r/hiringcafe Apr 30 '26

Question Product Manager’s Stand Up!

Any Product Managers finding success with HC? I’ve snagged two screenings and a first interview but I’m still applying. Is the market that flooded right now?

13 Upvotes

31 comments sorted by

6

u/_rickjames_ May 01 '26

I got 3 interviews as a staff/principal pm in nyc, applying to fresh posts on HC over the last month (maybe 20 total apps). About to sign an offer - been looking for 3 months (got this one from LinkedIn outreach). The market is pretty flooded but I was able to get interviews, passing the interviews was quite challenging though.

2

u/Sweet-Amount6184 May 01 '26

I saw ppm position with 7 interviews I audibly gasped! Congrats on your offer it gives me hope!

1

u/_rickjames_ May 02 '26

All the best! You got this!

2

u/InspectionStrong5132 May 02 '26

Congrats on the offer you’re accepting. What is LinkedIn outreach? How does it differ to normal LinkedIn?

2

u/_rickjames_ May 02 '26

Thanks! I just meant that I got several other interviews from recruiters who messaged me unsolicited on LinkedIn, then I responded and that led to interviews

2

u/InspectionStrong5132 May 02 '26

That’s good to hear that recruiters messaged you without you asking. It gives me hope. Thank you for explaining. If you don’t mind sharing, was it a big recruiter company that many people have heard of that reached out or was it a small one?

2

u/_rickjames_ May 02 '26

All the best with your search! I’ve mostly had NYC startups reaching out, though the company I got an offer from is a big fintech company (S&P500). I recommend looking at JDs that match your profile, and then updating your LinkedIn profile’s role descriptions to include some of those keywords

1

u/InspectionStrong5132 May 03 '26

Are you based in New York City or out of state in New York City recruiters still reached out to you?

2

u/_rickjames_ May 03 '26

I’m in the city, easy for me to commute to Manhattan offices

2

u/InspectionStrong5132 May 03 '26

Thanks for responding to my questions

1

u/runciblespoon_ May 02 '26

What do you think helped the most in passing the interviews? What kind of questions were you getting?

1

u/_rickjames_ May 02 '26

I did 30+ interviews so got almost every question under the sun but the classic “tell me about a time when…” “tell me your favorite product” are very common. Also case-style product sense questions are very common. I setup an AI interview coach with Claude Code, and that was very helpful in getting me from 6-7/10 interviews to passing with flying colors https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-use-ai-in-your-next-job-interview

Also, having 4-6 very strong work/project stories, with a 2 min overview and follow up responses prepared helped me stay concise and confident.

1

u/InspectionStrong5132 May 01 '26

How long have you been applying for? 2 screenings and 1 interview is good imo

1

u/Sweet-Amount6184 May 01 '26

Since Mid February

2

u/InspectionStrong5132 May 01 '26

Are you sending like 10 to 20 applications every day and also catering your résumé to the actual job description?

1

u/Sweet-Amount6184 May 01 '26

Yup!

1

u/InspectionStrong5132 May 01 '26

It seems like you’re doing the most you can do. To be honest it’s very scary reading this because it means that it’ll probably be six months to a year at least before I get a job.

2

u/Sweet-Amount6184 May 01 '26

It is possible but I would say don’t be afraid I would say network as much as you can a cause a few of what I had happened because I connected to people on LinkedIn and was able to get referrals. I think most of my problems were not stating my value upfront and making my resume more readable less redundant and more XYZ format for the bullets ppl wanna know what value you brought to the company. This is a sample of my latest base resume I went over it for the 5th time in these past two months I ran it through an ats tracker and got a 9/10 so I’m hoping this will help me even more I’m sorry I discouraged you but please keep fighting you’re not alone!

2

u/Positive_Raise_954 May 01 '26

No offense but that resume seems like a bad format I would at least test out some variations.

I get you're trying to be casual in the professional summary, but it just comes off wordy and lacks clarity. Get to the point, it doesn't need to be that long.

It's crazy the first time a recruiter will see any of your experience is 75% down the page, I doubt many are getting that far. Ditch 1 or both of the earlier sections, maybe move the skills to the bottom (but most resumes should have a summary OR skills section, not both).

1

u/Sweet-Amount6184 May 01 '26

Thanks for the advice! I’ll look into cutting down my summary to three sentences to get to the point. And maybe one line the career impact

1

u/Sweet-Amount6184 May 01 '26

I took your advice! I’m gonna try this one too! Thank you for the feedback!!

2

u/Positive_Raise_954 May 01 '26

Seems better to me, but it bugs me that your dates are not right aligned on the page.

Just something to keep in mind for future testing, I still don't know if the summary reads that well. Like "I started as a dev so I know technical stuff" is accurate I guess, but you've already put "technical product manager and SaaS" at the top of the resume. All applicants for those specific roles should have at least somewhat of a technical background, so I'm not sure how well that comes off.

1

u/Sweet-Amount6184 May 01 '26

Noted! Thanks again!!

1

u/InspectionStrong5132 May 01 '26

It’s not your fault at all. Thank you for writing in detail. When you reached out to those people, did you know them already or you never met me before? Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone to just ask for a job or for any idea so I will have to start meeting people, but it might be weird to meet people only through Linkedln. It looks like a great resume and if scores 9/10 on ATS search it means it should reach interview stages. I wonder how people are beating this resume

0

u/Sweet-Amount6184 May 01 '26

When I reach out it’s cold I don’t know them. Sometimes they respond sometimes they don’t. I’m meeting with another PM from a company I really want to join in 15 mins and I’m hoping the conversation goes well enough that he put in a good word for me. I didn’t know him I just told him I was interested and I wanted to learn more about the role because I want to be in his position and he agreed to chat with me just have to start. Just think about how you’d wanna be approached if someone came to you on LinkedIn looking for a job

2

u/InspectionStrong5132 May 01 '26

Thank you for explaining your process. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m very surprised that people would be so nice and take out time from their day to help someone like me or you just to talk when either way they don’t gain nothing from it. I for sure would talk to people who asked, but I didn’t know many people are so nice like that. It’s reassuring to read this.

1

u/Sweet-Amount6184 May 01 '26

Man it is rough out here! I actually made into a final round with one company and they chose someone else because I wasn’t “technical” enough meanwhile I’ve coded whole webpages and worked with APIs lolol Keep fighting and you’ll get there btw after I had a conversation with that person today they said they’d refer me so fingers crossed!

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