The Small Market Recruiting Strategy

To find a PM job in a specific niche or geo, with only a few companies to work for, your strategy needs a departure from the large market job application approach.

In job searching, there are two ends of the spectrum:

1. On one end, you have the broad, open-ended search. You’re applying to every job you’re qualified for, there’s lots of opportunity, and the name of the game is volume + quality.

2. On the other end, you have the focused search. You’re hitting the ground with networking into a small number of target companies.

In my conversations with job seekers every day, I’ve found that there’s very little knowledge and know-how on how to conduct the small market job search.

Everybody understands the large market strategy, and tries to bring that to small markets. But, it just doesn’t work.

So, today, we’re going to help you job search when the opportunities are slim.

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Today’s Post

Words: 6,874 | Est. Reading Time: 31 mins

1. The basics of the small market search

2. Top 7 misconceptions about the small market search

3. Step-by-step: everything to do to break into small markets

4. First principles for small market job seekers

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1. The basics of the small market search

1.1 When to small market job search

I’ve recently found myself recommending the small market job search for the following 5 types of people:

1. Living in a smaller geography

   If you live in a second- or third-tier city (e.g., not SF/ Seattle/ Bangalore/ Gurgaon/ Berlin/ Dublin).

2. Making a big jump

   If you’re going from a career in big tech to a small startup, or if you’re going from FinTech to gaming.

3. Aspiring PM

   If you don’t have any professional PM experience but want to break into PM.

4. Job switcher

   If you are moving into PM from another career like marketing, engineering, or analytics.

5. Narrow ICP

   If you personally have a small set of companies that you want to work for (eg, FAANG).

In these scenarios, a targeted approach is not just beneficial—it's essential. There just aren’t enough open job postings. And you certainly cannot waste those that do appear with pedestrian preparation.

1.2 Why listen to me

When my wife got a job at Duke University, I knew I was moving from a decade-long career in the Bay Area to Durham, North Carolina.

I literally knew 0 companies in the area. After researching, I found two companies I had heard of before: Epic Games and Red Hat.

On researching more, I learned that Red Hat paid way below what I was looking for. As a result, there was literally a single company I knew of and wanted to work at.

Eventually, I worked at that exact company. Since then, I’ve helped numerous people implement this exact strategy.

In fact, over the past 2 months, I helped 3 PMs land jobs using this strategy.

1.3 What is the small market recruiting strategy

Let’s start with what the small market recruiting strategy is not. Your typical large market recruiting strategy is 4 steps:

1. It starts with jobs.

   You find open roles that you’re qualified for.

2. Then you devise a way into the interview.

   Then you get a referral, send a work product, and customize your resume & cover letter.

3. If you get into the interview, you practice like mad.

   Your research really begins once you get into the interview.

4. If you don’t get the interview, you leave the company behind.

   It’s all about moving on to the next open job, of which there are plenty.

The small market recruiting strategy totally different, and flips some of the steps:

1. It starts with companies.

   Instead of starting with jobs, you identify the companies that you would want to work at in your market.

2. Then you learn an abnormal amount about them.

   Instead of cramming after getting the interview, you learn well before outreach even starts.

3. Leverage connections into the company.

   You work your way into people who know the company with old-fashioned networking.

4. You interview with a bunch of insight.

   This is about not coming across desperate, but someone who could hit the ground running from day one.

5. You keep trying if you don’t pass.

   This is the key with this strategy. A single run through the process is nothing. You don’t give up.

Just to illustrate the importance of that last step:

I went through 4 separate processes at Epic before getting the job.

Perseverance is the name of the game. But that’s not the only difference.

Let’s get into the nitty gritty. This is complete with a full Notion operating system to conduct your search.