Blog Post
May 14, 2025
At the April 16, 2025, Content Strategy Seattle meetup, we had the pleasure of hosting strategy and UX consultant Tamara Adlin for a thoughtful and engaging conversation about job searching. Tamara introduced us to Never Search Alone, a free, volunteer-driven network that offers a radically different way to approach career transitions.
Never Search Alone is based on a book by Phyl Terry, founder and CEO of Collaborative Gain, who started these job-search and leadership groups in the early 2000s. And it isn't a typical job board or coaching session. As Tamara explained, it’s more like a peer-mentoring cohort. Small groups of 4–6 people — called “job search councils” — meet weekly for 11 weeks, following a structured yet personal journey. The process starts with introspection, helping participants clarify what they truly want. From there, it moves into a “listening tour” to deepen connections and explore opportunities, and guides participants toward crafting a sharp, values-aligned candidate-market fit statement.
The program also covers how to approach interviews and negotiations with a strategy that goes beyond title and salary, focusing on alignment and sustainability.
For content professionals facing a tough job market, the Never Search Alone method may provide a supportive way to break through the noise and refine job searches by matching your skills to what hiring managers and companies are looking for. Opportunities for community with other job searchers can include sharing in the Content Strategy Seattle Slack group, in our LinkedIn group, or in other professional communities, online and in-person. We’ve added a list of some resources below.
Tamara, a volunteer ambassador with the program, also highlighted Never Search Alone’s generous spirit of knowledge-sharing and its supportive Slack community. Whether you're actively job hunting or just starting to think about your next step, it's a model that can feel refreshingly human — and remarkably effective.
If you missed the session, you can view the recording on YouTube.