Five Hats is back next week. This week I'm done pretending everything is fine & that I can find my next role on my own… Friday was the 18th time this year I got referred for something "posted yesterday" & a hiring manager agreed I'd be great but they're actually already on 4th rounds. Honestly, that's preferable & I need your help getting ahead of that!
This week is two years since I was laid off at Yahoo. I vividly remember my awesome boss teared up on my last day, sure that the emerging tech creators org I built up from square one, 260 productions, 20m users, 7 awards, "I'd have a new role in no time." I told her that by my analysis, respectfully, I thought she was wrong. I took my severance, started a new company, hustled, RFP'd, interviewed, taught, & never landed anything to support me or my family. I never thought it'd be this bad.
If you know of a role, interesting or not– ping me.
If you're looking for someone creative, technical, versatile, passionate, hungry, masters degree & a self-taught quick learner, a clear educator & avid mentor, analytical, diplomatic, with 20 years in startups, corporations, 501s, institutions, impact-driven & growth-driven, then read my Linkedin recommendations & schedule a chat with me on Calendly.com/hwkeyser
"Well what role do you want?" -- I hate that question for two reasons:
First, beggars can't be choosers & this post isn't me being choosy. I most commonly search producer, program manager, & technologist roles, but I've gone final round or had offers put on hold on CTO, COO, technical artist, game designer, professor, & editor.
Second, I'm unashamedly a generalist– a maker. I got & excelled in the Yahoo role because of my multi-hyphenate experience.
Sam Matthews perfectly called me a "player coach" because I lead from the trenches. I'm as game to manage schedules as churn out production art & code, data analysis, design, & user research.
Technical art, 🙌
Game designs & prototypes, 🎉
Narrative design & writing, 👍
Unity, Unreal, Blender, Excel, Adobe-- I've taught them all.
Need to enable new creators or scale a program needing buy-in, 🍰
Just need to script, shoot, and edit videos… clearly, I still do that.
I've gone 4th round on 11 unrelated roles this year – I'm not chasing a title, I'm looking to use and deepen my breadth of experience.
What I can't do is pretend I'm not living the definition of insanity. I've put effort into 500 job apps, & 1000 more copypasta. 400 lunchers. $XX thousand on conferences.
I'm developing a video game to deepen & prove my career options from XR into gaming. And I did that just as an EBITDA-fueled layoffs bomb went off in that industry no less destructive than the metaverse bomb was to VR.
I'm not demanding a FAANG salary. I just don't want to take all of the experience I have out of these industries I love & into the first random NYC staffing agency to support my family.
Help me help you.
#jobseeker #JobSearch #lfw
