Job Searching with a Community
Searching for a new job can feel lonely and isolating, but it doesn't have to be that way. If you have been unexpectedly laid off, you might miss having teammates to bounce ideas off of or to lean on when you feel down about receiving a rejection email. You might also miss the structure and accountability that weekly team meetings provided you in staying on top of your priorities and tasks. If this resonates with you, consider starting or joining an intentional community of job seekers to provide one another with support, encouragement, and accountability. You can find communities of job seekers on sites like Meetup, and use filters depending on what's important to you, such as local groups if you want to meet in person, similar industry or job interests, etc.
You could also start your own! Chances are, you know at least one other person who is looking for a new job right now. Invite them to join your group, and expand from there. If done well, job searching with a community can provide the missing human element to your search. If you’re on the fence about including others in your search, here are five benefits of job searching with a community to make the decision a little easier:
Benefit #1: Resume and LinkedIn Proofreading
If you’ve been out of the job hunting game for a while, it can be exhausting to think about updating your resume and LinkedIn profile. And then after you update, is it any good? We’ve written on how to reverse the “boolean” search that recruiters use to source candidates into their recruiting pipeline for roles. This is a good place to start when updating your LinkedIn. Further, there are countless template resumes online to get you started and remind you of resume writing best practices, but it can be helpful to get an extra set of eyes on your resume to provide feedback on how to best word your accomplishments and position your skills for the job.
You might not want to bother busy friends or family, and that’s where your community comes in. When community job searching, you can message the group for volunteers to review your resume and LinkedIn. When everyone shares a similar goal (to get a new job), there’s a shared commitment to each other’s success and someone will likely raise their hand to help.
💡 Pro tip: use a tool like ChatGPT or Grammarly to proofread your resume for typos and grammar.
Benefit #2: Diverse expertise
Each person in a community brings something different: skill sets, perspectives, connections, etc. Community job searches give the opportunity for skill share. In a community job search, you can have easy access to a diverse set of experiences and expertise to leverage in your own search. For example, one person in the group might be a Recruiter and can provide mock interview practice or can help fill in the gaps and provide likely rationale when you receive a rejection or feedback you weren’t expecting. Another person might be a marketing or sales professional and can provide a helpful perspective on perfecting your elevator pitch.
When you’ve been searching for a while, it can start to feel like you lack skills (otherwise, why haven’t I been hired???) even if that’s fundamentally not true. Having a community that relies on your unique expertise can be a great reminder you have important and valuable skills to offer.
Benefit #3: Network
Referrals and introductions to hiring managers can be a powerful way to get your foot in the door at a company, especially in a tight job market when 1000s of candidates are applying to the same jobs. If you’ve worked hard to build connections in your previous jobs, you likely have a strong network to call upon for support when you start job searching. Now imagine if you could immediately 10x your network by building trusted relationships with your community job searching group? When you join an intentional job searching community, you gain access to those new networks and can call upon that person to provide you with an introduction you may otherwise not have had.
💡 Pro tip: Each person in the community can fill out a short questionnaire with their LinkedIn profile, resume, professional summary, types of roles they are looking for, and other important information that makes sense for the industry: ideal size and stage company, reach vs comfort-level titles, expected comp, preferred work situation (remote, hybrid, in-person), travel expectations, etc. With this important information, the community can easily share roles that might be a good fit for someone in the community if they come across something that might be interesting or a good fit for that person.
Benefit #4: Accountability
Maybe you know you need to update your resume or start that class to upskill yourself before career pivoting. Whatever the situation, a community job search can provide you with the external validation and motivation that you might need to do the things you know you need to do, but might not want to do. Some communities get together IRL to co-work with one another; you could also do a weekly Zoom call to share your goals for the week and share progress on last week’s goals.
If you’re the type of person that needs an extra push from others to hold yourself accountable to progressing forward in your search, going through a job search with other motivated people can be extremely helpful in keeping you on track to your goals.
Benefit #5: Provide a temperature check
In a job hunt, it is quite common to come across something and think, "Is this crazy, or am I going crazy?" Perhaps a job description has outrageous expectations for the listed pay, or you thought an interview went well, only to get ghosted by the company. Most of us suffer through those moments alone, and it can wear on us after a while. Being part of a community of job seekers all sharing their highs and lows can help normalize the process and remind us that sometimes it's just the system, not us.
Job searching but need help finding a community? Reach out to us at info@weenvisioninclusion.com; we’d be happy to help and extend our network to you.
