The first two weeks of a search are easy — twenty applications, a rewritten resume, a burst of outreach. Week six is the real thing, and by then the approach that ran on enthusiasm has nothing left to run on.
Batch by type, not by company
The expensive part of applying is context-switching between modes: hunting for roles, tailoring documents, writing outreach, and preparing for interviews are four different activities, and interleaving them per company means paying the switch cost every time.
Monday, 45 minutes — sourcing. Find roles only. Do not apply to anything. Build a list.
Tuesday and Thursday, 60 minutes — applying. Work the list. Tailor and send.
Wednesday, 30 minutes — outreach. Referral asks and follow-ups on anything over ten days old.
Weekend, 60 minutes — preparation. Story inventory, technical practice, or nothing if there is nothing live.
Cap the applications
Five a week, tailored, beats forty untailored — not as a motivational slogan but arithmetically, because the response rate difference is larger than the volume difference. Volume is the strategy that feels like progress while producing the least of it.
Protect the off switch
A search with no defined end to the working day expands to fill every evening, and the resulting resentment shows up in interviews as flatness. When the block is done, close the tracker. The postings will still be there tomorrow.
A search is measured in months. Design it for month four, not for the Sunday night you started it.
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