State of Product Manager Job Market 2022

BPMA hosts an event every month. For the month of February, BPMA invited three panelists to discuss the current state of the product management job market. The conversation mainly focused on three topics - finding the right opportunities, interview preparation, and overall job market demand and competition.

The three panelists were Kiyan Rajabi, Larry Kahn, and Amelia Rogers.

• Kiyan is a senior product manager at Transcarent. He also teaches product management at Cornell University and helps people break into product management by preparing them for interviews.
• Larry Kahn is a vice president of recruiting at New Dimensions in Technology. He helps startups fill in positions in tech and business. He has forty years of work experience.
• Amelia Rogers is a senior talent acquisition partner at Cengage Group. She has been working as a recruiter for over six years.

Finding Opportunities

Here’s what the panelists say to get your foot in the door and find opportunities in product management.

• People looking for jobs should look at job boards, such as Linkedin. In addition to being a job board, Linkedin is also a good way to network with other product managers and reach out to past colleagues.
• Organizations like BPMA provide opportunities that are not posted yet. By networking with other people and volunteering, you may get early access to job postings before others find out about them.
• Job seekers should seek for internal transfer and that they should check if there’s internal posting in their current work. Job seekers can even request a mentor and shadow a product manager for an easier transition.

Interview Preparation

Here are some things to know about to get yourself ready for an interview.

• Industry changes to virtual interviewing in the last two years. Have a little less small talk in the beginning and straight to the point.
• During the interview, prepare and dig in. Learn about the company, products. Search for someone in the company and look at their background, read articles, and customer testimonials.
• Have a general idea who are competitors, customers and how they (hiring company) fit in the market.

Job Market Trends

Here’s what the panelists say about the market trends.

• Product managers and product marketers are In demand right now. It’s a growing field. Linkedin rates it as the most promising job with 29% growth. Glassdoor says it’s the 4th best job.
• There has been growth in digital products. People build relationships virtually. Going forward it will be a hybrid model. There are more specializations within product management: strategy, technical PM, product marketing management.

The state of the job market is changing, so aspiring product managers and job seekers should be aware of the changes in the hiring process, ways to find opportunities, prepare for interviews, and market trends in the product management field to stay informed and competitive.

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