Reflection. Gratitude. Forward.
Last Wednesday, I woke up at 6AM to find out that I was part of the #salesforce reduction and that my role was eliminated. I continued on my day and made breakfast for the family. Our 16-month old son woke up around 6:30AM and started chit chatting in his crib.
Before going into his room to grab him, I let out the biggest sigh...Twice. One to tell myself that everything will be okay, and the other one for Christopher, to make sure he sees and feels that I am okay. We are his world and I wanted to make sure this news doesn't impact my ability to make him feel loved, comforted and safe.
I went in with the biggest smile on my face, hugged him tightly and said, "Good morning 安安!" As I changed him and got him dressed, he leaned into my shoulder and said, "Huggie 爸爸 (ba-ba)!" and at that moment, I was confident that we will be okay.
I barely had time to process everything that happened last week since I spent majority of my time taking care of our son with daycare being closed for the holidays. Now that he's back in school, I took a moment to reflect. Reflect on everything that led up to this moment.
What a journey. What. A. Journey.
Having been at Salesforce for almost 9 years and have supported so many different teams, different hiring managers, different business units, I'm truly thankful. I recognize that my path at Salesforce (through the acquisition route) was extremely unique and not many individuals get a chance to go through what I went through. I had the opportunity to make great relationships with everyone that I supported and learned so much about how each LOB (Line of Business) operated. With that, I'd like to share some #memorymonday and thank those that supported my professional growth. (Sorry I missed some of you!)
2014 - 2017: Building out these Salesforce teams:
2017 - 2019: Recruited for three different pillars at MuleSoft
2019 - 2021: Built a recruiting team and together, we supported all EPD (Engineering Product Design) hiring efforts at Quip
2021 - 2023: Coached and led our PDE (Product Design Engineering) recruiting team at Slack to support our hiring efforts across the CTO ( Cal Henderson ) org and CPO ( Tamar Yehoshua ) org
Lastly, I'd like to thank all the amazing folks in recruiting that I've worked with over the last decade. Those that I've had the opportunity to lead at MuleSoft , Quip , and Slack (You know who you are) I thank you for giving me the privilege to do so. I've made a ton of mistakes as a manager and didn't have all the right answers, but the environment and dynamic that we've created allowed me to be safe, vulnerable, and lead with a 'people-first empathic' approach. I'll never forget each and every one of you and how much we've gone through. The acquisition journey was tough and we've faced a ton of obstacles along the way. We became better professionals and elevated our career because we stuck through it together and tackled the problems head on. Thank you for showing up everyday with the best attitude. Thank you for your commitment towards the team and business.
Thank you for not giving up on me.
The path forward these next few weeks would be to connect with past colleagues and understand what interesting problems are out there that companies are trying to solve. I will be actively working on my resume and searching for my next gig. I am open to individual contributor and leadership opportunities (San Francisco / Remote) so please let me know if you have any openings.
Thank you LinkedIn community!
L&D | Positive Intelligence | Scientist
1 年Hi Alan, we don't know each other but I'm sorry to hear about your layoff and I hope you find some opportunities quickly. I was also laid off in Nov. I'm running an independent study to capture layoff-related experiences from individuals like you. Would you have 10min to take an anonymous survey??https://lnkd.in/gzR3t9DY Have a great weekend and best of luck in your job search.
Engineering Manager - Infrastructure at Airtable
1 年Oh no! It was great partnering with you to build the Quip team, and some team is going to be very lucky to have you
Sales at Slack and Co-Producer at ArtP?rdē
1 年Alan! I’m shocked and had no idea. You are such an inspiration and anyone would be lucky to have you. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help
Salesforce Recruiting Leader - Tech and Product | MuleSoft, Workday Alum
1 年Hey Alan Leung! Sad to hear the news. I have been so fortunate to work with you and know that the best is yet to come to you. What a run you have had a few times over again. You have not only made a great impression on me (and inspired me) but so many people that you have worked with! Your enthusiasm is contagious, Super connector for sure! If I can help in any way, please reach out!
Assistant to the Managing Partner at Verve
1 年You always bring such a positive perspective and mindset to every space you enter and I’m excited for whichever spaces are blessed to have you next!