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.
I keep seeing this on calls. Hundreds of supportive comments. Everyone nodding along.
And I am thinking: she has been unemployed for 12 months and still does not understand the game.
Negotiating From Weakness
She is 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 is negotiating from weakness while acting like she has strength.
I keep seeing this on calls. This is not mean. This is market dynamics.
When you are 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 has 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 is what is wild. Take that exact same resume into the fractional executive market, and you are not expensive, you are credible.
I keep seeing this on calls. You are not asking for a job. You are 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?"
I keep seeing this on calls. One sounds desperate. One sounds confident.
I built the system at Chief Outsiders that placed 500+ fractional executives, many who had been struggling in traditional job searches for 6-12 months.
I keep seeing this on calls. The difference between success and failure was not their resume. It was whether they understood they were playing the wrong game.
You cannot Mindset Your Way Out of Market Dynamics
I keep seeing this on calls. You cannot manifest leverage you do not have. But you can change the game you are playing.
If you are 40-60 with 20+ years of experience and frustrated by the job market, your problem is not your resume or network. Your problem is positioning.
I would stop competing with 500 people for one W-2 role where you have zero leverage. I would 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 does not 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 would rather tell you you are not ready than give you false hope.
The work is serious. The life does not have to be.
Now if you will 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 is not helping corporate refugees build fractional practices, he is usually on the golf course by 2 PM.
