Barry Sosnick ⋅ Greenlawn, NY Great Whites Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics ⋅ 5 years experience

Allison, first of all, I love the "sock knitting" comment. It was funny.

Regarding your skills, the issue may not be your experience or capabilities, but how you are presenting them to your prospective employers. A resume is not a chronology or a list of acquired skill, but a marketing piece that sells a valuable product: you.

Ron, who responded earlier gave wonderful advice. Many business schools have excellent websites to help you build a resume. My favorite is Boston College's site (http://www.bc.edu/offices/careers/jobs/resumes/samples.html). If you forward your resume, I will look it over and make suggestions.

Allison, I read your bio, so I am adding one more suggestion. Contact career services where you earned your masters degree. Career services will help alumni. Depending on the school, it could be a great resource.

Best of luck!

Ron Yu ⋅ Cupertino, CA Denodo Technologies ⋅ 30 years experience

Hi Allison,

First, thank you for your service to our country. Your question is relating to how to enter the field so if I proxy your question, you're seeking strategies on getting interviews I assume. Sounds like you are already using the one approach I'd recommend which is to use LinkedIn as your main tool of targeting companies in your area and potential 2nd or 3rd level connections within those companies. LinkedIn offers a free month of Premium so you may want to use that to gain more access to connections with potential employers. The other piece of the puzzle is to make sure your resume and online profiles catch the eye of potential employers. There are a few strategies you want to consider on your resume to at least get a phone screen. Just like any marketer, you want to first assess the landscape. That means - look at existing job postings and identify skills and activities that relate to your background and understand your audience (hiring managers and HR reviewers). You'll want to use similar language in your resume and LinkedIn profile to get noticed -- include action verbs and key terminology (for example cross functional leadership instead of "manage") Also, product management is a very broad field so you should be able to find relevant skills from your background to transfer over. When I give resume writing advice to friends, I emphasize the CAR model often used for writing resumes and interviewing. It stands for Context/Action/Result - so identify a situation of something you acted on, the actions you took and the results. The key in the results part is to include measurable results to show the impact you had - for example $ saved, revenue, profit, cost savings, etc. I understand your challenge of making your experience relevant -- so that's where you make the link - for example, in your military experience, did you have to interact with other "functions" in the navy to get something done or other ranks? That would show your cross-functional skills which is a key people skill for product management. In other words, you don't have to have specific experience but show you have the skills to work with others, organize information and drive a team to results. Of course, it's not easy. If you see a job description that says, it's required that you have skills in mobile technology or cloud technology, then you move on to other targets. Often you will find when reading descriptions - if they say "desired" skill then you may have a shot. Often job listings is a laundry wishlist and is much longer than all the skills they expect to hire in a candidate so don't get discouraged. In a nutshell though, you need to identify the specific skills and accomplishments you have that are transferable and communicate them on your resume. I hope I'm answering your question but feel free to ask clarifying questions. I'm happy to review your resume for you. Also, you'll also have to consider different versions of your resume based on the job openings / positions you're pursuing. Good luck!

Best regards,
Ron Yu