Hello! I see a ton of questions in here about interviewing and getting hired as a PM. I also know that it’s really hard as a manager to hire a great team. I’m the head of product at a growing startup, and just hired two PMs in 3 months. One a career switcher who’d never been a PM before, and one a seasoned principal PM. Whether you are someone who’s interviewing or someone who’s hiring right now, ask me anything!

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Hi Jon! Would you be willing to review my resume? I made it to final rounds for one of the top APM programs but now I can’t seem to even get interviews for others. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. My current experience also allows me to impact the product and work closely with PMs.

Thanks so much Jon! I’ll send you a DM

I am currently interviewing for my first Associate Product Manager position at my current company (FinTech) I have already produced a couple business cases to improve our current product and both have been since integrated into Q3/Q4 initiatives. However, I do not have much technical knowledge in Sprint Planning, Backlog Management, Back End Development (basically technical related aspects) Do you find that to be a huge negative or something that can be overcome? Do you have any resources to recommend to improve that knowledge? Lastly, what are current average APM Salaries in the FinTech space?

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I can’t help you on salaries in fintech since I’ve never worked in that industry.

In general I wouldn’t expect someone applying for their first APM position to have done stuff like sprint planning or backlog grooming. I’d expect you to learn that on the job. Cases like you’re talking about would be a great way to get in the door.

Most of the stuff I read are about ways of thinking beyond core PM activities so I don’t have anything specific to recommend in those kinds of tactical skills. I have heard really good things about the book Cracking the PM Career, though.

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What did you find in both candidates that made you hire them?

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You absolutely are. Thanks for sharing and taking this approach. Both Textio and those new hires are lucky to have you.

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What do you say to someone new to PM getting managed by someone who is also new, or exists in an org with no seasoned Product leadership? How can they grow?

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If there is no “product leadership” that could easily also be a great opportunity for you yourself to step up and BE the leadership you want.

I know it’s an added responsibility and you will have to expend effort to learn beyond your responsibilities, but that’s exactly where communities (like this one) are extremely helpful. There are many out there who are happy to teach /coach - do take advantage of it!

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Do you know your name is showing on this post and that as a result, people can *perceive you online*?

Joining Jon in the confusion room.

funny

Would you hire an Eng Program manager at FAANG to step into a first PM role? If no, why not? If yes, what skills or certifications (if any) would you recommend for such individuals? Thanks

Do you have any more PM positions open which I can apply for? I am interested in learning more about PM role.

When interviewing and hiring an experienced PM, what so you look for to say this candidate fits the principal PM level vs the senior PM level?

I would expect a senior PM could convince me to shift our product strategy in some significant way. I would expect a principal PM to convince our founders and full set of executives to shift our entire company’s strategy in some significant way.

What advice would you give to someone who does not have a career in tech/product yet but want to make a switch? Is this usually possible without potentially getting lower compensation?

@Jon I’m actually a bit relieved to see your answer because I did exactly that: got a startup offer for 2/3 of my market rate straight out of college on a false promise of a raise, and am now just focusing on learning as much as I can in the next two years in the hopes of going someplace else and 2x my comp (heck, I could even 4x it if I made it to the EU).

Thanks for the message though, good to see I didn’t make a bad choice after all!

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For the career switcher, how did their resume/interview stand out without the prior PM experience? Had they taken courses or just able to show how they could use their past roles to be successful here? I’m trying to switch into PM and it’s been pretty tough.

This candidate had a few things going for them
1) they had taken personal steps to get closer to PMing in their current role
2) they were completing their MBA with a PM focus

The reason I appreciated this is because it showed me they were willing to do the work to become good at being a PM.

In the interview they did well on the case study and specifically did a good job at understanding trade-offs from the perspective of multiple different personas (buyers, users, admins) which made me think they’d adjust to B2B SaaS well.

Finally we happened to need a PM in an area where she had some experience so there was some luck as well.

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