Requesting Community Advice on My GTV Evidence & Documents

Stage 1
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Hi everyone,

I’m planning to apply for the GTV Exceptional Promise and want to start my application process(Inside the UK).I would really appreciate your guidance and feedback on whether my profile is strong enough or if I should add anything more.

My Experience:

  • Around 5 years of experience working as a Product Manager, Quality Assurance Engineer, and Head of HR.
  • For the last 3 years, I have been working specifically as a Product Manager.

Recommendation Letters (3):

  • From the CEO of the company.
  • From the current CTO (I report directly to them).
  • From the previous CTO of the company.

Mandatory Criteria (MC) Evidence:

  • Letter of recommendation from the Head of West Region Europe.
  • Salary comparison with the market to show seniority.
  • Screenshots from Jira, project structures, and delivery workflows.
  • Evidence of managing a 30-member team.
  • Client appreciation, feedback, and recognition emails.
  • Awards, quality recognitions, and annual wins within the organisation.

Optional Criteria (OC):

  • Participated in different professional challenges and communities.
  • Delivered an IT tools training session to ~60 school staff members (will include a letter from the school).

OC2 (Community & Volunteer Work):

  • Active member of multiple communities.
  • Helped create websites and provided support to non-profit organisations as volunteer work.

I would love to hear your thoughts:

  • Does this look aligned with GTV expectations?
  • Should I strengthen any area or add more evidence?
  • Any tips before I formally submit?

Thanks in advance for your guidance :pray:

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Hi @Kaneez_Fatima hope you’re good.

3 years as a product manager is fine and you can apply through the business skill area via Promise pathway, but you really should be working in a tech company for this route. Your QA and HR background won’t count much here, except to show how you used transferable skills to transition into PM.

Recommendation letters

Your recommenders look okay, but still check their LinkedIn profiles to be sure they’re clearly positioned as tech experts.

Mandatory Criteria:

For the criteria, what you need is a reference letter validating your claims not a recommendation letter. They serve different purposes. Salary is okay but not enough. You still need to show you’ve contributed substantially to the sector. Jira screenshots, workflows, delivery structures show your work, but they don’t show the level of recognition of what you have done that MC requires. Client appreciation emails are fine, but what exactly were you appreciated or recognised for? That’s the evidence you need to highlight. Internal awards can support other evidence, but on their own they’re not strong for MC.

Optional Criteria

Participating in challenges and communities doesn’t show innovation, sector contribution or contribution to a product‑led company or academic research. The IT tools training session could work for OC2, but it may be seen as not substantial and sector focused.

Being active in communities won’t demonstrate recognition for contributing to the tech sector. Creating websites and helping nonprofits is good work, but it doesn’t advance the digital tech sector as expected in OC2.

On your questions:

Does this align with GTV expectations?

Honestly, no.

Should you strengthen or add more evidence?

Yes! You need stronger, clearer evidence that aligns with the criteria.

Any tips before submitting?

Take some time to work on your narrative and evidence.

All the best.

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Hi @Raphael Thank you very much for your honest and detailed feedback. genuinely appreciate you taking the time to review my profile and highlight the gaps. It’s very helpful.

I understand your point regarding mandatory criteria and the difference between demonstrating contribution versus demonstrating recognition. That distinction is particularly useful.

If you don’t mind, I would really value your thoughts on a couple of follow-up points:

  1. For someone at my career stage (around 3–4 years in Product Management), what type of evidence would most clearly demonstrate recognition under the Exceptional Promise route?
  2. Would a promotion letter combined with documented impact validation (e.g. measurable delivery improvements, stakeholder confirmation, or appreciation) be considered strong enough for MC?
  3. For a Product Manager profile, do you generally find Optional Criteria 3 (significant contribution in a product-led tech company) to be the most viable route compared to innovation?
  4. From your experience, what is the most common mistake PM applicants make in structuring their evidence?

I’m currently refining my narrative and strengthening documentation, so your perspective is extremely valuable.

Thanks again for your guidance; I truly appreciate it.

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@Kaneez_Fatima

For your first question

It really depends on what you’ve actually achieved within the last five years, then your narrative.

On whether a promotion letter plus impact validation is enough for MC

Not on their own. Those pieces can support a strong, metrics driven evidence set, but they’re not strong enough to stand as MC evidence by themselves.

Regarding OC3 for Product Managers

It varies based on where the applicant has worked and the nature of the products they’ve contributed to. OC3 can be very viable, but it needs to be backed by a solid, evidence based reference letter that clearly attributes commercial outcomes to the PM’s contribution. External validation like funding or market traction also strengthens it.

Most common mistake PM applicants make

Using weak evidence that doesn’t actually meet the criteria, and presenting a narrative that feels disjointed or incoherent. The story and the evidence need to align tightly and rightly to the criteria.

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