If you think that portfolios are just for graphic designers and photographers, you’ve got it all wrong. Your product management portfolio is a vital tool in obtaining that perfect role for what you’ve been searching. No need to panic! Improve your chances of an interview with these five core tips:
Love your data
Love your data, and your interviewer will love you. It’s a very simple formula, but it works. Anything you describe in your portfolio will be vastly strengthened by the data you collect. For example, if you took a product right from concept to launch and it made it to a million downloads your interviewer wants to know.
Even if the product you lead failed, is there data that you can pull concerning why it failed? The hard data in your portfolio should be blindingly obvious; from there, you can spin it however you like. It is that simple to make yourself sound impressive…
Hearing the customer’s voice
How are your ears? Can you hear that consumer crying out for your product? Did you do your consumer research and fill that gap in the market? Let’s hope so. If you can’t display that you’re completely in tune with your customer or user group’s needs, you can’t claim to have a complete portfolio.
Don’t worry if your user research examples seem terribly humble to you. To your interviewer, they may well show the much initiative they’ve been looking for. So gather all the examples you have of listening to and acting on the voice of your consumer, and you’ll whip that portfolio into shape in no time!
Get ‘touchy feely’
Don’t worry – we’re not suggesting anything inappropriate here. But engaging the interviewer with something tangible from design processes you have worked on can take your portfolio to a whole new level. For example, you could try bringing in some product prototypes or even wireframes.
Sometimes it is as simple as engaging your interviewer on a human level. We all remember the ‘show and tell’ tasks at school, and this strategy works on the same theory. You interact with what you touch on so many more levels than speech alone. The result will be an engagement with your interviewer which will leave him or her with a lasting impression of you.
Always remember the team
Whether you’re currently part of a team or can reference teams you’ve worked in in the past, your team engagement is a hugely important part of a product management portfolio.
As a product manager, you are aiming to be at the centre of a complex network of everyone from designers and researchers to sales teams and senior management. You are the mediator between this highly mobilised team and the customer. Make sure your interviewing panel knows you’re up to scratch.
Build a website
And finally, it may seem obvious, but there could not be a better way of collating and displaying your portfolio work than by building your site. Even the very process of this will demonstrate your proficiency with HTML and basic coding.
And if that seems beyond your capabilities at the moment, just use one of the great services out there like ‘About.me’ or ‘LinkedIn’ and you will still be able to build your project work up into an impressive portfolio very successfully. Just remember to incorporate all the tips included above when it comes to the structure.
So you’ve read this far, which must mean you’re really serious about getting that product management portfolio. All that’s left is to follow all the tips above and work them into your top-performing portfolio.
Remember to keep on following our blogs and apply for a place on our certification programme for expert training in all the fundamentals of product management.
KEYWORDS:
Product Management, product, consumer, user, portfolio, team, service, services, customer
SOURCES:
https://www.producttalk.org/2012/06/4-questions-i-always-ask-when-interviewing-product-managers/
https://www.producttalk.org/2012/08/to-portfolio-or-not-to-portfolio/
https://www.quora.com/Do-product-managers-have-portfolios-and-if-so-what-are-good-examples#
https://www.producttalk.org/2012/09/so-you-want-to-be-a-product-manager/
