B2Bueno

I am an experienced digital product guy not currently employed full-time, but totally prepared to see the world in a new way.

It’s harder than ever to get a job in product right now and there are many reasons. The economy has gone to shit, businesses that boomed during COVID are pulling back their salaries, many people have been laid-off and then Brian Chesky tells everyone (on my favourite product podcast) that Product Management is dead. :shock:.

How can this be? Product experience was previously so highly sought after. Exported from Silicon Valley, we were the mini CEOs.

And now it seems the question is changing from “How does one get into Product?” to “How does one stay in Product?”.

There are throngs of talented people in our product community looking for work right now. It’s no surprise that “hiring managers” are able to get away with such a poor candidate experience.

Of the hundreds of jobs I’ve applied for in the past 3 months I would estimate 80% of them don’t even say “thanks”. As a Product Manager, I am am appalled that so many businesses allow their brand to be dragged through the mud when even an automated HR message can be triggered off that says something like this.

Thank you for taking the time to apply for the Product Manager position. We’re really happy to know you have been considering {company name} as somewhere you would like to work.

We have carefully reviewed your experience and at this time we have decided not to move forward with your application.  There was considerable interest in the role and we have decided to progress with candidates who have experience closer aligned to the position. 

We would love to reach out should there be a role in the future that matches your experience. 

ChatGPT

My advice for anyone wanting to get to the first HR phone screening stage, is track someone down who you know at the company, either a 1st or 2nd connection on LinkedIn, and hope the company has a strong referral bonus scheme.

Of course I’m not here to complain though. I’d simply like to flip the notion ever so slightly that this current “employer’s market” needs to be a zero-sum game. If you are one of the lucky businesses with some cash at the moment, you should be looking to invest it into future growth. I can understand why you may be hesitant (given the global outlook) and why you think you need to spend all the time in the world dragging applicants through hell to ensure you get the absolute top-draft.

But this is a fools game. Instead of spending more time sifting through more resumes, more confused by too much choice, why not just hire casually and expand at will?

That’s what I’m here for. I’m a trusted professional, who can get up to speed quickly and am happy to take short-term contracts for my trouble. My day rate varies depending on length but is approximately $12-1500 per day. I can help run experiments, bring in new leads, smooth out your onboarding experience or set up marketing automation.