Bijan Shahrokhi 
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With talks of a recession happening, news has emerged regarding big names in the tech industry implementing a hiring freeze. At the same time, some of these tech giants are considering and implementing layoffs in their organizations.
Weeks ago, Netflix has reportedly laid off 150 people in response to a slow revenue and a decline in the number of its subscribers. Other companies in the Fintech industry have also reportedly laid off employees since the beginning of May. For example, MainStreet, Doma, Klarna, and Paypal.
While the recession hasn’t arrived yet, it’s clear that major changes are happening in tech. Which brings us to the question, “Are tech companies still hiring product managers in 2023?”
Let’s Look at the Numbers
At the beginning of the year, we wrote about companies that are hiring the most product managers in 2023. In that article, we talk about booming industries during the pandemic like food delivery, web3, and DevOps hiring the largest number of product managers. With the rising inflation and everything gradually going back to normal, the same sectors could be inversely affected.
As an aspiring PM, you may be wondering if these changes will negatively affect your chances of starting your product management career.
Jamie Kohn, research director at Gartner’s HR practice, doesn’t seem to think so. She looks at the hiring freezes as “short-term pauses,” as companies take a step back and re-evaluate what they need for growth. In one of her interviews, she goes on to say:
“Outside the tech industry, the demand for tech roles is still pretty high. A lot of companies are still struggling to recruit the talent they need to support their growing tech needs. Tech workers are still going to have a lot of options on the job market, even if they’re not in major tech companies.”
To support Kohn’s statement, let’s take a look at both big and smaller companies that may still be hiring product managers in 2023:
Amazon
Although Amazon was reported to be overstaffed during the first quarter of the year, they’re still currently looking for management professionals. There are 5,501 openings for Project/Programme/Product Management Positions (Non-Tech).
Amazon is consistently looking for experienced Project Managers who know how to influence at all levels of the business, under the following categories:
- Corporate
- Remote
- Fulfillment center
- Customer service
- Student program
Apple
In late April of this year, Apple already informed some of its stores that it won’t be filling in Genius positions. Other than that, there are no reports of a hiring freeze or company layoffs yet.
So is Apple still hiring product managers? The answer is yes. Posted on the last day of May, Apple is currently looking for a Technical Product Manager and a Senior Product Manager. A quick look at the Careers at Apple page will tell you that the company has been consistently looking for PMs since the start of 2023.
Meta
Meta is one of the biggest companies to announce a hiring freeze. According to reports, the company’s engineering team will be the first to feel the impact of the decision. Meanwhile, the management is continually adjusting its hiring activity in other areas. Regardless, Meta is still actively looking for Product Managers across its different brands. Some of the types of PMs Meta is looking for are:
- Integrity Product Manager
- Growth Product Manager
- Ad Product Manager
- So on…
You can check out some PM openings on Meta here.
Google is another tech giant that’s currently not implementing a hiring freeze or layoff. The company has just updated its hiring process, based on a report by Insider, to keep its edge when scouting for talent. The changes will be applied globally to tech roles which could include product managers.
Recently, there are only two PM openings when you visit Google Careers:
The number of openings is not significant compared to other companies on this list but reports show that the number of employees increased from 4.4% in 2021 to a little over 5% in 2022.
Now, let’s take a look at the need for PMs in a more general way by checking the listings found on popular sites and job boards:
Based on the number of Product Management openings on LinkedIn in the United States alone, there doesn’t seem to be any hiring pauses for PMs. Within 24 hours of writing this article, there are 15,449 openings for PMs on the professional social networking site.
Even big names in the tech industry are also looking for viable product managers to join their teams – Google, Airbnb, and TikTok to name a few.
Indeed
Indeed is one of the most popular job boards online with a unique visitor count of about 250M every month. Currently, there are 46,092 job listings for product managers from several companies including notable ones: Pinterest, TikTik, Uber, Intel, and so on. Upon writing this article, 1,511 were made in the last 24 hours.
Glassdoor
On Glassdoor, a platform similar to Indeed, there are currently about 7,684 listings that are hiring product managers in the United States in the last month. There’s a good mix of opportunities available, from remote to full-time.
AngelList
Lastly, we have AneglList which is a community that specializes in remote and local technical talent and opportunities for startups. At the moment, it has about 938 openings for product managers.
The number on this platform isn’t as significant as the number of listings on other platforms but it shows that even startups are looking for PMs despite talks of a recession.
Summary
Although some big companies are undergoing major shifts, product manager seems to still be an in-demand job position based on the number of openings from the different platforms listed above.
Companies are still hiring product managers in 2023 because PMs are creatures of efficiency. More than ever, with the apparent dive of the economy, it’s crucial to develop innovative and efficient practices, and prioritize customers’ needs – all of which a PM can help with.
It is a job seeker’s market right now, so apply for that product management job you’ve been eyeing. Make hay while the sun shines because as soon as the recession hits, the situation can change quickly.
To secure your new job, you need to prepare for possible product manager interview questions. We at Product Management Exercises are here to help you land your dream product manager job. Get started with our PM interview course and follow that up with mock interviews and one-on-one private coaching.
