How to Get Interviews

The Tech Hiring Market Has Completely Turned

*Updated May 9, 2024*

It's a tough market out there for job seekers.

I talked to a hiring manager today who said they got 100 applicants for a Principal PM position in the first day.

And many of the candidates looked qualified.This person works at a venture-backed startup you probably haven't heard of.

And she said it was across every function:

• Product management

• Engineering

• Marketing

This trend is translating into the applicant experience.

I was chatting with different PM with 8 years of experience earlier this week who had this to say about his experience job searching after leaving his last job 2.5 months ago:

• Over 150 apps, 2 Interviews from those

• 2 inbound processes

• 2 final rounds

• 0 offers

This is a professional who never had a career break. In fact, in his last job search three years ago, these were his stats:

• 8 apps, 2 interviews from those

• 3 inbound processes

• 3 final rounds

• 2 offers

So the world has totally turned upside down for him.

And his experience is really common.

What’s driving it?

1. Employer Side: Supply is Down

When I Tweeted in September 2022, there were 426,104 jobs worldwide open on LinkedIn for the search product manager. When I checked in April 2023, there were 296,264. Today, there are 40,595.

That means jobs are less than 10% of what they were 1.75 years ago. That's an insane drop in demand for product managers. Now, part of it may have to do with changes in LinkedIn. But, overall, the data is worrying.

2. Employee Side: Demand is Up

I think most people don't realize this, but layoffs spiked again the last few months. Quite badly. This data from The Challenger looks at all US job cuts. You can see they reached near last year's levels.

The result is basic supply and demand. With supply down and demand up, the qualified applicants per job has gone up dramatically.

And this has kept the job market very tough for job seekers.

You Need a Strategy to Compete in this Market

Back to the product manager who wasn’t getting interviewed. After he messaged me, I knew I had to spill to him the formula for how to get interviews.

The results are almost too good to be true. He applied to 4 jobs, and he got interviews at all 4 of them. Now, he’s spending all day preparing for and taking interviews, instead of applying.

Many of you readers have also reached out to me that you have been recently laid off or are job searching. Even if you have a job, knowing how to land interviews is a crucial life skill.

So, I’m here to share the exact steps that I shared with my friend to get you interviews.

This special edition of Product Growth is for paid subscribers only.