Wondering whether your job is “in demand” in today’s market
Check out who’s flavor of the month below!
It continues to be a funny old time in the consumer startup world. The latest quirk that I’ve noticed is that there seems to be some job types that are currently “in”, and others which are not exactly the flavor of the month.
We all know today’s job market is more like the Hunger Games than anything else, but listings of certain job types are becoming increasingly rare sightings. This might leave some folks feeling like the coal miners of yesteryear - undervalued and then phased into redundancy in a bottom-line focused economy that has moved beyond their skill set.
But do not despair, the market is like an accordion, expanding and contracting periodically. Sure, the feeling today is pretty claustrophobic, but the boundless plains of a more abundant time edges closer. Until then though, read on for my list of job types startups have locked away in the “This Isn’t High-Priority for Us Right Now” jail, and why. ***All definitely unimpeachably researched and 100% accurate…***
Literally any VP level job - hyper scale orgs are soooo 2010s. Flat business structures are totally back in vogue, baby! “Doers” only here, please.
Finance leaders - maybe we’ll recruit a Senior Manager (a Director at an absolute push), but only if we’re trying to sell the business pronto and get the hell outta here!
People & Culture pros - lol, that’s a “soft” area and a “luxury” for us. Sure, we needed you guys 4 years ago when our team’s anxieties were triggered by existential macro crises including a fractious upcoming US election, and geo-political unrest. But things are just so super-chill now so we’re good, right?
Talent Acquisition pros - I literally refuse to push the button on recruiting even a single person into our “high-growth” startup venture. So… what the hell would I even do with you??
Copywriters - yeah, we have ChatGPT. Not that you could immediately tell even from just a quick glance at our obviously soulless copy…
Consumer Insights - unless your insight includes That’s So Raven powers and tells us how we can sell a gazillion dollars of product yesterday, you’re playing chess and we’re simply just about managing to play chequers badly.
As for those lucky few who are in wanted roles right now - cough retail account management cough - don't stunt too hard on the rest of us!
On a serious note, if it does feel like your role has been decreed a redundancy, I assure you it’s super-temporary. Immediate market pressures are causing leaders to cut their nose to spite their face. And I literally empathize with having to make those calls - there just isn’t really any “right” way forward, only the one you commit to because you feel it is the least bad.
But when the accordion does expand again, ventures that managed to find a way to continue to powder their nose rather than cut it, will rise to the very top. Those who went the other way will be racing to catch up. Until things do open up again though, I broadly recommend hunkering down if you are in dependable work like this right now, and being open to creative or expedient solutions if you have slipped through the net.
***Some research was done! Breakdown below from 514 consumer startup jobs posted in the BU Job Board (accurate from publishing date):
1.5% of postings were VP roles
0.8% were senior finance directors & controller roles
0.8% were people roles
0.6% were talent acquisition roles
1.2% were in copy
0.8% were in consumer insights
BU Community Wins
Rebecca Prusinowski announced the launch of Kismet, the brand she’s been building in stealth with co-founders Chrissy Teigen and John Legend. Rebecca is a BU founding member, and we’re excited to see this venture take off!
Speaking of Kismet, belated congratulations to Janelle Kelly for joining as their Director of Social Media. BU recruited Janelle into the role a few months ago, and now we can finally give her flowers publicly!
Shout out to Megan De Vizio, who recently joined Julie Products as Head of Retail! She’s another BU recruit, and we’re looking forward to seeing them both achieve great things together.
BU founding member Isadora Sales recently announced she's joined VIAVIA as Director of Marketing. A huge congratulations from us. Limbo is also a cool project she recently launched too and definitely worth checking out!
The cat’s out of the bag - Ian Schafer announced the launch of Ensemble, a branded entertainment studio he and Issa Rae have built and co-founded. Big things ahead for another BU founding member!
Big love to Martha Upton, founder of Tita. She recently announced their expanded partnership with Free People and new partnership with Garage Clothing. Another BU member going from strength to strength!
What’s going on at BU
We hosted two IRL BU Sessions events last month. One featured selfmade founder Stephanie Lee and Dorsey founder Meg Strachan in conversation together in LA. The other featured Jonathan Jackson and Anna Duckworth in convo in NYC - they were co-founders at Blavity and Miss Grass respectively.
Both events were a vibe and showcased off-the-record discussions you just don’t get anywhere else, gorgeous gifts for attendees from our sponsors, and rooms full of wonderful humans. Big love to each of our featured guests, all BU founding members. More events like these are coming this summer so get in touch at hello@blackunicorn.com if you wanna be added to the list to hear more about those and BU membership.
Jobs
We have over 500 live job postings in the BU Job Board, all within consumer startups and scale ups, usually updated weekly on Wednesdays. Make sure to bookmark the link, and make it your first port of call to see which jobs are out there. Pay it forward and share the link with people you know who are looking for something new (especially those who are in between jobs), or folks who might just want to stay on top of what's being posted out there.
Check out our Featured Jobs, and reach out via hello@blackunicorn.com if you’d like an intro for any of those especially, or would like to learn more about posting a Featured Job you’re hiring for. New Featured Jobs to check out include:
Business Operations Manager, Advisor Experience and Training & Operations Associate at FORA Travel. 🏝️
Until next time, keep the same spiritual energy as the person below, especially if applying for jobs in NY where it’s a legal requirement for job ads to include salary ranges. ✌️
Cheers,
JT