3 Things I Learned During My Job Search During The Pandemic

I transitioned into a full-time gig in late 2019. I had been running my own start up project that while successful and energizing, just isn’t fully scaling to the extent we had hoped. The fact that the platform I built is highly automated and requires very little day to day guidance allowed me to take more of an Advisor role in the project, so I went looking for a full-time role.

It had been over 4 years since I received a steady full-time paycheck, and it was certainly time.

I onboarded with the new position in Dec/Jan 2020, and began my ramp as an Customer Account Executive (‘CAE’ in the vernacular), working to provide nonprofit organizations with all the operational software and customer guidance I could possibly sell to them. I enjoyed the experience, I had a solid boss and a great team to work with, and I was generally VIBRATING with excitement and optimism.

Then March 2020 happened.

To make a long story not-so-long….

• Business got REALLY DIFFICULT in a hurry. Deals quickly slid to late year, if they didn’t slide completely off the table. Nonprofits were hunkering down and delaying upgrades and software investment.
• My employer did a massive round of layoffs in May 2020 which I was fortunate to sidestep, but I wasn’t as lucky in December 2020.

So in December 2020 I joined the millions of people that were on their own job search journey.

I took about a week off to shake it off and take stock about what I REALLY wanted to have in my next role:

1. I wanted to join an Org where their customer base RAVES about the services they provide. I didn’t want a company where customers frequently churn, or sign their renewals as they hold their nose…
2. I wanted to prioritize my target employers based on company culture, transparency, and an employee-centered environment.
3. I wanted to find a company in a market segment that was at least MOSTLY protected from the economical after-effects of Covid.

By focusing on these three areas, I found that I was applying to FEWER jobs, but I was also able to better research organizations, understand their focus and THEIR idea of…