An ex-Amazon director has been job hunting for nearly a year.
Yesterday she posted asking companies to "align" with ex-Amazon talent by offering remote flexibility, proper compensation, and respectful interview processes.
Hundreds of supportive comments. Everyone nodding along.
And I'm thinking: she's been unemployed for 12 months and still doesn't understand the game.
Negotiating From Weakness
She's asking companies to:
- Offer full remote when RTO is trending everywhere
- Pay premiums when they have 500 applications per role
- Create "efficient interviews" when they can afford to be selective
- "Recognize her scale and impact" when cheaper talent will work harder for less
She's negotiating from weakness while acting like she has strength.
This isn't mean. This is market dynamics.
When you're one of thousands of laid-off FAANG workers competing for W-2 roles, your pedigree becomes a liability.
Companies see someone expecting $200K+, someone who needs health insurance, someone who's been searching for a year — someone they can lowball.
"Your Amazon badge isn't opening doors. It's pricing you out of them."
Same Resume, Different Game
Here's what's wild. Take that exact same resume into the fractional executive market, and you're not expensive — you're credible.
You're not asking for a job. You're offering to solve a problem.
Instead of "Please hire me, I'm worth $200K," it becomes: "I solve revenue operations issues for $15K/month. 90-day minimum. Interested?"
One sounds desperate. One sounds confident.
I built the system at Chief Outsiders that placed 500+ fractional executives — many who'd been struggling in traditional job searches for 6-12 months.
The difference between success and failure wasn't their resume. It was whether they understood they were playing the wrong game.
You Can't Mindset Your Way Out of Market Dynamics
You can't manifest leverage you don't have. But you can change the game you're playing.
If you're 40-60 with 20+ years of experience and frustrated by the job market, your problem isn't your resume or network. Your problem is positioning.
Stop competing with 500 people for one W-2 role where you have zero leverage. Start packaging your expertise as fractional work where your experience becomes your competitive advantage.
"Different game. Better odds. Actual power."
Your Next Move
The market doesn't care about your credentials. It cares about the problems you solve and how you position yourself to solve them.
Choose your battlefield carefully.
Take the free readiness assessment: theretern.com/quiz. Four minutes, brutally honest — I'd rather tell you you're not ready than give you false hope.
The work is serious. The life doesn't have to be.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have a tee time to keep.
Kirk Coburn is the founder of The ReTern and category creator of the fractional executive movement. He introduced the term "Fractional CMO" to the market in 2009 when he co-founded Chief Outsiders, which has since served 2,000+ clients. When he's not helping corporate refugees build fractional practices, he's usually on the golf course by 2 PM.
