How I pivoted my career to become a Product Manager
Culture · May 28, 2021
How it started
I always knew I loved working in teams to drive us forward towards the same vision and reaching the same goal. I first joined TELUS Digital as a People Experience Specialist where I led new team member onboarding, community investments and events, managed the TELUS Digital blog (the blog you’re now reading) and social media accounts to drive brand awareness of the TELUS Digital employer brand. In this role, I was able to deepen my knowledge of digital marketing through the
Through constant collaboration with product managers across the organization and attending
How it’s going
With the emergence and growth of three new business lines at TELUS, I pivoted to become the Product Manager for National Products. In this role, I work with a team of designers, content strategists, developers and QAs to support the growth and deepen the national brand awareness and sales of
What makes me - and others- successful in the role of product manager comes full circle to the core TELUS Digital values I used to onboard new hires with:
Love collaboration and leading a team (Believe in spirited teamwork): a successful product launch can only be achieved through the deep collaboration with our marketing primes, product managers, and design and development teams. As a product manager, you are the unassumed leader guiding the pack to bring your product launches to life
Being empathetic (passion for growth): Know who your customer is, understand their pain points, and create solutions to solve their problems
Team Pulse (Courage to innovate): Understanding your team’s skill sets and how they thrive in creativity and solutioning will be crucial in delivering the best customer experience possible
Be adaptable and embrace change (Embrace change and initiate opportunity): Customer needs and demands change constantly as the world tries to pivot to meet those demands, and meeting the customer where they are is vital to your success as a product manager.
3 ways to get into product management:
Make a pivot: Get your foot in the door with a company that has a product team by starting in a role that can leverage your current skill sets
Apply directly: Understand the skill sets required per product manager role and showcasing your relevant experience and transferable skills to the role
Be your own boss: Start your own business and manage the launch of your own business or product and learn firsthand
My 3 leadership philosophies:
Lead by example: show the team you’re willing to put in the work and the team will follow; and build trust and respect in order to contribute towards achieving the same goal and product vision
Don’t be afraid to fail: learning from mistakes are just as important, if not more important, than learning from successful launches - share those learnings with confidence and pride!
Learn to love change: Only with change will you be able to truly grow in your career, and in your life - roll with it!
It’s important to note, all the skills, and knowledge, I mentioned as key to the product management role were interpersonal skills. I am a firm believer that technical skills can and will be developed on the job for any role and that these interpersonal skills are just some that will be key to your success as a product manager. There is a home for a diverse set of skills in product management.
Growing my career as a product manager at TELUS Digital has been such an eye-opening experience and I am inspired by my team every day. If you are interested in joining our team as a product manager or a product owner, check out our careers page