How to Write a Product Manager Resume?

I’m sure we have all written those resumes at some point in our life.

I also recall the period when I was preparing a resume and was unsure about what to include. 

It’s a known fact that a lengthy resume is a barrier. 

Depending on the job responsibilities they are applying for, different people have varied writing styles.

Indeed you are aware of this. Your resume is not your life story. 

It’s your chance to demonstrate why you’d be a fantastic fit for a particular role—in just 10 seconds, according to a significant eye-tracking study of recruiters.

The adage “The simpler you state it, the more eloquent it is” is credited to August Wilson.

It would assist if you kept the above quote in mind while applying for any position.

Even if the position you’re applying for is in the field of product management, keep this in mind.

This article will focus on creating a solid resume for a product manager. Thus, giving you a reference point to refer to in the future. 

It also includes recommendations and best practices for product managers. 

We’ll work with you to prioritize your most noteworthy achievements and select content carefully so your resume doesn’t contain unnecessary information.

Let’s begin!

What Exactly Is a Resume?

You know, the one you email to employers. Oh, wait, isn’t it a resume? Uhm, CV? What, a cover letter? The confusion gets worse.

An effective CV conveys your qualifications and positions you for career success.

The word “Resume,” which also spells résumé, is derived from the French word for “summary.” However, in modern French, the word “CV” is used.

It is a formal document that summarizes your professional credentials, including relevant work experience, abilities, education, and noteworthy accomplishments.

A resume helps you highlight your skills and persuade companies that you are competent and employable. It typically combines with a cover letter.

A resume is a marketing tool where your knowledge is the product, and the resume is the advertisement.

What Is the Purpose of a Resume?

A resume’s main objective is to present potential employers with your qualifications and talents. It’s an informative document that outlines your job history in an accessible manner.

The three main elements of a resume are:

• Introducing oneself to potential employers
• To showcase your accomplishments and qualifications 
• Land an interview

Many job seekers believe a resume’s primary function is to provide a thorough summary of their professional experience.

Your resume aims to persuade potential employers that you are worth an interview. 

To that end, you can utilize your resume as a valuable tool to showcase your experience to potential employers.

A resume is unquestionably necessary. If not, you cannot anticipate a job interview.

Your resume’s quality will determine how far you advance in your profession, so make sure it’s top-notch. Therefore, remember that “words have immense power if you don’t string too many of them together.”

Now that we know the fundamentals, let’s discuss the subject for which you clicked on this:

“Good Resume Writing for Product Managers.”

A hot field in demand right now is product management. Organizations like Google, Facebook, or Amazon regularly receive more than 300 applications for just one position. Isn’t that absurd?

Are you looking at advancing your career with a prestigious product management position?

If yes, you will always need a strong resume, whether you are a senior product manager or an aspiring one. 

Every hiring company uses them to determine how well you fit the product management field. 

We are giving you tips and tricks to write an outstanding resume. 

However, once you are on board, you will also need a product management tool to take care of your products, right? We’ve got you covered. 

Chisel is a primary app for product managers. Craft great products with ease by signing up for free today!

It could be tempting to list your previous tasks and professional accomplishments on your resume, given how multifaceted product managers are. The objective is not an unnecessarily lengthy resume.

Essential Elements in a Resume for a Product Manager:

You contribute significantly to a company’s overall success as a product manager. According to Muse career counselor Steven Davis, “Product managers establish the path of a product and advocate firms’ motivations for developing [or building] it.”

Write a product manager resume that hiring managers will adore by following these guidelines!

Self-Reflection

You must comprehend the value you provide an employer if you are a product manager.

Initially, practice self-introspection. As a product manager, you are in control of the product lifecycle, product strategy, and product vision.

It means that each day, you are in charge of making hundreds of decisions, such as:

How should we handle this sprint?

How do we address this customer request?

How should we price this product?

How do we respond to new competition activity?

As a product manager, you want to understand your influence on the business and how you will address its problems. This is how you should approach your resume after completing the task above.

Individual Details

The initial part of your resume has no secrets, and your contact information should be at the head of the page, just like any other resume.

Your resume should include your full name, contact information, up-to-date email address, and, if applicable, the handles of any relevant social media accounts, such as your LinkedIn profile.

The top of your resume is the header, and you should include only your name and contact information.

Many applicants rely on the impression that they must submit a lengthy personal statement or professional profile. 

Except for more senior roles needing years or decades of experience, professional summaries are rarely necessary.

Academic History

Your academic credentials make up the second section of your product manager resume. 

Since product management sits at the intersection of engineering and business strategy, many recruiters seek candidates with educational backgrounds that combine the two fields.

A typical product pairing is an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in a technical subject like software engineering, information technology, or computer science.

Your names, degrees, courses of study, and optional CGPA should be here.

Your product manager education part should appear before or after the section on relevant experience.

How recently you graduated will determine where you place it.

Keep education near the top of your priority list if you’re a recent graduate (within five years).

Pro tip: Do you wish to know a secret? Attending PM boot camps or enrolling in a product management certification program is an excellent choice if you lack product-specific knowledge so that you can list these skills on your resume.

Relevant Expertise/ Skills

It is where you demonstrate your skills as a product manager.

Quality above quantity is the key in this situation. 

Remember that hiring managers won’t go through a lengthy list of skills looking for the correct ones.

The steps to add talents to your product manager resume are as follows:

• List all the abilities you think you possess.
• After carefully reading it, list all the skills specified in the product manager job description.
• Write down relevant skills in one spot, then thoughtfully scatter them across your product manager resume.

Even though you should list some of your hard and soft abilities, this area is where you can highlight those that go outside the purview of the job description.

Include extracurricular activities you enjoy or tasks you’ve completed that have nothing to do with your primary duties. Job-related abilities that a potential employer would find valuable. 

Unbelievable as it may seem, a strong talents section can increase your chances of landing a new job!

The following are the top 5 soft talents for product managers:

• Skills in communication (written and verbal)
• Speaking with important stakeholders
• Leadership Analysis-based reasoning
• Finding solutions
• Presentation abilities

The following are the top 5 hard skills for product manager resumes:

• Roadmaps for products
• Agile techniques (Scrum and Kanban)
• Financial simulation
• Pricing for goods
• Develop go-to-market launch strategies

Making sure you do not include broad skills is another crucial consideration. 

For instance, you may put “customer-facing communication” as a skill instead of “interpersonal communications.”

It makes you seem like a more rounded prospect. Good businesses recruit people, not machines, and you may make a statement with your skills area.

Successful product managers across several industries possess the following abilities:

• Design for User Experience
• Agile
• B2B, B2C
• Product marketing
• Strategically planning
• Product creation

Professional Background

We must stress this again and again.

The most significant portion of your product manager resume is this one. Here, you can show off what you can achieve with your abilities.

Your recruiters will evaluate this part to determine whether to call you or throw your CV out.

But don’t worry, you can showcase your abilities and experience as a product manager here!

It’s the section where you outline your professional background. Your job titles, employer names, duties, accomplishments, and number of years worked are all included in this area.

The most crucial piece of guidance I can provide you for this part is to include specific findings.

Make each bullet point count by including your most significant product management experience. 

You don’t have to list every duty you performed at work; instead, just those that are pertinent to the product job you’re applying for should be here.

Don’t highlight your professional experience in paragraphs. Your resume’s bullet points allow the hiring manager to scan it swiftly without losing any crucial information.

While the relevant experience part of your resume should include bullet points, be careful not to overdo it. 

Keep the list of bullet points to five or less, ideally three or four, and order the most important information first.

Always begin your bullet points with an action word for the most significant impact.

These bullet points should provide insight into how to take the duties from your past employment and turn them into the kind of professional experience that would land you an interview.

Tips for Product Managers Writing Resumes

• Firstly, You must use the proper format. Fancy styling and coloring can detract from the essential elements of your resume layout.

• Hiring managers must ensure they can handle every intricate product management process step. Make sure your resume contains a summary of your ability to solve problems.

• Ensure that your language is clear, coherent, and concise. You can use Paraphrasingtool.ai to avoid repetitive language or to simplify complex ideas.

Do you possess knowledge of a particular approach, such as Agile or Waterfall? 

Are you exceptionally skilled at bringing together teams? Plus a lot more.

• I see people sending their resumes to various employers frequently without conducting any genuine investigation. 

Learn what each firm is searching for by conducting research. What organizational issue are they attempting to address?

• Your objective is to create a resume highlighting your unique skill set and accomplishments rather than merely a list of your previous duties.

• Measure the impact you have. Show your outcomes from prior work and projects to prove that you can meaningfully contribute to product development.

• Consider the narrative you want to communicate, keeping in mind that product managers frequently deal with qualitative descriptions and quantitative impacts. 

What report would you like to present to this company? Use caution while quantifying anything.

Make sure your quantifiable impact directly supports your narrative as you quantify your influence.

• The typical resume format, which lists your employment experience in reverse chronological order, is preferred by most recruiters. This simple design is easy to read and understand, which is vital as recruiters may only glance at each resume.

• Utilize your resume to tell a story. Make sure you describe your narrative because “Product Manager” might imply many different things at various firms.

• Incorporating precise figures or statistics into your product manager resume is one of the best things you can do. 

The most excellent way to demonstrate that you are a candidate is to draw attention to the measurable results you achieved in prior roles.

• Although it’s still possible to become a product manager without having a wealth of technical knowledge, it surely helps if you have! 

Learning about Agile, Kanban, Scrum, or Waterfall experience can help you stand out from the competition on your resume.

If you want to learn intricacies of writing and get writing assistance, all at one place, try Essay Tigers

This resource will provide you immense leverage in the competitive market as it will elevate your writing skills.

Putting It All Together

Product managers offer a wealth of expertise. If you keep up with the advice above, you’ll be well on writing the ideal product manager resume and getting the job of your dreams.

“Concise writing is arduous writing. For the same reason that a painting should not have unnecessary lines and a machine should not have unnecessary parts, a sentence should not contain unnecessary words, and a paragraph should not contain any needless penalties. It doesn’t require the writer to write in fragments or treat his subject merely in outline form; it just demands that every word matters,” William Strunk once said.

A fantastic resume comes with plenty of responsibilities. 

Go then, and make sensible applications. You’ll soon step in for interviews for your future position as a product manager!