Product manager cover letter

Product Manager Cover Letter (With Examples)

For sustainable and successful products, companies often rely on product managers to get the job done. Product managers are responsible for maintaining products throughout their life cycle and ensuring they are as successful as possible.

Given that these professionals often work for major companies, finding ways to stand out among the crowd and show their qualifications upfront is an essential part of landing the job.

In fact, most employers spend fewer than ten seconds reviewing your resume, making it perfectly clear that leaving a great first impression can make or break your chances of being hired.

That’s a lot of pressure.

Fortunately, including a thoughtful, passionate cover letter highlighting your skills and qualifications is a great way to stand out. As a product manager, your cover letter can allow you to express your most impressive skills and experiences. Overall, a professional cover letter can give your application that extra touch it needs to shine.

In this article, we’ll discuss what makes a product manager’s cover letter successful, as well as provide professional tips and examples.

Parts of a Product Manager Cover Letter

As a product manager, you’ll want to express your ability to analyze the market, and communicate your findings with others. After all, employers want the most hard-working, skilled, and qualified candidate. Luckily, a cover letter allows you to show your passion and qualifications by briefly explaining why you’re the right person for the position.

Remember, while it is important to keep things brief, you should still be as specific as possible, showing why you are a qualified, skilled, and professional product manager. Here are some important traits to keep in mind:

• Strategic thinking. Outlining a successful plan for a product requires you to look to the future strategically. For this reason, product managers need to consider every step of a product’s life cycle, even before the product is released.

• Marketing experience. Selling products in the most efficient and successful way possible requires knowledge of the market and marketing experience. Product managers need to be aware of the market and understand the best ways to succeed in it.

• Communication and leadership. Product managers often work for major corporations and other clients, so it’s important to communicate professionally and effectively with other team members and departments.

  Additionally, managing a product usually requires you to assume a leadership role, so you should be able to handle that pressure and be willing to make final decisions.

• Ability to research. Typically, marketing and selling products successfully requires detailed research. Whether it’s research into potential customers, the market, or production costs, nothing can be overlooked.

• Analytical skills. Being able to work with and evaluate data, statistics, and other metrics is a crucial part of any product manager’s job. With that in mind, every product manager should be proficient in mathematical analysis.

Structurally speaking, your letter also requires a few vital components. Of course, while you should have a gripping introduction and conclusion, there are other important details you should include as well. For example, your cover letter should contain:

• Your contact information

• The company’s contact information

• An introduction, body paragraph, and conclusion (typically three small paragraphs)

• Letter formatting (e.g., Beginning with Dear “employer’s name,” and concluded with Sincerely, “your name”)

Product Manager Cover Letter Opening

As noted, every professional cover letter should have your contact information at the top of the page and properly address the employer. Not only is this formatting important for the letter’s presentation, but it also allows the employer to remember you and potentially contact you. Here is an example of how to write this information on a cover letter:

Having the proper formatting ensures that you’ll be perceived as a professional, but it cannot be understated just how vital your opening paragraph will be.

Because employers spend so little time reading your documents, it’s crucial to open strong and leave a memorable impression. This will help sell yourself to the employer before your letter is automatically added to the discard pile.

In the case of a product manager, showcasing your most valuable experience researching, managing, and marketing products can be an excellent way to start your cover letter.

For instance, if you successfully oversaw the life cycle of an important product, which resulted in increased profits and efficiency for the company in question, that might be a good way to kick off your cover letter.

Here’s an example of an eye-catching introduction:

This kind of introduction pulls the employer in immediately, as they know you have the hard skills to succeed in this field. Remember, even if you have a minimal amount of experience and are applying at entry-level, you should still start with a noteworthy accomplishment related to product management.

Product Manager Cover Letter Body

While your opening paragraph is meant to catch the employer’s attention, your body paragraph needs to retain it. Ideally, you should show the employer your passion for the field by outlining your knowledge and experience. Remember, it can be advantageous to research the company in question, so you can use the information you find to show interest.

While it’s important to outline your experience, you’ll also want to keep things brief. Maybe include a few bullet notes that list your accomplishments so they are easy for the employer to digest.

Here is an example of an effective body paragraph:

Product Manager Cover Letter Closing Lines

Now that you’ve hooked your potential employer in and presented them with passion and qualifications, it's essential to end your cover letter strong. To do so, use your words to mobilize the employer. After all, you want them to contact you!

Here’s a good example of how to end your cover letter:

Example of a Product Manager Cover Letter

When you put everything together, it looks a little like this:

Additional Tips for a Product Manager Cover Letter

Though writing a competitive cover letter can feel overwhelming, here are some additional tips to aid your writing:

• Open strong. Pull the employer in so they don’t ditch your letter without giving it a chance.

• Keep it brief. Don’t make the mistake of over-writing. Employers will be more likely to retain important information when they can skim and still pick out all the necessary details. Ideally, your cover letter shouldn’t exceed 250 words.

• Show enthusiasm. Showing passion for your field will show the employer that you’ll work hard and appreciate your job.

• Research the company. For product managers, it's especially vital that you understand the company you applied for and their products. The more you know, the more likely the employer will feel like you’re qualified to manage their products.

• Be specific. Examples are only useful if you outline accurate metrics, measurements, percentages, etc. Being as detailed as possible when describing your experiences and accomplishments is an integral part of letting the employer know how qualified you are.