I have been having a hard time securing interviews with companies, I only got lucky a few times, but in total I applied to more than 1,000 jobs and maybe I had 5 companies reaching out to me with interviews. I have been getting more and more desperate and I started to apply for any job, even junior roles or anything slightly related to what I was doing. I am extremely, completely burned out by this entire process. I recently had my resume viewed by multiple reciters and product managers in the industry. They all told me independently that my profile is highly impressive. One product manager told me that she never met anyone with such impressive credentials. I was told that my LinkedIn is 10/10 and that my resume is great as well. One person I talked with told me that based on my resume and credentials she would put me to “high potential” hire category. My entire LinkedIn and resume is optimized to the MAX, I have been using Job Scan and ChatGPT to find the right key words. I reached out to one recruitment agency in Seattle, and they told me they can not work with me because I seem to be “above” their market after they viewed my LinkedIn and resume - I never even discussed my desired salary with them, but they assumed from my credentials that I will be asking for a lot. Which I won’t because I am desperate. From my past roles I have experience with so many different things and in different industries (I was a tech consultant). I have experience with startups, SaaS, non profits, big tech etc. To “fill the gap” I created a startup a few months back with one engineer, and it has been sort of successful - we got accepted to a startup accelerator by one of the FAANG companies, and my startup got featured on one of the FAANG’s company websites - I made sure to include the link to the startup showcase to my resume. During this “unemployment” time I got bunch of credentials, certifications and I completed a coding bootcamp. Plus, I have been organizing events and whatnot that had some connection to Google; I was involved in one nonprofit as a pro-bono product manager to help the nonprofit out with creating a mobile app, plus I did some contract work for one other startup. So, my resume or LinkedIn does not show any employment gap, at all. I have been doing all of this because I know that some recruiters sometimes look down on people who have an employment gap. Since almost everything is optimized to the MAX, I am seriously wondering if I am facing discrimination. For one I am a woman and I have an extremely foreign sounding name. If you would just look at my name you would think that I am Russian. I am in my 20s (but I made sure that my age is not visible on my resume and any graduation year has been removed from everywhere). Note 1: I know that the job market is tough but I literally have seen people getting Product Management jobs or Product-related jobs with 0 product experience in 2023 and 0 impressive credentials. Note 2: I have been applying to literally anything and everything - I have 7 Salesforce certifications and Salesforce BA experience from my consulting days, so I have been applying for Salesforce Business Analyst roles as well. I made sure to put all my Salesforce certifications and experience right in the beginning of my resume - but I got rejected or ghosted from everywhere where I applied. Note 3: I have also been applying for technical writer positions, I put all of my writing experiences at the top of my resume, including my writing on my blog on Medium (I write about technology topics and product management). Again, got ghosted from everywhere. Note 4: I am fully authorized to work in the USA, I have a greencard and it is visible on my resume and my LinkedIn profile, that I don’t need any sponsorship. I made sure to make it visible since I have a foreign name. Roles I have been applying for: product manager (both senior and junior), business analyst, salesforce business analyst, sales, tech/strategy/product consulting, product owner, technical writing, content writing, no/low code solution architect and product specialist roles + anything related to these roles. I made sure to adjust my resume each time I apply to a different role. - Pls, don’t blame for not being focused, because at this point I am desperate. - YOE: 5
Sounds wrong but may want to change your name professionally to something generic. Might be helpful
A lot of people do this. Legitimate and don’t feel bad about it at all. But sounds like it’s just a tough market and maybe you’re shooting too high?
I was thinking about it, and I tried it for like a week - I was applying with americanized version of my name plus I added that new name on my LinkedIn, that name was also gender neutral. But the whole time I felt like a fraud. I have more than 1,000 connections on my LinkedIn and I felt that people from my previous jobs who knew me by my real name will think I went crazy or that I am a fraud. So I changed it back. It just felt really wrong, plus I have a personal professional website, all of my certifications, and all of my references are under my legal name. Additionally, the startup I created was registered as an LLC under my legal name, etc.
Yes. Rajesh only hires Rajesh. If you are an East Asian or white, no luck.
Lol. It feels so good to see some comments like these. People lack talent and just blame on random things. Jealousy is real!
LMAO! Li hires Cheng. Robert hires Brian. No luck for others either then 🤣🤣🤣
Feel free to dm for a resume review. I am in sales but used to interview analysts so might be able to let you know if anything stands out.
Interesting. I don't think people would discriminate against Russian sounding names because most people realize the citizens of Russia have no control over their government's policies, and a Russian sounding name is also a Ukrainian sounding name and a Slovakian sounding name and a Georgian sounding name etc. I'd guess if you were being discriminated against it would be on the basis of your gender (female).
Companies can sometimes be weary if the name sounds super foreign because it casts doubts in the candidates ability to communicate in English clearly written & verbal
Yeah but Russians also have a reputation of being very strong coders, thanks to Boris in Goldeneye, Russian ransomware gangs, recent election interference, etc.
Please DM me for a business analyst job reference
Why are you so desperate to find a job? This might just my view, but tech consulting experience is not as good as real PM job at a tech company. Also, 5 years is not a lot of experience.
Because life of contracting and startups is exhausting and extremely unpredictable for the most part. I just want to have normal, full-time job with benefits - not some equity based agreements or hourly pay, so I can plan for the future.
I had a few convos with some startup / mid size tech company hiring managers recently and they said whenever they see someone apply who look like the perfect employee and have a stacked resume, they automatically reject it because they are afraid once the job market gets better the employee with leave for a better opportunity.
Happy to refer you to a position within Akamai. Don’t get discouraged. DM me if interested.
Can you tell us what your best role was among your five YoE (Role X at Company Y). I am having trouble assessing what role you’d be the right fit for.
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Don’t get discouraged it’s not you it’s the market….try and network as much as you can. It could be your location as well. Hope you get something great soon