I imagine the reason that his student didn't get hired was because very few tech companies would hire a manager straight out of university. People or product m

I imagine the reason that his student didn't get hired was because very few tech companies would hire a manager straight out of university. People or product management isn't something you can learn in a classroom, but something you need to learn by doing. While larger companies like Microsoft will take graduates into product manager roles, startups (especially funded ones) tend to prefer hiring managers with experience or domain expertise.