Getting PM interviews: How to get your next PM job series [2/4]
You know what you want in your next product management job. Nice. The question now is... how do you get PM interviews?
Welcome back to my mini-series on getting your next product management (PM) job đ„
Last week, I outlined the steps and discussed step 1: figuring out what you want.
This week, Iâll cover step 2: getting interviews.Â
Thanks to everyone that sent kind messages and ideas for future articles after my last article! Here we go!
Steps to getting your next PM job
Figure out what you want
Get interviews (this article)
Get offers
Negotiate/accept offer
Getting interviews is a necessary (usually) step along the âfunnelâ to getting your next PM job.Â
Getting interviews is hard. Especially now. Itâs especially hard if you donât have a lot of existing PM experience. If thatâs you, the good news is it gets easier as you build PM experience. The bad news is itâs going to be hard right now.
Last week, I suggested that the first step was figuring out what you wanted and writing that out in a list that is short, specific, and concrete. If you have lots of time to soul-search, great. If you donât, thatâs fine too. Either way, youâll have completed this step when you have a shortlist of things that represent your absolute dealbreakers.Â
Unhelpful things to have on that list: âmake an impactâ, âsolve user problemsâ. Helpful things to have on that list: âbased in X cityâ, âneed visa sponsorshipâ.
Defining this list for yourself increases the likelihood you end up in a role that supports your life goals. It also makes it a lot easier for you to get your next job.
How? Having that list clearly defined will make it easier for you to screen out jobs that definitely donât work. If you live in London and donât want to move, some amazing job in SF that requires you to move wonât be a good fit.
So, letâs assume you now have your list. Next, I recommend sharing that list with relevant 1st degree connections ie friends and past coworkers.
I recommend reaching out in a private channel and sharing a short overview of your situation, your list, and your ask. Hereâs a template.
âHey ___their name____, hope youâre well! Iâm ___few words on your situation_____ and looking for a PM role. Do you know anyone whoâs hiring? Here are my âmust havesâ: product role, based in Amsterdam, they can sponsor my visa*. Iâm particularly interested in edtech at a series a-c start up*, but Iâm open to any role with a great team. Thank you!â
*what I filled in above are just examples of deal breakers and preferences. Naturally, youâd want to replace those with yours.
A few things of note:
Friendly, not fake: I recommend starting being friendly but honest about why youâre reaching out. I prefer this because to me asking âhow are youâ is a bit disingenuous since youâre not reaching out to ask how they are doing, youâre reaching out to ask for help on something. Others may disagree.
To the point: a few words on your situation, a few words on what youâre looking for
One specific ask: most people want to help. If theyâre your friends they almost certainly want to help you. Make it easy for them to help you by clarifying one specific ask.
âMust havesâ: I suggest including them right off the bat. That way you save one back and forth and make it easier for them to help you. More efficient and respects their time.
âNice to havesâ: Adding preferences can be good to get them thinking, but itâs important to clearly indicate these are not deal-breakers to avoid taking yourself out of consideration for a great role.
If they donât respond, I recommend following up 48 hours later â° If they donât respond again, I recommend following up once more 48 hours later. In each case, I recommend making the follow up respectful but unapologetic. Something simple like âHey following up :)â should do the trick. If 48 hours after your second follow up you still donât hear back, Iâd suggest moving on. Either:
They donât check that channel, in which case you may want to try another đ€
They donât want to talk to you, in which case pushing harder isnât constructive âđŒ
Theyâre really bad at responding to their messages. If you knew it was this, following up again could be useful. However, given it's more likely to be 1 or 2 I would stop after 3 tries đŹ
If they respond yes or no, I recommend first thanking them for their response. Expressing gratitude at the beginning of a message is generally a safe bet. The more specific you can be the better. @fellow over-expressive Americans⊠beware: doing this too much can feel robotic/weird/disingenuous. It can also annoy your British coworkers (s/o Rosa!). But especially the first time I highly recommend it. Either way, I also recommend asking them if they know of others you could chat with who might be hiring or know someone whoâs hiring. (They may say no; thatâs ok).Â
Option A: they know someone whoâs hiring (or theyâre hiring), send you their name, and say theyâre happy to connect you two.Â
Example response: âThanks for sharing this! Whatâs the easiest way [implied: is easiest for you] for <person> and me to get connected [implied: for you to connect us]? Hereâs a few sentences on me and what Iâm looking for. Feel free to use or not.â
Me: <1-2 sentences max highlights what youâve delivered in past> [eg mine would be something like âProduct lead with 6+ years of PM experience at Spotify and LinkedIn leading cross-functional teams. Currently Senior PM at Spotify. Looking for a new challenge. My LinkedIn here.â
Must haves: [example taken from above] based in Amsterdam, can sponsor my work visa
Nice to haves: edtech, series a-c.
Cheers, <your name>.â
I suggest tweaking above per recipient + given your style/voice so it sounds like you.
If they say they donât know anyone, I suggest thanking them, and then asking if they know anyone who might be able to help you + if so if they would connect you to them. Example of what that could look like:
âAh too bad, thanks anyway for checking! Do you know of anyone who might be good to chat with to find leads?â
Thereâs a good chance they say no here too. Thatâs fine. So long as you respect their time and take no for an answer youâre unlikely to hurt the relationship.
A couple things Iâm deliberately not suggesting you do:
Ask for a call: I do not recommend suggesting a synchronous call with someone to âcatch upâ or âpick their brainâ when really you just wanted to ask if they knew someone who is hiring or wanted a referral. Having been on the receiving end of this, I personally find it disingenuous and not that respectful of my time. Plus I tend to say no to these kinds of requests. If the true purpose of your reaching out to someone is to ask for something specific, I recommend being up front about that to avoid coming across as fake.
Write a lot of words: every message above was short. This respects the recipient's time by not asking them to read a lot of words.
Spill your guts: I am a huge proponent of feeling, processing, and expressing your feelings. I also believe when and to whom we do that matters. I have spent many hours in therapy + I have called my sister crying on several occasions (love you sis!). However, sharing a long message about how you feel completely lost and miserable and filled with existential dread to a former co-worker isnât a great idea. Note: if you feel lost and miserable and filled with existential dread thatâs ok. I feel you. I promise you wonât feel this way forever.
Rinse and repeat. Over and over and over again.Â
As you go, I recommend keeping track of who youâve reached out to, what they said, and any next steps. This will help you keep straight who you already reached out to and who they asked you to reach out to. It will also be important later. I used a google sheet for this step.
You will hear ânoâ a lot. Thatâs part of it. Take heart. When you hear ânoâ, I would suggest the following: donât take it personally, respect the No, thank them for their time, and move on.Â
This process will also be significantly easier or harder based on your pre-existing network. However, now is not the moment to try to build a stronger network. I recommend focusing almost exclusively on getting interviews; you can (and should) build your professional network later. More on why and how to do that in another post.
One other approach that can work is to find a job on a job board or a company website youâre interested in and then try to get a referral from someone at that company. Going through 1st degree connections is best, but if you donât have any and donât have a path to getting connected (eg via a 2nd degree connection), messaging people at that company you donât know via a âcoldâ email or LinkedIn message is another good option. In these cases, I recommend just getting straight to the point i.e. âHi there, this is me, Iâm interested in X role at your company, would you be willing to refer me? Happy to share more info on me synchronously or asynchronously if youâd like. Thanks in advanceâ. You may be surprised by how often people are happy to refer you. I generally say yes to referring people to open Spotify roles if their LinkedIn makes me think theyâre reasonably qualified. Donât forget, most of the time if someone refers you, and you get the job, they get $$$.Â
One more: if you get inbound interest from recruiters via LinkedIn messages or email this can be another way of getting interviews. Optimize your LinkedIn profile and post more to increase the frequency of this happening.
You may remember from my last article that about a year ago I moved from LinkedIn to Spotify. To get my interview at Spotify (and several other interviews), I did what I laid out above. In my case, a friend of mine (shout out Ian!) knew of a former Spotify coworker who was hiring PMs and connected me to her. 2 months later I got the job.
^this is Ian, his wonderful girl friend Jerusha, and me. Sharing this photo with their permission.
Well there you have it. Thatâs what I recommend for getting interviews. Thereâs no silver bullet. But itâs what I did and what I would do if I were actively looking. Hopefully, with some persistence, you will find yourself with some interviews.
âBut Lachlan, what about applying to job listings? What about creating a side project related to a job I want? What about standing outside a company with a sign saying Hire Me and passing out my resume?!âÂ
All of those have worked, and could maybe work for you. I donât recommend them because I think the return on investment (ROI) in terms of your time to getting interviews is low.Â
Next time: âgreat I have lots of interviews⊠now how do I get offers?âÂ
Cheers,
Lachlan
Wow, this is new to me! Great idea and I loved the examples. Normally, I'd apply to job-listings / respond to headhunters when job searching! Definitely going to try this approach later this year ... đđ»
Really enjoying your insights and experiences!
This was an insightful read! This actually inspired me to reach out to you for a referral. Glad I did!