Meet the Career Experts – How to Manage Your Career in Times of Change

As busy product professionals, we sometimes struggle to focus on career development and manage the growth and progression of our own careers.  Career management during periods of high change and uncertainty also presents additional unique challenges.  The past couple of years have certainly presented more change and uncertainty than any year in recent memory. During this talk, we will learn about the shifting marketplace for PM skills, online profiles, virtual interviews, remote working, and other important market changes.  This illuminating event will feature an extended Question & Answer session.  Bring your career questions and let us help propel you towards your next great career opportunity!

About the Panelists

  • Albert Qian from Albert’s List – Albert is a technology marketing and talent acquisition professional. He is passionate about bringing attention to innovative technologies and standout professionals to generate revenue or job opportunities. He is the founder of Albert’s Job List and Referrals, with over 44K members on Facebook. He’s a 2010 graduate of Santa Clara University and a San Francisco Bay Area native.  www.linkedin.com/in/albertqian
  • Olga Ocon from Pliops – Olga is a marketing and social media savvy full cycle recruiter specializing in product management/ marketing – sales – g&a roles in high technology & venture capital. Her background includes recruiting roles at companies such as Tesla and Sandisk. Olga is dedicated to providing a positive candidate experience, has deep experience in helping candidates craft the right approach and resume for specific roles, enjoys juggling a variety of recruiting projects, and absolutely thrives under pressure. Olga is always searching for new recruiting tools and in the know regarding best ATS systems.  www.linkedin.com/in/olgaocon
  • Sandra Clark, LinkedIn Coach / Trainer – Sandra is an independent consultant who offers coaching services to help busy professionals build their online brand and showcase their expertise by creating great profiles on LinkedIn. Sandra started her career as a teacher and theatre director before moving into educational administration, working for the University of California system (both UC Berkeley Extension and UCSC Extension) providing corporate training to Silicon Valley for 25 years before starting her own company in 2010.  www.linkedin.com/in/sandraaclark 
  • Tom Brouchoud from Proofpoint – Tom has been working in the Talent Acquisition profession since before it was cool.  He started his recruiting career in the 1990s fetching coffee for computer animators at Pacific Data Images (PDI, the company that made the Shrek movies) while assisting with the hiring.  He originally wanted to be a computer animator, but fell in love with recruiting.  After PDI, he worked as a contract recruiter and landed at SanDisk where he worked for 13 years – eventually leading the entire Talent Acquisition function.  Since his days at SanDisk, he worked for EMC, Visa, Symantec, and now is proud to be leading strategic TA programs for Proofpoint.  He has led teams domestically (all over the US) and internationally (India, Singapore, Europe) and has worked in both consumer & enterprise organizations.  He enjoys hunting for top talent and has recruited for positions from intern through the C-suite.  He enjoys developing and growing strategic TA programs to engage, attract, and hire top talent.  On a personal note, he is a bit of a geek and enjoys role-playing and computer games.  He loves musicals (Broadway, off-Broadway, etc.), is a singer, and knows almost nothing about sports.  He has been married to his wife for over 20 years.  Together, they have 4 children (ages 7-17), a dog, 2 geriatric guinea pigs, and live in Emerald Hills, CA.  www.linkedin.com/in/tbrouchoud