The market is overcrowded, AI is everywhere, and job postings can receive hundreds of candidates within hours. I am not a career coach or consultant — just someone who survived the search and found a job. Hopefully, these lessons will save you time, energy, and nerves.
Your unfair market advantage
I am a Product Manager with eight years of experience and six years as a full-stack developer before that. My advantages were experience in fintech and B2B, time in both scaleups and enterprise, technical depth, seniority, and genuine interest in AI.
But I also had gaps. I was still an individual contributor, had limited B2C and mobile experience, had a recent work history that could look chaotic, and did not yet have hands-on AI project experience. Some roles could see me as overqualified; others wanted someone with a different background.
That is why the first step is to assess both the market and your situation:
- Which companies will benefit from your profile, and why?
- How will you address the gaps between your experience and the role expectations?
- What makes you memorable in this market?
If you do not know the answers, you risk becoming just another candidate. Even after an interview, it can be difficult for a hiring manager to remember you.
Make your CV and LinkedIn profile work together
I will not give detailed CV advice here — there are people who do that much better. My advice about LinkedIn is simple: keep your profile clean, professional, and aligned with your CV. A half-empty profile does not create confidence.
Find an excellent profile belonging to someone with a similar role and use it as a reference. Your LinkedIn headline is not just a social-media status. It is an SEO line. Recruiters may or may not find you depending on how clearly you describe your expertise.
Think about recruiters and hiring managers when you build your profile. Know your customer.
Set a prioritisation framework
Imagine your dream job in detail. Is it B2B or B2C? A small company or an enterprise? What kind of work would make you happy? What salary is ideal, and what is the lowest you can accept? Do you want remote, hybrid, or office work?
Write down everything that matters. Even when you are desperate, your values are useful. They help you filter where to apply and decide which offer to accept.
Choose your game
Decide whether you will apply only to roles close to your current title or also to adjacent roles. Decide how much energy you want to invest in referrals, mass applications, and networking.
I applied for Product Manager roles, but also tried Portfolio Manager, Product Operations Manager, Group Product Manager, and even Head of Product roles. I prepared a tailored CV for each direction. In the end, I was hired as a Product Manager, but the wider search gave me more chances.
I did not use mass-application tools. I used regular ChatGPT to assist my process, but I did not let AI write every application for me. It is easy to spot generic AI text now, and a template can waste the opportunity to sound like a real person.
Level up the game
Alongside applying, I posted openly about my situation. I wanted to improve my chances and be creative instead of disappearing into the application queue.
My plan was simple:
- write catchy titles;
- be open about my situation;
- create enough attention for people to understand that I was looking.
More than 240,000 people learned that I was looking for a job. I received referrals, supportive messages, and opportunities. Some companies considered me for roles that were not even open yet.
The interviews that came through my content also felt different. People already had context about me and seemed more confident in who I was. Posting three times a day was demanding, so this approach is optional — but creativity can change the quality of a job search.
Get seen early
After three or four hours, a job posting can already have more than 100 applicants. Every day around 4–5pm, I filtered LinkedIn jobs to find postings less than 24 hours old. Often I became one of the first 20–30 applicants.
If you really want to work for a company and the posting already has many applicants, find the hiring manager. Applying alone may not be enough.
Track your applications
I am in the pro-tracking camp. Tracking gave me a sense of progression and helped me see whether my approach was improving. It also helped me remember the companies and conversations I was managing at the same time.
My structure was simple: Role — Company — Date — Interview stage. Do not track if tracking itself creates anxiety. The system should support you, not become another burden.
Cover letters are almost dead — but not completely
Many hiring managers never open cover letters because most of them say nothing specific. AI has made generic letters even more common.
Still, write one when the role is not a perfect match and you need to explain your motivation, when you genuinely want the job, or when you need to address a missing requirement. Keep it custom and direct. For most of my applications I did not include one, but one strong cover letter helped me get an interview for a role that was not a 100% match.
Keep your vibe high
When you show up for an interview, you need energy and motivation. I limited how much content I consumed about how horrible the market was. I already knew. Reading more about it did not help.
Companies are looking for future teammates, not just collections of skills. Stay positive without pretending everything is fine. Do the inner work you need to do, protect your attention, and choose carefully what you like and comment on. Your public activity also says something about you.
Prepare for interviews without overworking
You do not need to memorise every fact about a company. Understand the problems your profession solves, research whether the company has those problems, read the job description at least twice, and prepare questions.
I usually blocked 30 minutes before an interview: 20 minutes for research and 10 minutes to get water, paper, and myself ready. I joined two minutes early and repeated the research before each stage because memory is not as reliable as we think.
Do not spend days learning knowledge that may never be used. Prepare where it is useful, but be conscious about how much effort you invest.
How to stand out
If you know your worth, can talk openly about your weaknesses, can say “I don’t know,” have done your homework, understand the market, and show empathy, you are already ahead of many candidates.
The rest is chemistry. Sometimes you meet a great person and still know it is not the right match. Do not turn every rejection into a verdict about your value. Move on.
Ghosting and rejection
Rejection hurts differently depending on how much you wanted the job, whether you already had an offer, and how you felt about the hiring manager. The rejection itself is not always the real problem. Sometimes it triggers something deeper.
Apply, make a note, and move on. You are one rejection closer to the right opportunity — or at least one step closer to the story you will tell about how you changed direction.
Talk about being laid off openly
There is no reason to be ashamed. A simple explanation is enough:
“I’ve been laid off. It was not performance-related; the company is running a headcount optimisation programme. I learned a lot there, and I’m excited about my next opportunity.”
Layoffs happen. They are part of the current reality, not a personal failure.
Salary, tricky questions, and behavioural interviews
Know the market and your worth. Give a range from the lowest salary you can accept to the compensation you currently have, and explain that the final number depends on the complete package and role details.
Prepare safe but truthful answers for common questions such as “Where do you see yourself in five years?”, “What is your weakness?”, and “Tell me about yourself.” For behavioural questions, use the STAR structure: situation, task, action, result.
For “tell me about yourself,” connect your domains, company types, experience, and relevant achievements to the role. The first answer sets the tone for the whole interview.
Do not overwork yourself
Job searching can become a full-time job, but the process may last months. If you spend everything you have in the first few weeks, you will have less energy later.
I planned my days: content in the morning, applications in the afternoon, and interviews in between. I also prepared plans B, C, and F so the future felt less frightening. Know yourself, manage your energy, and stay healthy.
When to stop and when to negotiate
Do not withdraw from every other process just because one company makes a promise. Stop when you have signed the contract — not when someone says you will receive an offer.
When you receive an offer, negotiate it. The worst realistic outcome is often the same offer. If a company withdraws an offer because you asked a reasonable question, that is useful information about the company.
So what is different about the AI age?
Not every part of a job search is new. The most important difference is that time moves faster and the market is noisier. AI can help optimise applications, but it also makes applications look more alike and creates more competition.
You have to be more creative about how you search, more confident about what you bring, and more intentional about where you spend your energy. What worked two years ago may not work in the same way now.
Thanks for reading this far. I hope you find your dream job soon.
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