How Brandon landed a VP of Product role in four months while expecting a layoff, with five kids at home

Brandon came to us expecting a layoff. His wife had already been laid off, and they have five children. He needed a role, and he needed it to be the right one.

In four months we landed him a VP of Product offer at Pantheon, alongside interviews at 21 other companies.

The situation was worse than "considering a move"

“The company that I was at was struggling, literally missing payments, laying off bonuses. Changes had already started happening and I just needed to get to a different place.”

He had tried on his own first and found the market was not working in his favour, which is what brought him to look for help rather than more effort.

How he decided, and it was not on price

This is the clearest articulation of the decision we have on record, and it reframes the fee as a timing question rather than a cost question.

“My only question was whether it would necessarily work for me. And where I came to was the opportunity cost of not doing it. If it shaves a few months off of my process, that would be insanely valuable.”

He also names the part that is genuinely hard to solve alone:

“The things that I felt like were a risk, I would have no idea how to mitigate.”

For someone expecting a layoff on a single income with five dependants, months are the whole currency. Shortening the search was worth more than the fee, before any consideration of the eventual title or compensation.

The search in numbers

• Interviews at 21 companies alongside the offer he took
• VP of Product at Pantheon, in 4 months
• Level: VP. Function: Product