TPM Job Search: Top-of-Funnel Tactics to Get More Interviews

What is Top of Funnel in a TPM Job Search?

Top of funnel is the set of actions that determine whether recruiters notice you at all. For a TPM, this includes:

• Whether recruiters can find your LinkedIn profile

• Whether your resume ranks in ATS searches

• How quickly you apply after a role is posted

• How consistently you network and follow up

At this stage, the goal isn’t to convince anyone to hire you. It’s simply to get on their radar.

Think about a funnel, like the one you’d use to pour soda into a bottle. At the top, it’s wide, and lots of liquid goes in. At the bottom, it narrows, so only some of it makes it through. “Top of funnel” is the first stage of getting people interested in something, like a new video game, app, or even a YouTuber’s channel. At this stage, tons of people see an ad, a trailer, or a post. Not all of them will stick around to watch the entire thing or click on the link. The goal is just to catch attention and get as many people as possible to enter the funnel.

Later stages of the funnel (middle and bottom) are about keeping people engaged and eventually convincing them to buy, subscribe, or take action. The “top of funnel” is simply about awareness and getting on people’s radar in the first place. Especially today, where any job posting gets hundreds of applications within a few hours.

Why do TPMs struggle to get interview calls?

Top of funnel is a numbers game. Even well-qualified TPMs typically see:

• 10–20% of applications convert to recruiter screens

• 5–15% reply rates on cold outreach

That means landing 5 recruiter calls often requires 25–50 targeted applications and messages. Without consistent volume and tracking, it’s easy to stall before you hit meaningful traction. 

Without consistent volume, tracking, and iteration, most candidates stall before they ever gain momentum. This guide lays out a simple operating plan to increase interview calls and recruiter visibility. If you’re getting interviews but not offers, that’s a different problem. Let’s focus on getting your foot in the door.

 If you are receiving calls but aren’t able to convert them into offers, that’s a topic for another post. Reach out to me on LinkedIn, and we can explore where you are getting stuck. 

The TPM Top-of-Funnel Framework

Successful TPM job searches consistently do five things well:

1. Visibility – recruiters can easily discover you

2. Searchability – your resume and LinkedIn rank in ATS and keyword searches

3. Timing – you apply early, not late

4. Volume – you maintain steady, intentional outreach

5. Tracking – you treat the search like a program, not guesswork

The sections below break down how to execute each of these in practice.

How to Increase Visibility for TPMs ?

TPM is a crowded title and many resumes look similar even when the experience is vastly different. A strong social profile matters for TPMs because it builds credibility, expands influence, and opens doors. It shows how you drive impact across teams, helps you stand out by highlighting your voice, your projects, and the unique way you drive programs. This makes it easier for leaders, recruiters, and peers to trust and engage with you. It is both your reputation and your amplifier. Stay with the times and invest time in building it out with these few simple steps.

How should TPMs optimize LinkedIn for recruiter discovery?

Recruiters search LinkedIn before they read resumes. If your profile isn’t optimized, you won’t show up. Use these tips:

• Headline: Go beyond your title and include context. Use keywords like “Cloud TPM | Infra & AI Programs | Ex-Amazon”. The most important thing here is to clearly articulate what you specialize in and publicize it. If you have worked at a brand/company that holds weight, show it off. It helps your profile rank in the keyword search.
• About Section: Make it keyword-rich and focused on scope & impact. Mention programs, led, scale, and outcomes.
• Skills & Endorsements: Add TPM-relevant skills like Program Management, System Design, Stakeholder Management, AI/ML.
• Recommendations: Ask and get a few solid Linkedin recommendations from your colleagues for your most recent roles that are relevant to the title and level that you are aiming for. Former colleagues or those who have recognized your contributions in the past are best bets. If you do not want to share that you are hunting for a new job, ask former colleagues or 1-2 trusted ones that are not in your management chain. 
• Open to Work: Enable the “Open to Work” feature and customize it to target specific TPM roles and preferred locations. And remember, you can use this feature even if you are currently employed. 
• Profile Picture: You must have a professional profile picture, with minimal background distractions. Use a professional, clean cover image/banner. A solid colored banner is adequate if you have trouble finding one.
• Post Thoughtful Content: Share career relevant short LinkedIn posts which can include reflections on leadership, program learnings, frameworks used, etc. Engage with TPM communities by commenting on others’ posts, boosting visibility with recruiters and ex-colleagues. You can also author long-form posts on LinkedIn Pulse or on Medium and set them as ‘featured’ content on your LinkedIn profile. 

Remember, having a well optimized profile will attract recruiters to reach out to you. We have worked with several candidates, where we have gone from the candidate receiving near zero recruiter outreach to having 10 to 15 recruiters reach out to them once they have optimized their LinkedIn profiles.  You can get all these tips with samples and more in our ‘Linkedin Profile Toolkit’ which is part of our Interview Toolkit bundle.

Resume Tips for TPMs

There are multiple blogs and content on resume writing and tips. The quality of your resume depends on how much time you can spend, experience and how many resources you have to critique and enhance your resume. Here are some key tips that are a must-have in a TPM resume as the technical program management role demands focus on impact , results, and requires technical aspects to come through.

Make Your Resume Keyword-Optimized and Impact-Focused

This also applies to your LinkedIn job description. 

• Use bullet points that clearly show outcomes (e.g., “Drove $3M cost savings by launching cloud migration program”)
• Include relevant tools and domains (e.g., Jira, Confluence, AWS, ML, Compliance, Infrastructure)
• Mirror language from job descriptions for better ATS visibility. You can do this by using ATS checkers, such as Jobscan. 
• Customize your resume for every job if you really want it as the ATS ranking makes a huge difference in getting picked for review by a recruiter.

We have been unable to scale to meet the demand from our Resume Writing service and have turned down multiple clients these fast few months. Instead, we recommend using our self-paced ‘Resume Toolkit’ bundled with ‘ATS Job Application Tips’,which are designed to help Technical Program Managers showcase real impact instead of vague responsibilities. It includes ready-made bullet samples across Senior, Principal, and Director levels, plus fill-in-the-blank templates to quickly turn your projects into quantified results. If you’ve struggled to translate complex programs into compelling resume language, this toolkit gives you the exact phrasing and structure recruiters at top tech companies expect.

Job Application Tips for TPMs

If you have 7+ years of relevant TPM experience, do not apply blindly to every role that is posted without customizing your resume. Be strategic and prioritize 20-30 companies where you tailor your resume and pitch. 

Here are the top job application tips for a TPM when it comes to timing, customization, and being strategic.

Timing of Job Application

You must apply as soon as the job is posted. The reason this is important is if a job posting is hot it’s going to get 300 to 500 applications in the first hour and recruiters most often are going to set a cutoff on the number of resumes, then use the ATS ranking to skim the top % for their review.  Recruiters often review in batches, but the first wave of applicants has a higher chance of being seen before the role gets saturated.

There is a hack for this on LinkedIn. 

• Do a normal LinkedIn job search (e.g., “Technical Program Manager” in your location).
• In the URL, find and replace f_TP=1 with f_TPR=r21600 — this filters jobs posted in the last 6 hours (21600 = 6×60×60 seconds).
• Example: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search/?keywords=technical%20program%20manager&location=Seattle&f_TPR=r21600
• Best days to message: Tuesdays to Thursdays
• Best times: Before 9:30 AM or around 4–5 PM local time of the recipient
• Avoid weekends unless it’s a warm contact

Tech companies often push hiring in Q1 (new budgets) and Q3 (before year-end). Summer and December tend to be slower. Do not lose hope, keep the momentum even if the response seems weak. 

Customizing Your Application

• Tailor your resume per role. Highlight the bullets most relevant to the JD (cloud infra vs. AI/ML vs. product delivery). Swap bullets in/out from your “bullet bank.”
• If the JD mentions “risk management, dependencies, executive reporting,” make sure those terms show up in your resume and LinkedIn.
• If it’s a Principal TPM role, emphasize org-wide frameworks and influencing VPs. For Senior TPM, emphasize program execution and delivery wins.

Be Strategic on Roles & Levels

• Apply at the right level. Don’t down-level yourself. If you are doing Principal-level work, apply there. But do not overshoot unless you have a clear track record of org-level influence. Misaligned levels often get screened out fast.
• Research and understand that levels in FAANG/MAANG companies differ from others. Use levels.fyi or similar to understand that a senior level elsewhere might map to one or two level levels lower in FAANG as the scope, responsibility, expectations  differ.
• Pick companies and orgs that align with your technical depth. If your background is cloud infrastructure, lean into roles in infra-heavy orgs (AWS, GCP, OCI). If AI/ML, target orgs building platforms or applied AI products.
• Prioritize quality over quantity. It’s better to apply to a few well-targeted roles with tailored resumes than 50 generic applications.
• Network alongside applications. A referral or even a hiring manager seeing your name on LinkedIn can double your odds of being reviewed.

How to Broaden Your TPM Job Search?

If you are in Seattle, here are two links that would come in handy to see the engineering centers and the 200 startups in the region. This should help you create a list of the companies you would like to work for. 

Job Application Strategies To Target Startups

• Look at CrunchBase or similar angel lists (below) to see who has received the latest rounds of funding. Reach out to these CTOs, talk to them about how you launched previous V0 products, and what you bring to the table.
• Other sites to check-
  – PitchBook
  – TechCrunch (Funding Section)
  – Axios Pro Rata (News Letter)
  – CBInsights

I landed one of my previous jobs by cold emailing a startup founder. And expressing my keen interest in the area they were working on. I initially started doing fractional work, but then transitioned to becoming a full-time employee. 

Since everyone is using LinkedIn & Indeed, it’s always a good idea to explore a few other job boards where you might find something that’s not on the two primary job search platforms.

Here are some interesting alternate Job Boards:

• wellfound
• Welcome To The Jungle 
• Builtin
• Massive (To apply to multiple jobs at once) 

Contracts & Fractional Opportunities

I see a lot of people only focusing only on full-time opportunities. If you are not getting enough screening calls, I recommend exploring contracting and fractional opportunities. 

Some good sites to check out –

• SimplyHired
• ZipRecruiter 

This could be a great stop gap solution and also give you that diverse experience that you might need. 

Job Title, Geography & Remote Opportunity: Variations

One other place where I see a lot of candidates stuck on is their ability to see past the TPM title even if it is only a temporary phase of their career. Let me break this down, there are many organizations where you could do TPM-like work and get paid equally well and most often people do not apply to those roles or feel it is deviating too much from the TPM title. However, they are short sighted in the fact that they can get into a great company and then move internally to their desired role. Internal hires have the advantage of knowing how the company works, the level and role guidelines, meeting the hiring managers personally to build trust. In many cases, you might even make more in an adjacent role at a bigger company than the TPM role at the desired title/level at a smaller one. Use this approach if your job search is stagnating as progress is always better than perfection if you have the appetite for it. 

These are some of the titles you could apply to – 

• Program Manager Technical
• IT Project Manager 
• Delivery Manager 
• Program Delivery Lead
• PMO Manager
• PMO Project Lead
• Program Manager
• Portfolio Program Manager
• Product Manager (Variations)
  – Product Operations Manager
  – Product Development Program Manager
  – Technical Product Manager (PMT)
• Engineering Program Manager (EPM)
• Software Program Manager
• Agile/Scrum Program Manager
• Cloud Program Manager
• AI/ML Program Manager
• Security Program Manager
• Hardware Program Manager
• Operations Program Manager 
• Business Program Manager
• Chief of Staff 
• Release Train Engineer (RTE) 
• SAFe Program Consultant
• Program Lead
• NLP Program Manager
• UX Program Manager

When searching on job portals like Indeed or LinkedIn, you can create yourself a Boolean search query with all these terms. 

Also, looking a little bit outside your geography will also help. As a candidate if you are in a location with few TPM opportunities it’s always good to consider exploring other geographies that you might be comfortable relocating to. 

When searching, do consider ‘Remote’ opportunities as well. These opportunities do not show up if you only search for location specific opportunities. 

How to Network as a TPM?

Cold Message Smartly

• Reach out to TPMs or hiring managers at the companies before or right after applying through a job board.
• Mention a specific interest in a program or product they lead.
• Short, respectful messages to TPMs, hiring managers, or recruiters go a long way.
• Sample: “Hi John, I’m a TPM with 6+ yrs leading infra programs at scale. I admire [team/product] and would love to contribute. If you’re hiring, happy to share more.”
• Use mutual connections when possible for warm introductions. 
• You can find any LinkedIn profile’s email address using a nifty plugin like – GetProspect

Make Your Work Discoverable

• Read my blog post on how to  Build A TPM Brand to showcase yourself. This sets you apart from the crowd.
• Write a blog post or LinkedIn article showcasing a framework or program approach you used. Or you can pick some topics like conflict resolution, risk management, cross-team collaboration, and write about them with real-world examples. 
• Create a Wix, Notion or GitHub page with your TPM portfolio or case studies.
• Add links to your resume or LinkedIn to make your experience stand out

The Right Way To Leverage Your Contacts

Leverage every ex-colleague, every contact you have. Don’t be shy. People are more willing to help than you think.

Reach out to ex-colleagues with a clear ask:

• “I see that {Company Name] is hiring TPMs, I’d love a referral. Here’s my resume and the opportunity I am interested in” [Link to the JD]
• “Could you introduce me to X Y, Z in your network as they are in hiring manager/recruiter /TPM roles in companies that I follow. I wanted to connect with them to get advice on career growth skills required for a TPM role in their company.” This is only for well known contacts with whom you have a certain degree of familiarity and trust.
• “If you personally know people in your network who are hiring TPMs – can you connect me to them please ?”  This is only for well known contacts with whom you have a certain degree of familiarity and trust.
• “Would you be willing to take a look at my resume and give me some pointers?” 

I always recommend meeting ex-colleagues in person or at least via Zoom or a phone call. Try to re-build the relationship you had and then ask them how they could possibly help. Be specific in your request and do your homework.

Always make it easy for your referral. Send the job description link, your resume, and a quick blurb they can forward to the hiring manager. A complete no-no is a message with your resume attached, asking someone if there are any jobs in their company. It reeks of laziness as it shows that you did not bother to check if there were any posted jobs and are asking them to search on your behalf, match it to your resume and then forward your resume. Differentiate yourself by showing initiative and professionalism by doing the ground work yourself and not wasting the connection.

Track Progress, Get Feedback & Iterate

Track Your Job Search Like a Program

• Use a spreadsheet or CRM tool to track:
  – Jobs applied to, date applied, company name
  – People messaged
  – Follow-up dates
  – Outcome or status
• Treat it like a funnel: track conversion from “reachout” to “response” to “call”
• Ask a mentor or friend to review your LinkedIn and resume
• Try A/B testing headlines or resumes (for example, generalist vs. AI TPM-focused)
• Use feedback loops to keep improving your resume, Linkedin and overall strategy – Keep iterating 🙂 
• Prepare and practice your interview stories. When you get a call, take the first available interview slot, don’t push it out to prepare as they will keep interviewing till you are ready and the position might get filled before you get to interview in the current market.

Use the Discount Code “First_Seventy” to receive a 30% discount to download the Toolkits! Offer valid only for the first 70 downloads.

Further reading

• TPM Job Hunt – Unlocking TPM Opportunities In A Tough Market 
• How to Land A TPM Opportunity (Video)
• The Advantages of Building A Personal Brand As a TPM 
• Ace the TPM interview

Frequently Asked Questions: TPM Job Search & Top of Funnel