Where to Start Your Job Search (Without Wasting Weeks Spinning)

The instinct when starting a job search is to open your resume, stare at it for an hour, and make small edits before uploading it to every job board you can find. This feels productive. It almost never leads anywhere quickly.

A job search is a project. Like any project, it goes better when you do the thinking before the doing. The first step isn't updating your resume - it's clarifying what you're looking for.

Before you touch your resume, write down three things: the type of role you want, the industries you'd consider, and the non-negotiables - things like location, remote flexibility, minimum salary, or company size. Job seekers who skip this step end up applying indiscriminately, writing generic materials, and getting fewer responses.

If you're not sure what you want, that's valid - but work through it before you start applying. Talk to people in roles that interest you. Read job descriptions and notice which ones make you lean in versus which ones feel like obligation. Your lack of direction will show in your materials and in interviews if you haven't sorted it out.

Once you have a target, build a list of 15-25 companies you'd genuinely want to work for in your target space. These don't have to be places that are actively hiring. Research each one: what do they do, how big are they, what's the culture reputation, are they growing or contracting? This becomes your radar. When a role opens up at one of these companies, you already know if you want to apply.

Use LinkedIn to find people in roles similar to what you're targeting. See where they worked before and how they got there. This gives you a realistic picture of what career paths actually look like - not what the job descriptions claim.

With a clear target, you can tailor your resume with intention. You know what the role requires, which of your experiences are most relevant, and what language to use. A resume written for a specific type of role will outperform a generic resume every time.

Write one strong version of your resume for your target, then make small adjustments for individual applications as needed. Don't start from scratch for each job - that's inefficient. Start from a well-targeted base and tweak.

After the resume comes the outreach - reaching out to your network with a clear ask, starting informational interviews, applying to your target list. By this point you're moving with direction, and that shows.