Meeting with a VP
I am switching job to another big fang company. After a bunch of meetings and interviews, I am meeting with a vp next week. His boss is under CEO. What should I talk about here? My technical competence is impeccable and they know this. I want them to give me budget and headcount to build out a team on a specific tech. What should I do? I only have half an hour with this guy.
Thank them and ask them if this is the right time to discuss budget and shit. If not, take their email Id and email them. Don't join without clarifying all info. You don't want to be the loser director holding the technical debt bag
Ask about current vs future strategies, challenges in the market, increasing competition from some company, increased value for customer. Then discuss the specific plans about the specific team you are expected to build, and how it fits into the overall company strategies and adaptability to the market changes. Highlight some experience you may have from your previous jobs about building teams, check with him how he sees the team grow to a certain headcount and if there are any specific learnings he would like to share with you, or anything they he would want you to pay attention to. At the end, discuss any next steps depending on how the conversation went, maybe a high level budget/headcount plan he might want to see in an email/doc. All the best!
Agree with lot of info already, but probably also let your personality shine a bit, they know you are technically savvy but they also want a culture fit if they are gonna give you regains a large team.
In my experience, VPs want to know three things - where things are, where they need to be, what issues/blockers are in the way (and how they can help with them, or to know they are under control). The rest is fluff. So, perhaps get from the VP some of these points, and how you can help with them, either getting more accurate “now”, strategy around goals, or how you would contribute to leading/driving execution to these goals. Budget and headcount are tools in part and in context of that execution and goals, otherwise it’s just empire building.
Turns out this guy is very technical. We had a fun discussion. Pretty sure I gave him a couple free patents in the course of the discussion. Then I met someone under him. I just asked for them to increase the level of the position by 1. We’ll see what they say. Probably won’t take it. Sounds like the org is kinda screwy.
VP interviews are usually to see "fit". They are not to judge core tech skills. They often want to understand your personality, and if that will fit with the team. Don't ask for budget or resources in the first meeting. All you need is to sell your ideas and ensure that it ties to the work the team is doing.
Big fang theory
Haha.
If you are getting such an opportunity, you should already know!
This.
This: means agree or disagree or?