See the resume David Oragui used to apply and win his first,Ā six-figure tech job in Product MarketingĀ at Oyster HR.
Hello all! David Oragui here from Yorkshire, United Kingdom. I'm excited to share theĀ Product MarketingĀ ManagerĀ resume I used to apply for & get my roleĀ at Oyster HR back in April 2021.
Yes, you read that right!Ā
This isn't a faceless resume written by a "Resume Expert" who doesn't know the first thing about product marketing š¤£ ā this is theĀ real resume I used to apply for this position!
Our team here at We Are Distributed interviewed me recently to uncover my thought process behind building this resume and what led me to apply.Ā
In addition, they've provided some handy suggestions for improvement as it seems likeĀ even I was missing the basics!
As always, you can download the resume template with a free account ā sign up here.Ā
If you'd prefer aĀ full, editable (PDF + Doc) version of my original + improvedĀ resume ā upgrade to paid.
Q: When you initially put this header section together for your resume, why did you include these specific contact details?
Also, we notice that you have 'Head of Product Marketing' under your name too ā could you walk us through your thought process here?
Some could argue that this encourage recruiters and hiring managers to mark you as 'overqualified'.
Sure, I'll address the job title first. I listed 'Head of Product Marketing' as an aspirational title I'd like to get in my next role.
The job I applied for was advertised as a 'Product Marketing Manager', but given how Oyster was an early-stage startup who actually needed someone with deep expertise in all areas of PMM, 'Head of Product Marketing' felt like a better fit here.
I made this change after initially reading the job description; though prior to applying, I held the same title at my last company anyway.
As for the contact details section, I've noticed recruiters and hiring managers regularly asking me for my Linkedin profile so I figured adding it here would make it easy for them.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but most ATS systems parse resumes and pull out key contact information, so it felt like a win-win.
Q: Why did you include a link to your personal website here? Does it have anything to do with product marketing specifically?
No it doesn't. I typically include a link to my personal website for two reasons.
1) Provide an opportunity for prospective employers to see some of my other work.
2) Highlight that I'm a self-starter, entrepreneurially inclined and enjoy building side projects.
Q: Do employers typically respond well to side projects once they realise you have them?
It's a mixed bag. I've noticed that hiring managers who are millennials tend to respond very well. I think I can attribute 2-3 jobs I've got due in part to having an active side project.
There are other employers however who have strict 'moonlighting' policies, in other words.
This header does a lot of things right; it includes most of the information hiring managers care about and none of the things they don't. However, like with everything ā there some key improvements David can make to truly make his resume header stand out.
1. Keeping the links of interest to a single line
As it currently stands, there is a lot of white space in the top-right area of his resume header. Having your email address on a single line, and then your Linkedin and website links on a separate line creates a sense of 'emptiness'.
Instead, we've moved them all to a single line with equal spacing between each.
2. Adding a short snapshot of what type of product marketer you are
Having your most recent or preferred job title in your section is a good first step, but it doesn't differentiate you from the sea of candidates applying for similar positions.
We recommend adding a short one-liner which showcases the type of PMM you are and highlights what you have to bring to an organisation.
For example, if you excel at "bringing products to market in a fast-paced environment" then include language which reflects that.
e.g. "5x B2B product marketing leader with a penchant for driving record pipeline and revenue growth at Series A-D tech companies."
This adds a lot more colour to the type of product marketer you are in your resume.
If a recruiter or hiring manager reads nothing else but this; it's memorable and gives them a 15-second elevator pitch they can use to better help make a decision on your candidacy.
Q: This is an interesting take on the summary section for your resume. At first glance it reads more like something we'd expect to find on your cover letter, as opposed to your resume. Could you walk us through your thought process here?
Haha, I agree with you there! Funnily enough, this summary was pulled directly from my Linkedin bio (at the time), which spoke to my philosophy around marketing and the value I can bring to an org. You may also notice that 'Product Marketing' isn't even included in this summary too. š
Q: Why didn't you include 'Product Marketing' in the summary section of your resume?
I felt that doing so would alienate myself from other positions in marketing I was actively applying to. Whilst this resume is geared towards product marketing, my skillset and experience varies across growth, SEO and content marketing too.
In hindsight, I could've created 3 or 4 variations of my resume for different roles; to increase my chances of getting interviews across a variety of marketing positions.
As much as we respect David's efforts (he's our founder afterall š ), the summary section of his resume leaves much to be desired. Here's a few improvements we would make:
1. Reduce the summary to 2 or 3 lines max
The goal of the summary section is to provide a short overview of your skills and what you've accomplished throughout your career. With a long summary section spanning multiple paragraphs, recruiters and hiring managers won't spend the time to look for the gold.
2. Add your most impactful projects or career achievements
It's absolutely crucial that you share your biggest career highlights to date; front and center before anything else. As you'll see in the experience section of this resume review. Remember recruiters aren't looking for reasons to disqualify, instead they're looking for reasons to shortlist you.
Finally, we renamed this section to 'Career Highlights' as we believe that's a more accurate, modern descriptor for this section.
Not only does this version save a lot of space, it gives recruiters and hiring managers a short list of your strongest career highlights.
Again, helping them make an informed decision on your candidacy as opposed to an assumption based on the superlatives and adjectives used in the original summary section.
Be sure to keep a list of your best career achievements and highlight those which best match the role you're applying to.
For example, a traditional PMM role expecting you to launch new products, create new positioning and sales enablement decks... these career highlights, whilst strong, don't map too well to those initiatives.
However, if you're applying for a product marketing job that does expect you to lead pricing & packaging, revamp onboarding flows, competitive intelligence and customer marketing programs; then these highlights make you a great candidate.
