These past few weeks I’ve gotten a lot of recruiting messages — careful notes, strong CVs, even a few 90-day plans. I read them, thank people, and still say it plainly: we’re hiring differently this season. After each reply I sit for a moment, not to get harder, but to ask what I’m protecting and who I’m inviting into this house.
Vietnam and US/EU
PATI runs DTC brands for US/EU. Claims, funnels, Meta, refunds, late-night calls — that’s its own field. Marketing experience in Vietnam is a real asset; I don’t dismiss it. It just doesn’t transfer to US/EU because a LinkedIn title looks strong. Not because people are weak — the context is different. Same craft, different rules and learning speed.
I’ve paid tuition for that gap myself, so I don’t look down on anyone. I just don’t want to pay twice: once in company cash, once in the time of someone who joins and only then realizes why everything feels off. Against the same Senior salary, I often compare hiring a proven agency in that market. The agency often wins on ROI and learning speed on the right field. That’s a spreadsheet — and it has to be honest if I want to keep my word to the team already inside.
Benchmark
In many places, Senior means Senior next door. I’m trying to benchmark against people who have actually done US/EU work — not to shrink anyone, but to stop lying to myself about readiness. With the same dollar I ask: am I paying someone who needs about 6–12 months to break even on this cross-border problem, or someone who already knows the work and learns faster on the right field? When cash and speed matter, I lean toward what’s proven, because I own that unit of economics for everyone in the house.
A “Senior in cross-border, not deep in US/EU yet” profile often spends the first 6–12 months in survival mode even going solo; a company hiring at that starting point pays similar tuition. That cost belongs in the model. Too often both sides forget, then both get tired. At PATI I’d rather leave a seat empty than lower the house standard to fill it — the same line on our Culture page: the team’s bar is not rewritten for one person.
The door that’s open
I’m not opening old-style Senior seats this season. I prefer Juniors — or near-Juniors — who already have direct US/EU experience, even in a small scope, then train inside PATI. Not because Juniors are easier to manage. For today’s problem, that starting point fits better: market context points the right way earlier, the offer fits a learning arc and AI stack more cleanly, and our AI environment is heavy enough that growth mindset and self-learning matter more than a title.
I believe in training, and in people who start small on the right field and grow with the system. That’s choosing a starting point that can win — close to high talent density: don’t hire to fill a hole; hire to raise the internal standard.
AI Fluency
This hits every level. Almost everyone who joins PATI gets overwhelmed by real AI Fluency in daily work, including people who call themselves AI-obsessed. Not “I can chat” — fluency means AI as habit on live work: brief, research, draft, QA, packaging process. AI does the manual layer; people keep strategy, learning discipline, and steady hands.
Seniors still scramble after a month. I see it often. I get it. I don’t expect mastery on day one. I need two things: willing to say “I don’t have this yet,” then ask in the right place; and self-learning — not waiting for a lead to walk every step. If PATI feels hard, part of that may be fair; the rest is me keeping the bar high enough that the team doesn’t fall behind market speed, while learning how to hold that bar without making people feel small for no reason. Overwhelm plus staying curious is the signal you can grow here.
Apply
I’m packaging hiring like our other systems: same treatment for every applicant, no skipping the line because you know someone, no DM instead of apply. Front door: patigroup.com/careers
We’re splitting work smaller — CRO owns website / landing / funnel; media buying mostly runs through the app stack. Open seats have JDs on Careers; closed means closed. PATI works in Saigon, not Hanoi. Wrong city means wrong life rhythm and US night calls; better to say it early so nobody wastes time.
Close
This is not a speech that “Seniors are obsolete.” For PATI right now, Vietnam Seniors without US/EU fit often lose on unit economics versus a proven agency, or versus Juniors who already have US/EU experience and can scale. Everyone who joins hits AI Fluency — I empathize if growth mindset and self-learning stay. I still respect tenure; I’m trying not to pay the wrong price for a mismatch.
If this still fits — not because it’s easy, because it’s the right direction — apply through the front door. We review by process, not by the mood of one message. I still read. I still remember the people who spoke honestly.
Thanks for caring, and for letting me be direct.
P/S. Thinking before title.
P/S. If AI overwhelms you somewhere else: maybe you’re not weak — maybe you haven’t been somewhere that forces fluency into habit. PATI is trying to build that place, unfinished but real. More here: patigroup.com/culture