Category Archives: Experiences

Real moments that shaped me, far from bullet points and job titles. In this section, I share personal stories, travels, milestones, and lessons learned through the unpredictability of life. Sometimes messy, often eye-opening — always real.

#5 Reflecting on the journey and what’s next

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My job search is finally over. After a full year of unemployment following massive layoffs at my previous company, yesterday I signed a contract for a new role that I’m genuinely excited about. As with my other posts, I won’t disclose details about the company, but what I can share is that the process went smoothly from the first email to signing the contract. The product is fascinating, the team seems great, and I can’t wait to collaborate with them to deliver the best customer experience possible.

Thankfully, I don’t start immediately, which is a relief because looking for a job in this climate has been a full-time job in itself. After months of emotional highs and lows, interview after interview, I’m truly grateful to have a little time to decompress, reorganize myself, and recharge my energy before diving into this new chapter.

One thing that has surprised me, though, is how quickly my brain shifted into “preparation mode” now that such a vital part of my life is stable again. It’s incredible how we’re wired to find the next challenge, the next problem to solve. At least, that’s how I function—I’m sure not everyone’s like this.

I just can’t stop. I always push myself, and I think I always will because it’s what drives me. What’s different now, compared to years past, is the way I speak to myself. I’m more understanding, compassionate, and aware of my limitations. I know when to push and when to rest. This newfound clarity is essential for sustainable growth, and I plan to carry it with me into this new role.

As I mentioned, I’ve already gone into preparation mode. I’m thinking about how to structure my day around a new routine, what I need to learn, and what areas I need to refresh. My commute will take about two hours round-trip, and with an eight-hour workday plus a one-hour break, I’ll be away from home for eleven to twelve hours daily. Since I usually sleep about seven hours, I’ll have four to six precious hours left for myself each day.

In this new role, I’ll be using all the languages in my arsenal, which means I’ll need to refresh certain skills and develop new scripts since I’m returning to a customer-facing position. I’m thrilled, but it will require serious organization and a lot of learning to quickly close any gaps in my knowledge about the new topics and ways of working. Still, I’m excited and eager to pave a new path for myself. Let’s see where this journey will take me.

As I prepare for this new chapter, I’m reminded that growth is not about always being perfect but about finding balance. It’s about knowing when to push forward and when to recharge. I’m looking forward to this new challenge with a fresh perspective, excited to see how much I can learn and achieve. Here’s to new beginnings and the opportunities ahead!

#2 Saving energy while job searching

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#1 My favorite AI prompt for a successful cover letter

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I’ve been unemployed for almost a year now, following the layoffs at my previous company. I was shocked and angry because I loved my job, my colleagues, and the products I was helping to shape.

I started working when I was thirteen, so from early on, my job became a significant part of my identity. I was very proud of the career I was building for myself: starting by serving tables at a wine shop and then helping companies shape products through content, research, and design. I have nothing against serving tables—I enjoyed it and found interacting with customers both fun and enriching. However, it no longer fit into the future I had envisioned for myself.

Like many others, being unemployed took a toll on my mental health. Yes, I finished my novel and reached out to an editor, who encouraged me to write another one. Yes, I improved my German from barely pronouncing complex words to having in-depth conversations with my German therapist, even though he doesn’t always understand what I’m saying. Yes, I completed a few online courses on AI prompting, digital marketing, despite the decreasing confidence I started to feel in my professional field. I’ve also considered pursuing another master’s degree, although I already have six years of academic education under my belt.

But what I really miss is working with a team of professionals to brainstorm and solve problems while creating amazing products. That was the stage of my life I was at, and I wanted to move forward, not backward. I kept reminding myself of what my friends, family, and therapist advised: focus on what you can control, get back on your feet, and use your skills to find a new job. They shared many other helpful tips, but this one was particularly effective in keeping me sane.

So, I started working on multiple fronts: revamping my website, updating my CVs, networking, writing cover letters—the usual things. I have to say, I’ve always enjoyed revamping websites and CVs, but drafting cover letters used to be, and still is, an absolute nightmare. I’m not sure recruiters even read them, but they still require them, which paradoxically just adds to the process’s effort on both sides. But I guess it shows one’s commitment to joining the company and enthusiasm before moving on to the first call, which is way more time-consuming than scanning a cover letter. I just think it would be nice to receive an acknowledgment like “Wow, your cover letter touched me, but we are moving on with other candidates because they studied some AI stuff at Oxford” or maybe a badge to add on LinkedIn: “Best cover letter, even though he didn’t get the job.” I’ve poured a lot of energy into writing what I thought were great cover letters, only to receive no callbacks. What a waste of neurons!

This frustration led me to explore AI tools—I know, I know, I can’t hear about this topic anymore either, but here we are—for drafting cover letters. The initial results were terrible, so I went back to writing them myself. However, I realized that prompts require attention and effort to be effective—I actually knew this, but I was too lazy to draft them properly. Now that I’ve gotten better at it, I find it quite exciting. Plus, I’ve started receiving more callbacks—though I still haven’t landed a job yet.

So, all this to say that I want to share the prompt I use for writing my cover letters. I tweak it slightly depending on the tone I assume the company uses in its communications. If this prompt doesn’t work for you and you have a great one that does, please share it in the comments. You’ll be saving not only my brainpower but potentially that of many others who might read this post.

Here’s the prompt:

Prompt: Please use the information below to draft a cover letter that is engaging, concise, and free of jargon, while directly addressing the key requirements outlined in the job description. Incorporate highlights from my CV to showcase relevant experience and emphasize what makes the company stand out to me. Ensure the letter is compelling and encourages the reader to learn more. Please bold the main keywords.
Job Description: [paste your job description]
My CV Highlights: [paste your CV]
What I like about the company: [write a short sentence]

This whole post goes without saying that once the machine has churned out our nice text, we should also re-read it, add our personal touch, and then use Grammarly, or some other tool, to quickly proofread it—even though I have to admit I don’t always do this…