This document provides an overview of a presentation on mastering the product resume. The presentation covers best practices for product manager resumes, including highlighting accomplishments over responsibilities, incorporating metrics and data, and connecting previous experience to product management skills. The presentation also provides tips for those transitioning into product management and includes references and resources.

1. MASTERING THE PRODUCT RESUME
Presented by:
Dan Corbin

2. In Kind
Advocate
Sponsors
SUPPORTERS

3. Dan Corbin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielcorbin
@dancorbin
dan.corbin@gmail.com
● Sr. Director of Product Management, Return Path
● Product Management Instructor, General Assembly
● The Product League
● Agile Austin Product SIG
● Agile Coach, Agile Austin U

4. RELATED PRESENTATIONS

5. WHAT THIS PRESENTATION WILL COVER:
Focus will be on:
● Best practices for Product Manager resumes
● Tips for different sections of your resume
● Strategies for highlighting your product skills
● Advice for those transitioning into Product
Management
● Lots of Resources!

6. EVERY RESUME IS UNIQUE...
● I don’t have time to review different layout options
and formatting
● Your resume will require multiple iterations and
reviews
● It should be customized and refined when applying
for different jobs

7. PLEASE ASK QUESTIONS, SHARE YOUR
EXPERIENCES, MAKE SUGGESTIONS, GIVE
EXAMPLES!
THE LESS I TALK THE BETTER THIS WILL GO.

8. PRODUCT RESUME ESSENTIALS

9. REMEMBER THE 15 SECOND RULE
● Resumes are skimmed, not read
● Shorter is Better
○ As a rule, less than 10 years = 1 page resume
○ This limitation can be a blessing
● Bullets not Blogs
○ Less than 50% of bullets should expand to two lines

10. MY PET PEEVE

11. DON’T just list responsibilities. List ACCOMPLISHMENTS!
● If you’re using the present tense you’re probably listing a
responsibility.
● Focus on the impact and outcomes you made!
○ What are the five things you are most proud of?
● A PM must be comfortable discussing Objectives, Key Results, and
relevant metrics.
MY PET PEEVE

12. INSTEAD OF THIS:
● Responsible for pricing, marketing, and product performance.
● Lead all Agile ceremonies and acted as Product Owner for the team
● Work with Engineering to increase uptime and lower costs
● Drive community outreach efforts with the help of Marketing and
Developer Evangelist
MY PET PEEVE

13. ● Implemented new pricing strategy which resulted in $1.4 million in
new contracts in our first year.
● Initiated Agile transformation which resulted in velocity increase of
270%.
● Led product updates which resulted in 6.5 million new users, 38%
better uptime while also reducing cost per user by over 400%.
● Contributed to developer outreach by speaking at seven conferences
over the past two years.
DO THIS:

14. ● Attain sales dollars, quantity, and market share goals
● Negotiate pricing and inventory
● Evaluate, track, and forecast monthly and annual spending/budgets
for variety of projects and initiatives
● Strategic planning and execution of sales, PR, and Marketing
research, campaigns, and promotions
BEFORE EXAMPLE:

15. ● Exceeded sales dollars, quantity, and market share goals of +10%
year-over-year
● Revamped e-commerce store and drove increase in online sales
40% over one year
● Increased response rate to wine club and fan marketing emails 15%
by incorporating A/B testing strategies
● Constructed sales strategy to maintain ideal inventory and ensure
winery was running lean while Distributor carried minimum of
3-months product
AFTER EXAMPLE:

16. STRATEGIES FOR INCORPORATING METRICS AND
DATA

17. STRATEGIES FOR INCORPORATING METRICS AND DATA
• Keep an accomplishments journal!
• Review your personal and team goals (sales, churn,
conversions, etc) for ideas
• The data can be from engineering, sales, engineering,
customer support, etc. as long as you directly can tie
it back to your work

18. STRATEGIES FOR INCORPORATING METRICS AND
DATA

19. SPEAK THE LANGUAGE

20. SPEAK THE LANGUAGE

21. SPEAK THE LANGUAGE

22. SKILLS SECTION
● Layer your resume with soft and hard skills. Just be ready to prove
those skills exist (example/story or data/metric). Example:
“Coordinated weekly with 8 external stakeholders. This
coordination helped deliver the new version in just 4 months
instead of the 6-month timeframe originally estimated.”

23. THE COVER LETTER
Keys To A Great Cover Letter:
● Short and concise
● Connect to company culture AND their mission
● Show Passion
● Tell your story
● Answer the job posting

24. LEVERAGE YOUR HOBBIES AND INTERESTS
● Consider an “About Me” section at the end
● Be sure to include things that make you unique and stand out
from other applicants
● “Previously drummer in heavy metal band.”

25. TIPS FOR TRANSITIONING INTO PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

26. THE KEY TO LANDING YOUR FIRST PM JOB:
“CONNECTING THE DOTS”
● Your resume needs to showcase transferable skills!
● These might include:
○ leadership, strategy, Agile, analytics, communication (written
and speaking), organizing, roadmap contributions, stakeholder
management, customer interviews and outreach, etc.
● This is absolutely key for landing your first PM job

27. ● Rewrite all of your experience from the PM perspective.
● Use the appropriate terms (see glossary and use
JobScan)
● Find other people that have made the leap and steal
ideas from them
● Map PM Core Competencies to your previous jobs
HOW DO YOU “CONNECT THE DOTS”?

28. HOW DO YOU “CONNECT THE DOTS”?
PM Core Competencies by Casey Flinn, VP of Products at Abrigo

29. CONNECTING THE DOTS

30. CONNECTING THE DOTS

31. ● Create, maintain, and analyze market and sales reports to identify
business opportunities and to grow brand awareness, customer
conversion and revenue
● Strategic planning and execution of sales, PR, and Marketing
research, campaigns, and promotions
● Creation and implementation of incentive programs, educational
presentations, and training processes
BEFORE EXAMPLE:

32. ● Establish success metrics for customer conversion and ensure funnel
was operating efficiently at each step
● Constructed sales strategy to maintain ideal inventory and ensure
winery was running lean while Distributor carried minimum of
3-months product
● Led Marketing research, campaigns, and promotions - served as
public spokesperson and brand evangelist
AFTER EXAMPLE:

33. Come up with examples for each of the following:
○ Impact
○ Initiative
○ Passion and Curiosity
○ Leadership
○ Technical Aptitude
“CONNECTING THE DOTS” EXERCISE

34. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

35. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can I revise existing titles on my resume
and be ok with that?

36. TITLE CHANGE EXAMPLES

37. Honeywell, Senior Project Manager
April 2015 - Current
becomes….
Honeywell, Product and Project Management
April 2015 - Current
TITLE TWEAKS

38. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How to get a product manager position without
a "formal" product management experience?

39. Things that can help you overcome a lack of experience:
● Demonstrable Passion
● Curiosity and a desire to learn
● Enthusiasm
These are areas that a cover letter can help.
WHEN YOU DON’T QUITE HAVE THE EXPERIENCE (YET)

40. THAT’S IT! QUESTIONS?

41. In Kind
Advocate
Sponsors
SUPPORTERS

42. NEXT MONTH AT THE PRODUCT LEAGUE:
MEASURABLE IMPACT: PRODUCT & PRODUCT MARKETING
COLLABORATING ON PRODUCT SUCCESS
Special Guest Speaker: Annie Pace
In this collaboration with the Product Marketers of Austin
Meetup you’ll learn:
● How a Product Managers and Product Marketing can
work together to achieve ambitious company goals
● Discover specific things you can do to improve your
product launch process

43. Product Manager Resumes
● Product Manager Resume and Samples (Zety)
● Examples of Great Product Manager Resumes (Quora)
● Cracking the PM Interview (Chapter 7)
● Product Manager Resume Samples (JobHero)
● Product Resume Resume Examples (Indeed)
● Writing A Product Manager Resume Summary Statement
● 5 Skills Product Managers Should Put on Their Resume
● How to Write a Good Product Manager Resume
● Associate Product Manager Resume Examples
●
REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

44. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT GLOSSARYS, ACRONYMS, AND
DEFINITIONS
● PM Core Competencies
● Product Management Terms Explained
● Glossary of Product Management Acronyms and Jargon
● Product Management Terms for Product Newbies
● Software Product Management Glossary - ISPMA
● Product Development Glossary and Resource Library
● The Complete Glossary of Project Management Terminology
● What technologies does this site use?

45. REFERENCES AND RESOURCES
Resume Basics
● 10 resume tips you probably haven’t thought of
● 6 Ways to Make the Skills Section Shine on a Resume
● Resume Formats
●

46. January 9, 2019
Thank you for taking the time to review my résumé for the Product Manager position at XXXXX. As a Product Management and Customer
Experience expert with 15+ years of technology experience, I possess a proven track record in product design, data analytics and business
intelligence, and cross-functional management.
Most recently at XXXXX, I was responsible for the design of the company's CRM and Workflow Management software, from greenfield to
launch. I worked with the internal management team to determine system priorities based on corporate strategy, assembled a Product Council
to review designs and sprint demonstrations, and worked with internal customers to document their user journeys and pain points. With those
inputs, I mocked up wireframes, documented system requirements and data relationships, and created user stories for implementation by the
development team.
At XXXXX, I would be excited to work with customers to understand their needs, create a prioritized roadmap, manage agile sprints, and
collaborate with the engineering and design teams to deliver high value product features. I look forward to hearing from you and learning more
about this role. I appreciate your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
XXXXX
COVER LETTER EXAMPLE: