job searching is so much work

A reader writes:

I’m trying to look for a new job, but it feels like the scale of doing so is interminably large. I’m expecting to apply for at least 30-40 jobs before I even get one interview. It’s that competitive out there.

But for each application, I’m expected to research a company and it’s entire legacy to know my “right fit” and “love the opportunity” and then write cover letters which end up as short stories about my vision for the company and then develop ample portfolio projects that demonstrate my skill for that particular role which fits into a unique and lovingly curated resume just for that company.

Then if I get the interview and can manage to prepare for the thousands of possible unique questions the hiring manager or, worst case, small village of interviewers may ask for this specific job, I need to then follow up with curated notes about my experience and profess my love for the people I met and joy of future experience and passion and about a thousand other feelings I never feel or care to about a company.

When is enough enough? I want/need a new job. It’s hard enough to transition and I’m not exactly an overly emotional person but I’d like to manage the move before the sun runs out of fuel. I’m exhausted by all the outpouring of emotion and vision. If I had that much going for me, I’d just start a company myself.

You’re making this too complicated and doing much more than you need to do.

You do not need to research the company’s entire history and legacy before you apply for a job. You just need to know the basics of what they do.

You do not need to create or share a “vision for the company.” Most jobs don’t want to hear what your vision is for their company because that’s not what they’re hiring someone for; they want to know how you’d excel at the specific job you’re applying for.

You shouldn’t normally need to create new items for a portfolio; a portfolio is typically work you’ve already done in the past. In some cases you might need to create a sample or two that demonstrates specific skills, but you’d then use those for your whole job search, not create new things for every position you apply for.

You definitely don’t need to create a new resume from scratch for each job. The jobs most people are applying for are similar enough that they use the same basic resume for all of them. You might have one master resume with all your achievements on it, which you cut down to tailor to the particular job you’re applying for. That’s a five- or ten-minute job each time, not an hour- or hours-long project.

The same is true for your cover letter. Assuming every job you apply for isn’t wildly different from the ones that you applied for previously, you should have one or two cover letters that you can do some quick modifications to (often just changing the first paragraph) to tailor it to each position.

If every job you apply for is wildly different than all the others, then yeah, all of this will take longer. But if that’s the case, having a more narrow, focused search will probably help.

Overall, it sounds like you’re telling yourself a narrative about what’s expected of you that doesn’t line up with what’s actually needed. That narrative sounds exhausting, but it’s not in line with reality.

Possibly helpful stuff:

here’s a template to make writing cover letters easier

do you need multiple versions of your resume?

my step-by-step guide to writing a resume

do I need to do something creative to get a job?