This post isn’t about why I left teaching for the 2nd time in 9 years (that will eventually require its own lengthy post) but is about how I went about looking for a job outside of education. I’ve done this about 5 times over the last 15 years and have continually gotten better at knowing what I want and how to find it. Similar to how I narrowed down what cities to live in, a central spreadsheet with links and numerical scoring helped a lot.
The spreadsheet can be seen here: SHARED - KCMO Jobs 2024
What I wanted going into the job search:
job in KC, with less travel being better
in office and not remote
Architectural/Engineering/Construction (A/E/C) industries preferable
project management
business analyst
data analyst
CAD drafter (fallback)
January 2024 - not really wanting a job as spring semester just started, but beginning search
see a list of 150 companies that have a HQ in KC, search them on Google and get the careers link for each
combine with a list of 27 architecture companies in KC, search them on Google and get the careers link for each
combine with a bigger list of the 175 largest employers in KC, search them on Google and get the careers link for each
create an ALL_companies list from 186 remaining companies after duplicates have been removed
this list was fairly exhaustive to make, so I did a couple rounds of searching a company and getting their careers page link
to help break the monotony of going industry by industry, I created a random column and used the rand() formula to switch them all up
create a smaller list arch_engineering from ALL_companies that has just the 57 companies in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industries
create a spreadsheet of the 62 jobs I found even remotely interesting across those companies with their job specific websites linked
come back to the list and give each two different scores 1-3 with 3 best for how qualified I felt I was for the job as well as how interested I was in the job, along with some brief summary notes for each
I have a 1/23/24 look into ALL of the companies
February 2024 - still not wanting a job right away but convinced that I won’t be teaching again
start with January’s list of jobs, create a copy for February and see which jobs from January are no longer available in February and delete them
once or twice in the month look up any new jobs in the A/E/C list as well as select companies from the bigger ALL list (really no organized way but it wasn’t all of them)
end up with 56 jobs in February list
take the qualified and interested scores 1-3 and multiply them to find a quick overall score for the jobs out of 9 possible points
sometime around here I thought to have GPT-4 help me out, so on the sheet initial_gpt_suggestions is a list of jobs after I uploaded by resume PDF and the list of jobs I was interested in and asked it to create a list of best possible jobs
I then revised this list by giving each an interest level score 1-10 with 10 max and prompting GPT-4 to revise it based on my interest score
March 2024 - starting to get really interested in finding another job and would consider leaving before the school year was done
I updated February’s list in March and didn’t create a separate sheet, I don’t really know why
I have a 3/3/24 look into random companies and not just A/E/C but didn’t get through all of them
I found the first job (and company) that I researched pretty good into and eventually applied: Orange EV
fast growing company in KCK that gave me SolarCity vibes
they manufacture industrial electric vehicles, specifically electric terminal trucks which are the trucks that move trailers around distribution centers
applied for EV Process Engineer role that was sort of trying to streamline their engineering department workflows and reminded me of SolarCity process improvement
April 2024 - definitely was more serious about finding a job, applied a couple times throughout the month and debated quitting once state tests were finished at the end of the month (and leaving a month early)
create a copy of February list and see which are no longer available and delete them
added new jobs from the ALL list randomly, ended with 43 jobs
added a column for scoring how good the company was 1-3 and then multiplying that score with the scores from the qualified and interested scores for a new overall job score out of 27 possible points
applied to 6 jobs throughout the month (rough month of school for me):
4/10 - another job at Orange EV, this time a Business Analyst role
4/10 - a Building Enclosure Specialist job at BranchPattern, an engineering company
4/23 - a Mechanical Engineer job at ME Engineers
4/23 - a general interest job posting with bnim, an architecture company
4/23 - a Civil Engineer EIT job at Wallace Design
4/26 - a Project Engineer job at Centric, a construction company
a friend in KC is a Project Manager and has always raved about his company and sent over the job as he thought I would be a good fit for the role
May 2024 - was ready to leave at any point but also was determined to finish the school year, partly because I was so close but also selfishly because of a stipend bonus
copied April’s list and revised for jobs no longer available and any random new jobs I came across, ending up with 42 jobs
another teacher’s spouse worked at Taliaferro & Browne as a Project Manager and I applied and had an in-person interview for a Entry-Level Engineer/Inspector position
the teacher’s spouse PM was great to talk to and I could definitely work with him
the company seemed nice but the office was very sleepy and empty and not somewhere I could see myself working from
the position would have entailed the first 6 months being in the field overseeing road construction inspections, which didn’t seem too interesting
I decided to not pursue it further
I had an in-person with Centric for the Project Engineer position in mid May
the company seemed more and more impressive the more I learned about it, the office was busy and seemed somewhere I could work from
the role was more entry-level Project Manager type work, which was interesting to me and a career path that I was very interested in
one thing about the role was it was usually Construction Management new grads so I was a little bit out of the experience range but that’s ok
the interview went well I thought, they were very knowledgeable and nice to talk to
I thought that I had a 50/50 shot at getting the position
I didn’t follow up after the interview because I thought they would reach out after the interview (I was a little over-confident likely) and honestly I was a little hesitant as I thought I’d start right away, and all I was focused on was finishing the school year and enjoying summer a little bit
I didn’t get the job, was a little surprised but a little relieved, as I’d get to enjoy summer in June
I eventually followed up after about 3 weeks when I knew I didn’t get the job and asked for feedback from the interview after giving my impressions of how I did (good and bad)
I applied and had a phone interview for a Project Planning Assistant role at Populous, an architecture firm that building sports stadiums around the world (my dream company when I was graduating from my Architectural Engineering undergrad 15 years ago)
the company (and work) has always been a dream of mine
the role looked perfect, as I’d be helping Project Managers with various project tasks and be supporting them from a business analysis angle behind the scenes
they contacted me pretty quickly after applying and I thought I had a decent chance
the phone interview seems to go decent, I remember being very nervous for it because I loved it so much and talking too fast as I was too excited
one bad indicator from the phone call was its length, as it ended up only being about 15-20 minutes and I didn’t feel I communicated myself well
I followed up a week later and they told me that I didn’t get the job
I was more disappointed on not getting an in-person interview here than I was for not getting the Centric job
the jobs that are highlighted in pale yellow were ones I was particularly interested in and thought I would apply to
after those 3 job explorations in May, I decided to pause and enjoy summer in the month of June (I felt that I truly deserved it after teaching) and didn’t look at jobs from mid May to mid June
June 2024 - once I got a couple weeks of relaxation and enjoying the slow paced summer life, I started to get ready to find a job again in mid June and started looking again
I revised May’s list and ended with 45 jobs
I revised my qualified ranking for my favorite job posting (was up for a couple of months) and don’t really know why I never applied for it
Garmin would be fantastic to work for but they’re very big (and I might be lost at first) and the office is pretty far away (>30 minutes)
the role looked awesome, a Project Manager role that would work on Business Analyst type streamlining
a friend of a friend works there and I thought about reaching out to get a referral, but never really did
I did another round of randomization of ALL_companies and started looking at companies outside A/E/C potentially
I applied for two jobs on 6/17/24:
a Project Management associate role at an Advertising company, Global Prairie
an Operations Analyst role at what I first thought was an Architecture company but is really an Industrial Design + Build company, Dimensional Innovations (DI)
And that brings me to some good news: on Monday July 22nd, I’ll be starting my new job as an Operations Analyst at DI!
After my initial application to the job:
they contacted me the next day to schedule a phone interview two days later
the phone interview went decent to good, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to communicate about myself effectively over the phone, similar to the Populous phone interview
luckily this one was longer (45-50 minutes) and I felt I got more about myself across
the talent manager explained a lot more about the job, and it sounded better and better with everything that I heard
I’d be working directly under the Chief Operations Officer (COO)
I’d be tasked with helping improve processes and assisting project managers, among others
sounded like a perfect mix of Project Management + Business Analyst + Data Analyst, something that greatly interested me
I was worried that I was too excited with how I was talking and was just hoping for an in-person interview
they followed up the next day (Friday) and wanted to schedule an in-person interview for the following Monday, which showed that I didn’t screw up the phone interview too bad and they were interested in me as well
the in-person interview ended up being directly with the COO and seemed to go really well, and I grew more interested in the role and working with her
the office was great and a quick tour around it by the COO gave me more insight and respect for what they do
I followed up with the COO 2-3 days later, saying it was great talking with her and again expressing my interest
the talent manager emailed and said they wanted to schedule a 3rd interview the following week with some department managers
the 3rd interview (2nd in-person) with two Directors of Project Management and Production Management seemed to go very well as well and I became 100% convinced that I wanted the job, that I think I’d do well in the job, and that I wanted to work at the company
a week after the 3rd interview, I got a call from the talent manager and was offered the job
Final tally: 186 companies, hundreds of jobs looked at, 11 jobs applied for, 4 companies interested for initial interview, 3 in-person interviews, 1 job offer.
The role, the people, and the work that DI does all seem very exciting and I don’t think that it could have worked out any better. I’m ready for this new challenge!