I think going "above and beyond" is a totally subjective thing; it is up to each individual what is above their baseline of preparation for an interview. But - here are a list of things I think are table stakes, that every PM candidate should do at a minimum to prepare:
- Know the company you're interviewing with: their main products/features, how they make money, how they differentiate from competition. If you're interviewing in a division of a very large company (eg. Amazon Logistics or AWS, both parts of Amazon), understand the same thing but for that division.
- Brush up on your past experience and how you speak to the impact you've had. I like to have at least 3-4 examples I can easily pull from, at the top of my memory, so I can quickly and confidently tailor a real story to a question that it makes sense to apply my example to.
- Get clear on what you're looking for in the role you're interviewing for - how you think you might be impactful, what the first 3-6-12 months may look like, etc.
- Get clear on what you're looking for in the interviewers - any red flags to watch out for in how they ask questions or react, what questions you'd want to ask them about the role/company/etc.
I basically recommend these 4 things in every situation, at least.
