TCW #028 | A guide to tech job searching in a soft talent market in the post-ZIRP world (2023-2024 and beyond)

Post-ZIRP is an employer's job market like we've never seen. With zero inbounds, a flood of talent competing for only a handful of roles, it can feel bleak. Learn what's working right now.

Hey, it’s 📣 Coach Erika! Welcome to a 🔒 subscriber-only edition🔒 of The Career Whispers. Each week I tackle reader questions about tech careers: how to get one, how to navigate them, and how to grow and thrive in your role.

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1. TCW #011: Debugging your resume 🔎 🐜

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3. TCW #016: How to Throw Green Flags, not Red Flags (in Job Interviews)🚦

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5. TCW #025: Helping your helicopter manager let go (of their tight grip on your career) 🚁

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This week, we’ll discuss how to search for a job in the current (soft) tech job market.

If you’re job searching, you’ve probably noticed that the approaches that worked for the last decade aren’t working so well right now. Many of us got accustomed to the luxuries of the War for Talent in the ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) tech boom, including:

• lots of inbound outreach from recruiters 💌

• tons of roles posted 📌

• fast interview processes ⏩ and little take-home work

• employers willing to take risks and hire even if you’re missing a qualification (or two!) 🏆

• generous compensation offers 🤑

Even if you’re not job searching, you’ve probably noticed fewer LinkedIn Inmails coming at you with job opportunities. If you are job searching, you’ve definitely noticed the core signs of a soft job market:

• fewer jobs posted 📭

• employers taking fewer risks (only interviewing candidates who have all the qualifications for the roles) 😟

• more competition for roles (forcing you to consider lower titles and comp) 👯‍♂️

• longer interview processes (and s-l-o-w response times) 🐢

• more work (application essays, work samples, take-home assignments) 🏋️‍♀️

• lower offer compensation 📉

Today I’ll share a pragmatic guide with tips that are working right now. I hope this will give you a leg up while job searching in the post-ZIRP world (2023-?).

Let’s dive in.

War for Talent vs Soft Market

First, let’s talk about the signs and symptoms of a soft “employer’s” job market, vis a vis the War for Talent job market all of us have enjoyed for almost 10 years:

War for Talent market signals

• Employer risk appetite: high (willing to take a chance on career pivoters and people missing a qualification, or two)

• Open roles: many

• Role competition: low (not a lot of talent on the market)

• Interview speed: fast (often less than 1 month)

• Candidate effort: low

• Employer effort: high (more wooing!)

• Recruiter/HR/HM responsiveness: high (less than a day or two between communications)

• Opening offer: high (trying to seal the deal fast)

War for Talent candidate strategies

• Wait for recruiter inbounds (and submit few outbound applications)

• Upward apply (to roles with bigger titles than your current title, or moving into management roles if you’re currently an IC)

• Pivot and/or diagonal apply (try out new roles, go for your first management job, or try to diagonal apply to a higher role on a different job track)

• Flirt with many options (role levels, titles), perhaps interview just to gauge your “market value” with no intention of taking a new role

• Broker a competitive offer to move the interview processes along faster (and avoid homework or extra interviews) and maximize offer compensation

Soft market signals

• Employer risk appetite: low (looking for candidates with 90%+ role qualifications)

• Open roles: few

• Role competition: high (lots of qualified talent on the market)

• Interview speed: slow (often 2-4 months end to end)

• Candidate effort: high (extra screening questions, more or earlier take-home assignments for candidates)

• Employer effort: low

Employers will often add more interviews and more screening assessments in a soft market.

The number of screening questions and “short answer” questions increases in a soft market, as employers need to find signal in the candidate pool, as 4X-10X more candidates apply to open roles.

• Recruiter/HR/HM responsiveness: slow (a week or more between contacts)

• Opening offer: lower (they know you probably don’t have a competitive offer)

Soft market candidate strategies

Now that we’re on the same page about what the soft market looks and feels like, I’ll share tactics you can use to evolve and adapt to its challenges:

• Design a “niche of one” job search

• Cater your resume to each role you’re applying for (efficiently)

• Self-source your top of funnel (even without inbound opportunities)

• Network in a busy, connected world

• Establish yourself as an early front-runner

• Corral stakeholders for interview speediness (without sounding desperate)

• Own your power in offer negotiations (even though you really need a job)

I’ll dive into each of these strategies below and offer actionable tactics you can start using today.