The Truth About PM Job Descriptions

I know a lot of candidates who pour over the product manager job description (JD), trying desperately to find clues. I have had clients come to me with keywords highlighted that they then try desperately to pepper throughout their responses, assuming the hiring manager is hanging on every word, looking for those elements.

On the flip side, I remember creating JDs as a hiring manager. We would find a copy of some previously written JD that was close enough. Then we would struggle/drag our feet to change the language to fit the open role we had. If we got a slew of unqualified candidates, we would revise with some new language to deter the bad candidates and hopefully attract the good candidates.

With this illustration, I hope you can see a total imbalance in the candidate’s <> hiring manager's views of JDs.

It seems to me that candidates forget one of the main roles of a PM is to be comfortable with ambiguity. How often do we walk into a job expecting one thing, and once we learn the team's and product's needs, we find a completely different reality?

The job description shows you some essential things, but most are generic and borrowed from elsewhere. Look at what you believe are key things, but don’t obsess about every word.

Note: Some hiring managers will swear they take care with their job descriptions, but I have found the reality to be otherwise.