Hiring Request Document (HRD) -

PRD
🔖 Objective
Device a solution that improves the conversion of cold email about hiring sent by an applicant
PM to a company

🎯 Goal and Success Criteria

Goal: Increase chances of recognition and responses from the recruiter from a cold email by
500%

Success Metric: Responses received/Emails sent

Responses received: Number of 1st time responses (email/call/Linkedin Message)

from the recruiter (not automated). Positive/Negative both are valid responses

Emails sent: Number of cold emails sent till a response is received including follow ups
(max 4)

User Segments
Applicant (Sender of email)

Aspiring PM

Early/Mid stage PM

Seasoned PM

Recruiter (Receiver of email)

Talent Acquisition HR

Hiring Manager

APM

PMs and Senior PMs

Prioritization

Applicant: Aspiring, Early/Mid Stage PMs

Majority of applicants lies in this category, so they need better way to stand out from
crowd

Hiring Request Document (HRD) - PRD 1

 More impact as don’t have many connections or referrals as compared to senior folks.
So, need to master art of sending cold email

Recruiter: Senior PMs

Senior PMs or the hiring managers have better understanding of what they are
looking in a candidate at a deeper level as compared to HR

They have better decision making power

User Persona

Hiring Request Document (HRD) - PRD 2

 ❓Problem Statement
Cold emails sent by early/mid stage PM applicants to hiring managers (senior PMs) finds
lower open rate/reply rate.

Potential Pain Points

Recruiter (senior PM)

Generic subject and content without any personalization makes it unappealing

Example, “Hi Sir/Mam, my name is xyz, I have done this/that, please find my CV”

Not clear on following crucial aspects from the applicant

How soon can the applicant join?

Is he/she comfortable with in-office role? Open to relocate?

What is the current/desired CTC?

If selected, will he/she join for sure?

Long email is difficult to read in a limited time

Email lands in spam

Hiring Request Document (HRD) - PRD 3

 Applicant (early/mid stage PM)

How to make email more attractive that stands out of the crowd?

How to showcase my skills so that recruiter is more confident about me?

What should be the structure of the mail that is crisp and clear?

How to draft the email that the recruiter remembers?

How to make sure it reached the inbox of the desired recipient and it has been opened?

Assumptions
1. Email ID of hiring manager is available and he/she is a PM

2. Information about the company/product like mission, interviews etc is available on internet

📌 Solutions Consideration
1. Draft a mail like a HRD: Hiring Request Document

It will be similar to concept note/PRD/specs. It should answer the following pointers:

Why is it sent? Why should the recipient spend time on it?

Why the candidate has applied to given company? Does he/she know’s about the
company/role in detail?

Why does the candidate think that he/she would be a good fit?

About the candidate (skills, experience etc)

Basic joining related information like (notice period, salary etc)

Resume/Portfolio

CTA

Pros

Get immediate attention due to unique nature

PMs are used to reading PRDs, so a similar document should look familiar to them. Also,
easier to read due to modular structure

Shows creativity and skills of an applicant that involves “Dogfooding”

Cons

This concept might not relate to other stakeholders in the chain

Hiring Request Document (HRD) - PRD 4

 Solution
Subject
[EMOJI] Hiring Request Document - Seeking PM Role at <company name>

Body
Hi <name>, this is not just another PM job application email

Hiring Request Document (HRD)

Objective: Objective of this email

Why: Motivation for applying to given company

Overview: About myself, experience, resume etc

Company-Candidate Fit: How candidate can be useful for the company and vice-versa
Joining Checklist: Important information related to joining
Open Questions: Questions that are relevant to this job

Success Metrics
North Star: Responses received/Emails sent

L1 Metrics:

Email open rate (% of emails sent that are opened atleast once)

Reply to Open ratio (% of emails that have been replied after being opened)

L2 Metrics

Open to Resume click ratio (% of emails that in which resume is accessed after being
opened)

Reply split (call vs mail vs Linkedin Message)

Hiring Request Document (HRD) - PRD 5