Your PM Resume Metrics Are Real. They’re Just in the Wrong Place.
Most product managers have real numbers on their resume. That’s not the problem. The problem is that the numbers aren’t doing any work. Here’s what I see constantly. Someone sends me their resume and it’s full of bullets like: Increased conversion rate by 12% Reduced churn by 8% Improved NPS by 15 points Real numbers. […]
Why ChatGPT Makes Your Resume Worse (And How to Actually Use It)
Everyone is using AI to write their resume right now. And most of them are getting worse results than if they’d just done it themselves. That’s not a knock on AI. It’s a knock on how people are using it — and once you understand why it goes wrong, the fix is surprisingly simple. Here’s […]
The Resume Transformation: What Happens When You Put It All Together
Most people treat The Resume Transformation as a list of jobs. At best, they add a few accomplishments. The result? A document that looks like everyone else’s. But when you combine the elements I’ve written about — resume mini-stories, clear differentiators, and the story elicitation process — something bigger happens. From Bullets to Stories Instead […]
How to Elicit Stories for Your Resume
Most people think they don’t have good stories for their resumes. They do — they just haven’t pulled them out yet. That’s where story elicitation comes in. The goal is to capture the raw material of your success stories in a simple story outline: Problem → Solution → Transformation. From there, you can expand or […]
What Is a “Resume Mini-Story”? Let Me Show You
Most resumes are filled with bullets that are really just job descriptions. They tell me what you worked on — not the difference it made. That’s why I coach clients to write mini-stories for their bullets. The Mini-Story Rubric Think of each “bullet” as a compact story: The Problem — the bigger and scarier, the […]
Why “Doing Your Job” on Your Resume Isn’t Enough
When I review resumes, one of the most common problems I see is bullets that simply say: “I did my job.” On the surface, that seems fine. After all, you want to show you can do the role. But here’s the problem: every other qualified candidate can say the same thing. And if they’ve updated […]
Why Most Resumes Fail: 800 Reviews Later
In the past 20 months, I’ve reviewed more than 800 resumes and CVs from product managers, product marketers, product ops people, and others. They’ve come from everywhere — the US, Canada, Europe, India, New Zealand. From people just breaking into product to VPs and C-level leaders. They are impressive people. They’ve had incredible successes. And […]
How to Beat the ATS Myth and Write a Resume That Actually Works
Most job seekers worry about a magic robot rejecting their resume if it doesn’t have the right keywords. But here’s the truth: ATS systems rarely “reject” resumes. Recruiters on LinkedIn confirm: rejection happens when a human decides you’re not a fit, not when a machine scans for missing words. That’s good news. It means your […]
Job Hunting Is a Funnel With Only One Winner
Most people think of job hunting as a numbers game — send enough resumes and eventually something sticks. But the hiring process isn’t designed like a sales funnel. It’s not about pushing as many candidates as possible to the end. It’s about filtering down to one single perfect hire. If you want to be that […]
Your Resume Is a Sales Page, Not a Datasheet
Most resumes fail because they read like datasheets — dense lists of tasks and buzzwords. But a great resume is a sales page. Its job isn’t to catalog your responsibilities; it’s to persuade a hiring manager that you’re the solution to their most urgent problems. Here’s how to make that transformation. Why Your Resume Must […]