Recently, the employment situation has become more and more serious, especially in the Internet industry, especially the competition for the position of product manager is fiercer. Many product managers will inevitably have a window of several months, and the existence of the window makes The competitiveness of product managers has declined, forming a negative cycle. And the only thing that can break this situation is to reduce the negative effects brought about by the window period. Let’s talk today, what should a product manager do during the window period?
Facing the empty window correctly
Before talking about the window period plan, we must first face the window period correctly. Some product managers will feel flustered and anxious when they are vacant for a long time, and they can easily find a job at random. If the family’s finances are really tight, then this choice is understandable and a last resort. If you can still support it, finding a job at will will greatly affect the professional competitiveness of product managers. Therefore, it is also very important to correctly face the window period.
In my opinion, when facing the window period, product managers must do at least the following three things:
- Adjust your emotions and face it calmly: In the current job market, there are indeed very few job opportunities on the Internet. Don't be depressed because you can't find a job, and live in anxiety every day. Anxiety and upset can't solve the problem. The lack of opportunities is the biggest obstacle to the current employment situation, not a problem of one's own ability. Product managers must establish a good professional self-confidence, otherwise it will be difficult to grasp job opportunities, and then they must calmly see their own advantages and disadvantages compared with other product managers, and learn from each other.
- Cherish opportunities and prepare adequately: During the vacancy period, product managers must cherish every interview opportunity. Even if the position may not meet their expectations, they must make adequate preparations for every interview. During the window period, every interview is to exercise our interview skills and polish our abilities.
- Salary cuts are possible, but it must be in line with career planning: In the current situation where the supply of recruitment opportunities in the job market is less than demand, companies, as recruiters, will inevitably consider cost-effectiveness. Therefore, as a job seeker, they should properly adjust their expectations according to the salary range of the company's recruitment positions , It is more beneficial to get job opportunities, but the salary can be cut, but it must be in line with your own career plan. For example, if the career direction is overseas, don’t randomly choose a job opportunity in other directions such as OA, which will be very detrimental to subsequent career development.
Window period plan
Facing the vacancy period, it is estimated that some product managers’ daily routine is to submit resumes in the morning, go to interviews in the afternoon, and play games in the evening. Unless you have a mine at home, doing so will only consume your professional proficiency. In fact, the window period is not terrible. I believe that most companies will not mind too much. What companies are really worried about is that the window period will lead to a decline in professional standards. Therefore, for product managers, the planning goals during the window period are very clear. It is to consolidate or even strengthen one's professional ability and improve one's professional competitiveness.
How to do it? According to my experience, product managers must do at least the following three things:
- Keep up with current technology: No matter what direction you are a product manager in, you must have a basic understanding of the latest technologies in the Internet industry. You don’t need to be able to discuss with technology experts, but at least when people around you mention it Don't be confused, it is best to think more about the changes these technologies can bring. For example, after ChatGPT becomes popular, you can think about what role AI can play in your field of expertise. In addition, product managers should keep abreast of popular products on the market and think more about the reasons why these products are popular.
- Precipitation methodology: The window period is the most suitable stage for product managers to precipitate their own methodology. After all, in the past work, there was not so much free time for in-depth thinking and sorting out past work methods and processes. During the vacancy period, the product manager can sort out the work process, working methods, and work attention points according to the daily work content of the product. At the same time, he can also read more articles shared by other product managers to check for gaps.
- Review past projects: During the vacancy period, product managers can also spend more time reviewing projects they have participated in in the past, think about the problems existing in the product, and if they want to restart the project, what should they do and why should they do this , What is the basis, you can also look at the current competing products on the market, think about the same product, why a certain function is added to a competing product, why the interaction of a competing product is designed in such a way, and so on. By reviewing past project experience, it is the best way for product managers to exercise and strengthen their comprehensive capabilities.
Finally, I would like to share with you some inner thoughts: life is destined not to be smooth sailing, and the window period is just a small trough, which is nothing compared to our long life journey. When we are going down, we are actually heading towards Don't be discouraged when you are exploring the uphill of the trough, try to improve your ability, and you will go uphill faster. Share with everyone. I hope that every little partner who is in the vacancy period can find the job he wants smoothly.
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