Branding and the Product Management Job Search

Matthew Du Pont, a former Product Manager at OKCupid, gave an insightful talk on how to get product management interviews.

The product management job search is a notoriously rigorous and competitive process. Especially for those breaking into PM or are early on in their careers. One of the challenges is getting interviews. Whether it be startups or big tech companies, PM positions get hundreds, maybe even thousands of applications, so how do you stand out? This is where branding comes in.

You need to leverage your previous experience and/or hobbies and craft a narrative that gives you an edge. For example, if you have a strong data and analytics background this gives you an edge for video game companies like Zynga and PocketGems. If you have more of an engineering background, then you can focus on API or Developer tool companies like DataDog or Splunk.

Branding can help you focus your job search for companies that you are uniquely qualified for. Hopefully, once you land offers at these companies, you can use the offers you get as leverage to get the jobs you really want because offers lead to more offers.