Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Land your dream job in today’s market: negotiation tactics, job search councils, and more | Phyl Terry (Author, “Never Search Alone”)

Sep 12, 2024

01:51:29

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Phyl Terry, author of "Never Search Alone" and founder of Collaborative Gain, shares his insights from a rich career including Amazon's early days. He emphasizes the importance of community in job searching, advocating for job search councils that support emotional well-being. Key topics include determining "candidate-market fit," effective networking, and mastering job negotiations with clear, collaborative strategies. Phyl encourages listeners to embrace asking for help as a transformative tool in their career journeys.

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Quick takeaways

Understanding your candidate-market fit is essential to tailor your job search and avoid a broad, ineffective approach.

Participating in job search councils can provide crucial emotional support, transforming feelings of insecurity into accountability and motivation.

Mastering the art of asking for help fosters meaningful connections and mentorship opportunities, enhancing the overall job search experience.

Crafting personalized job descriptions and objectives allows candidates to clearly define expectations, impressing potential employers during the interview process.

Deep dives

The Importance of Candidate Market Fit

Understanding candidate market fit is crucial for job seekers, as it allows them to identify the specific roles they are best suited for within the current job market. This concept emphasizes the need to narrow the focus of one’s job search rather than attempting to appeal to a broad audience. By assessing individual strengths and aligning them with market demands, candidates can avoid the common trap of a 'spray and pray' approach to applications. Recognizing that the shift in job market dynamics may require reassessing one’s target positions can help alleviate anxiety during the search process.

Craft Your Job Mission to Stand Out in Interviews

03:36

Embrace Kindness and Understand Emotions

01:00

Collaborate for Success

00:45

Aim Narrowly to Target Clearly

00:43

Intro

2min

The Power of Community in Job Searching

5min

Leveraging Peer Networks for Career Advancement

3min

Navigating the Job Search Together

12min

Navigating Job Search Success

26min

Mastering Job Negotiations

14min

Mastering Job Negotiations and Building Confidence

6min

Empowering Confidence Through Help

14min

Navigating Workplace Dynamics with Emotional Intelligence

4min

10.

The Power of Asking for Help

17min

11.

Navigating the Job Market: Insights and Strategies

9min

Phyl Terry is the author of Never Search Alone, which I’ve seen so many people reference as the most impactful guide they read for finding a job. Phyl was on the founding team of the first company Amazon acquired back in the ’90s and then was CEO of pioneering product consulting firm Creative Good, with companies like Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft as customers. Today, Phyl is the founder and CEO of Collaborative Gain, which 20 years ago pioneered bringing councils to senior product leaders and GMs in Silicon Valley. That’s their day job—in addition to that, Phyl runs a free global community for job seekers based on their latest book. In our conversation, we discuss:

• Why you should never search for a job alone

• How job search councils work

• How to determine your “candidate-market fit”

• How to conduct a listening tour

• Creating your job mission and OKRs

• How to negotiate job offers

• The art of asking for help

• Tactics for effective networking and interviewing

• Much more

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Brought to you by:

• Sidebar—Accelerate your career by surrounding yourself with extraordinary peers

• Sprig—Build products for people, not data points

• Dovetail—The customer insights hub for product teams

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Find the transcript and show notes at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/land-your-dream-phyl-terry

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Where to find Phyl Terry:

• X: https://x.com/phylterry

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phylterry/

• Website: https://www.phyl.org/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Phyl’s background

(01:58) The concept of job search councils

(04:27) The power of community in job searching

(08:55) The scale and structure of job search councils

(12:27) The impact of job search councils

(20:19) The concept of candidate-market fit

(22:50) Writing a Mnookin two-pager

(24:37) Conducting listening tours

(30:12) Creating a focused candidate-market fit

(36:20) Advice on finding the right stage of company for you

(40:37) Identifying your unique path

(45:30) Navigating tough job markets

(49:07) Playing to win

(53:36) Negotiation tactics for job offers

(01:05:12) The gratitude house exercise

(01:10:48) The power of asking for help

(01:19:18) How to ask for help

(01:28:40) Final thoughts and advice

(01:38:21) Lightning round

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

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