Product managers ultimately answer to internal stakeholders, meaning you’ll need strong relationships with the people above you, your peers, and anyone you manage—and your interview is a chance to charm them. It’s virtually impossible to prepare an answer for every interview question, so the next best strategy is to prepare case studies of work you’ve done in the past which can be applied as answers to a variety of “tell me about a time when you…” questions. Many companies make their internal values obvious on their website or in recruiting materials and conversations, so do your best to find out what they are—and take them to heart before your interview. SEE ALSO: How to Ace the Facebook Product Manager Interview (Second Edition) What to Expect The Facebook PM interview has standardized across three components: Product SenseGood Facebook PMs innovate beautiful products that solve big, messy user problems. 3 min read. Only very special, highly elite people can walk into a PM interview totally cold and actually nail it. First, don’t confuse program managers with project managers or product managers. Best advice on how to write your resume. BUT before you spend the money…check out the free stuff: Finally, read what PMs have to say about how they interview and what they look for in places like First Round Review and Medium. But…, Telecommuting and distributed offices have become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly with the rise of digital productivity tools…, The nature of a mentorship is a pretty simple one: someone with more experience helps someone with less experience…. It wasn’t always possible (search on LinkedIn for ‘recruiter’ title at a bigger company and get dozens of people) but it’s advisable. I haven’t signed up to the course as it was overkill for what I needed at the time. Some of the good stuff was hidden away in articles you wouldn’t expect. With tons of top product talent out there, it’s an achievement just to have gotten through the initial screening process. Creating a study plan with these areas defined is a good way to prepare for the product management interview. But you’re not over the finish line just yet, as you’ll need to impress your interviewers more than the next (and preceding) candidates in order to land the job. Do you see jeans, hoodies and t-shirts all around? As you answer, try to align your … His newsletters are informative but you can read his book too. Re-read your resume/LinkedIn Woohoo, you finally got the call, the interviewer would like to interview you for the product manager role. In addition to helping you understand the types of backgrounds the company looks for, understanding the different types of people and roles can give you a better sense of company culture before experiencing it firsthand. But some do, and some CEOs take time to read them, usually to see motivation and clarity in written communication. Tiwari noted that both are critical for building successful product teams, especially since a relationship built on trust makes it easier to have disagreements yet still push forward as a unified team. Do comment with useful resources and links: what worked for you? And don’t just “pick people’s brains” — “When you ask to pick somebody’s brain, you are essentially asking (often a stranger) if you can extract value without adding any value.”. There are a few interview bibles out there that everyone recommends, and you’d do well to read: My advice would be: read them after you have a good sense of your local job market, know that they are biased towards US/Silicon Valley product manager jobs, and some are a few years old by now. You’ve been selected to lead a team and you’re excited about the opportunity ahead. If this article by an ex-Google recruiter is anything to go by, you’ll just end up in a huge pile with other randoms. When compiling your personal case studies, be sure to think about examples that demonstrate your technical, in addition to people, skills. Technical skills aside, if the team likes you, they’ll be that much more likely to extend an offer. The more you know about the market and company and have confidence in your self worth, the better the negotiation will go. Once you maximize base salary, then move on to something like paid vacation or whatever is the next-most-valuable thing on your list.”. Not only will understanding the company’s structure and key stakeholders help you if you do end up with the company—it may also give you the upper hand for questions related to interacting with various stakeholders and your understanding of their priorities. This is the hardest part of the whole interview, and the hardest to write about since there are so many variables. Prioritization is a key skill anyways, so might as well get as much practice as we can. As you will know, the PM role covers a broad set of skills, and different people may have different takes on it. Leadership & Drive. Thank you everyone for all the positive feedback, comments, and suggestions on this article since I published it back in September 2013. Each company is structured slightly differently, and this is particularly pertinent for product managers, who often interface with every business unit. It won’t be how you’ll always dress in case you get the job but interviews are still about first impressions. Overly formal is an impression too. Some of it was useful, some of it was terribly dated or didn’t apply geographically. “Dress for the job you want” is silly and vague. Many companies prefer computer science or analytical backgrounds in their product managers, so keep this in mind as you prepare. Check out Hired – How to Get a Product Manager Job. Thanks for reading. Hopefully the responses above will help you prepare for your next product manager interview. Napala is a consultant to early-stage technology companies. Many companies prefer computer science or analytical backgrounds in their product managers, so keep this in mind as you prepare. 1. They probably won’t let too much slip about the actual interview questions, but they can provide real world context to the PM role that you won’t get from a book. These views can be applied to a number of questions, whether your interviewer asks for more general product thoughts or you’re sharing your opinion on what the company already does from a product perspective. Read more about general Product Manager interview tips. If you haven’t been given the names of your interviewers, don’t be shy—it’s totally fair to ask the person coordinating your interview for more details. Others seem to have been bad apples, and later Glassdoor reviews confirmed as much. Creating a study plan to prepare for the Product Managment Interview. You should be! Technically, they all oversee projects, but the niches can vary. This blog series is for product managers who are in the recruiting and hiring cycle, working with recruitment agencies, working with product management recruiters and anyone looking to hone the interview skills needed for product management.. How do I prep for a second round interview for a Product Manager position?. 5. To prepare for this first round product management call, you need to do basic research about the company. You want to find out if you want to work for the company, and they figure out if they want to hire you. Based on the suggestions, some research, and a mock interview, I feel I will need to prepare little more seriously than I thought. Summary on what to expect and how to prepare for the Facebook Product Manager interview. Product manager interview questions are often intense, and with good reason: It’s an absolutely vital role within companies, and hiring managers want to thoroughly evaluate a candidate’s suitability. Let’s say that the interview question is something vague like “improve a pen “. Prior to going independent, Napala led marketing initiatives across both consumer and B2B fintech for employers including NerdWallet and Earnest. It depends on your background. It was not easy coming from a totally different culture but I learned a lot in a very short space of time. Best interview preparation books. How to Answer Program Manager Interview Questions. I am postponing my interview. Guide to Prepare for a Product Manager Interview Published on November 10, 2019 November 10, 2019 • 139 Likes • 21 Comments What They Want to Know: This question isn’t a query for … We appear to be 5% into 2018 and it’s been a great year so far. Step one: Set a business objective First, we should confirm our understanding of the question and define a business objective. When compiling your personal case studies, be sure to think about examples that demonstrate your technical, in … Given this, it’s important to do some background research on who will be interviewing you. Decode and Conquer was published in 2013, Cracking the PM interview updated in 2015, and only Lewis C. Lin’s last book with 164 Q&As was published in 2017. Whether you are preparing to interview a candidate or applying for a job, review our list of top Product Manager interview questions and answers. If the product isn’t available to the public (SaaS products, for example), think about asking for a demo or screenshots, or even do some online research to find screenshots, reviews, and other insights about the product. Focus on technical skills. 2. That’s it! “To get the best result in your salary negotiation, focus on one thing at a time and make that thing the one which is most valuable to you. 45-minute phone interview with a Product Manager. To be certain, you don’t need to adopt values you don’t agree with, but understanding the company values can help to prepare for what might be asked, as well as hint at the criteria on which you’ll be evaluated. So I prepare, prepare, prepare… Get certified as a Product Manager at Product School. The most useful question to ask yourself is, “what problem am I solving for the company I’m applying to?” Read between the lines of the job description, and if the answer isn’t there make it your priority to find out. A lot of people I met at events and talks around town ask me how I prepared for it, so I thought I’d do a post — but wanted to wait for all signals from my manager to turn green before I published it. For most people, that’s base salary. Not every company requires one. A hiring manager in London once told me that he thought of his role as “people/problems”; he had to hire people to help solve business problems but also make the problems sound exciting so that smart people would want to take him up on the challenge. Clean up any portfolios or mockups you plan to bring with you. Find resources about the company you are interviewing for on Google News, LinkedIn, Crunchbase and other news outlets. Some of it was very theoretical and never really applied in real life, or they themselves did not use in their day-to-day jobs. Drawing wireframes on a whiteboard will help illustrate your ideas. Wear something nicer: pants, a shirt and a sweater. Product Manager Interview Questions: How to Prepare. The interview process is long and arduous here. How To Answer Product Management Interview Questions—Sachin Rekhi. At the end of our interview, we chat about some fun product questions! It goes both ways – check out this list of 20 key interview questions you should ask. There’s a ton of stuff out there. Well-meaning people gave me advice, often contradictory, and shadowed by their own experiences long time ago. But before it, I went through a 3-month job hunt after we moved to SF. Here, the interviewers are typically probing on two specific leadership principles: Earn Trust. If you’re not willing to spend this time, you won’t have a great interview experience. By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. Don’t apply on company websites without knowing people. — Benjamin Franklin. Sign up for the product management interview practice group on Slack: bit.ly/PMInterviewGroup Post a request for a partner or partners in the #req-practice-ptr channel. Interviewers of all types love asking about past mistakes, as it’s a way to test how well you learn from blunders. Google wants to see how you think about problems. Step 3. 3. You start out terrible at it but the more you practice, the better you become. Others wanted to hear you rattle off frameworks. This almost goes without saying, but don’t forget to gain a good understanding of the company’s products—and particularly the product(s) you might be working on. You are super excited, but your mind is going at million places about what you need to do to prepare/study for the interview. In this post, Sachin Rekhi, founder and CEO of collaborative notes app Notejoy, gives a masterclass on answering the most commonly encountered interview questions posed in product management interviews. In addition, conduct some searches for recent company news—from new funding to PR scandals, being able to speak to recent developments shows you’re interested in that specific company, not just in getting a job offer. How to Avoid Micromanaging and Become a Great Coach Instead, How to Work Remotely and Keep Your Sanity, How to Mentor Yourself Out of a Job (So You Can Get a Better One). Interviewers will probe for the following areas: Negotiation & ability to influence others.Amazon PMs can take a position, convince others, and drive team action. Since there’s a lot to this, I wrote a more in-depth article on how to prepare: Google PM Interview – how to prepare. Do you see people mostly in shirts (albeit unbuttoned)? There are lots of posts about “how to get your first job as a product manager” and I certainly read my fair share in preparation. You'll also want to download … Summing it up In conclusion, if you're preparing for a product manager interview at Google, you'll want to make sure you prepare carefully for the five key areas they'll test you: 1) product sense 2) technical chops 3) analytical skills 4) communication ability and 5) culture fit. If you’ve recently landed a product manager interview, congrats! Cover letters are controversial. Let’s continue the conversation on Twitter or in the comments. What was it like working for your manager? Before the interview, see if you can speak directly with someone who has actually worked as a product manager at the company you are interviewing, or at the very least a PM in any company. So you’d have to cast your net really wide for this one to work, which isn’t feasible or desirable after a while. You’ll need to decide on the fly, often by reading the room, from cues such as eye contact and body language. Then, check out the 30-day Facebook PM interview prep plan included in The Product Manager Interview (TPMI). “First, the candidate should be able to speak clearly about their product management experience,” suggested Alex Willen, former product manager at TalkDesk and author of the book “The Product Management Interview: How to Find the Right Job as a Product Manager and Crush the PM Interview Process.” Wear yours tucked in with a jacket, and so on. Take turns during your practice session. I did this early on when I had no idea what I was doing, and from a couple of dozen resumes and letters sent, I had a 10% response rate. Preparation for the Product Manager phone interview. In addition to getting you in the product mood, using your favorite products before an interview can help you think more specifically about what makes products great—or not so great. The question implies that there’s something wrong with Facebook events. My first month has been great, and I’ve received a ton of support from peers and managers alike. Just look at how people around dress in the city, and go “+1" as in dress one “level” smarter than they are. Disagree and Commit. All of them promoted “internal candidates” (or so they claim). Product Design (aka Product Sense) Questions Step 1: Ask clarification questions. It'll prescribe a step-by-step prep plan, including specific exercises and recommendations. Just don’t. So these are my general observations based on what I’ve read, what more successful people advised me, and what has worked for me in the USA, in San Francisco (also: mid-career, moving from one country to another). If it’s a consumer product, go through as much of the experience as possible without making a purchase. Pick one category.. You have to be prepared to do well in all of the above categories in order to excel … Congratulations! Of those 10% that did go through, none of them worked out after phone screen. The Product Management Hiring Panel at Google is evaluating your creativity, and they place a big emphasis on big ideas (aka "moonshots"). No matter how large or small the product, its success hinges on how well a product manager does their job. The internet! I doubt that is you and it’s certainly not me. Give the cross-functional nature of product manager roles, you’ll be working with many more people than who actually interview you—and it’s worth getting an idea of who they are before going in.