I’ve been busy this month. I said I was talking to a company with the goal of working fewer hours and doing it from home, in order to have time to work on my own side projects. That particular company has fallen on hard times, and the owner may have to let people go. He can’t consider hiring right now. So, I embarked on my normal “job search procedure”:

How to conduct a Job Search

1. Write an awesome resume. This topic has been beaten to death, so I’m sure you can find specific advice on it elsewhere. Write a resume that’s really punchy, and shows off your talents.
3. Call your Network. Call up everyone you know and invite them to lunch. You should be booked for lunch for a couple weeks. Talk to them about what they’ve been doing. Let them know you’re looking for your next opportunity.
4. Post on Monster. Put that awesome resume of yours on Monster.com. Then apply for 4 or 5 jobs that you know are listed by recruiters–do this so that all of the major recruitment firms in your area get your resume.
5. Look around the “real” job boards. Monster.com isn’t really a great place to find work. The jobs there are low to mid level corporate gigs that tend not to pay well, and most are listed by agencies. Look on boards that are relevant to your particular industry. For developers, try 37signals or JoelonSoftware. There are others as well. Look everywhere! Apply to those jobs with a nice cover letter and a follow up call.

The Method in the Madness

So why spam the resume out to recruiters for soulless corporate gigs that you don’t want? Practice and Leverage.

You will land several interviews through recruiters. They are rabid about placements. There’s an off-chance that you could be impressed by one of these, but that’s not the point. These are warm up interviews — these are the ones you can afford to screw up. Answer questions the wrong way. Take some risks in what you ask for.

Make sure to schedule these interviews to take place before the ones you get from your network and the “real” job boards.

The idea is to get your bearings and get sharp again before you go in for the interviews that matter. I always do better at the third and fourth interview of the week than I do at the first one.

Because you’ll have several interviews, you’re bound to get an offer or two. This is the leverage you need. Use the first offers to get better offers from other companies.

I interviewed at a corporate office and got an offer $25,000 more than the offer I got from the job I wanted. I used that difference as leverage, so the other company was motivated to hook me. Now I’m working from home, on my own schedule, 4 days a week.

I’ll tell you about the gig itself in the next post, but just remember: if there’s a job you want, don’t act like they are doing you a favor by offering it. I would have taken the job I took without the concessions, for other reasons, but now I have a much more flexible schedule because I played it smart by practicing, and getting leverage.

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