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 yet… they’re struggling to get interviews.
There’s a disconnect.
Great Achievements, But No Interviews
Again and again, I see the same pattern:
- Amazing accomplishments.
- Tons of impact.
- But resumes that don’t show it.
Why not? Because the resumes are bad.
The Common Thread: Job Summaries, Not Impact
Most resumes I see simply summarize the person’s job.
- Vague buzzwords.
- Jargon.
- Responsibilities disguised as bullets.
Indistinguishable from all the other resumes in the pile.
A few throw in one or two bullets about accomplishments. Sometimes a generous hiring manager can infer your value from those. But often they don’t.
And almost no one writes bullets that actually show impact — how their actions solved a meaningful problem, created measurable results, or transformed the business.
The Hidden Gold
Here’s the irony: in every single conversation I’ve had, people have stories of impact.
Stories of how they turned things around, fixed failing processes, beat competitors, unlocked new growth.
But those stories never make it onto the resume.
And that’s the problem. If your resume doesn’t show impact, you look indistinguishable from everyone else.
What to Do Next
Ask yourself:
- If I handed my resume to a hiring manager right now, would they see my impact?
- Or would I blend into the sea of candidates who just “did their jobs”?
If the answer makes you uneasy, it’s time to rethink your bullets. Don’t just summarize what you did. Show the difference it made.
👉 Want to see what those bullets look like in practice? Read my post on Resume Mini-Stories for before-and-after examples.