How to land your dream PM job through networking

Specific tactics, messages, and networking tips to land your dream PM job.

This week, I gave a talk at my MBA alma mater: “How I Landed My Dream PM Job Through Networking.” 

And no, it wasn’t through a cold-apply.

I wanted to share the highlights with you, including specific tactics, messages I sent, and lessons learned the hard way.

This is important for Product Builders because: networking is one of the most underrated (and misunderstood) skills in a Product Builder’s toolkit.

📚 The Networking Course That Changed Everything

In 2023, I took “One-to-One Marketing” with Dan Richards at the University of Toronto. 

The entire course was about networking. Yes, really. 

And I know what you’re thinking..how can networking be a Masters-level course?!

But let me tell you: we all need an MBA-level course on networking because most of us are networking wrong. At least, I was doing it wrong before taking this course.

Networking is not:

• Collecting coffee chats

• Attending cringey networking events

• Mass-adding PMs on LinkedIn

Networking is:

• Creating deep, meaningful relationships with professional contacts

• → Adding value to their lives

• → On occasion, leveraging your contacts for help or to help others

🗝 3 Networking Game-Changers (even if you’re not job hunting!)

💭 1) Start with “I thought of you”

Saying “I thought of you” makes people feel seen, special, and appreciated.

✖️ Instead of: “Can I pick your brain?”

✅ Try: “Hey, I saw this and thought of you.”

Send someone an article with a short note. Invite them to go to an event with you. Make it personal. It’s one of the most authentic ways to keep relationships warm.

Real-life example: I sent a mentor who’s actively building an audience on LinkedIn an X post about LinkedIn growth with a note “Hey, saw this & thought this might be helpful to you. Hope all is well!”. 

Why this works:

• When you offer value to your network, opportunities to connect come naturally.

• Offering value triggers the reciprocity principle, which makes others more likely to help the next time you have an ask.

🤝 2) Invest in your peer network & peer mentorship

Before taking this course, I was over-indexing on building a network of senior leaders as mentors. But don’t neglect your peer network, they are just as vital to your success.

✖️ Instead of: obsessing with finding senior mentors.

✅ Try: cultivating a group of high-performing, high-integrity peer mentors.

Real-life example: One peer referred me to the dream PM role I landed. Another Product Manager became my career & life goal accountability partner.

Why this works: Senior mentors are important for where you want to go long-term, but your peer network often has great insights on the roles you’re looking to land right now.

💗 3) You don’t know what will happen, until you put yourself out there.

Not every connection or coffee chat leads to a job. Some lead to something even better: advice, perspective, encouragement, or even your next breakthrough. But you won’t know until you put yourself out there.

Real-life example: One connection recommended a book that totally changed how I prepared for PM interviews. Another shared a piece of advice I use every day as a PM.

💡 Pro tip: keep a running list of contacts you’d like to reach out to with a quick phone chat or a thoughtful message/email, and be sure to engage with them at least quarterly. 

Now, onto how I landed my dream PM job with these tips:

After taking Dan Richard’s course in 2023, I started “properly” networking with people in Product. At the time, I was happy in my role at IBM, and was learning a ton, but knew that one day I may want to try a different company with a clearer product career-ladder.

👋 From Reach-Outs to Rejections

I started reaching out to product folks I admired.

Some small wins along the way:

• Invited a Product Leader from Shopify to speak at a Product Guild event at IBM. 50 product people attended. After that, I asked her for a 20-minute coffee chat and she gave me some great advice. One of the books she recommended, Cracking the PM Interview, helped me to revamp my resume and prep for all my PM interviews that eventually landed me the job. Score!

• I cold-reached out to a very senior Product Leader at Google (he actually built the first versions of the GMail mobile app!) and he responded. We had a great coffee chat and I learned a great piece of advice from him about product that I keep in mind every day. His advice was something to the effect of:

  “As a product manager, whatever the biggest problem is in your team, that’s your #1 priority. If getting the right technical talent is a problem, you’re out there helping them with recruitment. Whatever the problem is, it’s your responsibility to make the product a success.” 

But be prepared for some rejections along the way, too:

• Ghosting.

• Some slightly condescending replies back, followed by ghosting.

• People who say they’ll chat or connect you with a contact, and then ghost you.

After a few rejections, I started to get discouraged.

My networking was hitting a wall, and I took a pause…

💛 Remember how I mentioned peer networks are important?

The “burn-out” part of the networking process is totally normal, and this is when I’ll remind you of the power of peer networks.

I formed a 1:1 Mastermind with another Product Manager, Tiana, and we’d meet semi-regularly to keep each other accountable on career goals and chat through career challenges.

During one of our masterminds in early 2025, Tiana followed up with me:

Is your goal still to be a Chief Product Officer someday?

I remember feeling embarrassed because I had forgotten that was a goal of mine.

I had literally forgotten my career goal. That gentle nudge reignited me. I didn’t want to show up to our next mastermind with no progress.

So I turned to LinkedIn again, and started actively applying to PM roles. And shortly after that, things finally clicked.

And that’s why peer networks are so critical: they keep you accountable.

🚀 Find a rockstar peer or a group of high-performing peers you trust, and form a mastermind group with them.

This may be one of the most important things you do for your career.

The 60-70% rule

I saw a Senior PM role I loved… but didn’t apply. Why?

The posting said: “Computer Science background preferred.”

I watched the job posting without applying for weeks. Opening it, re-reading through the description, closing it without applying. Even though I knew the space and had the experience.

That’s when I reached out to someone from my MBA network, who worked at the company, to ask her about the role.

I shared that I was unsure about applying because of the Comp Sci requirement, and she said:

“Just apply and see what happens.”

So I did. She referred me in, I went through 6 rounds… and now I’m 2 months into my dream PM role at StackAdapt.

💡Final pro tip: Apply even if you don’t meet 100% of the criteria.

The world is constantly trying to screen you out: don’t make it worse by self-selecting out!

Like my friend & now co-worker said: apply and see what happens!

💌 Why I’m Sharing This

Networking isn’t about taking.

It’s about giving. Adding value. Cultivating a community around you.

🙏 And occasionally, that community will help you out in return!

And that’s why I started this newsletter: to give back to this product community and share what I’m learning in real-time.

My hope is that you can use this newsletter to connect with your network & cultivate community around you.

🌟 If this resonated with you, send this to a friend who’s on a job hunt (they could really use your encouragement!). Reconnect with someone using those magic words: “I thought of you.”