Power of referrals and how it helped me become a product manager
Referrals! Tough to get one but very effective to switch roles or land a new job.
I am working as a Product Manager currently, but I faced challenges to transition in this role.
In my first job I worked as an Open Innovation Consultant, where I worked with a lot of startups. Our function was responsible to build innovative solution offerings for an IT firm using the startup ecosystem. I enjoyed my role, but I wanted to work as a Product Manager since the final semester of my MBA.
So what were the challenges to becoming a Product Manager?
1 Lack of subject matter expertise: I never had a dedicated Product Management course in my MBA.
What helped?
- I learned the basics about the role from YouTube videos, books, and courses from Udemy.
- I got myself to work with a team that worked on creating an internal portal in my organization. This helped me to work with an actual problem, design wireframes, and learn from the process.
2 Not getting calls for Product Management roles due to lack of experience: I used to apply for entry-level roles on LinkedIn, company websites, and all the job listing websites I could find. The conversion rate was very low.
As per my experience applying for jobs had a response rate of being shortlisted around 2%.
What helped? REFERRALS
Result: I landed a role in my desired profile.
So, what did I do to get a referral?
I relied heavily on cold e-mails/messages. I wrote to my seniors in college, LinkedIn connections, HRs from the organizations where I wanted to work and my peers. I leveraged the following mediums to do this:
- WhatsApp formal reach outs from my Alumni groups (Bachelors and Masters)
- LinkedIn messages to my connections
- E-Mails to the HRs and employees of the organizations where I saw a relevant opening
Even if my connections would not be working in the same profile I would ask them to refer me for a position that I liked.
Pro-tip: I would request the connections to let me know if they came up a new opening in their network. This helped me make new connections and explore good opportunities in organization not originally on my radar.
What did I write in my e-mails/messages?
I would keep the emails short and to the point. I would mention what I was doing then, which was the role that I loved in the person’s organization, and a request to put in a referral with my resume attached to the message/e-mail.
A crisp message is always easy to grasp in the first go.
Ankur Warikoo (who I love for the content he makes) has a beautiful thread named “The art of cold emailing” on Twitter. Please feel free to visit the same for tips.
What was the conversion rate?
10 percent!!! Of all the people who I reached out to, 10% of them would reply (that’s a win).
Even if they never had an opening in the organization, they would let me know the further plans for hiring, something related to my profile, or help me to apply somewhere else.
Thanks to the folks who referred me, I interviewed for a Fintech startup, a Fresh Produce Supply Chain startup, an e-commerce player in Southeast Asia, an EdTech organization, a research and consultancy organization, a call center solution company, and a regional social media startup.
All the above interviews were helpful for me to identify the gaps in my preparation and to narrow down the kind of product that I wanted to work for.
Do I refer folks?
Of course. I refer folks in my organization all the time.
I hope my experience would be helpful for you to use referrals. Please reach out to me in case you want to know anything specific.
