🎧 How to Shorten Your PM Job Search
Most PM job searches take longer than they should.
Not because of the "bad" market, or because you're unqualified... but because you're not clearly articulating your value.
In this episode, I share the top way you can set yourself up to shorten your PM job search by getting clear early:
on your positioning
your unique value
and the story you’re telling recruiters and hiring managers.
I also share a real client story about a PM who landed an offer in just 29 days after starting to apply with their SPRINT resume - a direct result of tightening their job search strategy and positioning.
If you're thinking about kicking off a job search, set yourself up for success right from the start.
Your future self will thank you!
Ready to land your next awesome Product role? ✨
SPRINT helps you position yourself as a top-tier Product candidate so you can land high-quality interviews consistently and confidently - without guesswork, burnout, or wasting months applying into the void.
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Jess Sherlock (00:00)
The earliest stage of your job search is actually the most important part. It's where you're going to get clear on what your unique value proposition is, but also what you want out of your next And if you can get clear on that and focus your attempts around that early,
can literally save you months of that stressful DIY trial and error, casting too wide of a But I would encourage you to consider it as an investment against the lost income that you could have had coming in.
all of those months if you had landed a job sooner.
Today I wanna talk about something that I see all too often and I hope to help you avoid a similar pitfall. Most folks wait until they are exhausted, burnt out, or even months into an unsuccessful job search before asking for help. And today I wanna talk to you about a client did exactly that. He waited and he wishes that he hadn't. And if he was here, he'd tell you not to wait too. I wanna share...
his story because it really does show why getting early support, working on your making sure that your value is clearly articulated for the recruiters and hiring managers who will be seeing your resume and why a structured plan matters way more than you might think.
You might be thinking, how hard could it be? I can get my resume updated. I can start applying to some jobs. Why would I need help? But here's the thing is I see it all the time. Folks go out and try to be everything to everyone. And then they show up in a call with me saying, hey, yeah, you know, I've been looking for three, six, even nine months. I haven't been getting traction. I'm not sure why.
And then as we start talking about what they've been focused on, I learned that they have been taking the try to be everything to everyone approach, where for every single job description, you take your resume into a tool that's going to help you add in popular keywords or add in keywords that are related to that job description. And in an attempt to customize, you're actually getting in your own way because your clear value proposition and strengths
are becoming diluted as you attempt to be everything to everyone. So let me tell you about Adam. He actually
was actually watching the SPRINT program for about six months before joining. No, literally six months. He already knew me through the product community here in Denver. We're a part of a group of ⁓ folks who network in the product community. So he was aware of the SPRINT program. Turns out he even partially filled out the application form at one point, and then backed out and didn't schedule time to chat with me. And I asked him about kind of what had been going on and he let me know that
Every time he would kind of have an interview and then it would, you know, they would ghost him or he wouldn't get a call back. He'd get frustrated. He'd lose hope. And then he'd look into the SPRINT program. But then he'd get a new interview and think, OK, maybe this will be the one I'll hold off. And then, of course, when things fell through, he'd be right back to where he started. So at some point over the summer, this past summer, he took a long trip. He let the job search fall to the wayside so he could enjoy time with family, which is great.
But when he came back, had no momentum, he had nothing in the pipeline, he didn't have any interviews, no traction to speak of. And he finally said, okay, I think I'm gonna get started with SPRINT. So we had a call, we got him started and he had great success. And after going through SPRINT, I asked him, what would you tell yourself now at the beginning? And what he said was loud and clear. I should have started SPRINT way earlier. Because here's the key takeaway. The
earliest stage of your job search is actually the most important part. It's where you're going to get clear on what your unique value proposition is, but also what you want out of your next job. And if you can get clear on that and focus your attempts around that early, you don't have to wait until you feel desperate. know, three, six months after starting a job search, you're losing clarity. Usually folks are losing confidence, you're losing energy.
And you get to this point, and I hope none of you have been there, but maybe you're listening to this and this feels familiar. But you get three, six months in and it just starts to feel draining and you get to the point of, well, I'll just take anything. I don't wanna do this anymore. The job search isn't fun. Even when it's going well, it's a draining process and it takes a lot out of you. so...
getting help at the beginning can literally save you months of that stressful DIY trial and error, casting too wide of a net. think of it this way too, I know there's a cost associated with the SPRINT program or getting help from anyone, from any coach, there's going to be a cost associated with it. But I would encourage you to consider it as an investment against the lost income that you could have had coming in.
all of those months if you had landed a job sooner. Okay, so for all of those reasons, I would strongly encourage you to not rush into your job search the second you decide you're ready and make sure that you get yourself the support and structure and help and guidance right from the very beginning so you can make the most of that fresh energy that you have when you're just getting started.
Okay, next, let's talk about the value of a clear job search strategy. Because I talk about this a lot, but I think an example might be really helpful to understand what I really mean by this and why it really is such a big unlock in your job search. So let's go back to Adam. He came in with years of experience, really clear experience as a PM. He was even a successful co-founder.
but he didn't have clear positioning. And I remember early on looking at his LinkedIn, and I look at a lot of LinkedIn's, as you can imagine, for product managers. And I remember being really confused because I knew him through the product community and I knew that he had a pretty strong reputation. But then when I looked at his LinkedIn, it wasn't giving me that strong impression that I would have expected. And I remember he branded himself as a product builder, not as a PM.
And his resume, when I got the chance to look at it, was pretty general. And his pitch was all over the place. And those things all combined made it really difficult for a lot of things to happen. I mean, in an ideal job search, you want to be so clear on the unique value that you bring to the table that not only do your cold applications jobs get picked up for screener interviews, but...
Also that when you're doing outreach, people are eager to talk to you because they see your fit quickly. Or better yet, right, the best thing to happen is to be getting outreach directly from recruiters because they find you on LinkedIn because you have the right sort of positioning and keywords and it's very clear that you're the right fit. And in looking at all of his materials, he had also fallen victim to the approach of trying to be everything to everyone.
So he was constantly shifting his resume for any application. And then what would happen is his LinkedIn was not complimenting the story he was telling in his resume. In some cases, his resume and his LinkedIn were actually just at odds, right? So imagine getting the resume for someone and having it, you know, be really customized to the job. Then you go look at their LinkedIn and their LinkedIn is super generic. It just kind of falls flat. So...
The very first thing that we did, and I still remember our milestone call number one where we did job search strategy, is I shared this feedback with him and he's a super smart guy and we made some bets to tighten up his positioning. And so we really looked at the experience that he had to date so that we could adjust his resume, his LinkedIn and his pitch to highlight the right metrics and the right story that was not only bringing up
you know, the key strengths and accomplishments he had had in his career to date, but it also spoke to where he wanted to go, right? Because just because you have done things in the past doesn't necessarily mean that that's what you want to do next. So he learned how to frame his startup and his co-founder experience as an asset, not as this kind of scattered set of experiences of someone who can jump in and do anything all the time for whatever needs to get done, but instead framing it around the problems he solved.
the accomplishments that he could hang his hat on. And the result actually happened really quickly. Companies finally understood who he was and why he was a fit. And I think better yet, he understood who he was. And it was easier to tell a strong, compelling story because he was clear on the value he was bringing to the table.
Here's the wild part. The job he landed actually came from a cold application that he sent out on day one of his new materials from SPRINT. So if you take nothing else away from this example, remember this, clear positioning is going to shorten your search. I'll say that again, because it's that important.
Clear positioning about the value that you bring, the expertise that you bring is going to shorten your search. Introducing confusion or distraction because you're trying to put in more but it's actually diluting your value is going to lengthen your search. So my goal is to help you come up with clear positioning that is also aligned with what the market is looking for in talent at any given time.
so that you can shorten your search and have an easier time telling your story because then you don't have a different story every time you get on the phone with somebody.
Okay, next I wanna talk about help early and of course having clear positioning are super important. But I also wanna talk about how hitting certain milestones in the SPRINT program were a key part of the reason why Adam was able to get a really fast offer. Because he came in raring and ready to go, right? week one of SPRINT, but he is six, eight months into his job search. He's not wanting to do this. He's like...
"I want to get this over and done with as soon as possible. So let's do this." And so he came in eager, ready to his next job. And we were able to channel that energy into the right sorts of milestones. And he's a great example of what happens when someone actually follows the program and hits those key milestones. He came in, he moved fast. He completed his first milestone call with me right away. We got his positioning in order. We got his resume updated.
We built out his narrative, so as soon as he started to get screener calls, he could have a really strong answer to the tell me about yourself question. And then he started to identify his best stories. So I didn't mention this before, but when you have clear positioning, it makes it easier to evaluate all your past experience and select the experiences and accomplishments that are going to resonate most. If you are not sure,
how you are going to pitch yourself or what your unique value is, then every story from your past experience is equal. You see what I mean? It's kind of like, in my career, I've done a lot of things, but if I was applying to be a PM, again, like an in-house PM, I would choose different stories than if I was going to, let's say, I don't know, go get a full-time job as a career coach working in-house for another company, right?
There are different things that are going to be important because if I'm applying for a PM job, they're going to want to know I can do the It might be a nice added bonus that I can also coach PMs and I understand a lot about the career. But what they want to hear is that I can walk in, solve a problem with technology and effectively get from idea to launch. If I'm going in to apply to a coaching job, they want to know that I can grow people with a coaching framework. It's two different things.
Anyways, I really want to encourage you to think about it more than just, okay, I'm a PM going after my next PM job, but the clearer you are with your positioning, the easier it is create relevant information at every step, your LinkedIn, your resume, but also your interview stories. So this is one of those unlocks too that I see in pretty much every client where once they have their positioning, they start to get excited.
And I know that we found the right positioning because they start to say, my gosh, I didn't even think that one project I did a couple of years ago, that would be such a good example to show, you know, my technical aptitude, or I really want to keep focusing in on this particular industry. that's right. You know, maybe they were working as a consultant at an agency and they realize, that three years I was working at an agency, I worked on two different client accounts.
in that industry, gonna highlight those stories. And that's where I'm sitting there going, exactly, exactly, right? Everyone in product, like this is part of the challenge of being a PM, I think, is are capable of so much. We are often the person who can run in and solve any problem anytime for anyone, right? If we don't have the skill, we'll go get it. that is an awesome But when you are going after a new job,
your job is part sales and marketing to sell yourself and market yourself as a solution to the problem that that company has. Okay? And if you're coming in just kind of generic and a kind of do everything kind of person, that's not always going to be the most compelling thing that a company is looking for. If they are looking for specific types of experience and that happens to be your strength and something you've done multiple times over,
then anything else in your resume is going to be a distraction from that fact. all to say, I got off track there a little bit, but understanding your positioning is such an unlock for all of the other steps that you have to do on your job search and hitting those milestones early allows you to hit the later milestones much more easily. So, you know, like I was saying with Adam, we his positioning, which allowed him to identify his
best stories so that he could start practicing interviewing. He started applying consistently to build momentum. He didn't skip steps. And guess what? He got an interview within days. had, I think, at least one screener call within days. And I remember celebrating with him and he was like, my gosh, it's working. And I'm like, I know, that's the whole idea. And he ended up moving through the process really quickly. He had.
practiced and he got an offer within a month. I think it was 29 days of joining the SPRINT program. I think he was our fastest this year in 2025. And because his system and his positioning was so solid, each interview that he had better and better. So the quality of his interviews, his confidence, it was just this like incredible momentum to witness.
His offer came in fast because he wasn't jumping around and guessing and trying to do different things he was investing effort in the bet that we made about his positioning and That structure having a plan maintaining focus that really brings ease to that chaos of job searching Because when you know exactly what to do in what order things become lighter It feels more doable you can celebrate your wins along the way
And that's the part that I just, love seeing, you know, the, of metaphorical weight come off of people's shoulders where they start taking the actions that, you know, I have seen multiple times over. I've seen these actions create traction and momentum early. But when I get to see that in clients and I get to see that literal relief come over them, ⁓ it is just, it is like one of the most fulfilling parts of the work that I do in SPRINT. Okay. So if you are,
in the early stages of a job search, or maybe, you know, we're going into the end of the year here, maybe you're thinking a job search is going to be something you want to do in the new year, I would really encourage you to start thinking about how you're going to get support. do not want to wait until you feel stuck. You do not want to wait until you feel like you're months behind, right? If you start on this without any sort of support in January,
two, three, four months can go by so quickly. And so wouldn't it be nice to start knowing that you have a plan in place? And SPRINT is one way to have a plan, but I would encourage you to make sure that you have a game plan in place, that you have a plan to put together, your job search strategy that allows you to articulate your value early, allows you to apply to the right jobs. I say a lot that...
you know, the job search is a lot like selling a product. If you are bringing a new product to market and no one wants to buy it, there's a couple of things that could be happening. It could be that you are selling to the wrong market, you're trying to sell an all-wheel drive car that does great in the snow in Florida, you're talking to the wrong people. But the other thing that it could be is that your product is not very good.
Okay, so if your product is not good, it doesn't matter how good the audience is, not going to be getting that traction. So I think about it like kicking off an effective job search is really understanding the product, you, and the market that you're quote unquote selling yourself to, which is those companies and hiring managers and recruiting teams. And we want to get to a place where you are telling the right best story about yourself to the right best audience, that is the company. And that
calibration, sometimes you get it right on the first time, other times you don't. But if you are pushing and pushing and pushing and you're not getting traction, often what I see is that we're not telling the right story or we're not telling it to the right audience or both. And those things are fixable. So I would really encourage you to not wait and kind of see if you can do it on your own, you know,
Why spend all of your precious time and energy getting stuck, right? If you don't feel like you understand your fit, get support to put together clear value prop for yourself. the conversation early me or with a coach or someone who has been through the job search, maybe a trusted mentor, maybe a product leader that you know, but have the conversation early to make sure that your fit seems right because you deserve clarity and
strategy and a plan that you can trust, right? You don't have to white knuckle your way through a job search. And drives me crazy because I feel like if you spend any time on LinkedIn, it's just terrible out there. you know, listen, the market is tough, but why make it tougher by going in with a lack of clarity?
I would love to have you go into the market understanding what you're up against, understanding what is working so that you can go in with a plan that's appropriate for this market. think about it like a housing market. I was just reading an article this morning about how home values have been affected here in the Colorado and Denver area. And it said something like, you know, it's clearly a buyer's And I just kind of chuckled at that because I was like...
gosh, it's been years since it's been a buyer's market, but even in a buyer's market, that doesn't mean no one's buying. It just means that the dynamic of the market is different, right? If you're a seller, you have to recognize that buyers have a lot of options. Buyers are expecting to be able to negotiate a bit more than they would otherwise. So I think it's similar in the job market where very rarely is there, literally no one getting hired.
What's typically happening is that the dynamics are different. And so this is one of those other things I think I take for granted, because I am in this every day with folks who are job searching is, you have been focused on your day job, of course you have no idea what the market is like. You have no idea what the dynamics are, what's working for people, what's not working for people. You're just getting the worst case news on LinkedIn when you're doom scrolling over there. And so...
Anyways, if you like the idea of having insight and intel from someone who is seeing folks go through the job market day in and day out for product managers, that's another reason why I would encourage you to reach out, at least have a conversation with me. Maybe SPRINT is going to be a good fit, maybe it's not, you deserve to have clarity and a plan going into your search. And I would love to chat with you well before your job search begins, well before you are overwhelmed and desperate.
so that we can channel all of that energy into a successful job search. So SPRINT is here to help. I'd love to hear from you. So if you're thinking about a job search and you want to start with a clear strategy and a structured plan so that you can set yourself up for success, go to jesssherlock.com/sprint and you can schedule a time so we can chat. You can also send me a message on LinkedIn, hit me up in my DMs, tell me where you're stuck, tell me what you're thinking about. the earlier you get help, the faster and more successful
and more easeful your job search will be. see you next time on AFTER THE CERT.
