Please briefly describe your background prior to Haas
I studied Control and Automation Engineering for undergrad and even did a Masters in Electrical Engineering in France, but I learned very quickly in my Engineering studies that I did not want to be a technical engineer. I didn’t find any motivation in trying to solve “machine or systems problems”, but I got a lot of energy whenever I had the opportunity of helping the people I worked with. I joined a rotational program at a tech startup (Series C) and decided to join the HR team. I worked in compensation, process design and implementation (performance management, compensation review) and data analytics for HR. After that, I joined another tech company (Series E), and I led a data analytics team for HR, building data products for HR teams, managers, and employees, defining and implementing the employee surveys strategy and extracting relevant data insights.
What industries and functions did you recruit for and why?
My original idea was to keep working in HR and join an HR rotational program at a Big Tech company or pivot to a HR Business Partner function in Tech. Before coming to Haas, I started considering a pivot to product, as I wanted to be closer to tech products, but I did not think it would be possible for me to do this pivot.
Once I got to Haas, I focused exclusively on Product Management, with a primary focus on B2B Big Tech, as 1) I assumed that my HR background would prove more transferable for enterprise software and 2) in the long-term, I would love to join a HR Tech startup, and working in B2B product would be more useful for that.
Briefly describe how you approached recruiting. Anything worked particularly well for you?
Preparing early and intentionally helped me.
Since I was focused on Big Tech, I knew that they would receive tons and tons of resumes, and the resume > interview conversion would be the hardest part. I focused a lot on refining my resume, selecting the projects that would be more transferable to product and getting feedback from many peer advisors.
For the interviews, I spent a lot of time studying the company, its products, competitors, culture, etc. I also prepared my stories beforehand, practiced with classmates and peer advisors, and understood which ones would be more impactful and better showcase my skills and personality.
FYI: I detailed my PM recruiting process for ServiceNow here
Briefly introduce your internship company and your team
ServiceNow is a cloud-based platform that helps businesses automate their workflows and streamline operations across IT, HR, customer service, etc. I identified with their mission of making the world work better for everyone, which connected to my motivations for HR. ServiceNow’s product line is very extensive - you can learn more about them here and see customer case studies here. ServiceNow is also really invested in making GenAI work for people (link).
I was on the Inbound Product Platform AI team. The Product teams are separated into the workflow teams (focused on customer, HR, or IT solutions) and the platform teams, which are focused on delivering the basic building blocks for the workflows. The Platform AI Product team is broken into multiple teams—I was on the Now Assist Skill Kit team, which launched a specific GenAI feature in August.
ServiceNow has a division between Inbound PMs (building the product) and Outbound PMs (go-to-market, pricing, but not the same as a PMM) that is different from most companies.
Briefly describe your summer project or job description
I did a competitive analysis for a GenAI prompt engineering feature they were launching to allow customers to build their own GenAI capabilities in the ServiceNow platform. It was my first time doing a product competitive analysis or understanding GenAI, and I learned a lot! I also did an internal benchmarking of other ServiceNow products that involved a similar creation lifecycle for non-GenAI experiences, and it gave me the opportunity to connect with many PMs, researchers and designers across the organization. In the end, I presented my key insights and recommendations to the Product Platform AI VP and his direct reports, which included my direct leader.
Fun facts about the company
ServiceNow’s CEO, Bill McDermott, is very respected in the company and in the industry - he was the former CEO of SAP.
The company culture (People Pact) was very evident. I was surprised to see senior leaders and the executive team highlighting the importance of work-life balance in many forums.
The Product team is very distributed! Many people work remotely, and others are in South California, New York, Montreal, India… I always wanted to work on a global team, but I didn’t realize that, in practice, this would mean having early morning meetings to accommodate folks in different time zones.
I was impressed by how complex and comprehensive ServiceNow’s platform is. I studied it extensively during my internship, and I barely scratched the surface.
Thoughts / reflections on your internship
In the beginning, I was “scared” by how technical the product I was working on was, and I even questioned my interest in B2B - that went away as soon as I started understanding the people who used the product, their needs, and how it could improve your work. In the end, people are people :)
I think I will learn a lot working in a big and complex tech company, but I also believe that I’ll miss the “startup-y” vibe that I love - which makes me believe I’ll stick to my plan of going to a HR Tech startup in the medium/long term.
If you are pivoting careers, we usually worry about getting the job, but we don’t think about how it feels to re-start our learning process from scratch. It can be frightening, but it can also be fun! Embrace your sense of curiosity and give yourself time to learn. Put effort into it, but also give yourself grace.
Closing thoughts or advice
Recruiting can generate a lot of anxiety! I personally use organization and plans as a way to mitigate my anxiety. If you are like me:
- Have a strategy that includes a Plan B, C, D or E if your main goal does not work out;
- Have an action plan: separate time every week for recruiting, keep on top of the open positions, be proactive, create a network;
- Find your way to relax and be intentional about dedicating time to that. If you are not taking care of yourself, you won’t perform well as a person and as a candidate.
- If you are an international student who wants to stay in the US, understand which companies/industries offer more or less visa sponsorship.