Halfway Through 2024, So Let's Reflect On My Job Search Journey...

It's 10:35PM on the 27th of June, 2024, and I got this urge to pen down my thoughts. So, I opened up my blog after nearly 6 months since my last post and started writing.

Simply put: This year has been, well, something🙂

We are only halfway through, but so much has happened that I would most likely not be able to cover - mainly because I don't want to get up to look for my "monthly-highlight" note.

I'll leave that for a year-end post, but l still feel like having a reflection, so let's do it.

Disclaimer: This post was not reviewed, just pure thoughts as they flowed. Maybe, I'll come back to do that. Maybe not.

January/February

If you follow me on LinkedIn, you likely came across a post from November 2023, where I shared that an offer I had with a start date of March 2024 (originally September 2023; thanks, new immigration rules) got rescinded.

This news pretty much ruined December for me. The job market was (and still is) quite crazy to navigate, and with my immigrant status, being back to ground zero was not fun🙂.

Still, I eventually picked myself back up, told myself companies hire early in the new year, and I was going to get a job REGARDLESS. I revamped my CV layout (yet again), maximised my Resume Worded subscription, and went into the new year with some positive energy.

Try Resume Worded, seriously.

It's the only service that a free trial got me to ACTUALLY subscribe, even if it was only for a month.

And it was worth it. I applied all through December and January.

I got TWO callbacks - one from an application I made to Trustpilot towards the end of December, and the other was for a role at a startup I found on Glassdoor and applied via email.

But that was all the encouragement I needed. I gave both processes my all, prayed like crazyy, and left the rest up to The Almighty.

Fun fact: I made a specific prayer to get an offer from the startup before my birthday (at the end of January). And I did.

And that's where I currently work.

Some Tea about my Trustpilot Interview Experience☕️

The entire process went on for 2 months - I got my callback on Jan 4th, and received a decision on Friday, March 1st.

Quite frankly, I'm not sure why it took this long for me - it seemed they progressed a lot faster with other candidates. I say this because I passed all stages but was not extended an offer. Apparently, someone else had been offered the same role earlier, and they had accepted (and was due to start in 1-2 weeks?)

I also had some reservations about communication with my recruiter throughout the process BUT overall, it was a mostly positive experience for me. I had the kindest interviewers at all stages, one of them gave more personalised feedback when I reached out on LinkedIn, and I truly appreciated his response.

I also felt very comfortable during my interviews, so much that I had already started envisioning my life as a 'Trustie' living in Scotland.

Oh well.

ANOTHER fun fact: The recruiter told me that I had passed the final culture-fit stage (right before she delivered the bad news), and said she was going to reach out when similar roles open up in the next quarter.

Guess who applied again for a similar role in the said quarter, but didn't make it past the CV screening stage this time?🤭

I'll do you one better, guess who sent an email to the same recruiter and got ghosted? Remember my reservations?👀

Yeahhhh.

March

So much happened in March but this post is getting way too long. But from what I can remember:

I missed out on a DevOps role because I could not get a Schegen visa in time to be able to travel for the final stage of assessment (thanks, green passport).
There were some delays with my startup offer but I eventually resumed in April.

April Onwards

I resumed my new role and everything else is history (or more appropriately, the details are not suitable for this post).

It's a smaller team than my previous startups, but everyone is so nice and friendly!

3 months in and it feels like I’ve somewhat settled into the role, not 100% though. I doubt anyone can, when there's a voice at the back of your head whispering "your role may get terminated in a few months but hey, maybe you will get retained, but no promisesssss").

Regardless, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity. People say getting your first work experience in a UK company is the hardest and it gets somewhat easier from there. Hopefully, that’s true, but I don't think I'll ever forget how they gave my skills a chance when no one else wanted to.

Not sure how to wrap up this post, but the past 6 months have been a whirlwind 1000%. I cannot fully express the kinds of emotions and moments I experienced, but this is me telling my past and future self a few things:

You did not always have the strength to keep holding on, but you still got here. Well done.
You did all you could.
You did well.
You are doing all you can.
That transition goal you have, you will get there. It may not seem like you are doing anything to get there but you are. You are just focusing on the most important priority at the moment.
Give yourself grace. Your abandoned courses on Udemy are waiting for you, but you'll pick them again sometime soon.
Take it one step at a time. One overaching goal at a time. One day at a time.

There's a quote I love - I cannot fully remember how it goes, but the idea is:

Don't borrow worries from the future, you'll still worry when it becomes the present.

And on that note, I end this post at 11:57PM, 27th June, 2024.

See you some other time♥️