Breaking Into Repro: Preparing to look for a job
The process of finding a job is a long and challenging one—especially in a pandemic, and if you don’t know where to begin. For a lot of people—particularly marginalized folks, first generation folks, and people of color—this process is a mystery shared by mentors and in secret. We hope to demystify this process for everyone and help you feel more prepared as you search for a new position. In this series, we’ll share tips to help you throughout the process.
Looking for a job in the reproductive health, rights, and justice movements isn’t as simple as emailing your résumé to an organization you love. Sometimes, trying to find a job can be a full-time job in and of itself. But, if you prepare early enough, the process doesn’t have to be too daunting. Here are a few tips to get you prepared to start the job search process.
Decide what you want
Reflect on your vision for your career, both in the present and the future. What do you want to be doing? How would you like to create change in your community? What role would you like in the future, and what path would you like to take to get there? Reflect on your past internships, volunteering opportunities, fellowships, and work experience. What excited you about them? What did you dread doing? Is there anyone whose career you admire? Check out their LinkedIn—or ask for an informational interview—to learn more about the path they took to get into their role. Not everyone takes the same path, but it can help you envision a path for yourself.
Inventory your skills
Take an hour or so to write down all the skills you’ve developed from your schooling, internships, previous jobs, and life experiences. It’s important to think about all of the skills you could bring to a role—hard skills like mastering a database or inserting an IV and soft skills like customer service and training volunteers. Rather than solely focusing on the skills you gained in repro-related roles, look at some of the transferable skills from your other jobs, like retail, food service, and call centers. Think about what leadership, customer service, and other skills are transferable to the new role you’re looking to take on. This is especially critical if you’re looking to break into the movement or have held fewer jobs.
Calculate your number
One important part of job searching is figuring out what type of job you can afford to take. What do we mean by that? Well, what is the wage or salary you’ll need to earn in the position to be able to cover all of your bills, care for yourself and your family, and save for your future. Make yourself a budget with all of your bills, what you spend your money on, debt you have to pay off, and how much you’d like to save, and then figure out how much you’d need to earn each hour/month/year to be able to live as you’d like and care for your loved ones. Hopefully, the positions you’re applying for will list their salaries, and this will help you understand whether or not you can afford to apply for the jobs. It will also help you narrow down your search for positions within your affordability range and help you prepare when negotiating for a salary. You’ll already know what you need to earn and plan for what you’ll ask for within their budgeted salary range.
Look for options
Finding the right job and path takes time, and it’s critical to find the right organizational fit too. Make a list of organizations that you’re interested in and check to see if they’re hiring. Set up alerts and keep an eye out on social media, too -- many organizations announce that they’re hiring on their pages. See which other organizations they partner with; you might learn about similar organizations with like-minded values. If there are opportunities to do so, try volunteering with the organizations or attending their events (even virtually) to get a better feel for the work they do and what it might be like to work with them. If you have connections to staff members, reach out and ask them what their experience working there has been like. If there are people in roles you aspire to hold or career paths you’re curious about, ask for an informational interview or a bit of time to learn more about their work. Be sure to be respectful of their time and understand if they are unable to talk.
Draft your cover letter and résumé
At the beginning of your job search, write a full version of your résumé with every single job, fellowship, volunteer experience, and education experience you’ve held. This longer version is helpful so you can edit it down to make it relevant for whatever position you’re applying for, and you’ll have a version of your résumé always ready to share if someone asks to see it or pass it along to a colleague. For each position that you’re applying for, you’ll want to draft a version of your résumé and cover letter that is tailored to that specific position and add or remove relevant roles you’ve held to highlight your fit for the position you’re interviewing for. Here are more tips for polishing your résumé.