Two Types of Senior Tech Leaders in This Market
One type is complaining about how bad the job market has become. The other is landing roles while everyone else is still refreshing job boards. Here are the four things that separate them — none of them magic.
There are two types of senior tech leaders in the market right now.
- Leaders who are complaining about how bad the job market has become.
- Leaders who are landing roles while everyone else is still refreshing job boards.
I have been coaching senior tech leaders through job searches for years now, and the pattern is remarkably consistent.
The people who stall are not less qualified. They are often more experienced than the people who land faster.
The difference comes down to a few things that sound simple but almost nobody does well.
How they talk about their work
- → The ones who stall talk about what they built.
- → The ones who land talk about why they built it, what they chose not to build, and what the outcome meant for the business. They frame decisions and trade-offs, not project summaries.
How they network
- → The ones who stall blast connection requests and wait for recruiters to find them.
- → The ones who land push out of their comfort zone, making new connections and reconnecting with past colleagues.
- → They don’t just target people who can directly hire them. They network broadly — because you never know where the right opportunity will actually come from.
How they interview
- → The ones who stall treat interviews like a recap of their career.
- → The ones who land treat interviews as a completely different skill from doing the job.
- → They practice how they frame impact, and they know that a strong senior interview answer is about showing judgment, not just competence.
How they leverage AI
- → The ones who stall ignore it or treat it as a threat.
- → The ones who land are actively upskilling to prove they are ahead of the curve, not playing catch-up.
- → They use AI strategically to stand out from the pack and play the numbers game at the same time, without sacrificing quality.
None of this is magic
None of this requires a better resume or being a different person. It requires treating your job search with the same strategic thinking you would bring to any high-stakes business problem.
The market is hard right now. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But hard and impossible are not the same thing. The leaders who approach this with structure and intention are still landing strong roles. I see it every week.
P.S. If you’re a senior engineering or product leader and your search has been slower than you expected, contact me or book a discovery call. Sometimes the smallest shift in how you position yourself changes everything.
