpful to be told by a stranger that "worst comes to worst, you can get a job on the tills at the supermarket".

Many of us view our careers as a source of personal fulfilment, and that's a nice bonus. But at the end of the day: it's how we pay the bills. Some people may have a generous severance payout, a well-earning partner, no dependents — or even a combination of the three! — and can therefore take a more laissez-faire approach to finding what is often euphemistically called "a new challenge".

I'm increasingly of the mind that an overall reality check is needed among tech workers from wealthy countries. For the vast majority of the world's population, losing a job is an existential threat, and finding a new one will be a matter of urgency. That goes double in the current economic circumstances.

So if you're in the position of not having to worry too much about how you're going to keep the wolves from the door, please recognise this for the privilege it is. Don't assume everyone else is in the same boat.

Use the time to skill up

That being said: it's probably true that you will never have this much free time to learn something new, and if you can manage your time well, this shouldn't interfere with job applications and your other responsibilities.

As discussed here, formal study is not for everybody. My experience taught me that I probably would have been better off studying independently, going through lots of practice exams, and then taking the real AWS exam.

What I did do on my own, however, was identify areas that I wanted to learn more about. In my case, that was JavaScript, and more specifically, React and the frontend. In a way, my main side project was a playground for that. For better or worse, there is sooo much to learn in the world of programming, and if you're the kind of person who's seduced by the mere idea of all the possibilities, it's easy to want to do it all. I had to learn not to overdo it, otherwise I'd end up disappointed in myself. You should also think about which frameworks or skills you'd realistically like to use in your next role, and focus on those — whether that means learning something entirely new, or getting even better at something you already know.

A lot of companies don’t know how to interview

It may be an employer's market at the moment, but that doesn't mean it's okay for companies to be inconsiderate of candidates' time and energy. I believe it's crucial for candidates to keep this in mind not just so they're adequately prepared, but also so they learn to recognise companies that might be a poor fit.

Most of my application processes began with a screening either by phone or video call, usually lasting 20-30 minutes, to see if we’d be a basic match. If not, then no problem; there is little investment from either side at this stage. In fact, during all those months of unemployment, I only went to an office for an in-person interview once, and that was for the final stage.

Okay, fine... there was this one other time, with a different company. When they invited me to the office for a first interview — something I hadn't seen since the pre-COVID era — I immediately knew that one way or another, this wasn't going to work out. But given the slightly discouraging meeting I'd had with my case worker at the unemployment agency the day before, I felt I was in no position to cancel on them.

Alongside some logistical issues that felt a bit off, the interview had been arranged at short notice, and so I hadn't been told what exactly it would involve. As a result, it was very overwhelming: it turned out to be nearly an hour of interrogation by four strangers about quite specific technical scenarios, including solving some code problems on the spot. There were a few points where the answer simply escaped me, and I knew that if I'd been given half a chance to brush up on those topics in advance, I would have been able to answer more confidently. I maintain that there are much fairer, and besides, more true-to-life ways to assess a candidate's programming abilities and their potential to make a positive impact.

In my opinion, this type of interview setup is somewhat inward-looking. I understand it may make sense for the company to "save time" by doing a big all-in-one interview. However, it's going to give the candidate neither a gradual, organic feel for what it might be like to work there, nor is it going to foster a setting where they can present themselves in their best, most authentic light. And for the employees involved in the interview process it's no hassle because, well, they are getting paid anyway. Basically, it inherently gives the company the upper hand while disadvantaging the outsider.

This wasn't my worst interview of all time, but I think it does demonstrate multiple ways in which the company failed to put themselves in the candidate's shoes, thus missing an opportunity to show the candidate what they can offer (because who knows, maybe my first impressions were wrong?). It was a huge contrast to the more positive interviewing experiences I've had. In hindsight, I probably should have pushed back on their suggestion to have an in-person interview right away. Maybe they'd have been flexible if I'd asked — and then if they weren't, then I'd know right away this wasn't the place for me.

Determine your needs vs. your wants

I accepted a while ago that I needed a remote-first job for the "predictable flexibility" that I personally require in order to function. If I couldn't have that, then at least a job that had an office, but didn't really pressure people to go there. (I firmly believe this is the single most effective change that leaders can introduce in order to improve DEI, and therefore employee satisfaction and longevity.)

Since 2017, I'd never worked anywhere that didn't use Slack for internal communications. That is, apart from my previous, very short-lived workplace. Therefore, I somehow became convinced that Slack was a prerequisite for a decent company, as opposed to, say, Microsoft Teams, which was surely only used by fuddy-duddy companies. But when I started getting interviews with companies I liked, it turned out... not everyone uses Slack!

So I had to open my mind and dig deeper. Instead of blaming my bad experience on the lack of a distinct tool — which is a bit silly, if you think about it — this change in perspective forced me to pinpoint what had really been missing from my last place: an intentional, established effort on the part of the company to integrate informal communication into the fabric of the company culture and and help cultivate a sense of belonging among remote employees. As it turns out, you can't just say in an interview that you value "good communication", because lol, everybody thinks they're a good communicator. You have to be specific about what you see as the ingredients of great communication.

This is an example of how I identified a need (remote work) vs. a want (a preferred tool that indeed doesn't guarantee a high-quality company). As it happens, I am now working remotely at a company that uses Teams. We're all well aware of its downsides and joke about this.

And honestly? I don't even miss Slack.