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if you're looking to get into product management in Tech this video is for you in today's video I'm going to be sharing tips for getting into one of the most s after APM programs as someone who successfully got into the APM program I've gotten interviews for several APM programs so big ha companies and even startups so a lot of the tips I'm going to be sharing in this video are going to be useful for the other APM programs even if you're not applying to the Shopify APM one specifically what's up everyone welcome back to my channel I am Toby and on this channel I share topics related to wealth building such as real estates personal finance and I also share product management and Tech Career related content so please don't forget to smash that like button if you find this video helpful don't forget to hit the Subscribe button if you aren't subscribed already leave comment share this video and all of that fun stuff I'd really appreciate as it really helps my channel quick disclaimer before I dive into the video everything I share in today's video is my personal opinion and not that of my employer so I'm going to break this video into three categories the first one will be a quick overview of the Shopify Apprentice product management program which is the APM program the second will be my um application process as someone who tried to get in the first time filled and got in the second time and the third one would just be tips for Success if you're someone who wants to apply for this program you've likely heard of the program but if you haven't here's just a quick teer out there about the program it is a 12mon paid program and it is a rotational program so in the 12th month you have the opportunity to work in two different business areas getting into product management can be challenging because you see a lot of jobs um require 5 years of experience but with this program you get the opportunity to learn product management and deepen your product Craft um by learning on the job just an FYI to be eligible to apply for this program you must actually leave in the US or in Canada one last thing to note is that a full-time offer is in gu aned with this program after 12 months but it is a great way to break into product management if you've been struggling with um finding a way to break into this role I'm going to put a link to the APM program in my description box so make sure you check it out and if you happen to be watching this video in January 2024 then you're lucky because Shopify is currently hiring for their APM program and application closes on January 16th so ensure you apply quickly and if you miss it or if you're watching in the future then keep an eye on their APM program page because they may actually um hire in the future as someone that has been through this program I wanted to share the benefits and opportunity that this program has offered me if you're still on the fence about the program so I'm just going to summarize four key highlights for me the first one is it has given me the opportunity to work on High um impact projects so there are no startup projects you actually Jump Right In I feel like this is unlike other APM programs where as an APM you only work on like a very tiny feature during your rotation but here you can work on very large complex projects and you have that opportunity to dip in your product craft because of this program I was able to own and ship impactful work that makes my resume very juicy so I really appreciate that the second one for me is accelerated growth this program really challenges you and pushes you to bring out your best and really dipen your product craft and learn quickly and you have the opportunity for great mentorship and coaching as you're surrounded by some of the smartest PMS ever I personally believe that once you complete this program you'll be comfortable working as a full pm at almost any company because you've been able to build a solid PM Foundation thirdly the opportunity to rotate between teams is one that I really enjoyed because it allows you to learn different domains and flex different muscles which is really good especially as an early career PM because you never know what type of PM would want to be unless you try it so it's nice if you can learn the consumer side or try being a consumer PM try being a growth PM try being a platform PM you just get that opportunity with this program which is really amazing and then you can figure out what you like doing and what you're comfortable doing and double down on it the last one is networking and um community so because you get to like rotate between two terms you already have two full terms that you probably built relationships with when it comes to commun Community I think being a PM can be very lonely especially as an early career stage PM so it's always a bonus to have an APM cohort of people who are currently facing the same challenges as you um in this product management Journey so you can share resources with each other help each other have like vulnerable conversations and really relate with each other because sometimes you in the trenches I won't lie and that Community is really needed my colleagues and my cohorts really made the APM program an amazing experience for me I don't know how it would have gone if I was the only one it would have been the ghetto like yeah I don't know how that survived it is really good cuz I have those career friends and some connections even turned to deeper friendship so so let's talk about my journey navigating the APM application process so just a quick fun fact I had actually applied for the spring 2022 cohort and I didn't get it I didn't even get past the application like I didn't get an interview yeah I didn't get an interview they sent me the rejection email I think it was like 2 days after or 3 days after something like that and I was just like yeah you lose some you win some and that was like an L for me and after a few months they were hiring again for the winter 2023 um cohort and I applied and this time I just applied because I was like okay I have nothing to lose here let me just apply so I applied and I actually successfully got in so you may be like oh how come I didn't get in the first time or what did I do to make my application better the second time I have a few hypothesis this is just my assumption on reasons why I didn't get in the first time the first one is lack of product management um related experience you don't have to have official product management experience but you could have something that is very similar to being a product manager and just showcase skills that you have that are um product management skills I think there a lot of skills that are easily transferable and I feel like I probably didn't sh kiss those skills enough I think I had a hard time trying um figuring out how to translate some of my experiences and frame it in a product management way and a lot of times we actually do have um product management experience or something very similar the second one is that product management certificates do not cut it yes I said it product management certificates do not cut it so in my first application I had done a product management certificate and I thought that was enough and I added it to my resume but really if you think about it well I'm so sure that out of the thousands of people that are applying for this program about 90% or 80% of them probably have done a product management course and already have a product management type certificate or whatever on their resume so what makes you really stand out like everyone can do a product management certificate on Udi Cera or even pay, of dollars for product management courses but what really makes you stand out yeah I thought it was good enough and I had that on my resume I'm not saying you should don't have that on your resume I'm just saying there's more to do Beyond just um taking a product management course or like listing a product management certificate on your resume cuz there's no official product management certificates keep on watching cuz I'll be sharing how you can stand out Beyond product management certificates I think the third reason was lack of PM familiarity I hadn't done PM interviews or like mock interviews I hadn't even looked into what PM interviews were like at the point when I was applying I know this seems like I didn't even prepare a plan I think I saw the application a day before and I just needed to quickly apply that was what happened so I didn't even do my research and that was at a point where I didn't know what career I wanted to go into yet so it was just like okay let me just quickly apply and yeah see how it goes when it's time for interview I'll prepare for it or like after applying then I'll start preparing for the interview so at that point I wasn't very familiar with the PM world and I didn't really know how PMS were expected to think and as you know there are questions in the application process and I feel like I didn't answer them like a PM should answer them there's some form of like structured thinking and framing needed in the product management world and I know for sure that I didn't apply that and I just answered it the regular with that I knew at that point so I feel like that was also something that didn't make my application stand out and made me not even get um the first interview so let's talk about tips for Success break this into three sections the first one will be resume second will be application process that's the application questions and the third one will be interview for resume definitely highlights your transferable skills and format your resume ensure it is clean and ensure you're not just listing responsibilities so ensure you're um structuring your resume in a way where it actually tells a story on the things you did and why you did them always think of why you did something you did when you're listenting it as a bullet point and try to care about the impact of the work you did as a PM you should care about impact a lot and a lot of what you do um should be impactful so your resume should highlight that when you're done writing your resume read it again and ask if it tells a story and figure out what the reader should know from the information you shared if you feel like it is not worth sharing then you can remove it and if you feel like it is not as strong as it should be then figure out ways to make it stand strong there are different popular methods out there to structure the information that you put in your resume there's a star method you can use that just ensure that you list the results it'll be nice to quantify the impact if you can but there's sometimes where it is difficult to quantify the impact and that is okay but if possible please try to quantify the impact now let's talk about skills and things that I personally feel like you should highlight in your resume so I'm going to group them into mostes are nice to have for most Hales you should have leadership skills there I'm not saying you should write a section and have like right leadership skills um in your resume I'm just saying like when someone reads your resume ensure that you highlight leadership experience that you have there the second one is showing the initiative someone should be able to pick your resume up and feel like okay this person I've seen cases where or I've have examples here from the resume that this person can um take initiative the third one is idation so highlight cases where you've thought of an idea and youve maybe researched something figured out a gap in the market or an opportunity in the market next one is execution so you can think of an idea but how do you execute on it where you able to execute on that idea that is also something you should highlight and obviously with your execution also close the loop by writing or listing the results and how you maybe improved something it be nice if you can show that you shipped something from an idea to product and you've actually closed the loop there it doesn't have to be something um using technology it could be anything it doesn't have to be something using technology obviously it would be nice if it is something using technology so let's talk about nice to have obviously if you have technology skills or technology experience that is going to be good the second one is entrepreneurship skills if you have that please highlight it it'll be nice to show that also because it is Shopify if you are a merchant or you've worked with merant before or just have some e-commerce background it'll be nice to have all of these things I'm listing in this nice to have section are not necessary they're just nice to have not necessary if you have side projects you should also list your side projects a lot of the times your side projects are actually things that can really help you highlight your PM skills and you can frame it in a way where it's like you PM for it if it's something that actually aligns with that so in summary try to tailor your resume to what they looking for they've done a pretty good job at explaining what you're looking for in the application so try to Showcase those skills understand PM skills and look for examples that you have showcase your abilities and try to sell yourself and your abilities in your resume let's dive into application for your application questions try to answer it like a PM try to have a clear structure and ensure your Comm communicating effectively think of how you want to structure your answer don't just like write whatever and dump it there and submit it try to structure it which is really important here are some key things you should think of while answering your application ensure that your application answer highlights like your problem you don't need to like stay to clear that this is the problem but just ensure that if someone is reading they can figure out what the problem is what the solution is um your goal metric kpi whatever um tradeoffs if applicable to the question influencing others if applicable to the question and just um even cases of Youth truly understanding the impact of something if that is applicable to the question also ensure that from your an someone can tell that you are a doer you are a builder and you are willing to get things done you're literally willing to rule up your sleeves if you need to to get things done let's talk about interview I have a video on resources that helps me to transition into product management and a lot of the resources I shared there are things that would help you towards preparing for PM interviews as well so I'll link it here and also link it in my description box I would also link a PM or some of the PM case study videos that I really found helpful in my description box this is not an interview video or like an interview specific video but I'm just going to leave you with some tips and some things to think about um while you're preparing for your interview so I know there are different Frameworks for interviews but I'm just going to leave you with like three simple things to think about when you're doing like a product case study a product design question number one is the problem so deeply understand the problem um try to build empathy with the users try to understand where the problem is stemming from and take your time with the problem don't just jump into solutioning the second is understand your goals and kpis what is or what are you trying to achieve by solving this and the third one is solutioning so thinking of different solutions I'm thinking of how it actually solves the problem or if it does solve the problem don't just like dive straight into solutioning need to understand the problem to think of your solution and understand your goals and kpis to actually figure out what solution is the best also highlighting tradeoffs understanding how to make decisions when you have multiple Solutions understanding how you would measure your um measure success so those are three key things to think about when um doing a product interview so problem goals or kpis and solution as I mentioned I know there are different Frameworks out there but be flexible when you're solving a problem in an interview don't be that person that memorized a framework or has to go like in this framework Direction a lot of the interviewers know most of the Frameworks out there so just be flexible and use it as a guide but don't so rely on the works also for PM interview structure is very important so it helps to um flow better and helps the interviewer follow you as you're um exploring and coming up with Solutions lastly for PM interviews you actually need to practice practice practice you need to like build your PM muscle this is something everyone needs to build as a PM I'm still building my PM muscle and trying to flex it daily I hope you found this video helpful if you did please don't forget to smash that like button for me it helps me and I I appreciate it please don't forget to leave comments let me know your thoughts on some of these things um if you have questions leave them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer the questions share this video with someone who you know might be interested in product management don't forget to hit the Subscribe button so you don't miss my future video I'll see you in my next video bye