I Don't Want a Job
I was very frustrated during my job search because the tools out there for finding a job didn't give me the information I was looking for. I am a career programmer. I love to code and I want to work for a company that loves people who code.
So am I searching for a job? No. I'm searching for a company I'd like to work for. I want to be happy, not rich.
My ideal company has the following attributes:
- Writes software
- Knows the value of its knowledge workers
- Good culture
- Passionate about technology
It doesn't make a lot of sense to search for companies that are great, but aren't hiring, so I started my search on Monster.com so I can find out who is hiring and then from there find out if they are a good company.
Monster.com is great - there are a lot of jobs listed there. The problem is they are typically posted by recruiters who don't want you to know what company they represent. So how do you find out if the company behind the job is your dream company? Well, you don't. Not unless you jump through the hoops with the recruiter first.
So Monster.com is out for me because they only have jobs, not companies.
I got this great idea to search for software development companies that were close to my home and then check them out and see if they were a great company. I used Google Maps and Windows Local Live to bring up maps of software dev companies. Local Live turned out to be slightly more useful because it re-renders the closest results as you surf around the map, making it easier to follow roads and watch software companies pop up. There are a lot of software companies in my area, so I spent a lot of time with this tool.
You know what I found? Nothing. If a company was on the map, 9 out of 10 times they had already gone under, didn't have a website, or weren't the type of place that lives up to my expectations. That last 1 out of 10 wasn't hiring.
So mapping services are out for me because they only have companies, not jobs.
What can you do if you are looking for a great company and not a job? Well, your search is going to be a bit more arduous than your neighbor who is just on the prowl for more money, but it is possible.
Since I completed my job search, there are job boards that are popping up that have exactly what I was looking for: jobs and their respective companies. These are smaller, more targetted job boards (read: less jobs) but they are good jobs. 37signals was one of the first that looked promising:
http://jobs.37signals.com/jobs
There are few programming jobs here, mostly design jobs. Well, Joel Spolsky came to the rescue and created a great job board that not only shows jobs, but also shows the company's score on the Joel Test.
http://jobs.joelonsoftware.com/
This is a great addition to the existing job search tools. Even though it wasn't around in time for me to use in my own job search, if I ever have to hunt for a job again, this is where I'll look.
How did I finally find my dream company? Wait in suspense for the next post.
[Addendum: I posted this on my birthday. Weird that I didn't mention that. I'm 25!]
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