Comment by cgb223 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cgb223 | Hacker News Reader

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I got laid off a few weeks ago

I’m mid senior level in Product Management but come from a big well known tech company, and I work remote from a non-tech “city”. 5 years PM experience, 6 years as a Software dev. Launched 3 products from concept. One has over 20 million MAU, one created 9 figures of revenue for my previous company, and one I have no idea because I got laid off lol

According to my LinkedIn I’ve applied to over 200 roles in the last few weeks and heard back from about 5. Of those interviews, I’ve been rejected from all of them, even smaller shops.

Hearing from recruiters has been much more fruitful, making it to middle and final rounds at surprisingly good companies, but in both final round instances, the role either got defunded due to a hiring freeze or other issues.

In one instance, the recruiter I was working with at a Big N tech company got laid off in the middle of interviews, at which point the company ghosted me, presumably with my application falling through the cracks.

My severance package is much smaller than most, since my company is framing the thousands of layoffs as “performance based” which allowed them to skip the mandatory notice period, and avoid paying out our very generous severance packages. It turns out benefits don’t matter if a company is afraid of a recession.

If anything this whole experience has wiped out my idealistic views of working in tech. I’m a cog in a machine that can be gaslit and disposed of when convenient for people levels above me who have no empathy for my existence

Can any other PMs speak to how their job hunt is going? Hoping it’s not just me

> My severance package is much smaller than most, since my company is framing the thousands of layoffs as “performance based” which allowed them to skip the mandatory notice period, and avoid paying out our very generous severance packages.

Consider talking to a lawyer, and comparing notes with other people in the same boat. Doing this is almost certainly illegal in the US. (In addition to owing you severance, they may also be open to slander/libel charges. I am not a lawyer.)

I find for PM roles location is much more important than technical IC roles. Living in a "non-tech" city might be your biggest handicap.

Job searching since Q4 of 2021. Same thing with PM roles. Have lots of direct operational experience with a particular industry, have full stack dev exp, have PM exp, have big tech names, have 15+ YOE, so naively thought I can apply for companies in the space and get some professional courtesy for at least call backs of feedback.

Nope. Learned real quick that end of the year nothing gets done and it's just a waste of time. Big tech company recruiters, big bank company recruiters, startup recruiters, etc would shuffle amongst their many things, deal with sicknesses, deal with internal communications and mandates, and you're just another ticket in the queue for someone to gladhand. Sent out 500 resumes, even hired VAs to do it for me, and would get 20 call backs, 5 interview requests, 2 round two/full day, 0 offers.

By Q1/Q2 of 2022 switched strategies, got into studying for certifications (Sec+, PMP, etc.), and still the same. Responses picked up because start of the year and there's more action. Have more interview requests, and finally learning how much emphasis people put into STAR or CFAS frameworks, Leetcode, full day virtual onsites, and all of it was still kind of bullshit. Went with lots of crypto startups this time around since many were looking to staff up for the year, every single one of those crypto startups had lots of audacity and arrogance and ran by kids. Looking back, out of a list of 100 resumes I sent out only 10 companies are still around after this summer.

I ended up working at a supermarket around this time.

Q3 of 2022, switched gears one more time, now going for contract roles, backfill roles, tried to go through the list of YC companies. Learned now the new batch of YC companies are run by kids and equivalent of grad students, lots of ghosting, dropped communications, unrealistic expectations. Finally found success with contracting. Figured out how to update my LinkedIn, resumes, github, personal website to be more modernized and up to date.

Q4 of 2022, learned to work with connecting to TVC agencies and agency recruiters, now getting steady contracts at Big N companies because I kept following up with recruiters that held tight to my resumes.

That said, is it you? A bit of yes, a bit of no.

Product Managers are a heavily impacted role so comp wise you have many applicants. Job searching is a skill to be learned and flexed, rebuilding your digital presence is important to be part of the mix, and mostly it's also building up a network of relationships with recruiters and referrals to get your name in front of someone at the right place and at the right time.

Right now it's end of the year, nothing gets done. Jan, Feb, and Mar will be better. There will be tons of disappointments. It's after the thousandth resume submission, and after hiring a virtual assistant to submit for me, that the pain goes away and you just see routine. It's after smiling at the same bullshit over and over again being pitched how a company is viable that you realize it's all the same, you just need something to get going then figure it out from there.

But you've done this before, you'll get to do it again.

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