Product Manager’s CV
Question: "Is there a particular approach to take when preparing a résumé for a product manager? Can you provide some examples of properly written product manager résumés?"
The curriculum vitae, (a.k.a. curriculum vita, CV, résumé) is a document that lists an individual's professional history, skill set and specific key contributions that convey the individual's current and future value potential to an organization.
There are three approaches to formulating a CV:
- Chronological CV – presents in reverse chronological order a job candidate's work history by employer, supplemented by details about education and other pertinent qualifications. This is the most common type of CV and it is usually accompanied by an introductory cover letter. This type of CV is useful to demonstrate career progression but may reveal too many job transitions and it also forces the reader to independently discern the skill set that the candidate has acquired as a result of their pervious employments.
- Performance CV – emphasizes the candidate's expertise, abilities, and skill set while de-emphasizing any possible inconsistent employment chronology. This type of CV is useful to help the reader focus on the candidate's abilities, experience, and particular skills but de-emphasizes possible consistent career progression which could be important to some employers.
- Hybrid CV – combines the chronological and performance CV formats to reflect both expertise and career progression. This type of CV is useful to those with a steady employment history and many workplace achievements but the resulting document is longer than usual and may defuse a key career selling point.
The PMTK Curriculum Vitae template embodies an improved hybrid CV format. Ultimately, the curriculum vitae is not just about what you did. It also provides insight as to what you can do, your potential contribution, and the value you can provide a company when you are entrusted with a particular role. What you had accomplished in the past should provide as much indication as possible of what you can now do and your future potential contribution. A CV should include what you have accomplished and how you have accomplished it. This demonstrates what you can do in the future and the value of that future contribution (based on the value of past contributions) at the new workplace.
In the Blackblot career web page you will find an evaluation copy the PMTK Curriculum Vitae template that contains an example of a properly written product marketer CV which can be easily modified to accommodate any role in the Blackblot Product Management Team Model. It is recommended that the curriculum vitae be prepared after preparing a PMTK Professional Development Plan because creating the plan helps the writer better understand their skills and aspirations which may consequently influence the language tone of the curriculum vitae.
For more information regarding Blackblot's approach to team management and product management roles, please download the evaluation copies of the PMTK Role Descriptions, PMTK Job Description and the PMTK Interview Process templates.