What do recruiters look for in a resume? We all know recruiters don’t have time to sit down and analyze the hundreds of resumes that they receive on a daily basis. To determine the best candidates for their current position openings, there are 3 specific things that recruiters look for in a product management resume.
1. Keywords
Since recruiters often receive hundreds of resumes at a time, a way to pick out the ones that are most likely going to be relevant is by using a recruiting software. This software goes through all of the resumes received and looks for specific keywords relevant to the current position opening.
In the case of Product Manager resumes, some keywords that recruiters look for could be in regards to UX design, strategic planning skills, or analytical and organizational skills. You’ll want to find product management skills that relate your past experience, and use these keywords in your resume.
The placement of these keywords are also important. Ideally, you should have a skills chart at the top centre of your resume where all your relevant hard skills are highlighted and easy to find quickly. This is because recruiters want to see which skills you have been using most recently.
2. Experience/Titles
If you graduated a while ago, recruiters will look at what your most recent role and status are. They want to see if your past experiences match what they’re looking for. They will also look at the progression of your career. Recruiters want to see that your experiences added value to the companies that you have worked for.
3. Skills
Product Manager recruiters want to see both technical/hard skills and soft skills. As discussed above, don’t forget to include keywords when describing these skills. Technical skills refers to skills that are quantifiable, like design, coding, or analytics. Soft skills are more about your personality and how you are in a work environment. Some examples of soft skills would include leadership, communication, and organization.
Work With a Career Coach to Optimize Your Resume
Get Your Resume Reviewed by a Professional
You’ve updated your resume and formatted it to appeal to a Recruiter: congratulations! But if you want to go above and beyond to impress the Recruiter and Hiring Manager, take some time to get your resume reviewed by a professional career coach.
A fresh set of eyes may catch typos and grammar errors, but will also be able to point out the areas where you can improve the wording, format, and strategy behind your resume. A Product Manager who’s gone through the gruelling job hunt and landed their dream role on the other side is going to be able to assess your resume from the perspective of the Recruiter and use their experience to help you polish it.
At Product Gym, our career coaches review our members’ resumes and full branding package as the first step of the program. They offer insight, constructive criticism, and tips on how to make your resume stand out before you start sending out applications.
Because we’ve been working with Product Manager job hunters for the past five years, we’ve had ample opportunity to test and perfect the resume template we share with our members. We’ve even compiled the top Product Manager skills and applicable bullet points to include on your resume to demonstrate your transferable knowledge and beat the ATS.
Bonus Tip
This should be a given, but double and triple check the spelling and grammar on your resume. Multiple mistakes can come off as unprofessional, and that’s not the impression you want to give.
If you want to see what a rockstar Product Manager resume looks like, schedule a free consultation call with us! Resume optimziaton and personal branding is the first step in our product management career skills training. Learn how Product Gym can help you land your dream job faster.