She started the conversation by saying: "Before we talked about the details such as COBRA, your last check, vacation balance, etc, we want to find out why you’re leaving the company. We’re not like our parent’s generation who will stay with the same company for their whole lives. We understand people will change jobs. But, we want to understand why you are leaving so that we can do a better job to retain employees".

I knew I would be asked this question. I had rehearsed my replies before I came to the meeting. I was quite frustrated at certain aspects of my work, and that’s why I was leaving.

However, I did NOT want to burn any bridges. And HR was not the place to express my frustration and speak my mind. To understand the dirty secrets of HR, I highly recommend you to read Corporate Confidential: 50 Secrets Your Company Doesn’t Want You to Know—and What to Do About Them .

So, I replied: "I really enjoyed working at Company X. I’m very grateful for the opportunity I was given. I’m leaving largely due to career development reason. I found an opportunity that allowed me to do something that I was really passionate about. My decision to leave really has more to do with the next opportunity, and has less to do with Company X. I really like everyone here. I’ll remain to be a shareholder."

The HR manager then asked: "We understand that most people leave because of career development reasons. But, there must be some reasons that triggered your decision to leave. What can we do better?"

This was a tricky part — I wanted to provide an honest answer, but again I didn’t want to burn any bridge. So, I framed my answer this way:

"Our Company has been growing for the past couple of years. I’m very fortunate to be part of this growth. As a result, I plan to remain as a stockholder. As a stockholder, based on my understanding of our business model, product, technology, etc., these are the three things that will keep me awake at night." I then listed 3 things that I think the company needs to improve in light of rapid growth and the challenge of scale the business. I focused on describing the challenges, and never mentioned a single person’s name.

The HR manager was satisfied, and went on to explain COBRA, final pay check, etc. to me.

It was an amicable exit interview. I didn’t burn any bridge, but still provided the company some feedback to improve.

How is your exit interview experience? Any story to share? I’d love to hear from you.

They share one thing in common: they have been laid off by their previous employers. But, instead of feeling bitter about the experience, they’re using it as a turning point to find something better and more fulfilling. To certain extent, the layoff is a wake-up call they have been subconsciously waiting for a long time. It’s time to make some changes, and pursue a career path that they truly have a passion for.

I totally respect and admire what they’re trying to do — although the job market is tough and they are without jobs, they still want to make sure they find the right jobs, not any job.

Quite a few of them have been focusing on making transitions to other functional area. For example, a system engineer wants to become a DBA, a PR professional wants to get into business development, and a enterprise sales rep wants to become a product manager.

They’re all very talented individuals. I have no doubt that if they’re given the opportunity, they’ll successfully make transitions to their new roles.

But, everyone of them, without an exception, has hit a wall in their job search process. They had phone interviews and even informal coffee chats with potential employers. In the end, the conversation boiled down to "we really enjoyed talking to you. We’d love to have you. But, at this point, we want to hire someone who has done similar things before."

This doesn’t surprise me at all. In this economy, employers are tightening their belts. They cannot afford to hire an unproven commodity. They want to hire experienced people who can hit the ground running, and start adding value to the company’s top line and bottom line immediately. 

We all have our ideals, and our vision for the perfect job and career. But, we have to face reality. It’s virtually impossible to look for a new job and make a career transition at the same time in this economy.

For folks who’re interested in making a career transition, the best time to think about it and prepare for the career switch is while you’re still employed. In fact, if your desired job function is available in your current company, that’s the best place for you to explore career transition.

I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but it’s very hard to switch to a different job function while you desperately need a job to feed yourself and the family.

Throw away any romantic notion you might have about finding your passion and your dream job at the same time while you’re unemployed. Those are definitely worthy goals for you to pursue. But, do that after you get a steady paycheck. While you’re unemployed, your number one priority is to get a job. You can then figure out ways to pursue your passion and make career transitions. (The only exception is that you have the financial means to last for a long time without having a job. If you have that luxury, then feel free to pursue your own course of action. But, I think for most professionals, they need to get another job in three to six months, if not sooner.)

To get a job, the most important advice I can offer you is to leverage your existing strength, background, and experience. During interviews, your job is to show the hiring company that because of what you have done in the past, you’ll be able to immediately add a lot of value to the hiring company. You’ll be hired if you can convince the employer that the ROI of hiring you is tremendously positive.

Related posts:

• 10 Professional Development Actions that you can take to make you more competitive in today’s job market
• Are you interested in a lot of different things, but not sure what exactly you want to do about your career?
• From laid-off dot com worker to medical doctor

Excellent resources:

• Your Next Move: The Leader’s Guide to Successfully Navigating Major Career Transitions
• Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams
• Career Renegade: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love

Why did I write this report? Because over the years I have met many people who were struggling to make a career transition to product management.

It shouldn’t be that hard.

This report tells you the good, bad, and ugly sides of product management. It provides detailed case studies and the New Product Manager action plan ,a step-by-step framework that helps folks to become a product manager.

More information on How to Become a Product Manager:

Who is this premium report for?

• You’re an engineer who is tired of technical work. You want to leverage your technical skills to make a career transition to product management.
• You’re currently an MBA student. You want to get into product management.
• You’re a college senior or recent college graduate. You have heard that some companies hire product managers directly out of undergraduate programs. You want to find out how you can become a product manager with little or no work experience.
• You work in customer support, but you feel that customer support is a dead-end job. You want to leverage your understanding of customer problems to move into product management.
• You work in sales or sales engineering, but you’re tired of frequent business travel and constant pressure of meeting sales quota. You want to leverage your rich customer facing experience and product knowledge to become a product manager.
• You’re a technical consultant. You’re tired of moving from company to company to implement projects. You want to make a transition to product management.
• Anyone else who wants to become a product manager.

What does this report offer?

• What exactly is product management? This might sound like an easy and simple question. But, when I talk to folks who’re interested in becoming a product manager, very few actually know what they’re getting themselves into.
• What are the downside of product management career?

• Why are there still a lot of people who want to break into product management, given the negative aspects of product management career?

• What are the characteristics of good product managers?
• What kind of training would increase your chance to become a product manager?
• Should you get an MBA to make the transition to product management?
• What companies are good training ground for new product managers?
• Six case studies 
  1. William: From technical consultant at Accenture to product manager at Oracle
  2. Raj: From Java developer to product manager at an e-commerce giant
  3. Mary: From Competitive Analyst  to product manager at an internet start-up — Jennifer
  4. Brandon: From Supply Chain consultant to Product Management at a supply chain start-up — Manoj
  5. Mike: From Entrepreneur to Product Manager
  6. Matt: From college graduate to Associate Product Manager at Google
• The New Product Manager ^TM action plan to launch your product manager career

Buy How to Become a Product Manager at Scribd digital book store now!

Joe and I worked together at a high-flying, ventured backed start-up during the dotcom bubble. Joe just finished his undergraduate degree in Business Administration when he got the job offer from the start-up.

As the start-up was burning through cash and hiring one employee a day, a lot of the employees were idle. Joe and I would take long walk to the local Jamba Juice store, talking about our career and life plans.

Six months later, Joe was laid off. As most laid-off workers were looking for jobs, Joe couldn’t get himself excited about getting another job in the high tech industry. He simply felt that his heart was not there.

Joe was a hard worker in school. He chose Business Administration as the major because he thought it was the right thing to do. With a degree from one of the top ranked undergraduate business programs, he knew he would be able to get good jobs and live comfortably.

But, deep inside, Joe knew that he wanted to do something else. His altruistic nature had been telling him that he wanted to be a doctor.

So, Joe was at a cross road right after he was laid off.

He couldn’t get excited about getting another job. He wanted to become a doctor. But, he didn’t take any pre-med class in college. He would have to take all of the pre-requisite classes before he could even apply medical school. He didn’t have whole lot of saving. And there is no guarantee that he would be accepted into medical school.

The risk is high — it would take him 2-3 years to get ready to apply medical school with little or no income, not mentioning the opportunity cost. And there was no guarantee of success.

Many of Joe’s former colleagues and friends were skeptical of what Joe was trying to do.

But, Joe was determined. He moved in with his parents to lower his expenses. He got a couple of part-time jobs so that he could earn some money. He started taking a couple of classes at the local college.

He also started researching and strategizing how he could increase his chance to get into medical school. He soon realized that given his background, he needed to build a very strong post-undergraduate academic record, he needed to have solid research experience, and he needed to have something extra on his resume.

Joe made a very difficult decision. Instead of staying with his parents, he moved across-the-country to attend one of the most prestigious post-college pre-med program. The tuition and one-year living expense would cost him almost his entire saving.

Joe studied extremely hard. He also got two research positions at the medical school nearby. He founded a non-profit organization. He volunteered at the hospital.

He didn’t waste a single minute at this new city — he was racing against time to get ready to apply medical school.

A year passed quickly. Joe got solid grades. Once he returned home, he continued to volunteer, and grow his non-profit organization while he prepared for the MCAT.

Joe applied several schools. He was accepted by arguably the best medical school in the world three years after he was laid off and made up his mind to change his career. This year, Joe will graduate with a M.D.

Are you dissatisfied with your current career? Have you always wanted to try something else? Is there an inside voice telling you that your heart is at somewhere else?

Life is too short. You should listen to your heart once, and follow the calling. With the right amount of preparation, determination, discipline, persistence and optimism, you’ll be able to make the career switch. We all owe ourselves to maximize our potentials, and choose a career that enriches our soul, heart, and mind.

Keep dreaming, and start take action now to fulfill your dream.

Related Posts:

• Career transition from software developer to product manager
• 8 Things you should do if you feel stuck in your career
• New Career Path
• Transition to Product Management

Excellent Resources:

• Med School Confidential: A Complete Guide to the Medical School Experience: By Students, for Students
• The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences
• Now What?: The Young Person’s Guide to Choosing the Perfect Career
• The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success

I’ve been a software developer for seven years now. I’m getting tired of coding. I’d like to transition to product management. What should I do?

My answer

Making a career transition is never easy. The key is that you must leverage your strength while identifying opportunity to demonstrate you’re  capable of doing the new job.

As a software developer, your strength is that you have a strong technical foundation, and this will enable you to understand how developers think and work, and work effectively with the development team. You need to keep this in mind. I’d suggest you first to make a transition to technical PM –- product management job that involves a strong technical component. This will make the transition easier for you.

You also need to change your mind set. As a software developer, your tendency is problem solving, which means  you have the tendency to dive into details. However, as product manager, a very important part of your job is to make sure that the product team is solving the right market problem. You need to understand the big picture, and ask "why" before getting into "how". Ask yourself the following questions before you think about "how"

• Why do we need this project/enhancement/new feature?
• What customer needs are we adding?
• What’s the problem statement?
• Can we leverage any existing solutions instead of developing a new solution?
• What is the projected financial returns on this product? How are the returns comparing to the cost of developing the product?

You need to establish the mindset that you’re the "mini CEO" of a product. What will a CEO be worried about? He wants to see the product addresses specific customer needs so that the company can sell a lot of the products and make a lot of money profitably.

I also highly recommend you to take a few product management training classes. I was very fortunate that during early stage of my product management career, I took Pragmatic Marketing’s Practical Product Management course, taught by the dynamic and humorous Steve Johnson. It was one of the best investment I ever made for my career. (I have no affiliation with Pragmatic Marketing, but I really appreciated what I’ve learned from them. )

Also, I recommend the following books for anyone who is trying to break into product management:

• Crossing the Chasm
• Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs
• High Stakes, No Prisoners: A Winner’s Tale of Greed and Glory in the Internet Wars (Great story telling that documented every strategic move a start-up made – the start-up was eventually sold to Microsoft with a pretty good valuation.)
• Microsoft Secrets: How the World’s Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets and Manages People (This book is old, and some of the materials might not be relevant to today’s market place. However, it describes how the role of product management and program management have evolved and shaped by Microsoft. You will find it helpful as you navigate the political world of product management.
• The Innovator’s Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business
• Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning
• Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors

Do you have any tips and lessons to share? Leave a comment.

I recently got laid off from an IT position in the Silicon Valley and even during the time I was working I have been thinking about a career change.

I’m 26 and don’t even have a computer science degree. I think it’s going to be difficult finding another job in IT. I think I was lucky last time for this past job. Anyway, I’m not even sure what I want to do. The areas/industry I am interested in (TV Production) I’ve heard isn’t doing very well or is mostly freelance which I don’t think is a smart career to enter into during these times.

I’ve been contemplating relocating to NYC because that’s the hub of TV production but not sure if this is the right time. I don’t have any baggage right now and am open to many possibilities. I’m the type to try different things out and see what I like. Should I go back to school or relocate to another city and see what happens and who I can network with?

How do I figure out what I want to do during these unstable times and know I’m entering into a secure career and not something that I’ll get laid off from or can’t find work in another 6 months? I’m very persistent and have the energy to job search and network, but not when I don’t even know what to look for or how I want to update my resume for a different type of job.

Should I just get another IT job and wait this stuff out and take more time to decide what I want to do? I feel like I won’t know I want to do something until I can actually do it and try it out but not sure if this is the time to experiment….

Thanks for any advice, help, or insight.

My Reply
Thanks for your question. I’ll try my best to help.

Below is a list of my thoughts after reading your email:

1. Do you like the IT work you’ve been doing? If you hate it, then I think you should make up your mind to change your career. Life is too short to keep working on something you don’t like.
2. How long can you survive without a paycheck? Do you have enough saving to support you for a year? This is a very important consideration. Before pursuing your dream, you need to make sure you can have food, sheltering and basic living arrangement. Make sure your personal finance is in order. If your parents are nearby, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility to move home for a while. Conserving cash will give you a lot of flexibility down the road.
3. It’s risky to move to NYC to pursue TV Production if you don’t know anybody. The media production industry is all about connections — it’s hard to break in when the economy is bad, and you have very few connections. One alternative might be to get an IT job in NYC to pay the bill, and work on the media production side as a volunteer (or low pay assistant) on a part-time basis. Instead of going for drastic career move, try to made gradual progress.
4. You seems to have a lot of interest, but don’t know what you want to do. That’s fine. a lot of people are in your shoes. You should identify your top 3 professional interests, and try each of them. It’s okay that you don’t have a stable career for the next 2-3 years. You’re only 26. The key is to figure out what you want before you turn 30. It’s really sad if you regret your career decision when you turn 50. Take your time to figure out what you want to do. It’s perfectly fine — as long as you make sure you have enough money to meet your basic living needs.
5. Regarding whether you should look for a job now — let’s say you get a well-paid IT job, will you be happy? if you won’t be happy and you have enough money to support yourself for a while, I think you should consider give other career option a try. Your age is  your advantage. You can still afford to experiment.
   Hope this helps.
   cheers.

Final thoughts

I was in similar situation during the last recession. For anyone who is still in your 20′s and don’t have a family to support, I strongly encourage you to experiment with different careers options if you’re not happy at your current career. Don’t let the societal, parental or peer expectation to stop you — it’s your career, your happiness, and your future. Experiment and decide for yourself.

But, in my opinion, it is one of the most useful, powerful, and practical books about how to get yourself a job.

When you’re looking for a job, you’re selling. And you’re the product.

Therefore, you need to know how to sell. You need to become the best, most convincing, and most passionate sales person for yourself.

The book I always turn to was written in 1947. It has a title sound like an ordinary "self help" book. If you’re the type of person who would never touch a self-help book, don’t be fooled by the title.

This book is an all-time classic. It’s one of the best books on how to sell.

I’ve applied every principle in this book. They really work.

If you’re serious about getting a job, moving up in your career, and beat this recession, get the book NOW. You won’t be disappointed.

The book is How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger.

It’s hard to make the career transition to product management.

In most companies, there are no clear path to become a product manager. The job title "product manager" is defined differently at different companies. In some companies,product management reports to the engineering organization, while in other companies,product management is part of marketing.

Depending on the culture of the company (e.g. "engineering/tech driven" or "marketing" driven or "sales driven"), product management might take on different responsibilities.

Product Managers are generalist by nature while most other jobs (e.g. sales, engineer, QA, etc) are specialized.

Product Management is a very political job — as a product manager, usually you don’t manage anyone, but you need to motivate and lead a cross-functional team. You’re responsible for everything, but not manage anyone in most cases.

You could take a product management training class. However, most product management training is only helpful to people who has been working in product management for while. You cannot really learn to be a product manager from taking a class — practice and experience are critical.

You can go back to school and get an MBA from a top business school. Still, it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get a product management job. I have talked to quite a few people who were engineers in the past and got MBA’s from top schools such as Wharton, Kellogg, UCLA, etc. They have a very hard time to break into product management.

At this point, you might ask "am I hopeless to transition to Product Management?" You shouldn’t be hopeless. But, you need to recognize that it’s not easy to transition to Product Management.

You need to have clear strategy based on your background, experience, and strength. And you need to have a structured transition plan, and execute your plan with discipline and perseverance.

In the next few days, I’ll cover the following topics and questions:

• I’m so tired of my engineering job, and I want to move to Prod Management badly. what should I do now?
• I just finished my MBA at Wharton, and I worked as a software developer in high tech companies for several years before attending business school. But, I still couldn’t get a product management job. It’s SO frustrating! What should I do?
• What exactly is product management? How is it different from program management, product marketing, project management, and product planner?
• How should I prepare myself to be a product manager?
• How should I make the move to product management?
• Is product management the right job for me?
• I’m very stressed at my product management job. Should I quit and switch careers?
• I feel I’m like a coordinator, running around everyday, but don’t add whole lot of value to Microsoft. Does this all product management have to offer?
• Should I join Google or Microsoft fresh out of business school?
• I’m just finishing my Computer Science degree, but I don’t enjoying coding. How can I become a product manager?

If you’ve any specific topic you’re interested. Email me (regularguy@GeekMBA360.com).

Stay tuned.