Job-search cohort
Eight weeks with a small group of creatives who are looking for work. One live session a week, a number you commit to, and a person who checks it.
How it works
- 10 to 12 people, one field at a time. Designers with designers, writers with writers, so the drills and the feedback fit.
- One live session a week on video, 75 minutes. Two minutes each on what you did, one drill (portfolio, case study, outreach, interview), then pairs, then a number for next week. Phones away, cameras on.
- Your applications count themselves. Save a role on Hired Creative and move it to Applied, and the cohort page counts it. Conversations that happen elsewhere you add in a ten-second check-in.
- Two focused apply blocks a week, instead of scrolling. A job board is a feed built to keep you scrolling. In the cohort you decide the number first, then do it.
- A partner. One person who sees your weekly numbers (only if you allow it) and whose you see.
- You graduate when a role lands. Graduates can host the next cohort, and can choose to be findable by employers.
What we know, and what we are testing
A 2014 review of 47 studies (Liu, Huang and Wang, in Psychological Bulletin) found that people in structured job-search programmes had about 2.7 times the odds of finding a job compared with people without one. The programmes that worked combined practice of real skills with support to keep going, which is what this cohort does.
Nearly all of those programmes were run by professionals. Whether a group of peers can do the same is the question here, so the first cohorts are a pilot, and we will publish how they went either way.
What the group sees
- Your first name or any name you choose. Never your email.
- Your weekly counts, only if you tick the box. Never which roles, your notes or your CV.
- Employers see nothing from the cohort. After you graduate you can choose to be findable by employers, and you can undo it at any time.
- Nothing is shared with any benefits agency. We do not give legal or employment advice, and the cohort is not a substitute for the support you are entitled to.
Next cohort
No cohort is open right now. Leave your email and we will write once, when the next one opens.
Tell me when it opens
Questions
Do I need to be out of work? No. Many people look while they are still employed. You need to be actively applying.
What if I miss a session? It happens. Check in anyway and the group sees your numbers; two or three misses and we will ask whether the timing works.
What does it cost? The pilot cohorts are free. If that changes it will be on this page before you apply.