Help me Review my documents for expectional Talent (Product Leader)

Stage 1
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Hi everyone, This group is great! For the past few days, I’ve been following and learning from posts here. I want to say a big thank you to the volunteers.

Please help me review my profile for the exceptional promise category.

Background:

6+ years in Information Technology, below is a detailed breakdown:

1+ years as a Solutions Specialist

3+ years in Product Management role

1+ years as a Product Leader (Head of Products for Company A)

LOR

  1. Letter from the CEO of an EDTech company I worked with.

  2. Letter from a Head Of Products of a Technology Innovation Company who I have worked with previously.

  3. Letter from the CTO of a Financial firm who was formally my boss in Company A

MC docs

Evidence of Leading Products and Innovation in Company A: I briefly discussed how we started the product team and my role. I attached documentations of internal processes and roadmap introduced by me

Media recognition of the company’s innovation/Personal Publication: I had to state how innovative the company’s approach was to digital technology and that I am a major key player, so these media mentions are relevant evidence to meet this criterion. Also, the attached screenshots and links mentioned my name in them. I attached screenshots from 3 major media outlets, and I added a brief description of what these media houses do, their target audience and details about the publication.

Personal Media mentions: In this docs, I spoke about various virtual spaces I had spoken in professionally and different panels I had to sit on as a professional in my field. The pieces of evidence I attached were:

  1. screenshots of the LinkedIn message when the community leader contacted me for a panel discussion.
  2. a screenshot and links to various twitter spaces I was invited to as a guest speaker.
  3. a screenshot of email correspondence to sit at a panel for newly graduated product managers and the thank you message I got for the panel sitting.

Salary and Contracts: A brief history of how my earnings evolved since I started my career in tech. I attached:

  1. Payscale report showing what an Average person in my role earns
  2. 6 months payslips for my current job
  3. Details about the benefits being paid to me in my current job.

OC1 docs

Proof of innovation: I spoke about the product team, the products we have built and my role and briefly described 3 major products implemented while leading the team. (just to prove how innovative the solution was). I attached just a link(not the screenshot) to the Figma designs of these products. The other evidences I attached to this document were:

  1. screenshot and link of one of the products being launched. I showed the target audience, monthly visits, and a brief description of the publication and the link to the publication
  2. Screenshot of One pager that describes the challenges we are solving and our solutions.

I received a reference letter from a Vice President and Head Of Information Technology of Company A, which spoke about my leading the product team and development and the company’s revenue tied to these products.

Proof of products in the market: I reiterated that I built the product team from scratch before showing the pieces of evidence. Docs attached:

  1. Screenshot of the flagship product web app and link to the web app
  2. Screenshot from banks that showed transactions and revenue generated within a period
  3. Screenshot from Google’s Play and App Store console dashboard showing product acquisitions and channels(major sales) and product performance (number of app downloads)
  4. Play Store and App Store screenshot of the app and link to the Play Store and App Store

OC2 docs

Evidence of teaching at a product management school: Here, I spoke about the Ed-tech company, what it does, and my role as a product management facilitator. Docs attached:

  1. Screenshot of my offer letters
  2. Link to the website
  3. Screenshot of email correspondence for the different cohorts I taught
  4. Screenshots and links to students I mentored attribute their success to my mentorship.
  5. Links to virtual classes I taught.

Here I wanted to know if the LOR I got from the company’s CEO would be enough.

Other docs

  1. My CV
  2. Personal statement
2

You’re only allowed a total of 10 documents overall as evidence - did you want help choosing what to add/combine as well?

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Yes please. This would be very helpful @Nat

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Hi @EkeneE

Good first cut!
MC:

  • Seems like you will have overall 3 evidence documents here:
    i. Self-documented proof of leading products & innovations (Can you get an attaching support letter here for this?)
    ii. Media Recognitions (Do you have pictures of these panels and events with you on the stage? Was the attendee size >100? First two seem like just invites: how many of these events did you actually participate in? Were these internationally recognised big events?
    iii. Salary & Contracts

The strength of i and ii above is going to decide success in this criteria for you.

OC1

  • Confusing the way you have written how many total evidence documents you have here and how many product innovation contributions, impact, support letter, external proof are you showing?

OC2

  • Please get a different support letter for this one if you can. The LOR is a separate evidence.
5

Thanks for your feedback @pahuja

The supporting document for the proof of leading products and innovation is a reference letter from a Vice president of the same company acknowledging my works.

Media recognitions - these panels were virtual and screenshot of my attendance will also be attached but they were less than 100.
They were not internationally recognized events.

For OC1 - there are just two documents. the others are supporting evidences

6

  • you also need some self-documentation along with just the letter. Add any external links and proofs you can

  • < 100 attendance and not highly recognized events would be considered weak evidence

  • so Oc1 has two documents with self-documentation plus two respective supporting letters plus impact plus external proof? If so, this should be fine!

1 Like
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@pahuja thanks for the feedback. Is it OK to use two letters from two different people in the same company?

1 Like
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@pahuja asking because I have two ref letters from C-suite executives in Company A where I currently work

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@EkeneE Its not the strongest strategy. What are the two mentioning in their letters and is there any overlap?

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I wanted to use one for MC and another for OC1 @pahuja but they both speak generally on the same thing

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@EkeneE Ok I am confused: the two letters are not 2 LORs from some company but 2 support letters from same company for different criteria ? If it is the latter, it is fine!

However, please still try to have OC1 letter focus more on product innovation and your contribution to the value of that innovation while MC should focus on your overall leadership impact and cite a different example in depth and touch upon innovation example as secondary.

12

Hello @pahuja
Thanks for all your responses. These has been super helpful. Here is how I have revised. Tell me what you think?

MC docs

  1. Evidence of Leading Products and Innovation in Company A: I briefly discussed how we started the product team and my role. I included a link to some documentation of internal processes and policies that were introduced by me

  2. Media recognition of the company’s innovation/Personal Publication: I had to state how innovative the company’s approach was to digital technology and that I am a major key player, so these media mentions are relevant evidence to meet this criterion. Also, the attached screenshots and links mentioned my name in them. I attached screenshots from 3 major media outlets, and I added a brief description of what these media houses do, their target audience and details about the publication. I also attached links and screenshots of various small virtual spaces where I spoke about product management.

  3. A reference letter from an SVP of Company A, who spoke about my product leadership role.

  4. Salary and Contracts: A brief history of how my earnings evolved since I started my career in tech. I attached a payscale report showing what an Average person in my role earns, 6 months’ payslips for my current job and details about the benefits being paid to me in my current job.

OC1 docs

  1. Proof of innovation: I spoke about the product team, the products we have built and my role and briefly described 3 major products implemented while leading the team. I attached just a link (not the screenshot) to the Figma designs of these products. The other evidence I attached to this document was a screenshot and link to one of the products being launched. I showed the target audience, and a brief description of the publication and the link to the publication. Screenshot of One pager that describes the challenges we are solving and our solutions.

  2. A reference letter from the VP of Information Technology of Company A, who spoke about my involvement in leading the software/product development and the company’s revenue tied to these products.

  3. Proof of products in the market: I reiterated that I built the product team from scratch before showing the pieces of evidence. Docs attached are screenshots of the flagship product web app and link to the web app, screenshots from Google’s Play and App Store console dashboard showing product acquisitions and channels and product performance (number of app downloads). I also included a link to Play Store and App Store.

OC2 docs

  1. Evidence of teaching at a product management school: Here, I spoke about the Ed-tech company, what it does, and my role as a product management facilitator. Docs attached, Screenshots of my offer letters, links to the ED Tech company’s website, screenshots of email correspondence for the different cohorts I taught, screenshots and links to students I mentored who attributed their success to my mentorship.

  2. I also included a cover document detailing all the pieces of evidence provided and their categories.

13

You have stated you have more than 6 years experience, so you are not eligible for exceptional promise.

MC,

  1. Dors the media recognition specifically mention your name. If your name is not part of the news clipping then it doesn’t meet the criteria.

  2. I don’t know what you mean by personal media mention, you need to limit the use of self authored documents.

  3. Salary evidence looks ok if you combine the 3 documents.
    OC3 looks ok but limit self authorship let the evidence show you made impacts. If you have a dashboard or tool that shows your name on the screen then pint the assessor to it.
    One evidence for OC2 may not be sufficient.

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@Francisca_Chiedu Thanks for the feedback.
I made an error, I meant exceptional talent.

The media recognition is an interview I did on behalf of the company on our digital products, but it was carried by up to 7 media houses. Will that work?

For OC2, I wanted to add a reference letter from the co founder of one of the edtech companies I worked in.

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How recent are the articles

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@Francisca_Chiedu it was published earlier this year.

17

That’s still recent.

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@Francisca_Chiedu will that weaken the application?

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yes, it may be considered close to the timing of your application.

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@Francisca_Chiedu ok. I understand