 Hello everyone. I'm going to spend the next, say, 15, 20 minutes or so highlighting some things to know or consider as you look for a way into product management. This applies to those who have no work experience as well as those who want to transition having already started your career elsewhere. My name is Alice and about me, I've been a product manager for over eight years, primarily in the payments space. After a very short stint with software development and quality assurance, I found myself in product management. I've been fortunate enough to work on payment networks, terminals, marketplace solutions, payment instruments across continents, and now I'm focused on back end core capabilities that enable financial services. I also have a passion for positive improvements. So whenever there's a discussion on ways to work smarter or get something done in a better way, I'm all for that. A bit more about today. My focus is for anyone who's looking for a path into product management, like I mentioned, and I'm going to tell you about the types of PMs, how to think about the skills required for a good PM. And then I'll wrap up with some points on how to approach landing a job. Okay, so let's get started. Types of PMs. So I'm not claiming this is an exhaustive list, but most people will agree that we can group product managers in certain categories based on skills. We sometimes see this with job titles job postings. And there's a reason why the, the day to day life or project manager can vary so much is because in reality, they are differences. Different kinds of companies look for different kinds of product managers because of the products they churn out. And depending on where you want to work and the type of PM you want to be, this is something to pay attention to. So those companies know the level of autonomy they give to PMs, they put out the helms of the products and as such they want them to think a certain way and have certain skills. One of such categories is the technical product manager. If you're a former developer looking to transition or you have a technical background, this is one way in. The role is typically looking for someone who can appreciate the technical details to consider when you have to come to resources to building a product. How far you want to go or if you're going to sacrifice certain things technically now against later. So we're looking for someone who would adequately keep up because the product that the company is working on is quite technical. So because of that technical products you want to produce they are looking for someone who has that background. Based on this understanding, different companies look for technical product managers. Another category is the marketing product manager. They're typically expected to focus on communicating product features and benefits by developing effective marketing plans and strategies. If you have this background and you're looking to transition or you're new to the job market and you're interested in like advertising, market research, content creation. If you want to work as a product manager, you should consider this type of role. So as a marketing product manager, the expertise is really about knowing how to speak to and for the customer. And this will be more essential to your day to day compared to other PM roles that may either absorb some of these responsibilities or not have them come up as often. So if you love the chase of finding new ways for conversion or retention improvement or you're interested or familiar with customer psychology, behavior influencing tactics, this could be the way you want to go. We also have the data product manager, as the name implies data science data analytics background is at play here. It's one thing to work closely with data sciences as a PM. But it's another thing to have the understanding that's past that elementary knowledge of analytics that's sometimes required for some products. When you want to influence or the product decision with data, this can come in very handy for certain PM roles. So data analysts today, not see things to implementation they hand off to business or product so depending on the company, or if you're looking to crossover. If you possess the skills, this could be a soft landing for you, if you're new to product management. And if it's not, this is something you want to scale up a level of knowing this is the role you want to go into. I would also want to talk about specialists. There is, I've never come across a job posting asking for specialist PMs. But the point to consider here, when discovering your path to PM is what industry knowledge can I position as an edge in my search for a PM role. Some recruiters like to fill PM roles knowing you have a specialized knowledge giving the industry. While there really doesn't have to be this doesn't have to be the case. I do know it's a preference for some. We have industries that the learning curve for new things operate, and how things operate is a very steep learning curve and it's easier to go with someone already in the know, and build up on the product management skills that they may be lacking than to reach it the other way around when an experienced PM would need to spend a lot of time understanding how that industry works. So, we have transformation happening in so many industries and the specialized knowledge, maybe a legal pharmaceutical tax preparation services maybe the way in. And you think about the types of PMs. There are probably a few more ways to group PMs but I think the point I'm getting at the general idea here is not to mention what all the types are, what to let you know that to allow you start to think about how you could fit in or where you would want to fit in. And this thinking should drive should allow you measure how you want to be how you want to position for a job or better evaluate your transferable skills. So, channel that thoughts and that effort in your job search accordingly, company to company you may see that they favor some type over another in some instances, the respective of the title given or the job description. But from the job description, you can tell that you're leaning towards some type of PM and you know how to pay things to your advantage, whatever that case may be. Moving on. Let's talk about the PM skills on like what you may find in some other disciplines when it comes to working as a PM. I have found that a PM can wear a lot of people will agree with me I think a PM can wear so many hats and depending on the type of PM you are your day to day will involve or require some skills a bit more than others. So when looking to transition or start a career here you may want to see what is potentially working to your advantage or where you would need to level up as far as your skills are concerned. So like with any other role they are hard skills they are soft skills. So some hard skills will be required more than others, for example, if you're talking about a technical PM or data PM that set that knowledge or expertise is undeniable. And, and it's relevant for that role for that company. If that's the way you want to go, you know how to position yourself if you possess those skills or want a PM career in that light, you can play up and grow your proficiency of those hard skills. However, in general, any good PM would be to have a number of other skills within their grip, and I will touch on a few that I believe are important. So communication, this is not just about how you talk but also documenting effectively sharing the product vision, the roadmap with stakeholders, or working with cross functional teams requires a lot of communication. The pandemic also brought quite a bit of remote working and this has extended the expectations of effective communication so as part of communication. And that's the aspect of active listening. And that's required to build trust, establish a good rapport with the cost functional team will be the cost functional team you've been working with. Most PMs do not have outright authority, but need to be able to influence the decision making process because they're expected to advocate for the customer or other stakeholders. There will also be conversations of trade offs and reprioritizations and how do you do that? How do you effectively play that role? Because you can only do that with good communication, active listening. Allow me to mention that for those transitioning, it will do you good to see which skills you already work with today and play that into how you position yourself, showing skills of expertise when switching to a PM role. So a good number of these skills a PM should have are transferable skills. A good example can be seen that apart from communication, there's project management because you will have to see projects and initiatives are run well and on time. There could also be business skills so that you can account for a possible impact to the company's revenue, profits, loss, business KPIs when making part of decisions. So if you have a project background or you've managed projects before, if you have the business skills or the business background, these are all relevant and transferable to different PM roles. Other skills include research and analysis. They're also very keen. A lot of PM roles require you to do this depending on where the product is in its lifecycle. For example, you will need to do quite a bit of research and analysis through the product discovery or competitive analysis process. Other skills that are already mentioned include problem solving, critical thinking. I hear really these two can go hand in hand. And again, you see that they are not unique to product management but they are essential as you would need to be able to identify problems. Why is something happening and how do you solve that? How do you think through and decide on a solution based on its impact of the business or the product? Again, with all these skills, anyone who is finding a way into product management needs to think of how their previous roles, volunteer experience have exhibited these skills and how we will use this experience to advocate for yourself on your resume, in your cover letter, or those interview calls. Those new to being a PM know what they need to work towards based on what I've described as relevant skills. Next up, we're going to talk about landing a job. There are many elements to getting a job. Let's start with your LinkedIn profile and resume. This is where most recruiters begin their assessment of you. Are you a fit for what you're looking for? And we know most companies are using softwares, or at least big companies, to see through resumes and LinkedIn to narrow down candidates. What you want to do is ensure that the information across both is not flashing and the details are well representing of you. I've always heard that a picture doesn't hurt, so include a picture on your LinkedIn profile. Smile, it helps. Ensure you're using product management keywords, language, and language to describe your experience to aid that short listing with the software. Smaller companies that may not be using software need you to have a good format, so make it clear and easy. Because you have a couple of people, sometimes one person, looking through hundreds of resumes, and you want them to key in on what's important and select you for the conversation. So think about the size of your forms, think about what you're highlighting, for instance, on your resume and work from there. For those looking to transition, you need to ensure your resume is highlighting your transferable skills or your specialist knowledge where applicable. If you're looking to do this within the company you're currently working, I would suggest you consider extending yourself to projects or initiatives where you can support in that capacity. And then it's a clear path for you to move to that position permanently through that internal, using that internal project as a reference. Cover letters are cover letters important. The truth is hard to say how each recruiter would view a cover letter. Some don't bother but it's best to have one and put your best foot forward and to limit yourself is what I would say so. Don't cut yourself out in the selection process by not having a cover letter. There's a lot of information online to help guide you on what a good cover letter should contain and how you should highlight your skills. Let's also talk about networking. As part of getting a PM job, it's also good to network or any job, basically. This did change with how this could work during and due to the pandemic, but notwithstanding there are lots of virtual events and communities. If possible, it's probably it's probably better now because your search pool is wider because there are many more remote positions or companies willing to take on remote support. Leverdose events, Leverdose communities engage to increase your chances for exposure, either as a new hire or as a means to transition if you're looking outside your current employer. As beneficial as it is to network. Another important thing I learned about, or I would want to share about landing a PM job is to apply. You have to apply. If you think of every job application you fill as an impute to a sales funnel, and the fact that conversion rate for top companies is at 5%, then you understand this point and how it's better, it betters your chances. The more you apply, the more chances you have of a call back. So product management is a very competitive space. And this is probably what most of you want to hear, but you can't really go past this application process. Then there's the interviewing. It's not news that people are good at their jobs. But, you know, people can be good at a job or bad at interviewing. So there's quite a bit of an art to the interviewing process. And the more you practice, the better you become, the more comfortable you become at giving what they're looking for. To practice for interviews, there are tons of resources as well, similar to your, you know, getting your cover letter or your resume up to par. There are tons of resources online to help you with this. Do not wing the interview process. Don't go in blind. Take time to know the different stages in any interview process so you can adequately prepare based on who you will be speaking to, or the types of questions you will be expected to answer. I mean, across companies for any product management interview, the hiring manager is going to ask you different types of questions compared to what the software developer or the UX person is going to ask if that company does their interview that way. So you want to prepare for those interactions as much as possible. You don't want to cut yourself short by not planning ahead. So finally, I would say to find your path to product management, whether you're new to the job market or trying to transition, you need to consider the type of PM you want to be or could be and seek that position out. You need to ensure you have or you've developed the skills required to do the job, not just focusing on the card skills or paying attention to your soft skills of how key they are to a PM role. And then in learning a job, work on your resume, work on your LinkedIn, have a cover letter so that you're communicating the right message to recruiters. And while networking has its place, you can get past applying to ensure you apply, apply, apply, fill up that sales funnel and make it better for yourself. Thank you. Like I said at the beginning I'm Alice if you have any questions or you want to reach out my email is on the slide. Thank you very much.