If you are an experienced professional changing role, industry or country, you can be a strong candidate and still look like a risky or unclear fit in a quick resume/CV scan. The context that makes your move sensible gets filtered out before you have a chance to explain it.
Until 14 August 2026, I am opening 20 no-charge places for a 25-minute Hiring-Side Read. That is my name for a manual, one-to-one call with me, Jeff McClelland, to look at how your background and intended move land from the employer’s side.
The call is separate from PivotDesk, the job-search software I am building, and is not a standard product feature. I do the review myself rather than generating an automated report.
I will tell you what looks strongest and where a hiring team is likely to hesitate. We will use that read to find at least one practical move you can test in your job search that week.
A.K.’s story
A.K. (initials only because he is still employed) works in enterprise sales and wants to move into product management. He had applied to dozens of product roles and heard almost nothing back beyond the standard rejection: “We’ve decided to move forward with candidates whose experience more closely matches our needs.”
On paper, he looked risky to interview and unqualified for the role. Five minutes into our conversation, my reaction was:
Ah, he has real product sense on top of his commercial experience. That is a powerful combination.
He understood what customers wanted and how they spoke about their problems. He could also spot who would make a good tester. Those were signs of product sense, but his resume/CV was not making them visible.
The useful move was to lead with that commercial and product combination instead of expecting a hiring team to discover it for themselves.
What I will look at
Hiring teams make quick decisions when they are working through hundreds of applications. During a fast screen, your resume/CV can land as an obvious fit, too senior, unqualified, or interesting but risky.
I will give you my first read of your move, then slow it down and explain the signals behind it. Together, we will identify the evidence that deserves more weight and the doubt you need to address before a hiring team has to guess.
Why my read is worth hearing
I have hired around 200 people and sat on the hiring side of well over a thousand interviews. That experience includes hiring at Skype and Wise, then co-founding Salv, where my co-founders and I interviewed every hire.
I have also reviewed several thousand resumes/CVs across engineering, product, data, sales, marketing, legal, operations, HR and leadership. That volume lets me explain what drives the first impression instead of leaving you with another generic rejection.
Who this is for
The review will be most useful for experienced professionals moving to a new country or industry, changing roles, running a senior or specialised search, or carrying a career story that gets flattened on paper.
What I ask in return
I launched PivotDesk three weeks ago, and people aren’t buying yet. I need to understand why.
During the final five to ten minutes of the 25-minute call, I will ask for blunt feedback on PivotDesk. It is a relationship-led job-search system that helps people choose target companies and contacts, run thoughtful outreach and manage follow-ups instead of relying only on applications.
I want your honest reaction, especially any confusion, lack of appeal or reason you would hesitate to trust it. The hiring-side review will stay focused on your situation, and I will not turn it into a sales call.
Places and deadline
There are 20 places, and applications close on 14 August 2026. I cannot offer a call to everyone, so I will prioritise the people whose situations I can genuinely help with.
If you have a job search challenge you want my hiring-side read on, and you are willing to give honest feedback on PivotDesk at the end, email [email protected].