Preparing Your Resume

In tech, it's highly important to tailor your resume to the specific role that you are applying for. Ensure that words in your resume reflect the requirements and/or desired qualifications for the role. To do this, scan your resume for important keywords, and if you don't have them, find ways to embed them into your resume. Having these keywords will be helpful to signal to recruiters that you are indeed a fit for the job.

Tips for developing content:

  1. Numbers are universal. Driving $80M of incremental revenue or 100K new monthly active users is easy and quick to understand impact.

  2. Show your impact. Be the catalyst. Write in terms of what you've specifically accomplished, not what your task was.

  3. Less is more. Stick to one page. Blaise Pascal famously wrote: . Take the time to be concise so every word adds value.

    I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time

  4. Unconventional experience works. Don't limit yourself. If you created an open-source project, then explain why you built it. If you ran online ads for your neighbor's small business, then show the business value of it. Passion projects are one of the highest ROI investments an aspiring PM can pursue.

  5. Build honest credibility. Avoid buzzwords. Showing how a seemingly-unrelated experience can be applied to a PM role builds a story.

As always, we recommend working with CMG and peer advisors throughout the resume drafting process, and to start as early as possible!

PM Resume Keywords + Examples

Reflect As You Draft Your Resume

  1. What products are you most excited by? Why? Is there a pattern among these products (i.e. sector, B2B vs B2C, company mission, company values, etc.)?
  2. In your past experiences, what are your strengths? What are the experiences that gave you the most energy? What are the experiences that drained you?
  3. Which elements of product management are you most excited about? Which responsibilities would fall into your ideal day at work?
  4. Which skills of a product manager do you feel like I've excelled at in the past? Which skills do you need or hope to learn?
  5. What are some past experiences that you've had that might translate into a product management role?