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How to Pass the Product Manager Interview

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Re: How to Pass the Product Manager Interview

#11

Post by cwe »

sageabilly wrote: post #4

"...what the product is, what it’s used for, what problem it solves and how it solves it" Have you seen some tech websites? I used to research competitors as part of my prior job and some of the tech websites out there do a really bad job of explaining what their product IS, much less what it DOES. For those of you here on the flipside, make sure your website explains WHAT you do, and more importantly, WHY I should c…

Good PM interviews I've been in use that as part of the discussion. Discuss the issues with the messaging on the website, ask for clarification where needed to understand the customer and problem, and go from there. You shouldn't just focus on the current as currently exists, but the core problem/vision they're going for.

Re: How to Pass the Product Manager Interview

#12

Post by mdorazio »

jpadkins wrote: post #8
arafa wrote: post #6

Brain teaser questions don't perform well in studies and should be avoided: http://qz.com/378228/google-is-over-those-ridiculous-brainte... Google suggests doing behavioral interviews instead (which I've also been trained to do and have gotten good results). Technical interviews and such may be necessary as well, of course.

I do a lot of PM phone screens. I don't ask brain teasers but I do ask basic math problems (i.e. drake's equation type problems). They are very good for screening out candidates who won't be able to do the analytical part of the job.

1) That's not a "basic math problem", it's exactly the kind of brain teaser/gross estimation problem this thread is saying doesn't work. 2) You're going to need to explain to me how estimating the number of communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the galaxy (or a similar question) is an indicator of how well a person can understand a product's features, tech stack, and customer needs. Unless your product is something related to statistics, you're just screening out people who aren't like you.

Re: How to Pass the Product Manager Interview

#13

Post by TempleOS »

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Just wait. God will make it glorious.

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Re: How to Pass the Product Manager Interview

#15

Post by sandGorgon »

arafa wrote: post #6

Brain teaser questions don't perform well in studies and should be avoided: http://qz.com/378228/google-is-over-those-ridiculous-brainte... Google suggests doing behavioral interviews instead (which I've also been trained to do and have gotten good results). Technical interviews and such may be necessary as well, of course.

How does one train in behavioral interviews? Is there a methodology around it that can be adopted by someone who wants to build it into his startup's hiring process?

Re: How to Pass the Product Manager Interview

#16

Post by gyardley »

totalrobe wrote: post #10

Haha this is a funny little idealistic article. If any company actually hires like this I'd like to know. Want the job? This is the real selection criteria at west coast startups: 1) Went to interviewer's school and/or worked at my buddy's startup 2) Drinks the kool-aid? i.e. willing to work 60+ hrs/week below market 3) Previously held self titled "Chief Product Officer" position at "startup" that failed after 3 mont…

Sure - that's how most places usually hire their first product manager, if they're not just promoting from within. Honestly, that's how most early-stage startups hire pretty much anybody.

If the company continues to succeed in spite of itself, eventually that guy (it's almost always a guy) gets sacked and they bring on someone who's at least managed a team of product managers elsewhere. The new person almost always has a hiring process similar to the one in the post, having either figured it out from experience or from reading one of the many articles very very very similar to this one.

Re: How to Pass the Product Manager Interview

#18

Post by LukaAl »

dahart wrote: post #2

> Prove you can prioritise Of all the PMs I've worked with personally, this has been the single largest problem. A PM that has patience and knows how to pick and stick to the most important thing until it's done is worth their weight in gold. It takes balls, because priorities always seem to change from day to day, management applies pressure to the PMs to get more done than is realistic, and engineers are fickle and…

As a PM I almost totally agree with you. There's a caveat, though. I know what I want, and in general, I want everything well done and polished.

But the right question is not "What do I want?" but "What need to be done?". That means having different priorities than my wishes and understanding the work on some non-sexy features that will make the product stronger in the long run.

One thing I noticed, though, is that what needs to be done could change, in a startup environment pretty quickly, and having been on the other side, it is pretty difficult to understand. So you need to communicate clearly why priorities are shifting, and you need to be able to take the blame if they are shifting due to a mistake you have done.

Anyway, my suggestion to any wannabe PM: Thinks of what is important for the product, not what you (or the stakeholders) want in the product. Second, be clear in your communication.

Re: How to Pass the Product Manager Interview

#19

Post by zzalpha »

dahart wrote: post #2

> Prove you can prioritise Of all the PMs I've worked with personally, this has been the single largest problem. A PM that has patience and knows how to pick and stick to the most important thing until it's done is worth their weight in gold. It takes balls, because priorities always seem to change from day to day, management applies pressure to the PMs to get more done than is realistic, and engineers are fickle and…

Speaking as a PM, you've basically highlighted the most important part: management.

The job of a PM isn't to translate fickle external whims into a constantly churning set of priorities. That isn't management. It's reaction. And it's worthless.

A real product manager manages those competing interests and influences, and translates that into a focused, steady set of priorities and an overall direction. And if priorities must change or direction must move, that PM must make those decisions carefully, and must exude a sense of focus and control when doing so.

Re: How to Pass the Product Manager Interview

#20

Post by arafa »

sandGorgon wrote: post #15
arafa wrote: post #6

Brain teaser questions don't perform well in studies and should be avoided: http://qz.com/378228/google-is-over-those-ridiculous-brainte... Google suggests doing behavioral interviews instead (which I've also been trained to do and have gotten good results). Technical interviews and such may be necessary as well, of course.

How does one train in behavioral interviews? Is there a methodology around it that can be adopted by someone who wants to build it into his startup's hiring process?

You could adapt something like this to fit your needs: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-laszlo-bock-interview-...

This will give you the general idea of how they work. I'm sure there's classes and other resources, but we already have a training program at work so I haven't delved into them as much.

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