Answering your questions!

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Some thoughts on disconnecting from work

I’m wrapping up my two week trip and writing this from a train to our final destination, Vienna. I’ve had a really lovely time fully disconnecting from work and the news, and spending a lot less time on social media than I usually do.

I’ve found myself tempted to check Slack or respond to an email that caught my attention but stopped myself (and ended up logging out of both to make this easier) because:

1. Things will be fine and no one urgently needs my thoughts on anything - my team totally has my back!

2. I want my team to know that it’s OK to fully disengage from work so I need to model that.

As someone who really likes my job and is invested in what’s happening at work, it can be easy for me to justify checking in or responding to things but I also think that’s how we can unknowingly get burned out on work altogether. I’ve reached that point before and I think learning to let it go and trusting that nothing is so critical it needs our attention 24/7 has been helpful for me.

So if it’s been a while since you disconnected, I’d encourage you to find an opportunity before the end of the year to take a break and disconnect as well!

For this week’s issue…

I have lots of reader questions I haven’t gotten to over the last year or two so I’m going to knock out as many as I can! I’ll do another issue like this in 2 weeks so submit your questions asap!

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🙋Answering Your Questions🙋

Each week, I’ll answer one (or more!) of your questions in this section. You can submit your questions here.

Honestly, a couple of reasons from my perspective:

1. It suggests that we’re doing our jobs poorly.
   Applicant tracking systems collect and store application info, and allow us to manage our workflows. It’s the exact same thing as the CRMs sales or fundraising professionals use, the project management platforms project managers use, etc. We spend hours going through applications and making decisions about who to talk to and such so it just doesn’t reflect our experience.

2. It’s illogical.
   Do people really believe we’re using systems that are preventing us from accessing the best candidates and hiring less qualified candidates? If a company were using a system that created this dynamic, they would certainly change the settings accordingly or stop using said system. The more logical conclusion here should be that companies have lots of people who meet what they’re looking for and are simply focused on another set of candidates.

The reality is that many people overestimate their qualifications relative to the applicant pool, and companies are hiring less so they are being pickier.

I don’t think this answer is particularly satisfying to man people but that’s the reality that I personally see day in and day out.

The first thing I’ll say here is that less than 10% of posted jobs are remote, and most of those still have location requirements so holding on to remote as a requirement for your next role is already going to make things extremely difficult. If you’re able to consider hybrid, please do so.

That said, a few suggestions:

1. Follow remote companies, engage with their content, managers in the departments you’d apply to, recruiters, etc. Also select the “interested” option on their company page. That way, you’re a familiar name and when a relevant role comes up, they’ll be more likely to notice your application or respond to your outreach.

2. Do searches for posts about remote jobs. this can be searches like “remote + hiring + growth marketing manager”. Then filter for the last 24 hours or 7 days. This will help you find recently posted jobs and a connection at that company.

3. Submit really strong apps. For remote roles, you basically need to be 100% qualified, and submit an app that’s going to stand out from the crowd. I would always apply directly on the company page personally.

Here’s a couple of tough truths:

1. If you’re switching sectors/industries, you’re not going to get “credit” for all of your experience. There will almost always be someone who has all the experience and in a more relevant industry.

2. MBAs don’t inherently carry a lot of weight. Some industries simply do not care - the knowledge isn’t helpful if the skills haven’t been applied. If your work was the same pre and post MBA, the assumption will be that the MBA hasn’t really positioned you for growth.
   I’ve seen MBAs have the highest impact when they are full-time from top programs and then the individual uses them to pivot to a new field specifically recruiting MBAs. And I’ve seen them have an impact when they are employer sponsored and unlock new pathways within the company.
   The first job someone gets post-MBA matters a ton and if you stayed put and didn’t see meaningful evolution in your work, the impact of that MBA may not be as strong a few years down the road.
   There are some fields where MBAs matter a ton of course and are a requirement for the role but those workplaces may also be really picky around other experience requirements.

3. Lack of progression is often seen as a flag, and if you’re switching industries, they may not have the context that promotions or title changes aren’t the norm.
   For example, in consulting, it’s essentially up or out - if you’re not promoted every 2-3 years, you’re likely to be managed out. In most corporate settings, particularly in the first decade, promotions every 2-3 are also quite common, or else opportunities that expand scale (for example, moving from a social media manger at a mid-size company to one at a much larger company), and then once someone reaches more senior levels, we still expect to see some upward moves. Seeing that someone has been stagnant for 5+ years in roles below say Sr. Director will raise concerns around whether that person has sort of capped out and lacks the potential to move up; companies may view that as a “B player” and not be as willing to take a chance on them.
   Now this may not be the correct narrative, but these are the question marks they’ll have.

   So some steps you can take:
   - Provide context. Perhaps you didn’t see a title change but you did see evolution/expansion in your role. You can note this with an anchor statement before going into your bullet points (“promoted from leading regional to national partnerships” as an example. You can also use the summary section to highlight this. “I joined employer as a specialist charged with writing our weekly newsletter and blog posts. Over the last decade, my role has expanded to driving all of our external communications strategy.”
   - You can use industry relevant titles which you add in parenthesis. This could look like “Program Manager (equivalent to IT Director)”.
   - You can break apart your role into a few roles - even if titling is the same, use parentheses to note the progression and show how your role evolved over time.
   - target companies that hire from your industry - they are more likely to have context and understand where you’re coming from.

TA has been hit extremely hard by layoffs, and most employers simply don’t need to sacrifice when hiring for TA professionals. Having some exposure isn’t the same as doing the work day in and day out.

That said, I think there are some companies who really like to have technical recruiters who understand the tech and that’s an area you can have a huge edge over other candidates. I would target roles that have technical experience as a nice-to-have requirement.

I also think internal moves can make a lot more sense when moving into new roles. You have company context and they have proven evidence of your ability to learn and grow, you have existing relationships with the team and hiring managers, etc. So they’re more likely to invest in your growth. Once you pivot into the field and get the title and full-time experience, it’s much easier to move into full-time roles elsewhere.

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