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The Thaw Protocol — PM Hiring Surged 12% | The Jobs That Came Back Aren't the Jobs That Left.
Product management hiring jumped 12% last month. Leadership roles climbed 17% year-over-year. Looks like a recovery — until you read the fine print.
It's not a recovery. It's a reclassification.
In this episode, we unpack what the February 2026 hiring data actually means — and why most candidates are still preparing for roles that quietly flatlined. We walk through a real hiring story: 40 interviews for one PM seat at a Pune robotics startup, where 36 polished candidates missed the mark and one woman with a marker and a whiteboard cut the design cycle by 30%.
We break down The Thaw Protocol —…
The skinny
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