This article was originally published in Nightingale Magazine Issue 5 as “How to Get Work”.
Not many people know this, but I had a protracted search for work a little more than a decade ago. Eventually, I did land a job. And after I got it, I leaned into the process of hiring others so that I could learn how to build a team and get jobs in the future. Since then, I’ve hired—or helped to hire—dozens of people of various skills and job tenure, so I have a good understanding of what hiring managers are looking for, and how the process works.
Searching for work when you know you have the skills—but may not understand the right approach to get the job—is difficult in many ways. More than anything, preparing to get work, and then getting the work, is a process. Understanding the system will help you navigate the ambiguity and help you (try to) remain calm. Let’s look at an average hiring process so that we can customize our approach for each step.
What are people looking for?
For the job to open up in the first place, the hiring manager may have had to fight to get the headcount or maybe the organization identified the need and is creating a new role. Regardless, a role on a team usually starts long before you ever get involved—it’s good to keep this in mind.
Usually, a job posting is the next step. This is a short description of the ideal candidate—a “unicorn” who can do everything from hardcore tech skills to nuanced skills in communication and management. Everyone knows that finding the right mix of skills may not be possible; but a job posting is, essentially, fishing for talent—and employers never know who will bite.
Getting past the AI filters
From there things take a bad turn. The rise of AI means that every resume is scanned by a bot for keywords and given a “job-fit score.” The highest-scoring resumes are then passed to a recruiter to review. That reduces the pool of applicants from hundreds to just a handful – it’s brutal. But when a real person finally looks at your resume, they check for matches to the skills. If you have a good hiring manager, they will look for, and explore, a portfolio of work you have linked from your resume. Having a portfolio is your best way to differentiate yourself from the competition.
We live in a time where traditional higher education faces challenges in validity from tech bootcamps and professional training. This reduces the need for a brilliant resume because showing people what you can do is a more direct way to help them understand your skills and it’s more immediate than a description of your academic or professional career.
Unfortunately, you absolutely still need a resume (I’m sorry!) to pass the bot test. Do yourself a favor and make your resume as minimal as possible, filling it with keywords that will connect to the skills in the posting and nothing more. Can you do data engineering? Check. Have you used Tableau? Check. Have you designed in Figma? Check. Your resume is for the machines, so make it unimaginative and as easy to read/scan as possible. Create it as text only. Elaborately designed PDFs are usually skipped, so don’t waste your time—spend that time on your portfolio!
It’s astounding to me that so many people in data viz don’t have an online portfolio. Data viz is something seen and experienced, so showing people what you can do is essential.
Your portfolio should do a few things:
- Show your published work, or sanitized examples of what you have done.
- Demonstrate your skills and abilities in design, data, and data viz.
- Walk through your process: how do you understand data and collaborate with others?
- If possible, demonstrate who you are as a person. Are you curious? Creative? Do you have a mission? Are you fun? Prove it!
Congratulations, you got an interview!
Next come the interviews. Every organization has a different approach, but they all have a few steps. The first interview is a screen for team fit and skill check. They are trying to answer two questions:
(1) Is this a person I could see myself working with?
(2) Can they do the job?
If you pass the first interview, you are often connected to technical colleagues to ask more detailed questions. They may be probing for engineering skills, a design review, or checking with other managers or team leaders. Once you pass those, they may want to conduct a test. This can take the form of an in-person coding review to an assignment to be done at home. After that, there’s usually one last interview with the big boss. Let’s get into the details on how you can optimize for each step.
The people interviewing you are likely sandwiching it between other meetings and may only be giving you a fraction of their attention. Your job is to get their full attention—to grab them and make them curious to learn more. One way to do this is to come with your own questions. Ask questions to your interviewer about the team, their skills, process, collaboration, timelines, and culture. This signals that you are curious and proactive.
As you progress to the next round of interviews, be sure to take notes and respond personally to everyone using their names. These are your future colleagues and you want to build rapport from the first day. It’s crucially important that you take a collaborative mindset even in the interviews. If someone asks you a question that you don’t know—say you don’t know it and that you’ll follow up afterward (and you better do it, too). This shows you can be trusted and aren’t full of hot air.
If they give you a test, try not to get too stressed. Consider it more like a collaboration with professionals and try to have fun. Yes, they are looking for you to demonstrate what you know, but are also looking to see how you work. Try to keep your sense of humor. If you don’t know something, use it as an example to explain how you learn on the job. Remember, it’s not just a test of skills, but of how you react to situations.
When you get to the last round interview and you are talking to the big boss, this is mostly a formality, so take this opportunity to learn about the vision and direction of the organization. Try to get them to open up about where they want to lead the group, and if they do, it’s an opportunity to help them accomplish their goals after you get hired—it’s like insider information for your future team. It also shows that you are ambitious and goal-driven and that you care about the trajectory of your new team.
Game the system
Once you understand the process, and have empathy for the people behind it, you instantly get some sense of how to optimize for each step. Be prepared, so try to focus on what you can control and let go of what you can’t. Keep in mind that it’s a numbers game—apply to as many positions as you can. When you have interviews, make them count. The process of getting a job is both impersonal and deeply personal—understanding this is a measure of your professional maturity.
Looking for a job is super hard—trust me, I know—so try to keep your emotions in check. It’s easy to get worn down by the process so focus on who you are. Put your energy into your portfolio, your passion projects, and be prepared for the interviews. Get plenty of exercise, try to take the weekends off, and spend time with friends, family, and your professional network. I’m always amazed by how many people want to help—let them!
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Jason Forrest is a data visualization designer and writer living in New York City. He is the director of the Data Visualization Lab for McKinsey and Company. In addition to being on the board of directors of the Data Visualization Society, he is also the editor-in-chief of Nightingale: The Journal of the Data Visualization Society. He writes about the intersection of culture and information design and is currently working on a book about pictorial statistics.
