| I am trying to think what advice I would give you if you were my friend versus an internet anon (because I am going to assume the advice I give to my friends is the best advice). If I were talking to one of my close friends: I would never, under any circumstance, advise them to take a job they are not completely enthusiastic about across multiple dimensions. The advice I give to my personal friends is that they should never accept a role that is not 50 - 100% better (or more) across multiple dimensions including pay, skills, product, team, life / work balance, manager. I tell my personal friends that they shouldn't take any job which is not "transformational" to them in some way. I tell my friends: If you are not jumping out of your seat for this opportunity, don't do it. This market is crazy, exploding, lots of innovation and hiring. And if you are not finding something interesting in this market: The problem is either your search strategy, your profile / behavior or your network / relationships. If I were you, I would focus on evolving my search strategy to get away from knocking on the front door and work on relationship building. And if there is something materially wrong with your skill / experience / qualification profile versus some of these jobs: Be completely realistic about what you are missing and go fix it. When I wanted to become a tech evangelist, I couldn't get jobs because I only had 4 / 10 of what those roles needed. So I spent 6 months systematically closing the gaps in my story and the next job, I got it right away.
Be incredibly realistic: Do you have 100% of the check boxes needed for the jobs you want? IF not, go and fix it. This is one area where being able to take an honest, hard look at yourself versus what is wanted is going to pay off. Get on LinkedIn and Twitter, talk directly to decision makers (or "friendlies" who will talk to you at the target company list). Do more information gathering before trying to apply. Be prepared to tell people: "Hey, if you see anything like X,Y,Z - Let me know. I am looking for jobs like that." Sometimes it takes weeks or months, but people remember and will send you opportunities. The more seeds like that you plant, the better you will do in six months. The internet makes people feel like they just need to click to apply. It often doesn't work that way. Finally: I have found that certain industries have "Super Networkers" who kind of help everyone and are known by everyone and are connected to everyone. I strongly recommend trying to find and make friends with these super networkers / community organizers because they are often the most accessible gateways to breaking into an industry. Go make friends with these people, let them know what you are looking for and ask them to refer anything they see. This is way more effective to get really good leads in my experience. |