Positive vibes from the crappy centre of the job-hunting whirlwind

It happened again last Thursday.?

For the third time in a month, a recruitment process I was involved in reached an advanced stage before coming to a swift and disappointing halt; the role was withdrawn and the hiring postponed indefinitely.?

I’m a senior marketing leader specialising in growing B2B SaaS businesses across multiple markets. Two months ago I was laid off by my previous employer.?

At the time, I wrote here on Linkedin to alert my network to my situation. That same week around 800 people were let go by customer communications company Twilio.

As I post this follow-up, Meta, Salesforce, Twitter, Stripe and Lyft are among the companies fresh from announcing massive layoff programmes.?

In normal times I’d be sitting here expecting my next perfect role to still be a couple of months off. Sadly, these aren’t the normal times.?

In the case of the latest disappearing job opportunity, I’d already sat four interviews and presented a strategy presentation to SLT members before the budget was cut.?

I’ve felt surprisingly strong in the past eight weeks but every such demoralising moment leaves a bruise. On top of that, the long days mostly spent at home between job-hunting and childcare have felt somewhat attritional.

Arriving at this point in decent shape has required a daily dose of the resilience and ‘self-starter’ qualities I see so many job descriptions ask for. I’ve relied too upon other traits: creativity; some sales skills in the successful closure of various freelance and consultancy contracts; sometimes just a determination to install structure in an otherwise blank day.

There are plenty of tough moments in store for those unlucky enough to lose their jobs as the recession starts to tighten in the weeks and months ahead.

Despite this - and the gloomy uncertainty that spirals with every economy-related utterance from a government lacking credibility - there are reasons for job hunters to be positive. And not only because you’re likely to be a more effective and appealing candidate that way.

Based on my experience in the past couple of months, I’ve made a list of (hopefully helpful) suggestions and reasons to be positive for other B2B marketers thrown suddenly into an increasingly volatile, overpopulated marketplace.?

Comments, feedback and irresistible job offers all welcome.

Marketers looking for work

You're not alone.

There’s a wealth of peer support out here. When I unexpectedly parted ways with my employer, I wrote a blog on how to lose your job ‘brilliantly’. It triggered amazing engagement and dozens of high value meetings.

My first and key takeaway from the past eight weeks is that if you work in marketing, particularly - but not exclusively - in B2B marketing, you’re a member of the most energetic, encouraging and kind-hearted business tribe imaginable. All that’s needed to access a huge volume of direct support is put your hand up and signal that you could use some help. ‘Go public’ (write your Linkedin post; alert your contacts; share your news with friends) sooner rather than later.?

Just while putting the finishing touches to this post, I received two phone calls from people alerting me to opportunities and offering intros. One of the callers - a former colleague - I know well. The other was someone I really don't know well and - without disclosing details - was someone who had no reason to put himself out for me. Everybody wants to sponsor everyone else. I’ve felt genuinely moved by how much people want to help.

You’re only competing with others if you worry that you are.??

The number of people that read my last piece after I lost my job and contacted me to say they were in the same boat was striking. Far more striking was the proportion of them that are highly experienced, senior B2B marketers who got in touch to see how we could join forces and support one another.

We were struggling with the same confusion and questions. These were people like me who had been generating growth and impacting positively on companies that - for a variety of reasons - let them go. They’re natural leaders; people champions; builders of coalitions. It’s an obvious move for people like this to find allies and work together.?

Counterintuitively perhaps, the sheer number of us on the market, potentially vying for similar roles, doesn’t feel a threat. It feels instead like an incredibly supportive network, there for anyone to leverage. I’ve had some of my best opportunities for permanent and contract work through others with a job-hunting profile similar to mine.?

Opportunities are hidden among the bad news.

Amid the ongoing economic and political chaos, businesses are finding it near impossible to forecast for the short and medium terms, let alone any further into the future. I’ve heard worrying updates from people inside some very notable companies that teams - especially marketing teams - are being “quietly downsized”.?

This was the theme of a conversation in a coffee shop with another senior marketer who responded to my last Linkedin article. We swapped stories we’d heard of otherwise great businesses adopting ‘shrink-to-fit and hang on tight’ strategies in response to the tough market and decided we should do something about it.?

Since then we’ve developed a one day workshop and framework to help tech scale-ups maintain and even supercharge growth in a recession. We’re selling it to VCs as part of their support mechanism for portfolio companies.?

Then there’s the more obvious opportunity - for every business shedding marketers or changing direction on plans to hire new ones - there’s a gap for you to fill as a consultant. Companies might have decided to sit on their money rather than spend it on salaries but it doesn’t necessarily mean their acute marketing need has been addressed. They still need help. I’m currently buying myself time with some lovely consultancy work which I hope to show off soon. The point though is that even (especially?) in the most difficult of circumstances, there is always headroom and opportunity to explore.?

This is a brilliant time to drive long-lasting change.?

Against the bleak economic backdrop, there’s an exciting conversation happening among B2B marketers about a shift in our remit and the influence we have in our organisations. The conversation I’m referring to doesn't stop at the ‘brand-building vs performance’ debate that Les Binet and Peter Field pushed to the top of the B2B marketing agenda in 2019. (There can’t be too many marketers left who would argue against the commercial advantages of building marketing strategies on solid, foundational brand-building alongside bottom-of-the-funnel, performance-led sales activation). What I’m hearing among colleagues goes much further. The talk is not just of how we do marketing better, but how we can measure it better.?

Improving B2B marketing effectiveness will take practice and a bit of bravery. When better than a deep recession to try to convince peers of the need for boldness and a new (and necessary) approach to experimentation?

Businesses that need to either scale-up or transform (isn’t that almost every business?) have an unequivocal need for awareness, distinction and storytelling to stand out in crowded markets. Not every hirer or consultancy client is going to buy into this - that’s not a problem. Let the sceptics hire mediocre marketers. The recession is a huge opportunity for the rest of us to shine by adopting the practices and strategies we all know work.

Don’t just be a job-hunter. Take some time to be something else.?

There have been plenty of opportunities to worry about the hiring market and the financial security of my family. But from the moment I was jobless, I got very good, very quickly at filling what would otherwise be ‘pointless worry-time’ with other activities. As anyone following me on Instagram may know (sorry) I’m teaching myself to paint - those images at the head of this column are some of my ‘masterpieces' :).

Against every instinct I’ve ever had, I’ve been lifting weights in a local gym. I’m also playing my guitar more than I have in recent years - I have a gig supporting a mate’s band in east London this Sunday evening. And I’m loving being far more present as a dad during the week than I would otherwise get to be.?

There’s a world of self-doubt to tackle just by being in the house during the day while everyone else is out and busy. But there’s an entire universe of new hobbies or courses to get obsessed with that you can dive into for a couple of hours a day, entirely guilt-free. This is stuff we won’t be able to do as easily when we’re all appointed to the job of our dreams. It’s an obvious point perhaps - ‘find interesting stuff to fill your time / prevent you from going insane’ - but it’s proven really important to me.?

Bonus good news point for hirers and recruiters: it’s a buyer’s market out there. Step up and buy.?

Boy, is there some serious marketing talent out there looking for the next brilliant role. If you were ever going to invest in the skills, know-how and creative approach that an experienced marketer can bring to a growth story in a tough economic climate, now would be the time. Go wild.?

So that's it. Hope it helped, even just a little.

Forgive me for the same sign off as last time: If anyone in the situation I’m currently in thinks I can be useful in any way - for an intro or even just for a chat - please DM me and I’ll do what I can.

Meanwhile if you hear of any B2B brand and marketing leadership roles that you think might suit me, get in touch.