🤫 Whisper #20: Niche-ifying your job search

Niches land interviews. Get specific, get targeted, and get a great job faster.

Hey, it’s 📣 Coach Erika! Welcome to a 🔒 subscriber-only edition🔒 of The Career Whispers. Each week, I tackle reader questions about tech careers: how to get one, how to navigate them, and how to grow and thrive in your role.

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Whisper #20

Niche-ifying your job search

In a sea of Open to Work talent, it’s hard to stand out. Lots of people will tell you things you can do to stand out (including me, I have lots of ideas 💭🙋‍♀️).

But today, I want to challenge you to consider a completely different tactic for your next job search: instead of standing out in a sea, consider switching to a creek.

Rather than applying to roles that hundreds of people can competently do, look for jobs you are uniquely positioned for.

You’ll apply to fewer roles and have fewer interviews (and they'll be farther apart), but you’ll have much stronger odds of landing an offer for the ones you do land.

What this looks like: an Example

Narrow your job search to a super-targeted, super-specific role that you’re uniquely qualified for. A good litmus test for nicheness is to ask yourself: “how many other people might get shortlisted for the roles I’m targeting?”

You want to narrow your target role further if that number is more than 250 people (for a local search) or 2500 for a remote search.

Example:

→ Senior front-end engineer (very generic)
→ Senior FE engineer, platform-focused (pretty generic)
→ Senior FE engineer, healthcare platforms (getting more niche)
→ Senior FE eng, healthcare platforms. Expertise in physician billing tools (niche-ish)
→ Senior FE eng, healthcare platforms. Expertise in physician billing tools. Preference for growth-stage startups (Series C→pre-IPO) (niche)

Target roles where you are one of a tiny group of people who can competently do the role and who will want to do that role (a mix of your abilities and your preference in terms of product area, stage of company, location, and industry).

a low-stakes experiment for you (if you’re in a job search now or in the future)

A template for niche-ifying your job search

Take 20 minutes to write out your unique area of specialization. Some factors to consider: