Resume writing for managers | Product Manager CV example with tips

Resume or CV (curriculum vitae) is essential for building your professional brand. If you are someone who is aiming for Manager roles in top Technology companies, then this post will help you create the manager resume for your dream role! Through this, I am sharing my learnings of over ten years which have helped me to refine my resume and get shortlisted in almost all Big tech companies, including Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Stripe, and Alibaba. We often get confused about what attracts recruiters and hiring managers. Modern-day managers need a union of business, people and technology skills, which many times are not reflected in the resumes. Therefore, we will cover both general as well as some specialized aspects of CV making that are relevant for today’s tech and business managers.

Management of the New Age

• Program Managers
• Product Managers
• Product Marketing Managers
• Engineering Managers
• Customer Success Managers
  
  

Trivia!

A resume is "A short written story of your education, qualifications, career, and aspirations."
In the professional world, resume building is one of the first steps toward learning the art of selling yourself. It helps the companies determine if you are a good fit for the company without having to invest their time in a personal interview. Often in large size companies, recruiters select a handful of resumes from the thousands of resumes submitted by the candidates. These resumes are then vetted by the Hiring managers for further shortlisting. The same resume is then used throughout the selection process by various interviewers till your final selection. While Linkedin profiles are increasingly used, you will still need a traditional 1-2 page long Resume or CV in a word or pdf format to apply to most companies.

Broadly, a resume or CV is a brief about -

• Your Goals - What do you want to do? What are you seeking?
  - Role, Industry, Business problems, Scale, Growth

• Your Experience - What have you done so far? Why is it relevant?
  - Internships, Freelancing, Self-owned business, Projects, Research papers, KPIs, Responsibilities, People Management

• Your USP - Why you? Why is it significant?
  - Key achievements, Awards, Scholarships, Competitions, Strengths

• Your Qualifications - What can you do? What is your eligibility?
  - Academic background, Certifications, Courses, Skills - languages, technical

SAMPLE RESUME

Let’s take an example of a professional resume for a Product Manager

Now’s lets catch the learnings from this sample product manager resume and decode how resume writing works!

1) Keep in mind "The Purpose"

Make your CV stand out in 10 seconds. Order matters!

A good resume will not just get you shortlisted by the Hiring and Recruiting managers, but also sets your impression throughout your interviews. Consider your resume your space-constrained advertisement that you carry with you to every interview.
Resume should of course state the details about your background, including work experience, education, skills, projects and interests. Though your current role is important, especially when you are applying for similar positions, your current and past responsibilities add much less value.
Prioritize your achievements and value delivered to the organizations. The most important things should come first and be highlighted. Generally, Reverse-Chronological order works best, especially if you have the relevant experience.
10 second rule says that HR and hiring managers generally spend about 10 seconds skimming your resume and deciding your shortlisting. Anything more than 1 page means you are demanding more time and reducing your chances. Your resume should act as a credible hook and evoke enough curiosity to call you for the interview.

Pro Tips:-
#Often, too many details in the resume kill the interest as unnecessary details add confusion (Less is better).
#Resume shortlisting is an elimination process. Avoid giving away any reasons for elimination e.g., work experience or project which is diagonally apart
#While trying your best to make your resume standout, avoid going over-board by using non-standard templates. Follow what works best in your geography. E.g., EU templates usually have photographs
#Use ATS-compatible templates to make it easy for recruitment software to read your resume properly

2) Focus on "Articulation"

Resume language should reflect clarity and confidence about your contributions; achievements e.g., achieved X% improvement vs team delivered Y% improvement.

• Be clear, precise and confident
• Be concise - Reduce words and convey as much as you can in a single page
• Show your domain knowledge - mention the right KPIs, technologies, and keywords e.g., logistics, customer experience, AI and supply chain optimization
• Be specific - Rank 2 out of 200 is better than Rank 1 out of 20
• As managers, always focus on business impact in terms of actual numbers - Rs 50 lacs sales vs Rs 50000 profit
• Claim your contributions - never understate your achievements within the team; state what You did/achieved

Pro Tips:-
#Always run a spell-check.
#To identify the keywords/skills that recruiters are looking for, use job descriptions, Linkedin profiles of people in similar roles and google trends

3) Work on your "Personal profile"

Everyone has different experiences, ages, education and motivations. However, you want to be truly differentiated from the others  to create a positive bias in favor of your selection. Introspect and build a clear picture of your personality. Reflect upon your strengths, weaknesses, your desires, motivations etc. Modify your resume to suit the role you are applying to.

4) A Lot can happen over a Call

A lot can happen over a call, even if you have the best resume. Be ready to be probed on your resume (A lot!). Anyway,

• Show Enthusiasm
• Stay Confident
• Communicate Clearly

Finally, if possible, show off your superpower that directly or indirectly helps you in the job. E.g., Creativity is always a sought-after skill everywhere.

Pro Tips:-
#Relate your strengths with the role that you have applied for - hard work is non-negotiable