Update — Best of Three... or Five

This post is the follow-up to my Part 1 — Finding Your Next Product Role... the tricky second album.

Fast, slow; slow fast

The hardest part of this is I found I had little control over the pacing — I was at the mercy of the hiring company or recruiter. When given dates for interviews I generally tried to find ones in the morning so I could get it over and done with — but otherwise, if there was a gap, I just tried to enjoy the pause.

There was no logic to when new jobs appeared — they came like London buses in the end; and fortunately the three that all came at once, two got to finals.

Managing the emotional side

I look back at this and have no magic answer — there are a tonne of posts by other people who cover this far better than I ever would.

Looking for jobs is tough; people need support.

What I'd do differently

This time, genuinely nothing. My process — or lack of process — worked for me. I appreciate it may not work for everyone. I've seen people set up some pretty sophisticated AI automation to help handle the processes — I elected not to and didn't need it to get a good result.

Twists

One of the processes this time came back with two more final rounds (after passing the final round) — talk about never getting to enjoy the moment.

I've had this before on job hunts; for me it has never ended well. I still always play along but at the moment I have a 100% hit rate: when new rounds appear, I don't get the role. And this time was no different — maybe one day that will change, or maybe, just maybe… it's a sign that the job is just not right. Who knows.

Time for pastry. 🥐