PM Leveling- What level roles to apply for?
I'm looking to start applying to new PM roles, and I wanted to understand how I should consider my experience when determining what level of roles to apply for. I have about 6 years of total experience, 3 in an Ops role at a FAANG company, and 3 additional years as a PM at both a startup and Activision Blizzard. I'm currently at a T1 non-FAANG company (think Stripe, Plaid, Twitter, Coinbase, DoorDash) as a PM now, and I have an MBA from a T20 school. I think I fall pretty comfortably between PM and Senior PM by most accounts, but want to understand if I'm hurting my chances by applying for 'Senior PM' roles asking for 5 years experience, or if I'd be doing myself a disservice by applying for PM roles when I have 3 years exp. already. I assume the experience expected is relevant, i.e PM experience, but much of my work in Ops was Product Ops related as well. Prior to landing the role I'm in now, I made final round for a Senior PM at Reddit as well before ultimately being rejected despite good but vague feedback. Any insights for figuring out what level of role to apply for, and what to expect during interviews? I'm mainly targeting companies similar to those I listed above as 'T1.' TC: 250 #tech #pm #productmanagement
Apply and see how the bites shake out. Part of any job search is learning to calibrate but also see how others respond to your submissions.
Mainly depends on the company you are applying to. In most cases if you are a solid candidate for the role, regardless of level, you will still get an first round interview.
In this job market if you need 5yoe and you have 3 I would apply given your background. Some places might downlevel you but it can’t hurt