Introducing product.careers

Today I’m happy to announce the launch of product.careers, a new project that aims to raise awareness of Product Management as a career path amongst undergraduates and graduates.

Last year I returned home to the U.K. after spending a number of years working for Google as a Product Manager in Australia, and Silicon Valley. I was delighted to see how much the U.K. startup ecosystem had blossomed while I was away, and accepted a position at Crowdcube, the U.K.’s leading equity crowdfunding platform.

My first order of business was building a Product team. While at Google I worked closely with a number of extremely talented young Product Managers who were participating in the APM program, Google’s graduate training scheme for Product Managers. I saw firsthand just how effective these smart and passionate people were, and was consequently keen to include one or two recent graduates in my new team.

This proved quite challenging. Recruiting is tough at startups at the best of times, but the particular challenge when recruiting for the graduate position was a lack of awareness amongst students of Product Management, and what it has to offer as a career. Although the potential pool of candidates was large, none of them knew they wanted to be a Product Manager!

I found this very worrying. As the U.K. technology sector continues to grow, demand for Product Managers will only increase. To serve that demand we need a strong pipeline of up and coming Product Managers. However the vast majority of Product Managers in the U.K. only become aware of the role serendipitously after starting their careers in other disciplines.

product.careers is an attempt to tackle this problem. The initiative consists of three main components:

• A 50 minute presentation for student groups introducing them to Product Management, and providing guidance on how to get started.
• A library of short video stories from successful Product Managers in which they explain how they became a Product Manager, why they recommend the role, and what they look for when hiring Product Managers.
• The product.careers website on which the presentation and video stories are published, with additional supporting material.

If you are a student, careers advisor, or tutor at a U.K. university and would like to arrange for the product.careers presentation to be delivered on your campus, please fill in the Request form. Upcoming presentations are published on the site, and new dates will be announced on this blog, and on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

You can also use social media, or the online contact form, to get in touch if you have any questions, suggestions, or you’re an existing Product Manager who would like to contribute their story. I’d love to hear from you!