1) I mentioned the Group Health interview in my last post. My one thought since then is that I failed to give them a reason to hire me. Yes, the interview went well and yes, they liked me, but using sales terminology, I basically failed to close the deal.
2) I've made some progress at Expedia. A couple of weeks ago, I sent out a bunch of LinkedIn connection requests to PM types there, and based on that, I got one phone call, which I believe turned into a fairly meaningful connection. This woman was great! We got along really, really well. The conversation was actually engaging and she told me that she would pass along my resume and help me out in various ways. Now, I just need to duplicate that like 30 times and I'll have a job.
3) Using what worked with Expedia, I sent out a number of requests to both Starbucks and Razorfish, two other companies I'm really, really interested in. I still need to follow-up with the contacts I generated from those requests. Ideally, I would get a sit-down meeting with at least one of those people.
4) Reached out to a recruiter at Amazon and got her to submit my resume for a position over there, but the hiring manager said no. Following this exercise, it occurred to me that without some kind of relationship between me and the recruiter, there's really no basis for her to advocate on my behalf. All I am to her is a LinkedIn connection that she probably doesn't want to alienate, which is why she forwarded on my resume, but without some basic understanding of who I am and what I'm really about, i.e. without ever having "engaged" with me, she doesn't have any reason to sell me to the hiring manager.
5) Met up for Happy Hour with two people from my PMP study group. DG has a lot of ideas about how to help me out and the plan right now is to meet with her on Sunday.
6) Failed to set up meetings with Lori L. I need to pick up that thread and get it going again. She is with Bridge Consulting, and they are a legitimate option for me.
7) Supposedly, a recruiter from Ciber is contacting me tomorrow (Saturday), although it could very well happen on Monday. The PM I mentioned in my last post is pretty keen to get me hired. There must be a lot going on over there, which would be awesome in so many ways.
8) The SharePoint TAP seems to be DOA or at least hibernating. I haven't heard a peep from either Vega or Projectline in the last two weeks.
9) Talked to the recruiter from OpenMarket this week. I'm not a fit for the role there, as they need someone that is basically more of an Architect-level developer to write specs for REST API's. That's so totally outside my expertise it's not even funny. However, I did write a very good email to the recruiter explaining my expertise and strengths, which I need to build on. Here is what it said:
I appreciate that you guys are trying to be very thorough. My primary function recently has been as a Release Manager, managing process and making sure that everything is in line to hit a date. While I was at Medio, that line got blurred to some degree, as it is a small company and people tend to take things on. Still, I can't really say that I've designed full-fledged functional specs on my own. I've done some gathering of requirements and I've worked very closely with technical teams, but wouldn't consider myself extremely technical. I do have an interest in going in that direction and developing that skillset, but I can't say it's something I've done so far.Now that's a pretty damn good email! I need to take elements of it and turn it into an email.
As a PM, I try first of all to do a few simple things well. When I set up a meeting, I make sure there is an agenda, and when the meeting is over I send out notes and action items. I communicate well; when I send out emails describing a situation or business problem, I strive to be as clear as possible and eliminate any ambiguity in my use of the language so that the right people understand the current status, including any blocking issues. I exercise strong interpersonal skills and demonstrate personal leadership where I can, and I try not to sweat the small stuff.
Fundamentally, I believe my greatest strength is the ability to think in an interdisciplinary fashion. I believe the very best PMs try to both maintain focus on their projects and also understand the larger business from an holistic, systems-wide perspective. That means understanding, for instance, not just the end user that will use the product, but the more immediate customer/partner that is trying to sell it. I think it's important, even for a PM in a somewhat narrow product-development role, to have an understanding of the rest of the business, to know how marketing and sales work, to understand how customer support happens, and to understand the agendas of various stakeholders in the enterprise. Having this sort of broader understanding of the business allows the PM to anticipate problems and to think strategically about prioritization and resource tradeoffs, and also to serve as a bridge between the product team and the rest of the company.
I hope this clears things up. When we spoke on the phone, I indicated to you that I had never failed due to not being technical enough. I still believe this was a true statement. I am not the most technical PM out there, but I've worked closely with technical teams in the past and I do believe I have the ability to comprehend web services at an architectural level. However, at the very least, I want to make sure you have an accurate understanding of how I view my own strengths as a PM, and if this particular role isn't a good fit, I sincerely hope that OpenMarket will keep me in mind for future opportunities.
10) This week, I need to send out emails to the Projectline people and get that ball rolling again. I also need to send out LinkedIn invites to people at Group Health, Amazon, Marchex, Zillow, and maybe Revel Consulting. Not so sure about Revel or Slalom, mostly because the people there won't have any real stake in their companies. It's kind of the nature of the consulting world.
11) Hopefully, extended unemployment benefits come through this week. Otherwise, I'll need to start selling stuff.
