The best product managers, the best marketers, and the best developers have something in common: they each understand the others’ roles.
For example, if you founded a club that accomplished some concrete goals and led your school’s shift to electronic course review, you might make this a Leadership Experience section.
While you must always include education on your resume, this section should get shorter with more work experience. Many candidates with even two or three years of experience list just their major and degree.
This section should list any software, programming languages, foreign languages, or other specific skills you know.
Your summary should read much more like key accomplishments—so much so, in fact, that these sections are often called Summary and Key Accomplishments.
In this paragraph, you explain what your background is, making sure to touch on the key points of your background. If all you do is restate your resume in written format, that will put you in the solidly mediocre bucket. It’s what most applicants do.
When you write this paragraph, select two or three key skills, attributes, or accomplishments that you want to make sure the reader knows. Is it that you are great with design? Is it your surprisingly deep technical skills? It might even be a company or school you are associated with, if it’s an elite company/school.
The first paragraph introduces why you are interested in the company.
Finally, you connect yourself with the position. Why do you want it? Why specifically are you a good fit?
Additionally, you should address the letter to the individual, if you know his or her name. If you do not know the recipient’s name, never assume a gender.
Recruiting is expensive, and companies want to know that you’re excited about the job. The more excited you are about the job, the more likely you are to accept it, the more likely you are to work hard, and the more likely you are to stay at the company for a while.
“Whatever you’re asked, you’re always answering the question ‘Why should we hire you?’ It is the thesis of your interview.”
Where possible, try to hit a diversity of aspects. For example, you could select one personal attribute (persistence, etc.), one skill (sales experience), and one culture/position match.
What Are Your Strengths?
When delivering your weaknesses, it’s common to do either of the following:
Discuss how you’re mitigating the issue.
Mention the silver lining of the issue.
Offer a crisp and concise answer. Don’t play the blame game. Don’t bad-mouth your former employer. And don’t lie.
That’s why it’s so important to create a preparation grid.
Once your preparation grid is complete, you now need to select about five stories to really master.
Tell Me About a Time When You Gave a Presentation to a Group of People Who Disagreed with You
Tell Me About the Biggest Mistake You Made on a Past Project
3. Tell Me About a Time When You Had to Deal with a Teammate Who Was Underperforming
Tell Me About a Time When You had to Make a Controversial Decision
Can you transition to other teams within the company? What is the process to do that?
To position yourself in the best possible way, look for teams that will give you responsibilities beyond your actual job description, and even beyond your level of responsibility. If you want to be a manager one day, find teams that will let you mentor or manage someone—even if it’s just an intern.
Keeping a smile on your face and being positive about changes in the team or company will make people want to be around you. Plus, no one will really want to bad-mouth the guy who’s nice to everyone.
When you transition roles within one firm, you have already built trust, and the firm understands your relevant skills at a great depth. Trying to change your role when moving to a new firm is much harder.
