Finding the Best Talent with Facebook Product Recruiting Leader

This week Product School hosted Diana Chen current Product Recruiting Leader at Facebook for an #AskMeAnything session. Diana shared her experience working as a Recruiting leader and gave tips for others looking to hire new team members.

Meet Diana Chen

Diana Chen is passionate about building product teams and currently leads a product recruiting team at Facebook. Prior to her current role, Diana was a Recruiting Manager at an agency where she partnered with various start-ups to Fortune 500 companies in scaling their teams.

Recruiting Product Managers 

Can you please share some insights regarding how recruiting for product roles has changed due to COVID-19?

One change that I have noticed due to COVID is the increasing number of companies being opened to remote work or remote product teams.

You might also be interested in: Product Planning in a Post-COVID-19 World: The Product Strategy Survival Toolkit

As a recruiter, what do you look for in resumes where the candidate doesn’t have direct Product Management experience?

What I look for in candidates who may not have direct Product Management experience is how they can take an ambiguous idea to create a great solution, execution, and be able to work well across cross-functional teams.

How should enterprise application Product Managers showcase their results in their CV?

I think of the CV as a way for you to tell your story and the impact you have made on your team or the company. Every company can look for different things in a Product Manager. I would recommend understanding what the Product Manager’s role and scope are in that company and highlighting your experiences that align with that.

You might also be interested in: 4 Tips to Write a Product Manager Resume Recruiters Will Notice + Examples

Do you have some advice for early-stage startup founders who are hiring people?

My advice for early stage-startups is:

• Understanding what is important to the candidate. 
• Create a positive interview experience for all candidates and continue to build positive candidate relationships. The candidate experience is just as important as your client experience.
• Aligning your team on the company’s mission.
• Build transparency.

You might also be interested in: Hiring A Product Manager: Job Posting Templates

What challenges could accountants have while becoming Product Managers? What soft skills are the most important to someone with non-technical skills?

What a love about speaking with Product Managers is the diversity in experiences. There are many different types of paths to becoming a Product Manager. 

My advice is to build on your existing experience. A great place to start could be finding PM opportunities that highlight your domain expertise as an accountant.

The role of a Product Manager can vary across different companies. In general, I think being able to work well cross-functionally, prioritization, and execution, and user empathy could help someone be successful as a PM.

Join us next week for another #AskMeAnything Session for more insights from Product Managers around the world!