How to get your first role in Product Management from the perspective of a recruiter
Rebecca Dengate
Background
As someone who fell into this industry, I’ve been lucky enough to recruit in the product space for a little over 4 years now, currently the sole Product recruiter at TheDriveGroup - a crazy good boutique recruitment agency in Sydney specifically hiring across the tech landscape >.<. I’ve joined a team of true specialists who know their verticals inside out; it’s great to work alongside people who are great at what they do and share their knowledge whenever needed.
I work with incredible businesses across Australia’s tech landscape to build outstanding product teams, from early-stage start-ups, larger enterprise companies, and everything in between. All are vastly different in terms of their product ethos, how they’re structured and how they’ve found successful ways of working.
Product management is found in 95% of industries, from Retail, FinTech and EdTech, to the complex world of Logistics, Defence and AI. Lucky for me, there’s usually someone who does ‘Product’ in most organisations, no matter what the company is, I get to learn about new concepts, products and the evolving tech scene - yay!
Apart from hearing about the cool new things being brought to life, the best part of my role is both helping match people to their dream job and simultaneously helping clients find that gem that will take their product team to the next level.
I’m in the process of bringing a Product podcast to life, which really dives into the ugly side of Product that you don’t hear about in a Marty Cagan book, we’ll also discuss tweaks they made in their career that changed the game for the Product thought-leaders being interviewed - it should be super valuable to any product people willing to listen to my awkward questions for 20 minutes.
Ultimately, the purist Product workflow is not relevant to 95% of companies. Product Managers need to navigate what will, and can, work in their current organisation, and what can be altered, influenced or picked up at a later stage; sometimes, it’s just not realistically possible.
What does your day to day look like as a Product recruiter?
About 20% paperwork and 30% client focus including calls, research and organising interviews. The bulk of a day, around 50%, is talking to candidates, depending on meetings and any dreaded admin there is. Generally maintaining and growing your network is crucial to being a great recruiter.
Candidates I speak to are either fresh to the job search, simply putting the feelers out to see what’s out there, or I’m currently working with them through the interview process. A lot of time goes into preparing candidates so they have all the information they need regarding the role, the people they’re meeting and making sure they aren’t going to get caught out by certain questions. I always like to check they’ve done their part in terms of research on the company, interviewers and the product offering/ role specifics by having relevant examples ready to discuss and their achievements.
It’s important that a recruiter is confident with every candidate they work with as our personal and company reputation, and brand, is on the line with every CV that’s put in front of a client. Naturally, clients (ie. the businesses that we help recruit for) are crucial to a recruiters success. They have a choice to come to use an internal team, come to us, or use another agency. As they say, ‘trust is built in drops and lost in buckets’ and we have a finite opportunity to provide the best the market has to offer. In saying that, without your candidate network, you really have nothing.
Business Development is a large part of what we do, reaching out to new and existing clients is crucial, one check-in call can be the difference between someone working with us on filling an open role or working with Joe Bloggs who found the time to give them a bell first, timing is everything. Different touch points with clients can include:
A simple message to touch base on how they’re doing
An introduction to a candidate with a relevant skill set
A piece of great content that aligns with their interests or industry, a great newsletter, or an invitation to a meetup
A job well done for me personally is immediately adding value to anyone I speak to and developing trust.
How do you work with early career PMs?
From Associate PMs through to CPOs, my focus is on the more senior end of that spectrum due to demand. Associate PM, or entry-level Product roles are few and far between and will rarely come to an agency recruiter. They’re usually sourced through a company’s own internal talent team or their employees’ network. Clients are happy to manage that process to find a great junior they resonate with, as the main differentiators are usually 1. How that person has decided to spend their time up until now - experience, personal projects, study or starting a business 2. Their attitude (this is the biggest one) and 3. Their drive for Product Management and the problem they'll be solving, plus, if they really know what they’re getting themselves into as a PM and their current understanding of the craft.
People who are highly motivated, who take the initiative to learn independently about product concepts, Design, Development and frameworks, are the standouts. If you have personal projects and achievements to showcase this, then you are miles ahead of most applicants. I will say that being outgoing and confident (not arrogant) gives you the upper hand in most cases, although there are also many fantastic introverted Product Managers who have worked their way through the Tech ecosystem to arrive in a product role.
Product is a very people-focused role where you need to influence through relationship building and storytelling. For that reason, empathy plays a huge part in drawing on people’s emotion when communicating. Not to mention conveying complex concepts that are easily digested. Being passionate, insatiably curious, empathetic, and a confident communicator is important to demonstrate when meeting a prospective employer. I always say to take the risk out of who you are as an associate or entry-level candidate as you don’t have company names, products you’ve delivered or product-leaders to give you credibility. You have the three things I’ve mentioned above. Deep dive into those elements with a fine tooth comb.
Unfortunately, outside of these general qualities, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all rule for Product hiring. Some businesses want an executor who they can point and shoot, others will want someone autonomous and strategic who will intuitively and independently find and tackle problems without having their hand held. Some hiring managers want SME knowledge in the industry as a must-have, whereas others want someone with a fresh perspective who can bring their experience from other industries; it really depends on the client and the role. This is why some people, whilst perfect for what they’ve applied for, aren’t getting a peep from the company or recruiter.
Advice for navigating the current job market
The current job market is starting to look much better, and the buzz of recruitment is picking up again. Companies that have held off filling roles they desperately need, are finally getting those roles signed off up top. Product in particular is bouncing back as so many product professionals were unfortunately made redundant in 2023.
Now is a great time to start having conversations, reaching out to your network and getting your CV out there as we’re well and truly into 2024. I would always suggest optimising your CV for each role by using your prior experience to address the ‘Requirements’ and ‘Skills’ section in the job description. You can also look into a company’s ‘vision statement’ and their ‘About Us’ if there is no job per se.
There are certain applicant tracking systems (ATS) that grade applicants on their suitability based on job description and the CV being analysed; set yourself up for success in that regard by addressing as many relevant criteria as possible. A Canva template is always refreshing for the eyes and allows recruiters and clients to digest more information quickly due to the layout, spacing and font. Avoid walls of text, I hate to say it, but no one will read it. The key to a good CV is a great summary, keeping bullet points succinct and including as many achievements as you can for each role with as few filler words as possible. The aim of any company is to delight their customers, and to ultimately make money, so displaying commercial acumen using the right language will go a long way.
Frame your existing experiences to fit the job description, for instance, if your experience is in hospitality you are probably good with people, you problem-solve in high-pressure environments, and you’re comfortable talking to customers to understand their pain points.
If you’re keen to work for companies with great product culture, I would suggest approaching product recruiters with a dream list of companies to discuss, as every company is so different. Whilst some have a well-known brand in market, I would say we have a long way to go in terms of truly customer-led product management in Australian businesses.
Researching and practising standard product interview questions as much as you possibly can will solidify your capability in your mind, and allow you to articulate your experience well when it comes to the crunch. This can be with a friend, an acquaintance in the tech space who will invest time with you, a mentor or coach, even in the mirror. Make sure you can speak to every point on your CV and back it up with scenarios, context, who you collaborated with, and impact/ achievements.
Using the STAR method is a great way to frame your response (Situation, Task, Action, Result)
Situation - What was the situation - the problem you were trying to solve and context
Task - What were you tasked with, or tasked yourself with
Action - What were your action steps that ultimately led to the outcome
Result - Show the impact this had for the business/ customer using tangible data - Achievements, NPS, Adoption, Delivered A,B,C, partnerships, $$ saved
Finally, be tenacious. Go to all the meetups you can. Follow up with people in interesting Product roles and cool companies. If you get speaking to a hiring manager, share your CV and make your interest in a product role clear. Enthusiasm is infectious, and if you can back that up by taking action and demonstrating your ability to understand people’s problems and create solutions then you’ll start head and shoulders above the competition.
Resources
Meetups:
Product Academy - Lunch & learn session - you guessed, they're around lunch time so you don't have to sacrifice crucial work time.
Product Circle Chat - Irene hosts a notable speaker to discuss something insightful & relevant - it's always a good time.
Leading The Product - The in-person events are something else, especially LTP CON - see one of my summaries here.
Product School NY - these are either very early, or very late... but worth it.
GenAI for Product - I’m working with Alex to bring this series to the Sydney Product community!
TheDriveGroup will also be planning a Product meet up in the next few months - so watch this space!
Product Newsletters & People to follow:
