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I got two emails this week in response to my last newsletter on How to Get Into Product Management . I’ve also had this question a few times from friends who want to get into product. To summarize and rephrase, the questions are:

Without direct PM experience, what’s the best way to apply for a role and not get ignored?

This past newsletter, as well as this one — are therefore most relevant if you’re thinking about, or trying to, get your first PM job. However, the approach covered is still very very valuable at catching the attention of hiring managers.

So, let’s get into it. 👇

Like I've said before – the PM roles differ pretty widely across companies.

Things like the industry, market, product life-cycle, company size, culture, team composition, and your seniority  — are some of the larger factors that influence what the role of the PM will be on the team.

Knowing all the skills of a PM will always be helpful – however, at some companies you may end up doing a lot more of some of them, and none of the others. That's okay and expected — but it also means you need to know what you want, and therefore what you're looking for, in a job. 

So, before applying to product roles, you first need to understand what kind of product you’d manage successfully. Look for industries and products where your current abilities and knowledge would bring a lot of value. For example, if you have experience working with restaurants and food — some sort of on-demand food app could be a good fit for you.

Ideally, you want to work on products that you get. If consumer businesses make more sense to you, lean into that. If you love using a certain product, and you get it, that's a great overlap. Essentially, your sweet spot looks something like this.

Here's how to approach finding that sweet spot, and then applying for a role in it:

1. Pin-pointing a sector to work in

First, based on your educational background, work experience, and interests, you want to start figuring out which sector to work on. A sector could be something like travel-tech, ad-tech, ed-tech, fin-tech, food-tech, health-tech, SaaS, crypto, Web3, or anything. Write down no more than 3 sectors that interest you – 1 is also great.
Next, do a decent amount of reading up on the market and industry. Ultimately - you want to know what's going on in that sector.

2. List out the companies in that sector

Make a prioritized list of about 20 companies in that sector where you would want to work. Ideally you're picking a sector where you already have some companies in mind. You can find others with a Google search, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, Angel List, etc. 

Once you have a list of companies, you can start adding a few columns in your Google Sheet to give some more color to your decisions. For instance:

• Company Size (i.e Large, Mid, Small, Startup).

• Number of product people.  

• Has APM program?

The smaller the company is, the easier it will be to reach out to a decision maker - but the bigger they are, the more brand power you'll get on your resume.

3. Learn about the company and show value. 

 Effort stands out, so much –and it's your secret weapon when you don't have much, or any, experience on your resume. Most people that apply for roles just apply via LinkedIn. Your goal should be to go beyond the extra mile, and differentiate yourself with a memorable application. 

So, how do you do that?

It's about learning the ins and outs of the company (as feasibly as possible), and then taking your insights and actually giving them something valuable to use.

And how do you do that?

1. Take a deep dive into their product.
   Explore, sign up, and use/tear down their product. What different products and features do they have? How do they fit together? Who are their main customers, and what overarching problem and job are they solving for them? Be critical, and makes notes on what they do well, and don't – and take screenshots on the journey where necessary. What aspects did you find delightful, and which ones are confusing or create friction? Further to just the product itself – how do they make money? What's the business model? This will help you with a later step as you propose potential suggestions.
   

2. Invest in research.
   This includes doing some market and user research. Spend some more time thinking about and documenting who their customers are and what their current target market is. Are there any adjacent markets that you can see this company growing into? On the user research side – ideally you can speak to a few users, otherwise search the places where users are talking about the product (i.e Reddit). How do they feel about it, and what feedback can you extract about the product? On the competitor side – what does that landscape look like? Who are the other players, and what is this company's differentiating position in the market?
   

3. Put together a demonstration of your value.
   With your research and insights in hand – the next step is to put together a clean and concise deck (this is the easiest to scan through), or a well written document that outlines your analysis and thinking, with concrete recommendations. These can be from small product improvements based on your experience and feedback, to more substantial opportunities for the product/company. The more you can show here, the better. Just as an example, if you have some screenshots, put those into a user-flow tool and make annotations to hi-light UX feedback. The extra mile truly makes the biggest difference here – so if you have design skills, invest is some wireframes. If people see your presentation, they will almost certainly talk about it, and almost definitely reply to you. 
   
   In the last slide of your deck – include next steps with your information. A quick who you are, and your contact details.

    

4. Reach out and share your deck

Now that you've done the leg work – reach out to decision makers at the company and share the work you've done. Depending on the company size, this might be the CEO, the CPO, CTO, Head or Director of product, or even a senior PM on the team. You need to get creative here – so search the company about and team pages for names, use LinkedIn and Twitter, and check the welcome emails you get after joining (often with startups, you can one from the CEO). You want to avoid reaching out to a recruiter if you can and focus on decision makers. Be prepared to send a handful of follow ups during this process.

When you reach out initially, start with tight introduction and quick few points about why you're passionate about this company and product, attach your deck, and have a clear call to action at the end. 

5. Repeat for other companies in your list

These analyses take time to do, so the best way to think about your time investment here is two-fold. First, you're trying to explicitly get this job. Second, you're practicing your skills and investing in those case-studies I mentioned that you can now add to your portfolio/resume! This means that when you do this and don't get any bites – it's not for nothing. The more you do these, the more polished they will get and the more confident in your research and analysis skills you'll become.

—

This process may seem like a lot to do, and it is. But especially if you're gunning for your first PM position, the differential and advantage that this gives you over a regular application is huge, and so worth it – especially considering all the hard work you've put into getting to this point. 

Following this approach works for a handful of reasons. First, it demonstrates and validates the skills the company is looking to hire in a highly relevant way (the analysis is about them) and shows how your package your thinking and communicate – vital skills of a PM.  This is something resumes can't assure, and you're helping them de-risk their decision. Second, you stand out. It shows them that you're a do-er and an owner – you figure stuff out, you get shit done, you put in effort, you actively find a creative way to make what you need to happen happen. Finally, above demonstrating you're a self-starter – it also shows you're passionate about the sector and their company – as you wouldn't go this length for a company you didn't really want to work for. People want to hire people who really want to work for them.

Lastly – despite all the hard work, this alone won't get you hired. Its function is opening the door for you and starting the conversation – but it will always play a role in the decision down the road. 

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy the rest of your week — and this post is public so please feel free to share it 🙏

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The Product Slice is the free weekly newsletter for PMs and founders about product and startups.