3 mistakes to avoid in a Product Manager Resume

I have been reviewing tens of resumes lately as I have been looking to hire a product manager in my group at Care.com. Here are some patterns that I have noticed that makes me to quickly move on to the next resume:

1. Buzzwords: When I read “Builds and manages relationship with customers to smooth transition from legacy, fragmented business processes and systems to streamlined global product development processes enabled by enterprise technology implementation that improve efficiency of new product delivery and sustaining engineering“, I have no idea what you are talking about and I move on very quickly to the next resume.
2. No quantitative metrics: If I see no metrics or results achieved based on what you have done, I get no sense of whether your efforts were successful or not. Instead of saying “Launched a customer visit program for direct reports”, add more meat and metrics. Tell me what happened as a result. Instead, it is more useful to read something along the lines of “Developed an on-site customer visit program for direct reports that resulted in 200 visits/year. Improved understanding of customer product design needs resulted in launch of 5 new products in 2 years for the machine design and consumer design vertical segments.” It gives me context and also a better understanding of your accomplishments. However, never make things up, hiring managers will be able to sniff things out very easily. Trust me, I have seen candidates lie on their resume and it has come out within 5 minutes into the interview.
3. No white space: Your resume is so full of text with minimal spacing, I as a reader have trouble focusing on something in your resume. It becomes a lot harder to read your resume. Presentation matters, readability matters. You want to stand out, make it easier for the hiring manager to read. Ask yourself this question – “Does my resume highlight my key achievements that will make the hiring manager want to pick up the phone and call me?” You do not have to put in everything you have ever done in your resume, what you want are your key achievements. The nitty gritty details can come in during the interview (if you think it is relevant to mention them). A good friend of mine, who has been a VP of marketing at many companies gave me a good rule of thumb – “1 page of resume for every decade of your experience”.

Thoughts? Comments? What are your experiences as a hiring manager?

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