AMA: Gainsight Director, Product Management, Sailaja Kalle on Product Management Interviews

One should prepare for an interview, especially if its a job that one is very interested in. While preparation is something one should give 100%, one should not over do too. I would rather prepare for questions like what are situations where one went above and beyond in their careers.

Non willing ness to work in team, Not able to take feedback, constant change of jobs are some red flags that one needs to avoid in potential candidates.

What are some challenges you handled and how? What are some errors you made and what did you learn from them? How do we set goals?

Asking the right questions can help find the information we seek. Few tips 1. Think about what you want to know 2. Creating open ended questions to what we want to know is important. However, the art is also to keep the questions specific 3. Allowing answers to come through and asking follow up questions.

Best candidates have a user-centric mindset who can understand customer needs and develop products to address those needs effectively. Skills like Effective prioritization, storytelling, and cross-functional collaboration skills are something that we see in common with them

The best way to assess candidates is by being a good listener. The lessons learnt from successes and failures are something that one should listen to.