Amidst the chaos of a global pandemic and economic collapse, I devised a strategy that brought me three offers in three days.

At the beginning of 2020, which most of us now remember as the calm before the storm, I decided to begin seeking new job opportunities. I was working as a contractor at a large company and I was hoping to find work somewhere else in a full time position. Also, I wanted to relocate. I figured there would be better opportunities — both professional and personal–outside of my mid-sized midwest city.

As soon as I decided it was time to refine my resume and start seriously applying, COVID-19 came to the United States and caused our economy to fall hard–and fast. The unemployment rate rose from 3.5 percent in February 2020 to 14.7 percent by April 2020. A whopping 42% of U.S. adults report that someone in their household had either been laid off or taken a pay cut from their job due to the coronavirus outbreak.

I was extremely fortunate to have been able to remain employed, with the added privilege of working from home.

But still, I was disappointed that my plans to find a new role seemed to have been thwarted. My prospects were bleak: a junior designer with two years of experience in a city with an underwhelming amount of opportunity and a tanking economy. I decided to search anyway, but with low expectations.

In the spring, I made use of my time at home in quarantine by overhauling my portfolio. I added more case studies and refined the design with a new WordPress theme and created a new resumé to match. I spent entire weekends in front of my computer

Once I was satisfied with my portfolio and resume, it was time to start applying.

The many hours that I had previously used for a portfolio makeover were now being dedicated to searching and applying for jobs. I scoured LinkedIn, Google Jobs and Indeed daily. I applied to any UX or Product Designer role that didn’t require 3 or more years of experience in the two or three cities I was interested in relocating to.

I kept my phone nearby in case someone would call. I refreshed my email constantly. I heard nothing.

I didn’t receive any responses, except for the occasional generic “Thank you for your interest. We have chosen to move forward with other candidates”. I prefer these to no response at all.

I wasn’t going to give up. As a UX Designer, I knew that solving problems required strategy. I decided to be more strategic with my job hunt.

I developed a new approach and within one month I received not one but three job offers in three days. Here’s a breakdown of the necessary steps for having a successful job search during a recession.

I Applied Early

The 11% (or higher) rise in unemployment meant that there were a lot of people applying for jobs.Every resume I submitted would be lumped in with hundreds, if not thousands, of others. I decided the best way to ensure a human even looked at my resume was to be among the first to apply.

I began visiting my job finding sites and hitting the refresh button multiple times per day. Every time a new position popped up, I would apply immediately. I was applying to jobs within hours of them being posted.

I noticed a dramatic increase in response once I took this approach. I quickly went from almost never hearing back to almost always hearing back. My inbox was finally filling up with emails from recruiters, hiring managers and HR directors asking for my availability to schedule an interview.

In every phone screen, the interviewer told me the same thing: “It may take a few days before you hear from us again. We had hundreds of people apply.”I heard this repeatedly.

In the cut-throat competitive landscape of today’s job market, it’s safe to assume that if you apply to a job two weeks (or perhaps even two days) after it has been posted, it’s too late. The sooner, the better.

I Removed Any Location Filters

Traditionally, it has been notoriously difficult to land a job in another city. Many companies–including ones I’ve worked for–gave preference to local candidates for the sake of time, money and convenience. I personally know people who, after months of unsuccessfully applying to positions in their dream city, were only able to get an offer after they lied about their location on their resume.

Wanting to apply to as many positions as I possibly could, I removed all location filters on my job-finding websites so that I was pulling results from all over the United States. With the number of cases of COVID-19 climbing every day, I knew I would be working remotely for the foreseeable future anyway. I applied to every job I was qualified for, regardless of where it was located.

In the past, I never had much success applying to jobs from another state. Because of this, I kept my expectations low.

However, these weren’t ordinary times. COVID-19 threw all conventions out the window and fostered a sense of “anything goes” in regards to the way we work, learn and interact. We traded our business casual attire for pajama bottoms and slippers; we commuted from one room of our home to another.

In these unprecedented times, I found that–for the first time ever–my location did not matter at all. I had zero roadblocks preventing me from landing interviews regardless of my location. Employers all over the United States were willing to talk to me, no matter how far away I was from their physical office.

I Took a Rinse-and-Repeat Approach to Interviewing

After two or three weeks of applying to jobs immediately after they were posted, I had a handful of interviews scheduled.

I’ve historically been a very nervous interviewee, stumbling over words and fidgeting my hands. I would never have described myself as someone who was calm or charismatic in interview situations.

The only way that I was able to overcome the awkwardness and become a charming candidate was through repeated exposure. Every initial phone screen became easier and more natural than the one before.

Much like iterating on a design in UX, every interview was a new opportunity to identify what works well, what the pain points are, and adjust accordingly. Over time, I knew what to say (and what not to say) by building off of previous iterations.

After many initial phone screens, I moved on to the final rounds of interviews at 5 companies. There was a two-week period where I was interviewing at least once–but sometimes two or three–times a day.

In these interviews, I would walk through a case study on my portfolio to explain the problem, solution, and my role in the design process. My biggest key to success in this phase of the process was choosing the same case study to walk through in every interview. Talking about it repeatedly helped me to build confidence and competence. I walked away from every interview feeling better than the one before. As someone who has always struggled with feeling awkward or anxious, I shocked myself as I began feeling like interviews were easy.

Aside from the obvious advice of polishing your portfolio, I strongly advise to choose one case study–a project that you took the lead on, or your best work–and become comfortable talking about it.

I Reaped the Rewards

Out of the five companies I was interviewing at, I received three offers in the same week. It had been four months since day one, when I first began overhauling my portfolio. However, the first three months were before I had employed any strategy. Once I devised and implemented this strategy, it only took about 4 weeks to receive the offers.

I chose the opportunity that aligned closely with my goals and vision for my career. I’ve been in my new role for 4 months and I couldn’t be happier with where I landed. As soon as I am vaccinated (yay!) I am relocating to a city I’ve been dreaming about for years.

I hope this strategy can help anyone else struggling to secure a position where they feel secure and fulfilled in this pandemic-era economy. I wish everybody good luck, good health and success in 2021.