Product Manager Resume Examples & Tips
BrainStation’s Product Manager career guide is intended to help you take the first steps toward a lucrative career in product management. Read on for an overview of how to write product management resumes, with samples and a resume template.
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What Are Product Manager Resumes?
Product Manager resumes outline the skills, experience and value you can bring as Product Manager. Think of resumes as your product demo—they show exactly what you are capable of accomplishing. Resumes should include past work experience, education, skills and achievements. They are not an exhaustive list of everything you have done. Rather, they are succinct documents that showcase your most important and relevant career highlights.
Product Manager Resumes – a Step-by-Step Guide
Resumes are essential documents in the Product Manager hiring process. Before you begin, here are a few steps that will help you prepare your resume content.
Research comes first
Similar to the product development cycle, the first step in the resume writing process is to do your research. Review the company’s website and projects. Think about the problems the organization is trying to solve and why you’re the right person to solve them. This initial research will help you customize your resume for the role.
Create a list of your skills and projects
List your past product management projects and experiences in one document. Include details about the role, your responsibilities, the product and the outcomes/results. While you won’t be including all of these in your final resume, it is helpful to have a comprehensive list you can refer to each time you write a resume.
Review the job description
Your resume should be tailored to each product management position you apply for. Go through the job description to determine the most important skills or qualifications the employer is seeking. Refer back to your master list of skills and projects and select the experiences that are most applicable.
Once you have completed the planning phase, you’re ready to begin writing your resume. Here are a few best practices to keep in mind:
- Aim for a page: Only include your most relevant career achievements. Keep your resume to one page maximum.
- Use a clean design: Stick to one or two fonts, use color sparingly and include ample white space.
- Section your resume: Use headings to create clear sections, such as education, work experience and skills. Bullet points also help keep your resume organized and easy to scan.
- Use action verbs: Compelling action words can help catch the attention of a Recruiter or Hiring Manager. Examples of strong action verbs include: created, presented, coordinated, delivered and supervised.
- Quantify your accomplishments: Numbers and figures make a bigger impact. Wherever possible, use numbers to indicate the scale of your work and achievements.
- Write accomplishment statements: Rather than stating your job duties, emphasize the results. Follow the accomplishment statement formula of action verb + task + result. For example, “Led development of iOS app that received 5,000 downloads.”
- Highlight your product management skills: Product Managers need a diverse set of skills, but they can vary for each position. Review the job posting to figure out which skills you should emphasize.
- Edit and proofread: Resumes with too many careless errors can get rejected right away. Check for spelling, grammar and typographical mistakes. Ask a peer or family member to look over your resume as well—a fresh pair of eyes can be helpful
Getting Started – What is the Purpose of the Resume?
The purpose of the resume is to present your skills, qualifications and experience to potential employers. Your resume is not only about you—it’s about what you can bring to the company. Combined, your education, training, skills and work history should convince an employer that you would be an asset. Your resume should also tell a story. After reading the document, an employer should have a better idea of who you are and what you can offer—and they should be eager to contact you for an interview for your dream job.
How to Create an Outline for a Product Manager Resume
To create a strong outline for your resume, follow these steps:
- Add a header with your contact info, including your name, email, phone number, website and LinkedIn.
- Write a summary/objective highlighting your top skills and accomplishments.
- Describe your relevant professional experience and background.
- Highlight your product management technical skills.
- Mention your education, including the school name, degree, and graduation date.
- List other accomplishments that could help you stand out. You should certainly include any product management certification you have attained.
What to Include in Your Product Manager Resume?
Your resume should include a summary/objective, an overview of your experience, details about your education, a list of relevant product management skills, and highlights of other awards or activities.
Summary/Objective
If you have years of product management experience, use a summary to highlight your top achievements. If you’re new to the field, use an objective to show your passion. Summaries or objectives should be around two to four sentences.
Experience
Choose your most relevant work experiences and list the most recent one first. Include your job title, employer, start and end date, and the location. Write two to four bullet points for each. Focus on the results and outcome of your work. For example, instead of “Implemented product feedback from customer interviews,” write, “Improved user satisfaction by 200% through implementing feedback from customer interviews.”
Education
List the name of the institution, your degree or Product Manager certification, and the start and end date. You can also add any relevant educational achievements.
Skills
List your product management skills that match the skills listed in the job description.
Awards/Activities
To stand out among other Product Managers, add additional accomplishments or relevant activities. This may include conferences, publications or membership in professional groups.
What Skills Should You Put on a Product Manager Resume?
To determine what skills to include in your resume, you’ll want to refer to the job posting. Depending on the company and position, they may be looking for particular skills or expertise.
A few of the skills that companies usually look for in Product Managers are: marketing research, UX/UI design, digital marketing, data analytics, A/B testing, beta testing, budgeting, customer analysis, financial analysis, forecasting, HTML, JavaScript, Jira, SQL, user research, product roadmaps, Agile methodologies and vendor management. If you have had the chance to learn coding skills, that is also worth mentioning.
Product Manager Resume Template
[NAME]
[Phone Number]
[Email]
[LinkedIn]
[Portfolio]
SUMMARY/OBJECTIVE
Enthusiastic Product Manager skilled in [top skills]. Successful launched products, including [major product management accomplishment or project].
EXPERIENCE
[Job title, Company]
[Month, Year – Month, Year]
- [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]
- [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]
- [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]
[Job title, Company]
[Month, Year – Month, Year]
- [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]
- [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]
- [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]
EDUCATION
[Degree earned, School name]
[Graduation date]
- [Relevant courses]
- [Academic achievements]
SKILLS
- [Technical skills]
- [Software/tools]
AWARDS AND ACTIVITIES
- [Award]
- [Publication]
- [Conference]
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