How to run a smarter job search in 2026

In the wake of last year’s sweeping funding cuts and layoffs, many development professionals are entering 2026 still searching for work in a highly competitive job market. For those feeling frustrated at the lack of callbacks from roles they feel more than qualified for, career coach Spencer Campbell has a message: Don’t take it personally. It’s the reality of the current job market, he said, likening the current upheaval in the social impact sector to how the COVID-19 pandemic or the 2008 financial crisis impacted hiring in other areas. During a recent Devex digital event, Campbell was joined by fellow career coach Dan Freehling to walk job seekers through the steps for a more deliberate, methodical job search. There’s no hack or shortcut, said Freehling — job searches are hard work. He stressed that they begin with internal reflection to understand your fears, find your strengths, and build a support team around you. It’s also important to recognize which of the three main job seeker archetypes you fit into, Freehling explained. There are the “perfectionists” who have their sights set on working at a particular foundation and tie their identity to that, but in doing so, limit their opportunities. Then there’s the “easy applier” who feels productive when applying to as many jobs as possible — but this, said Freehling, is “a losing strategy.” Instead, both experts encouraged job seekers to approach applications like a “matchmaker” — this involves finding your new niche, figuring out where you’re going to be sought after, where your skills are going to be valued, and where you actually want to be. Here are four key steps, according to Freehling and Campbell’s “Hunt like a hero, apply like a scientist” method, to help job seekers apply smarter and set themselves up for job search success. Outlining your ‘fit hypothesis’ Set yourself three “fit hypotheses” Freehling said. These are three specific combinations of the type of role or job title you want and the subsector you are looking to work in — for example, executive director of communications with a biotech startup. He added that the more specific job seekers can be in identifying the subsector, the better, since that’s where “the networks live,” and people working in different areas of social impact have connections in the space. “Once you have your three combinations of these, this will form the basis of applying like a scientist,” Freehling said. Do your detective work Approach networking like it is detective work, the pair said. While companies do tend to hire candidates who come through a referral, explained Spencer, the lesson here is not that job seekers should set out to forge transactional relationships with staff at a particular foundation. “Networking in order to get inside [an organization], to get juice with someone who matters [and] who can put a little bit of a little nudge on your application — we’re not talking about that at all,” he explained, “this is a completely different sort of networking with a completely different purpose.” It’s detective work, and the case you’re trying to solve is whether you actually fit a niche, a role, or an organization, Campbell suggested. “The job market is composed of all these super-micro, specific niches [and] you have a specific set of skills that you have developed over the course of your career,” he said, “so you fit in somewhere very, very specific and that’s what we’re trying to [find out] with the networking.” Other key questions that job seekers can look to answer through networking include who the top funders are, which projects are happening, and who the big and small names are in a given sector. Let these conversations snowball, advised Freehling, and after a handful of successive conversations, you will have a better sense of what is happening in the space you are interested in. Refine your materials for a human Job seekers don’t need to build a resume to beat an AI-powered system, Campbell said. Instead, he stressed that job seekers should prepare a set of materials that are simple and directly speak to their strengths. He cautioned job seekers against blaming an “algorithmic gatekeeper” for their lack of call backs, adding that there are a lot of people and sites out there to make money by implying this and promising solutions. The basics haven’t changed, he explained, except recruiters are now wading through hundreds more applications that are low effort AI spam. Review and act upon the results The data — which is the number of callbacks — tells a job seeker if they are on the right track or not. “Even if you’re winning [and] you’re on track, you’re going to get a lot of noes,” Campbell said. But where a jobseeker is getting only noes from 30-plus applications, their hypothesis is probably wrong and needs tweaking, he added. Freehling suggested that job seekers don’t get hung up on asking recruiters for feedback about a failed application, as they likely won’t be able to provide any specifics. The feedback that is important to a jobseeker, he said, is what happens over the course of them submitting job applications against their specific hypotheses. “When you start figuring out where you are getting interviews, pour gasoline on that … go all in toward that particular [hypothesis]. During the event, the pair also shared tips on interviews and negotiations, and guidance for those looking to transition to new roles and sectors.