Looking for a product manager job during the COVID-19 crisis
We recently held a discussion about how hiring for product management roles has changed over the past several weeks while the world was turning upside down:
- who is still hiring,
- how the recruitment process has changed,
- what are the dos and don’ts in the new reality
and more.
Sam Franklin has also provided his insightful additional commentary that you can find in this article.
Sam Franklin
Co-founder & CEO @ Otta, a startup that helps job seekers find roles at the world’s most innovative companies in London. Otta has recently launched the feature to filter employers who confirmed that they are still hiring during COVID-19.
What is the biggest change in the hiring of tech talent that you’ve seen happening over the last several weeks?
I realise this is obvious, but the implication is important.
1 — Fewer companies are hiring, and the open PM roles are shifting towards senior positions (rather than junior or associate).
2 — The dynamic in the recruitment market has shifted. There are a lot more candidates than job vacancies. It’s competitive out there!
The strongest recommendation I have right now is to make fewer, better applications. Don’t send 20 applications via Quick Apply per night. Find the 5 you like and spend time thinking about why you’re interested, and write a tailored answer to “Why do you want to work for [Company]?”
I know this may sound counterintuitive during a tough time. Job search is a numbers game. But if everyone else is playing the strategy “I’ll send 20 applications an evening” and you’re writing better applications to 5, you should end up in a more positive position.
How to find open roles? Who is still hiring? How to understand that the role is real and the ad is not out of date?
If you’re looking for a job at a startup/fast-growth technology company, Otta is a good place to start. We sync with company’s jobs pages every 8 hours to see what jobs are live (as we know dead/out-of-date roles are frustrating). We also have a list of companies that have confirmed to us they’re hiring during COVID-19.
If you’re not looking for startups, try and find the company’s website to see if the job is live. That’s the only source of truth. Unfortunately, LinkedIn isn’t built in a way that will auto-update a role to being dead when a company takes it down.
The positive thing is that on Otta we’re seeing tech roles (engineering, PM, data) being cut the least. There are a few reasons for this: i) it’s hard to find great people in these roles, so it still makes sense to search as a company and ii) the common advice in crisis times is to invest in the product — as that’s commonly what defines startups staying ahead of their competitors; businesses will try to make cuts elsewhere.
Now that the competition among PMs is even higher than ever how can one stand out among the other candidates?
1 — Write fewer, better applications (as mentioned above).
2 — Focus your CV on PM traits. I’ve done some work to look at 100s of PM job descriptions, and have synthesised the most common skills required:
- Work cross-functionally (especially with engineering and product design) and influence key stakeholders
- Track analytics with tools (e.g. Google Analytics, Mixpanel and Looker)
- Data-driven approach to add value to users (e.g. user feedback, A/B testing)
- Analytical and quantitative skills (e.g. revenue forecasts, pricing models)
- Prioritise the roadmap and run sprints to build software (e.g. planning sessions, retrospectives)
- Communicate by telling compelling stories and tailoring to the audienceEven if you aren’t a PM yet, you could be trying to find ways to demonstrate these skills in your CV. The best CVs are tailored and make it clear to the hiring manager that you’ve thought about what is needed.
3 — When you’re at the interview, ask great questions. I wrote a blog with inspiration on what to research. It’s a sure way to leave a good impression, especially when interview assessments are abnormal. (Previously you may have excelled at an interview at the whiteboard doing a sprint plan, but that’s tricky now)
Why ask great questions? I always look for PMs who i) understand the product and ii) can take ownership to figure out how to improve it. I have a strong belief the best way to do that is to ask great questions about the data, user-behaviour, user-problems, etc.
What should one do if you can’t find a job right now?
Stay positive and try to be productive (read about product management, prepare your CV, speak to people doing the PM role right now, etc).
Unfortunately, the PM role has a real chicken-and-egg problem. A lot of PM roles say “We’d like you to have 1+ years of PM experience” but then there are few companies willing to offer a chance to step-up without the explicit experience.
This means you may have to be a bit entrepreneurial! E.g. I know a large number of people who have made internal moves to become a PM. It could be a smart strategy to join a company that is hiring in a different role, knowing there may be a future opportunity to transition.
We hold regular community meet-ups for aspiring product managers: you can watch the last panel discussion recording on Youtube, like us on Facebook and join our future events on Meetup.
