Product management coach Shobhit Chugh says long job searches are eroding candidate confidence

Half of Tech Job Postings May Not Be Real. Product Managers Are Blaming Themselves Anyway

BOSTON, MA, UNITED STATES, October 6, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A product manager applies to sixty roles over five months. Two-thirds produce no response at all. By month six, the conclusion is obvious and wrong.

Analysis published in the Columbia Law Review found the ratio of hires to job postings has halved since 2019, falling from roughly eight hires per ten postings to four. In information and technology, the analysis put the share of postings that were effectively not being filled at around 48%.

Separate industry surveys have found the practice is widespread. A LiveCareer survey of 918 human resources professionals found 93% said their employer posts roles it does not intend to fill soon, with 45% describing it as a regular practice.

Shobhit Chugh, a former Google product manager who coaches product managers through career transitions, said the numbers matter less than what candidates conclude from them.

"Nobody in this position blames the market," Chugh said. "They apply to sixty things, hear nothing, and decide the problem is them. That conclusion does more damage than the unemployment does."

Job seekers report submitting an average of 62.6 applications and spending roughly 44 minutes on each, according to survey data published this year. That amounts to more than a full working week spent on applications alone. Greenhouse's candidate research found 72% of job seekers say the process harms their mental health.

Chugh said the damage compounds because it is invisible.

"A senior PM who has shipped serious products starts second-guessing whether they can do the job at all," he said. "Then they walk into an interview carrying that, and the interviewer feels it without being able to name it."

He said the practical shift is away from volume.

"The application is the least effective thing you can do and it feels like the most productive," Chugh said. "It has a button. It gives you a number that goes up. Meanwhile the roles that get filled are filled through people."

The tech market itself is not empty. Layoffs have declined from their 2023 peak, and product manager postings worldwide were reported up 12% in early 2026, the highest level in three years. But overall tech hiring remains below pre-pandemic levels, and displaced workers are competing against each other for a narrower set of real openings.

Chugh said the timeline pressure varies enormously between candidates.

"An average search is running around six months. Some people can absorb that. Somebody whose visa status depends on employment cannot," he said. "The advice you give those two people should not be the same, and usually it is."

He said the first thing he asks a client is rarely about their resume.

"I ask what they've stopped doing," Chugh said. "Almost always the answer is talking to people, because talking to people while you feel like a failure is unbearable. That's the thing that actually needed to keep happening."

Chugh spent his career in product roles at Google, Lattice Engines and Tamr before founding Intentional Product Manager, and hosts a podcast interviewing product leaders.

For more information visit: www.intentionalproductmanager.com

Shobhit Chugh
Intentional Product Manager
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