I spoke with someone today about being a product manager. He is completing his MBA soon and has little work experience. “Without much experience, how can I get a job as a product manager?” he asked.
Here is what I told him.
Companies want to know if you have the right mindset, critical thinking skills, and culture fit. If you don’t have the work experience, you can do this with what I call a “Portfolio of Thoughts.”
Just as designers have portfolios and developers have code samples, product managers can demonstrate their skills with a collection of essays on how they think through the development of a product. This can be as simple as a blog.
For each entry, I would recommend topics such as:
- Picking a particular problem and proposing a solution for it, in as much detail as possible. Go through your thought process and rationale.
- Picking an existing product and offering a balanced critique. If you love this product, why? And if you don’t, why?
- Picking an existing product and proposing how you would make it better. Again, offer your rationale.
Those three topics ought to provide you with enough material to accumulate a portfolio of thoughts. A recruiter who reads this will get a great sense of your product sensibilities and thought process.
After you have a long list of posts, don’t worry about going back and revising old entries. Feel free to add updates though. Include a note indicating that you have updated the post too. Everyone’s skills grow and evolve over time. What you have written about a product in the past may differ from what you would write now, so an archive of your thoughts can serve as a demonstration of how you have grown as a product thinker.
Also, take the time to follow and read the blogs of other product managers. Read books on being a good product manager. Meet and have coffee with experienced product managers. Pick their brains. Study good products. Study bad products. Study this craft. And keep up your portfolio of thoughts.
In lieu of a job, doing all of this will grow your skills while providing recruiters with a fantastic way of getting to know you.
As an added bonus: This will be a great way to build your personal brand too.
