I’m a Product Manager working in USA, and we’re looking to immigrate to UK. I have over 5 years of product management experience and will be applying on the ET route. Here is the list of documentation I am planning on submitting, would love some critical feedback on the document list and if i should be looking at other documents to support my application.
Letters of Recommendation:
Co-founder of company A (acquired by Company B) and current VC
Independent Expert in my industry - thought leader and CEO of a company (knows me through my work on the product for about 1+ years)
Experts in my industry, currently in Director position (used to work together for 1-2 years at Company A)
Mandatory Criteria:
M1 - Letter from ex-Manager 1 at Company A (currently Director at Company B) explaining how I led the growth of a product module 0-1 at company A, include strategic initiatives and impact metrics
M2 - Spoke at Industry virtual conference, more than 1000+ attendees, i have screenshots of me speaking to the audience
M3 - High salary information
M4 - I was a panelist at women in product event and I also judging a university hackathon
Optional Criteria 2:
OC2.1: Guest speaker at University class (screenshots of talk) and another virtual product conference (> 100 attendees)
OC2.2: Mentoring in a structured program over 6 months - letter from organizer
OC2.3: Slated to speak at a large conference (Women in Tech 2025) this will be in the future but i have the links and screenshots of my session on the website already
Optional Criteria 3:
OC3.1: Screenshot of Gartner magic quadrant - showing company’s capabilities, company A’s acquisition (Will add introduction explaining my involvement)
OC3.2: Company A received an award in the industry
OC3.3: letter from Ex-manager 2 at Company A (Currently director at Company B) , explaining my involvement in few high-impact initiatives and how i directly impacted OC3.1 and OC3.2
What do you think i should improve/ remove or add? Thank you!
MC looks strong. Ensure you incorporate how these works have been established you as a talent in the sector. Was the panel event an internal event or a tech industry one?
In OC2, it’s important to show the impact on advancement of sector with these contributions. Ensure you establish how the mentorship program is structured with selection of mentees. If you have some mentee testimonials, please include them as well.
OC3 can be stronger. This criteria is about showing your contribution and its quantified impact in company metrics. The first evidence looks self authored without validation of how those impacts are attributed to your work and how are they quantified. How does the 2nd evidence award be attributed specifically to your work? In OC3, ensure you include quantified impact in terms of metrics of those high-impact initiatives.
Happy to help with more detailed review, feel free to reach out on linkedin.
Thank you so much for the review @pahuja! To respond to your comments:
MC
The panel was an external event, outside of my 9-5.
OC2:
Yes, the email from the organizer explicitly states that the mentors and mentees had a selection process and I was selected due to my experience.
OC3:
Appreciate your advice, let me check how I can make this criteria stronger. The 2nd award is for the entire product line, in which 1 module was built under my product purview.I’ll definitely ensure the letter includes metrics.
I shall reach out on LinkedIn too! Thank you once again.
OC2
Your OC2.1 (Guest speaker at University class) needs to be careful to highlight if this conference is a major event about digital tech.
OC2.3 This is a bit weak, since it has not happened as yet. But it worth to includes it.
If I were you, I may combine OC2.1 and OC2.3 together, which may allows you 1 additional evidence to present.
OC3
OC 3.1 and 3.2 seems to be very broad. I see that you have LOR to authenticate your OC3.1 and 3.2. Do you have any other report or data which shows your involvement to the business impact? If you can add more evidence here, it could help to strengthen and influence assessor even more, rather just relying on LOR to proof them only.
There are a few areas where you could improve alignment with the visa requirements. Three of your recommendation letters are from connections at Company A/B. It might be beneficial to include a letter from the university where you guest lectured to show a broader range of support.
Your speaking engagements are impressive, but there is some overlap. Focus on the conference with over 1000 attendees as your main evidence. Consider using the other speaking events as additional support rather than primary evidence. The future Women in Tech 2025 event can’t be used as evidence since it hasn’t happened yet.
For the optional criteria, make sure to clearly show your personal impact on Company A’s achievements. When mentioning the Gartner placement and industry awards, detail your specific contributions. You could use bullet points or a sidebar to highlight your role, such as leading a significant portion of the work that contributed to these successes.
Lastly, ensure all your evidence is clear and well-documented. For your salary evidence, compare it to the UK median for product managers to strengthen your case. The mentoring program letter should highlight specific outcomes from your guidance. Make sure all screenshots have visible timestamps and context in English. For the virtual conference, if possible, include registration numbers to support your audience claims.
You’re providing 4 different evidences for Mandatory criteria, whereas it only requires to have 1 mandatory criteria to fulfill out of 4 options. I wonder if I am wrong here.
Thank you all for your response. Based on your feedback, I have restructured my documents as such:
OC2.1: Virtual Product Conferences (2 conferences put together, both have more than 100+ attendees, 1 is done and 1 is in the future)
OC2.2: Mentoring at non-profit organization as part of a structured program, added invite/ letter from program confirming me as a senior mentor and email testimonial from my mentee
OC2.3: Teaching a class at university - to undergrad students on product management - impact is that next gen tech workers are getting upskilled based on my session.
For OC3:
OC3.1: Screenshot of industry assessment with evaluation calling out my product, screenshot of industry award (doesn’t name me specifically but OC3.2 will speak to this)
OC3.2: Letter from ex-manager speaking to my contributions to company, and metrics and how i contributed to the industry award.
What do you think of this?
Also - for letters of recommendation - what constitutes as “experts in digital tech field” - would a director of engineering be considered an expert?
Does it make sense to get from someone who knows me through my work but not personally? He is a CEO, not particularly “product/ engineering” background but rather has niche industry experience
Other alternative is a VP of product but he was my skip level for about a year. Please suggest what I should do - thank you so much!!