review-resume Checked

**Guidance:**

• Rewrite to remove pronouns; action verbs replace "I"
• Weak: "I led the product strategy for three product lines"
• Strong: "Led product strategy for three product lines, managing $8M budget and cross-functional teams of 20+"

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### Best Practice 3: Keep It Concise

A PM resume should be 1-2 pages (maximum). Each job should have 3-5 bullet points.

**Evaluation:**

• Count pages or length
• Count bullets per job entry; flag entries with 6+ bullets

**Guidance:**

• Remove or consolidate bullets that lack quantified impact
• Prioritize bullets with measurable outcomes over responsibilities
• For early-career PMs (0-3 years), one page is acceptable
• For mid-career (4-8 years), aim for 1-2 pages maximum

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### Best Practice 4: XYZ+S Formula

Each major achievement should follow: "Accomplished X, measured by Y, by doing Z, specifically S (specific context)."

**Evaluation:**

• Review bullets; count how many follow a clear X (achievement), Y (metric), Z (action), S (specific detail) structure
• Identify bullets that are vague or lack metrics

**Guidance:**

• Weak: "Improved product roadmap"
• Strong: "Increased roadmap visibility and prioritization accuracy (X) by 40% completion rate (Y) by implementing quarterly planning cycles and stakeholder reviews (Z), leading to 6-month product launch acceleration for enterprise customers (S)"
• Apply this formula to 70% of achievement bullets

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### Best Practice 5: Professional Email Address

Use a professional email. Avoid nicknames, numbers, or unprofessional domains.

**Evaluation:**

• Check if email is professional (firstname.lastname@domain.com is ideal)
• Flag any casual or unprofessional-looking emails

**Guidance:**

• If current email is unprofessional, create a Gmail account with your professional name
• Use format: firstname.lastname@gmail.com or your custom domain
• Avoid: randomnickname123@gmail.com, cutesurfer@yahoo.com

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### Best Practice 6: Tailor to the Specific Job

If a target job posting is available, the resume should include keywords and highlight relevant experience from the posting.

**Evaluation:**

• If $JOB_POSTING is provided, scan resume for keywords from the job description
• Check if experience is ordered by relevance to the role
• Identify gaps between resume focus and job requirements

**Guidance:**

• Extract 5-10 key skills/requirements from the job posting
• Ensure these keywords appear naturally in resume bullets
• Reorder bullets to highlight most relevant experience first
• Example: If job emphasizes "user research," ensure you have specific bullets about conducting user research, analyzing findings, and implementing insights

**Customize by Role Focus:**

• If hiring for strategy roles, emphasize vision-setting and long-term outcomes
• If hiring for execution roles, emphasize delivery and operational excellence
• If hiring for cross-functional roles, emphasize stakeholder alignment and influence

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### Best Practice 7: Showcase Product and Business Skills

Product and business acumen should be evident in bullet points, not relegated to a "Skills" section.

**Evaluation:**

• Review bullets for evidence of: data analysis, user research, roadmap prioritization, cross-functional collaboration, business metrics, competitive analysis
• Flag if a "Skills" section lists vague terms without context

**Guidance:**

• Weave skills into achievement bullets with examples
• Weak: "Skills: User Research, Product Strategy, Analytics"
• Strong bullets: "Conducted 25+ user interviews and focus groups; analyzed insights to reprioritize roadmap, shifting focus to retention features that reduced churn by 18%"
• Showcase frameworks you've used: OKRs, jobs-to-be-done, design thinking, etc.

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### Best Practice 8: Include All Elements in the Right Order

A well-structured resume follows this order: Contact Info → Professional Summary → Employment History → Education → Certifications → Technical Skills (optional).

**Evaluation:**

• Verify the order of sections
• Check that contact info is at the top

**Guidance:**

• Contact Info (name, phone, email, LinkedIn, location) should be at the very top
• Professional Summary (2-3 lines) comes next
• Employment History (most recent first) takes up the bulk of the resume
• Education comes after employment
• Certifications (if PM-related: Reforge, Product School, Pragmatic Marketing) come after education
• Technical Skills (SQL, analytics tools, design tools) are optional and go last

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### Best Practice 9: Advice for Recent Graduates or Career Changers

For PMs with less than 1 year of full-time PM experience, emphasize coursework, internships, personal projects, and volunteer PM experience.

**Evaluation:**

• Check resume for experience level (is this early-career?)
• Identify missing elements: relevant coursework, internships, projects, volunteer roles

**Guidance:**

• Include relevant coursework: "Completed Reforge Product Strategy and Data-Driven Decision Making"
• Highlight internships with clear PM-like responsibilities: "Led feature testing and user feedback collection for iOS app, informing roadmap adjustments"
• Showcase personal projects: "Built and launched side project [name], acquired 500+ beta users, analyzed retention data to iterate on core features"
• If transitioning from another field, frame experience through a PM lens: "In marketing role, conducted mark