Lesson 60 of 60 beginner

Resume, LinkedIn & 90-Day Job Search Plan

Turn training into interviews

Open interactive version (quiz + challenge)

Real-world analogy

Training without a plan is like baking great bread with no bakery. Your resume is the signboard, LinkedIn is the front window, and your 90-day plan is the daily shift that turns foot traffic into customers.

What is it?

This is the go-to-market lesson. Your course ends here but your job search starts here. Treat it like a project with deliverables, cadence, metrics, and retrospectives.

Real-world relevance

A junior finishes the course, builds a home lab, writes 3 lab blogs, updates LinkedIn with a specific headline, and applies to 40 roles over 6 weeks using tuned resumes. 9 interviews; 2 offers; 1 accepted. The difference from their peers: process, not luck.

Key points

Resume must echo the role — For every role type (support, sysadmin, network, SOC, cloud), tune the summary + skills + bullets to the job family. Generic resumes lose to specific ones. Keep it to 1 page as a fresher, 2 max after 3+ years.
Impact bullets — numbers beat adjectives — ‘Reduced ticket backlog by 30% in 2 months by writing 5 KB articles and automating 2 recurring issues’ beats ‘hardworking team player.’ If you don’t have real numbers, use scope (‘supported 120 users,’ ‘managed 20 servers’).
Home-lab + certs = proof of work — Without professional experience, labs and certs are your portfolio. Screenshot, diagram, write short Notion/Medium posts. Link them. ‘Proof’ beats ‘claim’ every time.
LinkedIn headline formula — ‘[Target role] | [key tools/skills] | [proof or goal]’. Example: ‘IT Support Analyst | Windows, AD, M365, Intune | Home-lab + CompTIA Network+ in progress.’
About + Featured sections — About: 3 short paragraphs — who you are, what you do, how to reach you. Featured: 3–5 artefacts (lab writeup, cert badge, project page, blog post). Make the profile visibly different from ‘just a student.’
Application rhythm — Set a daily/weekly cadence: e.g., 10 quality applications per week + 3 networking touches (alumni, ex-colleagues, recruiters). Quality beats spam. Track in a spreadsheet.
Interview pipeline management — Track: applied date, role, company, status, date of last contact, next action. Follow up politely after interviews. Send thank-you notes tied to specific topics discussed.
The 90-day plan — Weeks 1–2: finalize resume/LinkedIn, post 1 lab writeup. Weeks 3–4: begin applications + networking, start cert prep. Weeks 5–8: first interview loops, refine answers. Weeks 9–12: offers, negotiate, accept; plan first 90 days on the job.

Code example

// 90-day job search plan (template)

Weeks 1-2: setup
  [ ] Resume templates (support / sysadmin / security) - 3 variants
  [ ] LinkedIn profile: headline, about, featured, projects
  [ ] Cert plan chosen (e.g., CompTIA Network+ + ITIL 4 Foundation)
  [ ] Home-lab writeups published (at least 1)
  [ ] Interview notebook with STAR stories + 3-part answers

Weeks 3-4: ramp
  [ ] 10 quality applications per week (not 100 spams)
  [ ] 3 networking touches per week (alumni, recruiters, ex-colleagues)
  [ ] Mock interviews (2x/week, out loud)
  [ ] Cert study: 45-60 min/day

Weeks 5-8: pipeline
  [ ] Real interview loops; keep pipeline tracker updated
  [ ] Update resume bullets based on interviewer questions
  [ ] Publish 1-2 more lab/blog posts
  [ ] Target cert exam date

Weeks 9-12: close
  [ ] Offers; negotiate calmly with ranges
  [ ] Accept, sign, plan first 90 days on the job
  [ ] Thank everyone who helped; stay connected

Line-by-line walkthrough

1. 90-day plan template
2. Weeks 1-2 setup header
3. Resume variants
4. LinkedIn setup
5. Cert plan
6. Home-lab writeups
7. Interview notebook
8. Blank separator
9. Weeks 3-4 ramp
10. Applications per week
11. Networking touches
12. Mock interview cadence
13. Cert study rhythm
14. Blank separator
15. Weeks 5-8 pipeline
16. Interview loops
17. Resume iteration
18. Keep publishing
19. Target exam date
20. Blank separator
21. Weeks 9-12 close
22. Offer negotiation
23. Accept + plan first 90 days
24. Thank people, stay connected

Spot the bug

Plan: 'Apply to 500 jobs in one day on every portal, no cover letters, no research, same resume everywhere.'

Need a hint?

What’s wrong with spray-and-pray, and what replaces it?

Show answer

Generic mass-applications rarely convert; ATS filters + recruiter fatigue kill quality signal. Replace with: 10 targeted quality applications per week, resume tuned per role family, named recruiter outreach, 1 networking touch per day, home-lab writeups as proof. Consistency + specificity wins.

Explain like I'm 5

You finished the training. Now you need a signboard (resume), a shop window (LinkedIn), and a daily shift (apply + network + practice). Do this 90 days straight and interviews will come. Do it forever and offers will come.

Fun fact

The biggest differentiator between juniors who get offers and juniors who don’t isn’t talent — it’s a simple cadence: quality apps + networking touches + mock interviews + consistent publishing of proof-of-work, week after week. Boring. Effective. Hireable.

Hands-on challenge

Finalize your resume (1 page), update your LinkedIn (headline + about + featured), and start your 90-day plan tracker today. Apply to 3 roles this week. You’re not a student anymore — you’re in market.

More resources

ATS optimization (Jobscan) (Jobscan)
LinkedIn profile best practices (LinkedIn)
Resume tips for entry-level IT (Josh Madakor)

Open interactive version (quiz + challenge) ← Back to course: IT Jobs Bootcamp