#117: Career | When to Make a Move, Negotiating Offers, and Working with Recruiters (with Kelly Gordon and Matthew Kanter from Creative People)

Kelly Gordon and Matthew Kanter are marketing recruiters at Creative People and join Dave to share some insider strategies to help you land your next marketing job and make your next big career move.Creative People is a recruiting firm specializing in the Series A to Series D world and Matthew and Kelly bring in-depth knowledge of roles in B2B SaaS and marketing leadership. This conversation dives into advice on how to navigate the job search, understand your worth in the market, and effectively advocate for yourself during the hiring process. Topics include using LinkedIn for personal branding, negotiating job offers, researching compensation, and how (and why) to look without looking.Matthew and Kelly share insights on the nuances of recruiting, the importance of building personal connections, and how recruiters should approach hiring for roles that might be new to an organization. Throughout the discussion, they stress the importance of being proactive about career development, being honest about one's own job preferences, and how to ensure a potential employer's values align with one's own.Timestamps:00:00 Maximizing Your Career Potential.05:20 Navigating Career Transitions.09:08 Smart Career Moves: Assessing Company Fit & Interviews.11:24 Interviewing Insights: Evaluating Company Fit & Ideal Timelines.14:23  Importance of Efficient Hiring Process for Role Success.18:26 Candidates must embrace ambiguity and self-sufficiency.21:36 Emphasizing relationship building in career advancement.26:58 Career Focus and Motivation on LinkedIn.29:44 The importance of honest self-assessment for job seekers.31:05 Navigating Compensation Negotiations.35:52 Importance of honesty and negotiation in job offers.38:55 Importance of Effective Outreach in Job Recruitment.40:51 Connect with Matt and Kelly on LinkedIn. Send guest pitches and ideas to [email protected] the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterCheck out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership***Today’s episode is brought to you by Grammarly.Ever have one of those weeks where you spent more time replying to Slack and email than doing actual marketing work?You’re not alone. The average marketing team spends 28+ hours a week just keeping up with comms.That leads to burnout, frustration, and a whole lot of performative productivity that doesn’t actually move the needle.AI-fluent marketing teams are changing that. Grammarly’s 2025 Productivity Shift Report shows how they’re using AI to:– Cut down on back-and-forth– Automate content, research, and reporting– Eliminate busywork– Make space for strategyWe’re marketers because we love crafting campaigns, driving revenue, and proving impact – not spending all day buried in messages.Get the report and see how top teams are making AI actually useful.Visit go.grammarly.com/exitfive to grab it.***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more