I could really use some advice from the older, wiser DCUMers

[Anonymous]

I could use some outside perspective from people who have navigated this stage of their careers.

I'm 35 and currently hold the title of Product Lead at a SaaS company, but in practice my role looks much more like a GM for a business unit.

On paper, I own product strategy, roadmap planning, sprint execution, and the work of a 14-person development team. In reality, I spend just as much time acting as the subject matter expert, managing relationships with our largest enterprise, franchise, and international customers, closing complex deals, supporting escalated customer issues, reviewing marketing initiatives, translating between technical and non-technical teams, and advising senior leadership on growth opportunities, operational bottlenecks, and market dynamics.

I've also led pilot programs, go-to-market efforts, customer implementations, and a variety of cross-functional initiatives that don't neatly fit into any one department.

During various annual reviews, my CEO has called me "liquid"- naturally seeping into every operational gap to fill it - and "the connective tissue of this company"

The challenge is that I've spent the last 9 years in roles like this. My responsibilities consistently span product, operations, customer success, sales, implementation, and strategy. As a result, my resume doesn't tell a clean story, and I worry that hiring managers see a generalist without a clear lane rather than someone who has been operating across an entire business.

I'm ready for the next step, but I'm struggling to even get interviews.

For those who have made the jump from "does a lot of everything" roles into larger leadership or strategic positions, how did you position yourself? What roles would you target? And how do you communicate broad operational ownership without looking unfocused?

I'd appreciate any insights.

[Anonymous]

Is your current resume organized chronologically or by skillset?

[Anonymous]

Just take resume and take job spec and use AI to customize for each job

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is your current resume organized chronologically or by skillset?

Chronological

[Anonymous]

Swap it around.
Also kindly but hopefully helpfully your OP is exhausting to read as a salad of buzz terms. Figure out what your skills are. Then use accomplishments to illustrate using them.

[Anonymous]

I think you’re going to need one master resume and many customized versions depending on the roles you are targeting. You feel more like a Chief of Staff or second in command person as opposed to a GM. Specifically while you’ve done a lot you have never owned a P&L (or at least you didn’t mention it in your post). So while you’ve done a lot within the business, you’ve never actually Run a Business. And that’s a big distinction.

[Anonymous]

Pick a lane that works best for you and develop in depth skills there. Resume is secondary. You are too young to bank on being a generalist.

[Anonymous]

Following this as I’m about 5 years behind you but have been in sales/ customer success roles at non technical companies where I’ve been hired to be an account manager but ended up doing a little of everything too. As a caveat I’ve worked at small companies under 100 people (2 different ones since I started out 7 yrs ago).

Not currently hunting myself but trying to decide if my next role will be an IC sales role at a larger company or more of a director level GM type role at a smaller org. Currently making $125k base and hoping to jump to the $150 -200k for my next role

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Following this as I’m about 5 years behind you but have been in sales/ customer success roles at non technical companies where I’ve been hired to be an account manager but ended up doing a little of everything too. As a caveat I’ve worked at small companies under 100 people (2 different ones since I started out 7 yrs ago).

Not currently hunting myself but trying to decide if my next role will be an IC sales role at a larger company or more of a director level GM type role at a smaller org. Currently making $125k base and hoping to jump to the $150 -200k for my next role

Op here and same. Im at $140k and would really like (and need) to get to $200k soon.

[Anonymous]

What are opportunities for promotion at your current org?

[Anonymous]

I find you very articulate, first of all. Second - everyone is struggling to get interviews right now, just know that. Most people. Best chance: tell everyone you know you're looking, have results on resume, and all salaries are lower right now - this is, again, a hard time to go up a notch. Just hang on a year or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are opportunities for promotion at your current org?

Really none. I technically sit under the VP of Product on the org chart, but because I do so many other things, no one really manages me. The next layer is C-Suite and they all have 25+ years of experience.

[Anonymous]

Your description was LinkedIn corporate speak (like memes that make fun of this stuff). I still don’t know what you and the description of your bosses made me think she’s fixer or a generalist. So you need to work hard in that elevator pitch to show what you do. Right now it sounds like fluff nonsense.

Second - I caught on something that you mentioned and my husband experienced. You are at a job you’ve stayed for for 9 years plus and have had no promotions or position increases (like titles). He had the same despite excellent work and it took him a year to find a position that paid the same (forget about 200K). He’s senior in title now and recruiters actually reach out unprompted. It shows he is wanted and can move around as opposed to …stale. He is also in tech and we are a bit older than you.

Get any job or new position, or you’ll be stuck even longer.