I was laid off from my job at Twitter and I’ve applied to about 60 jobs since then.
Since being laid off in October, she has applied to over 60 jobs.
Grimes says it’s important to cast a wide net and to understand your audience when applying.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Maya Joshi, a former senior manager of web strategy based in the Bay Area. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I landed at Twitter for the developer platform team in February 2022. But I was laid off and now I’m still applying to jobs months later.
I found out I was pregnant in mid-November during the Twitter interview process, but I was able to negotiate full maternity leave into my offer. I had to deliver my daughter earlier than expected in June, about four months after I started.
When I came back from leave in October, everyone at Twitter was very much on edge, but I was trying to be optimistic. I started feeling like my coworkers knew something that I didn’t, and I got word that layoffs were happening in the next few days. And those layoff rumors came true.
I was laid off in October and I found out because I lost access to my work email around 10 or 11 p.m. and woke up the next morning to a very generic, cold email about being let go.
Since then, If I had to guess, I probably applied to well over 60 roles at this point. The interview process varies quite a bit. Some have been short and to the point, others have been longer and drawn out.
Here’s what I’ve learned about the process.
The hot job market means another candidate may have beaten you to the punch
I’ve gotten really excited about a role and started the interview process, only to find out that they’re in final rounds with other candidates, but that isn’t always revealed up front. I’ve actually even had interviews scheduled that have been canceled because they’ve extended an offer to somebody else. The timing just didn’t work out.
Interviews can require time-consuming side projects and tests
With my role and in my industry, it’s often asked of candidates to put a presentation together or do other assignments. That can be challenging especially as a new mom.
Not everybody has the privilege of time to turn around something in 24 or 48 hours. But the expectation is that you’re going to turn around this flawless, really strategic assignment.
Cast a wide net with job applications
I cast a pretty wide net to put some feelers out there to see what kind of roles people were getting back to me about given my background. It was a test to see where I could gain traction.
We tend to disqualify ourselves from opportunities because we don’t think we check all of the boxes. But a lot of the time, we don’t need to check every single box. Just apply, there’s no harm in trying. The worst thing that’s going to happen is that you’re not going to get the job.
Show interviewers how your unique experience can be an asset
Something that’s unique about my background is starting from marketing and then getting into product management. That helped give me a unique advantage of being able to work with both creative teams and technical teams like developers and engineers. That was a huge advantage when I was applying for a role at Twitter.
For anybody out there interviewing, really honing in on what makes you unique is good to have a grasp on. Know what your superpower is.
Know the audience you’re interviewing with
Take a second to think about your audience. I had one interview where I was interviewing with a design team because their role sat on that team. I didn’t get the job, but had I really thought about what a designer might be looking for versus a marketer, I think I would have changed some things.
I always try to think about what perspective they are coming from, and what kinds of questions they might ask me based on their role and how they view their work.
It’s all good practice
I try to approach every interview as practice for the next one. And with every interview that hasn’t gone my way, I’ve tried to think about what feedback I was given and change my approach next time.
At the end of the day, if the interview doesn’t go well, I try to think of that as their loss as opposed to mine. When the right opportunity comes along, your talent will be recognized.
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