Stellar Kestrel asked
answered 3d ago
I am an engineering director and my org was let go as part of restructure and most of the my career I have been In Automation and grown into Internal Development Platforms portfolio. I have solid evidence of my work from last 2.5 years where I joined as manager and grew into engineering Director in 1.5 years. Now when I apply for engineering director role I am not getting response back... Resume gets rejected at recruiter level even when there is strong alignment. I setup a paid session with one of exec recruiters and feedback I got is that for director role they look for depth of experience as well. Since I was not a formal people manager and suddenly I am a director after 2.5 years , could this be the reason I am not getting interview calls(Its been 5 months already)
Philip's answer
I'm so sorry to hear about your difficulties in getting a callback. For what it's worth, I think all of hiring has gotten a lot tougher and a lot more competitive in the past year and a half. This is probably a combination of the job market tightening (not in the literal number of jobs, but in the much smaller number of firms that people want to work for). There is also a lot of general movement as people try to rush to the shores of companies and teams that have a foundation in AI, in hopes of not being left behind.
I can't speak for your situation specifically, but by the way you describe it, I do suspect that the years of experience may well be affecting things in a market where many senior people are simultaneously looking for jobs. For instance, at least three friends of mine at the director level have been looking unsuccessfully for jobs for over nine months. This current environment is very stark.
If the years of experience are indeed a potential problem, would you be willing to step back into a smaller scope role? Oftentimes, it's easier to get a foot in the door first, and then get promoted back into a scope you're fully capable of, than it is to land fresh with that scope already.
In this environment, you'll need a lot of shots at goal before something lands. I've had students in my UW class apply to over 200 places before they got an interview. You can do this; you'll just need to find the right fit, and persist long enough to find your next place. Your ability to have reached the director level means you definitely have it in you to be very valuable to the right company.