How to Craft a Product Management Resume Without Previous Experience: Part 1

It may sound impossible to create a Product Manager resume if you’ve never had the official title before.  

SOOO many people get hung up on this! 

But the good news is that you probably are a Product Manager already, but you just don’t know it.  

In part 1 of this blog series, we will take you step-by-step through the most important but often overlooked part of your resume: identifying your personal brand. 

Start By Asking Yourself What You’re Proud Of

The hardest part of writing an impactful resume is getting over our humbleness. It feels so awkward to brag about what we’ve done in the past. 

I find this simple reframe from what have you achieved to what are you proud of makes all the difference. You can even ask a friend to ask you this question and see your responses. 

I’ve asked this question to hundreds of people and all of a sudden, they light up. They tell me about the massive impact they’ve created at work, how they’ve made the world a better place, how they’ve helped others, and the challenges they’ve overcome. They speak with hope and pride, knowing that what they are proud of matters.  

Here’s an example. Once a student came to me with a resume that said she’d worked for a financial company where she “drove efficiencies” and “developed materials” for her organization. The wording was so tactical that I had no idea what she did! Then I asked her what she was proud of at that role, and she said this: “Oh I have something I’m actually really proud of. It was a side project, but we were trying out a new savings account that also helped women get health insurance for their children. We found that children in my home country were lacking health insurance and families were not saving enough. We knew that moms would do anything for their kids, so this saving account helped 700 women save more and get insurance for their kids.” 

Can you believe the difference!?! Just by asking what she was proud of, this woman discovered that she was part of a team that created a financial product that solved two major problems at once and created massive impact. These are the types of stories that define careers! And this experience is Product Management in a nutshell! Problems were discovered, solutions were tested, the product was adopted, and the results were incredible. THIS is Product Management!  

See The Trends

Once you’ve asked yourself what you’re proud of for each of your past experiences, trends will start to emerge. Write down the key words that reflect these trends. For example, do you see analytics as a key thread? Do you see problem-solving in complex messy situations as a thread? How about starting new initiatives when others are scared? Find the trends and this is your secret sauce. 

Image: Arooj took her financial experience and landed a job as a Product Manager for a financial company

For example, I was talking to a geologist who wanted to pivot into Product Management. He felt like his past experience was too random and unrelated to be relevant. After he talked about all the stories, he was proud of, including using fuzzy data to develop a new project in Indonesia, discovering new analytics that optimized oil and gas development, implementing a new software to better collect data for exploration decision making, we discovered that he had world-class experience in data analytics Product Management. This experience is unique and highly sought after by recruiters.  

See The Products In Your Experience

People tell me all the time that they’ve never built a product before. I disagree. A product is something that brings value to an organization. It is repeatable and scalable. When we look at it this way, even a process, a methodology, a program, or a best practice can be seen as a product. So, is there something you did that helped bring efficiency to an organization? Did you get others to adopt this? How many people have you served using this product? Did you develop something new for your organization? 

Image: Our recent graduate Ciprian saw the products in his previous experience in broadcasting and energy. This experience landed him a job as a Product Marketing Manager.

Here’s an example. Once I was talking to a social worker about her experience. It seems like her experience wouldn’t be relevant to Product Management or technology. Then I asked her how many people she’s helped and how she did it. Turns out that over her 10-year career she had helped thousands of people navigate the legal system. She did this by creating email automations, FAQs, honing processes and practices, and creating methodologies that helped her help more people than anyone else in her office. She used technology and education to make this happen. I don’t know about you, but this experience sounds very relevant to me!  

Bring it All Together With A Product Manager Bio

Take all the stories, results, and incredible things you’ve done and create a speaker bio for yourself. This is your brand! Imagine you're invited to speak at a conference about a topic you are an expert on. What would this bio say? Often a bio will include your years of experience, major accomplishments and results, and what you’re truly an expert at. You just need a couple big results here to capture people’s attention and bring credibility. You can even take your big key points from the above exercises and use AI to help you write your bio!  

Here’s an example from one of our students: 

Victoria is an innovative Product Manager and Product Operations expert with over 10 years of experience creating game-changing FinTech products. Victoria started her career in Nigeria after completing an Economics Masters at the University of Nottingham. Her unique global background allowed her to lead a cross-functional team at LAPO Microfinance Bank in partnership with the World Savings Bank Institute to launch a first-of-its-kind savings and insurance product in Nigeria. This FinTech product was adopted by 700 women and increased their savings rates by incentivizing good money habits with insurance coverage rewards for their children. Victoria’s product and process efficiency expertise also helped her launch a microloan product in partnership with Lafarge. This product used small disbursements to limit loan risk, and directly led to the building of 3000 homes. Now Victoria uses her global experience to help Canadian-based startups build better financial products.

After writing a bio, you should have a clear idea of what makes you an absolute boss. Now you can start tailoring your resume to your brand and position yourself as the Product Manager you are. 

In the next blog, we will talk about how to take this brand and create a killer resume and portfolio. 

See you there!  

Become a Product Manager: The Tacit Edge Advantage in Training and Education:

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