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If you’re applying for a product manager role, make sure you know how to write an effective product manager resume. This guide includes product manager resume examples, expert templates, important skills to highlight and proven tips on how to write your best resume.
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Product managers help ideate new products, do market research, manage product launches and create an overarching product strategy for a company. Use this product manager resume sample as a base for your own resume. For more help, use our Resume Builder online tool and other resume examples found on this page.
The product manager position is all about overseeing a product life cycle along with the intricacies of product design, creating a product vision and improving user experiences. When writing your resume, show that you’re the best candidate for the job role by following these four keys to make your product manager resume more professional:
As a product manager, it’s important to be detail-oriented and provide accurate research so make sure your resume reflects this. Study the job description to pick out the specified skills, requirements and qualifications. Then, tailor your resume to reflect each of those keywords or phrases from the job ad to improve your chances of making it past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and selected as a qualified candidate. For example, if the job description requires “strong experience with product documentation/tracking software like JIRA,” include the name(s) of “product documentation” or “tracking software” you’re proficient with. A software product manager resume will be different from an agile product manager resume. Taking the time to pinpoint the right keywords for each job and tailoring your resume will be a valuable asset in your job search.
As a product manager, you no doubt have overseen major projects in your career. So, when mentioning your impressive achievements, be sure to attach numerics and metrics to these accomplishments. Just listing that you are successful says nothing. Give measurable data from job performance like “Developed and spearheaded market research initiatives and strategies to define new product lineup resulting in 22% increase in ROI and 98% customer satisfaction.” This will give a clearer picture of your successes to hiring managers so they can envision just how good you are at your job and how you can benefit the new company. Look at a product management resume example on this page for wording ideas.
When determining product management skills for your resume, it’s important to discover keywords in the job description for the role you’re applying to. Then, reflect on the specific soft skills and hard skills the job is looking for so you can optimize your skills section and make sure you set yourself apart from other job seekers. Product manager hard skills are technical skills like market research, product analysis and valuation techniques are important to perform the job, but soft skills like critical thinking, leadership and problem solving are also critical to being professional and successful among team members and in the workplace.
In addition to your educational background, you can also create separate sections to show off any certifications like Certified Product Manager, Professional Scrum Master, Agile Certified Product Owner, as well as any additional training you’ve completed that reinforces your industry expertise as a product manager.
As a product manager, you obviously “manage” in your daily role but what other action verbs can best describe your responsibilities and accomplishments? As you’re writing your resume summary and work experience sections, begin each bullet with an action word such as “Negotiated funding estimates with partners and ensured teams follow the cost-effective solutions.” or “Collaborated with key stakeholders with pricing, revenue management, marketing, sales and operations, to launch new product lines.”
Here are some action words you can use to improve your product manager resume, with examples:
For more information on how to energize your experience and skills through these powerful words, read our action words article.
Build my resumeThere are three resume formats you can choose from to effectively organize your product manager resume. Use the format below that best fits your situation:
The chronological resume format is best for an experienced product manager with many years of experience or multiple relevant jobs because it emphasizes the work experience section so at a glance, hiring managers can see career history.
The functional resume format is best for entry-level product managers and job seekers with less than two years of experience. Unlike the chronological format, this format emphasizes skills and education rather than work history, quickly showing hiring managers that you’re qualified.
The combination resume format combines both the chronological and functional formats, making it ideal for product managers with more than three years of experience. This format focuses on experience and relevant skills, showing how your previous work history and relevant skills can benefit the new company.
The specific set of hard skills and soft skills you should highlight in your product manager resume will depend on the job role, the industry type and the specific company. In addition to project management, here are some other skills product managers want to consider including in a resume:
Need additional help with your skills? Our Resume Builder auto-populates the perfect, industry-specific skills to your product manager resume.
Whether you’re writing an entry-level product manager resume or a senior product manager resume, simply include the following sections on your resume and incorporate your own impressive information:
Your resume header is prominently positioned at the top of your resume to give hiring managers and recruiters a quick look into who you are. It typically includes your full name, contact information including phone number and professional email address. You can also include links to your networking sites such as Linkedin.
Below your header, position either a resume summary or resume objective that catches the attention of the hiring manager. These are short, two-to-three sentence paragraphs that summarize the best aspects of your career. Use a resume summary if you’re an experienced product manager and include your top technical skills, years of experience and quantifiable achievements you’ve reached. Write a resume objective if you are entry-level or changing careers, to highlight your best skills and career goals.
Digital product manager soft skills and hard skills are an important part of showing that you know how to do product management in the first place. Analytical skills and technical skills will vary from an associate product manager level up to the level of senior product managers.
Here are a few bullet points to include in your product manager skills section:
The experience section is often important for product management, as a company likely won’t want to give you control over its product roadmap if you don’t have experience. If you have no specific experience with product management, then you can list your experience with generalized management and product design.
Most product managers will have some level of college education so be sure you feature your highest academic credentials in this section. Software engineering and computer science are common majors for product management and a master’s degree will help you stand out from the competition. If you’re an Agile Certified Product Owner, Professional Scrum Master or hold other product management certifications, then highlight those achievements in this section.
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Just as you would need to present an exciting new product idea to stakeholders in order to get the project approved, you need to present an impressive career history, experience and skills on your product management resume to convince a hiring manager that you deserve a job interview. Write down your best accomplishments in your current role. Define these achievements using quantitative, measurable results and tie them into the required hard skills and soft skills mentioned in the job description. By tailoring the wording on your product management resume to match the job post, you’re demonstrating you possess the job qualifications and are a top candidate. Look at the product manager resume samples and product manager templates on this page for help with writing your own strong resume.
A great product manager resume should be kept to one or two pages since busy hiring managers may not have much time to review each resume. Use one of our resume templates to help you fit your resume onto an organized layout. If you have achievements or experience that go above and beyond typical job candidates, you can look into a product manager resume template that offers two pages. However, a one-page product management resume is typically more than enough to show a prospective employer that you’re highly qualified.
If you’re writing a product manager objective on a resume, then you typically are a recent graduate, entry-level in your career, a career changer or you lack relevant experience for the specific job role. So, rather than focus on years of experience which you don’t have yet, focus on your industry passion, career goals and top skills you already have that you can bring to the new employer. Make it known that you’re willing to learn and grow in your career. An objective on an entry-level product manager resume or an associate product manager resume might say something like this:
“Recent college graduate with bachelor degree in business management seeks a Junior Product Manager position with ABC company. With studies focused on product innovation, product development process and agile methodologies, I am eager to help conceptualize, research and develop new product lines for the ABC business. Excellent communicator, out-of-the-box strategic thinker and a goal-oriented marketing professional.”
To tailor a resume for a specific product management position, you want to not only match the qualifications and requirements as listed in the job description, but also be sure that you demonstrate in the resume summary, work experience and skills section of your resume why you’re the best job candidate. If the job is in international product marketing and you have experience in international work, your resume needs to say that. If you’re applying for a technical product manager position, feature the right technical skills and follow our resume examples for wording suggestions.
Yes. A cover letter can showcase your talents by letting you talk about your achievements and actively request an interview. It also gives the potential employer a glimpse into your personality, work ethic and passion for the industry. You can begin your cover letter with a quick elevator pitch type of hook that immediately captures recruiters attention and makes you a memorable job candidate. Check out the product manager cover letter example to find out how you can write one for your job search.
To write product manager resumes without much relevant experience, place your resume focus on your accomplishments and skills. Talk about initiatives that were implemented in previous jobs that can benefit product management in the new job. Perhaps it was conducting market research at the mall or analyzing customer feedback at a doctor’s office. Additionally, you can talk about other related activities where you excelled like academic experience, internship experience and volunteer experience.
Resume keywords are an important part of ensuring that product manager resumes make it past an applicant tracking system (ATS). Busy hiring managers program an ATS to select only qualified applicants that have matching qualifications, skills and meet the requirements of the specific job role. By highlighting everything that the job listing is looking for, you’re able to capture the right job-related keywords and showcase exactly what the company wants.
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