Cracking the PM Interviews: Webinar Summary

This article is a summarization of the webinar that I hosted with @Product School. The link to the webinar is here: https://www.linkedin.com/video/live/urn:li:ugcPost:6817805582456635393/. The webinar and this article are a preparatory guide for product management (PM) interviews in the tech industry.

The goal of this session was to introduce product management aspirants to the format of PM interviews and the requirements for a PM role. This was specifically for PM roles in the technology industry. I have omitted the examples that I used during the talk. Here are the key pointers:

Just like any other role, a PM role is best aligned to certain personality traits. I believe that even before embarking on the journey to land a role in product management, it is imperative to understand if it is the right fit. One’s motivation to be a PM will shine through all the answers in the interview process.

Hence, this clarity of conviction is extremely important. Other important traits include curiosity, eagerness to learn and structured thinking. If you are someone who is generally curious about how things work and someone who is always ready to learn, explore, fail and learn again; then a PM role is a good career move. Product management discipline requires one to be comfortable with mistakes and learn from them. If ambiguity is something you are not fond of then a PM role will turn out to be challenging.

2. Skills required for a role in Product Management

The PM role itself varies from one organization to another and also among teams within the same organization. However, the skills required can be categorized in four broad areas:

I. Technical

There is a prevailing myth that PMs do not require any technical skills. This isn’t true. First, as a PM you work with an engineering team day in and day out. Hence, it will be a huge impediment if you cannot talk in a common language. Secondly, if you are sitting through an interview and trying to convince the interviewer that you are passionate about technology but you have no technical skills; it does not make a good impression.

PMs need to be eager to learn. If you are interested in building technology products, you need to spend some time in understanding the basic blocks of technology. As a PM, you will not be required to do any coding or code reviews, etc. but you will be involved in decisions related to all aspects of the product, including the technology. Hence, try and improve on this skill area through resources available online and offline. Some skills in areas of UX design, data analysis and basic coding will go a long way in helping you transition to a PM role.

II. Product

This is the core skill set of PMs around product envisioning, creating product roadmaps, customer research, market analysis, etc. If you have worked in product management or related roles, it is likely that you have had experience in one or more of these areas. There are multiple courses available online that can help gain an understanding of this area. Doing side projects related to product analysis is also extremely helpful to build these skills.

III. Business

This set relates to taking a product to market, pricing it, thinking in terms of its P&L, etc. A lot of organizations (specially startups) expect PMs to be well versed in this skill area. Larger organizations usually have specialized teams for each of these areas and the PMs are expected to coordinate with each of those teams. Either way, a basic business understanding is very much desired. A PM should be able to take the business aspects into consideration for making and driving the best product decisions.

IV. Industry

The industry skills refers to the knowledge gained in the functioning of any specific domain. If you are working on an EdTech product in any capacity, it is highly likely that you understand how the education industry works- which metrics are tracked, who are the customer segments, what the Government guidelines, etc. These skills are extremely useful for a PM role. People who are trying to transition to a PM role can very well leverage their industry skills by applying to roles in the same industry.

It is highly unlikely that any candidate appearing for any entry level PM role will have skills in all of these four areas. Hence, the key is to highlight the skills you do have and upskill in the areas you don’t. Up-skilling is THE key. There are tons of good resources available that can help you to upskill. Remember, eagerness to learn is a very important PM trait.

3. PM Interviews

I have discussed a generalized format of entry level PM interviews. There are variations across roles and organizations.

Part 1: Tell me about yourself questions

These are very important. This is the only opportunity for the candidate to steer the conversation in a direction she would like.

• Follow a chronology either forward or reverse. Going back and forth on your experience will confuse the interviewer.
• Highlight PM skills (four areas as above) that are not so obvious from your work experience.
• Tell a story. Do not make it a readout of your resume. Explain your reasons for moving towards a career in product management.

Part 2: Behavioral Questions

These are questions on success, failure, lessons learnt, strengths, weaknesses etc. Think through your experience for incidents that can be categorized under these heads.

• Frame your answers as context, action and result. In the action part, focus on what exactly you did and what was the result.
• Stick to examples from your work. If you are a recent graduate with little or no professional experience, then you can talk about other areas like volunteer work, sports, book clubs, etc.
• These answers can and should be prepared in advance. Prepare, practice and refine your answers before appearing for PM interviews.

Part3: Product Questions (Situational)

From here on is the core of any PM interview processes. These questions test PM skills. The format of situational questions is: ‘ As a PM, what would you do in a certain situation?” The key is to analyze the skill that is being tested- business, product, conflict resolution, stakeholder management, etc. The other key is to follow a structured approach and walk the interviewer through your thought process with each step backed by reasoning.

Part 4: Product Questions (Design a Product)

The format of these questions is “Design a (certain) product for a (specific) customer segment.” The key is to follow a structured approach.

• Ask a lot of clarifying questions to clearly understand the customer and the problem
• Show insight and explain your rationale to the interviewer
• Create a basic design and do not get caught up in details on one aspect unless specifically asked for

(Details are important to any product but with limited time in an interview, it is important to focus on giving a comprehensive answer)

Part 5: Product Questions (Favorite product, improvements)

The questions in this part centre around identifying your favorite products (app, website, software, hardware, etc.) and providing a unique perspective on why you find them useful as well as what can be improved.

The key is to show insight by talking about some unique aspects of the product. You can actually leverage your background to do this. If you are a UX designer, you can talk about the special UX features. If you are a software developer you can talk about the technology and if you have a good business understanding you can talk about the product’s pricing, marketing, etc. The goal is to show your skills in product analysis and your PM way of thinking. Product analyses are a great way to prepare for PM interviews.

These are major segments of a PM interview process. Every role should be well researched before appearing for the interview. There are quite a few variations in the process.

Overall, the transition to a PM role will require continuous upskilling, learning and practice. A disciplined approach in the application and preparation process will prove to be extremely useful.

Here is a list of resources that I have found useful so far:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzB2_mhUevM&t=971s Cracking the PM Interview video by Gayle McDowell
2. https://www.amazon.in/Cracking-PM-Interview-Product-Technology/

Cracking the PM Interview book by Gayle McDowell and Jackie Bavaro (I have found this to be extremely useful book for PM interview preparations)

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwgycdA8D9c So you want to be a PM by Hitesh Sharma
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SscoymxfaAI How to Succeed in PM Interviews by Uber PM

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.