Re-Launching Yourself As A True Product Leader
Re-Launching Yourself As A True Product Leader
As a kid, I don’t remember the exact moment that I realised it.
Maybe it was the first time I was left out of a sports team.
Or get a lower grade than I expected.
Maybe it was just a gradual process as I gained more life experience.
Either way, there was a moment where I realised the following:
That life is unfair.
Sometimes we are passed over for promotion despite doing a better job than our colleague.
Or we don’t get that dream job, despite our perfect CV.
Or our lazy childhood friend has someone managed to stumble upon a better paid, more enjoyable job, despite how much harder we work than them.
Whatever the injustice, here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Who cares?
Nobody. Not really.
And nobody is gonna come & fix that perceived injustice for you.
So the better question to ask yourself is this:
What are you going to do about it?
Two Key Things to Focus on to Get Unstuck
As we said on Day 1, most Product Managers are looking to get a promotion or to get into a new role (usually, one where they will learn a lot more).
And, unfortunately, many great Product Managers are simply passed over for promotion, or don’t get a job they are a great fit for.
We could call that unfair…
Or we could call it reality.
The key thing to do is to take action on the things we can control. That comes down to two key things that will dramatically increase our chances of success in getting un-stuck:
Building a lot of product experience
Selling that product experience
Why?
As much as you might not like the idea, you are a product.
You need to have a clear value proposition, a unique value proposition that fits the roles you are aiming to get, then focus on delivering on that value proposition in order to build relevant experience & sell yourself effectively.
In short, you must productise yourself.
But how do you productise yourself?!
Whether pursuing promotion, or trying to get a new role, you generally face three specific stages in the process:
Step 1: HR/a recruiter will review our CV to see if they see enough potential to interview you
Step 2: HR/a recruiter will run an initial interview to see if you seem likeable & trustworthy
Step 3: A senior product person will interview you to see what your level of product knowledge & experience is really like
In the next section, we’ll break down what specifically each step consists of, as well as providing one high impact tip for each step that you can focus on in order to maximise your chances of getting that promotion or new job.
How to Productise Yourself
Step 1: Build a Compelling CV
In order to actually get into an interview, you need to create a compelling CV.
By compelling CV, we don’t necessarily need to sell you as the final product at this stage! That’s what all the interviews are for. We simply need to show that you seem to have enough potential to be worth interviewing.
Here are two high-impact tips to help you demonstrate potential:
Introduction: Keep this VERY concise. Just highlight 2-3 key achievements in your product career, such as note-worthy achievements
For each role: Aim for 3 concise bullet points. The first two should outline specific key business results you have delivered (ideally any positive impact on acquisition, activation, retention, revenue and/or referrals. For internal products, a specific amount of time/money saved for the organisation). The final point should list all of your responsibilities and/or skills from that role
Here is a template for this, as well as an example CV below:
Step 2: Build An Inspiring Personal Story
Once you are able to get your CV approved & you’re accepted into an interview, you need to sell yourself effectively.
The initial interview is rarely about your product skill set or experience. It’s usually conducted by a non-product person to see what you are like as a person. And it usually kicks off with some variation of the question:
“Tell me a little bit about yourself…”
This isn’t the time to explain your CV, or show off! You just need to come across as - at a minimum - likeable and trustworthy. Beyond that, however, you want to come across as an inspiring leader. Somebody they would love to work with. Somebody that would really motivate the team.
We suggest preparing for this question using the following script, which is designed to build a compelling story arc for the interviewer to follow — and to buy into your journey. You would be amazed at how powerful a tool this is.
Use the prompts below to write out key points you should cover in your own personal story:
Step 3: Preparing For The Product Interview
The final stage is being interviewed on your actual product experience.
Remember, the real preparation here is done before the interview! That preparation comes from building real experience out in the real world.
Whether it be through advising a startup, building your own side product, or gaining as much experience as possible on the job, all of it will help prepare you for this interview.
One key tip, however: You still need to communicate that experience effectively in order to sell yourself effectively.
That comes down to having a very clear product playbook that you can talk through for any product-related question, whether it’s talking about a product you’ve previously worked on, or how you would address a specific product challenge for the product you are interviewing to work on.
To prepare that product playbook, we suggest always addressing the following:
Demonstrating you are clear on the business goals & context
Showing a deep understanding of the root problem you are solving
Communicating the product vision clearly & succinctly
Demonstrating an understanding of your product strategy — and, more importantly, why you decided upon that specific product strategy
Demonstrating a clear process for execution; ideally, an iterative process using data to inform each of your decisions
Communicating how you influenced stakeholders along that journey to convert ideas to action
We use a case study template that breaks each step down with clear objectives & key results (OKRs) to help you structure this narrative clearly. Here’s a snapshot, but you can access the template with this link:
This is the template our Prod MBA alumni use when presenting the final case study of the product they’ve developed from scratch during our 8-week bootcamp.
For those interviewing for jobs, it has became an absolute secret weapon, as interviewers are super interested in seeing the product students develop on the CV, they ask about it during the initial interview, and it becomes a really effective vehicle for communicating your product experience & playbook in the product interview.
Conclusion
If your career is stuck, it may be unfair. It probably isn’t your fault that the company is slow-moving & decisions are made top-down.
It’s unfair that you’ve put a lot of work in, but aren’t able to get that dream job.
But you can either sulk about it, or take action on what you can control.
What you can control:
Building up as much product experience as possible.
Working to communicate - and thus sell - that product experience effectively to your stakeholders & to an interviewer.
Tomorrow, in our final email, I’ll explain how you can take action & fast-track your path to Head of Product.
See you then,