🆕 When Do You Start Looking For A New Job?

Hello there 😎 

Today in 5 minutes or less, I’m covering a second round of the burning questions I recently answered for the Land A Remote Job (LARJ) community. 

(You can read the first round here.)

Plus, the best links and resources... you'll learn:

• 🔑 PWC gets serious about RTO - begins tracking employees

• 🇪🇸 €15,000 digital nomad grants to live in Spain

• 🏖️ Confessions of a “quiet vacationer”

Let’s jump in:

⏩ Quick updates

My favorite ice-breaker is “highs & lows” (you share one “highlight” and one “lowlight”). I do these in team meetings, in my coaching program, and even with my kids! Here are some recent highs & lows:

Highs

• I’ve been doing a ton of catch-up calls with friends now that the kids are back in school 

• A friend who I’ve been helping with job advice just landed a role at Meta

• I published my latest Friends & Family newsletter

Lows: 

• Rough start to the month -- sprained my ankle in BJJ class, so I’m hobbling around on crutches and my office chair to get around the apartment

Question: What are your highs & lows? I’d love to hear it.

🔥 Burning Questions About The Job Search - Answered (Part 2)

All my clients get access to the LARJ community. This is our Whatsapp group where anyone can ask questions about their remote job search. 

We cover career strategy, resume feedback, new open roles, and everything in between. 

Let’s jump in: 

🆕 When do you start looking for a new job? 

Every job search comes with opportunity costs: what you could do instead of searching. If you have a job during your search, it has a cost on how well you do your current job.

(Assuming your job search time comes from time allocated to work.)

This tradeoff can look a lot of different ways:

• An "active search", where your time is split 50/50 work to search

• A "passive search", where you split time 80/20 work to search

• And any combination thereof

Here’s what I ask myself before I start this process: 

"Is this job checking enough boxes for me?"

Examples of “boxes”: 

• Am I learning?

• Do I like the culture?

• How is my quality of life? 

• Is the company growing? 

If it checks enough “boxes”, I do not look at all. I do not want to be distracted. So I actively turn down any informational or recruiter calls.

However, every year, I will run a passive search. This usually lasts about a month. I take a few informational interviews and 1-2 recruiter screens. 

Why? 

Because the job search is a skill. I never want to get rusty. 

It’s also how I test the market and learn: what else is out there. 

Then I make my decision and commit: Am I going to stay? 

If yes, then I stop looking. I focus 100% on the job. Even in a passive search mode, you're distracted. Distraction has a cost. One foot in and one foot out hurts everyone, yourself included. So whether you choose to stay or go, commit. 

If the job no longer checks enough boxes for you, yes, start your job search. It doesn’t matter if it’s only been 3 months. Decide how much time you’ll invest. Then commit.

Last thing: no, it’s not a great look to be searching after 3 months. But not a deal breaker. You get ONE, maybe two, of these "short" stints. You should be prepared to explain what's going on with your current role, and why you're looking now.

⏩️ How do I get a referral faster?

Here’s the decision you need to make: do I just want a short-term transactional value? Or do I want to build a long-term relationship?

If the answer is short-term transactional value, that is 100% okay.

There are times when this makes the most sense. For example, if you’re reaching out to a friend of a friend. That long-term relationship might be impractical. 

What is difficult to pull off: 

It’s hard to ask for the referral from one side of your mouth and say you want to build a relationship out of the other. It feels disingenuous (probably because it is). 

So if you need the referral, be upfront in your ask. Say you’re applying at this company. Say you’re looking for a referral. You can even mention that the job posting has been up for X number of days, to communicate the urgency. 

Couple notes: 

• Because this is more transactional, expect fewer responses 

• You don’t get a second bite at the apple. You don’t have permission to follow-up or ask for anything else in the future until you’ve exchanged value in return. Remember: this was a transaction, not a relationship

The other strategy here? 

Build long-term relationships before there’s an open role. 

That’s why it’s important to have target companies you’re interested in. Follow those companies, so you can build relationships with people over the long run, months (even years) before you ever ask for anything. 

📞 How do you stay connected after an informational interview? 

You want any excuse to touch base. Following company news is a good tactic, but it doesn’t scale well. Here are some ideas: 

• Take notes immediately after the meeting. Do it ASAP, while the memory is fresh. It doesn’t need to be structured. Just write down anything that comes to mind for a minute: their dream role, where they’re from, what books they’re reading or want to read… anything I could add value to in the future. Save these notes somewhere or anywhere: in their contact info on your phone, in your Notes app, etc. 

• Follow-up the next day. Here’s an example follow-up email: “Great to meet you. Loved how you talked about X. Here’s that blog post/script/book I mentioned. Looking forward to reading/watching Y”, Y being something they recommended.

• Schedule one more follow-up. When I’ve really connected with someone, I don’t want to leave the relationship to chance. I’ll add a reminder in my calendar to follow up in 2-4 weeks. I’ll put myself in their shoes and think about what’s happening in their world… and how I can help or add value.

For more tips and tactics on networking, check out this post here. 

📚️ What personal finance books would you recommend? 

Personal finances is a critical skill. Especially when thinking about the risks you can take in your career and as you strategize to build the life you want. 

Recessions, workforce reductions, family emergencies, 2 am decisions, drink, drugs, calories, terrorists, crashes, disease… we can’t know which we’ll face. However, we can be certain of some combination in the future. 

The world is a wild place.

Here are my 4 favorite books to help you navigate the wilderness:

1/ I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi - Always my go-to recommendation for someone getting started in their financial journey. Ramit keeps it real with no-nonsense advice that sets you up for financial success. This is where you learn all the blocking and tackling (e.g. credit cards, getting out of debt, which savings account to open, etc.) 

2/ Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel - This book is a perfect follow-up to Ramit’s, diving into why we handle money the way we do. It's super insightful about the weird ways our brains work when it comes to money and risk, showing you how to make better financial decisions. If IWTYTBR is the block and tackling, then this is the mental game of personal finance.

3/ The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco - I didn’t love this the first time I read it. It gave me “Rich Dad Poor Dad” vibes. But on the second and third reads, the ideas here changed how I think about diversifying income sources.

4/ Quit Like A Millionaire by Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung - This one has a strong FIRE vibe (Financial Independence, Retire Early), which might not be for everyone. But even if retiring early isn’t your goal, it's packed with straightforward tips on how taxes work with different investments. Useful as you dive deeper into exploring how you want to design an investment portfolio

That’s it for this week. 

What other burning questions do you have about your job search? Hit reply and let me know - I’ll answer as many as I can in the next newsletter.

That’s a wrap. See you next week 👋

🤝 3 ways I can help you with remote work: