A CTO Started an Active Job Search and Landed Two Strong Offers Inside Four Weeks - Here's How He Did It

As we all very well know, this current labor market has greatly extended the duration for finding a new job. The gentleman I am talking about is a very highly regarded engineering leader here in Austin. He has over a decade of experience functioning at the Sr. Director, VP and even CTO level of some very successful startups. But right now, in this current market, there are some very accomplished engineering leaders going on 4-5 months of unemployment and have yet to find a new job. So how did this engineering leader land two solid offers inside one month??

I've spoken quite a few times recently about the importance of our professional identity and this gentleman is very highly regarded throughout Austin. But what's interesting is that our reputations need constant care and attention. Professional networks are living and breathing creatures and we must treat them in a similar manner as we do to watering our plants in the summertime. This engineering leader has been in Austin since the mid 90's and he's always been right there in the top 1% of Austin.?And similar to an Eric Allen, Qingqing Ouyang or Chad Walters, he hasn't lost a step.?I'm not ranking his qualities by any means but first and foremost, this leader is just really good conversation. When you meet with him, you not only experience his brilliance but you realize, first hand, his modesty. Even keeled guy who always puts his engineering team first. But again, we can never forget the incredible value that comes with good conversation.??

Another important value in his professional identity is that even though he ascended into senior leadership well over a decade ago, he has never stopped coding. I honestly don't know if it was a personal principle of his or simply a product of the companies he has worked at. But whatever the case may be, he is still deep in the code. The result of this dynamic is that even in his mid 40's he represents that very attractive combination of executive technical leadership complemented by very strong technical chops.?

So when we started working on a job search together, I spoke with him about a particular segment of the labor market that is pretty hot right now and those are seed stage and Series A startups that need hands on VP's and Heads of Engineering. These firms have secured VC money usually in the 1-3m dollar range and they need an executive engineering leader who can not only build out a small team of developers but also can dive right in and start coding. And that is the route we took. I introduced him to two companies and both firms were blown away by him. One company had to pause the process because they hit a hurdle in their funding process but my other client, who is Seed stage, went from introductory conversation to verbal offer in roughly three weeks.?

I have already discussed two pieces of his profile that contribute to strong impressions and those are the great communication skills and still being a hands on coder. But the next one is really big and in my opinion, the real difference maker. And I'm talking about the strength of his professional network and what others say about him. When we start looking for jobs, we reach out to our past co-workers and other engineers we know and in this case, his professional network was really strong. But how about I talk for a little bit on what it means to have a "strong professional network".?

The third opportunity this leader considered was at a startup he was referred to via his professional network. And what's interesting is the individual who did the recommendation. I've written about him a couple of times now and he truly does represent Best in Class engineering leadership and he's recognized as such on a national scale. And folks, I'm not embellishing here at all. That's the truth. The significance here is what this individual had to say about this engineering leader. Even though they have never formally worked together at the same company, they have met enough times to where they both have a solid understanding of each other's background and experience.?

When we make recommendations of our colleagues in our professional networks, it most often comes in two forms and I'll share those examples with you now. The first example is viewed as the safe and generic route taken by the person giving the recommendation. Here you go,?

Hey ****, a former colleague of mine is on an active job search and I told them that we currently have a couple of openings and would be happy to interview him. He is a good software engineer and if you feel like he might be a strong enough match then I said we should be in touch later this week.?

At its very core, this is still a nice gesture because a recommendation is being made to consider the candidate but I have to admit that these words don't necessarily equate to "pounding the table". On the other hand, this is what this elite engineering leader - who works at Google - had to say about the gentleman this blog post is about,?

Good morning guys and I have some pretty good news to start the day. I think I have found your CTO. I've known him for close to a year now and he's brilliant. Knowing what you need out of this founding engineering leader, I would advise you to get him into process immediately. I honestly cannot think of a better match here!

Let's think about these words for a moment. For my software engineering community, please consider the kind of confidence it takes in someone to step up and make such a bold and definitive statement like this to a company. Please don't ever forget that the legitimacy of the intermediary, ie. the person doing the introduction, is based on the overall experience between the two parties who are introduced to one another. In our personal lives, I'm sure many of us have connected two people that we feel like could be good romantic partners yet the introduction bombs and the two people basically never accept our suggestions again. So imagine the significance of this brilliant Google engineering leader stepping up to make such a table pounding endorsement about an individual he has never formally worked together with? Talk about building a rock solid professional network. The company agreed to the suggestion, began the interviewing process with this engineering leader and one month later, they stepped up and made him an incredible offer that he immediately accepted. I was blown away when I heard this story.?

While this story focused on the job search of an Austin based technology executive, the lesson here can apply to all of us. As you build your career coming out of high school, college or trade school, can you focus on these three qualities as they relate to your professional identity,?

1. Whatever your function may be, can you try to be really good at a couple of items, to the extent that other people recognize you for it??For instance, if you happen to be a UX Designer, how cool would it be if others spoke publicly about how incredibly strong you are at User Research and Implementation? And with this impression of you being told to others, the general opinion will also be that you're damn good at Design and Testing as well.?
2. Be known for your humility and how strong of a culture match you have been at every company you've worked at. Whatever the environment and setting, you mesh very well with others, you're a team player and you thrive under great leadership. And yes, at the very core, you're just great conversation.?
3. When your professional network talks about you, the commentary goes well beyond general niceties and figuratively speaking, they pound the table on your abilities. And that includes their opinion of how strong a match you are for a particular opening. Do whatever you can to build a professional network that speaks about you in the most positive manner possible.?

Trust me when I say that this kind of professional identity never goes stale and is every bit as fresh at 30 years old as it is at 45 years old. That is precisely what this brilliant engineering leader was able to pull off in his career and I could not be happier for him.?Again, in this current labor market, the average unemployment period is close to four months for every IT professional out there yet this gentleman pulled in two rock solid offers inside four weeks.?

No matter your industry, function and seniority, you also have the opportunity to build a similar kind of professional identity and recognition among your peers.?

Thanks,?

Mark Cunningham

Technical Recruiter

512-699-5719

[email protected]

https://thebiddingnetwork.com

https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com

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