Product Owner
Resume Example

01. How can you become a great product owner from a good one?

Do you know that product owner jobs are high in demand? The real reason behind that is, it is a very challenging job that requires being perfect at maximizing positive business outcomes. As a professional on a scrum team, you are responsible for maximizing the value of the product. Have you ever thought of becoming a great product? If so let’s dig around what you can do to be perfect in your role.

The role of a Product Owner is made up of four main skill areas:

1. Product Management
2. Project Management
3. Business Analysis
4. Leadership.

If you can excel yourself in the above-mentioned areas you are more likely to level up from your position of product owner to product manager fast.

Many people doubt whether the Product Owner role has value and a future. Well, you have nothing to worry about, it is still in demand. Whichever field you choose to work in. 

02. Why do we need a good product owner resume?

You need a good product owner resume to dive into the competition and break through the barriers and hit into the interview to land your dream job. If you want to stand out from the crowd, remind yourself that you aren’t the only product owner out there. So, you can put a little effort into your resume.

However, there’s always interview competition for product owner jobs. Someone is always better than you. Therefore, you need to create a resume to resemble the value of you being a product owner to the company. You are going to write a resume to prove that, you are worth hiring because,

1. You know strategies
2. You always have a business goal
3. You have a vision

A good first impression starts with a killer product owner resume. So, you need to give your best within 6 seconds while your recruiter decides whether you fit the role or not. Next question: how are you going to give your best? Keep reading to get your answers.

03. How to write a Product owner resume

A good first impression starts with a killer resume. So, If you exactly know what Hiring Managers & Recruiters look for when scanning resumes, wouldn’t it be easier for you to write the resume clearly and concisely to convince them that you perfectly fit the job role.

Resume Header

First things first, Let’s start with the resume header. Here, we focus on all the information that will be necessary to contact you. Simply, it is your business card. It contains your name, job title, and contact information. 

Do not make it stuffy by adding too many details too like adding your full postal address. If you ask why? Because it is unnecessary at this stage of the recruitment process. Also, you should not add multiple emails and both your mobile and home number.

If you add your LinkedIn be sure that you have something extra there too, It should not restate what they already know about yourself.

Resume summary

The resume summary is the only place that you need to write a paragraph. It should summarize your experience, achievements, and key skills related to your job role. Let’s say that you notice the Product Owner job posting says that they need someone with Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office products, include that specific requirement from the job posting in your summary. You can also use percentages to talk about your growth and achievements.

The magic is done with the keywords. Using a few attention-grabbing words like Overseeing, Product Management, and User Experience along with a few strong verbs will do the job.

Work experience

Work experience is an important factor for you when finding a job in the industry. Also, it helps to reach out for a job easily. If you give it some thought, a product owner is not just a job title but a role to play. However, When playing that role you need to have the knowledge you gained from your past experiences. Moreover, experience can be an important factor that can influence your pay too.

You might not be a product owner at the very beginning but if you were a member of an Agile team with product managers and a development team, you must add what you have achieved through that time. So, the one who reads your resume knows that you may help in similar crises in the new company.

However, use action words such as Maximized, Identified, Provided, and Managed to give them the message that you have done extraordinary things and you are ready to do it once again if a chance is given. Apart from that, Don’t use the same action words or overused action words if you don’t want to be ordinary.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in business, management, or a related field is necessary to apply for many Product Owner positions. If you are a fresh graduate with a bachelor’s degree you can still apply for the job. It only matters how much you can learn and give to the company. Apart from that, you can add some value by doing online courses related to the product owner role. However, Let’s see how you can list out your education in your resume.

1. Start with your highest educational qualification.
2. Include the degree you received, the name of the university, its location, and your graduation year.
3. Always list your education in reverse chronological order (most recent first)

Skills

The skills section is crucial for a resume, especially for freshers and career changers. Equip yourself with skills that are required to connect, and lead your team and build a network.

In addition, a product owner is someone who has the ability to change his vision into an alive product. He is concerned with building the best product in the shortest time. To do that, he needs to have a specific set of skills and abilities. On the other hand, product owners do develop their skills to be successful, it is an investment for the future.

The job description will tell you at minimum the skills necessary for the job. You need to find what they are really looking for and what problems the company is trying to solve. Nevertheless, in your Product Owner resume list all your unique soft skills, hard skills, and technical skills not only to impress but also to pass the ATS filters.

Use the following list to decide what Product Owner skills you need to add to your resume.

Best skills for a Product Owner resume

• Analytical skills
• Analytics
• Business Process
• Business analyst
• Collaboration
• Creativity
• Critical thinking
• Decision making
• Domain knowledge
• Effective communication
• Evaluating Result
• Flexibility and adaptability
• Leadership and management
• Leadership skills
• Problem-solving
• Product Backlog
• Product development
• Project Management
• Responsibility
• Scrum
• Storytelling
• Product management
• Product vision
• Teamwork skills
• Time management
• User Interface
• User research methodologies

Language

Communication is one of the key skills that every one of the team should possess to reduce miscommunication. In that case, language matters the most. Everyone at least speaks two languages. English is one of those languages. Therefore, if you speak two or more languages the chances are higher to get hired to work in a multi-national team.

Ludwig Wittgenstein said that “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” So don’t limit your abilities to show your worth, proficiency from this section.

Certifications

Having a Bachelor’s degree will not prove that you fit the job role, therefore you need to arm yourself with certifications, courses, seminars, webinars, and training. Well, the least you can do is to earn these certifications online or offline:

• Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
• Professional Scrum Product OwnerCertifications
• Agile Certified Practitioner

Therefore, Save some space to write your certificates. As you can see if you can get yourself certified as a Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), It comes with extra benefits. As a certified Product Owner, you can let your employer know that you can apply your knowledge to suggest scrum practices.

04. More tips to write a Product Owner resume

01. Use resume action verbs

Do you know that action verbs can power your resume? Yes, it does. How come? These words show that you have taken action. However, use appropriate action verbs to suit your role and the industry. Avoid overusing common words such as talked, presented, organized. The following is a super list of action verbs to use in your Product Owner resume.

• Led 
• Owned 
• Managed
• Coached 
• Developed 
• Collaborated 
• Drove 
• Built 
• Facilitated 
• Promoted 
• Encouraged 
• Identified 
• Implemented 
• Designed 
• Executed 
• Streamlined
• Contributed
• Demonstrated
• Directed
• Performed
• Encouraged
• Acted
• Supported
• Maintained

02. Avoid using buzzwords

According to LinkedIn, these words are the most overused words on resumes therefore it is better if you can avoid these kinds of words:

• Motivated
• Passionate
• Creative 
• Driven
• extensive 
• experience
• strategic
• Extensive 
• Experience
• Track record

03. Use keywords

If you want to escape the resume black hole, use keywords. It helps you to get shortlisted and successfully pass through the ATS. Below listed are some Product Owner resume keywords.

• product vision and strategy
• Strategic review
• Strategic initiatives
• Design system
• Detailed user stories 
• trade-off decisions
• Product Management
• User Experience
• Jira
• Product Development
• Business Analyst
• User Interface Design
• Scrum
• Agile
• Software development
• Agile project management
• product ownership  
• Teamwork

05. Frequently asked questions about Product Owner resumes?

01. What if I don’t have any experience to list?

Most of the Product Owners get promoted internally. If you are passionate about being a Product Owner, of course, you can give your best shot. Even if you have no prior experience as a Product Owner, you should highlight any relevant experience, such as sales team experience or project management.

02. Why do I need to list my work accomplishments rather than just my duties and responsibilities as a Product Owner?

It is because listing duties and responsibilities is the old method now an employer will look how this candidate added value to his previous positions. So, highlight your achievements, not your duties.

03. What are the common resume mistakes that I should be careful of?

If the reader is distracted by poor writing skills it will not benefit even if you are qualified. Therefore, always proofread your resume for spelling and grammar errors, Unnecessary personal information, and formatting errors.