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☆ An Amazon senior leader says to think very carefully before relocating for a new job — you may regret it
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Brandon Southern | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The company you're relocating for may not appreciate the sacrifice you made, especially during layoffs. AdvertisementIf you're considering relocating for a job, you might want to think twice. AdvertisementRelocating is a major decisionWhen you relocate for a job, you're choosing to pack up your belongings and say goodbye to friends and family. In Amazon terms, this decision is largely viewed as a one-way-door decision; a decision where you can't easily hit the undo button with your actions. If something goes wrong with your job, will you be comfortable living in the new city working for a different company?

Persons: Brandon Southern, —, couldn't Organizations: Amazon, eBay, GameStop, Service

☆ Having employees interview their potential new manager is a terrible idea. Here's why from a senior leader at Amazon.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Brandon Southern | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

He writes that its a terrible idea for companies to have employees interview their future managers. Unfortunately, management had likely already evaluated the existing team members and determined that none of the existing employees qualified for the position. This creates a bit of tension and raises questions about how the existing employees may evaluate the candidate. It's difficult to say if they'd be truly objective and pick the most qualified candidate, the least qualified candidate, or simply someone they like the most. This means that instead of picking the most qualified candidate, the existing team members may pick the most likable candidate.

Persons: Brandon Southern, —, I've, they'd, It's, there's, it's Organizations: Amazon, eBay, GameStop, Service

☆ I've conducted hundreds of interviews at Amazon and other tech companies. The hiring process may seem lengthy, but it's necessary.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Brandon Southern | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

He writes that hiring managers have to be cautious when hiring because their reputations are on the line. While there are some interviews that do feel excessive, many are not, and they are a normal part of a hiring manager's desire to be cautious when hiring a new employee. Dealing with situations like these certainly cause hiring managers to be extra cautious when interviewing and hiring candidates. AdvertisementAdvertisementWith only two or three interviewers, one interviewer will be the hiring manager and the other interviewers likely report to the hiring manager. I've been contacted by companies for jobs that I haven't applied for, and they asked me to write multiple strategy documents before scheduling a call with the hiring team.

Persons: Brandon Southern, I've, they're, isn't, we've Organizations: Amazon, eBay, GameStop, Service, LinkedIn Locations: Southern, Wall, Silicon

☆ I'm a senior leader at Amazon and have seen many bad managers. Here are 3 reasons why there are so few great ones.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Brandon Southern | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Brandon Southern is a senior leader at Amazon and former head of analytics at eBay and GameStop. I spent time reflecting on why so many managers fall into the category of a bad manager, instead of into the category of a great leader. This isn't to say that the managers who found themselves working as manager by accident or as the next step in their career are bad managers. By calling someone a manager instead of a leader, the implied focus is on managing — which usually spills over to managing people instead of leading people. Some managers will describe their job as managing a team and a few managers will describe their job as leading a team.

Persons: Brandon Southern, didn't, I've, we're, there's, wouldn't Organizations: Amazon, eBay, GameStop, Morning Locations: Southern

☆ I'm a former senior leader at Amazon and working in the office made me better at my job. The bottom line is if you're fully remote you're missing out.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Brandon Southern | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

But in order to fully benefit from in-office work, young-tenured employees also need experienced employees to work in the office as well. Now before the pitchforks come for me, I'm 100% supportive of remote work and I'm fully supportive of employee flexibility and all the great things that come with working remotely. But while many people talk about the benefits of remote work, few talk about its consequences. I've witnessed frequent situations where team members are reinventing the wheel due to reduced communication related to remote work. As a leader, my job is to create opportunities for team members to succeed, but also to be challenged.

Persons: Brandon Southern, I've, It's, — Organizations: eBay, GameStop

☆ I'm a former senior leader at Amazon. Mentorships can be a waste of everyone's time unless you do it right — here's how.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Brandon Southern | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

I've had the opportunity to mentor several people during my 20-year career in tech as a senior leader at companies like Amazon and eBay. To start your mentorship off right, come prepared with specific, time-based goals for what you'd like to accomplish. Without knowing why you want a promotion, what the promotion duties look like, and when you want to achieve a promotion, your mentor won't be able to give the specific feedback you need. Without this practice, not only will you not make progress, but you'll end up re-hashing the same conversation from the previous meeting. This will be a waste of time for you and your mentor and quickly result in a frustrating and unsuccessful mentorship.

Persons: Brandon Southern, mentees, I've, you'll, aren't, you've, it's, that's Organizations: eBay, GameStop, Morning

☆ I'm a former senior leader at Amazon. There's a secret reason you're not getting promoted and it has to do with 'calibration meetings' happening behind closed doors.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Brandon Southern | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

I've worked in tech for 20 years and served as the former head of analytics at companies like eBay, Amazon, and GameStop. This matters, but more is required, and it starts with understanding the secret conversations that happen behind closed doors during the promotion process. Identify the voters: This plan starts with understanding who your manager's peers are and your manager's managers are. After generating this list with your manager, you'll need to have a discussion with your manager to determine who you should align with, much like a corporate version of Survivor! Show how your work duties have increased: Last, you'll need to demonstrate an increase in scope of work.

Persons: Brandon Southern, I've, they're, it's Organizations: eBay, GameStop

☆ I've worked as a data analyst at companies like Amazon for 20 years. Using ChatGPT for data analytics is a risky move — AI will never be able to do the work we do.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Brandon Southern | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

He says that using ChatGPT for data analytics is a risky move. But what I am concerned about is leaders believing that it can or should replace data analysts' jobs. In the current environment, data analysts provide additional context to data output, and they navigate these data issues in real-time as they construct their data analysis. As self-service capabilities increase, data analysts are becoming less involved with assisting stakeholders with data interpretation. He also creates TikToks about data analytics and career development.

Persons: Brandon Southern, analysis.I, I'm, I've Organizations: eBay, GameStop, Amazon, VMWare

☆ Stop thinking tenure gets you promotions — it doesn't. A former senior leader at Amazon explains what actually works.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Brandon Southern | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

While time spent in a specific role may correlate with commitment, experience, or knowledge, it doesn't necessarily correlate with value to a company. To get a raise or promotion, you're going to need more than tenure — you're going to need to create additional value or increase your scope of work. In this case, the company is getting more value by paying more, but paying more doesn't always equate to more value. For many positions, it can be hard to determine if an experienced person is providing more value than a non-experienced person. The question that the company will ask is, does the hire salary cost outweigh the cost of hiring a new employee?

Persons: Brandon Southern, I've, you've Organizations: eBay, GameStop, Morning, Brandon

☆ A former Amazon senior leader says the reason you're not getting hired is because you're not being relatable in interviews
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Brandon Southern | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A key element of getting hired is being relatable, but it's something that is frequently overlooked by candidates during the interview process. You and your experience need to be seen as relatable as possible to the job that you're applying for. Now let's assume that you have five years of experience in the field and five years of experience building Tableau dashboards. But to the interviewer, you don't appear to be perfectly relatable, and you might not get hired because of this. By treating the recruiting call as a fact-finding mission, you will be equipped to provide the most relatable answers.

Persons: Brandon Southern, Southern, isn't, relatability Organizations: eBay, GameStop, Morning

☆ I'm an ex-Amazon senior leader. Here's why layoffs keep happening and why ambitious managers are fueling them.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Brandon Southern | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

He explains that companies say they want efficient teams but don't reward those who create them. Southern also says that managers add headcount when seeking a promotion and bloat the company. By hiring more team members, the manager's scope would naturally increase which increased the odds of being promoted. And efficient teams aren't actually helping them get there. This is why so many leaders first look to add more headcount instead of first looking to make the organization more efficient.

Persons: Brandon Southern, —, I've, they're, it's Organizations: eBay, GameStop, Service, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Gamestop, VMware Locations: Southern, bloating

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