Finding a job in 2025 advice
After a lay off, job searching is a drag — a full time job. You constantly feel a burning in the back of your head; an anxiety burn. Business Insider's Aki Ito offers some great guidance:
I'll say, these tips are great, but they aren't a blanket for every job. Take them as general ideas that can be adapted.
Here are Aki's tips:
Talk to people now in and around your job — even if you have a job. Email, get coffee, virtual hangs. Have a specific job to learn about what people do, ask for them to keep you in mind if they hear of a good opportunity.
Make a list of 5 dream companies. Go deep on those companies and work to land a job there. If you're entry level though, spray and pray: send stuff out everywhere.
Cold call. Find managers and ask to hop on a call. Aki has a consultant offer a cold call template:
Tell everyone: hairdressers, old meet ups from conferneces. Activate everyone you know from grandma to grand masters at your board game group.
Post and be active on LinkedIn. It feels weird, but it's more useful than you think. Try leaving 5 comments a day. Post often. Search and poke around. If you're over 40, hide the year you graduated. Sad fact, but age discrimination is real.
Use AI tools to punch your resume and find keywords in a job description. Make your resume custom for every job. Teal is a good tool to start with.
Aki seems to think the cover letter doesn't matter. I might differ with her on this one, or I might say, it might depend on the job. The cover letter to me shows how your skills can be a fit, if your past experiences don't immediately seem obvious to how they fit the job you're applying for. But then again, maybe you can make your resume do that work.
Apply, apply: Aki's pro tip: Pro tip: Set up job alerts for your dream companies on LinkedIn so you get a notification the moment a new listing goes up.
Message managers, HR, or recruiters after you apply — unless the job description says to not do that. Another template:
Do your homework — read about the company, understand what you can on the outside.
Get any referral you can, but don't let this stopping you from applying. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.