Is your idea bullet-proof, but you are yet to generate revenue? Are you currently struggling with customer growth? Or maybe, on the contrary, your business is growing way too quick that you no longer have the capacity to focus on the specificities of your product? It may be a sign that you need to hire a product manager.
What is a Product Manager?
A product manager is responsible for planning, developing, launching, and managing a product or service throughout its entire lifecycle. They work with other departments in the business such as tech, sales, compliance and marketing to see that the outcome achieves business objectives and user necessities, maximising return on investment.
Benefits of a Product Manager
Increase in revenue
A product manager analyses consumer feedback to determine what customers want. They communicate this to the development team for implementation to ensure that the product remains competitive and meets user requirements. Adapting to consumer needs is essential to increase revenue and maintain it.
Reduces risk of product failure
A responsibility of a product manager is to keep up with the latest market trends, changes in the industry and the competitive landscape. Product managers will have a long term strategy for the product and constant development to ensure it remains competitive. When thinking about product failures, Nokia, Blackberry, and MySpace are just some famous examples of products once successful, failed to adapt to the latest market trends and lost their market share.
Strengthens internal collaboration
It takes various skills to design, develop, and market a product. For example, in tech, communication between the tech and the customer service team is vital to figure out how to optimise the user experience. Product managers wear multiple hats to link the different departments, promoting interdependence and cohesion between individuals.
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Steps to hire a product manager
Write a job description
Clearly outline responsibilities and requirements for the role. It can help if you have a goal or a vision for your product. Due to the versatility of the job role, you'll need someone with management, interpersonal and leadership experience.
In tech, it's not essential for a product manager to code, but they need to have a rough idea to explain to the developer what their vision is. Soft skills are crucial in an effective product manager as they will be a key member working with most teams.
Finding a candidate
Post the job on social media and networking sites and reach out to people in your network for recommendations or suggestions. You can post to industry or sector-specific websites to ensure you find an experienced candidate in your field.
Interview process
Ask the candidate how they have dealt with failures to judge critical thinking. You can ask questions such as how they managed conflict or differing views to gauge leadership and teamwork capabilities, which will be vital for a successful product manager.
Extend the job offer
Send an offer of employment to your chosen candidate. The offer letter will cover what the employee and employer will want to agree on, define both parties' obligations and rights, and outline any particular key terms.
Get your paperwork inline
Once the ideal candidate has accepted the offer, it is time to draft their employment contract.
Legislate can help you create lawyer approved contracts on no legal budget.
To create your employment agreement:
- Create a Legislate account and select the employment agreement from the list of available contracts.
- Set the terms of the agreement and invite the employee to e-sign the contract directly from Legislate.
- Watch a Legislate tutorial on the employment contract creation process
The opinions on this page are for general information purposes only and do not constitute legal advice on which you should rely.