Whether the time has come to start a new full-time career as a product manager or move companies to enhance your career, your product manager resume must stand out. You may know that you are a good product manager, but your resume needs to prove it to recruiters and potential employers as well.
A good product manager resume will highlight both a hard skill set and a soft skill set. Recruiters will look for evidence that you are a good team leader and communicator, have an understanding of customers, and that you can juggle multiple teams.
It's also a good idea to showcase your knowledge of industry lingo and the ability to work on low-cost solutions to prove to potential employers that you have the skills required to fill the product manager role.
Resume writing involves including a balance of your skills, experience, and education to present yourself as well-rounded and capable. Building a good resume is key to getting your foot in the door for an interview, which will give you the chance to expand on and explain your skillset and sell yourself as the great product manager that you are.
So how can all your product manager skills and work experience be crammed into one small document? Get started with our tips and tricks below. Plus, download our product manager resume template to see how it's done and get a head start on creating a resume that will get you an interview.
Product Manager Resume Template & Sample
We’ve put together a sample product manager resume and a template you can build off of to quickly prepare your PM resume:
What to Include in your Product Manager Resume
A product management resume has to reflect your abilities and skills and show employers that you can make things happen. The goal of a good resume is to highlight achievements that match the job description, showcase your value, and differentiate you from the other candidates.
Resume Objective
Applying for a position in product management means your resume should be packed with product development experience. Any titles such as associate product manager, department junior, a support rep, or assistant manager are all a big boost to your resume.
However, that does not mean it needs to be pages and pages long. Summarize your experiences and the other contents of your resume in your objective statement. Make sure your passion for the job comes across as well, and that your summary matches the job description.
Use lots of stats and details.
Here is an example of a resume objective.
- Example 1: "Highly adept technical product manager with 5+ years of experience, looking to utilize proven leadership and strategy skills to increase revenue at Techstar Incorporated. Attained 140% of the revenue targets in a fast-paced tech company. Directed 6 cross-functional teams and 2 development teams to 28% efficiency improvement and $1.4M total cost savings."
This says a lot in a short, concise, and direct blurb. It's a great way to sum things up for a quick read with lots of information.
If you are looking for an entry-level position, such as a junior product manager or associate product manager, you might not have as many achievements. You need to start somewhere in furthering your product manager career. You do not want to be vague; you want to be passionate and direct. Use a resume objective such as this:
- Example 2: "Energetic trained product manager seeking to grow revenue at Evan down Design. Created a mobile app with a total of 20,000 downloads. Developed 15 wireframes for small to medium size businesses and took 2nd place in a Techstars Startup Weekend. Interned as an associate product manager with Dow Company."
An objective like this makes you sound credible, talented, trained, and ready to hit the ground running. It also highlights internship experience as well as professional experience. You can prove yourself even without extensive experience. List any experience that deals with products, even if it's not at a management level. This could show you are ready to step into a more senior product manager role.
That being said, try to get some experience while in school or job hunting. Examples might include the following:
- Building a wireframe.
- Creating an app.
- Volunteering at a not-for-profit or small business.
- Researching a company’s existing products and coming up with ideas for improvements that you can present.
Work Experience
The reverse chronological layout is great for organizing the work experience section of your resume when applying for a product manager job. It shows your most recent work experience first, which prioritizes and showcases your most recent work. This shows how up-to-date and recent your work is, which is important in the product management field.
Our product manager resume sample will inspire you to be descriptive and in-depth about product and project management experience and will help you show the interviewer you can deliver as a team leader. Highlight your most recent job with 3-5 short bullet points about what you achieved in that role, such as product launches or major successes. Avoid using too many descriptive words.
Education
Along with experience, you need to list your education on your resume. List your school's name, location, how many years you attended, and what degree you obtained. Whether you have a master’s, BA, a certificate from an associate product manager program, or other product manager specialized courses, they should all be on your resume. Under each education entry, include more details about what you achieved.
Skills
Make sure your resume shows off your skills whether you are new to the field or you have been a product manager for a significant amount of time. It is not about how many skills you have; it is whether or not they match the product manager job you are applying for. Make a list that shows skills in relevant areas. How do you make it stand out from everyone else that has the same list of skills? By creating personal branding. Prove the skills that you do have with achievements or examples. Here are some samples:
- Improved customer satisfaction with user experience (UX) by 30% by increasing user feedback, synthesizing outcomes, and adding repeated discussion around customer needs.
- Launched 4 new products and 2 SaaS products in 2.5 years, increasing revenue by 25%.
- Managed 5 effective marketing campaigns with an ROI of 125%.
Here are some product management skills you might include on your resume in a skills section. Don't forget to include supporting examples to show you can utilize them.
List Of Soft Skills For Your Product Manager Resume
- Leadership
- Detail focused
- Good communicator
- Great team member
- Creative
- Good listener
- Creative problem solver
- Efficient time management
- Analytical thinker
- Able to act decisively
List Of Hard Skills For Your Product Manager Resume
- Strategic thinker
- Good forecasting ability
- Strong marketer
- Cross-functional abilities
- Strong product design ability
- UX
- Agile and Scrum educated
- Computer literate
- Research-driven
- Product roadmaps, product strategy, and product vision
- Market research
- Product marketing
- Ability to use JIRA
Additional Activities
Make sure to include additional activities at the end of your resume so interviewers can see that you have more than just work in your life. Don't forget about the tradeshow presentations you've given or articles or blogs you've written for relevant publications. Consider including things you achieved as a student as well, especially if you are a recent graduate.
It is also helpful to list any trade shows or conferences you have attended. Showcasing a desire to keep learning and stay on top of the ever-changing production world, even outside of formal education, gets potential employers and hiring managers excited.
You may have obtained a master's degree 20 years ago, but if you have never set foot in a conference and aren't interested in life-long learning, then employers will question your ability to be up-to-date on current trends and technologies.
Product Manager Resume Wrap-Up
These resume tips for product managers should guide and inspire you to build one that highlights your talents, skills, work history, and experience.
List your best attributes first and then fill in the rest with all the solid abilities you have to offer a company. Your resume format is also important—make sure it stands out with easy-to-read fonts, large headings, and by keeping it clean and sleek.
Our product manager resume template is here to help if you get stuck.
Pair your product manager resume with a stellar cover letter to secure the interview. Don't forget to check your LinkedIn as well, to make sure it matches your resume in case recruiters take a look at your profile as part of their decision process.
Whether you are just beginning your career in product management, or are looking to move into a product manager role, you can build a resume that will make a hiring manager take notice, and put you at the front of the line for an interview, hopefully ending your job search with a job offer that will advance your career.
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