u/More-Form2865

I gave a "strong yes" to a full time PM candidate for doing multiple things right. if you do the same, you definitely have a high probability of cracking your pm placement or job interview

- i asked about the internship and she was clear and fluent about what the product does, what problem it solves, who the users are and whats the goal. this showcased the pm mindset. many candidates did not have a larger view and did not explain properly even after probing.

- i loved how she handled the case - from listening, taking notes, asking clarifying questions, thinking through, sharing solutions and metrics. I can give multiple examples of how people mess each and every step. most common is immediately jumping to solutions as soon as I stop talking

- customer support scenario - while many jumped to deliver whatever customer was asking, she spent time understanding the problem, root cause and dealing with the customer. PMs don't do whatever the customers ask

- I always ask Why PM to students and this is the best answer I have heard - she talked with sparkling eyes the real joy of being a PM - seeing our ideas come alive - the moment our feature is live, users using them and giving positive feedback. (save this answer)

she also had a good understanding of day to day responsibilities of a PM

- last but not the least, she asked good questions after a decent research. some people asked me - what does the company do?

Summary:

- clarity of work you do - from goal to nuances

- listening and communication skills

- product thinking

- good understanding of product management

- genuine curiosity

P.S. This is a tier 1 engg college. my company pays around 25L for this role.

Recently, someone from tier 1 mba and Icici bank (less than 1 year experience) reached out to me for advice on PM transition. This is what I shared

- switch as early as possible before you are boxed in to that role

- position yourself as a student. Companies are fine to bring in tier1 mba students in to their product org as apm or pm (but note that its extremely tough for students from other colleges).

- read cracking the pm interview book thoroughly. Actually "read" sounds too light. Live with it for a couple of weeks

- undergo good long courses - keep in mind that its about learning first and then adding to resume. Don't do something just to add to resume

- build something with ai - no. Not to focus on ai pm roles. To showcase your end to end product thinking. Host it somewhere. Try not to spend too much money

- practice solving case studies - pick up 0 to 1 cases, design or enhancement cases and solve them. I have my cases that I have solved/helped others solve and cracked interviews. DM if you want those solutions.

- actively seek product work at your current workplace so that you can confidently talk about product experience rather than thinking about it later

- update your resume with a clear transition and experience story. It shouldn't look like you just want to become a PM. It should look like you are already doing some product work, invested serious time in learning, spent serious time in building, etc.,

- focus on startups while searching for a job. They are flexible in hiring. I see a lot of aspirants trying to become only AI PM in large companies. Its tough even for PMs to get that role because everyone is fighting for it. Get the pm title in some company, stay there for an year. Then you can pursue your large company dreams.

Last and most important, this is just high level checklist. Every transition story is different. Reach out to PM hiring managers to discuss the path/mentorship.

If you are already on a serious transition path, feel free to DM me.

A pm2 vacancy opened in my team and I am receiving a lot of PM resumes but most of them are missing even the basics unfortunately.

1. Writing just responsibilities - "worked with engineers/ designers" "did customer interviews" "conducted standups" ok but what changed because of you?

2. Too generic bullets and no numbers. “improved user experience”, “drove growth”. what exactly did you improve? even rough numbers is better than none but ideally add proper product impact.

3. Lack of clarify of company, role, and growth. "Improved adoption to 50 customers" does not mean anything unless its clear what the company is doing, you own something and not just being guided, and base (from 0 to 50 or 45 to 50). Mention briefly about company, role before numbers.

4. Going hard core on all features - listing all features and the details. List 2-3 features and talk about the product process. Not every hiring manager is in your domain and they won't understand anything.

5. Overuse of jargon/AI slop - stakeholders, synergy, alignment; so much text but conveys no meaning.

6. Same resume everywhere with same message "can you refer me?" - customize at least the summary. Send a proper message. If you don't want to work for yourself, why would others work for you?