Here are five strategies you can use to land your first role in product:
But before we get into it, did you know that…
<aside> 💡 A lot of exciting product roles available in the market are not publicly advertised. That’s why just applying for already posted jobs is not your best strategy.
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Being a proactive job seeker means that you’re scouting out opportunities before they ever grace a job board or company website. This creates more opportunities for you, less competition, and helps grow your network. But how do you do that?
“I always encourage the participants of my workshops to follow people on Twitter who look interesting, make sure you've got a bead on 5 to 10 blogs that you're checking regularly, ask people about the books that they love or that they keep with them. Buy those books, read, highlight, make notes in the margins and definitely try to find one or two meet-ups that you like going to. It's the surrounding community that's going to be most important as you are looking for your first job or as you're in your first, third, second job. It's also important when you're struggling, to call up a mate who's a product manager and say “what would you do in this circumstance?”.
Rosemary Elizabeth King, Product Coach (ex-Spotify, Mind The Product)
<aside> 🤝 Networking is 'people helping people'. To build an effective network, you need to be clear about what you can give that is valuable to people and be specific about what help you need and from whom. Focus on what you can give today and in the future, rather than what you hope to gain (source).
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Keep this in mind as you read about different ways you can land your first gig in product:
If your company has a product management team, this is the easiest and quickest route into product management. You are more likely to make this move if your company already has a product team.
However, you will most likely need an internal supporter who will help you with the transition. This will probably be your new manager, someone who is already a part of the product team. You need to ask them questions and look for opportunities to work directly with them.
“When working in engineering, customer support, project management, sales, or design, you'll likely collaborate with a Product Manager. Unlike product management, these roles have a more defined entry path through education, internships, or online courses, and they frequently hire for junior positions. Working in such a role exposes you to product and offers the opportunity to interact with PMs. You'll be able to talk to managers to get an understanding of what they do. Just getting yourself in the same room as PMs is the best way to find out if it's something that you're really excited about.”