How to Get a Job as a Product Manager

Product Managers (PMs) serve as the glue that binds user experience with technical requirements and business goals. In recent years, it has become a top-tier career choice for both MBA graduates and career changers.

But how do you get a job in product management when the role is so multidisciplinary? We spoke to Senior Product Managers to outline the best strategies for breaking into product management, even if you are starting from a different field.

One of the most frequent questions from aspiring professionals is: Is a product manager an entry-level job? Most industry veterans agree that it is not.

According to a Digital Skills Surveys, over 80% of product professionals work at an intermediate level or higher. This is because product management experience is often built through other roles first. In fact, market data shows 88% of PMs started their careers in different fields like marketing, engineering, or business analysis giving them a foundation of technical knowledge and business acumen. In many cases, any kind of experience can help you have the baseline soft skills for project and stakeholder management.

If you are wondering how to transition into product management, the good news is that your current role likely provides transferable skills. Leadership, problem-solving, and cross-functional teamwork are at the heart of the PM role. Product managers are present in various industries, sharing key responsibilities. You may already be doing the work of a PM without having the official job title! The hiring manager can take into account your relevant experience through product adjacent positions and other technical skills.

Unlike for brain surgery, there is no single undergraduate degree for product management. Instead, how to become a product manager depends on a strategic continuous education plan. While having an education background in fields like computer science or project management are certainly helpful to qualify for a PM job, there are other ways anyone can build product management skills like:

If you’re trying to figure out how to become a product manager without experience, look for internal opportunities. Before you quit your current job to take the leap, get an understanding of the product management position internally and see if there are ways you can make small steps towards gaining key skills or insights that could help you become a product manager.

To land a product manager job, you must understand the intersection of:

• Business: ROI, market-fit, defining success metrics, and strategic thinking.
• Technology: Feasibility, APIs, and the software development lifecycle.
• User Research: User needs, empathy, pain points, and UX design.

Gaining some project management experience in any function can also help you develop the communication skills required to work cross functionally from design to engineering teams. While you do not need a deep understanding of every facet of product development, having some essential skills across functions in the product development lifecycle will help you communicate ideas and the product vision to your team.

While you can find product manager roles on LinkedIn and Indeed, networking is the #1 way to get hired. Getting into product management often happens through the hidden job market. Networking not only offers an opportunity to meet experienced product managers, but also develop business acumen that can enhance your soft product manager organizational skills.

The product manager experience required varies wildly by company. A Technical PM role at a cloud infrastructure company requires different skills than a Growth PM role at a consumer social app to achieve product success. Be deliberate about applying to companies where your previous background (e.g., marketing or data) gives you an edge to guiding the product strategy.

While there are key soft product manager skills that will overlap in any product management job, tailoring your search to match your skillset will not only help you increase your qualification but also lead to a highly rewarding career path.

As you progress in your career, your focus shifts from executing specific tasks to shaping high-level business strategy. Understanding the expectations at each level is key to tailoring your job search and landing the right role.

If you’re looking to land a PM role you may already possess transferable skills that can prepare you for your first job in product management. Whether you enroll in a structured learning path like a product management course, take on self study, shadow within your company or dive into the networking scene, any of these strategies can help you build important skills that will propel your career forward.