As a product manager, you understand how to find and communicate the value of the products you are helping create. When it comes to resume writing, the algorithm is similar: you must showcase your key competitive advantage over others. That’s the key to getting an interview with some top firm, offering beyond median job compensation, north of a hundred thousand per year.
In this quick guide, we’ll coach you on how to write a successful product manager resume. We will go over some tips to help you communicate the best parts of your skills and experience in a concise, well-written resume. Then, we’ll shore things up with a product manager resume sample.
Showcase Your Problem-Solving Skills
Product management is a complex undertaking. You encounter a variety of problems, often all at once at multiple fronts. Thus, hiring managers want to be sure that you can set priorities, address multilateral issues, and come up with solutions that work fast.
Use your resume to show that your analytics skills and work experience have made you a creative problem solver. You can do this by:
- Listing specific methodologies such as Waterfall or Kanban in your skillset.
- Giving examples of your ability to solve problems with positive results.
- Emphasizing your experience in utilizing resources, bringing teams together, and using data to drive your decision-making process.
By illustrating your problem-solving skills, you also give good insights into your work and leadership style.
Prioritize Your Tech Skills as Well
Good product managers will have a tool chest full of technical skills and software they have mastered. Not only that, but they will know exactly when to use them. Bolster the skills section of your resume with various skills and tools that allow you to better execute your job, communicate with your team, and stay organized. Then, in your work experience section, show some specific examples of your applying these skills.
Customize Skills Experience and Professional Summary
Each application that you submit should have a customized resume.
The three most important parts of that will be your:
- Professional summary
- Core skills
- Work experience.
Modify these to fit the needs of the employer, and to emphasize the most important attributes that you have.
Remember that most hiring managers aren’t looking for generalists. They want to hire someone who is able to specifically help them with the challenges they face with regard to product management, and who can best move the organization forward towards achieving their goals.
Emphasize Tangible Outcomes
Any time you are pursuing a leadership or management position, you should focus on outcomes rather than tasks.
You can do this by condensing tasks into logical groups, describing the results, and using real numbers to quantify those outcomes. For example, instead of this:
- Reviewed product testing methods and made changes.
- Recorded testing results.
- Received input from customer service staff on client concerns and QA issues.
Use this:
- Using data inputs from a variety of sources, modified product testing procedures that led to a 20% reduction in problem reports.
The latter example shows that you achieved a successful outcome without going into extra detail.
Product Manager Resume Sample (Word version)
Download resume example (.docx)
Product Manager Resume Example (text version)
Here is a product manager sample resume that uses many proven methods for landing that first interview. You may use this as a study guide, or to inspire improvements in your existing resume.
Professional Summary
I am an experienced product manager. I have been working in the ed-tech sector for more than five years, assuring that the products and teams that I am responsible for consistently exceed expectations. Likewise, I’m interested in pursuing a leadership position as a product manager in ed-tech or other B2C niches.
Skills
I have developed a range of technical skills, leadership abilities, and tools mastery. Not only that, but I have listed them in order of relevance:
- Agile Development
- A/B Testing
- Team Building
- Data-Based Problem-Solving
- Resource Allocation and Management
- Google Analytics
- JavaScript
- SQL
- Slack
- Excel/Google Sheets
- MS One Drive
Professional Experience
Edu-Soft Inc.
Product Manager
2015 — Present
- Oversaw the development of an AI product to measure student engagement during remote learning. This allowed teachers to gain a clear understanding of the effectiveness of their student management techniques.
- Used data from Google Analytics to identify potential gaps in customer understanding in various interactive products for K-12 students, leading to improvements that increased successful learning outcomes by 15%.
- Took over as lead for several underperforming products, using Agile development methods to improve results.
Scholastic Technologies
Product Development Intern
2014 – 2015
Participated in an elite, 18-month, immersive internship program at the Manhattan headquarters of Scholastic Technologies. Participated with a team of MBA graduates in the development of a commercially viable educational app for college students. During the process mastered requirements gathering, testing, analytics, and use of a range of development and project communication tools.
Education
University of Tennessee School of Business and Technology
Master of Business Administration
August 2014
GPA: 3.75
Member: Association of Future Technology Managers
Miami College
BS Business Technology Management
May 2012
GPA: 3.5
President of International Students for Technical Ethics
Final Tip: Use The Best Resume Format
For this position, it is best to allow your experience to speak for itself. Avoid resume formats and templates that are too ornate. Instead, stick with something that is professional and understated!