Summary: Stop Questioning Yourself Once You Decide Something is right for you
Congratulations on clicking on the first alumni interview for Fall GCC 2021! We invited Kevin Zhang (Class of 2022), the 2019-2021 president of Vanderbilt GCC, to join us for this episode of the alumni talk series. Kevin is a CS and Political Science double major with an interest in product management, entrepreneurship, and education equality. He currently works as a Product Manager at LinkedIn and has developed several apps during his high school and college. In this interview, he will be sharing with us his PM career and job hunting advice.
Can you tell us about your recent internship experience? Why are you interested in Product Management, and what do Product Managers do?
I worked as a Product Management Intern at LinkedIn during the summer, and I am currently working on a project that helps users detect and prevent money scams in messaging.
In my opinion, PMs are coordinators of projects. After getting the problem statements, they are responsible for devising plans of action, coordinating teams of engineers, designers, and researchers, and talking to legal counsels to get approvals to effectively carry out the plans. So essentially, PM needs to be accustomed to the product backgrounds and have the ability to communicate extensively with different people—I usually have back-to-back meetings on a daily basis, and typically I would spend half of the day in meetings rooms.
I am a CS and Political Science major, and I think these two majors are perfectly related to my understanding of PM. As the intersection of technology, business, people, and design, PM not only utilizes my technical background but also my interpersonal skills and creative problem-solving abilities. This is why I think PM is my “sweet spot”. Another reason for me to be particularly interested in PM is that I have always been looking forward to becoming an entrepreneur and having my own startup in the future, and PM seems like a solid step towards my goal.
You mentioned that you are very interested in entrepreneurship and that PM can be good preparation for it. So can you share with us about your entrepreneurship experience?
I've always been interested in entrepreneurship. I had my first attempt in high school when I developed an app called "Run for Meal". I went to a big public high school in Qingdao where thousands of students would rush to the cafeteria to eat during the lunch break, and after running there, they would wait in line for a long time and disappointedly find out that all the “good food” was sold out by then. I hated my high school dining experience, so I decided to develop this app, which is actually pretty similar to the GET APP we have here at Vanderbilt, to allow students to order food in advance, pick up the food at a specific time, and save themselves from the hassle of waiting in long lines.
Through this experience, I realized that product development is a very interesting process. So last year when the pandemic hit, knowing that it was hard for freshmen to connect with others and make friends during the pandemic, I made an app called Ripple with my friends. With Ripple, offline social interactions can take place online—users can look at others’ school-related profiles, including classes and clubs, thus making friends and building connections. After accumulating about four hundred users, we had to stop because all of us were busy looking for jobs; but still, that was a very challenging and rewarding experience, and I learnt a lot from it.
What obstacles have you encountered while looking for jobs?
I did experience a lot of difficulties throughout my job application process. I started looking for jobs in August of my junior year, but the reality hit me hard. Despite a large number of candidates, PM positions are rare; a company would only hire 4 people but it might receive over 4,000 resumes. Because of this disproportionate demand and supply ratio, the vast majority of my applications were not replied at all. Meanwhile, I also applied for some positions in the consulting industry but didn't get anything out of it either.
I recall my first big PM interview in October 2020. I was devastated when I got rejected, and I couldn’t help but keep thinking if I was right for this job and if I was good enough. I used this opportunity to talk to different people about their real experience working as PM and whether they enjoy the job or not, just to determine if I was suitable for PM, and my conclusion was that PM is the right job for me.
After going through the whole job application season and looking back at how far I have come so far, I realized that even if sometimes you fail, you should just stop doubting yourself once you decide something is right for you. Just pull yourself together, work hard towards your goal, and try your best to land an offer.
(Kevin shared on his website his job hunting experience, recruiting tips, and recommended resources. Check it out if you are interested! bit.ly/pmkevin)
Is there any advice for students who are looking for jobs?
First, find a group of friends who are doing this with you. Because of the long time span of the recruiting process, it is common for people to lose confidence. If you have a support network with whom you can work together, you will feel more motivated and positive.
Second, sit down and figure out what you really want. Do your research and talk to people to really understand what kinds of jobs fit you the best.
What should freshmen do if they are still figuring out their future directions?
When I was a freshman, I had no idea about what I wanted for my future. To me, the most helpful thing to do was to talk to people from different walks of life about their internship experience. Chatting can be a good indicator that shows if you fit an industry because the people you talk with can be the ones who you will be working with in the future, so if you don't enjoy talking to them, then you’re definitely not going to enjoy working with them.
Another piece of advice is to do whatever you are interested in, even if that is something not necessarily related to your future career. In recent years, competition seems to get more and more intense, as if you need to start doing internships in high school. However, there is no need to fret during freshman year because based on my experience, most companies don't expect you to have relevant professional experience when you are applying for internships in sophomore or junior year. One would benefit the most by doing things he or she really enjoys, so just do whatever you like, and later on, you will benefit from the transferable skills you pick up along the way.
What does GCC mean to you? Is there anything you want to share with other GCC members?
I think GCC is doing particularly meaningful things by breaking through information barriers and presenting different views. Sometimes it can be hard to discuss China-related issues in the U.S. because most people have very clear stances—they are not open to discussion, they rarely pay attention to what is going on around them, and they don’t even bother to listen to others’ opinions.
GCC is a platform that allows everyone to share and exchange different points of view. GCC's Forums and Speaker Series always encourage people to be more open-minded about others’ perspectives and try to learn more about what is actually happening in society.
Hope everyone can join us at GCC’s future events!
Interviewer ｜ Fan Bu
Translater ｜ Sandy Wang
Guest of this issue ｜ Kevin Zhang
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